CallMeTex

Ha Ha. This as the House Republicans are shutting down the government in lockstep. For what purpose - to stop Obamacare.

Did I mention lockstep? And what does it take to be a good Republican? Interesting take...



Now you may think that part about "And I have to have such a stunning inferiority complex that I fear education and intellect…in the 21st century..." is a bit of hyperbole. I assure you it isn't. I live in Texas and the State Republican Party wanted to ban from schools.... critical thinking. I jest you not. From their own platform:

"We oppose the teaching of Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) (values clarification), critical thinking skills and similar programs that are simply a relabeling of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) (mastery learning) which focus on behavior modification and have the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority."

You can't make this stuff up. And it didn't escape the attention of Stephen Colbert:

The Word - On the Straight & Narrow-Minded - The Colbert Report - 2012-17-07 - Video Clip | Comedy Central

I liked the ending... "Do you really think that would have been possible if anybody had been thinking critically? But thank God no one was. And if they [GOP] get their way, nobody will be..."

So look. The guys running the GOP are for the most part either cons or idiots. They are on the wrong side of most any major issue you pick including healthcare. Especially healthcare. And if you don't like that I point it out, you don't have to call me Tex. You may call me Mr. Douche. That's a whole hell of a lot better than teabagger, yes?

Burning Down

I don't know but if they put you in jail then you can just get treated by all the prison docs, lol.

Euronomus

No, so-called single payer healthcare would actually be cheaper than Obamacare or the old system. With the personal mandate essentially everyone is being taxed for healthcare already, but 20% of what you pay goes towards insurance company bureaucracy and profits, and some say up to a third of what gets paid to hospitals and doctor offices goes towards their financial bureaucracy. A "single payer" system only bills one entity, doesn't have dozens of different policies to interpret, and no-one but the actual people providing care(well also Janitors and cooks etc..) are making money off of it. The problem is just that though-"single-payer" would kill tens if not hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country. That's why it would be so hard to get put into law, and why we have the compromise that is Obamacare.

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hip hop bunny hop

Well, the only kind of debt that can't be absolved via bankruptcy are those federally backed student loans. So, that's a short answer.

The long answer is most hospitals have sliding fee scales. So those who cannot pay the full amount can, with a bit of paperwork, have the fee reduced. Then there's hospitals set up specifically to deal with the poor. These usually just require one bring in the WIC/Food Stamps/Whatever paperwork one has. Then there's the hospitals set up to deal with the homeless, too.... which are completely free.

If you read some of the previous pages, you'll see some of the Liberal members here railing against this current system because it means the rest of society has to pay for these uninsured people. As the way Hospitals are allowed to have these sliding fee scales is just by making everything more expensive.

This is, somehow, magically different from Obamacare which will initiate a complex system of subsidies to cover those who can't pay for their insurance or now fall into the category of those who will be subsidized.

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Have mercy on the poor.

Lord Larehip

The original ACA bill had single-payer. Obama deleted it in an attempt to appease his opponents who were against it who assumed he wouldn't delete it. when he did, they had to find something else to bitch about and the left was furious with Obama for deleting single-payer.

Yeah, why kill jobs implementing single-payer when we can just shut down the govt which is so much more productive?

Lord Larehip

If you ever saw Bill Maher speaking to that congressman in "Religulous" you'd have sworn it had to be a script. What kind of people are in Congress?? Who is brainless enough to cast a vote to elect that?

Euronomus

No, you're thinking of a public option, ie medicaid with no enrollment restrictions. the ACA was always an insurance-based program. And yes a lot of people, myself included, chose Obama over Hillary specifically because of his support for a public option, and were quite pissed when he caved.

The people who are causing the shutdown are the ones who would make it most difficult to pass a single payer system.

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CallMeTex

Thanks for reminding me. I will put that on my list.

Lord Larehip

Yes, I was thinking of public option. I'm ambivalent towards it but lean away from it. The left wanted it so that makes me suspicious.

As for single payer, Medicare and the military already use it and it works. I was in the military and never spent a dime on medical or dental care. hell, they pulled my wisdom teeth for me--you know how much that costs in the civilian world?

As for the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs--frankly, so what? They are largely useless jobs that waste money and are chiefly responsible for why healthcare costs are so bloated. Lat them go work at something else, I frankly don't care what. Those jobs will be lost someday anyway and if they can't read the writing on the wall then they can go sleep in the park for all I care.

Yeah, I'm a dick.

Lord Larehip

Here's the scene I mentioned although you should see the whole movie.


Religulous - Bill Maher owns US Senator! - YouTube