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

[newfoundland]

Thank you for your reply Patience. I find these details really interesting because things are done differently all over Europe, for example, and we can look at other countries and appreciate that what's done elsewhere might be better than what we have at home. This is how we can learn from each other and hopefully improve our situation. Another thing that I would like to understand is why is Socialism regarded with such dread in US, or is it? We have three main parties, Conservative, Labour (Socialist) and Liberal Democrat. Although each party has it's staunch supporters, no one seriously believes that if the wrong party gets elected it would be a total disaster. I think everyone believes that polititions do have the best interests of the country at heart. I sense in some of these posts people are quite scared of the power polititions have. Am I right?

 

[mom'sfolly]

Plagiarism...hmmmmm. I feel that, at best, plagiarism is being intellectually lazy. If you think someone else can say what you want to, only better, quote them, or post the link. I've seen plenty of people on this board very upset when their copyrighted material is used without permission. Most companies of any size have lawyers whose only job is to go after copyright infringement. I don't know if they'd go after someone on a chicken forum, but you never know.

 

[ChikeeMomma]

mom'sfolly :

The cap thing is actually something we look at when open enrollment comes around. Some policies have a $100,000 cap, some $250,000, some a million. It also matters if it is a family cap or individual cap or if it is a lifetime cap. All of this seems like a great deal of money until you see a 50+ year old friend with a stroke, and in a rehab hospital for months. He and his wife are DINKS who had been retired for less than a year, when it happened. Don't know how they are doing now.

Are you speaking of caps for the amount paid out on a health insurance policy? I thought they were supposed to do away with caps like that when the health care bill was passed. I thought maybe it had changed because our policy used to have a cap of 7 million dollars over the life of the policy and now is unlimited. Did I miss something? And I didn't go back through and read previous posts, so maybe I did miss something. Thanks!!!​

 

[Patience]

Quote:
You are quite welcome, newfoundland.

The reasons Americans are so disastrously divided is long and complicated. 14 editors and publishers of Republican newspapers were indicted under the Sedition Act of 1798, designed to eliminate criticism of the Federalists in power. That kind of abuse of power and the push back from outraged citizens has been a mainstay of much of the tone of our debate. Remember, too, that we are huge and not very densely populated. The two sides of any issue can be very isolated although I think and hope that is changing with our access to each other online. I grew up in New England, in the Boston area. The adults I heard discussing politics were fiscally conservative Republicans and Democrats concerned with social issues. I think that while the left is still concerned with social justice, the right has shifted to social issues as well and values make for a nasty conversation when mixed with politics. Especially if you throw religion into the mix and we are the most religious nation in the developed world.

As to the fear of socialism, I doubt many who are so afraid of it actually understand socialism as most of the rest of the world understands it. Most would be surprised to learn just how socialist we actually are. The irony is that the greatest recipients of our brand of socialism are the ones most likely to object to it. All you have to do is look at a map of who gets back more in Federal spending than they put in to see how odd their fears are. In addition, very few Americans have any real experience outside this country. It's expensive for us to travel abroad, most Americans speak only English, and we have far fewer vacation days than our counterparts not that we take them. We actually forfeited 448 million vacation days last year.

One of the strangest things about us is that Americans tend to think they are wealthier than they are. Unless they are wealthy, in which case they underestimate their worth.

We are also failing miserably in terms of education. We rank at best average and often well below. We are somewhere around 18th out of the 36 developed nations. Trurly shameful for the wealthiest country in the world.

This is an aside, but I have often felt that political discourse in this country would be much improved if we had a head of state. I doubt we will ever get one, but I admit to being jealous of those countries that have them.

I imagine I have left out lots; this is just my perspective based on my studies and life experience. Entirely my own opinion and I would love to hear others' thoughts.

 

[mom'sfolly]

Insurance payout caps were one of the things changed with the health care reform law. Unfortunately, there is a large group of people in this country that want to see all parts of the law overturned. Caps were always something we looked at when picking insurance, especially when we were planning our family.

 

[I have WHAT in my yard?]

My friend is a good example.

She got the one-two punch of the recession/housing bubble and cancer all in two years. She had good insurance, but not the best short term disability. They argued over paying her while she was undergoing daily chemo-therapy! So, she had no income for two months. Then only 45% of her regular income for another 8 months. Not to mention just being so freaking sick she was not taking care of the basic logistics of paying bills. Her entire retirement was in real estate. She owned several rental properties.

She fell behind, and was in no position to advocate for herself. She didn't tell any of us how bad it had gotten.

She took $10,000 in CASH to the bank to catch up the one loan and not only did they refuse to accept legal tender, because it was ten grand they wanted all kind of documentation on where it had come from. So she made two deposits of $5 grand each and they still "declined payment" and sold the house right out from under her.

Today she told me despite everything she has done to fix things she lost two of the properties and the last one is in foreclosure now. She still has the house she lives in, but she is 50 years old and her entire retirement savings is gone.

 

[chickened]

"So what", now there is a good response, did you go to school for that one? It seems that is the opinion of the worth of the Constitution these days.
Quote:

 

[Medicine Man]

One of the Constitution's most amazing features is the fact that it is a living, fluid document, subject to going with the flow of an ever-evolving political landscape. The rest of the country is evolving, chickened, whether you like it or not - your kind are like dinosaurs.

 

[Patience]

Quote:

So you believe universal suffrage, the National Parks Service, emancipation, SS, the FAA, our armed forces, the rights of women to own property, trips to the moon, child labor laws, food safety, the Treasury Department, K-12 education, Rte 66, the FBI, the ADA, immigration law, the internet, the Smithsonian Institution, and so on are all unconstitutional? Fascinating.

 

[Dunkopf]

Quote:
One of the other problems is that many people are clueless as to what socialism is. During the Health care debate the far right mouthpieces equated socialism and communism as being the same thing. The internet and the rise of talk shows since 911 has really changed peoples ability to think for themselves.

Politicians have a lot of power. That's why they are willing to let the country go into the ditch to get money in their campaign coffers. Not all of them of course. I'm sorry to say that more than half allow campaign contributors to determine how they will vote instead of their constituents. Unfortunately the American public has a very short memory.

I wish we had 3 parties. We would have a much more effective system if the vote was really split 3 ways.