(no subject)

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Comments

[jestingrabbit.livejournal.com]

The first group can afford it (according to some undisclosed metric), the second group are there because they're indestructible, not because they have shit jobs that don't give them insurance, the third group doesnt' count (because hey, who cares? amirite?) and the fourth is "between jobs" (nice use of the euphemism).

No problem there...

And more than half of US bankruptcies being due to medical costs... is obviously not what this is adressing.

...

I gotta say, the whole health care debate that youse are having is ridiculous. One of the things that is particularly hilarious is the threat of "giant government bureaucracy" accompanied by people drowning under a see of forms. When I go to the doctor I never pay and have to sign one form and hand over my (australian) medicare card. That's all the form filling out I do for health care. And we're so snowed under by the socialism... I just don't know what ever I will do.

[mikepictor.livejournal.com]

In Canada, they swipe my card with the magnetic stripe....that's it. I don't remember the last time I had to fill out any paperwork.

[faylnncortez.livejournal.com]

::High Five::

Not even an American citizen and you understand :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_53/]

Just saying an IAWTC. Non-Americans everywhere are watching this debate and scratching their heads wondering what the fuss is about. Even with all the facts made clear, there's all this raving paranoia and hysteria that's completely out of touch with reality. I'd say more but I don't want to start an argument.

All I know is, a quadruple bypass surgery from India's best private hospital, the world-renowned Apollo Hospital here in Delhi, costs around $2,000 all inclusive.

Meanwhile my mom and stepdad spent pretty much what little money they had treating her broken arm in the States, because even though they had insurance, they kept coming up with all sorts of clauses and reasons why they couldn't pay for some or all the various treatments and sessions and whatnot. It was an epic nightmare of red tape, fine print and bureucracy (and we're Indians, we know all about bureucracy). If it weren't for the fact that she needed ongoing therapy, she would have flown here to get it done from any private hospital and it would have easily been cheaper - even with the airfare.

inb4shitstorm. SRSLY, I'm not interested in arguing, so don't bitch at me. I'm just saying I agree with jestingrabbit.

[donolectic.livejournal.com]

You obviously hate your system. I've been told everyone in your (or any!)socialist dystopia hates your healthcare system.

[tridus.livejournal.com]

Is there a way to ban all entries from a specific poster from coming up? This guy hasn't posted anything either insightful or funny in forever.

[nerglish.livejournal.com]

Please let me know when you find out.

[jblaque.livejournal.com]

You can always just point and laugh at him, y'know. :)

[lyndz.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to ban somebody just for posting dumb cartoons.

[i.livejournal.com]

um, start your own community with you as dictator?

[dr-pepper-spray.livejournal.com]

The second isn't so much indestructible but rather under employed, or under-payed. Who's seriously willing to shell out $500.00 plus a month for quality health insurance when you also likely have rent, auto insurance and student loans to contend with? And yes, they're young and Xbox, Nike and Mountain Dew want they're piece of the action. Sure we could pay close to $200.00 plus a month with ridiculous deductibles but because of that those plans detract you from actually going to the doctor when you might actually need to... So those plans make you feel like you're simply making a financial contribution to the health insurance industry without getting the benefits. It doesn't matter though since there are very few family doctors left who can cheaply treat mild conditions however there are a lot of ER doctors and social security numbers are easy to make up.

It's like a river..if you don't spend money to dam it and irrigate with it it's just going to flood and cost you more money.

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Fact Sheet: America's Uninsured
The media repeat claims of 40 million to 50 million uninsured Americans, but facts from the Census Bureau and research organizations discredit it.
By Julia A. Seymour
Business & Media Institute
6/23/2009

The media claim that there are 40 million to 50 million uninsured Americans and use that statistic to bolster calls for universal government-run insurance coverage. The inaccuracy has been repeated by print and broadcast journalists for years, but the true extent of the uninsured “crisis” is much smaller than those reports let on.

Myth: There are between 40 million and 50 million uninsured Americans. President Obama referred to “46 million uninsured Americans” in May 2009.

Fact: Anyone who reports that there are more than 46 million uninsured is exaggerating since the Census Bureau puts the number of uninsured at 45,657,000 people.

Fact: Nearly 10 million (9.7) of the 45.7 million uninsured are “not a citizen.” That makes every media claim of uninsured Americans higher than 35.9 million is wrong.

Myth: The 40 million to 50 million uninsured cannot afford health insurance.

Fact: More than 17 million of the uninsured make at least $50,000 per year (the median household income of $50,233) – 8.4 million make $50,000 to $74,999 per year and 9.1 million make $75,000 or higher. Two economists working at the National Bureau of Economic Research concluded that 25 to 75 percent of those who do not purchase health insurance coverage “could afford to do so.”

Myth: The 40 million to 50 million uninsured do not get health care.

Fact: The National Center for Policy Analysis estimates that uninsured people get about $1,500 of free health care per year, or $6,000 per family of four.

Fact: An Urban Institute study found that 25 percent of the uninsured already qualify for government health insurance programs.

Myth: People will remain uninsured without government assistance.

Fact: The Congressional Budget Office says that 45 percent of the uninsured will be insured within four months. CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin also said that the frequent claim of 40+ million Americans lacking insurance is an “incomplete and potentially misleading picture of the uninsured population.”

Fact: Liberal non-profit Kaiser Family Foundation put the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 8.2 million and 13.9 million. (The 8.2 million figure includes only those uninsured for two years or more.)

Fact: CBO analysis found that 36 million people would remain uninsured even if the Senate’s $1.6 trillion health care plan is passed.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

it's funny because it effectively blames everyone but the insurance companies by making broad and wild strokes, like how rich people don't want it, young people never get sick, and so on.

[bluetooth16.livejournal.com]

I love this cartoon! I've always doubted the 47 million figure.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

The cartoon does properly point out who is not insured, but it writes off each of them in a very illogical manner.

Are we to believe that rich people, for whatever reason, choose not to pay a little money to avoid spending a lot of money? That doesn't seem like something a rich person would do, you know? I feel there is more to it than "I just don't want to pay."

Why should 18-25 year olds who aren't in college not have insurance? Because they never get sick? My cancer-getting self and wife who has a habit of having random viral infections causing her to be hospitalized calls bullshit on that.

Why shouldn't we provide hospital care for people who aren't citizens? We provide other government services for them. Let's ignore the undocumented workers and illegal alien wank and focus on the idea of just not providing care for a visitor from another country. We should charge them for getting injured on our soil?

For the people between jobs. COBRA would have cost me $600/mo if I didn't have my wife's insurance when I was without my own job-provided insurance due to changing jobs.

I enjoy that they blame parents for 8 million kids being uninsured. I assume that means we shouldn't help those children get proper medical care, because of their parents?

As for the last group, once again I wonder why the cartoon pins "well they're just lazy" on them. Are they just going "ah well I don't want it" or are they unaware they can get help or what?

[zombiesmustdie.livejournal.com]

Speaking as someone who works 40+ hours, is an american citizen, can't afford health insurance and doesn't have the option of getting it from work.

fuck you, fuck you very much, fuck you from the very bottom of my heart fuck you and fucking backwards greedy conservative worldview which holds back progress and helps insure that we have one of the most expensive and least effective healthcare systems outside of the third world.

fuck you.

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Medicare. And depending on what State you live in there is also most likely a program that will be able to make sure you can get affordable (subsidized) or even free health care. I know this as a fact since I am self employed and live in Maryland and have Blue Cross/Blue Shield coverage through the State Of Maryland since I could not afford to pay for it on my own..

[alithefiend.livejournal.com]

I am in the 18-25 range, I still avoid going to the doctor unless it is an absolute emergency because of the deductible. At least mine is $500, some people can't afford the monthly cost and go with the $2000-$5000 deductible plans. That's a lot of money for a waiter at a restaurant.

However, I am insured and if I do have a medical emergency it will be costly but won't put me in the grave. I also got my insurance outside my job, what my job offered me was pretty terrible insurance, they would take the cost of it out of our paychecks if we enrolled, we could only enroll at one time a year (Honestly, I'm not sure how they got away with this one because I thought you legally had to offer insurance to a new employee), and the insurance had a maximum coverage of 100K. I saw others were 2 million, then again most people aren't as smart as I am. They just take whatever insurance is offered to them so they are "insured" and find out in the real world that the insurance they bought is just scamming them out of money.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

Pff. $100,000 is like, six days in Intensive Care. Poof! Gone.

[saint-boner.livejournal.com]

They forgot the people that have pre-existing conditions and have decide to not pay rip off prices to insurance companies. If I have to go to the hosp. I'll just let the clowns paying rip off prices pay for my trip too. Hey, you can afford it, or your boss can. You must or you'd be screaming for change too.

Sigh ...

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Do your research. There are State programs that allow for people to not be turned down for Health Insurance for pre-existing conditions already. Maryland is one of them. I know 'cause I live there and get my insurance through one of their programs (Blue Cross/Blue Shield).

Anyway, enough for today, gotta go out in the real world and earn some pennies, haha ... Bye

[summercomfort]

I'm "insured" in a bare-bones plan, but I don't use it. Too deathly afraid of insurance companies and the bureaucracy involved. Part of what's scary for me is the cost of uninsured health care in the US and uncertainty about coverage at any given time. The uninsured costs just don't make sense. Teeth cleaning costing $300? An ophthalmologist doing the same thing as an optometrist and costing $800? When given the choice of taking some over-the-counter drugs and hoping things heal themselves or (1) figuring out if it's covered (2) finding a doctor who'll accept the insurance (3) scheduling an appointment when I can't really take time off work, etc etc, I do the former.

When I sprained my ankle in Japan, an x-ray, diagnosis, cast, and month of meds cost $150, sans any insurance. That... makes sense. I'm willing to pay $150 for that. Going for a doctor's visit in China cost me $5 to see the doctor and then $20 for the meds.

I just want basic, preventative care to make sense. Imagine if haircuts required insurance...

[rawbery79.livejournal.com]

I can't afford it, I'm 29, not illegal, working, not a child, and not eligible for government programs.

THEREFORE, THIS CARTOON IS COMPLETE AND TOTAL BULLSHIT TO THE FULLEST DEGREE.

" not eligible for government programs."

[lather2002.livejournal.com]

Than you have not looked hard enough. Or just maybe, you should move to another State that has a program that would help you. Or just possibly give up a something you can do without so you can pay for health insurance.

[prock.livejournal.com]

Dude, you've got the wrong president in your icon.

[drivebyluna.livejournal.com]

I'm 25 and uninsured because I can't afford it and my fiance's workplace refuses to sign me up even though we've been dating for 5 years and are planning on getting married next year.

[xladymissiex.livejournal.com]

Do realize that the argument for the "in between jobs" is a little more than just switching. Trying to find jobs after months and months is not easy. Not to mention this takes the idea of every employer paying for covered. Very few do anymore.

[nacreousflaneur.livejournal.com]

Just a thought, and no, I'm not being facetious--what is the difference between health insurance and auto insurance? Here in California, having auto insurance is mandatory. And yet it's 100% private, and seems to work pretty well, more or less.

[mylaptopisevil.livejournal.com]

While one may argue that you need a car to survive, it's a bit more literal that people need health care to survive.

[xforge.livejournal.com]

*adds up to more because all these numbers are made up and the cartoonist didn't care to go back and put it right after his editor asked him why the data was f*cked up

[jlc20thmaine.livejournal.com]

If you can make up numbers why can't anyone else. Besides, the number in the cartoon weren't made up.

[lafinjack.livejournal.com]

The cartoonist is either dumb or incredibly dishonest.

Why not both?

[funnygurusdca.livejournal.com]

C'mon! If the U.S. Health Care situation were simple enough to be accurately summed up in a one-panel cartoon, it would have been fixed years ago.

The reactionary right in America would like you to believe that it's just fine as it is and that the shadow of evil socialism lurks at every turn. That viewpoint, of course, is horseshit, but the mindless millions who watch Fox News and who listen to rightwing talk radio, just lap it right up.