I dunno, eating, having a solid roof over your head, access to getting to work, etc…
Is making people pay their fair share a dangerous precedent? Unless you plan on dying early and inexpensively, you will eventually need more health care than you can pay for out of your pocket. You can consider this as investing in an annuity you will get when you get older. You don’t get money from the annuity unless you pay in, same here. You also get the benefit of insurance now, which is not limited to the dollars it pays - if that were true, no one would buy life insurance.
Here’s what’s bothering me… my payment (if I paid) for my company’s insurance plan is $300 a month. I don’t make much money so I refused to buy into it. Will my employer be approaching me soon saying, sorry buddy, you HAVE to pay into it now? I really can’t afford it right now. THAT’s what scares me. It isn’t that I don’t want health insurance, it’s that extra 300.00 a month for bills, rent, food etc.
Yeah, I used to think like that too, until I realized that in most cases I don’t have a say in those things that government gets out of; corporations do. Government may be an evil, but in this case it’s the lesser of two evils. At least the government has to answer to the polls. Corporations aren’t people and don’t answer to shit except profit, which is almost never in my best interest.
Depending on how much you make, you might qualify for a tax credit to help offset the added expense. You can look at this calculator to get an estimate.
The new law has subsidies for those who can’t afford it.
Darth, yes you will be asked to sign up by 2014 at the latest. The new insurance exchanges will offer four different plans, bronze, silver, gold and platinum. Your employer might do the same and offer a lower-cost plan like a bronze plan. If not you could purchase a basic bronze plan from the new exchanges.
… and as noted, you might qualify for a tax credit. If you still choose to not sign up, you will pay a tax what will help cover the costs of treatment you might get.
Ah yes, the slippery slope that we have been on for decades with food stamps, public housing, roads and public transportation. You still haven’t answered my question about what you, with no insurance, plan to do if you get seriosuly injured or sick.
You missed my above post… it’s not that I don’t WANT health insurance, Gangster, it’s just that atm I can’t afford my company’s plan. Hopefully, when the new bill kicks in with the exchange options I’ll be on a more financially stable footing.
And as far as public housing, a buddy of mine waited a month before a room was available to him. So he lived in a tent out in the woods until then. Public transportation? You’re kidding, right? Buses just pull up to anyone’s door? Try living in North Jersey where you’re pretty much SOFL unless you’re closer to urban areas. Fact of the matter is, New Jersey Transit RAISED fare rates WHILE cutting all Morris County bus routes.
Basically, this guy says what I’ve been thinking. The republicans are looking like asses and not really helping the country at all with the way they are handling this.
And just how would you suggest they handle it so as to continue to oppose it (which they must do for reasons of their values) and yet still gain your approval and admiration?
Funny, I like Corps better than Gov, because Corps answer to competition. At least if I don’t like Aetna I can switch to Blue Shield. Replacing the IRS or the DMV is not an alternative, hence their is no check on their bloated nature or abuses.
The profit motive seems to get beaten up unfairly. Lots of companies make good profits charging a fair price for an essential product: KMB, CL, etc etc.
The real evil isn’t profit, it’s bureaucracy. Companies get out of control when they’re run for the benefit of their management as opposed to their shareholders. That’s when the real abuses, the real waste and the real evil occurs. Govs are more prone to bureaucracy bloat where they run for their own benefits and those at the top because they are not answerable on the level a corporation is. You can’t switch. You have no regulation on a government other than itself. Those on the left will often moan (with some justification) that SROs are oxymorons, but that’s all the government is.
Most any government organization that was created to help me, first protects itself, provides salaries and meaning to its own employees, and then typically makes me jump through hoops, do all the work, and act like it’s doing me a favor to take my money for a driver’s license or somesuch.
I don’t want more bureacracy. I want less. In the private sector I at least have some competition and can opt out. In the private sector if enough people get frustrated with a provider it creates a market opportunity for an enterpriser with an alternative.
But… I’m stuck with the government monopoly. I have to do what it tells me to do. I have to take it right up the ass without alternative.
That sucks.
So thank you, I prefer the profit motive over the uncaring, self-interested, bloated, omnipotent, baleful, tentacularly inescapable clutches of government.
No, you’re being forced to pay for your share of something you WILL use and if at that time you weren’t insured we’d all foot the, more expensive, bill for. So, thanks in advance for saving me some loot.
It is the exact same thing as paying taxes for any other public service be it firemen, cops, whatever. You have the right to not be insured? Does that mean a hospital has the right to turn you away after a horrible car accident?
Ya, but what does Paul Krugman know about anything anyway? It’s not like he’s written any articles or books or anything. Stupid Nobel prize committee was probably high on mushrooms when they awarded him the prize. Hippies.
What is up with people? Did universal healthcare get passed while I was asleep? You CAN switch to any insurance provider you want. Jeebus.
And you’re right. Corps are beholden to their shareholders… and only their shareholders. Not us. They do every underhanded thing they can to make a profit at our expense, get ridiculously rich, and cause economic meltdown while they flit away to their island homes. Thanks, but I like the CHOICE of a government plan or a private plan when that choice is available. Keeps everyone more honest.
They could start by not trying to stop other government activity that has nothing to do with the Health Care Bill. They could stop using nonsense rhetoric like “armegeddon” and “socialism” and “End of America”.
Just some ideas about not acting like spoiled children.
How about if they actually do their jobs? Opposing every single thing about the elected government just because they’re the opposition does not seem to be productive, nor in the best interests of the electorate. Right now, the GOP is not just the party of “NO”, they are officially the Party of “HELL NO”
ETA: And yes, as Gangster Octopus says, the politicos can stop with the overblown rhetoric with nasty imagery that just appeals to the more challenged portion of the party.
Well, this thread passed me by. Oh well. Can’t post as much as I used to.
It’s definitely true that efficiency is much worse when the corporations/bureacracies are not working for the shareholders/people.
But corporations don’t profit the most when they outcompete the competition. They profit the most when there is no competition. Government can help out with that.