[Beetle01]

Everyone isn't required to have auto-insurance...
only people that drive.

There are a lot of benefits to this...
but the fact that everyone has to have it is ridiculous.

Having to buy insurance to drive is one thing.
Having to buy insurance because you are alive is completely different.

See Response to bob Seger Below.

How do you feel about your job being phased out?

My job is not even close to being phased out. I don't understand that comment.

:zzz:Not even in the same thought realm Beetle. That is a very very poor comparison. I think all of us had no doubt whatsoever that you would be the square peg in the world of round holes on the subject. You always are....lol.... Auto insurance protects and compensates others for our own neglect. You are only required by law to carry liability coverage. In case you dont understand the process, that is solely for the benefit of the other guy.:eyeroll:

As much as your try to make snide and smart ass comments, you completely made my point for me. Let me thank you for that. I would figure since you know how Auto Insurance works, you would understand how this whole health insurance plan would work. See Auto Insurance is for the guy you hit, and that is why it is required. No one cares if you insure your own car, but if you are texting and driving and hit my car, it's not going to cost me a bunch of money. This health insurance plan works in a similar way. If you don't have health insurance currently and you get sick or injured, guess who is on the hook for it? Other people/tax payers/insured people. See the hospitals jack up their prices on the insured to help cover their losses on the uninsured. And since getting sick and injured is a FACT of life, wouldn't it be wiser to put some money down for some insurance plans for these people, rather than spend even more on them for when they do get sick? Not only that, they will get preventative treatment before their ailment reaches a critical status, thus costing 1/1000 of what it would.

You went to college and you didn't pick up on the fact that socialism was an abject failure in the Soviet Union and now is oppressing the people of Red China? Socialism preyed on and victimized the people of the Soviet Union and was directly responsible for their fall. Homogenizing the social structure of any society has the effect of nuetralizing the desire to succeed. I remember the stories on the nightly news showing empty shelves in soviet markets. Reagan rightly referred to the USSR as an "evil empire." I hope you're happy with the ER level health care you, and your family will be receiving as the direct result of the Affordable Care Act. But, getting to the point as to why free health care isn't a good thing. Man is supposed to work for his living, Genesis 3:19 (KJV)
In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

It isn't that the basic notion of helping someone is bad, but the guarantee of cradle to grave entitlements is a fundamentally destructive policy. Eventually the welfare rolls will swell to the bursting point and, as in the case of our country, you'll be staring at a 20 trillion dollar national debt by the end of an Obama second term. So why do I say it's sin? We'll never be able to pay our debt as it is, much less the debt with the UNafordable Care Act added in. According to Wikipedia, our monetary base "consists of coins, paper money (both as bank vault cash and as currency circulating in the public), and commercial banks' reserves with the central bank." Currently the U.S. monetary base is sitting at somewhere around 2.7 trillion dollars. So if you went out and gathered all of that money up it would only make a small dent in our national debt. But afterwards, there would be no currency for anyone to use. These facts are indisputable, so what's the plan, we just stiff all our creditors some day?

As to whether or not republicans "cater" to anyone, you tell me. Who are the special interest groups the republicans are flooding with benefits and money in return for votes?

The ER level care will improve. Right now the biggest problem with the ER is it is the only way for many people to get medical care. They are unable to go for an office visit due to lack of insurance, so they go to the ER.
This causes a massive influx in ER patients.

Also, people have been referring to this as socialism, and that we won't get to choose our Doctors, and waits will be forever. That is all just BS being repeated from some media source. That in now way will be the case. There will still be the same amount of sick people.

I keep seeing on this site, people referring to Communism, and the fact that we have a free market capitalist system.

I don't know what world you all are living, in but I would call our current system anything but free market capitalism.

When you think communism, socialism, or w/e name you give it, what do you think of? Basically all your decisions are made for you.
Is this not the world we live in now?
Who do you get your power from? How many options? Telephone? Internet? Insurance? Bank with? Buy fuel from? You may think you have a lot of options, but trust me you don't. Many of those companies with different names, are truly owned by one big parent company.

I used to have a good site saved that had bar graphs and charts showing the major industries, Insurance/Banking/Oil/Pharm/Auto. How 20-30 years ago, in some of those industries their were hundreds of private entities vying for your business. Now in most there is only 4 or 5. They also work together to keep other competitors from coming up. The only way free market capitalism works is to truly let it be free, right now those are monopolies.

They pad the pockets of politicians to pass legislature that will help keep them on top, and prevent any new competition. They use the Govt as their own enforcer. Not including all the other dirty tactics.

Anheuser-Bush is a great example. It really shows how a billion dollar company can wield their power over politicians to help dominate any new competition. It's not about the better product/service/ or cost. Its about making sure you are the only option to the consumer (this applies to all the industries).

Anyways, Beer Wars, watch it on Netflix if you got it. Ill give a quick run down. Basically, lets say all of us decide to get together and make some new beer. We create a new company, make a great product at an affordable price, and it really starts catching on. We start turning a solid profit, plus we all get some free beer. Anyways, the way the laws are set up we are forced to sell our beer to a distributor, who then sells it to the stores/bars or w/e. We are not allowed to sell directly to the public.

After a year or so, our beer has really caught on. Demand is going up, we are doing all we can to make as much beer as fast as possible. We have hit about 10-15% of the local market share of beer sales. A fairly substantial amount.

Well, AB has seen a drop in sales in our region, and has sent some people down to find out what is going on. They hear about this new beer, and decide to offer us a deal to buy us out. Of course, we say no, and continue making our beer.

Well, a few weeks later we got a batch ready to head out to the local distributor. We call them up, and they tell us they can't pick up our beer, they will no longer serve us. We call a couple others, they all say the same thing. So now we have a product that we can not sell. We have no way of offering it to the public.

How did this happen? Well, after our refusal, AB decided to call the local distributors, and there usually aren't many for a very large region. They informed the distributors that if they continued to carry their beer, AB would take their business to a competitor, or help someone start a new distributor. Well if you own the distribution company, and AB is about 80% of your business, then you better believe you don't have a choice in the matter.


And that is how our country now works. Its all about the companies and corporations. It's not about us. The new bill, while obviously not close to perfect, is at least about helping the people. Insurance companies are going to see their profits shrink. However, you know, at what point is enough profit enough? Im all for them making money, good for them. When it starts affecting the level and quality of health care we as humans receive. Then, I don't care if we put some limitations on them.

Sure, they can quit selling health insurance if they choose. However, in this country, if there is a profit to be made, someone is gonna make it. Im sure there are plenty of people out there who will be willing to run a company that only profits 500mil-1bil, rather than 4bil a year or more.