The Ouchie: A Health (s)Care PSA

Here's one idea: insurance companies don't pay what the hospital bills them for, they actually pay a significantly reduced amount. So, hospitals make up for that lost money by billing uninsured people exorbitant amounts.

Not that I disagree with you on the ridiculousness of hospital fees!

The only people who pay less for procedures than insurance companies for surgery is medicare and medicaid. At the hospital i moonlight for they are almost scared to except medicare, because the government shorts them everytime.So if we went to a single payer system, hospitals would really be able to rape and pilledge.

(moonlight)- second job that my chain of command has allowed me to have during my enlistment.

I believe you. But if the whole this was set up like medicare and medicaid hospitals would no longer be able to charge the ridiculous rates you mention...right?? We would have the strength of unity against them.

I pay for my labwork and doctors care out of pocket, no reinbursment, no insurance. I pay much less than medicare or medicaid does. I get all of my meds. in generic drugs off the $4.00 list at Target.

well then...you must let us in on your secret!

If you have no insurance you can deal with the hospital to have them take a percentage of your bill off because they didn't have to file all the insurance red tape. I've done this, so I know.

Uhuh...so could you get this $40,000 surgery reduced to something I could afford? Say...$500?

It is largely the insurance companies' fault.

The reason it costs so much to get next to nothing at a hospital is because hospitals have to take anyone who comes into the emergency room. People who can't afford insurance (and that's a lot of people) don't have a primary care doctor, so they go to the emergency room anytime they need to see a doctor, even when it isn't an emergency. Most of the people who can't afford insurance also can't afford to pay the hospital, so the hospital ends up eating the cost. In order to recoup that loss they charge everyone that can pay a whole lot more for everything. I remember being charged $12 for a box of Kleenex!

If everyone had access to affordable insurance more people would be able to cover their medical expenses and, theoretically, health care costs would go down because hospitals would need to make up for all the people who couldn't pay. It kills me when insurance companies try to hide behind "high medical costs," because they are a big part of the reason the costs are so high. Either their premiums are so high that people can't afford coverage, or they drop people who are covered, leaving them with bills they can't pay. The insurance companies screw over their customers, who then have to screw over the hospitals, which then screw over everyone else that can afford it or whose insurance hasn't dropped them yet.

Anyone who says they don't want to have to pay for other peoples' medical costs, or for illegals, needs to wake up. You are already paying for them. That's why we pay so much for so little in regards to medical care in this country. If everyone had the ability to buy affordable health coverage from an insurer who wouldn't drop them the moment they sneezed costs would be a lot lower. And as far as taxes go, I pay more to my insurance company a month than I do in taxes for a month.

In theory i think your right you would be able to tell hosptials that 40000 for a half ass procedure isnt the going rate, but at the same time government usually botches things up, and ends up paying for 5000 dollar toilet seats, and 800 dollar nut and bolts.

Yes, unfortunately theories are all we have to go by.

Sorry to hear about what happened to your grandmother. Usually older people get better care in our kind of system. In government health car the younger, viable people ususally get the best care. They will continue to work wnd pay into the system. Granted your grandmother would not have gotten the test that 'moved a clot' and caused a CVA(stroke) so in her case the situation may have been better. The doctor must have felt she needed the test for signs/symptoms a layperson would not recognise. She could have refused the test! Only after the episode of the CVA did it appear a bad test. Appearently she does have a problem that needed treated but not noted.
My dad had a complete physical and was found totally healthy, everything with in normal limits. Within a week he threw a clot and had his first stroke(CVA). In his case no invasive tests were done but he still had the stroke, not caused by testing.

Right, and the people all pay for that in higher insurance premiums freeloader.

At all of our expense freeloader. nursediesel knows where and how to get all the perks at everyone else's expense. She/he/it is the ultimate welfare freeloader American icon.

Do tell use more, nursediesel, on all the freebies we can all get in healthcare, like you do.

I don't get freebies, I pay my way!

thanks for sharing!

You're not insured but you'd prefer to die for lack of health care than to get it from the government who would provide in such cases.

If you know of jobs for all the unemployed people why haven't you said something before now??
Your claim about government run healthcare is baseless. My grandparents receive their healthcare through the government (grandpa is an Air Force vet) and their care is the best I've ever seen!

Thats right. Thats why doctors in the UK are so lazy now and don't know how to perform detailed surgeries. Those poor bastards, they should get rid of that system over there.

And the government health for a general citizen will not be the same as your grandparents.
There are jobs out there you just have to take one that doesn't pay the wages you think you're worth.

I receive health care from my doctors at a lower rate than insured patients because I don't have to have tons of red tape to get care. When I have labwork I am billed and I pay for it out of pocket. I get my meds at Target at $4.00/mo./each med. No tax money is used for my care, it's paid for by me.

Really?? How come I got laid off from a management job of four years with great references and couldn't get a job at McD's?? Do you have an explanation for that one? Are you living in the U.S. right now? THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH JOBS TO GO AROUND. It should not be that difficult of a concept to understand.

My husband wants to know, jonraymond, how would her scenerio have been better with government healthcare?

And where do you get the idea that general citizen healthcare would not be the same as my grandparents? I told you your statement was baseless before, and again you fail to provide any evidence. You just say it is so; therefore I'm supposed to believe it is so?

Government health insurance and/or subsidies would make it easy for all people to get health care regardless of their financial situation, as we see in every other humane democracy in the world. In the U.S. people die for lack of health care and for denial of care even when they have insurance, for the profit of insurance companies, which is priority one in America.

This woman would not have had to spend her every waking moments, in the midst of being injured no less, to scrounge for ways to pay off her medical debt. She was very lucky and is not at all typical of the problem.

Imagine if she had cancer or something more serious where she was in constant pain or danger of death without treatment. She may have been put in a position of having to turn over her house and assets to the hospital in order just to live, as many people do now in the U.S.

Sick people are not in a position to be able to go out and "Get off your ass and get a f*cking job." They are SICK! What part of that escapes your little brains?

Whop-dee-do! YOU get off easy so everyone else can fuck off and die. Thanks for your compassion. But what happens if you get hit by a bus or get cancer and have thousands in medical debt? Where will you be then?

This woman wasn't sick. She can still work. There's no reason to wallow in bed complaining of what should have been...She has a computer......and some talent... market it she seems good at that...

Believe what you will, if we get government health care here you will find out. People from other countries come here for our excellent quality of state of the art surgery and treatment, rather that wait for monthes for poor care in their country. Doctors and reasearch will no longer provide that kind of care under government managed health care. We've seen that already with DRG's and HMO's.That was the governments step toward managed care, a transition...

There is an upswing of smaller construction and repair work available. People are redoing or fixing what they have rather than buying new.
My son said where he works is the best numbers of freight/shipping they have ever seen. He's been there for almost 20years.

That is uncalled for. Look in the mirror when you react like that.

your correct. Working for something is better than nothing. That is why it is always easier toget a job when youhave a job (no matter what it is). An Employer doesn't preceive the individual as lazy sucking off the government tit.

"U.S. people die for lack of health care and for denial of care even when they have insurance" - The biggest denier of care in America is medicare (government run).

In other wards she wouldn't have to work for it? Someone else should pay for it. So she has NO responsibility for HER accident? Who's going to pay for it, JON? You?
The filthy rich and corporations won't because they have teams of lawyers to find the loopholes to not pay. Your family will pay for it, your kids, grandkids, great grand kids... Nothing is free, nothing. Someone else IS paying for it and most likely someone that worked hard for it so someone else doesn't have to. Individual accountability means nothing to you, right?

So, your still trying to say that jobs are readily available? Have you been paying any attention to what's going on? So, are you saying we can ALL get a job in smaller construction, fixing old things? Where are these jobs? And who is paying for them? Seriously, just point me in the right direction!

It's crazy to me that people could be so stupid, that when they hear of one or a few good experiences they want to project them on to all the...shit, I've lost track of how many jobless there are now. My friend just got laid off at her job of 10 years last week. What are you going to do when your son is out of work? Are you going to say, "Quit whining and get outta here! Mommy doesn't believe in hand-outs!"?

I don't know what people from "other countries" you've been talking to. My guess, judging by your level of ignorance, is that you don't talk to many people who are different than you; or at least you don't listen. My friend lives here, but is a Canadian citizen and has to make a trip up there to get quality health care for herself and her children. The British, the French, New Zealanders, etc...they all laugh as they go to their excellent doctors for free and think of the Americans who are fighting so hard against the privilege.

While a friend of mine was in New Zealand, she got very ill with a kidney infection and was hospitalized for two days. She is an uninsured person, and was terrified of the enormous bill she was expecting, as she was not privy to their free health care as a U.S. citizen. She received excellent care for those two days, and when the bill came--$300. She was so thankful she had gotten sick in NZ, because if it had been here she would still be deep in debt.

And as far as the excellent quality of U.S. care--we just lost a dear friend a couple months ago who went into a U.S. hospital with a mild case of pneumonia and got sepsis from all the unnecessary tubes and crap they stuck in him and gross neglect on behalf of the medical staff. My grandmother (the one who has Kaiser, not VA benefits) went into the doctor back in December to get a refill of nitro for her heart condition (just in case). They insisted on her having an angiogram even though she wasn't experiencing symptoms, during which time the doctor shoved a clot up to her brain and caused her to have a stroke. She now has little use of her left side.

Granted, these experiences are not indicative of all U.S. health. If I tried to say they were I would be as bad as you, who believes that because your son has a job all the unemployed must just be lazy. However, there is nothing excellent or state of the art about the care my loved ones received.

http://heart.an

There are jobs out there, granted they are not your dream jobs.In the depression those that made it were the ones that went around helping out those that needed stuff done thet had money to pay them.
And yes, I took care of my son, in my home, when he was on total bed rest with his leg elevated above his heart.and pin care QID. But that was before the boon in computer jobs, too. He took some time for sick leave but went right back to work standing on his 'non-ankle' against doctors advice. He had NO insurance but still had the dream team at the University of Pittsburgh's Sport's doctors. They used his case for teaching seminar's.
The doctor's told him to quit his jobs and get into a job that you can be at a desk...not on his feet. He said I can't do that. He was working his way through culinary school to be a chef at the time...

(Alright, I tried the link you posted; it goes to nothing. I can't even find anything when I search for it on google.)

So, here's the thing: I've kept this discussion going in order to give you the opportunity to back up all your crazy claims. I've told you time and time again that you had no basis, and yet you still fail to provide one. You claimed that people in other countries are unhappy with their socialized health care; I gave you evidence to the contrary and so did "cableknitundies." You claim that U.S. health care is the best in the world, "state of the art;" I give you evidence to the contrary and you say my grandmother should have refused a test insisted on by her doctor (?!?!). Now you are making the claim that the government provides the best health care to the young; back it up, support your claim!

I believe everyone should be given the opportunity to redeem themselves, but until you can provide evidence for these recycled arguments that you probably got from Fox News, I don't want to hear from you again on this subject.

Oh AND (here we go again with the job thing) I have worked hard at so many crappy jobs in my life, from food service to retail to construction. Never have I turned my nose up at a job opportunity! After I got laid off, I turned in hundreds of applications, maybe thousands. I searched for work from the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, for 6 months! Words cannot express what a terrifying time that was for me. During that time I only got 1 call back, and 1 interview (at Target). The woman I interviewed with told me that she had hundreds of applicants, and that I seemed like a bright young lady and she was not concerned for my prospects, but there were a lot of people out there with children, etc., who needed work more than I did. Even though I needed that job SO bad, I couldn't help thinking "what a kind woman!"

And really, in the end she did me a favor because I am now a student. Thank heaven there were still openings in college back when I applied! Otherwise, I'd have to "mooch" off my parents, as you call it, and eventually we may have all ended up on the street together. As it is, I am living off financial aid and student loans, carrying a 4.0, working on a degree in Occupational Therapy, hoping for something better when I graduate, hoping to make a difference, hoping to resume my contribution to society in a bigger way, as long as all of you who are so against socialized care aren't able to rob me of the tiny bit of money I have to live on. And, it'd be really nice to have the opportunity to go to the doctor when I get sick.

I didn't post a link.
Nurses from other countries that have government healthcare came here as temps in the winter season in Florida when most of the over 65 generation are flocking to Florida. They stated most of the hip replacement and CABG surgeries done here in USA would not be done on anyone over 50 years of age in Canada or UK because the older folks are expendable and would be told to take pills and go home. The osteo patients would be given a cane or WC and told to live with the bum knee or hip...maybe given pain meds.
BTW I don not have TV access (my choice)so I don't watch FOX. And I don't listen to FOX on the radio or computer either...

Hmmm...so I wonder why my friend's grandfather (the one from Canada who I mentioned before) was given care, including a HIP REPLACEMENT, up until the day he died, at the age of 96. And her step-father, in his 60's, recently received cancer treatment. Her mother said she could not imagine having to deal with the stress of a husband with cancer and having to worry about financial issues on top of that, like we do here.

I commend you for going to school. OT is one of the best fields to be in. Rehab is used now for all ages at this time, in house, out patient and in home care. It took off back in the late 80's early 90's. I worked at a rehab hospital in the head injury dept. That rehab hospital was the only one making money for the group of hospitals the chain owned.
Half of the hospital was for senior citizens for cardiac, joint replacement and CVA rehab.
If you have a 'family' doctor no one is stopping you from going to him/her! You can discuss with your doctor to do pro-rate fees or a payment plan to pay off any costs to you incur. Doctors are in health care to care for people and will work with you to reduce your payment. For blood work at a low rate many yearly blood work clinics are held in the spring at high school or public places through local groups. The office at your school may know of the one held in your area. That decreases costs for regular bloodwork.
Government healthcare WILL NOT be free. You will have to pay for it, you do know that don't you? And even if it is passed it doesn't go into effect Jan. 1, 2014; with taxes to fund it starting imediately. And as an OT you will be paying for it.

Thank you for your commendation.

I did have a family doctor, who retired recently at the age of 80, one of those wonderful old school doctors, with good ethics. I have since been unable to find a doctor who will even take me on without insurance, much less charge what I can afford. I had kidney stones last month (worse pain of my life!), and after 20 hours of relentless agony I took myself to a doc-in-the-box to make sure my appendix wasn't bursting or something. I'd had kidney stones in the past and I suspected that's what was going on, but it was worse this time and it scared me. A pee test and $200 later, my suspicion was confirmed and I was left that much poorer, with no medication, no pain killers, really nothing to show for it. And let me tell you, that $200 really hurt me, but there are people out there who could simply not scrape together that money at all.

And yes, I realize that if the bill passes, health care will not be "free" as it is Canada, the UK, etc. All of the resistance from people who share your view has compromised the bill too greatly for us to end up with anything truly good. And I realize that health care is never actually free, in my perfect world it would be paid for by taxpayers. I have never resented the fact that my tax dollars were going to social services to help others, and I will take even greater pride in that fact after I have my degree and am able to contribute even more. I would much rather my taxes went to help someone in need, rather than saving up excess money or spending it on unnecessary luxuries.

So nursediesel, I will end my discussion with you here. It's been real, it's been fun, but not real fun. I can see that you are not the cold-hearted person that you came off as at first. I understand that you have heard things that have scared you. I urge you to do more exploration into this issue, go visit those in other countries with socialized care and let them put your concerns at rest if need be. At the very least, you will get a nice vacation out of it. Peace out!

Who pays for the fire department, the police department, libraries, highways, YOU? Hell No. You don't pay a goddamned penny. But you use it ALL don't you? Get you're lazy freeloading ass off my highways and go buy your own!

No one is stopping you from going to a family doctor? Bull Fucking Shit! Your paycheck stops you. Want to live out the week or see the doctor. That's the choice many have to make. But not a freeloader like nursediesel who gets free fire protection, free highways, free police protection, free libraries. I'll bet your kids even go to school for free, freeloader.

Amazing, I find myself agreeing with the current resident troll once again. The fact that millions of Americans lack access to proper health care is a stain on our Nation and we should be ashamed.

Jon, nursediesel does not get free fire protection, libraries, police, or highways and my kids schools are paid for by the property taxes I pay every year. If you really want to know who loses the most to government become a property owner and you pay for everyone else and everything else. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it!

Troll you say? You give the word a bad name. I'm much worse than a troll. I'm your worst fucking nightmare.

Guess what a**hat. The same applies to universal healthcare, unless you'd prefer to let 45,000 people die for lack of it every year 15 times as many as died in 9/11, you heartless f**k. How many would you let die for lack of fire or police protection? Please explain to me the difference. Death is death either way.

So 45,000/year, that means if this bill goes through and you start paying for it immediately but it doesn't start covering people until 2014 the 4 years times 45,000 or 180,000 that die until then mean nothing. How hypocritical.
This is NOT about health care, it's about government control of the money and the industry. It's more control over the people, and the money involved, not about caring for the people. And after a few years of this 'not free' health care you will realize what exactly happened and how all of you have been duped because it made you feel good, to think you really cared about all the poor people with out health care..... Again, that's is not what this is about. This is about political control over the whole segment of money and over the populations decisions.
The government in this country will never let go of the money from this industry even after we all realize what a sham this all was, and try to change it....
They are pushing this through by making you feel guilty if you don't want it and make those that KNOW the truth look mean and uncaring.
I got into health care because I truly care about my fellow man. I give my services for free if necessary, I am very involved in my care and comfort of my patients. That is not what this is about or I would be 100% behind it.

45,000 people die every year. What is your solution to give them health care to prevent that? In every other humane democracy in the world the answer is some form of government subsidized or funded health insurance. What is you geniuos answer? So far what I hear from you is LET THEM DIE. That's the summation of your service to humanity.

Further, a proper health care reform bill will insure the uninsured who now cost us more than they would because they end up in emergency rooms when things get to a critical point. We treat them there and it's often too late. They die for lack of preventitive care.

Government health insurance for all would prevent these exorbitant costs on our system. Of course, it would also foresake the for-profit health insurance industry, whinch would go away. Isn't that your real problem? You are tied to the insurance industry money and that's all you care about.

Please impart your diesel-truck like nursely wisdom. What is your solution, oh great one.

Maybe you didn't have the right stuff for McD's.

Go back to the patient/doctor personal relationship where they decide what needs to be done to diagnose and/or treat the patient.
Tort reform to limit the amount of money lawyers get for going after doctors for litigation so that they actually sue for honest cases not fraudulent money making.
Tort reform for clients and lawyers that bring forth fraudulent meaningless cases, make them pay for false testifying and overzealous lies to prey on the juries 'feelings'. Those cases would quickly drop in number decreasing medical costs passed on to patients.
Lawyers have screwed this country up. Many litigation lawyers are a hungry bunch of thieves, and should be watched. But the people responsible for this are, also, lawyers so...you can figure it out.
There should also, be a limit on what drug companies and equipment companies can give to doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and administrators to buy or use their products as incentives. This would help decrease the cost to all.
Doctors need to police within and start reporting the ones that are not living up to at least a prudent doctors level. Also, report doctors that are abusing privileges with over prescribing , or misusing meds and tests. Most doctors are in medicine because they care but policing and reporting would clear out those that are not.
Last if all the corruptions is cleaned up and policed the system we have would work. And there would be many alternatives to the current fiasco with out the government controlling health care.

You are the epitamy of Republican talking points. Have you ever had one original thought in your life or do you always just say and do what the authortarian conservative icons of the day tell you?

Tort reform, smort reform. Tort reform accounts for 1% of the helthcare overhead problem. Without addressing advertising costs, exorbitant profit taking, deregulated insurance rates, pre-existing conditions, denial of care even with insurance, and other administrative costs, tort reform will do jack shit to fix anything.

Having said that, Obama is all for including tort reform in the current health care bill. But it's hardly a total panacea.

Additionally something like 44 states already have tort reform and it hasn't done a thing to stave off insurace costs. Tort reform is Republican talking point #1 for why we should allow the health insurance industry to criminaly control people's health care and effectively mass murder 45,000 people every year.

Lawyers are hardly the problem. Lawyers don't devise preexisting conditions. They don't deny patients health care. Their overhaed to the industry of 1% is a tiny drop compared to the 33% overhead that the industry imposes on us for health care insurance administration, compared to a 4% overhead in other countries or with government controlled Medicare.

We are faced with doing SOMETHING about health care insurance reform and that something it what Congreess proposes. Otherwise there is nothing. tort reform may be part of it. But not nearly enough to make any difference at all.

Wow! Please explain to me how you believe I am lacking for a job at McDonald's. I tried to end this nicely and give you the benefit of the doubt. Now you are hitting below the belt, only because it is clear that you have lost this debate and you have nowhere else to go with it, except down and dirty.

You should be ashamed and humiliated! You have no interest in actually exploring this topic; you have made up your mind and you are going to stick to it no matter how much evidence is stacked against you. Now you are just grasping at straws. Sad.

I wonder if you are familiar with Piaget's theory of assimilation vs. accommodation. It has to do with the way people learn. With assimilation, you would mentally adjust the information you take in from your environment to fit within your pre-existing belief system. Accommodation involves adjusting your belief system as you take in new information, making this is a much more effective way of truly learning about your environment. Some people rely heavily on assimilation, but have difficulty with accommodation; these people show very little cognitive development beyond early adolescence.

I read your comment that you couldn't get hired at McD's in response to my 'there are jobs out there just not your dream job'. My answer was a response to what you said. Hey, maybe when you applied they were looking for a french fryer and you were qualified for a front-line job. Ever been told you were too qualified for a job?

Just like you parrot the liberals???

"Maybe you didn't have the right stuff for McD's."__nursediesel

Ok, so you go on and on about how there are so many jobs out there and people just need to take whatever they can get even if they don't think it's good enough. Now you're telling me I can't get just any job because I'm overqualified??

And I know you read my other comment about how I turned in hundreds of applications. Any job I could think of, I applied for: office work, retail, management, food service...and I have experience in all of the above.

You are just going to persist with your "there are plenty of jobs out there and the unemployed choose to be" argument no matter what, aren't you? Did you read my comment about accommodation vs. assimilation as well? You are making an absolute fool of yourself.

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Acutally, I did have a good job and I was working my ass off. I was working on a TV show as a Writers' Assistant and I got laid off after the WGA strike and then the economy tanked. But thanks for reminding me that I should have given up my dreams to sit in a cubicle. You are aces awesome.

So your answer to the argument over health care is, you did it, so why can't they? And, since there are people in the world that are worse off, we, as Americans, should just quit whining? And that all the people who lack health care "probably made poor life/career choices" that you shouldn't have to pay for?

You got lucky. If you would have been hurt while going to school, and been not only unable to attend in order to get your degree, but forced into $45K in debt, you would, I dare say, not be where you are today. To say that all the uninsured out there made poor life choices to get where they are without insurance is ignorance to the nth degree. This discounts all the people who lost their insurance through no fault of their own, in the economic cluster-fuck we're currently weathering. How was that a 'poor life choice'?

Good thing no one depends on your empathy for survival, cause if they did, they'd be fucked.

Life isn't fair? I agree, I lived in a socialized country as kid, got a free education, citizenship, possible free university, but most importantly healthcare. I used to get really sick as kid and I had asthma to make matters worse, if I remember think for my medical cost it would've been somewhere close to $60,000 (thats a yearly salary for people) paid for by taxpayers. On top of that only my father worked while my mom worked on her doctorate. Overall we were pretty comfortable since our household didn't have any debt, or loans of any sort. I didn't have all the latest toys either and I spent my time aquiring old disco/house records with money I made working on a fishing boat, eventually I was given a pair of turntables and the rest is history.
I came back to america got some scholarships, my dads work paid the rest, didn't work my way through college, studied history (most of which I learned in france) finished debt free in 4 years while traveling to other countries every holiday. After school I got a pr job from a girl I used to date from denmark, got axed, after an absinthe fueled night I teamed up with some friends and started a small business based on our passion for electronic music. Btw I come from a middle class family.
What I just described is social mobility with little or non of the shackles of debt I was free to pursue the things I hoped for, so for kids in my position the stars are attainable. I'm free to complain as I see fit and question anything I see to be wrong. I'm sad that not everyone can have this opportunity, since if they did the world we'd create would be amazing.
No I also think socialism isn't the best system around either, its just a moot point.

Well, lucky for you! Lucky that you didn't get injured while you were working in that deli. Lucky that you were one of the ones to find a job when so many people are losing them, when there are more people than there are jobs. Lucky that you managed to get one of the few jobs that provide health insurance. Lucky that you were not born in Sudan. Do the Sudanese deserve health care?

It is easy to assume that something is possible when you have managed to do it, but that only proves that it is possible for YOU. How did you get through college and not learn that you cannot project your experiences on to everyone else?

You're correct; life IS unfair. How does it feel to be one of the ones making it so.

Yes, 'What is the What' is an amazing book. I read it while I was in bed for two months thinking about how lucky I was.

So,Sit in the cubicle to pay your bills, while looking for your better job. You moocher, you're lucky your parents can keep you. Call Sean Penn he might care.

How is it that receiving help from one's parents make you a moocher? In most cultures it is recognized as common sense that one's parents would help them through hard times, and they would be happy to do it. It is only in a twisted individualistic culture where this would have such a stigma!

Go ahead turn this around to me, that's right....she's an adult.

There is a difference between dreams and reality. I want to be a professional baseball player then reality set in.

Of course you help your children during hard times but paying for healthcare until someone is 29 is not teaching responsibility and that is the #1 thing a parent should teach.

OK

Were you paying attention? They were not paying her health care UNTIL she was 29, they are helping her through a rough spot. And where do you get this "responsibility...is the #1 thing a parent should teach"? Have you studied child development? I have. The most successful parents are the ones who are "authoratative" (look it up)--loving, supportive, responsive and trustworthy. These are the parents who help to develop successful, confident and self-sufficient children. These are also the parents who have long lasting and fulfilling relationships with their children. There is no such thing as "tough love."

Absolutely right. In America people can just screw off and die. We don't need to give them any health care, like the other humane democracies. Let them suffer miserable deaths without it. What do we care? We're America! Die.

Welcome to dickheads.com

Why don't you save us the million per year in taxes and what ever you're going to cost us for the rest of your life when you come home and whine about how your life sucks and you have all kinds of chronic illness for serving US. You don't serve me.

CNN reported at the end of last year that 75% of all medical bankruptcies were people with insurance.

If CNN said then it is true. Bankrupties are caused mostly by bad decisions of course healthcare may be a part.

Well, not in America, but, you know, other places.

Freedom speech. Yes. Freedom of expression. Sure. Right to privacy. Yes

HealthCare as a human right? Absolutely not! Without debating the merits of universal healthcare, forcing someone to provide you with health services is not a human right.

Taking care of our fellow human beings shouldn't be a right? Really? You're on your own?

The Hippocratic oath says yes. We've been taught that money is thing to talk about, think about, and to win over all others. Lately we've had imbeciles push the idea that greed is good and to engage in gouge pricing. Ethics and morals have no place in the winner's circle.

All this has done is destroy the money base itself and pull the USA into the toilet.

It isn't good for people either - to be jerks and assholes - instead of valuable human beings.

Maybe women could turn it around. If they'd just refuse to be with a jerk. Jerkism would get unpopular quick.
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There should be no for-profit health insurers. Quickly, fees would reduce to what can be charged. Doctors, who want to do their work, will work - people would prosper, etc, - etc.

That is like saying life is not a human right but speech and expression are (?). Get your priorities straight!!

So wrong.

Life is a human right but healthcare is not.

For many, all of us at some point, life and health care are one and the same.

If you disagree "My America" try living out the rest of your life without health care.