Edit - tenets and corrections to whatever other grammatical errors abound. My iPhone's IOS keyboard has an agenda of it's own, which is to annoy me.

I've worked in public health for more than 15 years and poverty and lack of access to decent health care (esp for the mentally ill) are complex issues and not just the result of bad choices. I've lived a long time and I've been up and I've been right down on the killing floor and a fair measure of good fortune is just luck.

I guess you dont know any small business owners or lower middle class....Howdy.

Of course you will say that you do.....but not across the board.
I do know were it hurts. Rates went up, coverage went down.

Seattle has a robust economy. People are prospering. Healthcare is wonderful. 1 hour south and it is not so.

Maybe obamacare just hates skilled trade shops. Quit it.

Rose colored stained eye glasses says the rest of the state.

Universal Health Care Now!! We are smart enough.

But Levicah that trend has been going on for decades and cannot be blamed on the Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare. My dad tried to say the same thing but he watches way too much FOX News to be objective but also lives in the red state of Idaho.

FOX was freaking out some of our transplant patients talking about rationing care, death panels and losing coverage. I heard one of the Transplant Nurse Coordinators told a couple to TURN OFF FOX as they were fear-mom gearing trying to kill universal healthcare.

In actuality, kidney transplant patients are going to significantly benefit from ACA coverage as they will never lose access to MD visits and immunosuppressants as was happening routinely. Like I said, I've seen travesties and tragedies. Yeah I'm for it. Won't affect me personally all that much but professionally I'm thrilled for my patients.

Lordie. Fear-mongering. FOX news not the couple just to be clear.

But time will tell and numbers and facts don't lie. They just get massaged. Okay time for the gym and I have a date later with some whiskey 'n friends.

My insurance coverage has stayed the same and our rates did not increase any more than it does every year. The cost of health insurance has been increasing at ten times the rate of wage increases since the 1980s.
I have been denied access to tests and needed medical care- long before ACA. The death panels in my mind are the insurance companies. When my mother was in SS Medicare she had access to excellent medical care. Whereas I, on private insurance had to constantly fight with my insurance company while going through cancer treatment. Healthcare problems existed long before ACA.

True dat. Private insurance companies are the worst. They always deny services as a routine cost cutter. Many won't challenge of don't know that they can or how. Medicare, Medicaid, Teicare and AARP (the latter two being United Healthcare) have always been the easiest to bill and the best payors. Reimbursement keeps going down with Medi/Medi though so more docs don't take them.

A for death panels, they existed in the 60s and 70s for kidney failure patients when dialysis was scarce and ultra, ultra costly. The Government stepped in in 1973 with Medicare coverage for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) pts. and it was available to all citizens and residents. They got that right. Tricare too. The VA? Well that's a diff story.

Oh I meant to add. I knew this guy who worked as a gatekeeper for mental health at Blue Cross in CA. He told me that he was told his job was to deny services!! He had to approve x amount and would help mental health practitioners sometimes write the right things to get approval when their approvals were too low

Unregulated, corporate private insurance for ya!

I've got stories I tell ya.

I can't afford affordable health care! Ok, no more whining, just more wine! Stories, ECC!

lazeebones,
my youre just a cut above us shiftless druggies arent you ?
sorry , im not that easily offended but you arent letting up , im bound to get a little miffed at a point . lose 50 lbs , and we'll get back and discuss poor choices again .

Had brunch with my neighbor. She told me today that she was paying $420 for her monthly premium and now $261 monthly. She's very happy. She's self-employed too.

To err is human. We all make good and bad choices. I've loved some addicts and flawed humans before, which are all of us.

Hey all have a great weekend. :-D

ECC, your neighbor is now paying a lower premium. I can only assume you mean that she got her policy thru Obamacare. Would this be correct assumption?

Captain, I am so glad that you said that. I found her remark to be so offensive I couldn't even comment on it.

Ernie....move on and realize your perspective doesnt cover the whole world....Fox news? Are you insane?

What I do have is reality based involvement with being a licensed contractor for 30 years spanning 5 states and their various requirements. I have managed several businesses for others and have a very well rounded perspective of the blue collar working class and the underpinnings of municipalities and laws.

You over step. There are negatives. To pretend they are not there?? I expected a little more reality from your camp.

If you are going to continue to speak for all of America, please try to be realistic and fair. This ain't utopia baby, it's settling for less.

Contrary to the agenda rendering supplied here, I can look at both sides and see the pro's and cons. I dont have a dream filled agenda getting in the way.

I want healthcare for every human being...affordable or free.
The difference is, I have lived the nightmare of nearly dying several times waiting for some one, some where to help me.
I have also seen my bag lunch feed nearly twenty starving children.
No. You over step my friend.

To be honest, I am in good company in these perspectives.

I am going to go ahead and assume Ernie's neighbor is now paying less via an Obamacare policy. I'm glad she has it, it's just that I struggle to pay mine, I darn sure can't afford to pay for hers, and that is what Obamacare does.