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Originally posted by Jim Scott
People without health care are
1. The largest source for bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy is good for the individual, but I'm sure you would not like people to keep the money they owe to you. It affects your life, future, etc.
2. The largest source for increased health care costs.
You pay a lot for health insurance because hospitals are caring for those who have no insurance.
3. Suffering when life changes occur.
They have sleepless nights, worried about what can happen to their own lives when something goes wrong in their family. Will they lose everything? I have know people who had medical debt over $1 million dollars. It devastated them.
4. Don't find out about preventive medicine.
Health care providers can do preventive measures, like routine exams, to keep medical problems small and inexpensive, compared to the full-blown costs of major problems, like cancer and heart disease. Nip it in the bud, so to speak.
For these and other reasons, it is a great idea to have universal health care. It makes for a healthier family, and a more stable economy. Makes sense for us all to chip in. I think it will actually cost less for all of us in the long run.
2. You put a cap on what a doctor can charge and your doctor will leave. Quit, find somewhere to practice without your aggravation. Doctors are human and most are not incredibly rich like I assume you think they are. I give up. Where are they gonna go to? Canada or Mexico or England. Maybe South America?
NO one spoke up and said this is wrong*
Originally posted by Jim Scott
You have to be real, here. Penniless citizens will have health care insurance, like they have welfare now. 95% of the uninsured are not the penniless, as you note. They are people who elect to avoid having health insurance because they feel they won't have anything go wrong with them. When it does go wrong, they wind up bankrupt, and receiving health care. Debts are dissolved to others (would you like it if they owed you?) and you pay for their health care. That plan is not working. We need to get people covered to reduce the cost to the rest of us. We are paying for them now.
reply to post by fraterormus
It's not unlike speeding and eventually being the one getting pulled over.
Even if you keep your own health care the entire system is going to be totally upgraded,and if a person goes to the Dr or hospital..everything is in this new system-or going to be.
reply to post by plumranch
If you understand Congress and beurocracy then euphemisms like "the entire system is going to be totally upgraded" is impossible. Sort of like "Change you can believe in".
Originally posted by Jim Scott
Originally posted by Erasurehead
Does this sound like liberty to anyone? I will not stand for this, I will fight this with all I have. They just can't decide that it is ok to send people to jail if they don't buy health insurance. This is unamerican and I can't believe that this is even being considered. Live free or die.
It's not? Think about it. I have to work to pay for the health care of others now. Doesn't that affect my liberty? When the uninsured go into a hospital, it comes out of my taxpayer pocket. I would rather see them pay something, personally.
Why would I want to pay for me when people such as yourself have actually convinced yourself that crooked corporations who price things for obscene profits and created a system where people could never afford it out of their own pocket have to pay month in and month out routinely into a pool of money to pay for the obscene profit margins these corporate criminals make off of selling pennies worth of chemicals and a few dollars worth of time for ten's and ten's of thousands of dollars because the corporations dictate market value instead of the market itself.
Originally posted by Erasurehead
Does this sound like liberty to anyone? I will not stand for this, I will fight this with all I have. They just can't decide that it is ok to send people to jail if they don't buy health insurance. This is unamerican and I can't believe that this is even being considered. Live free or die.
n 2001, the top executives for five (five companies failed to disclose their philanthropic giving) of the ten highest grossing pharmaceutical companies were each compensated at an average of about $81 million2. In contrast, these same five pharmaceutical companies donated an average of less than half that amount or $33 million in cash.
The pharmaceutical industry claims that drug prices need to be high in order to recuperate research and development investments. However, on average, the top ten U.S. pharmaceutical companies reported only 14% of their total revenues going towards research and development. In comparison, more than twice that amount, about 33%, is dedicated to marketing, advertising and administration3. In researching this report, Greenlining staff received less than full cooperation from the ten pharmaceutical companies. In general, they were not forthcoming in their responses to the many requests made by Greenlining for data and information on corporate practices. Most companies designated corporate practice information as “proprietary” and would not disclose them. These hidden corporate practices have already led to U.S. drug prices for many prescriptions that are two to three times higher than those in Canada4. Drugs with such price tags are simply not available to millions of seniors, children, and working poor, many who are not covered by any health insurance at all. Thus, drug companies that have the influence to drive up the cost of health insurance premiums through the pricing schemes for their “life saving” medications deprive those who most need these medications and do not have the resources to pay for necessary medications and to also pay for rent, utilities and food. This is an unconscionable corporate practice.