Health Care Reform in the US

What is it exactly? I could read all day about it but what i want to know is what is the good and the bad in it. Will it give each american citizen something when they get sick? Is it about payments in the hospital? Is it about insurance?Sorry if I'm asking this cause i really don't understand it. I'm not american but you know that when it happens in the US, most likely it will spread throughout the world, especially in the countries that think we should be like the US.Thanks for explaining it.Also, i even read they want to repeal it, so maybe its bad. But since its a Heath care reform, it must be something they change about the last Health care system.

Yes, there are some states, like Ohio, that want to repeal the Health Care Reform. I personally have little knowledge on the subject, but some basics are that it will give everyone "affordable" health care, if you don't have health care then you will be fined some odd number of US dollars, and some other crazy crap like that. :PSome states want to sue the government, but that's futile if you ask me.I haven't heard or read about it in a while, but that information might be out of date.

as far as I can tell, it was originally intended to be something along the lines of Britain's NHS, But due to a combination of american ignorance and people with vested interests in keeping things the way they are, it got mutated into what it currently is, which essentially makes it a criminal offense to not have health insurance (and most people who don't have health insurance don't because they can't afford it)

Excellent, we British can still mock the American's health care system.

so, this health care means that everybody should have insurance policy plans? If they don't, they would be fined?

yes, and insurance is priced out of range for most people I've met.

Loonylion · #3as far as I can tell, it was originally intended to be something along the lines of Britain's NHS, But due to a combination of american ignorance and people with vested interests in keeping things the way they are, it got mutated into what it currently is, which essentially makes it a criminal offense to not have health insurance (and most people who don't have health insurance don't because they can't afford it)

Essentially this. It was originally meant to provide every American access to free or highly subsidized healthcare - a system present in basically every other First World country. But considering the incredible profit margins that private insurance and pharmeceutical firms have at the moment, as well as the pressure they exert on many policy makers and the will in the Republican seats to oppose eveything Obama has been trying to push, it was never going to get through in its intended form.

I want free health care...Too bad nobody agrees with anybody and they all work for big business...

damanali · #1What is it exactly? I could read all day about it but what i want to know is what is the good and the bad in it. Will it give each american citizen something when they get sick? Is it about payments in the hospital? Is it about insurance?

So far it is going for people who are uninsured that's why U.S. is undergoing many drastic changes due to the rise in population. It was recently appealed in order to stop such useless treatment towards the people who really need care.What's good about it, is that it provides coverage for the unfortunate and elderly.What's bad about it, is that it takes more taxes to provide this sort of thing. And it is always about insurance, wherever you go...its a business that guarantees the person's "well-being."

Replying to #8

Likewise comrade!

Awec · #4Excellent, we British can still mock the American's health care system.

I thought Canada had a funnier one.

Replying to #10

What was funny about them? ???

Loonylion · #3as far as I can tell, it was originally intended to be something along the lines of Britain's NHS, But due to a combination of american ignorance and people with vested interests in keeping things the way they are, it got mutated into what it currently is, which essentially makes it a criminal offense to not have health insurance (and most people who don't have health insurance don't because they can't afford it)

HEY! HEY! We're not ALL ignorant.... And to be fair, I think it had much more to do with our representatives than us. They're WAY more stupid than us. Republicans just blindly hate anything from democrats, citizen's benefit be damned, and democrats are completely incapable of doing a damn thing, despite the fact that (at the time) they held both houses of congress AND the white house.

I'm lucky enough to have a job with a decent insurance package (for only 11 dollars a week deducted from my paycheck). But neither of my parents have insurance, and both have had cancer issues and related tests and surgeries. They are both in debt to the hospital and specialists, in the 10s of thousands.What loony said is right, the gist of the healthcare bill is just making it illegal to not have insurance, this doesn't go into effect for a couple years yet (2014 fully if I remember correctly?) and even when it's in effect, the penalty is a relatively small fine. I believe the money collected from the fee is supposed to be funneled into the health system. It's hard to tell now with how butchered the bill got before finally getting passed.It's funny that the anti-"socialized heatlh care" people are bashing this so hard, considering it's far from socialized healthcare, and is actually forcing people to buy insurance from private insurance providers.

ChristMonkey95If I was one of the republicans I would've fought THAT before anything else.

It was the republicans that caused it to become that... All their shouting about how the plan was socialist and evil and their completely clueless criticisms of the British NHS that showed they didn't have the first idea what the fuck they were talking about. Given that the republicans seem to be about screw the poor for the benefit of the rich, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a number of the republican opponents had vested interests in the status quo.

ChristMonkey95 · #12HEY! HEY! We're not ALL ignorant.... And to be fair, I think it had much more to do with our representatives than us. They're WAY more stupid than us. Republicans just blindly hate anything from democrats, citizen's benefit be damned, and democrats are completely incapable of doing a damn thing, despite the fact that (at the time) they held both houses of congress AND the white house.

By ignorance I am referring to the fact that americans in general do not understand socialism and incorrectly equate it with communism, and also how they know very little about the British NHS, as evidenced by their criticisms of it. One republican even declared to a room full of journalists that if Stephen Hawking, the most intelligent man in the world, had been born under the NHS, he wouldn't still be alive. The flaw with that statement was Hawking is British, and he WAS born under the NHS, and it continues to keep him alive. Even worse, he was in the same room at the time.

Replying to #14

The republican stance for the last two years had been "Make Obama fail, don't let him do anything, never agree with anyone!". And the democratic stance had been "oh we are too afraid to push our weight around and make those republicans angry!". Now it's too late, the democrats don't have anymore weight to push around, and the republicans are still holding their old stance, so ya... nothing is getting done for a long time. Even once we get a new President in two years... it's still going to be like this. The parties are so divided and butthurt over what the other did to them in the past that they will just return the favor back and forth over the next many presidencies./sigh.

Loonylion · #14It was the republicans that caused it to become that... All their shouting about how the plan was socialist and evil and their completely clueless criticisms of the British NHS that showed they didn't have the first idea what the fuck they were talking about. Given that the republicans seem to be about screw the poor for the benefit of the rich, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a number of the republican opponents had vested interests in the status quo.

YOU DON'T LIVE HERE AND YOU UNDERSTAND THIS BETTER THAN HALF THE COUNTRY. I am so sad, and yet completely unsurprised.That is the republican plan about everything. If the democrats thought it up, or like it, or know someone who likes it, yell and shout and call it evil African communism that obama is going to rape your face with. Don't know anything about it? YELL LOUDER! As long as you and your buddies keep every single cent you have, stay the course. AND NOW THEY'RE IN CHARGE OF THE HOUSE OF REPS. YAAAAY!

Loonylion · #14By ignorance I am referring to the fact that americans in general do not understand socialism and incorrectly equate it with communism, and also how they know very little about the British NHS, as evidenced by their criticisms of it. One republican even declared to a room full of journalists that if Stephen Hawking, the most intelligent man in the world, had been born under the NHS, he wouldn't still be alive. The flaw with that statement was Hawking is British, and he WAS born under the NHS, and it continues to keep him alive. Even worse, he was in the same room at the time.

Yeah...I remember that. I just cursed at the television for awhile when I saw that. I assume, because I can't remember who it was that said that, that the man that said that is probably a very important person in the party. The less you know about...anything,really, the more likely it is they'll let you in.And about the ignorance stuff, I still think you're being unfair. It only SEEMS like most of us are like that because the only people who get on tv are the ones that yell stupid stuff the loudest. People who are actually intelligent are boring, and the media doesn't like boring and logical at all.

Replying to #16

It's very, very easy to see the flaws from outside your system if you have even a modicum of political awareness.

Loonylion...All their shouting about how the plan was socialist and evil and their completely clueless criticisms of the British NHS that showed they didn't have the first idea what the fuck they were talking about. Given that the republicans seem to be about screw the poor for the benefit of the rich, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a number of the republican opponents had vested interests in the status quo.By ignorance I am referring to the fact that americans in general do not understand socialism and incorrectly equate it with communism, and also how they know very little about the British NHS, as evidenced by their criticisms of it...

Hah! This topic should have been based around, "What form of government gives a crap about their nation's citizens?"Here is a blunt interpretation of what government systems are;
Capitalism: Give me all your money and you could just rot in the streets for all I care.
Socialism: Whichever way the money goes it is divided evenly and shared with the common good of the people...
Communism: Money is centralized within the government's grasp, which would make it difficult for entrepeneurship among the poor.

Suiseiseki · #17It's very, very easy to see the flaws from outside your system if you have even a modicum of political awareness.

I know. I just find it ridiculous that so many citizens of this country know nothing about anything that goes on around them except a few ridiculous things they hear on TV.

Replying to #19

there are none so blind as those who will not see.