Obamacare

gardengumby

The gov't forcing us to provide a safety net for someone else is theft.

I would strongly disagree with this idea.  The primary reason government is needed is to provide for the common good.  Defense and roads come to mind immediately.  The government doesn't insist that only people who drive pay for roads.  What is more for the "common good" than healthcare? 

Anonymous

"But insurance companies do this ALL THE TIME.  They decide who they will offer insurance to, they decide which treatments will be covered, they decide whether or not person X can receive the treatment they offer easily to person Y. "

Yes, they do, and it is patently unfair, BUT,when that happens at the hands of an insurance company, person X has avenues of appeal including the media, and government, and the courts.  Will the government be worried about losing clients if the media is alerted to an unfair ruling?  Will some government bureaucrat be willing to go against the decision of someone in a related office?  Will the courts even have jurisdiction?  In many matters, "the government" is protected from being sued. 

I don't completely trust any entity run by human beings, governmental or private.  Human beings make mistakes, and if we give up our ability to address those mistakes, we will all lose in the end.

Medigal

I thought the whole idea of the Affordable Care Act was to make sure everyone had health insurance and I sure don't think they would discriminate against the elderly or the sickest people.  I just hope it doesn't get destroyed by the other party and we end up with "nothing".  Our nation is desperate for a good"affordable"  healthcare system for "all" people, imo.

1Athena1

Whoever in this thread does not want a safety net and does not believe they should pay for one:

--Don't pay taxes

--Contact you local fire and police stations and ask them to ignore 911 calls from your house or carbon monoxide emissions.

--Request that they de-pave the part of street that goes by your house.

--Get your own telephone and water, because otherwise you will have to pay excise taxes for the services the way they are now.

--If another country invades us, get your own army. Ours will be sure to skip you and your loved ones when the aliens come a-calling.

--You owe the government money if you went to public school drove on a paved road, used a public service or benefitted from US laws.

So if you don't want a safety net, pay up. The bill you owe the rest of us is probably in the millions.

The ignorance displayed by some of the postings here re: basic issues is astounding.The Affordable Care Act violating the separation of church and state? Yeah, and the world is octagonal.

"Obamacare" which, as someone says, does indeed go into effect by stages, has no effect on cancer drugs. May everyone on this thread remain healthy and safe for as long as possible.

Really, I thought Brietbart was dead. Maybe he has clones.

covertanjou

BIrdlady, your post is very offensive.  How dare you write,  "Tucker - why doesn't your family just move back to Canada, since they are working here JUST to pay for inferior health insurance ??????"

No one is forcing Catholic hospitals to perform abortions.  Birth control is used for other purposes than to prevent unwanted pregnancies.  That is what Ms Fluke was stating.  

 Also, there is no link between BC and the Pill. 

ETA to correct for grammar. 

gardengumby

Birdlady - I want to address only one point in your post.  $3000 per year for contraceptives comes to $250.00 per month.  If insurance will not cover contraception, that is a completely understandable price.  Thirty years ago when I was taking contraception I was paying $150.00 per month, as my insurance company would not cover it.  Oddly enough, they would have covered an abortion.

Also, the state where I live has already passed a law that requires all employers who offer insurance to cover contraception.  That law includes religious employers (yes, even the Catholic church) to provide contraceptive coverage to their employees.  There has been no outcry, nor closing of hospitals because of the need to provide full insurance coverage for their employees.

1Athena1

Birdlady - my answer is yes. Plenty, and proudly. Your point?

AnnNYC

Daisy, again with your comments on someone's marital status?

covertanjou

Daisy/birdlady, again your tone and comments are completely rude, abusive and unnecessary.

3monstmama

oooo Athena!!! You Go Girl!!!  couldn't have said it better except you left out the money issue.  Start paying in goats and chicken eggs.

i will say here what I said on my own facebook page.  If I am employer and a practicing vegetarian Buddhist should I have the right to deny you my employee health care benefits for an illness related to your meat eatting diet?  If I am an employer and a devote Christian Scientest, can I deny you my employee access to chemo because I think you should pray about your cancer?

Or do we just not hire anyone who doesn't believe exactly like us?  Just like the old days when it was okay to have a sign in your window "No Irish Need Apply."

It is astonishing to me how many people just don't get what happens in the US when you lose your job and lose your healthcare. And often as not, it is women who get the short end of the stick.

yahoo is running a story about the 10 best places in the world to be as a woman.  The only thing that the US scored on was female atheletes.  If you are a female athelete the US is a great place to be because you can make lots of money.  However if you are interested in female literacy, don't look in the US, look in Lesotho, if you are interested in maternal death rates, go to Greece (1 in 31,800 versus the US rate of 17 deaths of mothers per 100,000 births, unchanged in 100 years), best place to break the glass ceiling Thailand where  45% of senior managers are women versus the US where only 20% of senior managers are women.

Reading the story made me so sad----we should be leading the pack not following in the wake.

pupmom

Ok, Birdlady, let me give a better example. The sole breadwinner lost her job, has run out of unemployment benefits and COBRA insurance, got Stage IV cancer and is now facing bankruptsy. She had about $100,000 in her IRA, but that was used up fairly soon. Now she is paying the medical bills with credit cards in order to stay alive. Should we just let her and her family go under or should there have been a safety net from the get go so this situation never came to pass?

Btw, not ALL disabled children are covered by Medicaid.  

vicky3blum

I'm just thinking about how the federal govrernment, amongst protests from all major insurance companies, forced the the insurance companies to provide reconstruction to women with mastectomies.  Sounds like typical government regulations like we'll get with "Obamacare,"  I for one am glad

Chickadee

I know I shouldn't jump in here but what the heck...........Cialis and Viagara are covered by most insurance companies. Wonder if Rush pays for his own. Oh that's right he uses local dealers for his drugs.



Lot of seemingly intelligent people have drank the Koolaid.

VJSL8

vicky3blum: you are talking about the Women's Health and Cancer Rights Act of 1998--BUT it only covers group insurance policies--I have an individual policy and I am NOT covered---my insurance compnay has the right to deny reconstruction to me (which they only did for the last $1200). 

I am hoping in 2014 when I switch to a different policy through the state exchange--that this loophole will be a moot point.  

RetiredLibby

Yep, Chickadee. I keep waiting for the protests about insurance coverage for a drug whose sole purpose is to enable a man to have sex. .... *crickets* .......

covertanjou

birdlady/daisy.  This is what is written on AMS.  Recent use of birth control pills: Studies have found that women who are using birth control pills have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them. This risk seems to go back to normal over time once the pills are stopped. Women who stopped using the pill more than 10 years ago do not seem to have any increased risk. It's a good idea to talk to your doctor about the risks and benefits of birth control pills.

 

If you read, it clearly states slightly greater risk.....risks seems to go back to normal.  THIS IS RISK FACTOR IN THE SAME WAY THAT BEING A WOMAN IS A RISK FACTOR.  There is a MAJOR difference between risk and cause. 

 

Also, Santorum himself said:

 

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Chris Wallace challenged Rick Santorum on why he’s given such a small percentage of his salary to charity (1.76 percent) compared to Mitt Romney (13.8 percent) and President Obama (14.2 percent). Santorum explained that he was unable to give because the costs of caring for his daughter Bella — who has a severe genetic disorder — were so high because they are not covered by his insurance:

SANTORUM: Well, we always need to do better. I was in a situation where we have seven children and one disabled child who we take care of, and she’s very, very expensive. We love her and we cherish the opportunity to take care of her, but it’s an additional expense. We have to have around-the-clock care for her, and our insurance company doesn’t cover it so I have to cover it. 

RetiredLibby

Men get breast cancer. They don't use birth control pills.



Having breasts is the #1 risk factor for getting breast cancer.

covertanjou

Obviously, there is daisy since you didn't realize that it was risk factor and not cause.

LilliM

ljh58:
I agree it's up to each of us to take responsibility to provide for ourselves. But if we are responsible only for ourselves, and not for one another (unless we choose to be), what happens to people unable to provide for themselves in the event people able to provide choose not to?

pupmom

The Social Security Administration determines eligibility. Not all children are considered eligible. A couple of reasons would be the family's income and lack of evidence that the disability severely impacts the child's ability to function. 

1Athena1

The real, authentic chicoe.

GramE

My recent experience - age 66, on Medicare and BCBS supplement.    Had annual gyn visit and pap smear.   Medicare denied payment due to "age inappropriate".    BCBS did pay.    

I was/am tempted to call medicare and see what they mean.   Previous exam I had (benign) polyps, have had Breast Cancer and still have all the "body parts".    But it was paid and I go forward... 

pupmom

From the Social Security website: the child cannot be working and earning more than $1,010 a month. Other qualifying factors include that the child must be disabled for 12 months, or expected to be disabled for 12 months or the disability is expected to result in death.

I'm a retired school psychologist, with 30 years experience working with individuals, including children for 20 years, with disabilities. I have seen many families struggling mightily to get their children on SSI. Some don't succeed. 

Edited to distinguish I was talking about governmental disability, i.e. SSI, rather than educational, IDEA, disability. 

1Athena1

Special ed is educational disability only. There are various types of disability - qualifying factors vary. Many special ed kids would not qualify for SSI because federal law for special ed (IDEA) is more generous in its determination of disability than federal law for SSI is.  

AnnNYC

From the Social Security website
(http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/156/~/benefits-for-disabled-children):

The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program

This program provides monthly payments to children from birth to age 18 based on disability or blindness if the child's:

a.  Impairment or combination of impairments meet the definition of disability for children; and

b.  Income and resources  of the parents and the child are within the allowed limits.

MadisoninMd

GramE- I can answer that for you.  Medicare only pays for a routine pap once every 2 years.  If you had a routine pap last year, they will not pay for another routine this year.  If you have symptoms etc, and it is being done for a diagnostic reason, then they will.  But for regular "well-woman" routine screenings - it's only once every other year.

pupmom

I think you mis-typed my name. Oh, wait.... Noted.

covertanjou

Her name is Yorkiemom.  You seem to have a problem with reading what's on the screen.  Do you need reading glasses?

AnnNYC

Birdlady, if by "disability" you mean SSDI, it is available to adults, including some adults who were disabled as children.

But SSI is in fact the program that pays for a disabled child under the age of 18, if the child's disability meets criteria and if the family and child's income and resources meet criteria (as also noted in my previous comment).

See: http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10026.html

susan_02143

It just makes me so sad that our country [USA] has become so very mean that we are willing to let those that have happened upon misfortune to sink out of sight. When did people become disposable? When did it become okay to advocate for punishing people who get sick, disabled, or unemployed?