The Health Care Law.

[Royd]

Condoms are over the counter. Most forms of birth control for women require a prescription and doctors visit. Abstinence, unless planning a family, may be the holy way, but if this country is going to function properly we need to accept reality and act accordingly to produce the best results. Moral grievances about birth control aren't as important as preventing unwanted pregnancy. Birth control is a small cost to absorb when compared to prenatal, birth, and child care for an unplanned pregnancy.

Condoms may be over the counter, but they are still a form of BC....Why does the man have to take it in the wallet, and the woman get a free ride...Sounds discriminatory to me...Or is it just payback time?

 

[Royd]

Never before have so many people retired, all at once. And never before have they lived so long. Those 20 somethings are paying into a social security system that was not designed for so few people to support so many. A system that those 20 somethings know, like pensions, won't be there for them.

Those 20 somethings are told education is the way to go, yet the price of education has risen much much more then inflation.

Those 20 somethings are trying to get a foot hold in a tough economy.

While they likely won't be receiving pensions or social security as you know them, they will inherit one thing - a huge debt.

And they look back at the "free love" boomers that did so much in the 60s and wonder what happened afterwords - mortgage back security fraud, Bernie Madoff, Enron, Bail Outs, four decades of foreign wars, Wall Street. . . Can this be the same generation that did so much good in the 60's?

The health care plan seems to be another transfer payment plan forcing healthy 20 somethings that might not normally chose to buy health care since their risks are low to pay into a system so that that money can be allocated to older people that are more likely to have more costly pre-existing conditions.

Look, I'm not against older people: I hope to be one someday and am well on my way. But when I hear a boomer complain about "those darn kids" it makes me snicker. Complaining about 20 somethings habits seems a little ironic coming from the free love tie dye pot smoking Hendrix generation. Just sayin.

Ah, a young person who gets it....Now the question is, why have so many been duped by the smooth words of a Class A conartist? Could it be that math isn't being taught by unionized govt. teachers and the young adults just can't put 2 and 2 together?

 

[Royd]

Oh sure, take away my birth control. Let's see, I'm a married woman, but that's cool (Sorry honey, we just gotta keep our pants on). I will then bleed heavily with no interruption for four months straight (a major health reason for picking up those little pills), severely lowering my ability to work at the physically demanding job I do, but that's okay...I should really be home raising unplanned children on whatever my husband can bring home. Ooo, I will get to experience adult, severe cystic acne again! Oh man, I really miss that stuff. I mean, if nature wants me to have deep facial scarring and large, painful cysts, by golly, I should embrace those pus filled pustules that lower one's immune system. Oh! I can once again experience the joys of fibromyalgia type pain and 'hotspots' brought on by hormone imbalance. Man, one simple pill keeps that under control, but now I see that I really don't deserve to benefit from a service I pay into. How could I forget the mood swings caused by heavy hormonal shifts? Everyone around me got to enjoy those. Oo, and who needs a drastically lowered risk of ovarian cancer? Sure, my risk is severely heightened when I'm off said pill due to my body producing more eggs than a prize leghorn, but I mean really. My body needs to be personally responsible for its decisions. Maybe cancer will teach it a thing or two.
But of course, I will continue to pay for Viagra and other necessities. I know my place, and it is not in a position to make decisions for myself.

If I could do links properly, it would be Carly Simon's You're so vain. LOL

 

[Royd]

I don't know how the tax on real estate sales helps any ones health. The health care law has in it a national real estate tax of 3.8%. Doesn't that add to the people making less then $250,000 a year ?

As I pointed out earlier, using that same point, this was a "Clean out the Fridge" moment for the Dems. Had they been forced to go through the bill, line by line, and explain or eliminate each item, the thing would still be on the table.

 

[Royd]

Just a thought, while reading another site; Thanks to the Supreme Court, this administration has now imposed the largest tax increase in history upon the total populace, during the worst recession in the history of this country.

It's not going to be easy to explain that away.

 

[crazyrescuelady]

I'm a nurse and in school to be a nurse practitioner. I see a lot of the good and bad of the healthcare system, and believe me I've seen enough freeloaders who throw away their health and then get outrageously expensive care on the taxpayers' dime to build up a bit of ire. For all those who don't want to be forced to buy health insurance, who is going to cover you when you need care? All of us get old, all of us will need care. It will usually be much more expensive when we're elderly. Anyway, I get what you're all saying, you value your freedom, there are lots of people wasting lots of money in our system.

BUT. This country's system completely allows even responsible adults, young or old, to be left entirely screwed. Last fall, for a comparative health policy class, we read a book on health care in America compared with various other countries. It detailed the story of a young woman who developed lupus, then lost her job due to the condition and the excessive use of sick days, then of course lost her insurance because it had been through her employer, then couldn't get more insurance due to that pre-existing condition and her lack of income. She ended up dying within a few years, due to complications that could have been prevented had she been able to afford regular care. She wasn't stupid, or lazy, or coddled. She was unlucky in a system that rewards the lucky.

Yes, if you are actively dying you can get treatment at a hospital. But by the time you get to that point, it's often too late. There are many stories of abuse of the system, but there are others like that young woman who didn't deserve to die in the way she did. Just had to add in a different point of view. It's a complex issue that doesn't work well when reduced to blanket statements.

This is my biggest fear. I have Multiple Sclerosis and pay my insurance through payroll deduction at work. I've worked for THE big box store for 25 years. If I miss more than 3 days in a year I will be written up. Any three mistakes in one year and you are gone. The do not have to be the same things, just any three. When I retire, no insurance. If I get fired, no insurance.
I'm neither stupid or lazy. I work 40 hours a week as a "member of mgmt", I volunteer at a wildlife rescue and rehab facility and run a farm.
I'm terrified of missing work due to illness because nothing is excused. I'm starting a drug trial because the drug company will pay for all my medical care related to that and MRI's are not cheap and my insurance has a $2500 deductible & then they pay 80%.

 

[mom'sfolly]

People, a reproductive system is part of a human body. If you have insurance, it should cover all parts of your body. Before this law, 27 states already had laws requiring insurance companies to cover birth control. This is not a new idea.

Viagra is for restoring "normal function", supposedly; but wait, one of the normal effects of aging on men is erectile disfunction. We can't treat anything that disrupts a normal function, ie aging, so no get it up pills.

If I understand correctly, pregnancy should be covered because it is a normal function, but birth control shouldn't be because it is not normal. Strange argument. Virtually everything that a doctor treats is because a "not normal" condition arose. We don't go to the doctor because everything is working perfectly. Parasites are part of the "normal' human condition, but we all work to prevent them.

The argument that "sin" diseases shouldn't be covered also doesn't pass muster. If you say someone is not entitled to insurance coverage because of over eating, smoking, being lazy, then the opposite side of the coin should also be true. Every behavior caused stress fracture, ACL repair, concussion, pulled muscle due to exercise must be excluded too.

Bottom line for insurance companies, covering birth control is cheaper than covering pregnancies. Most companies prefer to cover the birth control.

 

[punk-a-doodle]

Royd, sure, you could post that song. But trust me, an inability on another's part to see how that applies to other people calls for another tune. x)

 

[crazyrescuelady]

I've been paying out of pocket for our family of 4's health care for the last 6 years. Its much cheaper than paying for insurance. I think the REAL problem with our health care system is the outrageous cost of services. If there were no insurance in existance a hospital could not get away with charging $60,000 for a 4 night hospital stay. Maybe we need to get to the real root of the problem and fix that. $1200 a month for Humira? Bet they don't pay that in other countries and we probably financed the research.

I want to add I'm at the beach right now. 1/2 the people here are obese, a bunch are smoking and others are cooking in the sun. There's also a kid behind me polishing off a huge bag of potato chips. If people had to take more financial resonsibility for their health maybe they'd make better lifestyle choices.

I used to be the invoice clerk at THE big box store and paid the bills for The Store. I paid the bills for my meds and know that WM doesn't make a lot of money on the expensive meds. My shot's cost me 200 a month, my part after insurance. The REAL problem lies with BIG INSURANCE AND BIG PHARM COMPANIES!!!! And yes we paid for the research.

 

[Royd]

Another thought: When health workers are forced into unions, every dime has been extracted from the private sector, health workers miss two paychecks in a row, and decide to go on strike, like the utilty workers just did in the NE, in the hottest heatwave in recent history, what then?