Why We Should All Fear Government

[summertime]

I totally agree with stevenbard that technology is outpacing our ability to pay for it and with Coboardhead that the ACA should cut down on some top techonology where it doesn't make financial sense. I also agree with SB that it isn't fair to lump everyone in the same group. As the ACA stands- the people that pay nothing and people that pay half what individual payers will pay will be in the same line at the same places. I thought the ACA was going to end up being somewhat like the people getting gov. subsidies would go to the Highland Hospitals, SF Generals... and their clinics, etc.( which is still top care- in fact they are the best trauma care in the counties) and the people that pay for health insurance would cont. with the private companies. Good luck when everyone wants their pancreatic transplants, liver, heart and lung transplants. Gonna bankrupt all of us. And thank you for finally bringing up end of life care costs! People use to die at home over a short period of time- now most die in hospitals and dying process is prolonged by months to years, costing a tremendous amount. It's fine when there is hope for recovering but when there is no hope of recovering to a halfway decent quality of life- can we really afford to spend millions of dollars to keep people alive needing total care for long periods? No. I think it's great to give people time to say their good byes and exhaust every possibility for a continued life. But when people require round the clock care and the quality of life is shot- is it fair to make everyone pay ? If a person can pay on their own- fine. But to make everyone else pay? I know that sounds awful but we have to address it. And at the other end- the newborns. I'm not gonna be very popular with this but I've seen kids that spend most of their life in a hospital requiring RTC care - expensive care- surgery after surgery--- and no hope of ever having much more than that. At some point we have to discuss - how much can we spend for this? Back to end of life- these are extremes but I've seen people keep a family member alive to get their SS check though they are unresponsive, bedridden, require rtc hospital care- and no nursing home will take a pt. like that because they can't accomadate that much care. We pay for that. Another one - the rumor was that the wife was "punishing" the husband for having an affair by not letting him go- though he required icu care for months. On the more reasonable side- it is hard for family members to "give up on someone".... very hard -and I understand that. The guilt many would feel- unless they had discussed what kind of life sustaining measures they wanted. Same goes for personal decisions when that is a choice. Paliative care teams and Drs. are much better at guiding people through this discussion so there is some hope but the decisions are still up to the pt. or person with power of attorney. And yeah- pretty ironic that the tea party repubs rampaged on about death panels and they are suppose to be the party of fiscal conservatism.

[summertime]

To clarify- I thought universal health care made a ton of sense because the quality of life for a persons entire life can be so much better with early intervention health care- ie: getting antibiotics for a UTI instead of waiting it out until it turned into pyelonephritis or getting HTN meds before the person has a heart attack or stroke, or getting diabetes control care before they lose their eyesight or a foot.... but the way O care is- everyone is eligible for everything that is available- and the costs of that are staggering and I think impossible to handle. That's why I think there SHOULD be lifetime caps.

[boggsman1]

[summertime]

[swchandler]

Maybe it hasn't dawned on many of the folks from the right, but couldn't many of the part time jobs out there be a choice that both the employer and employee make in mutual benefit? Statistics really won't show that. Why buy the talking points from the right like they're offering the truth? Why be so gullible?

[coboardhead]

Summertime...

All valid points about the ACA. It is not the best plan. I wrote a better reform bill on Obama's first campaign web page in the comments section. But, it never made it out of committee...or something.

But, we have to start with several things that were included:

1. An insurance mandate to require participation by all users of the healthcare system.
2. Insurance reform that does not allow insurance companies, if they want to be in the market of providing insurance, to rescind policies or price out of the market when subscribers become sick.
3. A method, insurance exchanges, that allows small business to compete with unions and large corporations on insurance costs.
4. Cost containment strategies for, especially, hospital stays

As you say, limitless coverage, for any conditions, is a bad idea unless accompanied by some very specific guidelines on what, and who, is eligible for increased limits.

The problem with our political climate is that it is almost impossible, at any level of government, to write laws that do not need tweaking. Politicians look for an opportunity to write a law and take it...with full understanding that it will be tweaked later.

I am currently working with a small municipality to rewrite some hastily adopted building land use codes because they do not work. I had objected to the language of the codes in public meetings, but they were adopted any way because the political will was available.

I have confidence that we are better off with the ACA than without...flaws and all...because it will be subject to the same process. Continue complaining.

[MalibuGuru]

CB, we could have mandated individual coverage without creating a huge bureaucracy. Many of the positive points could have been agreed upon and written in less than 100 pages.

[coboardhead]

[MalibuGuru]

CB, Maybe, but a simple 1 line law that said, you shall be responsible for your own wellbeing would suffice..

[MalibuGuru]

Back on topic. This is the kind of news that gets the left wing hopped up. Definitely shows how distorted mainstream news is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQubNVeGPNc