As has been said before, no one here is arguing private insurance companies are flawless, yes, there is alot of work that needs to be done to them to curb inflation etc. The argument is whether or not the federal government can do a better job at eliminating waste and cutting costs.
Based on their track record, I for one do not trust our government to eliminate wasteful spending and cut costs, if anything they seem to be excelling at waste and spending in my option.
But why does the government have to start providing health insurance? Isn’t there anything else that can be done first to lower costs without starting down the road to a single payer system and creating a whole new bureaucracy and increasing taxes to pay for it? Can’t something be done to increase competition between private insurance companies to drive down the costs?
Why not just start with creating these market places that Obama’s talking about where people can go to compare costs / benefits and make private insurance companies cover people nation wide? Lets see how that works before starting a government insurance plan.
so: reform with a govt. plan is always an option?
Obama might even be playing a game of chess where he knows the public option will fail, but massive reform will get through. (if he had just gone for mass reform it would get very watered down).
AP is reporting that the private health insurers are spending over a million dollars a day on anti-reform lobbying now, they’re now the biggest lobbying group out there. If that isn’t a sign of just how much excess they are sucking out of the current system, then I don’t know what is.
Gee the govt wants to destroy their industry and they are putting up a fight?
HOW DARE THEM?
I guess you want them to bow to Obama and not question him like everyone else should.
If the government plan is so inefficient then they should have nothing to worry about. Kind of ironic. Everyone pays too much for health care so that their insurance company can spend it trying to ensure they continue to pay too much for health care.
^Yeah, right. The govt can charge one dollar and they go out of business a day later. I love how you play dumb.
They have been destroying their industry now for years with shitty coverage and huge premiums.
At the rate that people are loosing healthcare in this country how much longer do you think the private insurers have?
They would do a far better job if they took the millions they are using on lobbying and simply start lowering their premium.
You know we ague between the conservative and liberal view on this but what about the insurance companies themselves. What are they doing to try and lower their rates and get more people insured?
that’s not the issue with a gov’t run plan. The issue is that when itis shown to be inefficient THEY will determine who gets what care. Right now if you are insured or not you can still get care. You may not be able to pay the bill for it but you can get care. I didn’t have health insurance for 10 years and several times I had issues. I went to the Dr. or the ER and got things fixed. Wosrt case scenario I get teh bill, ignore it and it goes to collections and I have debt I can’t pay. But at least I have my health. In a Gov’t run plan it will be the government that chooses weather or not I get the care not me. If I choose bankruptcy because need a kidney at 26yo I can do that now. If its Gov’t run its their (even though its really ours) $$ They tell the Dr. what treatments I would be eligible for.
I’m sorry but no Government deserves nor can be trusted with those types of decisions. Not for me.
:bloated: x5231421512
I can’t even begin to pick apart what’s wrong with your post, especially at home for free. maybe on the clock at work tomorrow.
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TUESDAY, AUGUST 4TH, 2009 AT 6:55 AM
Facts Are Stubborn Things
Posted by Macon Phillips
Opponents of health insurance reform may find the truth a little inconvenient, but as our second president famously said, “facts are stubborn things.”
Scary chain emails and videos are starting to percolate on the internet, breathlessly claiming, for example, to “uncover” the truth about the President’s health insurance reform positions.
In this video, Linda Douglass, the communications director for the White House’s Health Reform Office, addresses one example that makes it look like the President intends to “eliminate” private coverage, when the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
For the record, the President has consistently said that if you like your insurance plan, your doctor, or both, you will be able to keep them. He has even proposed eight consumer protections relating specifically to the health insurance industry.
There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.
^^^Directly from the Whitehouse website.
So basically we should start blowing people in because they are speaking out against a dumbass president with an even dumber house and senate?
Tie this in with the “Czars” that report directly to him and you have the begining of a Stalin-like rule… in other words… he is a tyrant, dictator and fuhrer all rolled into one. Maybe he should bring back Joseph Gerbils so he can run his propaganda campaign against anyone who opposes him?
Well, You and I are Fucked Dave, We already spoke out against it. How is this even constitutional? Didn’t Nixon try some shit like that so Congress passed a bill that they couldn’t record and monitor people that speak out against the Govt?
Imagine if Bush pulled some shit like that how fast the Dems would have flipped?! HA!
So Joe, tell us why that statement that Dave posted from Dear leader is necessary and is going to help us all,
With all the shit and lies about this bill I see no problem with the White House trying to keep track about what people are saying about it.
You can’t defend against a lie if you don’t know what the lie is.
:lol:
The fuck you can’t! Its called the TRUTH!
That they have yet to disclose. They have told us a whole lot about nothing with this fucking thing. I wonder how many people that will vote on it have even read it. That’s why they can’t tell us shit about it because :
No one has read the fucking thing and has any clue whats in it.
They have read it and still have no fucking clue what’s in it.
Know the thing is Marxist and American’s won’t stand for it, so they need to calibrate their words for delivering it very carefully.
Fixed
wait… you think it is ok that the govt is asking other citizens to start blowing in people who oppose the govt?
Do you understand that is how dictators oppress those who disagree/oppose them?
It could be possible that they want to know what claims are being made against the plan in order to see what types of criticisms exist.
get rid of all the state mandated charges that we are forced to pay for that take up 30-50% of all healthcare coverage and give the people the power to choose what they do and dont want with their coverage. Cutting out the mandated charges would be an amazing start and make healthcare much more affordable for millions of americans. We must remember that insurance is put in place to measure risk. For example, health insurance is supposed to be used for emergencies, for example a broken bone or serious illness, not for routine checkups and prescription medications. It would be along the same lines as using you car insurance every single time you went for an oil change. Third parties and pre-existing government intervention is what drives the cost up, not the fact that doctors make 200k a year. Getting rid of government assisted or flat out free health care alone would drastically lower the price of healthcare. Spending trillions of dollars to take more money and create an entire new health tax that would be enough to make your stomach churn every time you look at your paycheck is not the right way to do things.
I know it may sound heartless but in this country we have rights and we have goods. Goods are things you work for. Healthcare is a good. Some people may argue that its easy for me to say because i have a job with benefits, and that almost 10% of the US population is unemployed and what are those people supposed to do? Many of those people were well employed and laid off because of the poor economic situation in this country. Well for the ones who argue in that sense, think about whos fault it is as to why we had the economic collapse in the first place. Think of whos idea it was to grant capital gains priveleges to fannie and freddie. Think about who controls the massive hyperinflation we are seeing right now. Think of whos fault it is that all of these jobs are lost. The same people that caused all of this chaos are the same people that want you on their government run healthcare system. Just because we are in tough economic times with millions of jobs lost doesnt mean we should be giving out free health care. Not to mention that this is another huge step in the wrong direction. More borrowing, more inflation, further devaluation of the dollar, which will result in price spikes, and more jobs lost.
No it isn’t! Dictators come right out and say, “we are going to take over your lives, we will not stand for any opposition and those who stand against us will be tortured then killed!”
Its almost always done in secret first.