The Need for Healthcare Reform Hits Home

I've spent a lot of time arguing with people about the Affordable Care Act.  Many times these people have told me how they shouldn't be forced to carry insurance because they don't get sick and need medical care.  I've often asked them what happens if they have an accident that causes them to need the care and they aren't covered.  They always tell me that they are responsible and will pay off the bill for their care.  Today, my family had to deal with the problem of having unaffordable medical care without insurance. 

My little sister, who is only nine years old (10 in 12 days!  Happy early birthday!), had an accident and broke the growth plate in her wrist.  She needs surgery to repair the break or she may be in danger of having her arm deformed for the rest of her life.  My father, who works as a preacher, does not have employer-provided insurance.  So this leaves my family with the burden of paying full price for the surgery.  Because the injury is not life-threatening, it is not something that the doctors are obligated to perform.  Of course, being a preacher, my father doesn't make a lot of money.  The high cost of the surgery is way too high for my father to afford.  As of the time I'm writing this post, he is still searching for a way to pay for the surgery. 

Many people will say that he should look for assistance, but he makes too much money.  Of course, while he makes too much to qualify for assistance, he doesn't make enough to be able to afford medical care.  This is exactly why we need the ACA.  The only academic study of the effects of the act showed that the results of this kind of universal healthcare will be that medical costs are driven down.  Lower medical costs and competition in insurance exchanges will drive the price of insurance low enough for people like my father to afford.  The evidence of this was given in the article Lessons for coverage expansion: a Virginia primary care program for the uninsured reduced utilization and cut costs that appeared in the journal Health Affairs in February of this year. 

So as people like Mitt Romney continue to condemn healthcare reform, I ask them to put their money where their mouths are.  Write a check to cover my little sister's surgery or shut your mouth about healthcare reform when you've never had to face a situation like this.  The same goes for anyone who supports this moron's bid for the presidency...if you think that this reform isn't needed, then I invite you to drop a line to my 9-year-old little sister and try to explain to her why she could be forced to live with a deformed wrist for the rest of her life.  But at least you weren't forced by the government to be responsible and cover your own healthcare costs...and that's worth causing a little girl to live with the pain, right?

Get better soon little sister...I'm sure Dad will figure it out.  I love you.

Update:

Through the grace of God and the assistance of family and friends, it looks like my sister will be able to have her surgery.  Thank you to everyone who helped make it possible and those who prayed for her.  

Romneyfish Flips Again

In another episode of "Romney's Full of Crap," we have Mitt saying that emergency rooms are a viable option for people who have no health insurance. 

"Well, we do provide care for people who don't have insurance.  If someone has a heart attack, they don't sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care."

This was an attempt to justify his goal of repealing the Affordable Health Care Act if he was to win the election.  There are so many problems with this...let's get started.

First, let's look at the problems with repealing the individual mandate, but keeping other provisions of the law such as the increased age limit on parents' coverage and elimination of denial for pre-existing conditions.  If we expand the number of people insurance companies are forced to cover, and don't require everyone to have insurance, the cost of insurance will skyrocket.  The point of requiring everyone to maintain coverage is that healthcare providers won't have to write off medical bills for uninsured persons and pass the amount owed on to the rest of the people who have insurance.  This is a major factor in the increasing cost of medical care.  If this problem still exists, and we expand coverage, we will only see rising costs of healthcare and insurance rates.  It won't work. 

The other problem is that Mitt is entirely full of crap.  He knows very well that emergency rooms aren't an option for healthcare.  Let's take a look at some previous quotes from Romney on emergency rooms as healthcare for the uninsured:

"Look, it doesn't make a lot of sense for us to have millions and millions of people who have no health insurance and yet who can go to the emergency room and get entirely free care for which they have no responsibility, particularly if they are people who have sufficient means to pay their own way."

 "When they show up at the hospital, they get care. They get free care paid for by you and me. If that's not a form of socialism, I don't know what is.  So my plan did something quite different. It said, you know what? If people can afford to buy insurance ... or if they can pay their own way, then they either buy that insurance or pay their own way, but they no longer look to government to hand out free care. And that, in my opinion, is ultimate conservativism."

So Mitt's plan was that people could choose to either have insurance, pay in cash when services are rendered, or be denied healthcare.  So...according to his plan, if you don't have insurance or you can't pay cash in advance of any services rendered, you just get denied and sent home to either get better or die.  Okay, I don't agree with letting people just die because they can't afford the same care as rich people, but if that's what you want, then I think he needs to stand up and tell the country that this is what he believes.  And he would also have to make a law that allows healthcare providers the option of turning away patients who are dying if they don't have insurance or the money to pay in advance. 

See where the problem lies here?  We either have to let people die, watch healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, or mandate that everyone take personal responsibility and stay insured. 

But the most entertaining piece of this story is the fact that Mitt showed us once again that he is willing to lie and tell people what he thinks they want to hear in order to win the election.  He flip flops like a fish out of water.  He really makes me wonder if the Republican party chose him in an effort to lose this election.  What other explanation is there for putting a candidate out there who does nothing but lie, offend people, and reverse his position on issues every other day?  I don't know...maybe some liberals infiltrated the GOP and worked their way to the top so that they could destroy the Republican party from within.  Or is that just the wishful thinking of a dreamer?

Ignorance is Bliss...

Since the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act, I have spent a lot of time debating the issue with some conservatives.  This isn’t another attempt to do that.  This is a discussion of the problems I have with debating these people. 

I have a fairly simple request when I debate people…support your arguments.  It’s not a difficult thing to do if you are using sound, reasoned arguments.  That’s the problem.  While I did have a couple of people actually use sources, the majority of these people just posted the same recycled arguments that they have heard on television, radio, or read on their conservative websites.  After using articles from peer-reviewed journals and trusted sources that included facts and figures, I was met with people who just chose to turn a blind eye.  First, they would try to dispute the validity of the facts and figures.  Unless there is a valid reason to dispute them, such as them coming from an untrustworthy source, they are valid.  For statistics like the population of the United States, the commonly accepted trusted source is the Census Department.  (Yes, I used this and it was questioned.)  Then they would attack the journal articles.  Now, I’m not saying everyone has to agree, but don’t tell me an article from a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal is invalid if you haven’t even read the research and have a real point of opposition.  Because you don’t like the fact that it totally invalidates most of your argument is not justification for the conclusions being valid.  These kinds of articles are the standard for academic discussion.  Finally, in a last, desperate attempt to have an argument, my citations were completely ignored.  I was first told that I didn’t use any, and when I proved it, I was told all of my information was refuted.  Well, that’s pretty impossible since I know that not one person I was debating can refute the Census Department or a journal article for which they only have access to read the abstract. 

Retrieved from http://www.politicalruminations.com/2010/09/cartoon-of-the-week.html

Now, I have some friends who might read this and say, “Wait a minute!  I don’t do that.”  I do have some conservative friends who can give me a very challenging and worthy debate.  I have even lost debates with a couple of them (I’m looking at you, Josh.)  Not because I think my position was wrong, just because I wasn’t prepared enough to provide reasonable responses.  Obviously, this is not directed at those people.  In fact, none of those people even attempted to debate the issue.  (I wonder why?) 

After two days of repeating myself over and over for two days and having people stare at the face of my arguments and ignore reason, I have grown tired.  I usually enjoy these kinds of debates.  I like proving people wrong.  It’s even easy in most cases.  But, when the only response you get is nonsense, it stops being fun.  I have fully embraced the fact that I am truly a full-blooded liberal at heart.  I don’t apologize for it, and I don’t apologize for the fact that I think conservative philosophy is nonsense founded in stupidity.  All I’m asking is, please, for the love of Pete, have at least some standards when you debate me.  While I love stomping on conservative ideas, it’s becoming too easy.  It’s almost not even fun anymore.  Almost.

© Keith Tucker

 

 

 

Healthcare Reform Defined for the Conservative Mind

For all of my conservative friends – here’s a way for you to think about the health care reform without being too upset.



First, just assume that the government just levied a 1% tax on everyone. That’s obviously within their power. Now, you don’t have to like it, but there’s nothing unconstitutional about it.


Next, in an effort to help out Americans, they have given us a way to exempt ourselves from the tax. All you have to do it carry health insurance. Since the majority of Americans either already have insurance, are on Medicare or Medicaid, or are under economic hardship and income thresholds that exempt them, they will be exempt from the tax.


With all of this…we get to insure that healthcare costs remain reasonable for the foreseeable future! It doesn’t look so bad when you see it from this perspective does it? I know…you conservatives can’t approve of anything sensible if it is passed by a liberal. Oh well. You can lead a conservative to affordable healthcare, but you can’t make him think.

Copyright © 2009 Universal Press Syndicate
Retrieved from http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Healthcare-Cartoons/GOP-Hearing-Problem.0_aG.htm