Obama's healthcare plan: why we should support it

Millions of Americans do not have health coverage, or have inadequate coverage. Due to the severe economic challenges forced on us by the failed Bush regime, the problem of health care access grows.
 
DNC said:
More and more Americans find themselves uninsured.

Those Americans fortunate enough to have health insurance often don't get the quality care they need and deserve.

Employer-sponsored health insurance premiums have more than doubled in the last 9 years, a rate 4 times faster than cumulative wage increases.

The average cost of an employer-based family insurance policy in 2008 was $12,680, which was nearly the annual earnings of a full-time minimum wage job.

From 2000 to 2008, the percentage of employees with an annual deductible greater than $1000 increased from 1% to 18%. Among small businesses, more than one in three workers must spend at least $1000 out of pocket before their health benefits kick in.

Half of all personal bankruptcies are the result of medical expenses.

The current system has failed millions of Americans and that's why we will enact comprehensive health reform this year, without the obstructionists in the pay of the insurance lobby.
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christiefan915 said:
Read DNC's post #38. That's my position.

Feel free to offer something substantive in return.
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christie his post is NOT a position...it is at a minimum his statement of "facts"....so i ask once again:

nothing you've said tells me why obama's plan should be supported....or are you claiming that obama's plan will somehow fix all of that...if so....specifically how
 
First, to provide Americans with more affordable choices, we’ll set up a marketplace where you can compare plans and pick the one that’s right for you. None of the plans would be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And one of the options should be a public plan that would increase competition and keep private insurance companies honest.

Second, we have to align incentives for doctors and hospitals so that they’re rewarded based on the quality of care they provide, not on how many tests or procedures they prescribe.

Third, we need to move from a sickness system to a wellness system. By investing in prevention and emphasizing healthy lifestyles, we can save money while improving health.

Finally, reform must not add to our deficit over the next ten years. To that end, we have already identified hundreds of billions of dollars in savings, money that’s already being spent on health care, but is funding waste and overpayments to insurance companies.
 
DNC said:
Millions of Americans do not have health coverage, or have inadequate coverage. Due to the severe economic challenges forced on us by the failed Bush regime, the problem of health care access grows.
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are you ever going to tell me why i should support obama's plan? or are you simply go to yell from the banks that the river is flooding, the river is flooding, the river is flooding.... as i float by.....
 
DNC said:
First, to provide Americans with more affordable choices, we’ll set up a marketplace where you can compare plans and pick the one that’s right for you. None of the plans would be allowed to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition. And one of the options should be a public plan that would increase competition and keep private insurance companies honest.

Second, we have to align incentives for doctors and hospitals so that they’re rewarded based on the quality of care they provide, not on how many tests or procedures they prescribe.

Third, we need to move from a sickness system to a wellness system. By investing in prevention and emphasizing healthy lifestyles, we can save money while improving health.

Finally, reform must not add to our deficit over the next ten years. To that end, we have already identified hundreds of billions of dollars in savings, money that’s already being spent on health care, but is funding waste and overpayments to insurance companies.
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A good start, but I fear the no balls syndrome in govt will knuckle under to the health care lobby and give us something that sucks.
 
So far all I see are complaints against the current system, a blanket statement about health care being a right (it is not - nor is national defense or police, just ask those getting shot at).

So you can point out problems with the current system. Big deal. Can you point out ONE ACTUAL FACT from the ACTUAL BILLS BEING DEBATED that wil FIX those problems? Defend what ius actually being proposed to be put in law. Otherwise the accusation that you haven't a foggy fucking clue what it is you defend can only be assumed to be an accurate claim.

We KNOW what the problems are - health care costs are way too high, causing problems for some people to afford. But do any of you donkey butt kissers actually know what the proposed solutions are? Or have you been living too long with your heads up the donkey's ass to have any functioning brain cells left?
 
christiefan915 said:
Yet some of the repubs on the board think the plan will mandate killing of the elderly. :foil:
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Actually, that mandate had already started. My niece works in a nursing home. Just the other day she was complaining that medicare has warned the home that as of September 1st they will no longer pay for dialysis on patients older than 72 years old. She has 3 dialysis patients this medicare cut, made under Obama to "help pay for the health care bill" (or at least that's how they are advertising the medicare cuts), will affect. They will either have to pay for dialysis themselves, or die. She has mentioned other things medicare is cutting from their coverage for older patients, but will still cover for younger patients. If this isn't mandating letting old people just die off to save costs, what is?
 
Yurt said:
christie his post is NOT a position...it is at a minimum his statement of "facts"....so i ask once again:

nothing you've said tells me why obama's plan should be supported....or are you claiming that obama's plan will somehow fix all of that...if so....specifically how
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I wonder why the Liberals are so quick to act like DNC's postings are of his own making.

For example; the one starting with: "First, to provide Americans with more affordable choices,..."

was plagarized from an article written by By Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius
 
Yurt said:
the title of the thread is:

obama's h/c plan: why we should support it

nothing you've said tells me why obama's plan should be supported....or are you claiming that obama's plan will somehow fix all of that...if so....specifically how
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I suspect that you are diametrically opposed to the concept of universal healthcare and nothing anybody could say would change that, therefore I think it is fruitless even trying to explain.
 
Yurt said:
I am interested in why, specifically, do dems support this plan....

i've heard from various dems on this board that no one really knows what obama's plan is as he has multiple plans...if that is the case...why harp on republicans...

additionally, some feel that we should not be given access to the text before hand as it will only result in people mis quoting the bill and causing confusion....as to this, how can this be justified...we should just be confused after the bill becomes law?

if you support obama's plan, here is your chance to convince us....the floor is yours....
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Why the support for the plan? Because a plan is needed. Any plan.

An analogy may be a business that's going under. It reaches a point where anything and everything is tried.

As Obama frequently stated it can't be put off any longer. More and more people are losing coverage due to either increasing costs or lack of a job and the opportunity to contribute to an employer plan. In other words, a crisis.

Once a plan is implemented the discussions will move to fine tuning it. Meanwhile, people will be covered.

What surprises me is the artificial, dreamed up complications people claim are involved. A universal medical plan is not some novel, untried idea. It is not a journey into the unknown. There are dozens of countries with universal plans, all slightly different but all accomplishing the same thing.

There are blueprints out there to work with and Obama's plan is a blueprint. Changes can be made but the "construction" has to start now. That's why I and many others support his plan. Any plan. It can be fine tuned as time goes on.
 
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Yurt said:
are you ever going to tell me why i should support obama's plan? or are you simply go to yell from the banks that the river is flooding, the river is flooding, the river is flooding.... as i float by.....
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Great analogy!

If you were floating down a flooded river would you want two people standing on the bank arguing whether they should throw you a rope or get a boat to rescue you or go further down the river where it narrows and maybe throw you a life jacket or would you want them to DO something?

Try throwing a rope. Try throwing a life jacket. Try getting a boat rather than just standing there arguing which approach is better.
 
Good Luck said:
Actually, that mandate had already started. My niece works in a nursing home. Just the other day she was complaining that medicare has warned the home that as of September 1st they will no longer pay for dialysis on patients older than 72 years old. She has 3 dialysis patients this medicare cut, made under Obama to "help pay for the health care bill" (or at least that's how they are advertising the medicare cuts), will affect. They will either have to pay for dialysis themselves, or die. She has mentioned other things medicare is cutting from their coverage for older patients, but will still cover for younger patients. If this isn't mandating letting old people just die off to save costs, what is?
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I'd like more info on this because I couldn't find anything re: cuts due to age. In fact, I found this:

"Anyone diagnosed with end-stage renal disease (ESRD), also called chronic kidney failure, is entitled to Medicare coverage, regardless of age. Patients with ESRD require dialysis treatments several times a week. Congress created this benefit in 1972, and kidney failure is the only condition for which Medicare provides such coverage.

Because a large proportion of kidney failure patients are younger than 65 years old and because many of them are still in the workforce, these patients’ employer-sponsored health insurance plans are required to cover ESRD treatments for the first 30 months, after which Medicare kicks in under the Medicare Secondary Payor system. Employers with fewer than 100 workers enrolled in their health plans are exempt.

The legislation under consideration would add 12 additional months, making employers’ health plans responsible for 42 months of kidney failure treatments before Medicare would begin paying for them."

http://thehill.com/the-executive/battle-erupts-over-medicare-coverage-of-dialysis-2007-10-05.html
 
Yurt said:
christie his post is NOT a position...it is at a minimum his statement of "facts"....so i ask once again:

nothing you've said tells me why obama's plan should be supported....or are you claiming that obama's plan will somehow fix all of that...if so....specifically how
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!5 years ago this country was going through the same contortions over the healthcare system. The GOP and the for-profit companies and lobbyists killed it. Are we going through this again because there's nothing wrong? How about you and your friends coming up with something "SPECIFICALLY HOW" to "fix all of that" rather than bitching and ensuring 15 years from now the system will be even further behind the CIVILIZED world and even harder to fix. Take your own challenge if you can, unless you are saying the system is fine and needs no fixing meaning you favor nothing and those not so fortunate can go suck.
That said, if the system does need fixing, where the hell were your guys for 15 years?
 
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apple0154 said:
Why the support for the plan? Because a plan is needed. Any plan.

An analogy may be a business that's going under. It reaches a point where anything and everything is tried.

As Obama frequently stated it can't be put off any longer. More and more people are losing coverage due to either increasing costs or lack of a job and the opportunity to contribute to an employer plan. In other words, a crisis.

Once a plan is implemented the discussions will move to fine tuning it. Meanwhile, people will be covered.

What surprises me is the artificial, dreamed up complications people claim are involved. A universal medical plan is not some novel, untried idea. It is not a journey into the unknown. There are dozens of countries with universal plans, all slightly different but all accomplishing the same thing.

There are blueprints out there to work with and Obama's plan is a blueprint. Changes can be made but the "construction" has to start now. That's why I and many others support his plan. Any plan. It can be fine tuned as time goes on.
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Any plan? Hot Dog!!! You have finally come around. The Republican plan has dropped the insurance companies pre-existing policies, you can carry your insurance from state to state and it makes one in control of one's own life, not the government.
 
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