Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I've wanted to discuss this issue with others for a while. I'm a self employed small business owner who is struggling to find quality health care insurance. I was denied by 2 major health care providers due to being seen by my old doctor for acid reflux, a very minor condition. I pay over $500 per month for my family (wife and daughter). It's a pretty big expense and it doesn't cover nearly as much as the policies employers offer. It's the lowest monthly payment we could find and it's offset by higher priced doctor visits and lower coverage on medicine.
So in the land of opportunity, how is that health care providers can turn down small business owners and not the employees of larger corporations?
It seems to me that for being so "pro small business", the small business owner sure gets shafted when it comes to health care.
There is a very sad, untold story in America. Of all the "small businesses" that were operating a decade ago, 64% of them are now gone. Poof. That is sad because of the people (in the millions) who were sucked into investing their work, their savings, their families, their lives, in this insane "dream", and now have nothing, or less, to show for it. Further sad because they employed additional millions of good, honest, hard-working people whose job just disasppeared, and were left unemployed, to be blown off cavalierly by anti-welfare conservatives zealots as lazy and irresponsible bums who should have known better than to make bad decisions which are their own fault.
There is a very sad, untold story in America. Of all the "small businesses" that were operating a decade ago, 64% of them are now gone. Poof. That is sad because of the people (in the millions) who were sucked into investing their work, their savings, their families, their lives, in this insane "dream", and now have nothing, or less, to show for it. Further sad because they employed additional millions of good, honest, hard-working people whose job just disasppeared, and were left unemployed, to be blown off cavalierly by anti-welfare conservatives zealots as lazy and irresponsible bums who should have known better than to make bad decisions which are their own fault.
You just re-iterated the conservative mantra, one of the most hateful of attitudes ever in our nation, that being this: any misfortune YOU suffer is YOUR fault, i.e., You're On Your Own (YOYO) and WE are going to watch you sink (Katrina anyone?). Their attitude is that its not their problem, even though we are supposed to be ONE nation, all for one and one for all. That part about "all for one and one for all" gets their lip service, but they park it at the door on their way out of church every week; by the time they drive off the lot they're back into 'up yours' mode. Best example of this hateful conservative crap is Falwell's statement about "AIDS is God's punishment on Gays." Oh yeah, for a kindler gentler nation vote GOP. Hah!
Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans: Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:
Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.
Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.
I know Obama's healthcare plan sounds great. Consider this article, though by the Wall Street Journal just a few days ago, September 3, 2008: "Why Obama Can't Close The Deal" (information about healthcare down about half way).
Here is a quote from the article about taxes and healthcare:
"About 38% of U.S. households pay no income tax today. Under a President Obama (whose policies would shave 15.3 million households off the tax rolls) that share would grow to nearly half of all American households.
We have been repeatedly told that everyone should pay their fair share. So this sounds grossly unfair and like a return of tax-and-spend liberal economics. No wonder there is a lot of doubt about the wisdom of the junior senator from Illinois.
Mr. Obama's health-care proposal is not quite HillaryCare, but it comes close. A national health insurance, heavily subsidized by taxpayers, would be offered to the currently uninsured. Mr. Obama's instincts on health care are always to move more people onto rolls of government-paid and government-mandated insurance, while depriving the marketplace the oxygen it needs for greater innovation, life-saving cures, and efficiency.
Americans have heard the refrain for government-provided health care before and know an expensive government giveaway when they see it."
I just want my premiums to go down a little and have the quality of the coverage go up. I don't want it to be free. I don't care if I have to pay a little bit more taxes, as long as my overall costs are lower. I pay over $6500 per year on crappy health insurance for my family. If I could save half of that and see my taxes go up a grand a year in return, it would be worth it.
I'm not against tax increases, as long as other price breaks do more than just even it out. It has to make sense. I just don't see the current system working fairly for small business owners. The health insurance companies are allowed to take a lot of our money and offer us crap in return - if they choose to even insure us at all. It's got to change if we truly want to support small businesses. In a country where we talk a good talk about how we push people to open small businesses and be innovative, we sure do allow the health insurance companies to run them through the ringer.
I just want my premiums to go down a little and have the quality of the coverage go up. I don't want it to be free. I don't care if I have to pay a little bit more taxes, as long as my overall costs are lower. I pay over $6500 per year on crappy health insurance for my family. If I could save half of that and see my taxes go up a grand a year in return, it would be worth it.
I'm not against tax increases, as long as other price breaks do more than just even it out. It has to make sense. I just don't see the current system working fairly for small business owners. The health insurance companies are allowed to take a lot of our money and offer us crap in return - if they choose to even insure us at all. It's got to change if we truly want to support small businesses. In a country where we talk a good talk about how we push people to open small businesses and be innovative, we sure do allow the health insurance companies to run them through the ringer.
Conversely, if your tax burden were reduced by 50%, you probably wouldn't care as much about paying for $6500 in insurance.
Have you looked at small business associations that provide group rates?
Ask anyone from Canada how well there program is working.
It's not.
I lived in Canada for ten years, so I have seen both systems at work intimately in my own personal health care experiences. Ask me.
Canada's is way way way better.
Google Canadian publications, and see how many atricles you can find expressing doubts about their own health care plan and wanting to shift to the American system. Instead of just reading American articles handed out by Big Medical's PR puppets trashing any alternative to American corporations profiteering at the expense of the halt and the lame.
By the way, I have just started a thread under World Forums---Canada, soliciting exactly this opinion you are looking for. Check back there from time to time to see the answers.
Last edited by jtur88; 09-07-2008 at 02:39 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
