We need massive reform in the country on both health care and gun control. I'm liberal and I don't deny it. But right now my DH and I are experiencing life as "poor" in this country. We are watching our pennies like we never before.
Never before have we been on the type of a high deductible health insurance. Never before have we ever been worried about going to the doctor. Never have we considered the cost of a dr visit. Never before have we wonder what will happen if we have to hit the deductible. Have we been priviledged? Absolutely. DH grew up with socialized healthcare. I grew up with a mom who worked for the state so primo for the US. The idea that we worry about visits for our kids now worries me. The fact we don't have prescription coverage worries me a lot. I've always supported single payer socialized health care and never more than now.
Look the truth is for a healthy family of 4 it's costing us $560/month for basic HDHP premium. That's with a $6500 individual/$13k family deductible. Until now DH and I have had jobs that has always provided health insurance. Great health insurance. In grad school DH had premium coverage no costs as did I. His job was superb, best of any industry but the premiums were skyrocketing as I've mentioned. But we've never been without or lived looking at deductibles. We are now. It's not a pretty feeling. It's not an easy situation to asses. I know we are blessed more than others because we can financially manage, but at the same time I am looking at part-time work solely to get group health insurance again.
What does that say about our health care system? USA is the WORST in health care for 1st world countries. We have cutting edge technologies but for what? Most people can't afford it or go broke trying to pay for it. BK are caused medical bills and I can easily understand how. So people who don't want a single payer system please explain why?
I will lay out I believe health care isn't something people "afford" it should just be something everyone should have. And just moving to a single payer would probably cover the costs of it because our system is so INEFFICIENT and expensive that it costs more than all other single payer systems in other countries. So the argument it'll cost more is moot. Americans spend more on health care for less care than other countries. So why are people against it?
Second if everyone against socialized healthcare doesn't believe in it, then I hope they aren't using medicare or plan to. We have single payer socialized medicine and turns out EVERYONE over 65 is on it, it's called medicare.
Turns out everyone in the military is on TriCARE. If it is so horrible then all these military people should be turned out and given cash and they should buy their own policies. Why don't they? Because it would cost even more than what it costs now. They probably couldn't afford to buy matching health insurance for what the military costs to run Tricare. And don't tell me not. If it wasn't needed and used, then the military would probably give people money to buy health insurance but they don't.
So let's ask the question if health care should be capitalistic then everyone 65 and over and military should BUY their own insurance. All capitalistic health care supporter should put their money where their mouth is and not use Medicare or Tricare. Prove it by giving up the safety net.
And I think gun control needs regulations. I think it goes hand in hand with reforming mental health issues. But other countries don't have so many mass murders that have stricter gun control. Why is that? Is it the health care? Is it the laws? Is it a combination? Can we keep have semi automatic and automatic weapons so easy to come by?
By the way I think the "democratic/liberal" congress people are as much in the pocket as conservative republicans in congress. Neither party has anybody with backbone instead they are too busy pocketing money to do anything. Probably because they are rich enough to afford protection and rich enough to afford private schools. After all Jeb Bush and Donald Trump didn't even give lip about the sorrow, rather "things happen." Yes it happens but does it have to keep happening? Of course call up your bodyguards and private planes while the rest of us go about living.
Reforming Health Care and Gun Control
October 3rd, 2015 at 12:06 am
October 3rd, 2015 at 02:30 am 1443835858
I agree semi automatic weapons aren't needed in this country. Mental health care is an issue. Education would go a long way to getting people help. However, I will stand for gun rights for individuals. We personally don't own them, but my husband has always wonders after these horrific events if more people carried guns would the shooter in these events be able to kill as many people? Likely not.
I'm not going to 'convince' you to change your views, but you asked. And I appreciate you putting your view out there.
October 3rd, 2015 at 03:26 am 1443839192
Second, have you ever priced out insurance for your family? Have you considered what it will cost to you get even the monthly premium and then pay all dr visits? Start there. Ask yourself if you don't have tricare in 11 years after you get out. Will you pay for medical insurance? And if you really believe in capitalistic healthcare why not pay for better care? Cost right? If you didn't have tricare would you be willing to shell out $1k month or more for insurance? Would you pick the cheapest plan and pray nothing happens? I've always been for single payer because of my mom, but never more so than now.
Even with health insurance since we picked a crappy plan deliberately many drs don't take our insurance. I called many providers and they said they weren't taking new patients with that sort of insurance. Finally I got one for a new pediatrician but they were booking 3-4 weeks out. So having crappy health insurance isn't the as easy as one would think. Not to mention that even with premium health insurance the wait for specialists was always long. That with top of the line insurance referrals and waits in the US are quite long for a "payer" system. The current system is the worse of the worst.
We can never go back to paying the dr because no one can afford surgeries, chemotherapy, dialysis, etc. Back when people could afford it there wasn't the sort of technology that there is now. Now how would you pay for implanting a pacemaker? How would you pay for cancer treatment? Financially not feasible.
I believe in single payer. But I'm amendable if we want to go truly capitalistic. Every man for himself and you pay what you can. I'm okay switching everyone to buying their own insurance. But I question how long would that sort of truly capitalistic health care would last if we really had to dig into our pockets and pay for everything ourselves? Would people pay for cholesterol medicines? Blood pressure medications? Just everyday medicines that many people take. Could we afford it?
And I'm not convinced people carrying guns is the answer. Gabby Giffords had a person in the crowd armed and he hurt more people than the shooter. So what would happen if we had one gunman and one "hero" who both opened fire into the crowd? Would it matter if people were killed by the "good" guy? Sort of like the number of people with guns accidentally killing their family sneaking into the house. Best of intentions. I actually have quite a few relatives in the military, police, etc and most don't own guns for fear of shooting their own family. I actually asked once and got that answer from two different uncles and a cousin who were military. One was a sniper but he doesn't have a gun now just a baseball bat.
I don't think expanding gun control to the same limits as other countries unreasonable. But I want to understand why if the number of US citizens believe 70% there should be more restrictions why Congress can't move forward? Why do so many people want some expansion of gun control but there be failure by both political parties? The only person I hear speaking on it is Obama. Where are the rest of those shameless democrats? I am liberal but register as an independent because I honestly feel many democrats are in the pockets of lobbists.
October 3rd, 2015 at 03:45 am 1443840357
October 3rd, 2015 at 08:47 pm 1443901665
Saying we should focus on upping mental health care while ignoring the easily-accessible-to-anyone-who-wants-them weapons in this country is like saying yeah, that bridge is falling apart and treacherous, but instead of barricading entry to the bridge to protect people, let's just focus on providing more counseling to people who still want to drive over it.
REALLY convoluted thinking.
October 3rd, 2015 at 08:48 pm 1443901726
But I want to understand why if the number of US citizens believe 70% there should be more restrictions why Congress can't move forward? Why do so many people want some expansion of gun control but there be failure by both political parties?
The answer: NRA is a very powerful lobby.
October 4th, 2015 at 04:17 am 1443928646
Your argument with Tricare is like saying that everyone who works at Target should forego their health insurance and buy it on the open market. Um, for what? It's a benefit of the job.
October 4th, 2015 at 03:16 pm 1443968202