This is not a new phenomenon. Why is there a need to suddenly reinvent the wheel? I'm going to stop now because my solutions will not be quietly accepted by the growing number of do gooders around here.
If there's one thing that pushes me to the side of supporting the healthcare bill, it's the behavior of insurance companies. Rex is right. It's a business, and everything they do makes clear, logical sense. Cold-blooded capitalism at it's finest. However, I think LaSalle is right. Healthcare should not be left to cold capitalism. As ChosenOne said, I liken it much more to Police and Fire where it's a protective service for the citizens. I consider myself conservative, but it's issues like this, when the true cold-hearted side of conservativism rears its head that I find myself leaning back to the left.
In this state if you have been declined by two insurers you qualify for the state guarantee insurance pool. Nobody has had their premiums doubled in 1 year in this state and you can't be singled out for a rate increase. Premiums are increased by group (Geographical area) or by class (Age) Those that want insurance can have it. May be expensive but under the state guarantee pool not unbearable. Then there is medicaid if you're too poor to pay the pool.
This. I think that healthcare serves a similar role as the military. . .protecting citizens when they cannot protect themselves. It's a basic human right, and I frankly find it remarkably devoid of perspective that there are those who don't see it that way. And the fact that the healthcare debate becomes so frequently intertwined with a free market debate is appalling. I always find it very curious that a group who aligns itself with Christianity strives so fiercely to deny people healthcare. Really, what would Jesus do? They'll take up arms against abortion, but they don't want to take care of that unwanted baby when it becomes a sick adolescent or adult.
About 3 years ago I had major reconstructive surgery on both of my feet. Needless to say I went way over my short term disability provided by my employer because I couldn't walk for nearly 9 months. I had been paying for long term disability insurance for years and that is what was supposed to take over at the end of the short term at a 60% rate of pay. My claim got denied. About 3 months before the initial surgery, I had gone to the regular doctor for a random checkup and it was my first time at that doc (and the first time to the doc in general in about 12 years) so they did blood work. My blood work came back fine except I had a slightly elevated level of uric acid in my blood so doc said I should stop being such a fatty or else I was gonna have gout soon. The insurance company said that that bloodwork constituted a pre-existing condition that justified denying my claim. I had papers signed from both the doc that did the blood work AND the surgeon that performed the surgery saying that the 2 were completely unrelated and they denied the appeal based on the opinions of their panel of "medical experts". I drained my savings and my checking and everything until I had nothing left and went back to work early against docs orders because I had bills to pay. If I would have messed up my feet doing that mess, I would probably be in prison because I would have found that building and set it on fire. Pre-existing conditions should be determined by someone OTHER than some panel of "independent experts" that work for the insurance company. They could tell me 1000 times that their experts were independent and I wouldn't believe it. If given the chance, I would be happy to manually remove the fingernails and teeth of everyone on that panel with a pair of rusty pliers covered in pepper spray, salmonella and AIDS.
Some people here are definitely confused about the definition of "insurance". And my understanding of Obama's idea is basically to make everybody pay higher premiums for the individuals that gets sick/injured/whatever - rather than just those specific individuals. Personally, I believe that Insurance companies need better (not necessarily more) regulation.
Protecting citizens? If you get sick I need to be protected??? A human right?? Healthcare is a good/service not a right. I'll tell you what Jesus would do, he would tell you to take care of your self and your own responsibilities. Not to put that burden on others. And I find it interesting that people bring up religion when it comes to this. Like that is suppose to play some emotional role on people. Things cost money, if you don't have that money let's hope there is a charity to help you out. Otherwise you are not entitled to get that service that other people pay for and people have a job to supply that service because of it.
Unbelievable.:dis: Walk into a Car Dealership with no money but give them a sob story about how badly you need a car and see how you do? Go to the supermarket with a cart full of groceries and no money, but give them a tale of woe and see how many groceries you walk out with. Bring a load of lumber to the Lowe's checkout. Explain that you have no money, but your family home needs roof repairs and see how much lumber you walk out with. Yet, you want Insurance companies to give you more coverage for less money based upon nothing but a sob story? Give me a break. Insurance companies are not a social organization. Get that through your thick skull.
