blobbohen
Rookie
So I leave for a little less than a month to come back and find that my thread about Obamacare became the site of a cthulhu-esque altar with a photo of Ron Paul in his release form found at its nexus. Getsuga Tenshou? Interestingly enough, I also found that the thread had been locked.
Nevertheless, I'll abide by what GRandmaster danielrbischoff stated and take caution to avoid setting off anyone's sensibilities in here (never my primary intention, for the record) simply by not addressing anyone directly or indirectly that might get miffed. Your forum, your rules so I don't intend to mess with the DM lest you summon the Tarrasque.
Back in that thread I said that I'd respond to any questions and there appear to have been a few that, while not explicitly asked, were evident enough to me in the back and forth banter. Or perhaps I conjured them from nothing. Whatever the case I'll keep the answers concise and post a link to a source that addresses the comment if there's one that is applicable. If I were able to answer the questions in that same thread I would have but, again, since it was locked I've started this. I don't consider this thread political spam since gamers require healthcare insurance about as much as anyone in the U.S. Those working in the industry sometimes sound like they could use a hand, too. So here goes again....
Quotes taken from the other thread:
People are afraid of what they don't understand, and since the U.S. only tries to reform its healthcare insurance system every 15-20 years it's not a discussion that happens very often. So it was good this attempt succeeded. For what it's worth Tommy Douglas (one of my personal heroes), the man responsible for Canada's universal coverage, was nick-named "Tommy the Commie" by his detractors when first brought up the idea. That kind of McCarthyism happens here in the U.S. anytime universal coverage is brought up, and this principle more or less guarantees that it will keep happening. Younger people here do not demonize socialized medicine the way that the elderly do, though. That gives me hope.
Sounds like a pretty snazzy deal to me as long as it gets the person's costs covered. I don't know of anything in Obamacare that would interfere with that kind of arrangement going down. If anything I'd say the insurance exchanges would give you a more centralized place to shop around for insurance if you wanted to go the dual route. Until they get set up in 2014 I can't say that I know for sure, though.
Business practices like that are done, as you can guess, to make a profit. And that's what the focus is on with healthcare insurance in the U.S. as opposed to the focus being on the patient. 45,000 people die a year here because they've got no insurance at all, sometimes losing it after being bled dry by the whole process. In addition to that the uninsured generally use the emergency room as their doctor and, with no means to pay, the cost is left for the hospital to eat. Guess what methods they try to use to cover that kind of problem? Probably something similar to what your remark mentioned. Getting people insured sooner will help avoid situations like that that ultimately everyone ends up paying for.
I quoted from Icepick again because, well, he was on fire with that remark. My family in Canada does not go through the fear of their medical bills bankrupting them. In the U.S. medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy for individuals.
That sucks. And it's not the way anyone should have to live.
There's eventually going to have be a time when the U.S. makes the switch to universal coverage but until it does Obamacare is what we've got. And as a step in the right direction towards universal coverage I support it.
tl;dr Regardless of whether this thread gets locked, deleted, or otherwise tampered with I was happy to provide info to GR about what's contained in Obamacare. If anyone is annoyed by political posts then I guess another thread is where you should be. Gamers need healthcare insurance as much as anyone else and since I don't post on many forums I started a thread here. And I had such fun.
Have a good one, GR. And in case this thread is obliterated (for whatever reason) here's another spot for the info if you can catch the link before it disappears with this thread: http://pastebin.com/gBuDX5P5
Good night and good luck.
Nevertheless, I'll abide by what GRandmaster danielrbischoff stated and take caution to avoid setting off anyone's sensibilities in here (never my primary intention, for the record) simply by not addressing anyone directly or indirectly that might get miffed. Your forum, your rules so I don't intend to mess with the DM lest you summon the Tarrasque.
Back in that thread I said that I'd respond to any questions and there appear to have been a few that, while not explicitly asked, were evident enough to me in the back and forth banter. Or perhaps I conjured them from nothing. Whatever the case I'll keep the answers concise and post a link to a source that addresses the comment if there's one that is applicable. If I were able to answer the questions in that same thread I would have but, again, since it was locked I've started this. I don't consider this thread political spam since gamers require healthcare insurance about as much as anyone in the U.S. Those working in the industry sometimes sound like they could use a hand, too. So here goes again....
Quotes taken from the other thread:
Icepick said:
People are afraid of what they don't understand, and since the U.S. only tries to reform its healthcare insurance system every 15-20 years it's not a discussion that happens very often. So it was good this attempt succeeded. For what it's worth Tommy Douglas (one of my personal heroes), the man responsible for Canada's universal coverage, was nick-named "Tommy the Commie" by his detractors when first brought up the idea. That kind of McCarthyism happens here in the U.S. anytime universal coverage is brought up, and this principle more or less guarantees that it will keep happening. Younger people here do not demonize socialized medicine the way that the elderly do, though. That gives me hope.
Paradox said:
Sounds like a pretty snazzy deal to me as long as it gets the person's costs covered. I don't know of anything in Obamacare that would interfere with that kind of arrangement going down. If anything I'd say the insurance exchanges would give you a more centralized place to shop around for insurance if you wanted to go the dual route. Until they get set up in 2014 I can't say that I know for sure, though.
NickKmet said:
Business practices like that are done, as you can guess, to make a profit. And that's what the focus is on with healthcare insurance in the U.S. as opposed to the focus being on the patient. 45,000 people die a year here because they've got no insurance at all, sometimes losing it after being bled dry by the whole process. In addition to that the uninsured generally use the emergency room as their doctor and, with no means to pay, the cost is left for the hospital to eat. Guess what methods they try to use to cover that kind of problem? Probably something similar to what your remark mentioned. Getting people insured sooner will help avoid situations like that that ultimately everyone ends up paying for.
Icepick said:
I quoted from Icepick again because, well, he was on fire with that remark. My family in Canada does not go through the fear of their medical bills bankrupting them. In the U.S. medical costs are the leading cause of bankruptcy for individuals.
That sucks. And it's not the way anyone should have to live.
There's eventually going to have be a time when the U.S. makes the switch to universal coverage but until it does Obamacare is what we've got. And as a step in the right direction towards universal coverage I support it.
tl;dr Regardless of whether this thread gets locked, deleted, or otherwise tampered with I was happy to provide info to GR about what's contained in Obamacare. If anyone is annoyed by political posts then I guess another thread is where you should be. Gamers need healthcare insurance as much as anyone else and since I don't post on many forums I started a thread here. And I had such fun.
Have a good one, GR. And in case this thread is obliterated (for whatever reason) here's another spot for the info if you can catch the link before it disappears with this thread: http://pastebin.com/gBuDX5P5
Good night and good luck.
