No Joke: How A Rand Paul Republican From Alabama Learned To Love Obamacare

[angelatc]

No one was ever stopping him from buying catastrophic coverage.

Sad truth: I know two former "libertarians" that fully support Obamacare now. Same reasons as the guy in this article. "Big corporate health industry will rape me if I have any health problems."

The media brainwashes them.

 

[angelatc]

You're an idiot then. You never know what may happen, just as brandon above said. He got appendicitis and it cost $75,000. You never know if you might get sick with that, or be in a car crash, or be playing sports and break a bone so bad you need surgery, or or or or....

Statistically speaking, it is incredibly likely that absolutely nothing will happen to him.

 

[angelatc]

But that's not the world we live in. If you don't have insurance you are a burden on others, your costs WILL be passed on to those who have insurance and pay taxes. In a perfect world, I'd agree with you, but that's not the system that exists right now.

So the only solution was ....now if you have insurance you're a burden to everybody else?

 

[krugminator]

His pre-existing condition is lead poisining, which happened earlier this year. It doesn't matter if he is self-employed, if he has an income he can afford $40-80/month for a high deductible insurance plan with a small co-pay for doctor's visits.

He's 31 years old, he should have had insurance for years now. There is almost no excuse for him not having insurance, he did not have any pre-existing condition before this year!

Good point. Maybe that is why I should actually read the article. I have no sympathy for someone who is 31 and opted for a decade not to be covered and then got an illness.

 

[angelatc]

Good point. Maybe that is why I should actually read the article. I have no sympathy for someone who is 31 and opted for a decade not to be covered and then got an illness.

ANd he chooses to be self-employed. Lots of people work for big corporations for the benefits. He opted not to. Sorry, not my problem.

 

[angelatc]

Good point. Maybe that is why I should actually read the article. I have no sympathy for someone who is 31 and opted for a decade not to be covered and then got an illness.

Notice that he got treatment. Apparently the "if you don't have insurance you're gonna die!" is also a big fat lie.

 

[angelatc]

I think you may want to think again about whether you are going to get insurance. Keep in mind that hospitals will only help you for free if it is life-threatening emergency. So, if you tear the crap out of your knee, while it may be painful and if not fixed quickly, damage you for life, it is not life-threatening. You will have to choose to pay 4 times the normal amount, if you do not have negotiated-rates through an insurance company or go without.

Thats not even true. My husband had a stroke when we were uninsured. Paying cash for the stuff charity didn't cover gave us discounts of up to 80% over what the original costs were quoted.

Everything they tell you is a lie.

 

[LibertyEagle]

I don't even believe that. I have known people with freaking cancer that managed to get insurance, although cancer was excluded from their coverage. Everything the media says is a lie.

Yeah, but that's kind of the point, isn't it? Getting cancer and not having insurance to cover the treatment, welcome to skid row.

 

[LibertyEagle]

Thats not even true. My husband had a stroke when we were uninsured. Paying cash for the stuff charity didn't cover gave us discounts of up to 80% over what the original costs were quoted.

Everything they tell you is a lie.

Maybe Texas is different, Angela. Because here, you will be lucky if you get a 10-20 percent discount on the inflated prices that they quote to the insurance companies, which are 3-4 times what they will receive from them.

 

[WD-NY]

Umm....

No one else think this dude's story sounds incredibly *contrived*?? Not only is everything he said pretty much a word-for-word Obama talking-point... he also just so happens to be...wait for it...RAND PAUL SUPPORTER! (cue Obamabots: "ZOMG! EVEN Rand Paul Supporters LOVE Obamacare!! HA! LOLz!")

So the media - who's had such a hard time finding someone (anyone!) to make their poster boy for ObamaCare that the first one they found ended up being busted for LYING about signing up - is now saying that their 2nd poster boy is not only a Tea Party conservative, but just so happens to be a *Rand Paul supporter* too?? Lols, riiiiight.

#ColorMeSkeptical

 

[eduardo89]

So the only solution was ....now if you have insurance you're a burden to everybody else?

Congress' philosophy: If it's broke, break it more.

 

[eduardo89]

Thats not even true. My husband had a stroke when we were uninsured. Paying cash for the stuff charity didn't cover gave us discounts of up to 80% over what the original costs were quoted.

Everything they tell you is a lie.

I remember a story in the LA Time where they went to hospitals and got cash prices for different things.

The difference in price can be stunning. Los Alamitos Medical Center, for instance, lists a CT scan of the abdomen on a state website for $4,423. Blue Shield says its negotiated rate at the hospital is about $2,400.

When The Times called for a cash price, the hospital said it was $250.
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/may/27/business/la-fi-medical-prices-20120527

 

[jtstellar]

like i said

i know less and less just who exactly ron managed to attract over the past few years.. he might have been too popular for this movement's good

 

[MelissaWV]

Thats not even true. My husband had a stroke when we were uninsured. Paying cash for the stuff charity didn't cover gave us discounts of up to 80% over what the original costs were quoted.

Everything they tell you is a lie.

Most people do not ask, and wind up with the huge medical bills. There's a window where you can do what you did, which is the right thing to do, and discuss charity funds and discounts and payment plans. People just DO NOT ask until it's too late. We have people ignore bills, ignore calls, and finally get in touch with us a year or two after services were rendered. By then it is in Collections. This is usually the genesis of those horror stories.

Good on ya for knowing what to do and getting it done.

 

[goRPaul]

hmm 10 dollar wager he is a dailypaul regular

Burn!

Funny liberals. They think they're so smart, but idiots are their heroes.

I've heard this "give Obamacare a chance to work" crap several times now. If it doesn't, will they give the free market a chance to work?

 

[evilfunnystuff]

I'm in my mid 30's and not renewing my coverage this year, it is a carefully thought out gamble in an attempt to climb out of poverty.

My parents make as little as I do and own nothing. I rent a small room, in the small house they rent, next to a bar, in a neighborhood most would consider ghetto. For the most part we all live paycheck to paycheck, our incomes haven't rise with inflation and I doubt they ever will. This spells certain disaster.

I'm gonna try to use the $250 or so i currently pay for health and dental, my current rent, along with some budget tweaks to finance a duplex, then rent half of it out. My biggest concern is how they will fare without my share of the rent, but after I own it they could have one side rent free.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Going without healthcare even if you're young and healthy is completely irresponsible. Even in the healthiest of people accidents happen. When I was 19 I got appendicitis and it cost my insurer something like 75 grand. I don't agree with the individual mandate, but as long as hospitals are mandated to treat everyone regardless of their ability to pay the situation gets a bit less black and white.

You're an idiot then. You never know what may happen, just as brandon above said. He got appendicitis and it cost $75,000. You never know if you might get sick with that, or be in a car crash, or be playing sports and break a bone so bad you need surgery, or or or or....

Like my friends, I believe that you may be misdirecting the blame. In the past, that procedure would be paid in cash, and it would be a very reasonable cost.

What we have is extortion and price gouging, albeit aided by corporatist government and an insurance industry which have eliminated free, competitive market price control. The only solution is more competition, with price paid directly by consumers.

As anti-libertarian as it is, a ban on employer provided health insurance would have gone much farther towards solving this problem than anything else.

(Edit: along with removal of government barriers to entry and competition, of course.)

 

[angelatc]

Yeah, but that's kind of the point, isn't it? Getting cancer and not having insurance to cover the treatment, welcome to skid row.

Insurance isn't supposed to be prepaid medical. That's the real point.

 

[angelatc]

Most people do not ask, and wind up with the huge medical bills. There's a window where you can do what you did, which is the right thing to do, and discuss charity funds and discounts and payment plans. People just DO NOT ask until it's too late. We have people ignore bills, ignore calls, and finally get in touch with us a year or two after services were rendered. By then it is in Collections. This is usually the genesis of those horror stories.

Good on ya for knowing what to do and getting it done.

It wasn't me. The Catholic hospital took care of almost everything. I'll be sending them money on a regular basis now that we're on our feet again.

 

[Feeding the Abscess]

I think the problem is people don't understand self-responsibility. I'm not trying to make myself look like a posterboy for responsibility, but since my daughter was born 2.5 years ago we have never been uninsured. I can't imagine what would happen if I got a serious illness and couldn't pay the bills or got saddled with a huge debt or if, God forbid, something should happen to her and she didn't get the best possible medical treatment.

She already had surgery earlier this year for a chronic ear infection that just wouldn't go away for 6+ months. I ended up paying $0 for her surgery, just the $80/month insurance premium. During the 6 months she had the infection we probably went to the paediatrician and otolaryngologists at least 20 times, and paid nothing apart from the monthly premium.

I just can't understand how someone with a job can be irresponsible enough to not have at least some insurance.

Spain's single-payer health care system is ranked seventh best in the world by the World Health Organization. The system offers universal coverage as a constitutionally-guaranteed right and no out-of-pocket expenses

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112014770

For the OP, this is how government works. Problem: poverty exists. Solution: Vote for me and I'll give you money!

If someone comes along and threatens that, people get terrified. It's entirely rational. People set up their whole lives based on this system. And that's precisely why it's so evil.