Texas Proud
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- May 16, 2005
- Messages
- 17,266
I think we will go a LOT farther than 30 or 33...
And yes, padding the count
And yes, padding the count
....If it's upheld, then it will be a testament to how well it was conceived and written.
The debate is good to see. Shame on any HS civics teacher who isn't using the present hearing, the legislative battle that preceded it, and the involvement of the executive branch as a case study in the fundamental purposes of the three branches of government and the wisdom of the drafters of the Constitution.
I think we will go a LOT farther than 30 or 33...
And yes, padding the count
No, no, NO - you've got it the wrong way round - the guys over THERE are the imbeciles, and the country's going to hell in a hand-basket if they get their way.Hmmm...I have post 32, so...
These guys over here are right, and anybody over there is a moron! And God (or the Flying Spaghetti Monster) is on our side! And...darn it, y'all and your pig have ruined my ability to obnoxiously argue politics.
The debate is good to see. Shame on any HS civics teacher who isn't using the present hearing, the legislative battle that preceded it, and the involvement of the executive branch as a case study in the fundamental purposes of the three branches of government and the wisdom of the drafters of the Constitution.
Only if I lose the pool.
The debate is good to see. Shame on any HS civics teacher who isn't using the present hearing, the legislative battle that preceded it, and the involvement of the executive branch as a case study in the fundamental purposes of the three branches of government and the wisdom of the drafters of the Constitution.
I am constantly shocked that we Americans have given up completely on the idea of universal coverage as a Federal expense. It is absolutely insane what I see going on in the US and the costs incurred. Obama care appears to have benefited the insurance companies more than the people using the system. It also amazes me that we can be constantly at war with multiple wars simultaneously at horrendous costs and no one even thinks that is abnormal. To not give health care as a benefit to Americans is crazy. Prior to Medicare costs in the US were normal and affordable. Doctors were not millionaires. Hospitals were not corporate businesses and non-profit was the status quo. But, after Medicare things got out of control through poorly managed payment systems which gave the green light to doctors and insurance companies to start making serious money. It snowballed from there and we now have this horribly costly and ineffective system we have today. Health care should not be a business. It should be performed at adequate levels to everyone on an equal basis and should be guaranteed in our Constitution. Maybe that is a socialistic idea but who said that was a bad thing? I served in the US Army for 28 years and nothing is more socialistic than the military. I have the worst possible health care coverage that the military offers despite my being promised free health care for life. I suffer under Tricare Overseas which pays roughly 65% of costs. My wife and I moved to Hungary where health care is a state run operation, all doctors are civil servants and all have close to the same salary which is roughly $2000 a month. All of them operate private clinics in the evening for patients like us who are willing to pay cash. Expenses are very low and roughly 10% or less of those in the US. We are not covered nor will we be ever covered by the Hungarian National Health system but we do pay cash and it is easily affordable. Even catastrophic care is cheap here. Why Americans don't just rise up and demand basic human rights from our government I cannot understand. Has anyone ever tried to figure out what the government does with our tax dollars? I can't see it doing anything for me directly. So, I am happy to reap the benefits from the former Soviet system here. I have a lot of friends who are doctors and all are doing relatively well here and despite their low official salaries they still are among the top 10% earners in the country. But, here anyone earning more than $40K is considered rich.
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Oh well, it had to happen eventually. only 6 posts later than projected.
Whatever the rest of the debate, I don't understand this question. I've not yet seen any suggestion from either side of the argument that a reason to choose this or that healthcare system is a question of scalability to a certain number of people, or, conversely, population density per square mile/km. For example, the population of the US as a whole is only 4 times bigger than that of Germany; on the other hand, Hungary has a population larger than all but 7 US states.What's the population of Hungary? Not apples to apples..........
It's interesting to compare/contrast the questions posed by the Justices. Some of the Justices concentrate on the need and impact of the law, on the severability of the mandate, etc (paraphrase: "what will this do to insurers if the mandate is struck down but the law stands", "if Medicaid eligibility is expanded, what will this do to the state budgets", etc). Other justices seem much more focused on the whether the law is a proper use of federal power under the Constitution. I these different perspectives stem from fundamentally different views of the role of the Supreme Court. Very interesting stuff.
I think they could have written the law differently to basically acheive the sames ends without (IMO) crossing the line of constitutionality....
Certainly. They easily could have written the law to bump every tax bracket up 1%-2.5% (the size of the penalty), included a per-person tax deduction for everyone who buys health insurance equal to 1%-2.5% of AGI, dropped the word "mandate," and the word "penalty" and the whole thing would be constitutional. The ease with which we can achieve the same exact thing by slightly different means exposes the silliness of this whole debate.
Just today, a big move in the information markets (now at 56% likely to strike down):
Intrade - The US Supreme Court to rule individual mandate unconstitutional before midnight ET 31 Dec 2012 is 56.8% probable
The one problem I see is that Mr. Leach decides not to buy insurance for his family and himself. A few months later, his 6 year old daughter, Linda Leach, gets ill. Do we really want to deny her care because her father is a leach?
The debate is good to see. Shame on any HS civics teacher who isn't using the present hearing, the legislative battle that preceded it, and the involvement of the executive branch as a case study in the fundamental purposes of the three branches of government and the wisdom of the drafters of the Constitution.