What next, now that the Supreme Court has upheld the Affordable Healthcare Act? Though it's still anyone's guess how the ruling will reshape the delivery of health care in the U.S., one thing's sure: Our politically divided country is also divided over the ruling and what to do about it.
A new USA TODAY/Gallup poll finds that Americans are pretty much "split down the middle" on their approval and disapproval of the ruling, reports USA Today. A slim majority wants part or all of the law repealed.
Who supports the ruling? The poll shows that those in favor tend to be:
- Democrats (nearly four in five agree)
- Women
- Minorities
- Singles
- Young adults
Who disagrees? The poll shows that those leaning against it tend to be:
- Republicans (more than four in five disagree)
- Men
- Whites
- Married people
- Those over 30
Independents are split — 50 percent of those polled favor at least partial repeal; 40 percent who want to keep the law intact or expand on it.
When asked what action Congress should take now that the court has ruled, those surveyed said:
- The entire law should be repealed: 31 percent
- Congress should expand health care even more: 25 percent
- Parts of the law should be repealed: 21 percent
- No further action should be taken: 13 percent
Four in five Americans say they'll consider candidates' views on the issue this November; however just 21 percent say they will vote only for the candidates who share their opinions.
The health care law, passed in March 2010, is designed to expand health coverage by requiring that most people get insurance or pay a penalty. The court ruled that the law was constitutional because the penalty takes the form of a tax on those without health insurance. It did not uphold the law on the broader grounds that requiring people to get health insurance constitutes a form of interstate commerce, regulated by Congress.
Onto the election!
Image by Flickr user kjetilh_r, used under a Creative Commons license.
Dazie, Much of the cost for Obamacare is coming out of Medicare. I have Medicare as well as an HMO and a Senior Advantage plan. Medicare is cutting way back on what they will pay to my HMO. In January I can just see my monthly cost for my HMO will increase as well as my copays and being over 75 Medicare might bow out completely. It will have no funding left after B.O. takes away most of its funding for Obamacare. The money has to come from somewhere and B.O. figures that if you are over 75 you are no longer of value so why provide you with any kind of healthcare. My words not theirs, but that's what it amounts to.
Now if you have a plan and liked the plan; you are to be able to keep it. Now the plan we pay for and like from our former employer is being hit with Obamacare costs. My prescription plan is changing and I now have more copays than before but if I only had Medicare; there would be no copays. Medicare is not an HMO which is a cost cutting plan where by your P.Doc overseas everything. My co. offered 2 HMO medicare advantage plans and we ARE SELF INSURED, so my co. pays the entire bill. So why did his sticky taxing finger get into my plan??????????? Maybe Medicare should be an HMO. Then the costs will go down dramatically for all seniors. Mom is on a supplement plan and after Medicare pays and she hasn't met the deductible; she gets nice bills. I wish she had been on an HMO. You pay ONE copay figure for your care. You know what the charge will be.
Unfortunately, we just cannot afford Obama Care. The tax will not cover the costs - did any of you ever figure out who is going to "really" pay for this coverage. I've worked with government run contracts and trust me they are always a mess. I don't believe any statistics the government tells us.
I had my first "nip" of Obamacare last week. I have been doing therapy for a small disorder I have. My therapist said they, at my HMO, are very nervous about Medicare at this point. In scheduling my appointment had to scheduled before Oct. 26 or she could not schedule it at all because Medicare would not pay for it. Then I would have to go back to my PC doctor and get a new perscription. Then I would be in a position to be denied further treatment for the condition. I am over 75. Obamacare works on a graph with babies and older people on the bottom. From birth to 20 the graph rises. 20, 30 and into 40 is the best health care available because that is when people are the most productive. Then the graph begins to fall again finally arriving at 75 when they will no longer treat the patient except they will make him/her comfortable with pain medication. Furthermore, the patient will receive death counselling. This is in the Affordable Health Care Plan. Sounds like something out of "1984". I, for one want it recinded. As Nancy Polosi said when it was finished and voted on, "Now let's see what's inside." How nice: Congress passed a healthcare document where no one bothere to read it but voted for it anyway. What incompetence! Obama said it was not a tax and now the Supreme Court says it is a tax. If it wasn't a tax it would be unconstitutional to force people to buy a product from a 3rd party. Washington D.C.: What a mess.I hope everyone votes for an entire new slate in November, and out with Obamacare.
Daize Thank you for your numbers. How true that if we do not act now, that national debt will increase. Saying "it. Is mine and only mine" do not spend it on anyone or anything else is just the right way to reduce the debt. May I just ask one question, who is paying for it now and how was it funded in the past? I say if they have not contributed, and who cares why, just ignore them. They will go away.
Daizie, the costs are going up anyway. My outlay for my husband's insurance supplement rose 33% starting this year. Medical care for Obamacare could go down since such things as preventive medicine are being stressed. Patients who used to make frequent trips to the hospital for serious chronic diseases such as diabetes and COPD are having few hospitalizations . And because these upgrades in care will be encouraged, institutions that haven't offered preventive care are offering it now. The legislation isn't perfect but it is a basis for the kinds of changes that will make it better. These changes will become more obvious to everyone once the bill ls fully implemented.
Well said, Dear One of Mort. Thank you for your very fair, open minded assessment. Can always count on you to choose the right words! You made some great points about there being "more than one way to skin those cats." Even though I do love cats, as my name here implies! :-)
Hello again. I made a mistake in my last statement. Congress did not take out $5 billion from our hard earned taxes we paid in for Social Security and Medicare they stole $500 Trillion dollars out of the plan. I checked it out to find it was a lot more. Now if that 500 trillion goes back into the plan; it should last for a good many years w/o any tinkering. We paid that money in so that it would be invested wisely and be there when we were of age to collect it. The cost has risen this year to about 110. but in 2014; the price of Medicare goes up to 264.00. Because it is going broke because they took out all the money to support others who don't have and never paid into it. They did the same thing to Social Security when they put that into the general funds and then spent it. now both of these plans were dedicated plans set up to cover folks when they retired or their spouses who never worked. and now it has been reported that we have a national debt of 16 trillion dollars and of that we owe China 1.1 trillion and Japan 1 trillion and each year we are accumulating 1.2 trillion more debt. We paid out more than $454 billion just on interest payments. Now we have this plan which most economists are saying will run that debt up even more. No prices are going down except the worth of your house and wallet. Every week, the prices for food has gone up. AND YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER THAT THIS PLAN HAS HUNDREDS OF EXCEPTIONS THAT DO NOT HAVE TO GET HEALTH INSURANCE....WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THEM WHEN THEY GET ILL????
As I read the recent posts I see that we have apparently irreconcilable differences and the posts have become increasingly shrill. This afternoon I happened to read an op ed piece by David Brooks in the New Your Times with commentary about what he doesn't like about Obamacare as well as suggests he read by other thinkers in the field about alternatives to Obamacare, many of which sounded worthy of debate. Without pointing any fingers of blame (but I'm sure there is plenty to go around) it seems to me that rather than fight each sides disinformation, there needs to be good faith debate about making changes that will improve Obamacare's worst faults. Instead there have been many howls of righteous indignation from both sides. In addition, from the very beginning of Obama's administration there has been an impenetrable wall around the GOP whose stated goal was to thwart any initiatives by Obama so that his administration could be painted with the term Failed Presidency. This was a position making debate impossible. Personally, I support Omamacare because it permits that people who were unable to obtain insurance now can obtain it, so that insurance would not be denied for preexisting conditions, and so that insurance could not be cancelled when serious illness occurred. But there is more than one way to skin those cats. It is for this reason that these worthy goals can be met using alternative pathways. There is one popular piece of disinformation I must specifically correct. The elderly (and I am one of these) will not be denied care and be forced to accept "comfort care only". This is a personal and a family decision. It is now and it will be in Obamacare. Under the present system, only insurance companies deny care by denying insurance. They are happy to insure the people who are not in personal need of insurance. And by the way, I am a physician with firsthand knowledge of who receives care both through my observations at work and my observations of the care I am soon to obtain to control my newly discovered malignant tumor.
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annromick: I don't think anyone said that the 10 question quiz was all inclusive. How could it be?? The point is that the vast number of those questions were selected because they deal with among the most common myths about the plan. Most people that I am in contact with who argue about the plan have the facts on every one of those questions all misconstrued. As I said previously, lots of fallacies are floating around out there. This quiz was just a start to get us to think about whether our ideas have been based on lies fed to us by certain media. And this is not about "Obama lovers." This is about America. Never about one individual....that's a scary road to go down. It is about what our country has been in need of for many many decades, long before the current political situation!!!
To all the Obamacare lovers: WOW!! A 10 question quiz that covers a 10,000 page document and all of your questions were answered. Fantastic!!!
onthefly, THANK you for directing us to that very informative quiz at http://healthreform.kff.org/en/quizzes/health-reform-quiz.aspx?source=FS (If you copy and paste all of the above link into your browser it will take you right to the quiz.) Well, I got a %100 correct! Yay!! I highly recommend taking this quiz.
www.healthreform.kff.org has a great quiz you should take to test your knowledge of the Affordable Care Act. I got 9/10 questions right and would have had all correct had I not misunderstood a question. It will make some 'experts' on this thread look not so informed.
I'm on the way out the door for a vacation but will have to correct the assertion that www. healthcare.gov contains anything but the facts. It lays out quite clearly the terms of the affordable care act. Like it or not, you owe it to yoyrself to educate yourself to the facts. As for you Anonymous small biz owner who is going to end his employees'insurance. Obviously your biz is struggling now. You feel it will struggle more as these reforms come into play over the next few years. I don't think even you have a crystal ball to see into the future. That is certainly your right to take away benefits from your employees. Just don't be surprised if your valued employees leave you for a better job with insurance. Perhaps in a biz that isnot struggling like yours. We have managed care already. That is nothing new. But the lie going around is that there will be decisions made that effectively end your life. Well, that is in the current system if you can't afford this care. The medical world is required ethically and legally to treat illness to the point where there is no hope for recovery. I know. My mother reached that point and chose palliative care at 95. She died peacefully at my side 5days later. It was in her case the humane thing. Her doctors could not cure her aspiration pneumonia and trying would have given her an awful death. Get the facts. You know there are credits for folks like you but strangely you don't mention that.
If anyone goes to gov.org for any information they will only get what gov.org wants you to believe.. SS is broke. Medicare is broke. Medicaid is broke, the post office is broke. Government should not be in business. General Motors, thanks to the government is now locagted in China. Business not their job. Years ago they took over Mustang Ranch (a house of ill repute legal in Nevada) because of back taxes. They couldn't make a go of selling women and booze. Went broke. Maybe a joke or not. Why did Canadians come to the the U. S for better health care when they had Socialized Medicine? Because they got better care even if they had to pay for it. They won't be coming any more. For all of you who believe it will be wonderful, just ask yourselves who is going to pay for it? You think your pay a lot in taxes now? Just wait.
so much fear-mongering here. There are programs for lo income medicare benefits. Death panels are a myth being peddled by the rightwing. 80% of American citizens have insurance. This law is aimed at the legitimate citizen in the 20% who lacks access to affordable health care. There will be more nurses and doctors required not fewer and especially so in primary care. Hospitals will be in better shape because they will have fewer unpaid accounts. There are checks on insurance companies to prevent gouging. For more information that is factual go to www.healthcare.gov and read all about it. The notion that Americans will be stuck with Canadian or British or whatever foreign country's plan you claim is a ludicrous assumption with no basis in fact. Our current system is as broken or worse than this act. There will be more income because there will be more people paying premiums and copays. The notion that our highly profit-oriented healthcare system is fair and appropriate is a moral outrage.
Hi All - I understand that healthcare for all is something that sounds great. There are a few things to remember - insurance companies need to have income in order to pay for things. Just because you are paying a lower price for medication, doesn't mean that the medication costs less, it means the pharmacy, the manufacturer, and the developer of the drug receive less money for the drug itself. Those entities are all employers. Also, if a person cannot afford to pay the $100 a month for Medicare, how are they going to be able to afford the tax penalty for not being covered by insurance? Also, remember that the insurance companies need to make money to pay their overhead costs (most of them are non-profit entities, but they still have to cover overhead). Will the person responsible for approving your healthcare be someone with a GED diploma that knows little about healthcare? Or will they be a Nurse with opinions of their own about how 'legitimate' your healthcare provider is? Will you be able to get the care you need after you are 70 years old - or will you be denied something that may help you, just because you are 70 and the panel thinks the procedures cost is too much for someone your age - even though you are more active than most 50 year olds? There has to be enough inflow for an insurance company, or single payer, to pay claims - this is something that we all seem to forget.
We are all hearing that Social Security and medicare are going broke but we don't hear anymore why Medicare is going broke. We should be telling Congress to put back the FIVE (5) Billion dollars they stole from our money that we all paid into by our federal taxes; to pay for the Obamacare. Medicare would be fine just like Social Security if LBJ hadn't taken the dedicated fund and moved it into General funds to pay for his war effort and no one has ever reinstated SS into the dedicated fund it was set up to be. Seniors will definitely at some time get hurt badly because of this. And my coworker had an incident with her mom in the hospital with a death doctor. She blew a gasket and ordered him out.....fired.....and another doctor took over. And I would too. There are doctors after 2014 that will give up their practices. they won't be able to make it a go. We already have a shortage here.
You don't understand what single payer healthcare is until you've lived with it and then it is too late. The Canadians come here for up to date care. The death rate from all cancers is much higher in both the UK and Canada because the treatment is delayed and the drugs used are not the most up to date effective ones. I lived in the UK and had friends who were told if you want to live go elsewhere for treatment, there are drugs but they are not available here. If you are okay with that, then that's okay. If not, be careful what you ask for.
We need to be very careful about googling terms and reading everything that comes up. Most are blogs that are simply opinions or misinformation. The HealthCareAct will not ration health to seniors. My goodness, it floors me to be aware of all the misinformation that has circulated from the get-go about this bill. It's a good bill, and all will benefit from it.
Being on the upper end of the actuary tables I have read the part about rationing. If you are over 75 your chance of being treated for any serious disease is "nil." Apparently your importance, according to age and a probability of being a contributing member of society, is already written into Obamacare with the best care and most probably treatment according to age is in the 20s and 30s with declining treatment from there on. There is declinging treatment from 20 down to 0 age. Older people, over 70, will not be treated for cancer or neurological problems. Instead they will be made comfortable with pain medication and given "death counseling. Sound a bit Orwellian or in a more historical slot a bit like Hitler. Punch into your search bar with things such as, "Rationed Health Care," "Elderly Healthcare," "Healthcare for the aged." Those are made-up titles by me so make up your and see what you find. Also, look up who is covered: Look up coverage for illegal immigrants. Obamacare is an unfair tax. Check out how Great Britian is feeling about their Socialized Medicine. They want to put it into the private sector because it's breaking the country. The United States is suffering from financial problems and free medical care will just add to our economic downfall
no, insurance isn't health care but it is what we have thanks to the Republicans. I would prefer a single payer system that takes the insurance companies out of the healthcare biz. I think this act pulls legitimate citizens in the uninsured 20% back into the pools and cures some ills in the current system.
Insurance isn't healthcare. If it makes you feel better to have insurance, I am thrilled for you but access to care is something else. And many doctors will no longer accept a number of government insurance plans or anymore Medicaid or Medicare patients so again, I repeat, equating insurance with care is a mistake.
I live in Massachusetts were the health care law has already taken effect for 3 years. At first I thought it was a mess, but now I'm all for it. Take Florida for example, where I have relatives. If your under 18 or retired you have State Insurance. Anybody in the middle unless your job offers it has nothing. My mother was paying $40 a week through work and the insurance didn't cover much. The government is the only on who can regulate this., and it goes by income. They gave about a year for people to apply before the taxes affected anything. At first too so many people are applying but you have to stay on top of it! Having health insurance can make you feel more at ease. It reassures the doctor for payment and you won't be turned away.
Everyone should be concerned about the taxes involved with the new healthcare bill and with their own healthcare. Listen to the people that talk about Europe's problems and Canada's problems with their HC System and WAKE UP NOW! We can find better solutions. 85% of US Citizens have healthcare that they are content with. Why not make that system better and get rid of all of the waste and fraud. The government has dropped the ball with Medicare and Medicaid. Don't let them in charge of your care. Your doctor should be in charge of your care.
I truly don't understand the opposition to the Affordable Care Act, it is a good thing and so many people will benefit from it.
I haven't decided what I think yet, however, I do understand economics and what worries me is this country with its debt we cannot afford Obama Care. I'm an independent voter. Having friends in Europe where they have socialized medicine - they have private insurance, private doctors, etc. They won't go to "social medicine" hospitals run the Government. My friends in Canada, if they can afford it, come to the States for certain procedures as they have to wait too long in Canada. I'm terribly concerned -- am older and working full time, but I take care of my health. I look around and see the obesity in the country and wonder what that is going to cost. It will be interesting as I don't think even the Republicans can fix this mess.
I'm just happy that there is now SOMETHING regarding a positive change in health care ! I know its far from perfect but its a step in the right direction . I have been paying health care for my family for the last 18 years.... the total premiums I've paid are around $150,000...... I can't afford to pay the new premiums anymore . Now that I can't pay I will have NOTHING , under the old system . NOTHING !! Since I never had to use the system for health care that I paid for ( because nothing reached the deductible ....) all the money that was paid and there is nothing to show for it - what is so good about that now if we get a major problem we will go bankrupt - the rest of the civilized world is laughing at us.
becca, it's totally relevant to this site. Having cared for my elderly mom, i can attest to the relief the Rx discount afforded her in the donut hole. She took three med's for age-related mental issues. The Abilify for bipolar mania, Namenda for age appropriate dementia, and Aricept for memory. In the donut hold those three med's ran almost $1000 monthly under the old routine. Under the new act that cost alone was halved. Eventually the donut hole will be eliminated over time. It is not political to talk about a 95 yr old's obligation to pay four figures monthly to big Pharma. Paying that was immoral imo! Talk about the issues herein. The politics are secondary.
Thank you Becca13 for sharing your feedback. We'll be sure to pass it along to our editorial team. Given the important role that family caregivers play in senior health and well-being ( http://www.caring.com/about/news-room/boomer-caregivers-crucial-to-senior-health.html ), health care legislation is relevant to the Caring.com audience. Here's some information we've previously provided about some of the ways health care reform can benefit family caregivers: http://www.caring.com/articles/family-benefits-from-healthcare-reform You can learn more about the focus of the FYI Daily blog here: http://www.caring.com/blogs/fyi-daily (see right column, "About FYI Daily"). Thanks again for your feedback!
I am completely SHOCKED that caring.com has put this kind of information on a site that is supposed to be for care givers! This is NOT the place for this type of disgustion! I have received and given very useful information from this site so why do you, caring.com, stupe to bating care-givers by opening this political type of post?! You say to "play nice" and yet you fuel the political fire! SHAME ON YOU!! Everyone has a political opinion but THIS site is NOT the place to voice it! And THAT is MY opinion! Becca13
I couldn't put my thoughts any better than did Dear One of Mort, in her first post to this discussion: the post where she starts with "I don't truly understand the opposition..." Folks, that post was coming not only from a physician, but one in a family of physicians. She is a wise one, and I refer you to that first comment of hers, as it is my own thoughts exactly. Her second comment of a few hours later lets you into her very humorous nature. Gotta love her!! And now she is battling breast cancer....more power to ya, Dear One of Mort!!!
I hear you, Gadfly. My husband had a rare, aggressive cancer and died last year from it after 3 months on hospice. Problem is: there are fewer and fewer working Americans to PAY for health insurance. As I said in my previous comment, the next Federal mandate has to be getting people educated, off of Welfare, and into jobs. Do the readers know that one out of seven - yes 1 out of 7 Americans is on Welfare?
I don't yet have Medicare and I don't want it but i have to accept it or be fined. Now we are going to push everyone into this same situation. This is not what our founders intended. We need to be responsible for ourselves, do the best we can to maintain our health and remember that none of us will live forever! Stop thinking that medicine can push death out indefinitely. When your time comes, accept it with grace; that doesn't mean being in pain or uncared for, it means don't spend millions to postpone a poor quality of life for a month or two. I have no desire to do that nor do most people I talk with. Let's try to care in a loving way for those who are ill and make sure they are never left alone to suffer (nor are they rushed into death) but are truly well cared for.
Perhaps you will one day be taxed if you don't exercise and also taxed if you smoke. or if you are morbidly obese. After all, the rest of us have had to pay for these health transgressions. As for trying different things in different states, we have already had that. There is health care for all in Massachusetts and it works. Most of the people are happy with it. As for marrying your sister, didn't former vice president Cheney said that there were Cheney's on both sides of his family? And before you get your knickers in a knot, I'm joking with that one, guys. And one more inspiring comment reminded me of LifeBuoy soap. But then, our friend Goin Crazy isn't the only one. Oh no, not the hook....no, no, no...
I am for little government. The least the government is in my life, the better my life is.
I have just experienced an unexpected illness which led to a month of hospitalization and, now, ongoing physical therapy. My medica billsl are in the thousands and are still coming in. I have Medicare and part D, plus a minimum health insurance plan. I am so thankful that the Affordable Care Act has been upheld, This ends some of the tyranny of the health insurance conglomerates. They can no longer deny care to those who become ill unexpectedly, those with pre exisiting conditions, children can stay coverred by their parents insurance until age 26, insurance companies can no longer put caps on lifetime care, prescription drug prices will be lowered. I co managed a company for 20 + years and saw how many people have turned to the emergency room as their only available form of health care....the cost is passed on to the rest of us. This is an ongoing tragedy and travesty. I am saddened by those of you who cannot/will not understand that we ALL have an obligation to help the least of us. Noone has a guarantee that they or their family/friends will not have an unexpected illness/accident as they live their lives. I knw from my own experience...I had a nap and when I woke up I was not able to walk. I urge you to educate yourselves regarding this long over due desparately needed Affordable Care Law. Peace to one and all
Understand one thing. This law/act is constitutional. Since Marbury vs Madison established the role of the courts in validating laws, that has been their purpose. I don't like their Citizens United decision but I consider it constitutional. It has far worse implications for our future than this healthcare decision. The act is not perfect and would be better to take the insurance companies completely out of it. But it is a step in the right direction. The individual mandate is necessary to prevent deadbeats from waiting to buy insurance until they need an expensive treatment or from imposing their costs on the rest of us. Find out the facts bfore you become hysterical. Many good things will come of this act and access to health care will become more equal for all Americans.
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I'm wondering why all people with conservative leanings are being branded with a blanket "racist" scarlet letter. Since when did conservative leaning become a synonym for racist?
If anyone was watching TV when the court announcement came in; they would see the wording. ALMOST ALL Americans must get health insurance or be fined. Now if that line doesn't make the hair on your spine stand up; nothing else in your lifetime will. Have you seen how many exceptions there are to this rule? HUNDREDS and not necessarily the poor who don't even make enough to buy it cheaply. Now there are many who may never use it, never need it but will have to buy it or else and then there others who don't have to buy it and will not be fined because Congress said so. THAT'S DISCRIMINATION. Now Medicaid is up the states to enlargen or not and raise their budgets that are almost bankrupt or already there. So that takes care of the poor and the elderly who can't afford to buy insurance...if they need care; WHO PAYS FOR IT? STATUS QUO..WE DO IN TAXES. Now the plans have already risen sharpley and my co. has already told us they are going up again 2013. If this Obamacare is the law of the land then anyone who doesn't have insurance, illegal, poor, elderly, exceptions; will have to be turned away from hospitals and doctors offices unless they want to pay for them out of their own funds. 3.8% tax on your dividends, 3.8% tax on the sale of your home starting next year. plus other items yet to be announced. Oh yes, dividends will be used as ordinary income next year not at the special 15% rate to incourage investments into our American companies to provide Jobs. When folks get hit with this tax; you will see the stock market reflect alot of Sales......downward....... who wants to get stuck paying 20-25-30-37.6% on dividends???? are they worth it?
Now we're going to pay a tax if we employ our right and don't buy health insurance. What's next? Will we pay a tax if we don't exercise?
The writer, spugadiccio, is a good example of how our Country has arrived at an unconstitutional SC ruling becoming a written law. When we indulge ourselves in self-indulgent thought, we arrive at ideas such as "individualized states" replacing our "United" States. Our Constitution was so intricately written as to include everyone, even self-indulgent thinkers, as having unalienable rights. Those rights did NOT include socialist mandantes such as "private payer state" or private political donations which disproportionately sets up the highest position in our Country to receive a Socialistic liar such as the one we currently have. We must better educate our current citizens in the laws of the US, which is the most democratic, the strongest ruled, Country in the world. When we open our borders to terrorist, as BO as done, we destroy the health, welfare, economy, social net, and democratic system for everyone, not just the self-indulgent, who cannot very well defend themself verbally or otherwise. Requiring a citizen to move to another state to a self-indulgent idea, is so foreign to our Forefathers design of our laws and society. This is why we MUST close our borders to ALL immigrants until we can once again become a health, economically sound, socially sound, democratically strong country again. GOD Bless AMERICA!!
I truly don't understand the opposition to the Affordable Care Act. We seem to love the security of Medicare. The right wing opposition to the health care act (and I mean those of us in the great unwashed not the nefarious and cynical leaders who were determined to oppose Obama in every way possible in order to define him as a failure). These amoral leaders have misinformed the people who listen to and read their media outputs so that people fear and despise the health care act. When they have an opportunity to open their minds and acquire true information, they agree that the health care act will improve their lives. Improvements in the delivery of health care have already been implemented with improvement of preventive measures leading to fewer hospital admissions. Many provisions of the health care act are already accepted and viewed as good. The sticking point seems to be the requirement that we all carry health insurance yet when we look for jobs, the inclusion of health insurance in the benefit package is highly valued. Everyone you joins that company, university, municipal government etc. is happy to have health care. And one of the most feared consequences of losing your job is the loss of health care insurance.
Hello, fellow readers. As a social worker, I think that the next Federal initiative - or more accurately - mandate - should be to educate the unemployed so that they too can pay their "fair share" of taxes coming down the pike with this bill. With so many jobs being outsourced to China, Philippines, India, though, what kind of jobs are available to the poorly educated in this country?? The only positions remaining seem to be service jobs. I know that here I digress a bit, but I'm on a roll: We must also get a stranglehold on terrorist threats and illegal immigration - note I said illegal immigration - not immigration. (There is nothing wrong with immigration by people who come here legally and work and pay their taxes like so many of us.) This country is a mess. Companies continue to hire based on a whole host of other criteria besides merit. Think about how that might affect your children and grandchildren. Is the person who's designing the bridge you drive over everyday qualified to do so? Is the doctor who's diagnosing you correct, and is he/she prescribing the appropriate medication to be shot into your arm? We are in a politically correct/pandering, CVS-on-every-corner society. Our workforce is stressed out from insufficient time off (a piddly two weeks a year in most cases and a 1/2 dozens holidays), yet we're preached to about "wellness" and exercise - a tall order when you're required to be at an office 8:30-5:00 5 days a week, approx. 324 days a year. What' the answer? - anti anxiety and depressant medications. Development is out of control. We build and build and then complain that wildlife - evicted daily from their habitats - is invading "our" neighborhoods. "Now people live in far away "suburbs" and find themselves driving an hour or more each way to work. When it comes to our own indulgences and creature comforts, many of us in America want to have our cake and eat it, too - and now we're paying for it. I welcome cordial, constructive replies.
The Supreme Court ruled that the law was constitutional, but not its enforcement. Technically, Congress could put a tax on premarital intercourse and it would be constitutional, but impossible to enforce without unconstitutional surveillance. The real test is how the government will find out who has insurance and who doesn't. The fourth amendment still forbids searching without probable cause. Will they have checkpoints on the road where people will have to show their insurance cards?The only constitutional way to enforce this law is to tax everybody the thousands dollar penalty and then making the insurance a tax-exemption. Good luck to any government who raises middle class taxes.
What is coming in the future is a possible 3-4 different Americas. Totally separate countries with separate laws and values....it is just a matter of time. We are a horribly splintered country now. It is either something like that or a civil war-revolution type of scenerio and it will be very, very bad too. We are a powder keg....just turn on the nat'l news if you don't believe me.
So maybe we should change ! I live in California in the big city and I have more in common with people I meet in Europe and Asia then I do with people I meet in the south and some of the central states ( I travel a lot....). Who's to say it isn't time for a change ? Who's to say that maybe some of the US Constitution is not obsolete now ? Why is it such a bad idea to use some of the states for experimenting with new ideas - like for example having mandatory single payer in Oregon or making private political donations illegal in California or being allowed to marry your sister in Alabama or having a $1 minimum wage in Texas ? And if you don't like the politics of the state you are in you can move to a state that is more agreeable to the kind of society you would prefer to live in . This way we can give some of the ideas some time and a place to be tried - I don't believe that we can accurately predict what will happen , so we should try new things and the states are the perfect places to experiment