I have to say, the statements from Obama regarding health insurance pretty much confirmed that he is a socialist.
The question asked:
Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?
McCain: I think it's a responsibility, in this respect, in that we should have available and affordable health care to every American citizen, to every family member. And with the plan that -- that I have, that will do that.
Obama: Well, why don't -- why don't -- let's talk about this, Tom, because there was just a lot of stuff out there.
Brokaw: Privilege, right or responsibility. Let's start with that.
Obama: Well, I think it should be a right for every American.
By saying it's a right, basically says that it will be a government mandate and that in one way or another, you will be forced to have health insurance. What a joke?
And by being forced meaning that if you fail to have insurance you will be fined, something McCain pointed out and Obama did not exactly deny. Not to mention he did not mention how much either.
I don't think he knows what he wants. His latest Ad on health care seems to imply that he is in the middle on the issue (to the detriment of his far-left constituents I'm sure). He will never be able to pay for it now anyway, so it is all ready a broken campaign promise, like many of his promises.
By saying it is a right, he gets to nationalize part of the private sector, and strip rights of some Americans. Of course people do not hear that (or want to), just "Free Ice Cream".
I wonder when they start imprisoning Doctors for not enabling this new right?
But Health Care should be a right! If you can afford to build nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, and maintain 761 military installations in 151 countries around the world....
then you should be able to afford looking after the health of your own citizens, in a non-profit way!!!
Construction of bombs= good
Health care for children= ebil handout to undeserving poor people.
I saw much more of his socialist leanings last night than ever before.
When he talks about taking from those who make more than 250K and giving it to those who don't what doesn't he understand?
As has been stated many business fall right there or right below or above that benchmark. For those business who make below 250K what does that do to their incentive? They know now, under Obama's plan that if their business makes money over that 250K benchmark they are going to have to fork it over and give it to those who aren't working.
To me that's like standing at the register and buying two loaves of bread after working all day. The bagboy comes by and takes one of my loaves and brings it outside to the guy sitting on the curb waiting for his free portion at my expense.
This is a huge fundamental diff between the two candidates.
Not when the cost is being paid by someone else. That is the part you don't seem to get. People don't have the right to have everything they want and need by taking it from other people.
I think people who think like you do should go live in a communist country for a while. I think you will be much happier there.
Health insurance is not a right, it's not in the Constitution, and the last thing America needs at this point in time is another entitlement program.
Well according to Obama only a "few" small businesses make more than $250K a year. But then again, this is coming from someone who never held a real job in their life.
tee-hee!
But why? I already live in a country that has universal health care. If I lose my job tomorrow, or fall on hard times, I don't have to worry about declaring bankruptcy thanks to medical bills. Or juggling several hundred dollar-a-month premiums vs whether or not to buy food and put gas in the tank.
And you know what?
Every other industrialized country in the G8 has some form of universal healthcare. The U.S is the odd one out in this regard.
All the main arguments have been proven moot- that universal healthcare will somehow destroy your economy or lower citizens standards of living. Most of the G8 countries that have universal healthcare (could be all of them actually, I'd have to fact check though) have a longer average lifespan, lower infant mortality rate and overall are more healthy than the average U.S citizen per capita.
As to the economic effects, well, it is a VERY profitable venture for the HMO's, yet can be a fiscal nightmare for average joes who don't have employer coverage and have to make the choice between going without, paying out of pocket, or hoping that medicare will catch them in a net that has some very big holes!
As to my friends in the States, I only know folks predominantly from Texas. I've heard some horror stories firsthand from these people about having to take out second mortgages and declaring bankruptcy to make ends meet when an operation is due. One of my friends father's is a retired (disabled) fire-fighter.
He was injured on the job in such a way that he's pretty much disabled for the rest of his life with serious complications. Although he's covered by a pretty good plan taken care of by the Fire Department...or local municipality, not sure which, suffice it to say his employer at the time.... the actual HMO behind that policy has tried for years to find a way to say that his condition isn't permanent or as bad as the diagnosis of the doctors. Of course, this has been a fruitless venture for them because falling through a roof while on the job can indeed have some permanent side effects, but since he's costing them lots per year it hurts their profit margins. So, every few years odd things happen like unfamiliar people hanging out at his usual haunts (man sitting on bench suspicously reading newspaper while lowering it just enough to peer over, usual private eye cliche's) garbage sorted through, out of the blue requests to see a doctor he's not familiar with, blah blah blah.
Long story short:
Universal healthcare is not a bad thing. Conceptually, it goes against the grain of free markets, self-made men and pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps, so it has been demonized as an evil boogeyman symbol of communism.
In practice, most developed nations are already doing it, and as with all things in life the results are mixed. Anything, whether it exists in the private or public sector, can be really great or really crappy depending on how it's managed and implemented. Thanks to the shenanigans we see unfolding with the vaporization of some of the biggest banks in the U.S these last few weeks, the argument that private is always better than public has been revealed to be an ideological farce.
It's time the U.S joined the 21st century and embraced that spooky concept Reagan scared you all with called "socialized medicine"!!!!
Taking off the "non-profit" (as that has nothing to do with rights), what has buying toys have to do with rights? Has anyone claimed that building a bomb is a "right"? Not that I have heard. So in your words, apples and oranges. Being able to afford something has nothing to do with rights.
Rights are a very special thing. My rights do not infringe on your rights. So how are you going to make health care that way? make everyone doctors themselves?
I think the entire Democratic party is out of touch on this issue. Children can already receive free healthcare. I know. My children have been on it since a few months after their birth.
I have been without health insurance and needed free care and was able to go to the emergency room, be treated and then referred to a follow up clinic and treated all free of charge.
Most importantly though is this story. When my triplets were born they were covered under my company health insurance plan and were also covered under the Cobra policy from my wife's former employer. We busted our ass to make the premiums. Beyond that, we sat down with the hospital before hand and said here is what we have. When my babies were released after six weeks in the NICU and over a half million dollars in medicals bills, I owed nothing.
The insurance companies paid roughly 40% of the total bill after they took their discounts. The hospital took that and never asked for another dime because I sat down with the financial department and we negotiated. If you are dumb enough to go in for an operation and wait until after to negotiate, well, you deserve to be raped by the hospital.
If it's done right, I favor universal healthcare. But I can think of more private companies that are run efficiently than I can think of government agencies that are doing the same. Just because a number of financial giants go belly up, that doesn't mean that the private sector is all together inferior, and that your argument is automatically right. I just don't want to see a program that hemorrhages money the way that Medicare and Medicaid currently are.My grandmother died around the end of January, and at the end of February, my mother got a letter from Medicare saying that since she had died they were discontinuing coverage, but that they would continue paying her premiums for one more month (you know, just in case she gets bumped around too much in that urn). When I got married two years ago, I was able to get health insurance through my husband's employer. I was previously on TennCare, and called them to request that they discontinue my coverage. I am still receiving new cards from them in the mail, and when I checked, I was still covered. Even though I didn't use it any these past two years, it was still costing taxpayers money. I still have not succeeded in getting them to take me off, no matter how many phone calls I have made.
Medicare and Medicaid currently count for 21% of the entire federal budget (as of 2007). Social Security was also 21% Defense spending was only 20%.
All the sqwaking about Universal Health care being Socialism and you you guys are missing something...
WE ALREADY HAVE SOCIALISM IN THIS COUNTRY!!!!!!!
Think about it, we have a socialized police force in every city and town in America. We have socialized fire protection, we even have socialized education in this country, but I don't hear anybody bitching about that.
But let's just say for the sake of argument that we do away with all forms of socialism - including the aforementioned fire and police protection, and that those departments will now be run by for-profit organizations much in the same way that the HMO's run health care. Let's say that the unthinkable happens and your house catches on fire. You call 911 and they put you on hold so that they can pull up your account. They come back to you and say "I'm sorry, but it seems that your account is overdue for the last four months."
"But my house is on fire."
"I understand that, but our policy clearly states that your account must be in good standing in order for us to provide you with any services."
"But my house is on fire!!!"
"Yes sir, and we sympathise with that. However, in order for us to come out to your house and provide you with our service, you are going to have to bring your account up to date first."
'BUT MY HOUSE IS ON FIRE!!!!!!!!"
"Yes sir, we realize that. However if you send us a check for the outstanding amount, we will then be able to come out to your address to assess the situation as soon as the check clears. is there anything lse we can do for you today?"
"MY-----HOUSE-------IS-------ON--------FIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!"
"Thank you sir. You have a nice day."
(click)
But yeah, Universal Health care is evil.
I'm really tired of hearing how "other" countries have socialist healthcare, so the U.S. should as well. It's really funny how people blame this economic crisis on the government, and in the same breath tell me that this same government should be in charge of healthcare. No thank you.
It's not the responsibility of the federal government to provide healthcare, and it's certainly not the responsibility of the overwhelming number of Americans who have insurance to pay for people who don't.
But hey, why stop at health insurance. Lets have the government pay for our groceries, car payments, etc.
For the people, by the people.
It is the responsibilty of the government to serve the people. And in November when the people vote they are telling the government exactly what they feel they are responsibility for. So you may think this or that is not their responsibilty but in Nov.the people will be at least trying to tell the government what they should be responsible for.
Eh, no. A little thing like the Constitution gets in the way. I can say anything, but making the government do it is another matter. When we amend the constitution, we tell the government what to do.
Aren't you allowed to waive rights?
~Zoo
Claiming Obama or Democrats are Venezuelian, Cuban, USSR like Socialists is no different then claiming Bush, McCain, and Republicans are Nazi, Italian, and Spanish like Facists.
By the way where does this whole mandate thing come from? Heck that was the main difference argued between Obama and Clinton's healthcare during the primaries. Clinton wanted a mandatory system, Obama did not. Oh The Argument he doesn't precisly deny it(even though he did, and the argument is semantics) is no different than saying McCain will go to war with Russia immediatly upon taking office because he didn't say he wouldn't!
Like I said the people are telling the government what they FEEL they should be responsible for.
The argument about health care financing is largely moot.
Only 2% (no, that's not a typo - 2[two]%) of 2007 medical school graduates plan a career in primary care medicine. The family doctor is a dinosaur, a truly endangered species which will soon be extinct. What will pass for the 'healthcare' that you'll get under Obama's plan (that thing you have a 'right' to) will be walk-in visits with a nurse practitioner at Wal-Mart, Walgreen's, CVS or your local grocery store. For you nurses out there, God love you, we couldn't get along without you and you deserve our gratitude and respect for your calling, but a nursing degree & one or two years of NP training is simply not the equivalent of a medical degree and residency, not even close, and such practitioners cannot begin to match the depth & breadth of knowledge of a well-trained physician. There's not much 'universal' about healthcare when there is no one there to 'deliver' it.
In much the same way that the road to our current financial & market crisis was paved with good intentions, efforts to force universal coverage on the country will have unintended negative effects. In fact, they're already here. The move to universal coverage has been underway for years now with incremental but relentless imposition of control over all healthcare-related transactions, pitting the bureaucrats' and bean-counters' values and objectives against doctors' values and judgment, in the end harming patients through restricted access, limited options and higher costs. In the process, this movement has taken a once independent, joyful, generous and compassionate profession focused on the needs and welfare of patients and morphed it into a business, an 'industry' like any other, with business values & ethics (just look what those have done for us lately).
Do we really want our entire healthcare system to be vulnerable to the stupidity of the likes of Barney Frank & Nancy Pelosi? Do we really want to roll those dice and trust that Federal micromanagement won't do to healthcare what it's done to our financial system by perverting incentives in the name of 'good intentions'? With their track record, I pray not.
Seems to me what has morphed the medical field is the big business mentality of things and not the process of moving towards government control.
Medicine never needed 'the big business mentality' - it has been forced upon medicine, driven entirely by the government, with the health insurance industry happily falling into line & adopting every government bureaucratic regulation & price control mechanism the feds would let them get away with. The feds have managed to have the entire healthcare industry nationalized for them by the health insurance industry, which they enticed to play along with lavish HMO subsidies in the 80's & early 90's, making most of those companies (and their management) not just rich, filthy rich. Now all the feds have to do is say, "OK, kids, play time is over. Now, hand over the keys."
Didn't they already get the key from AIG?
Not sure what you think AIG has to do with healthcare.
They are an insurance holding company...for which the taxpayer(government) now has an 80% ownership stake
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