Topic: Health Care Reform (Read 38792 times)

Disposable Ninja · « **on:** August 11, 2009, 08:30:44 PM »

PERSONAL ANECDOTE TIME:

When I was in High School and had braces, my dentist at the time recommended removing my four wisdom teeth (two up top, two on the bottom). Well, on the day of the operation, we discovered that our insurance company had, for whatever reason, decided not to cover the cost of the local anesthesia for my top two wisdom teeth. So what should have cost my parents about a hundred or so dollars became something closer to five hundred dollars. End result: I didn't get my top two wisdom teeth pulled.

A couple of years later when I was in community college, I started getting horrible pains in -- you guessed it -- my top two wisdom teeth. Since I was still a dependent on my parents insurance, they took me to a different dentist (the previous dentist now being refused by the insurance company), and I got those teeth pulled. Well, that's not quite right: they got scraped out along with a lot of my gums.

I can't even tell if I ever had wisdom teeth on my bottom jaw. I have two holes in my head where my two top wisdom teeth were once. Also, because of the pain I started suffering on account of my top two wisdom teeth, I got into the habit of grinding my teeth.

Just in case you were curious, my parents are teachers. This is the health care they provide for teachers.

So, yeah. I am totally okay with health care reform.

Fortinbras · « **Reply #1 on:** August 11, 2009, 08:41:22 PM »

HI I AM FROM CANADA AND HAVE ANECDOTES TOO

had to get seven stitches in my lip about ten days ago. spent less than five minutes in triage, then the doctor who did the job was talented as all shit. they worked out that I also needed a tetanus shot, so that was taken care of posthaste. from leaving home to getting back it didn't take an hour or cost a dime.

SOCIALIZE THAT MEDICINE, AMERICA BUDDIES

PhilosopherDirtbike · « **Reply #2 on:** August 11, 2009, 08:54:26 PM »

Wow, that sucks. I have a similar story where, because of my dental insurance (of which I hold two seperate insurances - kind of a wierd situation) a few years back kinda sucked about surgical stuff, when I got my wisdom tooth removed, the doc decided that because of how much it had grown out that it would be cheaper to just pump me full of anasthetic and let me be concious while he cracked the tooth free with what from my perspective appeared to be a small, silver crowbar then jerked it out lifting my head slightly with the force he had to pull to get it out. Didn't hurt at the time though so he was a wizard with novacaine: a top notch dentist compared to many others I have had.

I definitely want to see reform, though to be honest I would prefer if the American goverment had nothing to do with it. Maybe we could figure out the people who are number one in the world and outsource the bill to them and let them write it. All my pessimism tells me that the federal goverment and special interest groups are so far in bed together now that they are practically fused together permanantly like a Silent Hill monster and that anything they come up with is going to be a huge disaster.

I am generally very pessimistic of goverment though so I could be wrong.

Misha · « **Reply #3 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:00:50 PM »

the problem with government run healthcare is that we all already know how government run levies went, and healthcare is infinitely more complex.

Disposable Ninja · « **Reply #4 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:04:16 PM »

Yeah, I'll grant you that much. I wouldn't trust a Republican with a shotgun full of birdshot, much less Health Care.

PhilosopherDirtbike · « **Reply #5 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:16:19 PM »

At this point, I really wouldn't trust either party with anything important.

On an optimistic note, if the goverment does screw it up really bad or any dirt gets dug up concerning it, that maybe all the citizenry needs to really alter the way they view goverment from the way it seemed to be viewed for the past few decades (that is, as something to be thought of every four years, or two if nothing good is on television). Once that happens and people are watching the politicians I think the problem may correct itself. I have heard a lot of people around where I live talk more and more about politics rather than football and crops. Even if many of them are a bit misinformed, I think paying attention at all is a big step in the right direction for getting things under control again.

MarsDragon · « **Reply #6 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:20:18 PM »

You have way more faith in the American people than I do.

Misha · « **Reply #7 on:** August 11, 2009, 09:25:46 PM »

Quote from: Disposable Ninja on August 11, 2009, 09:04:16 PM

Yeah, I'll grant you that much. I wouldn't trust a Republican with a shotgun full of birdshot, much less Health Care.

see when you create a giant government structure eventually the other party gets ahold of it

Detonator · « **Reply #8 on:** August 11, 2009, 10:13:00 PM »

Quote from: drethelin on August 11, 2009, 09:00:50 PM

the problem with government run healthcare is that we all already know how government run levies went, and healthcare is infinitely more complex.

Do you seriously think that comparison is apt? Judging the whole government by a single failure?

I'm not saying the US government is by any means perfect, but it's absolutely insane to decry public insurance based on Hurricane Katrina. By your logic, the government shouldn't hold any responsibility whatsoever, or they might fuck it up as badly as Katrina. Maybe you do believe that, but I seriously doubt it.

Anyway, a lot of the reason people are hesitant to support the health care reform is that they believe that the government will be running the entire healthcare system. Truth is, the majority of Americans are satisfied with their care. The idea is to create an alternative plan if you can't get, or are unhappy with, your insurance. So the government will be paying for the care, not running it. The ultimate goal is that everyone receives health care, either public or private.

So I don't understand what the problem actually is. This is something that should have been done a long time ago. Just because we've gone so long without doing it doesn't mean it's not necessary. After all, the government got us to the moon, so every plan they have should be equally as successful.

JDigital · « **Reply #9 on:** August 11, 2009, 10:20:34 PM »

Here in the UK, my family have never had to pay for medical care (excluding dental, and a £5 per item charge for prescriptions). I have been able to receive treatment even while unemployed. I've never been refused treatment by a mythical government panel or for having been sick in the past.

The taxpayer absorbs the cost. Income tax works out to 8% on minimum wage, 16% on £36,500 (US $60,000), and 28% on £72,800 (US $120,000). Sales tax is 15%.

There's no truth to the claims that Britain forces women to abort Down's Syndrome babies, or that it euthanizes the elderly. Euthanasia is illegal even with the patent's consent, and abortion rates of Down's Syndrome babies are the same here as in the US.

Dooly · « **Reply #10 on:** August 11, 2009, 10:50:56 PM »

Quote from: Detonator on August 11, 2009, 10:13:00 PM

So I don't understand what the problem actually is. This is something that should have been done a long time ago. Just because we've gone so long without doing it doesn't mean it's not necessary. After all, the government got us to the moon, so every plan they have should be equally as successful.

The problem is that the current health insurance companies are making shitpiles of money, and a government option would force them to lower prices and improve their services to stay competitive. To prevent this, they're basically doing everything they can to misinform as many people as possible to get this health care reform bill voted down.

TA · « **Reply #11 on:** August 11, 2009, 11:06:13 PM »

And it doesn't help that maintaining a private option in the face of a public option works to nobody's benefit except the companies. If the private option is going to be competitive with the free public health care, it has to offer things that the public one can't. And why the fuck should public health care be less than comprehensive?

Transportation · « **Reply #12 on:** August 12, 2009, 05:42:29 AM »

Considering the current healthcare bill, saying the government is going to screw up healthcare in the future tense is no longer needed.

I don't really understand how this is becoming so complicated, beyond conservative mustache twirling, as it would just be an expansion of medicaid/medicare to cover more people. Perhaps it's ignorance talking, but that seems relatively simple compared to the strawmen being thrown around.

Of course, those were implemented under LBJ's administration and he was a wizard at manipulating congress ~~and had dead Kennedy capital~~. Judging from random quotes, it seems the arguments haven't changed much either. So it's probably a lack of organization on the Democratic Party's part.

If only Obama was as ruthless as that Republican Chicago caricature claimed he was.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #13 on:** August 12, 2009, 07:26:05 PM »

Woman whose mother and sister are on Medicare rails against government run health care because it would kill the weak

I am seriously running out of the give-a-fuck to acknowledge these crazy people who are protesting themselves. The woman's mother made the Obama/Nazi sign protesting the very system she is using.

Also, what is with these people equating Communist Obama to Hated-Communist Hitler? Is providing quality health care for every American system really the same thing as the Holocaust? Really?

Mongrel · « **Reply #14 on:** August 12, 2009, 07:36:11 PM »

Depends on what the patients go on to do I suppose.

Brentai · « **Reply #15 on:** August 12, 2009, 07:57:10 PM »

Sometimes it's not about whether or not you're right, it's about who you're agreeing with.

Disposable Ninja · « **Reply #16 on:** August 12, 2009, 08:08:35 PM »

Something I've yet to understand is how a Government single-payer system would keep you from picking your own doctor.

I mean, I understand how our current system keeps people from seeing a doctor they'd like to see. If your doctor doesn't do business with the Insurance Provider, the Provider won't pay for the services. I get that. And, also, since providers have absolutely no actual incentive to actually do what you pay them for, they look for any possible reason to opt out of paying for your medical bills.

But where the fuck do the bureaucrats fit into socialized healthcare? You go to a doctor, he fixes you up the best he can, you leave, he gets his god damned paycheck. He doesn't do his job, he gets fucking fired.

Pacobird · « **Reply #17 on:** August 12, 2009, 09:00:42 PM »

ITT people who have no idea just how much the incredible effectiveness and efficiency of the U.S. government has ensured their day to day survival

Catloaf · « **Reply #18 on:** August 12, 2009, 09:12:05 PM »

Quote from: Disposable Ninja on August 12, 2009, 08:08:35 PM

Something I've yet to understand is how a Government single-payer system would keep you from picking your own doctor.

:It would only allow you to see liberal doctors because it's communist

Quote from: Disposable Ninja on August 12, 2009, 08:08:35 PM

But where the fuck do the bureaucrats fit into socialized healthcare? You go to a doctor, he fixes you up the best he can, you leave, he gets his god damned paycheck. He doesn't do his job, he gets fucking fired.

:They're in the waiting room or lobby giving you forms to fill out to see if you're fit to keep alive. And in the in-patient rooms holding shotguns to your grandmother's head and punching your pregnant wife in gut at the top of the stairs.

Kayin · « **Reply #19 on:** August 12, 2009, 09:25:23 PM »

I have performed oral surgery on my self.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD LET US BE SOCIALISTS

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Author Topic: Health Care Reform (Read 38792 times)