When someone tells you they are uninsured

[CTLawGuy]

Poll question: When someone tells you they are uninsured

What do you first think about them?

[Horse with no Name]

1. During the Clinton rally yesterday

He asked everyone in the audience if they KNEW someone that was uninsured. Every single hand went up. That is a sad commentary for our country.

[CTLawGuy]

3. did she next say..

"tell them to get off their lazy butts and go buy a policy right now"?

[Horse with no Name]

7. Why the venom?

I just told you that an ENTIRE audience of people knew someone without insurance and you take the opportunity to slam the candidate?
You are being disingenuous to even say a statement like that.
And for the record...I can see YOUR candidate saying that long before I could see Clinton saying it. So there.
You wanted ugly and you fucking got ugly.

[CTLawGuy]

10. im sorry my candidate doesn't favor

fining people for not having insurance.

I can't think of anything more horrible.

I invite you to go ahead and vote for the freeloader option, since that's how "your girl" apparently views them.

[MNDemNY]

13. But you favor, "the rest of us" to pay thier bills because the choose to opt out?

GFY

[CTLawGuy]

14. so you chose Option 1?

On edit:

apparently you didn't vote yet in the poll. You should register your choice.

[MNDemNY]

19. Not at this point.

But when coverage with out "pre-existing conditions" is made affordable, yes, then I choose option 1.

[CTLawGuy]

21. well I'm glad for your honesty.

what about people who cannot afford premiums?

[MNDemNY]

23. O f course those truly in need must be covered, but those that CHOOSE to opt out

are a big problem. The whole point of insurance is to spread the risk. ( for the record, I would much prefer a single payer plan, but I know that is unrealistic.)

[CTLawGuy]

25. when thre is a single payer plan

mandatory contribution based on means is essential. but I have problems forcing people to participate in a broken program.

[MediaBabe]

36. Your candidate favors taking parents to court and kicking the kids out of school

Obama favors forcing parents to buy health insurance and handling the enforcement through the schools "like they do with inoculations." Another unfunded federal mandate for the overworked schools. Next, schools which don't comply fast enough will have federal dollars withheld. Happens every time.

[UALRBSofL]

29. OP this is the best poll I have seen on GD-P

I can tell you all about people with no insurance or underinsured. I have seen it for the past 20 years as a nurse. If anyone has any questions please ask and I will try to inform you because I have seen it for years and it continues to get worse.

[Sapphocrat]

2. I'm uninsured.

And I assure you, I'm not freeloading off you. I just don't seek medical care, no matter how sick I get. I figure, if they find I'm dying of something, what good will it do to know, since I won't be able to afford extended treatment for anything serious? "Indigent care" isn't going to pay for advanced treatment -- at best, they'll send me home with a free sample of morphine, and I'll die anyway.

That answer your question?

[CTLawGuy]

5. It does

I hope someday you will be covered... somehow, somewhere.

Hopefully you won't be paying fines out of your pocket.

[Sapphocrat]

8. Point taken.

Don't politicize my lack of healthcare. It's not funny.

For the record, I don't swallow the "garnishment" meme, so it doesn't work on me. Besides, you know I already voted for Hillary, so I and my problems are irrelevant.

[CTLawGuy]

22. your problems aren't irrelevant

im sure you had good reasons for voting for Hillary, but I dont' think speaking out against a bad and unfounded idea is "politicizing" it.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Clinton's plan does NOT impose fines

Again, you are being disingenuous.

[CTLawGuy]

11. It doesn't

then how does she enforce the mandate?

Remember, the mandate is why SHE has UNIVERSAL health care, and that evil Obama does NOT.

How are you going to enforce it?

[dkf]

18. I'm curious...do you like being mandated to buy insurance then?

Or is this a no big deal thing?

Or are you against the mandate?

[Sapphocrat]

20. See post #8.

I knew I should never have answered an ambush thread.

[adapa]

24. having struggled with the no ins. issue myself I have to say, thank god for the SCHIP program

it doesn't help you. But it's been a life saver here in NH.

NH's program allows kids (well, their parents) to buy into the program even if the family's income is higher then the poverty limitations. Depending on income the premiums are either $0, $25, $45 or $145 per month. From my understanding, the $145/month rate is the actual cost of the insurance. I *do not understand* how the insurance company's can charge $145 in the state program & $500 under family small group insurance for the same kid. It makes me want to throw stuff I get so pissed.
This doesn't have much to do with your situation but it illustrates how screwed up the system is & how much it needs fixed.

My hope is with whatever fix comes along, hopefully something will happen soon, we can get people into a large enough pool so we can keep the premium cost's down and you can afford to buy insurance.

People talk of the economy, iraq etc all. For me the major issue is healthcare, that will have the most effect on the lower middle class in all ranges of everyday life, from getting jobs (we all know the part-time vs. full time trap/issue) to having a chronic small pains or the worst a serious illness.
I hear you

[sandnsea]

30. I have subsidized insurance

I was like you most of my life. I now have a subsidy and a very affordable premium. It still isn't as good as 100% coverage, and I still have to spend about $100 month on medications, but I'd be dead without it. If I had to wait until the end of the year for a tax credit, I'd be dead too.

[UALRBSofL]

32. Sapphocrat, I'm sorry to hear that but if your sick you need to go to the hospital

You health is the most important thing. Screw the hospitals when you get the bill. Just throw the bills in the trash. However, hospitals do get funding for people without insurance if the person comes in the ER and are admitted. You fill out a form showing your income, etc. then they apply for local, state, and, federal funding for this. However, getting a primary care doctor and getting elective procedures is impossible. That said, have you looked into Medicaid. Every state is different. Some are good but some are terrible. Thanks for sharing your story but don't feel alone, because 1 in 5 people don't have healthcare. :)

[Fovea]

4. When I talk to myself

I give myself the benefit of the doubt, and assume that I am type 2.

[AlCzervik]

6. i don't want to know anyone who thinks it's because of option 1.

[Laelth]

12. I say ...

JOIN THE CLUB.

:shrug:

-Laelth

[Barack_America]

15. Oh! Can we post this poll on Free Republic too!

It would be amusing to see the opposite results!

:rofl:

[CTLawGuy]

17. haha

I never go there. My head would not survive the urge to explode.

[Honeycombe8]

16. Neither. I HAVE known uninsured people....I think...

I have known a few uninsured husbands, whose families have to pay thru the nose to get him covered under the wife's employment insurance. The wives have complained to me about the cost of covering their husbands. I have thought to myself...."Well, the husband needs to get off his duff and go get a job that provides insurance at least for himself. He's working at a job w/o insurance ONLY because his wife is taking up the slack. If she allows a hubby to work w/o insurance, then don't complain about the cost at where WE work, and expect MY premiums to go up, so that HER premiums for her husband go down."

As for others who work minimum wage, I know those jobs don't provide ins. But they don't qualify for Medicaid. I had someone in my family with such a job. I thought, "You know, a country like ours, so rich, should provide at least a minimum level of health care for workers whose jobs don't provide insurance."

[NMMNG]

26. Flamebait push poll

But then you already know that.

[TZ]

34. Perhaps I should post MY story on why Health Care should be a priority

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7473806

I know people complain about Clinton's plan but PLEASE--read this and tell me we don't have a totally broken system (not aimed at you Buffy, just at the general audience)

[NMMNG]

35. That's vile

:grr:

We have a horribly broken system right now. I don't think either candidate's plan is ideal but to demonize one while claiming the other is fabulous (or failing to mention its own shortcomings) is disingenuous.

[stillcool]

27. Myself..

As a foster kid, the government paid people to provide me with food and shelter. Health care of any kind, was not included in the package. I was still born a tax on the system, and have been trying to live that down for my entire life. It is so pervasive in this society that those who have not, deserve not, or that if someone goes without basic needs, they themselves are at fault. I have been insured, and uninsured. I have gotten insurance provided through work, and insurance purchased privately. I have made choices, and there have been consequences for every choice, but the choices made for me by others, have had much larger consequences. The same argument is used for every possible policy that would help those in society that need it the most...and that is that some low-life will take advantage. In using that argument, even if and when policy's are enacted to afford people a way to better themselves, there is an underlying belief that society imposes that these people are automatically guilty of being less than. Of not being capable of providing for themselves that which comes so easy to those born differently.

[tech3149]

28. The last time I had worthwhile medical insurance was in the mid 80's

Of course it was employer provided, but the cost's were minimal and my pay scale was comfortable to good for the area. Since then every change in coverage has included higher cost, reduced coverage, and more hoops to jump through. Since then, I've lived in areas with higher COL and it would require a supremely austere lifestyle to cover health insurance and daily needs.
I've chosen to drop out of the corporate nightmare that is our world, so paying for insurance that costs me much more than it benefits me is beyond stupid. In the past five years I've spent $6K on dental and medical services that could have been avoided if I had health coverage that was affordable from birth.

I grew up in the world where the family doctor was your neighbor and they would never strong arm you to pay. They knew what your situation was. If you had an accident and had to go to the hospital, you were being treated by people who knew you or someone from your family. That was back in the day when hospitals and health care weren't profit oriented systems.

I try not to put a value judgment on anyone's decision. I can understand not being insured if the choice is a cost/benefit decision whether based on historical analysis of your individual situation or lack of knowledge of the possibilities. I find it most troubling that good people who just barely make enough to live in this world can't afford to assure that they can support themselves if they are challenged by a medical problem.

[JeanGrey]

31. Actually sorta fudged on that because I do have two friends

that refuse to buy health insurance. They claim they cannot afford three hundred a month but they just bought a 240,000 house, after delcaring bankruptcy four years ago (they kept that house, too).

I know they can afford it they refuse to pay for it.

[UALRBSofL]

33. JeanGrey, Dr. Gupta was on CNN the other day

And he was talking about the people whose income is in the $70,000 range a year but that millions of these people op out of insurance. This is a problem that needs to be addressed.

[JeanGrey]

38. Yes it does. The female of this group is sick all the time, I

suspect she is developing diabetes and I've told her if she waits to get health insurance she won't be able to get it.

[nonconformist]

37. I'm uninsured.

I've been uninsured for years now.

I'm not freeloading off of anyone. I don't get ANY CARE, even when I really need it.

Health care is my #1 issue. I did a lot of research on both Obama's and Hillary's plans.

Hillary's is the better one, hands down. Save the right wing mandates rhetoric, it won't work on me.

[TheDonkey]

39. I am uninsured.

Because it is took expensive. If it were cheaper I'd buy in.