4 ms·

A brief note: my partner's life was changed by access to Medicare. She has a common genetic condition that, had it continued to go untreated, would have left he

A brief note: my partner's life was changed by access to Medicare. She has a common genetic condition that, had it continued to go untreated, would have left her crippled, unable to work, and in chronic pain within just a few more years. (She is 32). But the progress of the disease can be halted with medication. As it is, her life has been redeemed, yet she will still live with pain and impairment that could have been avoided if she could have received treatment as soon as symptoms started. My point is, it's unfortunate for you that you have to pay more. I hear you. But if money is the biggest thing you're worrying about, you've got it good. Do you _deserve_ to be healthy, when others are not? Did you earn your good genes? To put it bluntly, my partner's basic ability to function is more important than your kid's leg up in the economy known as a college fund. Look, your premiums are too damned high, it's true. The US spends an absurd amount on healthcare, with price gouging and profiteering on all levels. Obamacare was the politically-possible bandaid on this system. We should use it as a stepping stone to something that brings both cost and care into line. Even so, health is a value categorically above money, and it's important to keep that in mind.

rebootthesystem 12y ago
Sorry to hear about your partner's misfortunes. Hope she gets better. Regrettably you are mixing things up here. I understand there's emotion involved due to what your circumstances might be. However, neither I nor anyone in my family caused your partner's condition. We have nothing whatsoever to do with any of it. This isn't a zero sum game. Noting in anyone else's life had anything whatsoever to do with what you are going through. You seem to want to exchange your perception of our good luck (with regards to health) for your partner's condition. No relationship whatsoever. Besides, I didn't go into any of our medical circumstances. Don't really care to in any detail only to say that both my wife and I would probably be dead or nearly dead by now if it hadn't been for medical care gotten many years ago. So, I can telly you sob stories just as well. The difference is that we've always purchased and paid for our own health insurance. Expensive, but never ridiculously expensive as it is now with Obamacare. Note that I am not, in any way, advocating against helping those less fortunate. Not at all. It's a shame this has to be part of a conversation. It's a given that we should, as a society, help those among us who might be less fortunate. The issue here is how it is done. Not the fact that it is being done, but how. It is clear that we, as a family, are now carrying others with our ridiculous payment. This is wrong. It's excessive and it is unfair. It is, in no uncertain terms, hurting us. I don't have a problem helping others but tripling a family's healthcare costs isn't the right way to do it. How much healthcare could we buy in California if we don't build that ridiculous $100 BILLION dollar joke of a high speed train to nowhere? How many people can we help if the Obama's don't take TWO FUCKING PLANES and two of everything to fly to Los Angeles because, well, their schedules don't match? How many people would we save if we don't have three government workers for the job that could be done by one qualified person? How many people can we give free healthcare to if we didn't spend a billion dollars to build a website? How many people could we help if we demolished the grotesquely inefficient VA Hospital system and ad our armed forces make use of the excellent private healthcare facilities available nationwide? How many billions of dollars could be save if government programs were brought under control as opposed to using them as a mechanism to buy votes by gifting people all manner of benefits on the backs of others? The people who govern us are so fucking corrupt (regardless of party) and self-serving that we are doomed to end-up in a fiery crash before people wake up to what is being done to them and their families. Obamacare was not necessary in order to improve healthcare. You also make an attempt to belittle my concern about money. Again, I understand your emotional position and your comments did not bother me in any way. Please understand that saying something like "if money is the biggest thing you worry about" is but a one dimensional take on the life of someone and a family you know nothing about. Yet, if we actually were that one-dimensional the argument would still not be very strong. Money, particularly in the context of a family and kids, means safety and security. Money is the one thing that can convert into many other things, from clothing to education and, yes, health. So, yes, I do worry about money and I don't like it when our government steals it. And I also don't like it when I am told that we, as a family, are going to SAVE $2,500 per year only to learn that we are actually spending, I don't know, $15K more. That's criminal. No two ways about it. This has nothing to do with you, me or our families. This has everything to do with a government that has been lying and manipulating us for years. They are taking us for fools and we are proving to be fools for letting them get away with it. Benefits or pain aside, what is being done to this country is destructive beyond comprehension. Some are seeing gains and some are seeing losses yet in the final accounting we are all, well, screwed. The very foundation of this country is being blown to pieces systematically. I don't think I am being over-dramatic here. Some of us will live to see what happens. I do hope I am wrong. I don't think I am, which makes me worry for my kids. And no, I am not one of those freak survivalist, safe-full-of-guns, bunker-owning dudes. Not even close. I think I just happen to be one of those people who is seeing things for what they actually are. Having owned a couple of manufacturing companies my perspective on some things is a bit different. Every politician who stands in front of a camera to tell the American people that good manufacturing jobs are coming back (if you vote for them) is a liar. No question about it. We are done with that except for corner cases. Same with some services that can be outsourced en-masse, from accounting to call centers. In the meantime we are being taxed and regulated to death, we have no regard for balancing the books and no hope to reduce our national debt. Our economy is so fragile that any number of events could implode it overnight. Obamacare is almost exactly the kind of dumb-ass legislation that we didn't need right now. You are looking at an administration that focused on spending money rather than rebuilding the economic foundation of our nation. You are looking at eight wasted years. You are looking at a failure of such a scale that the damage is likely to require 50 years to repair if we started today. Again, sad. Here in California we are spending one hundred billion dollars to build a joke of a high speed train that will go nowhere, nobody needed and nobody is going to use. In almost perfect synchronicity with that HALF of the teachers at my kid's excellent school are being laid off due to a budget deficiency of a few million dollars. This isn't responsible decision making. This is projectile-vomiting inducing, disgusting, abusive and irresponsible conduct on the part of politicians who are nothing but crooks seeking to advance their own station in life and enjoy a great ride while causing untold destruction to our cities, states and nation. In that regard we have clearly become a banana republic. So, yeah, the problem is much bigger than you, me and our families. I am not angry at you at all. Sorry if the tone may have led you to believe this. I am saddened by what we, as a population, have allowed our politicians and political system to devolve into. I wish I knew how to fix it. I don't.

rebootthesystem 12y ago

Sorry to hear about your partner's misfortunes. Hope she gets better. Regrettably you are mixing things up here. I understand there's emotion involved due to what your circumstances might be. However, neither I nor anyone in my family caused your partner's condition. We have nothing whatsoever to do with any of it. This isn't a zero sum game. Noting in anyone else's life had anything whatsoever to do with what you are going through. You seem to want to exchange your perception of our good luck (with regards to health) for your partner's condition. No relationship whatsoever. Besides, I didn't go into any of our medical circumstances. Don't really care to in any detail only to say that both my wife and I would probably be dead or nearly dead by now if it hadn't been for medical care gotten many years ago. So, I can telly you sob stories just as well. The difference is that we've always purchased and paid for our own health insurance. Expensive, but never ridiculously expensive as it is now with Obamacare. Note that I am not, in any way, advocating against helping those less fortunate. Not at all. It's a shame this has to be part of a conversation. It's a given that we should, as a society, help those among us who might be less fortunate. The issue here is how it is done. Not the fact that it is being done, but how. It is clear that we, as a family, are now carrying others with our ridiculous payment. This is wrong. It's excessive and it is unfair. It is, in no uncertain terms, hurting us. I don't have a problem helping others but tripling a family's healthcare costs isn't the right way to do it. How much healthcare could we buy in California if we don't build that ridiculous $100 BILLION dollar joke of a high speed train to nowhere? How many people can we help if the Obama's don't take TWO FUCKING PLANES and two of everything to fly to Los Angeles because, well, their schedules don't match? How many people would we save if we don't have three government workers for the job that could be done by one qualified person? How many people can we give free healthcare to if we didn't spend a billion dollars to build a website? How many people could we help if we demolished the grotesquely inefficient VA Hospital system and ad our armed forces make use of the excellent private healthcare facilities available nationwide? How many billions of dollars could be save if government programs were brought under control as opposed to using them as a mechanism to buy votes by gifting people all manner of benefits on the backs of others? The people who govern us are so fucking corrupt (regardless of party) and self-serving that we are doomed to end-up in a fiery crash before people wake up to what is being done to them and their families. Obamacare was not necessary in order to improve healthcare. You also make an attempt to belittle my concern about money. Again, I understand your emotional position and your comments did not bother me in any way. Please understand that saying something like "if money is the biggest thing you worry about" is but a one dimensional take on the life of someone and a family you know nothing about. Yet, if we actually were that one-dimensional the argument would still not be very strong. Money, particularly in the context of a family and kids, means safety and security. Money is the one thing that can convert into many other things, from clothing to education and, yes, health. So, yes, I do worry about money and I don't like it when our government steals it. And I also don't like it when I am told that we, as a family, are going to SAVE $2,500 per year only to learn that we are actually spending, I don't know, $15K more. That's criminal. No two ways about it. This has nothing to do with you, me or our families. This has everything to do with a government that has been lying and manipulating us for years. They are taking us for fools and we are proving to be fools for letting them get away with it. Benefits or pain aside, what is being done to this country is destructive beyond comprehension. Some are seeing gains and some are seeing losses yet in the final accounting we are all, well, screwed. The very foundation of this country is being blown to pieces systematically. I don't think I am being over-dramatic here. Some of us will live to see what happens. I do hope I am wrong. I don't think I am, which makes me worry for my kids. And no, I am not one of those freak survivalist, safe-full-of-guns, bunker-owning dudes. Not even close. I think I just happen to be one of those people who is seeing things for what they actually are. Having owned a couple of manufacturing companies my perspective on some things is a bit different. Every politician who stands in front of a camera to tell the American people that good manufacturing jobs are coming back (if you vote for them) is a liar. No question about it. We are done with that except for corner cases. Same with some services that can be outsourced en-masse, from accounting to call centers. In the meantime we are being taxed and regulated to death, we have no regard for balancing the books and no hope to reduce our national debt. Our economy is so fragile that any number of events could implode it overnight. Obamacare is almost exactly the kind of dumb-ass legislation that we didn't need right now. You are looking at an administration that focused on spending money rather than rebuilding the economic foundation of our nation. You are looking at eight wasted years. You are looking at a failure of such a scale that the damage is likely to require 50 years to repair if we started today. Again, sad. Here in California we are spending one hundred billion dollars to build a joke of a high speed train that will go nowhere, nobody needed and nobody is going to use. In almost perfect synchronicity with that HALF of the teachers at my kid's excellent school are being laid off due to a budget deficiency of a few million dollars. This isn't responsible decision making. This is projectile-vomiting inducing, disgusting, abusive and irresponsible conduct on the part of politicians who are nothing but crooks seeking to advance their own station in life and enjoy a great ride while causing untold destruction to our cities, states and nation. In that regard we have clearly become a banana republic. So, yeah, the problem is much bigger than you, me and our families. I am not angry at you at all. Sorry if the tone may have led you to believe this. I am saddened by what we, as a population, have allowed our politicians and political system to devolve into. I wish I knew how to fix it. I don't.