The rising cost of health insurance.

[Coito ergo sum]

Wal-Mart Stores' U.S. employees will pay between 8 percent and 36 percent more in premiums for its medical coverage in 2013, prompting some of the 1.4 million workers at the nation's largest private employer to say they will forego coverage altogether.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/49791189

If they forego coverage, then won't they get socked with a penalty under Obamacare?

[mistermack]

So much for private enterprise being more efficient.

Now people might start to realise the cost of all that health insurance admin, advertising, lawyers and litigation, and shareholder meetings and dividends.

But probably not. The Dems will blame the Reps, and vice versa. And nobody sees the elephant in the room.

I'm all right. I'm fully covered, smoker or not, history of illness or not, left-handed or not, or whatever else the insurance companies use to avoid paying. FULLY COVERED.

And my premium is zero. And it went up by zero percent this year.
I've paid, but it never hurt like US healthcare hurts.
And EVERYONE is covered. And I like that lots, and take pride in it.

So we should get rid of Cameron and Cleggy at the first opportunity, and at least keep what they haven't yet sold off.

[devogue]

Jesus, free healthcare isn't really that hard.

Just work out the insurance premium for a nation, budget for it, then collect it in taxes.

The end.

[ronmcd]

Jesus, free healthcare isn't really that hard.

Just work out the insurance premium for a nation, budget for it, then collect it in taxes.

The end.

Absolutely, if the US could start from scratch. But to effectively kill a massive industry which lobbies and funds political campaigns, in a society which values capitalism over state control, I doubt it will ever happen.

I guess it's like removing guns from a society which already has them in large numbers, it's gone too far to reverse, probably.

[normal]

Jesus, free healthcare isn't really that hard.

Just work out the insurance premium for a nation, budget for it, then collect it in taxes.

The end.

Absolutely, if the US could start from scratch. But to effectively kill a massive industry which lobbies and funds political campaigns, in a society which values capitalism over state control, I doubt it will ever happen.

I guess it's like removing guns from a society which already has them in large numbers, it's gone too far to reverse, probably.

Yes, it's like an inflatable butt plug. It's already been inflated and pulling it out would cause tearing and blood all over the place

[laklak]

The cost has not risen, You are mistaken. The cost has gone down. However, everything else went down further. Mitt Romney did it.

[Coito ergo sum]

I love how we passed Obamacare 2 years ago, and the response from the folks above Lak is that this is a problem of "free enterprise." What the fuck, folks?

[Tero]

Healthcare is expensive. We can do more stuff. Figure out how to pay for it.

Leave the care end as is. You can always pay cash for correct diagnosis. Then wait in line for treatment.

[laklak]

Yep. Like Mrs. Lak's cousin in the UK, diagnosed with bowel cancer about 6 months ago. Had to wait for 3 months to get "funding" for an MRI. When she finally got it, shit, it had spread. Now, they did get her into surgery fairly quickly (10 more weeks but who's counting). Only had to take her vagina, cervix, ovaries, large intestine, rectum and a few other bits an bobs. She gets to shit in a bag forever, never have sex again, and very likely die but that's OK, because, you know, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Not the fault of the system, no, it's the most fair and egalitarian system ever devised.

No question, single payer is the way to go.

[Coito ergo sum]

Yep. Like Mrs. Lak's cousin in the UK, diagnosed with bowel cancer about 6 months ago. Had to wait for 3 months to get "funding" for an MRI. When she finally got it, shit, it had spread. Now, they did get her into surgery fairly quickly (10 more weeks but who's counting). Only had to take her vagina, cervix, ovaries, large intestine, rectum and a few other bits an bobs. She gets to shit in a bag forever, never have sex again, and very likely die but that's OK, because, you know, sometimes bad things happen to good people. Not the fault of the system, no, it's the most fair and egalitarian system ever devised.

No question, single payer is the way to go.

I really don't think they understand how good the health system really is over here, because they have been sold on the idea that health care in the US is worse than health care in Cuba and the Dominican Republic.

A while back I visited a doctor and he said he noticed a blip on an EKG reading - I ended up with a battery of tests, including being prescribed a cardiac MRI. I scheduled the MRI and was in getting it done in 3 working days. Three days.

(All in all, everything came out clean, and I am healthy as a horse. I did the cardiac stress tests too -- and the nurse practitioners in the cardiologist's office commented that only one person in the past 8 years (all the time they had been in business) had run longer on the treadmill than I had.) I did the nuclear stress test too, and everything was clean.

[Gerald McGrew]

I really don't think they understand how good the health system really is over here

Um....because the data shows that we pay far more than other developed countries and get worse care as a result.

http://www.californiahealthline.org/art ... tries.aspx

A while back I visited a doctor and he said he noticed a blip on an EKG reading - I ended up with a battery of tests, including being prescribed a cardiac MRI. I scheduled the MRI and was in getting it done in 3 working days. Three days.

How did you pay for that?

[Jason]

Jesus, free healthcare isn't really that hard.

Just work out the insurance premium for a nation, budget for it, then collect it in taxes.

The end.

Absolutely, if the US could start from scratch. But to effectively kill a massive industry which lobbies and funds political campaigns, in a society which values capitalism over state control, I doubt it will ever happen.

I guess it's like removing guns from a society which already has them in large numbers, it's gone too far to reverse, probably.

Yes, it's like an inflatable butt plug. It's already been inflated and pulling it out would cause tearing and blood all over the place

Stick a pin in it? Sure you might prick an asshole or two, but in the end it's better for everyone!

[Seth]

So much for private enterprise being more efficient.

Now people might start to realise the cost of all that health insurance admin, advertising, lawyers and litigation, and shareholder meetings and dividends.

But probably not. The Dems will blame the Reps, and vice versa. And nobody sees the elephant in the room.

I'm all right. I'm fully covered, smoker or not, history of illness or not, left-handed or not, or whatever else the insurance companies use to avoid paying. FULLY COVERED.

No you're not, you just think you are. Long wait times, unavailable treatments/procedures, shortages of supplies and doctors, denied care, sub-standard care, enormous and growing tax burden to pay for it all...all standard features of socialized medicine in the UK and everywhere else...coming soon to Obamacare.

And my premium is zero. And it went up by zero percent this year.

Only if you didn't pay any taxes this year. But somebody else's premium (tax) is much higher so that you can get "free" healthcare if your a non-taxpaying dependent class slave.

I've paid, but it never hurt like US healthcare hurts.
And EVERYONE is covered. And I like that lots, and take pride in it.

No they're not, their masters have just convinced the credulous proletarian drones they are, but they aren't.

[Animavore]

All lies.

[Seth]

Jesus, free healthcare isn't really that hard.

Just work out the insurance premium for a nation, budget for it, then collect it in taxes.

The end.

Except of course you can't do that because each person has different and changing medical needs which are entirely unpredictable and change quickly, and therefore central planning will ALWAYS fail to allocate resources properly, leading (as it does in the UK and elsewhere) to shortages, surpluses, waste, fraud, sub-standard care, denied care, delayed care, unavailable care and all the myriad other ills suffered by every single socialized medical care plan on the planet.

Doesn't work. Never has, never will, and it inevitably leads to national bankruptcy, as it's doing in the UK right now.