Random Thoughts Today
From Meryl's shared Items: Not Married? Your Insurance Might Not Cover Fertility Treatments: One woman's quest to avoid a ring but have a baby.
As one of the commentors pointed out, these people are afraid of the committment of marriage, but are okay with the committment of having a child? Having a kid is a way bigger committment than getting married. These people are wack.
Pelosi Calls All Female Democrats to Meeting. I would like to see / hear the wailing that would ensue if a man had called an all Male meeting regarding important legislation. Oh the cries of paternalism! Feminists are hypocrites.
The AP has a story out debunking the President's stupid claim that premiums and costs would go down under this new health care plan. FINALLY. Here's how he's getting to his 14 to 20% less number: (from the CBO via Neal Boortz and ABC News)
Dennis Kuccinich is now a "yes" on health care. Wonder what his kickback was. And you know he got one. He met 4 times with the President. He got something out of this.
As one of the commentors pointed out, these people are afraid of the committment of marriage, but are okay with the committment of having a child? Having a kid is a way bigger committment than getting married. These people are wack.
Pelosi Calls All Female Democrats to Meeting. I would like to see / hear the wailing that would ensue if a man had called an all Male meeting regarding important legislation. Oh the cries of paternalism! Feminists are hypocrites.
The AP has a story out debunking the President's stupid claim that premiums and costs would go down under this new health care plan. FINALLY. Here's how he's getting to his 14 to 20% less number: (from the CBO via Neal Boortz and ABC News)
- Premiums would be 27-30% higher because coverage would be broader. The law, for example, requires that all policies cover maternity care, prescription drugs, mental health & substance abuse and no denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions.
- Premiums would be 7 to 10 percent lower b/c of changes to the way the individual market is structured.
- Premiums would be 7 to 10 percent lower b/c of an influx of more people, many of them healthy, forced into the insurance market.
Dennis Kuccinich is now a "yes" on health care. Wonder what his kickback was. And you know he got one. He met 4 times with the President. He got something out of this.
Comments
I disagree with you. I think there's more to a marriage than just the taxes and the money and the legality of it. I think the vows mean something. And making that committment before the world means something.
I think many, many people are in relationships always with one foot out the door. And that's why they have issues with getting married. Those same issues that keep them from getting married, should be the same issues that keep them from having children.
And I know about the people who "if I get married I lose my first husband's pension, so we're not going to get married." Those, I would bet, are few and far between and are mostly later in life and not in child bearing age.
But, I have a random question about the health care debate:
From what I can tell the republicans (mostly) don't want the HC bill to be passed because it appears to fly in the face of what the American public wishes. And according to some polls they are correct. But, history has shown that just because the public wishes it, it may not be right. The "majority" of polled Americans didn't want the Equal Rights Amendment passed, but very few of us would argue against it these days. We would hail it as a triumph of our legal system. Is it not possible that this is one such time?
Why should only the wealthy be able to have health care? Again just asking, since I don't know all of the angles of this issue. From what I can tell it all comes down to who can and who cannot make money from the Health/Insurance industries.
In the end my premiums keep going up, even though my husband and I haven't had a doctor's visit in over a year. (Though we are hoping for a bunch next year, keep your fingers crossed. ;))
Keep up the great blog! --Kim
And this bill is way, way, way more complicated than the Equal Rights Amendment. This bill affects every single American in the most personal way possible, their health. And it asks us not only to trust that the government has our best interest at heart (HA) but that the government will make sure we have the best standard of care. Governments that have universal health care fail that test all the time. Their care is substandard to ours. Yes, everyone is covered, but they are all covered badly.
This is not a time when I will look back and applaud this decision because 1 - it takes the country further down the path of socialism than I care to go. If this were about providing coverage to those that need it, and not about taking control of 1/6th the US economy, then the Democrats would be talking about reforming Medicaid and expanding Medicaid to cover those that can't get COBRA or who are off COBRA, etc. That's not what they want. They want single payer. I do not.
Another thing - Social Security and Medicare passed through Congress with bipartisan support and with a majority of the country behind them. I think because of the poor handling of those two programs, people are wary about adding another one when those two are in such financial straits.
Plus, I would point out that Big Pharma and Big Insurance are lobbying HARD for this to pass. They stand to make a huge amount of money if this passes, and the Democrats are helping to line their pockets by forcing citizens to pay for coverages they do not necessarily want or need.
Your premiums keep going up because costs go up, and Medicaid and Medicare pay less every year. Those of us that actually pay, have to make up that difference. More and more doctors refuse to treat and see Medicaid and Medicare patients because it costs them too much to do so.
Another reason premiums keep going up - Tort issues. Doctors have to run x amount of tests to cover their rears in case a patient decides to sue. These tests in many cases are superfluous, and expensive. And if you see a new doctor, he'll want to run the exact same tests, because he won't trust the first doctor did it right and he doesn't want the liability of trusting the other doc. And these are both things that Congress would fix immediately and stop the ever rising tide of premiums.
Which - your premiums stand no shot of going down if this passes. They will go up, because your insurance provider will have to offer more coverages, and those will have to be paid for.
I do not trust politicians to make any medical decisions for me or anyone else. I would like that left to me and my doctors. I would oppose this legislation if Reps were pushing it. I am disappointed that Reps passed the perscription drug coverage in 2004. And that was hurtful to Seniors to, as it added caps on what they can and can not have any given month and supplemental policies dropped patients because they couldn't compete against the government offering, who doesn't have to be profitable.
I'm not sure I answered your question at all. I could ramble on this all day, and how bad I think it is. And specific things in this bill that are abhorrent and nanny state and stupid.