Obamacare is a flop

[Sistine Chapel]

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

This is a great example of how bitter and ignorant you are.

I've already communicated privately on this matter explaining I'm on a three week international playcation and my time is better spent fucking my non-English-speaking girlfriends, touring sites, and sampling local cuisine.

When I return, I will dig up the application package, rule book, and price book. I should still have it electronically.

And to be a little more clear to you than I was to him, I only know about that system,.....

.....because I was in it.

Edit: Maybe soon I'll be back in it and get my doctors back I've had for two decades.

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

I took it offline thincking his SO's situation was none of your fuckin business.

I see. So he challenges you publicly on a topic you know dam good and well you know nothing about and so as a matter of courtesy you respond in private? Ha! yeah right. You're gonna dig up the application and rule book and shit when you get back? I thought you were sage how come you don't know the shit off hand; after all you had the service for two decades which is 20 yrs. No one asked you to even mention his SO; just wanted to see if you knew about this system since you said you had all the answers.

and what's up with calling me bitter, angry, and ignorant? You know you don't believe that. See you started out coming at me once I joined this site and let me tell you GS if you wanna fuck with me I encourage you to but Imma play King of Diamonds 3 more times. ;-)

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by Sistine Chapel

.... you had the service for two decades which is 20 yrs
.....

I've little time right now. But before I answer later, let's calibrate here.

Please tell us why you say I had the service for two decades.

[GlobeSpotter]

you gonna answer?


or no?

[GlobeSpotter]

no answer?

[tbone2u]

Maybe he can talk but can not read

[cinderbella]

I am fortunate to be fully covered by the VA system. I had an interesting lesson back in February that taught me a lot about the healthcare system and how broken it is.

I had a medical emergency, I live in Tyler so I was admitted to a local hospital here since I was not able to drive myself to the Dallas VA hospital.

This local hospital was billing the VA for my care. I was hooked to an IV and barely checked upon for a few days. A surgeon visited me and told me in order to operate on me, he would have to cut my chest and sternum open and that the recovery would be brutal. Fortunately they could not schedule it for a few days. Then a nurse told me an ambulance was on the way and that I would be taken to the VA hospital in Dallas. I was scared, I had read horrible things about the Dallas VA.

It turned out to be the most fortunate turn of events. As soon as I arrived at the Dallas VA, I was given a much nicer bed in a much cleaner room and a whole team of care providers immediately began actually taking proper care of me. I was met by a medical student since it was after normal business hours, he directed all this vital healthcare that I had not received at all in the private hospital I left. I was given anti clotting drugs, my vitals were taken every 30 min. or so and I felt so much better immediately. It was a night and day difference of care and competency.

Then I met my new surgeon, who told me he would only have to punch a few tiny holes in my stomach via robotic surgery. I told him the previous surgeon had told me I would have to have my chest cut open. He looked at me puzzled, and said absolutely not. What a relief.

Long story short, I had 3 hours of surgery and I did not need any pain medication whatsoever afterward. I was up and walking that night and I was discharged 3 days later. I went back for a checkup and went to the director's office and wrote a letter thanking the entire staff and Dallas VA hospital for all they did for me. The private hospital in Tyler was being paid by the VA to do absolutely nothing but the most basic care for me, and it was horrible. They never even changed the sheets but I was too sick to really care. I was so ill that an IV was keeping me alive and if they would have done the major surgery they were planning on doing, not even giving me anti blood clotting medication would have made a bad recovery prognosis much worse.

When I came home, I learned that the surgery the private hospital planned on doing was pre 1998, that the surgery the VA did was what is normally done.

I had no idea. I was at the mercy of the hospital. They were getting paid regardless. What they were not doing was actually providing proper healthcare. Big problem.

[VitaMan]

Over the last 15 years, I have only spent a total of $ 50 on health care. No insurance. Never had a prescription. NO flu shots.

After having a job scanning medical records from paper form to digital, I saw many patient files that were 2 and 3 inches thick. I realized then there was no need for anyone to have a medical file like that, and that something was not right with health care.

[GlobeSpotter]

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

I've little time right now. But before I answer later, let's calibrate here.

Please tell us why you say I had the service for two decades.

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

you gonna answer?


or no?

Originally Posted by GlobeSpotter

no answer?

how hard is it to answer?

[VitaMan]

It's only an internet forum web site thread. Time to move on.

[weasel99]

@cinderbella I live in Vegas and my insurance is in CA. Although quality of medical care in Vegas is improving, I still feel like you're gambling if you get sick. I work in The Industry and pretty much every exec, atty, consultant I know, they need to get something done, they do it in CA where there are real hospitals with real doctors.

While Dallas and Houston are similar to SoCal, the outlying areas I've heard can be like Vegas. Frightening. I've heard a couple of horror stories...in your case, you're in Tyler...I would have gone to Dallas ASAP for something that major.

I knew a guy, was in the Navy, lived in Shreveport, got multiple myeloma. Basically screamed at him to ditch the VA there and head to MD Anderson. Nothing against anyone there, you're a 4 hour drive from maybe the best cancer facility in the world, you make the drive. VA docs gave him 90 days to live. He made it almost three years, with good quality of life til the end.

[preggolover89]

Originally Posted by VitaMan

The promise: "This health reform legislation will require health care companies to compete in the health care marketplace, making health care affordable for all Americans."

The reality:

There are many legitimate criticisms of the ACA: the fact that healthcare costs are rising is not one of them. HC costs have been rising for decades under every administration.

http://kff.org/health-costs/issue-br...ecd-countries/

The ACA was specifically designed to give all Americans access to HC, not simply to lower costs. Since it has given an additional 20 million Americans HC, many people (myself included) characterize it as a success.

[GlobeSpotter]

the crappie plan i had last year went up from 12k per year to 21k per year...for less coverage. Nope....not a gold plan either.

Obama is lucky he's out because he'd have to eat his words again and defend it.

I've heard some dems up for re-election in the next term are getting vocal they'd get on board for a replacement.


first year i was presented about 100 options from about 8 carriers. this year,....20 total from 2.

[asianyoungin]

Just my two cents on the issue, and apologies if this has been resolved.. I haven't read previous posts too in depth because of the bickering... Also, I am an aspiring law student (Gov & history major), but I haven't had to personally deal with the issues too much myself.

First and foremost, Obamacare is a prototype. Universal health care has been a platform for Democrats since FDR, and health care reform even past that. What we have now is a Frankenstein of health care, thrown together with pieces and accommodations from both sides. Recall Obama in 2012 questioning Romney that his plan is similar to Romney, and Romney wasn't able to say anything.. Because it is.

So yes, Obama did exaggerate and over promise, but unfortunately that is a president's job. That is, a president is supposed to be the leader of the public, and gain public opinion for his goals.. So they tend to over promise, every president is guilty of this.

However, Obamacare did its fundamental job, that is, make health care markets compete in the market, resolve the impending implosion of the health care market due to established economic issues (adverse selection, moral hazard, asymmetry of information), and it mandated healthcare for those that didn't have it.

To summarize, Obamacare is not going to be felt by people who can pay hundreds for services. People who were unable to pay for insurance in the first place will feel the benefits. When these people get hurt, they no longer get taken advantage of by insurance companies. It is also not something to be taken as is, but instead as a prototype for future plans. The fact that it even got passed in the first place is proof of its need for compromise. I understand I'm being very general, but I prefer not to be specific unless I have to. If anyone's confused or would like to learn more, feel free to respond & PM!

[Slitlikr]

^^^
Your choice of majors explains exactly why you have been fed rubbish by your profs but please do what you must to to maintain your gpa.
Perfect example of college = degree and experience = education.

[lustylad]

Originally Posted by lizardking

Thank goodness. Why not go ahead and join the rest of the industrialized world in providing health care to our citizens?

The worry about getting the guv'ment in between you and your doctor is such bullshit. As it now stands, you have insurance companies and healthcare corporations in between you and your doctor. I'll take my chances with government incompetence over corporate greed any day. Insurance companies have fucking both you and your doctor out of money down to a science. Actually, it's called actuarial science. And it is highly effective.

Hahaha... you are clueless! If you think insurance companies are making too much money, then have them compete across state lines instead of being coddled and protected by state regulators. Somehow the geniuses who passed Obamacare left that out. You are blaming the wrong people. The hospitals and doctors are the greedy ones. They do the billing. The insurance companies set their premiums based on those bills. Back in the 1990s, when insurers tried to push back against obscene and unbridled price-gouging and over-billing by hospitals and other healthcare providers, everyone screamed at them to back off. They learned their lesson. Today they just shrug and pass the costs along via higher premiums. So you're barking up the wrong tree. Read Steven Brill's article "Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us". The real villain of the piece is the hospital "chargemaster". That's the guy who is fucking us out of our money, in collusion with the doctors. Do your homework.


The fact that some healthcare companies are raising ACA premiums in some states has gotten much attention in the press. Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of those companies. They complain that they can't make any money anymore. Do a little research. You'll see that they just split-up something like $50 million in bonuses among their top ten executives. Why, it's hardly worth keeping the doors open.

Insurers didn't say they "can't make any money anymore". They're only losing money on the Obamacare exchanges. And that has a lot to do with all those rules and regulations that keep them from offering a normal array of healthcare plans tailored to each customer's needs.


Note that law firms and accounting firms are not and cannot be publicly-traded entities. They are professions that require putting the interests of clients first, and that imperative precludes putting the lawyers and accountants in the position of having to also serve the needs of passive shareholders (i.e., corporate greed). In my view, medicine should be the same. Think about that the next time you wonder whether that $3500 MRI is really necessary.

Hahahaha... so you actually believe lawyers and accountants always put their clients' interests first? If so, I have some swampland in the Everglades to sell you. Do you think class-action tort attorneys work for their clients? Or is it to enrich themselves by skimming off 1/3 or more of their massive settlements? Do you think lawyers who bill their clients by the hour don't run the clock as long as possible? Do you think accountants aren't motivated by fees when they advise their clients on M&A? Being a private partnership doesn't wipe out greed, it just keeps it private.

You are naive and misinformed. The government meddles with healthcare, creates a mess, then tries to use that mess as its justification to meddle even more.