Fix Obamacare, Don't Repeal It - And Response (2)

  • Saturday, September 23, 2017

John McCain recently said, "I cannot in good conscience vote for the Graham-Cassidy proposal. I believe we could do better working together, Republicans and Democrats, and have not yet really tried. Nor could I support it without knowing how much it will cost, how it will affect insurance premiums, and how many people will be helped or hurt by it. Without a full (Congressional Budget Office) score, which won’t be available by the end of the month, we won’t have reliable answers to any of those questions.”

I agree. I'm glad somebody in Washington actually wants to get all the facts together before rushing head-long into a political vote that may not be in the best interest for individuals and America.

People don't choose to get diseases or be in car wrecks. That's why healthcare is not a true free market commodity. Diseases and accidents just happen. When disease or accidents strike, eIther you treat the illness/injury or the outcome gets dramatically worse. Premature death may even result, if proper access to medical care is limited. Medical treatment, surgery and prescriptions are costly. If you don't have help with those costs, such as some kind of insurance, most average Americans will find themselves in financial ruin.

Obamacare may not be perfect, but it keeps people from being denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, provides insurance to about 20 million more people than could previously afford it and children can stay on their parents policy until age 26, which helps them while they are finishing up school and trying to get established in the workplace, which is increasingly not providing health insurance as an employee benefit. Plus, the rise in health insurance premiums for those fortunate enough to be on a group plan has in fact slowed under Obamacare to about a three percent increase per year. That's good news.

It appears in most polling I've seen that a solid majority of the American people want Democrats and Republicans to work together to fix anything wrong with Obamacare, not repeal its major provisions. That's what I would like to see happen also.  The majority of the American people understand everybody needs some level of basic healthcare coverage in America. Obamacare was a step in the right direction. Let's fix it, don't repeal it.

Tim Gobble

* * * 

Thank you, Tim Gobble, for once and for all exposing yourself as a true socialist. Over the years I have watched you straddle the fence, coming down on the side which would profit you the most. The fact that you would say “people don’t choose to get diseases or be in car wrecks. That’s why healthcare is not a true free market commodity” proves you either are a socialist or have no understanding of responsibilities and free market. 

Have you ever stopped to think that there are certain behaviors that preclude people to contract a disease or be in a car wreck? When someone has road rage or is driving while intoxicated they may not have set out to have a “car wreck” but they have greatly increased the probability. When people make the choice to live an unhealthy lifestyle they greatly increase the probability of contracting a disease. 

Your supposition is that the government should take over all insurance. After all, no one sets out to have a grease fire from and unattended skillet which burns their house down. Do you understand the premise of insurance, a commodity that squarely belongs in the free market and not in the hands of the government? 

I can hardly wait for you to write a piece about how the government should take over all sports so all competition could end in a tie and there would be no winners or losers. The real upside to that would be that nobody would ever have to practice, you know, like learning to drive a car.  

Note to Tim Gobble: Socialism has never worked for the good of mankind because of the greed of mankind. Therefore, putting commodities in the hands of the government rather than free market is a bad idea, unless you are a socialist. I’m for helping those who cannot help themselves. It’s the right thing to do. However, I don’t like being made to help those who do not want to help themselves. Obamacare must be repealed. 

J. Pat Williams

* * * 

It would take a team of magicians to fix Obamacare, this was a policy put together in the back room over a holiday weekend that has brought those of us who had insurance to start with down to our knees.  I have a pre-existing problem but you know what?  I'd rather pay a higher premium then what's happening today.  It's one thing to say you've got insurance, it's quite another to afford the deductibles and the high co-pays that are only increasing.  Every year more and more prescription drugs are going up up up in price, co-pays are increasing and more doctors are retiring rather than deal with all the bloody red tape.  I have a brother in Arizona that is going to have to relocate because those premiums and especially the deductibles have gone up over 110 percent.  How do you even begin to fix that? 

Here's the rub....if you're on government provided medical coverage you pay zero.  Zero.  That's also zero on scripts.  Now you tell me who's the bigger idiot, the one who goes to work every single day, pays their bills on time and sticks to a strict budget hoping and praying a medical emergency doesn't crop up or the guy/gal on EBT and government assistance who stays home and sleeps in?

Personal responsibility is a two way highway, Obamacare is killing those of us that had been doing fine.  Our health should be between us and our personal physician, not us and the clerk that sits behind the desk 2,000 miles away that does a check list once a month.  Since Obamacare came into being more and more decisions are taken away from our doctor because statistics say that's the way this patient should be treated.  As far as I'm concerned that's practicing medicine without a license.  

I don't know about anyone else but I'm fed up with this and look forward to seeing Obamacare in my rear view window.  If it was so fabulous Congress wouldn't have made sure they wouldn't have to live under it.  That includes Senator McCain, if he were on Obamacare right now it would take his millions just to get the treatments he's getting now.  

Face it Tim, it doesn't work. 

Sue White


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