6 ms·

Answer: Hell yes. Self-insurance is absurdly expensive while group insurance outside of an employer or credit union is harder to find than a Republican with a c

• orangecat 16y ago
  You're right that employer-based health insurance is idiotic and economically destructive (conservative and libertarian analysts have been saying so for decades), but your blatant partisanship is not helpful. In 2008 John McCain's platform included a migration away from employer coverage by treating benefits as taxable income, while simultaneously granting a refundable tax credit for the purchase of individual insurance. Obama and the Democrats instantly demagogued that as "taking away your existing coverage" and defended the employer-based system.
  • rombus 16y ago
    Your blatant partisanship isn't helpful either. Pretty much every analyst has opposed employer-based health insurance, even though you dishonestly implied that conservative and libertarians were alone in that view. Secondly, the tax credit was for $5k, which is a joke for anybody who knows what individual policies cost if you aren't in your 20s, or have any troubling medical history. Thanks for your hypocrisy. Please drive through.
  • Locke1689 16y ago
    Let's please not have political discussions on HN.
    • anamax 16y ago
      > Let's please not have political discussions on HN. It's interesting that you chose to respond to the person who demonstrated "dems good, republicans bad" was wrong instead of the person who just asserted "dems good, republicans bad".
      • Locke1689 16y ago
        I got here after both people posted. I posted below both people to indicate that I wanted the convo thread killed. I downvoted both people.
• mdiep 16y ago
  Okay, I know hating on Republicans is fun, but is that really necessary? Why sow the seeds of discord?
  • Locke1689 16y ago
    Moreover, this discussion is not helpful nor germane to the topic at hand.
  • davidw 16y ago
    This is precisely why I loathe the political articles so much. For instance, if I'm not mistaken, patio11, who is a great contributor here, has declared his Republicanness (sorry if that's not accurate), something I'm more or less opposed to in its current form in the US. I might find it fun to chat with him about that in person, but I do not want to get into political discussions with him here. First of all, because he has way more valuable ways to contribute his time in terms of discussing his startup, tech or whatever, and because... why introduce discord about a subject that's off-topic here. I guess this article is closer to on-topic in that it certainly is pertinent to new startups in the US... but look where it got us already.
• hugh4life 16y ago
  The Republicans have been trying to kill employer based health care forever... it's the unions responsible for it.
  • jonknee 16y ago
    But they don't want to replace it with anything other than everyone buys their insurance on the open market if they want coverage, which is why unions are against it. If they wanted to move to a full coverage system (single payer?), unions would be happy because everyone has healthcare.
    • anamax 16y ago
      > If they wanted to move to a full coverage system (single payer?), unions would be happy because everyone has healthcare. Citation needed. Yes, the health care employers unions have expressed considerable interest in measures that would increase the demand for their members' services, but you're making a very different claim.
      • jonknee 16y ago
        > Citation needed. Here's a good start: http://unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org/union_endorsers http://unionsforsinglepayerhr676.org/union_endorsers
    • hugh4life 16y ago
      No, they wouldn't be happy with that... they would get waivers from the single payer system... just like 650 of the 773 ObamaCare waivers currently go to unions.
      • harold 16y ago
        This list does indeed appear to be a veritable who's who of the president's campaign supporters. Seems hypocritical to me. If it's good enough for the rest of us, it should be good enough for them too. http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/approved_applications_for_waiver.html http://www.hhs.gov/ociio/regulations/approved_applications_f...
• neilk 16y ago
  The "Republican with a conscience" line is unfair. Life would be a lot easier if all the sociopaths in the world were on one side, and all the conscientious people on the other. But it's not like that.
  • PixelJ 16y ago
    Granted, sorry. The problem I have with Republican rhetoric on the issue is the "I got mine" smugness of it all. The message seems to be "If you want health care, get a job like me. Problem solved." But it isn't that simple. Unemployment is real even for the able-bodied and a common consequence of being underinsured. Some jobs don't offer health care (at all) or offer inadequate, unaffordable health care (small businesses, in my experience.) Preexisting conditions can lock hard-working people out or keep them from seeking optimum employment. I'd love to hear from even one anti-healthcare reform advocate who has ever been "outside the system" (as outlined above) and thinks that's a principled position to take.
• swaits 16y ago
  Please take the vitriol to /r/politics. This is HN. We shall remain civilized.
• pg 16y ago
  This comment is, unfortunately, an illustration of how sites go downhill. It has 19 downvotes, including mine. So how does it have so many points? Because it has twice as many upvotes. When badness arrives in online communities, it arrives first in forms that make people invite it right in.
  • brlewis 16y ago
    It's also an illustration of what stops them from going downhill. Replies like neilk's do more to tone down the rhetoric than any voting button could do.
  • pshapiro 16y ago
    Is there currently a way on HN to see upvotes alongside downvotes? If not, it seems like a worthy enhancement to me.