Brad Wardell's views about technology, politics, religion, world affairs, and all sorts of politically incorrect topics.
Published on March 22, 2010 By Draginol In Politics

People tend to project their hopes and dreams onto things based on their name.

They hear “health care reform” and they see their ideological allies supporting it and they assume it does all kinds of magical things.

For those of you glad that the bill passed, be aware that what was passed resembles nothing like what is in Europe or Canada. 

Here’s what it does (you can read the details at CBS News):

1. It “provides” insurance to 30 million Americans. How does it do this? They made it illegal not to buy insurance. Voila.  Seriously. That’s how they did it. If you don’t, you’re fined $695 annually.

2. They make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to those with pre-existing conditions. So the person with basic math skills who figures out that $695 annually is a lot less than $6,000 annually ($500 X 12 months) can wait until they get pregnant, diagnosed with diabetes or gets into an accident and THEN buy insurance.  Thus the cost will go far up.

3. They provide subsidies to make insurance cheaper. In theory.  Since the insurance companies are barely regulated monopolies per state who now know they everyone has to buy insurance, they can raise rates (this is what happened with car insurance when it became mandatory).

The right-wingers are going crazy about it because it socializes health-care.  The left-wingers are currently happy because they don’t realize just how much they got screwed. If/when this program starts to get implemented, I think they’ll start to realize how badly they got screwed.

People on the Internet who are from overseas tend to have no real understanding of America’s healthcare system. They don’t realize that the poor already get medical coverage for free (Medicaid) and that the elderly already get medical coverage (Medicare). 

So in effect, all this bill really does is make it illegal to not have insurance. 

Maybe they should use the same system to eliminate poverty. Just make it illegal to be poor.


Comments (Page 5)
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on Mar 24, 2010

Either way the law says, here, that I must get car insurance if I want to drive a car on a public road.

Yes another good point. They are public roads, not private. You can buy a vehicle and drive it as much as you want, without insurance, license, or registration, as long as you do it on your private property. I (and all US citizens) will be required to have health insurance, even if we never leave our homes or private property.

Of course private property might be one day be a thing of the past. The government just nationalized student loans to pay for Obamacare...what's next?

on Mar 24, 2010

I (and all US citizens) will be required to have health insurance, even if we never leave our homes or private property.

Well, last time I checked, you won't be treated in your private home for cancer.

LOL, you make it seem as if this does not happen where you are from. Utopia must be as good as they say, right?

Things seems to degrade, but I know it's only because things change from what they used to be to something else. From some people's point of view, that might come of as "degradation", since what they held dear no longer is and gets replaced.

In other word, people don't like change.

But there is a difference between change and having an impotent law enforcement.

on Mar 24, 2010

I (and all US citizens) will be required to have health insurance, even if we never leave our homes or private property.

How will they make sure that the Amish and Indian tribes follow that law?

 

on Mar 24, 2010
on Mar 24, 2010

No, health insurance and car insurance aren't exactly the same, but anyone who drives has to have car insurance whether they want it or can afford it or not.

on Mar 24, 2010

The fawning sycophantic media (i.e., not Fox or the WSJ) are in full-on 'lipstick on the pig' mode, with righteous indignation at the bill's critics thrown in for good measure.  I don't think it will succeed the way they think it will succeed, to paraphrase Inigo.

Clarification:  Even some on Fox are being a bit sycophantic, to be sure.

on Mar 24, 2010

The fawning sycophantic media (i.e., not Fox or the WSJ) are in full-on 'lipstick on the pig' mode, with righteous indignation at the bill's critics thrown in for good measure. I don't think it will succeed the way they think it will succeed, to paraphrase Inigo.

I've noticed... reminds me of the scene when Michael convinces Tome Hagen that killing a cop isn't really a big deal cause their freinds in the media could easily depict him as a "corrupt cop who got what was coming"

on Mar 24, 2010

The fawning sycophantic media (i.e., not Fox or the WSJ) are in full-on 'lipstick on the pig' mode, with righteous indignation at the bill's critics thrown in for good measure.

One man's news report is another man's propaganda.

I really am puzzled about this element of U.S.. The non-neutrality of the news outlet.

on Mar 24, 2010

Cikomyr
You clearly don't know a thing about canadian political climate if you think that because there was a manifestation against Ann Coulter in Ottawa, there are no ideological divergence in our country.

I never said there was none, only that freedom is not all its cracked up to be in Canada.  before her speech was cancelled, she was threatened by the Provost at the University.  Threatened for what?  Nothing more than attempting to speak her mind.

Edit: Not to forget one element, how does that affect Americans that a large protest against Ann Coulter happened?

Did I say it did?  I was only pointing out that Canadians are not as free as they would like to think.

Edit2: I just found an article. http://www.torontosun.com/news/canada/2010/03/23/13336316.html As you can see, conservatives (your meaning) still have the right to say what they want. No one prevent them from saying things in the paper, writing editorials, or having their political party. But no one is preventing other peoples to protest against a very controversial and antagonising pundit.

Yes, but follow this:

Coulter was threatened for "speaking".  The Speech was cancelled for "threatened violence".  So apparently in Canada, you can say what ever you want.  As long as OTHERS do not threaten violence.  And that is freedom?  I would be very scared of my freedom of speech when some lunatic can threaten violence IF I SPEAK.

on Mar 24, 2010

Auto insurance requirements are created and enforced by the states, and only apply to those who wish to drive. You have the option to walk, bike, take public transit, carpool, or otherwise get a ride if you can't or won't buy auto insurance.

Medical insurance is now a federal requirement, and applies to everyone, period. The only option you have to avoid it (and the fines and potential jail time for noncompliance) is to be dead.

It's really not an apt comparison at all.

BINGO!  Kyro gets an A+

on Mar 24, 2010

Cikomyr
Well, last time I checked, you won't be treated in your private home for cancer.

IN many cases you will.  But that is immaterial to Nitro's point.

But there is a difference between change and having an impotent law enforcement.

Fewer little law enforcement officers?

on Mar 24, 2010

Leauki
How will they make sure that the Amish and Indian tribes follow that law?

Due to the treaties, if a Native America never leaves the reservation, or works in a reported job, there will be no way.  However, even they are required to file income taxes if they work outside the treaty land.  Same aas Amish - the IRS.

Cikomyr
I really am puzzled about this element of U.S.. The non-neutrality of the news outlet.

That is by their own choice.  They are free to be objective (like Fox, the #1 news organization in the country today) or cranial enemas to the democrats (as are virtually all the rest).  We do not have to like it, but there is nothing (thankfully) that any of us can do about it - other than not support them with our patronage.  Which is what is happening for the most part, and why most are on the brink of fiscal ruin.

on Mar 24, 2010

That is by their own choice. They are free to be objective (like Fox, the #1 news organization in the country today) or cranial enemas to the democrats (as are virtually all the rest).

Or, you know, be a cranial enema to the republicans (Fox News) or free to be objective (the rest of news media).

YOU claim that Fox News is objective. But it's an opinion far from making unanimity.

How do you establish objectivity beyond a doubt?

on Mar 24, 2010

The ironic thing is that people still have to die whether they get health insurance or not. Death is unavoidable. And in the past, if you got cancer, it killed you and no arguing. But now that a few scientists have done something noble (far from all of them) and decided to fight disease, they have the power to give you a reprieve from death (hopefully so that you can live honorably in your extension).

Even though it is something morally good, it is not something natural. And you do not have a right to it. You do, on the other hand, have the right not to pay someone who has taken a good knowledge and decided to do something bad with it, like extort you. But I do not consider expensive medicine as much extortion (although that is certainly a factor) as it is the result of the way people have decided to appropriate property.  

The doctor was only able to gain his knowledge and skill because wealthy entities paid for the research that backs his procedure. A garbage man, on the other hand, is considered too unimportant to be given an amount of property comparable to the research and devices involved in such a life saving procedure, and so he cannot trade what he has for what he needs to save his life. The garbage man works just as hard as anyone else, and he is just as human. But some humans do not consider him equal to themselves, since he could never have done anything like invent a cure for cancer. And so while a few people, who are considered more important and better (mostly by themselves), have the amount of property they need to trade with the doctors who can save lives, the others who are not considered important enough to have that property do not have enough to trade. The question becomes, 'Should we force those who we consider more important to give up some of their property so that people who we consider unimportant can live fuller lives?" 

I know a few doctors, some of them mostly good and some of them wholly evil, and in neither case can they save you from death. They can only delay it. Not to sound morbid, but science does not save lives. It merely prolongs them.

Some people would take advantage of that power to extort the unhealthy. Others would only require a just and due payment that you cannot afford. In neither case did the doctor cause your problem, and should you die because either an evil doctor would not help a poor man or because a good doctor simply COULD not, the doctor did not cause your death. Not to sound communist, but the way property is appropriated caused your death more so than the doctor. And it did not cause your death at all, really. It was merely the disease.

Now there are two solutions. 1) Take the property from those who have it and give it to those who don't so that all men "created equal" can have full lives, not just those considered important enough to save. 2) Let nature run it's course on the unimportant and just save the elite, if that can be done, by any trade of material wealth.

I think the new health care bill is an attempt to do the first, in an effort to meet some "greater good". However, it is not right to steal from men. On the other hand, what we are talking about just amounts to taxation, involuntary charity. And most people would agree that that is ok. 

on Mar 24, 2010

No, health insurance and car insurance aren't exactly the same, but anyone who drives has to have car insurance whether they want it or can afford it or not.

And can you explain why? Obviously because insurance was meant as a means to protect the person who gets hit. If you get into an accident because someone hit you, is it your insurance who corevs the damages? Not necessarily, the other vehicles insurance covers the damages (unless special circumstances). With health insurance it's all for you, has nothing to do with other people. That's the difference. You are responsible for your own health and you have the choice to provide the means to maintain it. In an accident the person who caused the accident is responsible, you don't have a choice. That is why car insurance was made mandatory because people could not afford or refused to pay for the other persons pain and suffering and were probably sued in order to get something out of them.

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