Here's our difference.

Post #379,258 by mmoffitt 8/14/13 10:35:48 AM Reply	Here's our difference. The ACA accomplishes almost nothing. From strictly a pragmatic POV, if the ACA was "the best he could do" then he shouldn't have spent any political capital on it. It doesn't make anything better. The "pre-existing" thing? Hell, almost all insurers had dropped pre-existing clauses by 2000. The "cover your kids until they're 26" was similarly a fait accompli. The ACA does nothing to apply downward pressure on insurance prices. The microscopic "good" the ACA does came a far too high a cost: at USSC sanctioned law that says Americans must pay private, for-profit corporations solely on account of their being alive. That's Neo-Fascist at best. The BL: You think the marginal good the ACA accomplished was worth the effort. My experience working in medical labs, hospitals and private health insurance companies have taught me otherwise.
Post #379,261 by Another Scott 8/14/13 10:39:22 AM Reply	Expect your unicorn any day now. I'm sure it'll be great.
Post #379,263 by mmoffitt 8/14/13 10:40:47 AM Reply	Not looking for one. We're cooked. It's over. I'm still in ammunition acquisition mode. ;0)
Post #379,266 by Another Scott 8/14/13 10:44:14 AM Reply	Enjoy your bunker then. :-/
Post #379,310 by Ashton 8/15/13 5:23:32 AM Reply	SImply: you Can't get There.. from Here, IMO. It would be necessary to reverse the Winner-takes-all mentality behind virtually all financial/mercantile transactions. [And votes! ... in another sense.] to alter greatly the concept of 'Incorporation' in Murica, with even more-stringent checks/balances on any multi-nationals (ours or theirs.) 'People'?. My ass. to alter taxation: based on Wealth (at least as a factor) and not merely the easily-massaged fiction of 'annual income'. (It would be nice.. if.. the USSC all dined together to celebrate something, and the fish was rilly-bad (while throwing in a Unicorn, too.)) It would be essential (and will be--increasingly as the planet races towards a lethal environment) that the purloined $Trillions already extracted by compounded System-gamimg: be recaptured significantly, not merely to take the Fat out of our entire Med/Pharmchem Industrial Cartels, (including the expectations of MDs et al) .. but to Seriously prepare for [any future at all] worth a pitcher of warm spit.. by, say 2060. You couldn't alter these koans unless Murica suddenly yearned to become as civilized as.. the other wealthy countries. It would be a basic Revolution, bloody as usual though not inescapably: depending entirely upon how quickly a plurality of the population Could -???- grow. up. I can't imagine Euro-style Med funding with any of these elements unsettled. Single-Payer is a chimera in a country as historically ignorant, gullible and superstitious --and as physically deteriorated (as so many Muricans Are today) and worse.. as mentally deranged. Just look around at Our Performance on. all. scales. ... qed (And.. we'll never Know: to what extent (re Obama's 'deal' with the $$Overlords) he was out-schemed? OR [more likely, I wot] flat out-Gunned. $$$==Power==purchased votes.. The Fascistic streak, now so increasingly evident in the bloviations of the loudest minorities (collectively already a plurality?) will confound any political action in the direction of any parts of the above. So, Yes: we're fucked. Unless and Until: some Very-fucking-Unusual Event galvanizes authentic epiphanies ... amongst millions. [!!111ONE!11] Hey, I don't recall ever suggesting that the odds FOR our 'survival' were very good, all insanities considered; I suggested many times that, simply: we still have this teensy-Chance. (Oh.. And: I quite admire Scott's equanimity in the face of soo Many systems clearly in extremis; perhaps he sees the glass only 70% empty?) But I, having been near-enough sentient during both assassinations--especially the Crucial RFK-elimination--and having 'plotted' the slope of the curve ever-since: do not believe in religio-miracles as would be Required: ever to counter the miserable stats-to-date of our deservedly crumbling, sanctimonious tribe of (self-deluding) crass narcissists. (I regret that I have but one-life (not to give) for-my-country, wrong, or Wrong.)
Post #379,313 by mmoffitt 8/15/13 8:26:39 AM Reply	Largely concur. About a revolution being necessary (hence my semi-jocular allusion to "ammunition acquisition mode"), that is. I think in a different century and in a different country, Scott and I would be arguing over whether or not the Duma would save us.
Post #379,318 by Another Scott 8/15/13 9:20:14 AM Reply	There will always be things to argue about. ;-)
Post #380,301 by Another Scott 9/5/13 3:21:37 PM Reply	The "pre-existing" thing is still an issue. http://www.balloon-j.../#comment-4602112 47. Comrade Dread says: September 5, 2013 at 2:28 pm When my wife lost her job, we had two choices, add her to my companyÂs HMO plan or try to buy her individual PPO insurance. Due to her pre-existing conditions which sheÂs had since childhood, no insurance company would take her. After six months (where, by the grace of God, she remained in good health) we signed her up for our state PCIP at just $220 a month. Our state just joined the Federal PCIP plan and our monthly rates for her fell to $161 a month. If Bush and the culmination of 30 years of Republican economic policies hadnÂt already turned me from a conservative to a bleeding heart liberal, Obamacare and the Republican response to it would have assured that I would never have cast another ballot for a Republican again. There is such a thing to be said about being part of a community that takes care of one another and not simply an isolated sheep to be fleeced by the wolves of corporate capitalism. (Also, I will follow the trend and pimp my blog. I discuss religion, movies, nerd stuff, politics, and food. Click my name if you want to check it out.) HTH. Cheers, Scott.
Post #380,305 by mmoffitt 9/5/13 3:48:33 PM Reply	I'm sure in pockets it is still a problem. But not for most. And it didn't take the ACA to make it that way. And since you're a supporter of the ACA, isn't satisfying the needs of "most" good enough? ;0)
Post #380,331 by jake123 9/6/13 11:09:01 AM Reply	A brilliant example of the perfect being the enemy of the good. The ACA is better than what came before. Why shit on people for supporting something that's not ideal but better than what came before? Then start working on the next iteration of Something Better Than What Came Before.
Post #380,338 by mmoffitt 9/6/13 1:16:09 PM Reply	I'm unconvinced the ACA is better than what was. Or even significantly different from what came before. With one exception: it is now the unassailable law of the land that Americans are born owing private corporations a profit. Whatever arguable good the ACA does, it is vastly overwhelmed by that simple fact. Obama had 2/3rds of the People behind him, his political party had a super-majority in the Senate and enough support in the House to at least pass a bill with an option for Single Payer. He fought that option tooth-and-nail from the very first hearings on health care reform. It was the White House who would not let Nader speak in those hearings and it was the White House who would not let even the President of the American Medical Association testify at those hearings because they were in favor of Single Payer, and Obama (the "Change We Can Believe In" President) was opposed to Single Payer above all else. Others can let him off the hook for that in their ceaseless apologizing of the President and his policies, but I'll not join their ranks.
Post #380,341 by jake123 9/6/13 2:29:51 PM Reply	50 million people that couldn't get coverage now can That's an improvement.
Post #380,343 by boxley 9/6/13 2:39:24 PM Reply	Re: 50 million people that couldn't get coverage now can if they can afford it Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
Post #380,345 by Another Scott 9/6/13 4:19:39 PM Reply	Guess who said this... "It is a good day for 30 million uninsured Americans who will have access to healthcare. It is a good day for seniors who will continue to see their prescription drug costs go down as the so-called doughnut hole goes away. It is a good day for small businesses who simply cannot continue to afford the escalating costs of providing insurance for their employees. It is a good day for 20 million Americans who will soon be able to find access to community health centers. "It is an especially good day for the state of Vermont, which stands to receive hundreds of millions of dollars in additional federal funds to help our state achieve universal health care. "In my view, while the Affordable Care Act is an important step in the right direction and I am glad that the Supreme Court upheld it, [...] No fair peaking at the URL. ;-) http://www.sanders.s...97CA-18865C0EB0C3 Cheers, Scott.
Post #380,362 by Ashton 9/7/13 12:33:57 AM Reply	As from the get-go: S i n g l e - P a y e r is the Only Sane OPTION--to millions of people demonstrably smarter-than the Σ-vox-populi of the U.S. But FIRST--as Always--we must 'try' all the self-serving, crass-conceived Alternatives-to-SANE. Because: That is what made Murica what It Is today. [Fill-in _____ ] GOOO --> Bernie!
Post #380,382 by boxley 9/7/13 3:36:52 PM Reply	St Raygun? Any opinions expressed by me are mine alone, posted from my home computer, on my own time as a free American and do not reflect the opinions of any person or company that I have had professional relations with in the past 58 years. meep
Post #380,383 by CRConrad 9/7/13 4:37:34 PM Reply	Guessing from the URL you weren't supposed to peek at... ...somebody named Sanders, probably in the Senate. Isn't there a Bernie Sanders in American politics? -- Christian R. Conrad Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi (Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
Post #380,386 by Another Scott 9/7/13 6:21:26 PM Reply	Hush! ;-)
Post #380,406 by mmoffitt 9/8/13 4:06:21 PM Reply	Yeah, a champion of Single Payer in Vermont.
Post #380,407 by Another Scott 9/8/13 4:11:39 PM Reply	And yet he supported the PPACA. Imagine that.
Post #380,409 by mmoffitt 9/8/13 5:31:35 PM Reply	He's a sixteenth of a loaf fan. For everybody else, that is. ;0) No, I like Bernie, but he used the ACA in order to get Single Payer in his state. He also switched his political affiliation from Socialist to Independent a few years back. So, he's a pragmatist. He knows that folks like the Obama Administration and his fellow career politicians are beholding to large corporations and he does the best he can by his constituents. In this case, he got the brass ring for Vermont: a single payer health plan.

Welcome to IWETHEY!