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Healthcare mandate passed
Topic Started: Jun 29 2012, 12:06 PM (2,734 Views)
Azdgari
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Founder + Goofball

I agree charity would work if everyone did their part. But, sadly, they don't. And if we don't fill the gaps with the government, how do we fill them?


Your husbands idea about welfare community service is excellent.
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Backroads
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Proclaimer of Book Wisdom

I suppose I have no problem with government stepping in as a back-up, but I also hate the idea of being forced to help others. My biggest issue with the healthcare mandate is the "mandated" thing.
Edited by Backroads, Jul 18 2012, 12:25 PM.
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*Thanks to Gumdrop Ch4rms
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Azdgari
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Founder + Goofball

But I mean, if you don't have healthcare, your costs that you can't handle personally (which will probably destroy your financial life) are passed onto everyone else. So, everyone else ends up "helping" anyway. All the mandate does is try to make it so that everyone is responsible for themselves.
I get all the news I need on the weather report
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Here I am, the only living boy in New York
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Backroads
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Proclaimer of Book Wisdom

But why does the government have to babysit me, and why does everyone else have to pay for my irresponsibility? If I already have my own savings set aside for medical emergencies and perhaps even major medical insurance, that should be good enough. If I fail to do this, I should not expect other people to have their own finances affected in order to help me out of my own mistake.
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Azdgari
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Founder + Goofball

Well, regardless of what you expect, that's what happens without the mandate. Everyone is effected when an uninsured person gets care they can't afford. It doesn't actually have anything to do with the government. When hospitals have to treat patients pro bono, they have to cover the cost, and everyone's premiums go up. The other option is to not treat the person and have them die, which all we agree is wrong.
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Backroads
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Proclaimer of Book Wisdom

Yet, as has been discussed before, why is this preferable to a national plan that those in need can join? Similar insurance companies exist on a smaller scale and are excellent for those in need.

Also, like others on this board, not everyone agrees insurance is the best route. Why can't it be optional? Some people prefer to have a savings, others might need insurance. With an optional plan, everyone wins. Sure, the man who saved up a bunch of money for medical expenses might have to pay more, but it will probably still cost him less than insurance. For your argument to work, you would have to prove that having insurance is 100% of the time a better option than someone handling the cost themselves.
Edited by Backroads, Jul 18 2012, 01:52 PM.
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Azdgari
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Founder + Goofball

So you would agree with a mandate that would force you to either have insurance or save up money?


I do also believe insurance is the best option, but then I'm biased, being an athletic, healthy young man who put up a little over a million dollars in medical bills out of the blue this year. No insurance for me = goodbye life as I know it.
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CrazyTrace
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Night Fury
Hmm... while mass insurance requirements seem like a good idea, buying insurance doesn't work financially for everyone. Like I said before, my worry is that the insurance mandate will force my family into an ugly place financially. Insurance truly is a risk--you are potentially paying for care you will never use when the same money you pay could be put into a growth savings account that will be then used to pay any doctors. I am fiscally conservative and do not agree the government should be able to tell people how to handle their finances as the government has no way of knowing each individual case. When doctors to work pro bono, no profit is made and very often these costs are made up by other organizations.

I participate in an insurance plan like what Backroads described--the unused money at the end of each fiscal year is divided between all participants. It works well.

One of the problems with the mandate is that it still doesn't not help those who truly need financial help when it comes to healthcare. From what I've heard, the taxes from not buying insurance do not return to the program but other aspects of government. You would be surprised just how poor one has to be in order to not spend their own money on insurance. It is potentially dangerous for many households that way. The mandate will make insurance more available to many more people, which I find to be a positive thing, don't get me wrong, and it does force people to be more responsible about healthcare as well, but I can understand how the "force" will impact others.

I would like to see an option where one can get out of buying insurance if they can prove they have another healthcare strategy. A national option like the one I described would also be very nice.
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CrazyTrace
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Night Fury
Azdgari
Jul 18 2012, 01:56 PM
So you would agree with a mandate that would force you to either have insurance or save up money?


I do also believe insurance is the best option, but then I'm biased, being an athletic, healthy young man who put up a little over a million dollars in medical bills out of the blue this year. No insurance for me = goodbye life as I know it.
The thing is, the mandate does not give an option of saving up money. It's insurance only, as far as I'm aware.

Yours is one of those cases that do give pause. However, Backroads' uncle, from what I've heard, has several million dollars saved up. I'd say he is prepped and I'd say that's about equal to insurance.
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CrazyTrace
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Night Fury
Here's the thought: We can't all be as rich as Backroads' uncle. Being completely unprepared for health costs is a bad idea, nor should anyone sit back and expect any government to pick up the entire tab. Since "free" healthcare does impact the economy and all the people in it, there should be some sort of punishment for not being prepared. While I like many aspects of the mandate, especially what it does for insurance companies, a forced insurance purchase may not be the best way to go about.
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