5 ms·

ObamaCare hits medical device companies with a special new federal excise tax. "Reform" indeed.

by watchandwait 16y ago

krainboltgreene 16y ago
Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus.
- briansmith 16y ago
  I agree. Do you know what the new website is? I went through Digg -> Reddit, Reddit -> news.yc, and now I don't know what comes next. (Actually, some parts of Reddit seem to have returned to respectability. Maybe Reddit has become the new news.yc?)
  - krainboltgreene 16y ago
    I started off with HN, so I have no clue.
- lionhearted 16y ago
  > Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus. Yeah, it's sad to see the quality of discussion erode a bit, but I'm hoping it's just a cycle. I saw a comment about "teabaggers" just recently as well, so it is truly non-partisan low quality political discussion. Then again, maybe any not-heavily-moderated politics discussion on the internet devolves into that sort of thing, which is why it's more or less verboden on HN in the first place. I'm just breaking out the downvote for it and crossing my fingers that it's a passing influx of people who don't know the etiquitte yet.
- Estragon 16y ago
  I'm sure he's just trying to help Mr Friedman out by demonstrating the final point of his essay for us. Our national debate today is dominated by the ignorant ramblings of Sarah Palin, talk-show lunatics, tea parties and politics as sports — not ESPN but PSPN.
anamax 16y ago
Why is that being downvoted? Obamacare does include a new tax on medical devices. http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-device-tax-details-now-up-to-house-senate-conferees.html http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-d... It's unclear how that tax will help us get new medical devices. OC also includes a limit on flexible spending accounts ($2500/employee year), which many of us have used to pay for things that aren't covered by insurance. ($2500 is just a bit more than laser eye surgery these days and is much less than it was when first introduced.) Folks with kids and other dependents get a lot of benefit from flex spending. (They can pay deductibles and so on.) There wasn't a limit before - most companies picked one around $4-5k, so folks near the max will be paying an extra $500-1k in taxes from just this change.. They aren't going to see any comparable savings. OC also significantly restricts the use of flexible spending accounts - they now can't be used for non-prescription drugs unless "prescribed". So, if you get yeast infections and have been curing them OTC, you can't get a break on the drug that always works for you unless you go to the doctor.... (I picked yeast infections because the "white knights" complain that we don't include women enough.)
- carbocation 16y ago
  Using pejorative terms marks the end of, not a beginning to, productive discourse.
  - Qz 16y ago
    To be fair, given the state of media coverage (read: Fox News), I wouldn't be surprised if someone legitimately thought it was named ObamaCare ...in which case the use of pejoratives on HN is the least of that person's problems.
    - carbocation 16y ago
      That would be 1 cuil, I believe. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raids_reveal_baby_farms/c06cqxb http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raid...
watchandwait 16y ago
I suppose I should have used the Orwellian title of the bill: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" There's nothing "affordable" that will result from expanded political control of the health care system. And I prefer liberty to "protection".

ObamaCare hits medical device companies with a special new federal excise tax. "Reform" indeed.

krainboltgreene 16y ago

Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus.

briansmith 16y ago
I agree. Do you know what the new website is? I went through Digg -> Reddit, Reddit -> news.yc, and now I don't know what comes next. (Actually, some parts of Reddit seem to have returned to respectability. Maybe Reddit has become the new news.yc?)
- krainboltgreene 16y ago
  I started off with HN, so I have no clue.
lionhearted 16y ago
> Someone on HN using the word "ObamaCare" is just another notch in reasons why I'm slowly not visiting anymore. Jesus. Yeah, it's sad to see the quality of discussion erode a bit, but I'm hoping it's just a cycle. I saw a comment about "teabaggers" just recently as well, so it is truly non-partisan low quality political discussion. Then again, maybe any not-heavily-moderated politics discussion on the internet devolves into that sort of thing, which is why it's more or less verboden on HN in the first place. I'm just breaking out the downvote for it and crossing my fingers that it's a passing influx of people who don't know the etiquitte yet.
Estragon 16y ago
I'm sure he's just trying to help Mr Friedman out by demonstrating the final point of his essay for us. Our national debate today is dominated by the ignorant ramblings of Sarah Palin, talk-show lunatics, tea parties and politics as sports — not ESPN but PSPN.

anamax 16y ago

Why is that being downvoted? Obamacare does include a new tax on medical devices. http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-device-tax-details-now-up-to-house-senate-conferees.html http://www.medicaldevicestoday.com/2009/12/senate-approves-d... It's unclear how that tax will help us get new medical devices. OC also includes a limit on flexible spending accounts ($2500/employee year), which many of us have used to pay for things that aren't covered by insurance. ($2500 is just a bit more than laser eye surgery these days and is much less than it was when first introduced.) Folks with kids and other dependents get a lot of benefit from flex spending. (They can pay deductibles and so on.) There wasn't a limit before - most companies picked one around $4-5k, so folks near the max will be paying an extra $500-1k in taxes from just this change.. They aren't going to see any comparable savings. OC also significantly restricts the use of flexible spending accounts - they now can't be used for non-prescription drugs unless "prescribed". So, if you get yeast infections and have been curing them OTC, you can't get a break on the drug that always works for you unless you go to the doctor.... (I picked yeast infections because the "white knights" complain that we don't include women enough.)

carbocation 16y ago
Using pejorative terms marks the end of, not a beginning to, productive discourse.
- Qz 16y ago
  To be fair, given the state of media coverage (read: Fox News), I wouldn't be surprised if someone legitimately thought it was named ObamaCare ...in which case the use of pejoratives on HN is the least of that person's problems.
  - carbocation 16y ago
    That would be 1 cuil, I believe. http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raids_reveal_baby_farms/c06cqxb http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/7da5i/police_raid...

watchandwait 16y ago

I suppose I should have used the Orwellian title of the bill: "The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act" There's nothing "affordable" that will result from expanded political control of the health care system. And I prefer liberty to "protection".