this whole American healthcare thing

[marf]

he was usin his pa pa poker face

[Guest Al Hounos]

all i know is that i lost a shit load of respect for Dennis Kucinich during this whole debacle, i don't think i really have a single person in the house or senate now that i can say i stand together with on most issues

 

give me a fucking break. i gained a lot of respect for Kucinich. like you he's the only politician I really identify with but for fuck's sake, this watered-down bill only scraped by. how the HELL do you expect anything more radical to get through? America is not going to turn into Sweden overnight.

[chenGOD]

Obama probably told Kucinich that he would support him on some piece of legislation he wants to put forth.

[marf]

he promised him a cure for dwarfism

[J3FF3R00]

Biden drops the F-bomb at 0:08...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQeNikp1Rj8

This was just this morning at the signing of the health care bill.

[Hoodie]

Biden drops the F-bomb at 0:08...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQeNikp1Rj8

This was just this morning at the signing of the health care bill.

 

INAPPROPRIATE LANGUAGE--IMPEACH HIM!

AND CASTRATION! DOUBLE CASTRATION!

[Guest ezkerraldean]

this is the change i wanted , baby steps towards Euro socialism .

[Tessier Ashpool]

Although, personally, I think there's a lot of great things in this bill, the enforced tax on those without health insurance . . . some real fucking bullshit for people like my girlfriend who make around 15,000 a year. She is working her ASS off at a kennel. Why is she stuck doing this bullshit job making 15,000? Because she's also working her ass off trying to matriculate as a full-time student at the local University (taking part time classes, finally got loans to cover some of the expenses so she doesn't have to work 40 hours plus go to school - like she was).

 

Really, I've never met someone who works so hard at everything they do - she busts her ass at work, but won't just "hang around" on the clock when things are done, she busts her ass at school (one of those people the gets all the books as early as possible and then tries to start reading before the semester starts, then takes notes that she later transfers to notecards for studying, etc. - all those habits I never learned in college), she busts her ass dealing with my bullshit, taking care of the dogs, (at least 1 hour walk and 1 hour hard play for the puppy every day), and all the domestic bullshit of home life.

 

Her work doesn't employ more than 50 employees so they don't have to cover her, and she'll turn 27 this year, so she can't be covered under the new provisions for being on her parents health care plan until she's 26.

 

Here's where it gets super fucked up - because we are living together, and the new limit for Medicaire is extended based on HOUSEHOLD income, she won't be making little enough to get either Medicaire or the assistance for the 133% - 200% of poverty line.

 

So, wtf? I guess we should break up, she should work less (because at 15,000 she's still on the edge even if she lived alone), or we should stay together and live in different places? Like either one of us can afford that?

 

This bill sounds great for a lot of people, but it sucks when someone you are close to just happens to be one of those who are going to get royally fucked in the ass by this.

 

Sorry for the rant - I mean, I believe the tax doesn't go into effect until 2014 so hopefully things are in a better state financially for both of us by then, but if this is happening to us? Well, they'll be another T3 and Madame T3 in 2014 in the same fucking state, and I feel for them.

[Siegecow]

if you guys arent married im pretty sure you dont count as a household. Its not like i have to total up my annual income with everybody in my frathouse to see if i qualify

 

Also, supposedly you dont have to get insurance if you are a "religious objector". So nows a great time to think about joining the church of voodoo

[awepittance]

how the HELL do you expect anything more radical to get through? America is not going to turn into Sweden overnight.

 

i expect at least the democrats and Obama to use as a bargaining chip them standing up for their core principals. At least start with something like the public option or free healthcare for all so that if you have to make concessions you can do that as part of your deliberations. but jesus christ man are you really happy with them not even standing up for themselves at all? It sounds like you're fine with complete capitulation.

[SCONES TO DIE FOR]

There are also provisions that waive the requirement for low income earners or people faced with financial hardship.

 

Overall, though, struggling to pay for affordable health care coverage is a lot easier than coming out of serious medical debt from not being covered.

[Tessier Ashpool]

if you guys arent married im pretty sure you dont count as a household. Its not like i have to total up my annual income with everybody in my frathouse to see if i qualify

 

Also, supposedly you dont have to get insurance if you are a "religious objector". So nows a great time to think about joining the church of voodoo

 

Sadly, I believe that it actually refers to people you are living with, regardless of marriage - you can check out that handy link that Joshua posted for reference - even if you click "single" the results are still the same if you live with someone as they are part of your "household." Also, from the US Census Bureau:

 

"A household includes all the persons who occupy a housing unit. A housing unit is a house, an apartment, a mobile home, a group of rooms, or a single room that is occupied (or if vacant, is intended for occupancy) as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants live and eat separately from any other persons in the building and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall. The occupants may be a single family, one person living alone, two or more families living together, or any other group of related or unrelated persons who share living arrangements. (People not living in households are classified as living in group quarters.)"

 

We'll have to look into the Voodoo thing lol -

 

@Scone - You're right, there are some provisions to help out with people in our situation, but the language is still somewhat vague, and a lot of it is based on percentage of the poverty line (which is, I'm sorry, ridiculously low - around 10,000/yr for a single person). There will be some tax credits for people in her/our income range to assist, but that's mainly for deductibles and the such, and really wouldn't help with the ridiculous $700 fine.

 

I guess the question I have - if someone already can't afford health insurance of any sort, how can you reasonably expect them to afford 700$ or 2% of their total income?