(no subject)

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

What has your local news coverage of the ObamaCare decision been like? 

Mine has been skeptical in the verbal discussion, but all of the "stories" shared, its always these depressing stories of people who can't afford their own insurance for one reason or another and these emotional stories are what people pay attention to, not the talking heads.

Its really bothering me how unbalanced the coverage is. When the news shows a story about a toddler whose parents can't afford a life-saving operation, of course that is going to get sympathy and make ObamaCare look good since these people will now somehow be covered because Obama said so.

They just did this on my local newscast - went from a sob story about how ObamaCare is going to make this family's life better directly to some talking heads: two local doctors, one pro and one against. The Doctor Pro basically highlighted one of ObamaCare's (and the health system in general's) biggest flaws as a good thing: she said that ObamaCare will force all of the young and healthy into subsidizing the healthcare of the elderly and ill by making them purchase a product they don't even need, all while magically reducing costs (even as costs immediately go up). Doctor Con tried to point out how the entire law was pie in the sky denial of reality but there just wasn't enough time between the puff piece and Doctor Pro. 

I know we'll continue to see more of the "fluff" and less of the bad things as time goes on and Americans are slowly indoctrinated into believing they're being sold a miracle potion instead of snake oil. 

Comments

[ellie-kay.livejournal.com]

But I mean, I don't get it. I'm an uninsured, (lower) middle-class American, and all this is going to do is HURT me. My husband and I *choose* not to have health insurance because it's not really something we can afford right now as a priority. Under this law, we're now *required* to get it--meaning we're going to be paying $250+/month, or if we don't want to pay that, we're going to be fined by the IRS. We're trying to pay a mortgage, bills, put food on our table, put money into savings and IRA, and health insurance is not something we want or, really, need right now. We've been paying out-of-pocket for doctor visits the past couple years, and when my husband sliced his head open on the basement ceiling and had to get 16 staples in his head, the hospital/ER allowed us to go on a payment plan and it's worked out great for us.

Yeah, we'll get private health insurance eventually--when we're both in a little more of a comfortable financial situation. But right now we don't want to have to be burdened with it, you know? So how is this supposed to help us?!?!

It's the same with any uninsured American. If you're not below the poverty level, but you're also not making a ton of money, this is going to be a big blow to your financial situation. It sucks.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

WHAT!? You mean ordering you to purchase something doesn't magically make it affordable somehow?

Shoot. I wanted to do you a favor and "order" you to either purchase a Ferrari or pay me a car fine. LOL

[merig00.livejournal.com]

Hopefully this is Obama's "read my lips" moment

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I'd love to know how I am supposed to pay for insurance or a fine, when I am unemployed.

Can someone ask Obama to call me and explain this to me? I know I'm bad with math, but $0 - (whatever the amount is) is still impossible in the real world. Negative numbers don't exist in reality.

[ford-prefect42.livejournal.com]

You're supposed to sign up for medicaid.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

Do not want!!!

[ford-prefect42.livejournal.com]

No one that votes for Ocare cares what *you* want, they have to protect you from your own decisions, because they are *so* much more capable than you of making good decisions for you. Ask them, they'll tell you.

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that's the most disgusting and downright insulting part of all of this. It is the arrogance of these people who think they have not only the power but the RIGHT to force citizens to do things like this, against their will and personal convictions.

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

A lot of the "success" of this law is forcing people like you guys - those who choose not to have insurance - to pay for insurance in order to keep costs lower.

...yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, either.

[thekindone.livejournal.com]

I'm an uninsured, (lower) middle-class American, and all this is going to do is HURT me. My husband and I *choose* not to have health insurance because it's not really something we can afford right now as a priority.

Do you also refuse on principle to go to the ER when you don't have enough in saving to cover the cost?

Also, in theory the public option would have been for people in your situation.

[ladyrogue79.livejournal.com]

Did you miss where they said they used a payment plan offered by the hospital when someone went to the ER? You can do that you know. Or some hospitals will actually help you if you can't afford insurance like Bon Secours is doing with me.


And if you're making any kind of money, you're most likely going to be forced to pay for insurance. So no, the public option is not for people like the OP or me. Personally, my husband and I choose not to get insurance because once I get a teaching job, I'll be the only one working (he's working on his degree and Masters right now) and we feel our money is better used going into savings so we can pay off our school debt and so we can actually buy a house someday. And besides, I'm with the OP. It's my choice. Who is Obama to say that I can't choose not to get health insurance?

[thekindone.livejournal.com]

You can do that you know.

Oh yes, I do know. I also know they don't ask you to prove income or employment or any kind of financial info.

I'd guess you would disagree with the government declaring that car dealerships must give people $100,000 cars as long as they give the person a "payment plan". A payment plan that the person may or may not be able to pay off. A payment plan that many people get out of by declaring bankruptcy. Then the car I bought with my own money would cost significantly more because the dealership is eating the cost of all those free cars they're forced to hand out.


Or some hospitals will actually help you if you can't afford insurance like Bon Secours is doing with me.

Charity is billions of dollars behind in catching up with the handouts.


It's my choice.

I'm not saying it shouldn't be your choice, I'm saying that if you make that choice then hospitals should be allowed to not serve you if they don't want to. Currently they are forced by law to do so.

[ford-prefect42.livejournal.com]

I agree with your last paragraph. That's a big part of the problem with medicine these days.

Here's the thing. The problem with medicine isn't that not enough people are insured. it isn't that there isn't enough charity, it isn't even the malpractice suits (although those are a factor), it's that *someone else is doing 90+% of the paying! People don't pay attention to how much services cost, because they are not paying for them, and they can't "shop around" because the AMA has a monopoly on the services! I can get 16 staples put in my *dog*, by a trained professional, for less than $200. So why does it cost 10,000 to get the *exact same* 16 staples in my own head? Because the license requirements are *insane*.

And there will be *no* solution for american medicine until we address that issue. Obamacare will make everything *worse*, by further divorcing the paying for of services from the person recieving the services!

[ellie-kay.livejournal.com]

Did you miss the following part of my comment:

We've been paying out-of-pocket for doctor visits the past couple years, and when my husband sliced his head open on the basement ceiling and had to get 16 staples in his head, the hospital/ER allowed us to go on a payment plan and it's worked out great for us.

So, no, we didn't have a few grand just lying around, but we also took responsibility for our situation and went on a payment plan with the hospital, since we were uninsured. They also gave us something like a 30% discount on what the visit would have cost us.

The public option would have required that someone else take the responsibility for our situation. I don't WANT anyone else to be responsible for me.

[jacobs-muse.livejournal.com]

Yeah, personally I got paid a bit over $10K last year, so buying health insurance isn't big on my priority list, either. I'm saving for a car and we are working toward not living with his father for another 13 years.

[jacobs-muse.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I avoided the news today until the weather came on. It was bad enough seeing Canadians and British people congratulating it online.

[jessm78.livejournal.com]

Don't blame you. I pretty much did the same thing. And I have a fellow American (and NYer) on my flist crowing, "Long Live Obamacare!" She then says "If you don't agree with me, that's fine. But I have a personal stake in this. I don't have healthcare. I want healthcare. I want good free healthcare."

Um.... yeah... :/ It took all my willpower to refrain from commenting. I'd commented before on a post she made about Obamacare and another friend of hers got into a huge argument with me about how people here are "dying in the streets" because they don't have healthcare. Incidentally, this person is from NZ and told me that their healthcare is infinitely better than ours. Even though they sometimes have to wait a long time for "minor surgery."

Luckily I haven't seen anyone else on my flist commenting on it yet, except for a fellow conservative who's as pissed off as I am.

[ladyrogue79.livejournal.com]

Er... but isn't the UK trying to get away from Universal Health Care? Because... it's not working and their health care system sucks right now?? That's some major denial right there if they are applauding us getting it.

[jacobs-muse.livejournal.com]

Well, these particular ones love the NHS and credit it for saving their lives or giving them some big help, so they'll cling to it 'til their dying day.

[neemarita.livejournal.com]

I will never forget being on a Yahoo group for people with jaw issues that require surgery (underbites, overbites, etc--they can destroy your teeth, etc). Women in the UK had to have it done twice or more because they had to wait and wait and it never worked out because they were a lot older. All their teeth had to be pulled. Etc, etc. And they said their healthcare was great because it was free. I got my surgery done at 20, healed in the month long timeframe, had a fabulous surgeon and it was worth every damned penny not to end up like those people who got theirs done 20 years LATER than they were supposed to because they were on a waiting list.

[brendala.livejournal.com]

I haven't paid too much attention to the local news. But all the Fox News shows feature talking heads on both sides parroting the worst case scenarios back and forth. The Leftie goes on about the families who went bankrupt because of a sick child. And the Rightie goes on about the horrors of socialized medicine. Lather, rinse, repeat.


Thing is, this issue isn't about deciding which system is better; it's about deciding which system is less awful. I wish more people would realize that.

[theidolhands.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KCBS_(AM)

KCBS radio has been fairly balanced, with discussions of the implications of taxes and what the burdens might be long-term.

[sreya.livejournal.com]

Snake oil? Oh, now I'm wishing I had the artistic talent to do one of those old sarsaparilla tin ads. (It will cure all your ills! And add hair! And give a healthy glow to your skin!)

Here's a couple of examples, if anyone is so inclined!
http://www.arfiveauctionsandsales.com/tc1/tcone123.jpg
http://productimages.goantiques.com/194408/10223105_fullsize.jpg

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

But unlike ObamaCare, I actually like sarsaparilla!

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

I cannot watch the coverage. Seeing everyone gloating over this will make me lose what's left of my mind.

[lilliew.livejournal.com]

I don't watch my local news except when the weather is bad. It's too depressing otherwise (violent crimes, corruption, local politics, etc.). So not sure how they are reporting it.

My outrage meter is currently overloaded and on the fritz so I'm finding it hard to get too upset about the ruling. This is what people voted into office in 2006/2008 and we're surprised by the outcome?

I do agree with the thought that it isn't the Supreme Court's job to decide which is a good or bad law, but interpret the constitutionality of it. Their function is much broader and longer term than current political issues.

I'm not happy about this at all, but I am hoping and praying that this smacks some common sense back into the electorate that the Democratic party has gone off the rails and have been lying to the public over this and many other things. If it leads to a win in the Presidency and Senate for GOP in November, I'll take it. If not, this country is truly hosed and I'm already looking into gun lessons and what I need to do financially to take care of myself in the future since it's going to get very very ugly.

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

I am hoping and praying that this smacks some common sense back into the electorate that the Democratic party has gone off the rails and have been lying to the public over this and many other things

Right there with you.

I've also heard some talk that since the Supreme Court has basically called this law a tax, Congress can now repeal it without needing super majorities in both houses. So in the Senate, they only need 51 votes to repeal it. The House already is scheduled to vote for it in the near future.

[coldblossom.livejournal.com]

But Obama is still (somehow) insisting it is not a tax, so there might be some procedural block that can be used in the legislature to table any motion for repeal on the grounds that there is no consensus as to what, exactly, ObamaCare is.

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

Of course Obama's still insisting it isn't a tax. This is the same guy who said a couple weeks ago that the private sector is doing fine and therefore we're in a recovery. He's going to continue saying whatever he wants as long as there are enough Koolaid-drinking Americans who believe his schtick....and our complicit media laps up whatever he says.

It makes me sick. Makes me wonder if we'll see the end of the tunnel with this fight.

[muses-circle.livejournal.com]

ObamaCare will force all of the young and healthy into subsidizing the healthcare of the elderly and ill by making them purchase a product they don't even need, all while magically reducing costs

This argument always makes my brain hurt. It's basically the same argument for Social Security: everyone's gotta chip in "their fair share", young and old alike, because otherwise the system will crash and then all the sick, elderly people won't have money and will die.

It's about taking away my right to choose to fund a broken program....and mark my words, this healthcare system is going to be yet another broken, failed program.

How this will lower healthcare costs is beyond me. I always thought the best way to lower costs is to make the market more competitive.

But to answer your question, I haven't turned on the news since I heard the opinion read. No desire to watch democrats, liberals, and socialists rub it in ('cause they're so good at that).

[farchivist.livejournal.com]

I don't watch my local news at all, so I can't say.

I can say that Obamacare will not affect me at all.
- My insurance provided by my employer exceeds the minimum Obamacare mandates and always has. My employer will not be getting rid of the insurance; it will instead be improving it to cover more things in medical, dental, and vision. Our premiums paid out of our paycheck will be reduced as the corporation I work for deems it advisable that they be responsible for having a healthy and productive workforce. The cost to them is minimal, so it's good for them.
- My doctor, dentist, and optometrist will not be affected as they work as subsidiaries for BigCorp medical firms and their companies already comply with all the new paperwork standards.
- My tax lawyer says it will have no significant effect on my federal income tax return, because even if I lost my job and had no insurance, he can work the deductions around it.

[regalpewter.livejournal.com]

My only comment is two points;
First, like McDonald's, serving everyone does not guarantee that what they receive will be the best that it could be.
Second, if the Act is so darned good, why are they still having to sell it to the public so hard?

YIS,
WRI