no surprises there. It's what I hear from some of my neighbors. Who, of course, attend church regularly and think that they are "saved" and "special"

"I didn't get mine. I never was in a position to have an advantage, but it is SO important to me to identify with the wealthy 'class' that I will fight tooth and nail for their right to continue to screw me over."

Those are the ones I really don't get.

didn't earn the money but they still got to keep it. That was our (taxpayers) money.

So if the people at the top get to keep unearned millions in bailed out bonuses why can't the little people get a decent wage that they actually worked for?

Is that too much to ask?

The problem is that it is very inefficient and hasn't put any limits to what the insurance companies charge.
The second saying about they earned that money...yes they did due to their employees hard work. The problem is that today's wealthy don't feel any obligation to share those rewards nor do they feel any remorse.

I don't think it is true that the ACA doesn't put limits on costs. The law is that insurance companies have to spend 85 percent of their income on health care for their clients. Please correct me if I am mistaken.

Not great but something.

The greater the pool of insured -under most circumstances- the lower rates go for everyone.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

They can't afford to insure "everyone" and under the system that existed until a week ago they insured only the young, the healthy, and the well to do.

Now they do have insure everyone and those that can't find a way to do that profitably will have to get out and leave the field to more efficient competitors. And if over time all insurers find they can't do it, we'll have no choice but to do away with health insurance altogether and go back to a fee for service system.

Or -gasp- single payer.

I'd ask one but I don't want them to get any ideas. BTW how is a right to own/carry a gun everywhere on Gods green Earth more of a right than being able to take care of one's health?????

Great Britain right now is privatizing some of their police forces. The Cameron government is privatizing their public health systems. The RW madness is not just here but the media keeps that quiet.

The GOP won't openly tell the people that fire and police should be privatized, but they will do it. Look around and see how many rent a cops you see at events now. These people are armed at times and make probably no more than $10 an hour.

In the 1900's houses and buildings had plaques on them telling authorities who had insurance. No insurance your place burned down. Insurance companies had fire departments under such conditions.

This scenario is what the GOP wants.

Follow the logic to its end and it is obvious where that leads. The GOP does no believe there should be an NIH or Disease Control agency.

of, let's say, just children, who as a result of the ACA are going to be covered and NOT DIE. Then I would like to take that list, hand it to those who say we can't afford to insure everyone and ask them who they would like to knock off the list because it might, *MIGHT* cost you a few extra bucks.

It is real easy for them to say these things in the abstract but we are talking about real people and real lives. So the baggers need to own the fact that they would rather people die.

And the media will ignore the story.

Unfortunately. But I can dream... and still be rather pleased that some kid will make it to adulthood that might not have otherwise. And if all goes well, that future adult will get to add their talents to the world. Maybe the cure for cancer or a unified theory or a remedy for GW will result.

of the millions that use ERs for healthcare. In my state, with a total population of about 2.2 million, the hospitals are paying more than $395 million per year.

We just cannot afford to insure everyone for everything which is the exact opposite side to the coin spoken of in the OP.

Calvinists believed that the rich and prosperous were the chosen ones by God (because their prosperity showed that they were the chosen ones), and everyone else was eternally damned, and it cannot be questioned. To help people is to help the eternally damned, and God has already chosen their fate, by John Calvin's doctrine. Protestant Religions originated not just from Martin Luther, but John Calvin as well, and came to America through the Puritans.

The wrong one was executed.

[link:http://www.democracycorps.com/attachments/article/954/dcor%20rpp%20fg%20memo%20100313%20final.pdf|

You won't be able to understand why the GOP is acting the way it is without going inside their beliefs...

http://www.democracycorps.com/attachments/article/954/dcor%20rpp%20fg%20memo%20100313%20final.pdf

... safety net as "socialists". It will cease to be a slur, and become the way decent people prefer to identify themselves.

Because you can't claim to be "pro-life" if you're OK with poor people dying due to lack of money.

People can not shake themselves of the zero sum mentality. He is afraid that he has to lose something if others get health care.

Fear is what the Repubs thrive on.

Would these friends of yours support more wars? Those are the ones I loath; ACA is pure evil incarnate, but billions to slaughter people in other countries as an actual moral obligation.

My reasoning is that we already pay for the uninsured and underinsured. They do not get preventative care, so they are very expensively ill by the time they finally need care. They will get care in an emergency, the most expensive care. And they will never be able to pay the bill. If there are enough people who cannot pay, the choices are that the hospital has to shut down or has to charge the rest of us more to cover the non-pays.

I don't know why they don't get it. But I have the suspicion that they do get it, they are just being contrary for the sake of being contrary.

As to being a socialist, I ask them what is so wrong with that.....it is not the end of capitalism. Socialism is only having essentials run by the government instead of the private sector. It is not the government taking over everything. You can still buy your yacht from a private company.

Christ, what a pathetic loser nation the U.S.A. is...

Tell 'em that.

the American system of private health insurance is badly broken and drives up costs; other countries that have universal healthcare have much lower per capita health expenses with better outcomes and longer life expectancies. As a point of comparison (data from 2010), the US spends $8233 per capita, 17.6% of GDP, on healthcare. The UK spends $3433 per capita for single-payer universal healthcare through the NHS and British men live on average 3 years longer than their American counterparts, and British women 1 year longer. Canada spends $4445 with male life expectancy on average 4 years longer and female life expectancy 3 years longer. The answer isn't "insure everyone" (at least not with the current system of private insurance by for-profit companies), it's single-payer.

You'd think they'd be ashamed to trumpet that shit in a country that prides itself on can do, but I guess it's one of the great mysteries of life that people let them do it.

... just what is it the defense budget is defending?

As in, "friends of mine should be insured, but not..."