Okay, wtf is going on?Follow

Polls have consistently found that the majority of Americans agree major reform is needed. Few (like, less than 20%) say the system is fine as is.

What the anti-reform crowd had tried to spin is "Well, but THIS reform is bad. So is everything else offered. So we should just hold off and not choose any of these."

The situation is ridiculous.

I agree completely. No child should be without health insurance. But to use such a flimsy pretext for denying health insurance to a 100% healthy baby kinda highlights just how outrageous it is to have a situation where ANY child can be denied for ANY reason.

Close to 1 in 5 people think this sort of situation is just hunky-dory? Seriously?



It is. I can understand that we don't all agree on HOW to fix it. I have some good friends who are staunch non-partisan conservatives who oppose any sort of government-run plan, however they do agree that reform is needed. But to even deny the system is broken? Wow.

Coincidentally, 20% of Americans are calling themselves "Republicans" these days, according to Gallup.

I'm not a fan of anyone being denied health coverage. Ethical and humanitarian issues aside, uninsured people cost the taxpayers more money.

However, if we had to choose ONE subset of the population in which we would insure everyone, we'd get the best results for the least cost by insuring all children. The fact that we don't is just asinine.

Blue Cross of NC accidentally sent a notice to people informing them that their premiums are going up 11% next year at almost the exact same time they sent brochures for people to sent a postage paid post card to Kay Hagan stating they want to keep the government out of their health insurance.

Quite a few people apparently used the post cards, but altered them to ask Kay Hagan to support health insurance reform, starting with holding insurance companies accountable for wasting money on postage paid political **** like this.

No.

Ridiculous to the point of absurdity?

Yes.

The status quo is always held by those with the deepest pockets.

But you don't vote.

Sure. But this is one of those "perception versus reality" situations, where when you ask people if they think their own health care coverage is fine as it is, 80% will say yes, but if you ask if "health care overall" is fine as it is, 80% will say no. The majority of people in the US are happy with their health care, but assume due to the volume of information they see on the news that they must be the one of the few lucky ones. It's always very telling when you see a gap that large between self reported condition and assumed general condition.

Doesn't mean that the number you quoted is wrong, but it perhaps doesn't really mean what you think it does.



IMO that's a vastly more intelligent position than being willing to do "anything" because you need to do "something" about health care. Instead of attacking those who oppose the current proposed reforms, why not pressure those writing the reforms to write them such that they actually address the issues at hand? What's happening is that they're taking advantage of the perception of a crisis to push forward legislation which will not really fix the problems, will make other problems worse, and will cost more money.


I just don't see how it's wrong to suggest that we implement the correct fix for the problems instead of running around in a panic and settling for the first stupid idea someone puts in front of us?



Yes it is. The idea that in order for those currently paying for health insurance to avoid paying $1000 extra each year to subsidize emergency/urgent care for those without insurance, we should instead pay $2000 each year to provide them with health insurance is a good one is ridiculous indeed. That those pushing for this seem to be motivated by some opposition to health insurers making tons of money is just comedic icing on the cake...


But then, in politics, you can always count on stupidity working for you.

Well, and as usual Gbaji is pulling numbers out of his ***.

Edited, Nov 2nd 2009 8:59pm by Technogeek

I dunno, but this was the first time I ever considered getting a pair of fuzzy dice for my rear view mirror.

The "80% of people think their health care is okay, but 80% of people think health care in general is going down the tubes" looks to be something along the lines of "94% of people think they're above average" (I don't remember what the exact number on that statistic is, just that it's 90% or higher).

In other words, self-reporting is full of bias because you're trying to justify to yourself that you made the right decision.