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Post by lubbockgoper on Feb 19, 2012 11:19:43 GMT -5
Anyone notice that what was hailed as a Great Democrap achievement when passed is now not ever mentioned?
Seems the president and congressional libtards would be proud of it.
Guess not, they really seem to want it to go away. Must be some pretty strong internal polling numbers they got going on...lol
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Post by elalacran on Feb 19, 2012 11:43:00 GMT -5
Provision for universal healthcare was a good idea. Then it got co-opted , and became a device for forcing citizens to buy health insurance from insurance companies if they could possibly afford it.
We still have a health care crisis, in the high cost of even basic care (break a leg and go into bankruptcy if you are not insured), the lack of even-handed delivery of quality care, and declining health care as compared to other first world nations.
The state of our healthcare is why we are somewhere in front of Greece and Mexico in quality of life.
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Post by lubbockgoper on Feb 21, 2012 7:47:16 GMT -5
And yet you'll be the first to sign up for four more years of the same.
The DNC is counting on it....
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Post by elalacran on Feb 21, 2012 9:44:18 GMT -5
Do you disagree that healthcare costs are increasing almost exponentially? That increased costs are going to bring down Medicare? That even those with health insurance are in trouble from rising costs? That the 40 million plus who don't have health insurance are not only lacking a minimum standard of care but also threaten the pocketbooks of everybody else?
DO YOU DISAGREE THAT SOMETHING NEEDED TO BE DONE?
Fact is, if this were not a Democratic issue it would be a Republican issue and you'd have Republicans making promises about reforming health insurance/health care. But it was and is, and you don't.
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Post by lubbockgoper on Feb 21, 2012 18:27:18 GMT -5
Do you disagree that healthcare costs are increasing almost exponentially? That increased costs are going to bring down Medicare? That even those with health insurance are in trouble from rising costs? That the 40 million plus who don't have health insurance are not only lacking a minimum standard of care but also threaten the pocketbooks of everybody else? DO YOU DISAGREE THAT SOMETHING NEEDED TO BE DONE? Fact is, if this were not a Democratic issue it would be a Republican issue and you'd have Republicans making promises about reforming health insurance/health care. But it was and is, and you don't. Yes something has to be done and it needs to be constitutionally. Fact is, if this were a Republican issue you'd be totally against it. But back on point, why have the Dems acted like it never happened if it is such a great idea?
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Post by elalacran on Feb 23, 2012 12:38:03 GMT -5
Used to be, we just died. Get sick, get sicker and die. There were no reliable treatments, and resorting to a doctor could in itself be fatal. Well, it still can be of course; lotta diseases are caught during hospital stays (google "iatrogenic disease") and prescribed medications are a maor cause of death in the USA today. Malpractice is a major cause of death.
I've been reading about Virginia in the 1700s. There were slaves reputed to have great talents for healing, so much so that their names have come down to us. A public contribution was taken up to buy the freedom of one; I'd like to say he was totally free, but it seems he was kept in virtual slavery doctoring the ills of those who paid his owner.
Back to topic. Used to be we'd just die and call it fate or the Will of God or whatever. Now it's different. Near miracle cures are sometimes out there, if one can afford them. The trick is affording them. Every day the price of medical services gets higher. My mom went to Grace clinic this year for a look at a red and swollen break in the skin of her arm; the cost was between 200 and 300 dollars. Since her social security is about 550/month, 5 minutes' attention by a doctor to a simple problem cost her two weeks' income. She had to drop her AARP Medicare supplement policy because the premiums are too high.
Problem is this. Our society claims to put a high value on human life. Yet many lives are cut short by lack of access to medical services, and day by day the cost of those services increases which puts them more out of reach for more and more Americans. This disjunct between professed values and fact is causing a rift in our society.
We have the rosy glasses set who say we are in the best of all possible worlds when it comes to medical care, and for them, that might be almost true. For others it is not true at all.
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Post by elalacran on Feb 23, 2012 12:55:26 GMT -5
To add to what I said above. I think that whatever we do, we are headed to a healthcare system where for 95% of Americans there will be triage in effect: that the medical care offered will go only so far and not farther. That this will be so for those who are insured and those who are not. That only the very wealthy can afford the best care or insurance.
Which is what we have now sort of. The difference is that in the future the limits will be defined and the classes of insurance will be defined. We will have admitted to ourselves that the ideal of medical care has changed.
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