[unreality]

It's fast approaching! Discuss, vote, etc

Edited September 14, 2008 by unreality

[Guest]

wait do i tick im too young to vote or i'm not american?

oh and apparently loads of americans think Barack obama is Muslim

Edited September 14, 2008 by lemonymelon

[unreality]

do "I'm not American"... only check "I'm too young" if you are American

Edited September 14, 2008 by unreality

[Mekal]

Im a Mccain person... i think that obama has just done to many bad things and his ticket is way upside down... at least Mccain has war experience and Shara Palin is almost as experienced as Barrock obama himself...

[Guest]

I am only 12... don't really care about politics and everything, but my dad supports Obama so I guess I support him too.

Edited September 14, 2008 by frozen_in_fire

[Guest]

I am only 12... don't really care about politics and everything, but my dad supports Obama so I guess I support him too.

I have two problems with the elections. 1. it is NOT democratic - the key thing is that with democracy anyone can run for the main job, it America you have to pretty wealthy and 2. Both McCain and Obama are awful choises. Obama seems to think being black is enough to get voted and McCain keeps going on about being a PoW. Now both are valid points but surely the most powerful man should have some ideas. What are there views on the War on Terror, climate change etc. (Palin doesn't believe that climate change is man-made, now its embarrising when you make George W Bush as progressive thinker!)

I feel that the elections seem to drag on for long with the nomination process as well

[unreality]

They don't just whine on about being black or a POW lol, there are issues involved, and so far I think that Obama is the way to go, definitely. McCain would probably be a better president than Bush (anyone would ), but McCain is also very similar, and I don't agree with a lot of the Republican policies. I hope Obama wins, I want to see the nation move forward

Though my opinion doesn't really matter, since I won't be able to vote for about 2 years, so that's why I'm interested in what other, more politically experienced, people think about the election. I do think that the 2008 election will be one of the most important of our time, as some people are saying

[Mekal]

I have two problems with the elections. 1. it is NOT democratic - the key thing is that with democracy anyone can run for the main job, it America you have to pretty wealthy and 2. Both McCain and Obama are awful choises. Obama seems to think being black is enough to get voted and McCain keeps going on about being a PoW. Now both are valid points but surely the most powerful man should have some ideas. What are there views on the War on Terror, climate change etc. (Palin doesn't believe that climate change is man-made, now its embarrising when you make George W Bush as progressive thinker!)

I feel that the elections seem to drag on for long with the nomination process as well

climate change isn't man made... the earth goes through stages... ya... we contribute to it a bit but not enough to make a a big deal out of it...

[Mekal]

They don't just whine on about being black or a POW lol, there are issues involved, and so far I think that Obama is the way to go, definitely. McCain would probably be a better president than Bush (anyone would ), but McCain is also very similar, and I don't agree with a lot of the Republican policies. I hope Obama wins, I want to see the nation move forward

Though my opinion doesn't really matter, since I won't be able to vote for about 2 years, so that's why I'm interested in what other, more politically experienced, people think about the election. I do think that the 2008 election will be one of the most important of our time, as some people are saying

obama wants to socialize health care... and our current one is one of the best in the world!!! and also, i personally don't want to vote for someone who only 2 years of experiance... the fact is that obama isn't qualified to be a president... his VP even said so... now if it was joe biden with Obama as HIS vp it would be alot different... but his ticket is upside down... tell me three polices that obama has that are REALLY good

Edited September 14, 2008 by Mekal

[unreality]

and our current [health care system] is one of the best in the world!!!

You've got to be joking!!! lmao

[Mekal]

You've got to be joking!!! lmao

have you heard about england? it takes MONTHS to go through forms and get a doctor to preform a check up... and closer to YEARS for a surgery... (no offense to anyone in england)

that is what socializing health care does...

Edited September 14, 2008 by Mekal

[unreality]

Health care in America is fine for the richest among us, but we have one of the worst current systems in the entire world

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/whatswrong/

[Guest]

obama wants to socialize health care... and our current one is one of the best in the world!!!

IMO americas health care system needs serious thinking about. I think there ought to be a free health service like the NHS in the UK, otherwise if you get sick, you get a big hefty invoice with it in USA, especially if you dont have insurance or your health insurance doesn't cover it (but i dont like the idea of insurance anyway). In a way I'm glad I dont live in America.

oh and mekal, it doesn't take months to get a check-up as far as i know. I think you can just book an appointment with your GP (family doctor, dont know if you call it that in US)

Edited September 14, 2008 by lemonymelon

[Mekal]

Health care in America is fine for the richest among us, but we have one of the worst current systems in the entire world

http://www.aflcio.org/issues/healthcare/whatswrong/

I know... i have heard it all before... "A large precantage does not have health care" but

let me pose some scenarios

A man needs a heart surgery within 6 months. this man HAS health care.

A man needs a flu shot. this man does not have health care

would socializing health care help or not

[Mekal]

IMO americas health care system needs serious thinking about. I think there ought to be a free health service like the NHS in the UK, otherwise if you get sick, you get a big hefty invoice with it in USA, especially if you dont have insurance or your health insurance doesn't cover it (but i dont like the idea of insurance anyway). In a way I'm glad I dont live in America.

oh and mekal, it doesn't take months to get a check-up as far as i know. I think you can just book an appointment with your GP (family doctor, dont know if you call it that in US)

yes but i takes alot more time to get an appointment...

[unreality]

How do you know it takes more time? Your opposition to socialized health care seems based on the fact that it will "take a lot of time" to see a doctor.

[Mekal]

How do you know it takes more time? Your opposition to socialized health care seems based on the fact that it will "take a lot of time" to see a doctor.

because every one has to go though applications. When you socialize health care the government is the boss of your doctor. when you use ours you are the boss of your doctor.

anyway... i wont talk about this anymore... i'm too lazy to try to convince you of the right choice.

[unreality]

Well I know very little about politics and whatnot, so I'm easily convinced on this subject Though my impression of what you're saying is that you have to fill out an application once? Is it just once to register, or every time you want to see a doctor?

edit: if it's just once, I think it's a good idea. If it's every time, I agree with you and it's a bad idea

But what does McCain have planned in opposition to Obama's idea? Either way we need an improvement

Edited September 14, 2008 by unreality

[Guest]

have you heard about england? it takes MONTHS to go through forms and get a doctor to preform a check up... and closer to YEARS for a surgery... (no offense to anyone in england)

that is what socializing health care does...

This pisses me off, its BRITAIN not ENGLAND!!!!!!! Scotland part of Britain, NI and Wales all have the NHS system. It doesn't take years for surgery, you have about 6 months for minor surgeries but if you are horrifically injured you get treated straight away. To get a check up it takes oooh about 10 mins at most. I know this because a) i'm british and b) i have alot of health problemos

[Guest]

obama wants to socialize health care... and our current one is one of the best in the world!!!

Watch the movie Sicko. Enough said.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Frost

[itachi-san]

Obama is a face and a voice, that's it. He's not a "change" maker. He's never done anything worthy of political accomplishment, let alone something that can be called reforming or change. He's like a fad and I'm sorry to say that he's gotten so far on words and charisma. I feel like Obama will be an easily managed puppet.

McCain is a story about being a soldier and the problem is: that doesn't qualify him to be president. That would mean every POW could be president which makes no sense and I would like to stop hearing about it. I think he will do better on our Foreign Policy than Bush, because frankly, it won't get worse. McCain is also a long-standing part of the govt. that he claims is broken... I don't think McCain will be a puppet, but I also don't agree with a lot of what he says.

I feel like not much will "change" no matter who gets picked. I'd actually rather see Palin be President than either of the other 3. I liked Ron Paul to an extent. And I'd love to see a New Party or Parties emerge, but that won't happen this election-and it won't happen for a long time until the country wakes up.

Palin's record is more accomplished than all 3 of the others combined. I'm also getting tired of hearing how she has no experience. She's young and has more experience than everyone left. Senators shouldn't be considered seriously for Presidency. They don't really do much except hold the country back for personal and political gain for their faction. The Democrats wanted to make Bush and the Republicans look as bad as possible for this election. And it worked. But in doing so they hurt America, again reinforcing the fact that politicians like the power, not the country.

The only way to "change" America is to disrupt the 2 party system and put in place a 4 or even 6 party system. And to make term-limits for Senators. Now that's a paradox if I ever saw one! They are the ones in charge of voting to decrease their own power... I wonder why they keep voting "no" on term-limits...

[unreality]

I agree - I think we need at least 2 NEW parties to enter the scene, hopefully at least 5 total. I think McCain is too close to Bush's policies, as the Obama campaign enjoys pointing out, but it's true - so I think Obama is our best bet. We have to put our trust into him and hope that he comes through, and if he doesn't, then it wouldn't be worse than if McCain was elected, IMO. So that's why I'm pro-Obama

[Guest]

The only way to "change" America is to disrupt the 2 party system and put in place a 4 or even 6 party system. And to make term-limits for Senators. Now that's a paradox if I ever saw one! They are the ones in charge of voting to decrease their own power... I wonder why they keep voting "no" on term-limits...

I'm all for that.

[Brandonb]

To Unreality, Frost, and anyone else who is upside down in their understanding of Healthcare. This is an article I had published a while back. It confronts your ideas of socialized healthcare and gives a valid explanation of why it is a horrible atrocity that most Americans do not understand. It also confronts the current US healthcare payment system and explains the Faults within it. Finally, it provides a sound solution to alter our system into the most effective and efficient in the world, while at the same time making it available for everyone. The only reason that I am even willing to share this is because I have had this exact basic article already published, and I will soon have the fully-fleshed out version published in some form of Academic Journal. So there's really no rick in having my ideas stolen.

Please take the time to read this. I know it looks long, but you just might learn something.

FAIRCARE

Healthcare that's Payed for by the Government, but regulated by the Free Market.

Over the past several years there has been a political and societal move towards the consideration of implementing socialized healthcare. Many people, including myself, disagree with the necessity of this notion. So in response I have created an alternative. A free market solution that would solve the United States’ healthcare payment system crisis, thereby rendering socialized healthcare unnecessary. I call it Faircare.

There is a widely held belief that the healthcare system in the United States is beyond repair, and the only solution is to convert to socialized healthcare because it works so well. Sadly, most people do not understand that socialized health care and many other government run institutions only work well at first because of the remnants of the free market influence. When healthcare in other countries is taken over by their governments, the health care professionals that are already working are not replaced by government doctors; they are left where they were. As a result, those doctors that learned and developed habits based in the free market continued those habits for what was likely the rest of their careers. Over time those doctors retired and were replaced by doctors that learned in the new (government run) system. The new system does not compete, nor do the doctors make money based on how many patients they see in a day, nor do they have to make enough money to pay for malpractice insurance, or pay back medical schools debts. So once the new doctors go into place many new problems are created, such as the lack of a reason to put forth effort to see patients in a reasonable amount of time, and therefore the system is weakened. The same theory holds true for the public. The people that grew up under an out-of-pocket payment system were self sustaining. They were active in the preventative maintenance of their bodies in order to avoid large medical bills. However, after so many years under the new system, the people become largely dependent on the healthcare system to take care of them, instead of eating well and exercising. So after the first 30 or so years the doctors are paid less and perform to the minimum level required, while at the same time the people become reliant and bankrupt the system. This is why socialized health care only works well for the first 30 or so years, and also why it’s not until recently that we are seeing the system begin to fail in other countries.

It is my belief that there is actually nothing wrong with our current healthcare system, the problem lies in our healthcare payment system. I believe that in order to fix the current healthcare payment system in the United States, there must be two phases of legislation passed. The first would provide health insurance to everyone and force personal responsibility upon the public. I understand that one reason socialized medicine became so popular is because it took away the responsibility to save money and pay out-of-pocket to an insurance company that may or may not ever be needed. In order to provide a semi-free market solution to this, the first piece of legislation would create a voucher system. The money for healthcare would be taxed from the people just like socialized medicine or Medicare. However, the money would be returned to the people in the form of a voucher that could only be used to purchase health insurance from a company of their choosing. Once again, the vouchers could only be used for this medical purpose. The base system for collection of funds is already in place, everyone that is touched by the Medicare tax would be taxed for the healthcare vouchers, and every citizen would receive a voucher. There would then be no need for companies to offer healthcare as a benefit, unless they wanted to put all their employees on the same plan or pay to improve/upgrade an employee’s current plan. This system would allow insurance companies to continue as they had before, but everyone would be able to purchase some sort of policy. Though the vouchers assuredly would not purchase the most expensive package offered, it would purchase the lowest insurance package and possibly cover some of the co-pay.

The second phase of legislation is the key that would force insurance companies to correct their devious business practices and compete with each other. Unlike all other forms of business that make profits through the increased number of consumers that purchase products based on a number of criteria. The current method that insurance companies use to make profits is to deny claims, rather than provide a quality product. It’s like ordering a pizza and paying for it, but then the pizza place decides to save the money on ingredients and refuses to deliver. So in response to this, phase two would require all insurance companies of all forms to blatantly display a numerical score with their logo. The number would be created by a system, based in taking the dollar amount of all paid claims over the previous twelve months, and average them together, then divide by all net profits from the previous twelve months averaged together. This means a company that pays half as much money as it nets would be given a score of 0.5, while a company that pays twice as much as it nets in profit would display a score of 2.0. A higher score illustrates a higher percentage of the insurance money being paid out to claims. The insurance companies would be responsible for handling the change of logo each month, while a government agency, i.e. the insurance commissioner in each state, would review the accuracy. This means that there would be monthly changes of letter heads and advertising for these insurance companies, for what could possibly last for a few months or until a market equilibrium is met. By implementing this, consumers would have a great understanding of which company they should invest their vouchers. At the same time, the insurance companies would have to compete by increasing their payouts, and in order to survive they would have to turn profits by increasing the number of consumers rather than denying claims. The only way for a company to have a lower score and still survive would be to provide incentives, such as comparably superior and less expensive insurance plans that could be purchased with the voucher alone. This would give reason for Medicaid to be eliminated, and those who do not purchase insurance with the voucher given to them would risk accruing massive hospital bills that would send them into bankruptcy. Essentially, a profit cap – not to be confused with a price cap – is created and regulated by the free market. This forces competitive insurance companies to produce so many products (pay so many claims) rather than keep it all as profit.

Under this Faircare system, everyone would purchase insurance policies because they would have both the money, and the incentive to do so. So through the implementation of two pieces of legislation a permanent free market solution would take root, while eliminating the move toward the socialistic management of healthcare in our country. Of course there is one last argument, which is that the insurance company lobbyists would work to stifle this idea from happening. However, they would have competition, because theoretically, the lobbyists for car companies, and home building companies, and every other company that the insurance money would go towards, would become a proponent of this act.

Imagine, healthcare that's paid for by the United States government, but controlled by the people. The consumer would have the ability, and responsibility, to choose the best plan for themselves. Imagine, your health insurance company making a specific plan just for you, because they would NEED your business. They would pay reasonable claims, because that's how they get more consumers. You would have the voucher arriving monthly in your mailbox to pay your insurance bill. Imagine all the jobs being created in order to handle the increased case load that the insurance commissioner offices would be taking on. You would continue to have the greatest, most efficient, and technologically advanced healthcare in the world... and you wouldn't have to pay out of pocket.

-------------------------------------------------

That's about it. But please keep in mind that we do have the best healthcare treatment in the world. On average it takes a Canadian citizen with colon cancer about 4 months to see a specialist (not to make a regular doctor's apt like Mekal said). These 4 months are more than enough to cause the cancer to become terminal. On average, it can take an American citizen 7-10 days to see that same specialist here in the States for the same problem. There is also a shortage of Doctors in Canada. Not because Medical school is now free. But because their Doctors don't hardly make as much money as the plumbers. So Canadian doctors get Free PHDs in Canada, then make their money in America. There are various other issues and examples. But I hope this helps to show how deliberately ignorant to real issues "sicko" really was.

So give me a break. Obama has no understanding of economics. He claims to not believe in "trickle down economics". As an economics Major, I can tell you.... He may as well be claiming to not believe in gravity. Just because he doesn't believe in it, doesn't mean that he is blissfully ignorant on most issues (which is why he has changed his stance on most of his issues during his candidacy).

[Mekal]

This pisses me off, its BRITAIN not ENGLAND!!!!!!! Scotland part of Britain, NI and Wales all have the NHS system. It doesn't take years for surgery, you have about 6 months for minor surgeries but if you are horrifically injured you get treated straight away. To get a check up it takes oooh about 10 mins at most. I know this because a) i'm british and b) i have alot of health problemos

im very sorry... i may not have been accreate... but at least our current health care only takes a month at most for a minor surgury... i am sorry if i offended you

[Joe's Student]

have you heard about england? it takes MONTHS to go through forms and get a doctor to preform a check up... and closer to YEARS for a surgery... (no offense to anyone in england)

that is what socializing health care does...

That's because the english run it in a terrible manner! The thought behind it is fair Free Health Care fo Everyone yet the english government have made a mess of it over the years!

Although you're a bit off with your estimations they're a bit OTT