Don't sick and/or get accident if you don't have money

[newfoundland]

I think this post is becoming slightly too personal. Surely anyone can have an accident. I don't care how long you may have been driving for Chickened, have you never encountered another driver acting in a dangerous and reckless way? Never had anyone jump red lights at you, or run into you at a traffic light or roundabout? You are extremely lucky then, or maybe, where you drive, there is little traffic. If you had to negotiate the traffic in any of the world's big cities, your story would be different.

As for falling off horses, I too have grown up around them. It is complete nonsense to say that someone who falls off a horse, should not have been on the horse in the first place. All animals are unpredictable by their very nature. The steadiest of horses can be spooked unexpectedly and take fright. It is the council of perfection to say one should always be prepared for the unexpected.
Accidents happen and can to anyone.

Why do some people persist in seeing a statutory health payment plan as 'paying for others'? Do they anticipate never getting sick and needing medical services. If there are a hundred of us and we each put into a hat, one dollar a week, and in the first week I need $100 worth of treatment, and in the second week you need it, we have the necessary money. I mean how simple can it be? That in essence is all these state run healthcare payment plans are.

I would also challenge chickan dippaaaaz statement that the US has the best healthcare in the world. Infant mortality rates and general mortality rates do not support this idea. Some of the best longevity rates are in the far east and survival rates from various cancers are greater in Europe. In the US there is a serious obesity problem, especially amongst the young, there is also a growing problem in the UK. What we need to be doing as societies is re-educate our people about the dangers of endlessly eating fast food, in huge portions. In the UK, the Government has banned fast and fried food from school menus along with sugary drinks, pies and pastries. Perhaps you would consider it too much interference, but we believe that the health of our children is the business of us all!
Preventative medicine is the best medicine.

 

[Dunkopf]

Well said Newfoundland.

To Chicken. I've given up on you. Some people just aren't worth the effort.

 

[chickened]

Actually I would pay into a healthplan but I will not pay more than the next guy just because I choose to make more money. That is the real hangup for me on healthcare is why should I pay more than the next guy it seems as if I am being punished for my hard work. I prefer to donate and I do and I get to decide how the money I earn is dispersed which is a Biblical principal, "cheerful giver?" When I say does not belong on a horse I was generalizing but over the years I have seen boarders come and go and I assure you the bigger percentage of people that I have experience do not belong on a horse for the horse's sake if anything. I have seen a good horse go sour from an "experienced rider" and guess what they get hurt by not respecting the strength of the animal and usually when they get hurt they have not got enough sense to get rid of the animal as they are now afraid of the animal and a horse can sense that in an owner and as I said you do not want to be riding somewhere with a horse that has your number.

I Will admit I do not drive in big cities much but when I do I am very cautious (rented a car in L.A. once) but yes I have had folks run lights and such but I have managed to avoid accidents. think of it this way there are people that ride bulls and there are people that are great at riding bulls, what sets them apart? because there are some that have broken noses and some that have had no serious injuries, is is luck? I do not believe in luck as something always contributes to the outcome, always. I suppose I could say boy was I lucky I had a gun with me when I was hunting when I shoot that big buck.

I agree with you about obesity in America. We are corn fed.
Quote:

 

[newfoundland]

Your reply is, I fear, very Naive Chickend. You say you do not feel that you should pay more than the next guy simply because you have chosen to earn a larger salary. Can you honestly believe that everyone has choice in this matter? Many people are forced to leave school at the earliest opportunity to help with the family income. They do not have the opportunity to study for a career which would increase their income. Do you ever have a pizza delivered to your house? Do you ever go into a shop to be served by a shop assistant? Do you have your rubbish collected from your house by dustmen? All these jobs are, I'm guessing it's the same in the US, quite lowly paid. You probably earn a lot more than these people, but wouldn't you agree they do important jobs, from which most of us benefit? No matter how high some of us rise, we will always need people to do these jobs, and these people deserved to be valued for their honest contribution to society. The saying 'from each according to his means, to each according to his needs', springs to mind. My family, including many 'high earners' have always gladly contributed to our healthcare system. It is totally irrelevant if the man next door pays less. If we earn more, we still have greater disposable income so what difference does it make to us?

I am often amused at the way people justify themselves by quotes from the Bible. Jesus was in fact the greatest socialist of all! When he shared the loaves and fishes, he took all there was from those that had food. I don't recall that he distributed it so that some had more than others!

 

[KristyHall]

Quote:
x2

 

[desertdarlene]

I got a question regarding the horse thing, though I haven't read every single word of the other posts. How are you going to learn how to ride a horse unless you get on it? I didn't have my first fall off a horse until after I had been riding for a few years.

 

[fuzziebutt]

Yeah, I have a choice in the matter. I have my own health insurance that I pay into. I had 2 brain aneurysms clamped, and spent 5 days in the hospital, and out of pocket was $11. And I also pay into government health insurance by paying taxes. And that's all I want to pay for, and I hope (America the Beautiful playing softly in the background) that I will never be forced to buy into government enforced health care. So far, it's been shot down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. If anyone is over 50, take a really close look at what side AARP is on.

 

[Dunkopf]

AARP is an insurance company masquerading as an aid to seniors. All they do is act as a middleman for supplemental insurance carriers. My opinion is that they don't really have seniors best interest at heart. I cancelled my membership.

 

[bakerjw]

Quote:
Chosen to earn a larger salary??? I have lived in the poverty level for a large percentage of my life since I left home almost 30 years ago so I know what it is like from both sides of the fence. In those years I have never taken food stamps, welfare, or unemployment and my wife and kids never went without. They didn't have the best of everything but they had the essentials. Right now I make pretty decent money for what I do. I have worked hard for many years and self educated myself in a number of different fields to get to where I am at. I didn't wake up one morning and say "Gee. I think that a better job will fall into my lap." I woke up thousands of days and said "What skills will help me get ahead in my field?"

Now whenever I have to do something for my wife's sisters I always get the excuse that "I can afford it". I didn't "choose" to be able to afford it. I have worked hard to get where I am in life and watched many others do better than me and many skate by with as little effort as possible as in the case of my DW's sisters and countless others that I have known through the years.

So please explain to me why I should have to shoulder more of the burden than anyone else? Why should I be penalized for my hard work in bettering myself when others can do as little as possible yet reap the rewards of my labor? Is it because I chose to better myself? Perhaps I am a terrible person for not seeing why I should have more and more taken from me to help those less fortunate ones who aren't willing to help themselves.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
Chosen to earn a larger salary??? I have lived in the poverty level for a large percentage of my life since I left home almost 30 years ago so I know what it is like from both sides of the fence. In those years I have never taken food stamps, welfare, or unemployment and my wife and kids never went without. They didn't have the best of everything but they had the essentials. Right now I make pretty decent money for what I do. I have worked hard for many years and self educated myself in a number of different fields to get to where I am at. I didn't wake up one morning and say "Gee. I think that a better job will fall into my lap." I woke up thousands of days and said "What skills will help me get ahead in my field?"

Now whenever I have to do something for my wife's sisters I always get the excuse that "I can afford it". I didn't "choose" to be able to afford it. I have worked hard to get where I am in life and watched many others do better than me and many skate by with as little effort as possible as in the case of my DW's sisters and countless others that I have known through the years.

So please explain to me why I should have to shoulder more of the burden than anyone else? Why should I be penalized for my hard work in bettering myself when others can do as little as possible yet reap the rewards of my labor? Is it because I chose to better myself? Perhaps I am a terrible person for not seeing why I should have more and more taken from me to help those less fortunate ones who aren't willing to help themselves.

Therein lies one of the biggest fallacies in America. The ole "Why should I help take care of those that are poor because they want to be". The answer is easy. Because you can. Most people that are poor are not there by choice. I didn't grow up in poverty. My parents were lower middle class. We never went hungry. My parents didn't drink, didn't beat their kids (At least by 60,s standards). My Dad worked 12-14 hours a day 6 days a week and my mother worked a 40 hour week. We kids always complained because Dad was so grumpy and yelled at us when we didn't get things done that he told us to do. They had enough to feed us and house us. They didn't have enough for college.

Things were rough for me too. Just as they are for most Americans. Some of us get breaks. I scraped by with my family till around 1995. I then lost a job and a friend hired me to be his assistant appraising cars for a body shop. I was pad 7.00 an hour. Within 2 years I had raised myself to 48k a year. I did it through a lot of hard work. I had the smarts needed, all I needed was a chance. I now make almost double that.

I didn't do anything special to get my foot in that door. I did return the favor to my friend though. I got him hired on at the same company as me and he is now doing well too. It's been proven that kids that go to college do best with what they receive in education when they have social contacts. Usually through their parents and friends. Doing well in America through just great thinking or plain ole back breaking hard work is not that common. Once you get your foot in the door it can sure happen. I spent a lot of years trying to get my foot in a door. Many Americans don't have a door to get their foot in. You call them people that don't want to work. I call them people that need help.

There are a lot of hard working people on this forum that don't have health coverage because they can't afford to spend 40% or more of their gross income to get it. That's why those that can afford to give a little extra out of their pay should do so. Instead they spread false hoods about poor medical care and people being forced to pay for something they don't need. Medical coverage is something everyone needs. High deductible medical plans save a little bit but nowhere near as much as they should for as little as they help. If I had a policy with a 10,000 deductible I would expect to pay about 100.00 a month for it. Instead they still cost in the 700 range for a family. Hard to get enough in your health savings to cover your deductible when you have to pay that each month. Everything the conservatives come up with is designed to put a bigger burden on the hard working people and a lighter burden on those that make their money collecting dividends.

It's a really sad system.