I need to do more research on it. I do not have insurance because of my medical they will not insure me. If I do get insurance I am told that it will exclude all of the organs so what am I paying for. I am self pay at the doctors I do not expect to get medical for free. The ones that are going to be hurt the most are the unemployed I think. My SIL has been unemployed for 2 years. He will be required to purchase insurance at what ever rate he can find and if he doesn't he will be fined and taxed by the IRS. It does not sound as good as they would like us to believe. I know it is going to cost a lot of money. I do not have 8% plus of my income to put out on health insurance plus all of the uncovered expenses.

I can not say if it is good or bad I have more research to do. It would be nice to offer insurance at a reasonable rate that covers most medical. But to fine people and increase their taxes if they can not afford insurance does not seem logical.

We need better programs. -RJ

Good post maybe others have been able to do more research and have a better idea.

rivers of blood fed by the dying poor.

In one article that I read it said that the fine would be 95 dollars or 1 percent of your income, which ever is greater if you don't have insurance.

I'm with you on the research and wait and see attitude. I keep trying to find reliable information but that's not easy, they made it so big and confusing I"m not sure if the public knows enough to be one way or the other in excitement.

So far however, it helped us get insurance on our older daughter when she was uninsured and pregnant at 21. That was nice, crazy though, because our private insurance contract didn't say it covered dependants of dependants so the baby was not covered. So not perfect but a whole lot better, at least my daughter was covered.
My husband's company did a dependant verification audit as well, to make sure that only eligible dependant's were being covered, no girlfriends or unadopted children of mates, etc..I'm hoping it doesn't kick too many people out of having insurance right now and having to wait till 2014 to find some.

I thought America was the home of the free.

Hey Sonjamaria
very curious just what are they saying in Canada about Obamacare?

I used to live on the Canadian/ US border and got only Canadian news on the radio, it was fasinating on the different views of what is happening as seen from a different country's news casts.

tendonshurt,

I am with you on that. Don't get me started! It may have some positive things going for it, however, the fact that we will be penalized if we DON'T have insurance, makes no sense at all! We haven't been able to carry insurance on my husband for 2 yrs now because we just can't afford it, so how in the hell does it make any sense that we are now going to be taxed? It is difficult to make ends meet as it is. As far as I am concerned, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

What will be interesting to see, is how this will affect Obama's presidential campaign. I imagine he is going to lose alot of votes, however, only time will tell on that one.

Hugs to all,

Carrie

What this Canadian is saying about Obamacare is that nothing is perfect and it sure as hell isn't perfect here.

Yes, paid for by the government, but, are our taxes high, so paid for by the people. Hard to get a decent doctor or tests done in a timely manner and wait lists for some proceedures are horrendous. They are working on it and learning from countries that have successful plans. An evolving work in progress. BUT, I get the same care and treatment as someone who has loads of money or someone who is having tough financial times.

My (could be uninformed)view of the past/current US care system is that the poor get substandard, to no care, based on money making private insurance companies who bend rules to serve themselves. Low income people are passed around like they are worthless members of society. If you couldn't afford it, well then, too bad for you, and this elitest attitude further damages the economy by plunging good people into debt and hardship by unforseen circumstances. Ultimately, its a formula where the poor get poorer and the rich get richer.

It is my understanding that Obamacare is trying to level the playing field for all people and it has to break down some positive things to get there. You have to break some eggs to make a great omelet.

If I am down on my luck in life, I would appreciate having the same privilages as everyone else in my country to have the right to access to medicare so I can remain an active member of my society.

When I gave birth to my first son, things rapidly took a turn for the worst and I wound up needing a cesearian and 10 days hospital time. There was no bill in my mailbox.

I'm not for or against the man, Obama, but I think the idea of universal medicare is a long time in coming for a nation as great and resourceful as the US. Make the people strong, and the economy follows.

But, that is not the opinion of Canada; that is the opinion of this person.

does the canadian government tax you if you cannot pay for your own healthcare???

ours is on the short end right now at least 200$/mo. for out of pocket coverage. so if we can't afford that now and the rate hike comes.... yeah. we're pretty much buried up to our necks since the mandate passed. currently i cannot afford insurance nor am i eligible due to pre- existing conditions. think i could pay for cobra... yeah, um NO! so now, if i don't buy in, the us government likely in partnership with the already overburdened irs will be financially punishing me for as long as i can not afford health care. each penalty further making it a hope and a dream further out of my reach.

i wish we could do this a little more like we do cars. you get state minimum coverage to cover fender dings and bs stuff. if some one smashes you window downtown with a sock full of quarters then that's on you. pretty fair and square huh? been working a long time without issue.

what about catastrophic illness or injury insurance what difference would it make if you bought the insurance when you found that you needed it. (instead of getting robbed for it every month, just waiting around to get hit by lightning?)


what about no insurance for those of us who have reconciled a way to creatively live without it and a possible full coverage or

catastrophic coverage... think about that for a second, please.

for we who cannot afford the fucking minimum as it is. all i need, and believe me, i've done the math four times now, is a plan that would cover me only in the event of catastrophic illness or injury that i couldn't see coming that would a fiscally reasonable purchase for myslef.. my current medical bills and prescriptions cost just a couple hundred LESS than the worst insurance i could actually buy after waiting in line for the state pool. i'm making it. but, if i need and mri or get the big C. i'd be the first in line for the the new wards. the already proven shitworthy fema wards of each state... don't think that's real. just google a little.

but, think about it, catastrophic illness and injury insurance. the price would have to plummet due to statistics alone. what an easy answer, but no... we have to drive the country into poverty and sickness not seen since the iconic photo of the woman in the dust bowl during the depression.

oh and tent cities? forget about that. we've got fema camps and plastic coffins enough to encircle the earth. hold on to you hand sanitizer, because if you don't vote this lovely young socialist family OUT in november, i don't want to ever hear a lone whine out of you even if you're trached.

here it is! your gonna get your needs met whether you can afford them or not and be taxed on your poverty status more than ever before in history. enjoy! with the jobless rate at what it is, kiss your tax returns bye bye, because their gonna go to me so that i too can get preventative care after i get my ssdi. just like an oil change on a car, but without your own choice to push those miles or make critical decisions, like checking your oil and seeing how much longer you can stretch it.


you only need the state minimum to drive around and total someone's car. why do i have to have rx, dental, vision, phsych and chiro + maternity? i've got a ten year copper iud...) just to be sure that if i get cancer i can bleed my deductible into happily NEVER after?

what if god, life, the universe totals me? will my crappy force fed coverage put me in the hole for that. um yes... or the insurance companies would die.

there's something really wrong with a system and a country who wants "free" (NOT FREE- opt out and get punished) insurance that doesn't understand basic mathematics or law enough to realize your medicaid just got cut 30% from a public institution and will be handed directly to greedy corporate wealth rock stars who are about to play like a shedded up gretch with more holes that comprise a hollow body and tell you it's just a case of the blues when you don't get your tax return anymore since you wouldn't buy into the goddamn pyramid scheme.

HEALTH INSURANCE IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT OR A RIGHT. It's a privlege i dont have and you may not either. instead of easing into one of those types of structures, noooo no no... we're going straight to a MANDATE,

how does that make you feel to lose another game of ball these 4 years?

still gonna vote for the guy who said he would end the wars in the middle east and tripled our overseas service people on the ground leading to more deaths under his democratic watch that were ever seen in lil' bushy's two terms.

does the horseshit still taste like hope to you?

we all have to fight this, across party lined. vote for who you think is most likely to overturn this in his first term.

ppppppplease, cper's i beg you to fight the glass house of entitlement for your own sake. this is not the set of bills we need. nothing could be more horrific for us in our conditions. i know it's hard, but learn right now. set a goal for two weeks from today to have researched what happened just today. make a goal for 4 weeks from today to send emails to anyone in your state who will respond, if failure occurs, i beg you to use you telephone and post office. 6 weeks from now, learn every part of what every candidate is going to promise you and with the information you have list these promises (include the incumbent if you must.) and face it like a mirror. who has a chance. who could actually change something... not just because they said so, but why they think they can. all of this can be found on the good old internet.

if you intent to vote, you owe it to yourself to figure all of this out yourself and not just listen to what i say or what anyone else says.

please GO forth and do this. this may be one of the most important elections that we witness.

-jen

if so, god bless you soul.

OBama Care is crap!!!!!

The GOVERNMENT is THE PEOPLE! The government does nothing to create this money or cover costs.They government just raises taxes! That is taking money away from people for working hard to pay their own bills.

I had a good friends who died of totally treatable uterine cancer under the Canadain system of FREE medical care. The GOVERNEMT prioritzed her so low on the list for a simple hysterectomy that she died waiting. How is that CARE?

ObamaCare will just lead to wait lists, shortages, and rationing of care. Socialized systems never work.
We are going to lose hubby's employement sponsored medical coverage. That means we have to purchase our own, pay fines fees whatever.

We don't have the percentage of hubby's income to pay for insurance!!! Then we have to pay out of pocket for our care.

Worse, ObamaCare makes it against the law for women to ask for a doctors accreditation before receiving any specialized care. If she wants an abortin, she has no right to even have the state medical boards INSPECT the facility where she will receive treatment. She is not allowed to ask where the doctor studied.
How is that any better than back street abortions?

All in all, those who can afford care will get care. Those who have nothing will still strugle. This law will just add a great portion of the population to the rolls who otherwise would not have needed this stupid plan.

You've heard of genocide. It should be called Obamacide. No choice for the population who simply cannot afford another financial burden.

The worst part is all the people who claimed that I was a racist for asking about his RECORD while they voted for him simply because of his SKIN COLOR.
Please explain how voted for a person simply because of their skin color is NOT racist?

I've been EXtREMELY grateful for the provision that allows dependents up to age 26 to stay on the policy. It has been a godsend for us and for my nephew. Also the hospital is required to treat the non-payees, so it goes after those with coverage very harshly - 10 days to pay up or it goes to collection - they've tried to ruin our credit several times. Yet someone without insurance gets no bill and is not hounded. So i think this is a step toward rectifying situations like that. It's too bad there's such rhetoric tossed about bc it is high time this nation addressed these issues with polite intelligent discourse. The rich can pay, the poor often have access to charitable programs and free clinics, but the middle class struggles a lot. Status quo isn't the answer - hard for politicians (who still have top-of-the-line policies) to grasp. We don't get to choose about paying other forms of taxes (property, sales, income, etc) so to me it's not an issue of freedom. I saw a CNN special that covered several of the worlds various healthcare approaches. Very interesting. Seems the Swiss have tackled this with a fair amount of rationality. And other countries have real-time tracking of Medicare-like costs (unlike here where it's a three year guesstimate!). The most interesting statistic to me was that the majority of health expenditures were for the 10% with complicated conditions, and those costs were shown to be dramatically reduced (and care improved) if all the person's doctors coordinated care (which they don't at present). So I see some good things already but I am most angry at these companies who simply choose not to offer health insurance. It had nothing to do with Obamacare, but everything to do with greed. My h pharma co outsourced his dept and gave the exec who thought up the idea millions in bonuses. One day he had a salaried position with benefits; the next he did the same exact job, hourly, no benefits. IMO that's wrong. Thank the part time employer with heart - they simply believe employees deserve better. That's compassionate capitalism. The other is heartless crap. But that's just my opinion.

More government = less *freedom* always...

I think that people need to realize that 4 years ago Obama was shouting from the rooftops that this would not be financed as a tax...and what happens...it is passed as a tax. There will be penalties for not obtaining coverage, but those people that don't comply will be penalized with a fine. They cannot however, garnish someones wages to cover that fine. There is in effect a fine for breaking this law but no way to actually enforce it. You can't be arrested for non-compliance but they can however withold you tax return for the portion of fine. Many employers will decide it is too costly to insure their full-time workers and leave it to the employees to find their own coverage or rely on Medicaid.

I work for a hospital that employs around 3,000 people and I am just waiting for us to be dropped to fend for ourselves. What has been the point of working to get a good education to be penalized around an extra 1% in taxes so that everyone can have health care. People without insurance have already been abusing the ER for decades and while we keep paying more in taxes, our coverage keeps going down and our costs keep going up...with no increase in pay.

Socialized medicine does not work...look at the European's economic status. They have spent and spent until there is nothing left. So much for what's mine is everyone elses. I for one worked hard to get my education, get a good job and even without insurance made payment arrangements to get the help I needed. This will be another system that will be abused just like welfare and other government funded programs. There are always some rotten apples that ruin everything

How many times have our Canadian friends posted about how long it takes to be seen by a specialist if you need one? How long it takes to have a scan ( diagnostic procedures etc..) what happens if you need surgery ?

My question is... how is the order decided? Most serious goes first...or ... is it just simply... first come, first served basis?
If its the former... then WHO decides? It would be like playing God if that was the case. What about our elderly ? I would think they would get sent to the back of the line...