After posting about the ongoing failure of the Obamacare exchanges yesterday, I got a comment from BK (who probably flips burgers at Burger King) that I think is worth discussing. Here is the complete comment from this angry lefty:
What kind of loser is still ranting against this? If you don't have an alternative solution to offer, then you're saying that everything was just fine as it was. Is that what you're saying? Are you saying that it's acceptable to live in the richest country in the history of the world, but have a healthcare system which prevents anyone who has ever had a serious illness from being insured because they now brandish the scarlet "P" of having a pre-existing condition. Is it acceptable to you to live in a country where 80% of households are one serious illness away from bankruptcy? Is that OK with you? Yes, Obamacare should be better. The reason that it's not is assholes like you and the people you put in office who watered it down. We *should* have a single payer type system like all those *horrible* european countries have, you know the ones with the poor standards of living that rank so low on the happiness index. Christ, you're still bitching about this endlessly. What is your solution???! If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Let me guess, you're one of those republican assholes who is happy with their health insurance, so fuck everyone else, right? Stop complaining... if you don't like Obamacare, then what is your solution??? Because pretending like everything was working just great as it was is idiotic
The comment is a typical attack by someone using the talking points and tactics of the left wing of the Democrat party.
First, it is wrong in the view of BK to point out that the Obamacare website is failing. We have to have an alternative solution before we can discuss the failures of Obamacare. Really? Since when? Obamacare was passed into law over three years ago, and the Obama administration has had all that time and hundreds of millions of dollars to complete the single most important piece of its healthcare plan. After spending many multiples of what it would cost for a private company to complete a site of this sort, the Obamacrats went live with their site on October 1st. IT DOES NOT WORK. Just one week into this mess, things were so bad that traffic was off by 88% in the second week from the first. Even worse, essentially no one is signing up. The original goal was to have at least one-third of those wanting insurance signed up by the end of October. That is not my goal; it is the government's goal. They needed to have nearly three million people signed up and so far they have less than 50,000 and the month is nearly two thirds complete. THE WEBSITE IS A FAILURE.
So, is there a solution to this failure? I certainly do not need a solution to point out the failure, but I happen to have one. Close the website and delay the implementation of Obamacare for a year. Then, use the year to build a site that actually works. I am sure that this solution will cause BK to blow a gasket, because it is so simple, but hey, that's life.
Second, isn't it interesting that because I pointed out that the Obamacare website has failed, the immediate response from typical lefty BK is that I must want people to go without health insurance. BK is using a typical Obama rhetorical structure. Instead of arguing the merits of what I said, BK, like his hero Obama, instead argues against a straw man. I will give you an example of how Obama does this (admittedly with much more style and finesse than BK): when Romney argued for allowing Catholic organizations to avoid having to fund abortions, Obama did not argue about religious freedom. Instead Obama denounced Romney for wanting to return abortions to the back rooms and alleys of America. Obama had Romney fighting to end all abortion for every woman when Romney actually said nothing even close to that. It is much easier to argue against an opponent if you can first change his words into something other than what he actually said. Too bad for BK that he is not very good at the tactic. So, to be clear, let me be clear: I am in favor of people getting health care and insurance.
Third, BK goes on and one again about the need for a "solution" to folks without health insurance. That is not the correct question as far as I am concerned. What we need is a method to get healthcare to Americans that will benefit the country as a whole. A supposed solution like Obamacare which does major damage to the economy, forces most families into paying huge increases for their coverage, and does not even seem to provide many additional folks with insurance is NOT the answer. Remember, the exchanges are failing, FAILING!!!
So how about this solution. Let's repeal Obamacare. Instead of forcing national control of healthcare on the American people at a cost of two trillion dollars or more during the next decade, let's instead focus the effort on three things:
1. Let's undertake a plan to cut medical costs. There are probably one hundred different items that could be listed, but here is a sample. Let's legislate that doctors are allowed to use reports of medical tests conducted at other locations in the treatment of patients and that those who do are fully protected from malpractice actions. In the last study that was done, over 25% of all medical tests in the country were duplicative of others done in the preceding two days. The only reason for these tests was that the doctors who ordered them were concerned about potential liability for malpractice claims. Ending so called defensive medicine could save enormous sums each year while not reducing the quality of medical care at all.
2. Let's set up insurance pools for high risk individuals that get some subsidy from the government. There is no need for the federal government to be involved with all healthcare. Nevertheless, for those people who cannot otherwise get insurance, the government can set up a system where they can obtain coverage. The people with these high risk conditions should have to pay for their own insurance, but a subsidy could bring that cost down so that getting insurance is feasible for them.
3. Let's actually try to combat fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. Right now, the government is paying for enormous numbers of phony or unnecessary procedures in both plans. Since the patients are not paying, they do not police the bills. There needs to be a major effort to end fraud and abuse. We could save tens or hundreds of billions of dollars a year by doing this.
I do need to add one last note for BK. I appreciate your comment. I do suggest that next time you want to leave an angry and obscene comment, however, you try to know something about the subject you are discussing before you write about it.
What kind of loser is still ranting against this? If you don't have an alternative solution to offer, then you're saying that everything was just fine as it was. Is that what you're saying? Are you saying that it's acceptable to live in the richest country in the history of the world, but have a healthcare system which prevents anyone who has ever had a serious illness from being insured because they now brandish the scarlet "P" of having a pre-existing condition. Is it acceptable to you to live in a country where 80% of households are one serious illness away from bankruptcy? Is that OK with you? Yes, Obamacare should be better. The reason that it's not is assholes like you and the people you put in office who watered it down. We *should* have a single payer type system like all those *horrible* european countries have, you know the ones with the poor standards of living that rank so low on the happiness index. Christ, you're still bitching about this endlessly. What is your solution???! If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem. Let me guess, you're one of those republican assholes who is happy with their health insurance, so fuck everyone else, right? Stop complaining... if you don't like Obamacare, then what is your solution??? Because pretending like everything was working just great as it was is idiotic
The comment is a typical attack by someone using the talking points and tactics of the left wing of the Democrat party.
First, it is wrong in the view of BK to point out that the Obamacare website is failing. We have to have an alternative solution before we can discuss the failures of Obamacare. Really? Since when? Obamacare was passed into law over three years ago, and the Obama administration has had all that time and hundreds of millions of dollars to complete the single most important piece of its healthcare plan. After spending many multiples of what it would cost for a private company to complete a site of this sort, the Obamacrats went live with their site on October 1st. IT DOES NOT WORK. Just one week into this mess, things were so bad that traffic was off by 88% in the second week from the first. Even worse, essentially no one is signing up. The original goal was to have at least one-third of those wanting insurance signed up by the end of October. That is not my goal; it is the government's goal. They needed to have nearly three million people signed up and so far they have less than 50,000 and the month is nearly two thirds complete. THE WEBSITE IS A FAILURE.
So, is there a solution to this failure? I certainly do not need a solution to point out the failure, but I happen to have one. Close the website and delay the implementation of Obamacare for a year. Then, use the year to build a site that actually works. I am sure that this solution will cause BK to blow a gasket, because it is so simple, but hey, that's life.
Second, isn't it interesting that because I pointed out that the Obamacare website has failed, the immediate response from typical lefty BK is that I must want people to go without health insurance. BK is using a typical Obama rhetorical structure. Instead of arguing the merits of what I said, BK, like his hero Obama, instead argues against a straw man. I will give you an example of how Obama does this (admittedly with much more style and finesse than BK): when Romney argued for allowing Catholic organizations to avoid having to fund abortions, Obama did not argue about religious freedom. Instead Obama denounced Romney for wanting to return abortions to the back rooms and alleys of America. Obama had Romney fighting to end all abortion for every woman when Romney actually said nothing even close to that. It is much easier to argue against an opponent if you can first change his words into something other than what he actually said. Too bad for BK that he is not very good at the tactic. So, to be clear, let me be clear: I am in favor of people getting health care and insurance.
Third, BK goes on and one again about the need for a "solution" to folks without health insurance. That is not the correct question as far as I am concerned. What we need is a method to get healthcare to Americans that will benefit the country as a whole. A supposed solution like Obamacare which does major damage to the economy, forces most families into paying huge increases for their coverage, and does not even seem to provide many additional folks with insurance is NOT the answer. Remember, the exchanges are failing, FAILING!!!
So how about this solution. Let's repeal Obamacare. Instead of forcing national control of healthcare on the American people at a cost of two trillion dollars or more during the next decade, let's instead focus the effort on three things:
1. Let's undertake a plan to cut medical costs. There are probably one hundred different items that could be listed, but here is a sample. Let's legislate that doctors are allowed to use reports of medical tests conducted at other locations in the treatment of patients and that those who do are fully protected from malpractice actions. In the last study that was done, over 25% of all medical tests in the country were duplicative of others done in the preceding two days. The only reason for these tests was that the doctors who ordered them were concerned about potential liability for malpractice claims. Ending so called defensive medicine could save enormous sums each year while not reducing the quality of medical care at all.
2. Let's set up insurance pools for high risk individuals that get some subsidy from the government. There is no need for the federal government to be involved with all healthcare. Nevertheless, for those people who cannot otherwise get insurance, the government can set up a system where they can obtain coverage. The people with these high risk conditions should have to pay for their own insurance, but a subsidy could bring that cost down so that getting insurance is feasible for them.
3. Let's actually try to combat fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. Right now, the government is paying for enormous numbers of phony or unnecessary procedures in both plans. Since the patients are not paying, they do not police the bills. There needs to be a major effort to end fraud and abuse. We could save tens or hundreds of billions of dollars a year by doing this.
I do need to add one last note for BK. I appreciate your comment. I do suggest that next time you want to leave an angry and obscene comment, however, you try to know something about the subject you are discussing before you write about it.
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