How Americans can kill Obamacare, legalize pot 1/26/14 USA Today

[*GG*]

Nobody is signing up, and everybody -- in Colorado,at least -- is smoking.

In his excellent book, Two Cheers For Anarchism,Professor James Scott writes:

One need not have an actual conspiracy to achieve the practical effects of a conspiracy. More regimes have been brought, piecemeal, to their knees by what was once called 'Irish Democracy,' the silent, dogged resistance, withdrawal, and truculence of millions of ordinary people, than by revolutionary vanguards or rioting mobs.

That seems to be happening right now, in two very different areas. In one area, we have the refusal of people to sign up for Obamacare in anything like the numbers that were predicted, or needed to make it work. Writing in the Washington Post back in November, Jennifer Rubin observed:

It is a coin flip, at best, for the president as to whether his signature achievement, his only achievement, will fail. It will be repealed in essence by a popular referendum: The mass refusal of people to go along with Obama's top-down, compulsory system that was set to transform a sixth of the economy. That possibility should traumatize and probably is traumatizing the White House. ... The political implications of this are almost too enormous to calculate.

Now, as February draws near, things don't look much better. Far fewer than half the number needed by March 31 have signed up. And, as it turns out, most of the people signing up for Obamacare aren't the uninsured for whom it was supposedly enacted, but people who were previously insured (many of whom lost their previous insurancebecause of Obamacare's new requirements). "At most," writes Bloomberg's Megan McArdle, "they've signed up 15% of the uninsured that they were expecting to enroll. ... Where are the uninsured? Did hardly any of them want coverage beginning Jan. 1?" It looks that way.

cont'd​

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...lth-exchanges-insurance-obama-column/4913341/

I am no fan of Obamacare, I will discontinue my insurance in April, they can fine me all they want. I hope to be able to pay out of pocket for my Dr visits after that, my Dr knows that, so will be having lots of blood work done before my next appt. Not sure how blood work will costs in the mean time, have meds to carry me over for a little while, will pay out of pocket after that as necessary. Hopefully I can get my insurance back with my disability case?!

I don't see how this gov't is sustainable (17 Trillion plus debt, and yearly deficits have finally come down to under 1 Trillion), we could be in for a very rough ride!

GG

 

[GhostGum]

Just the tragedy of most governments left of centre (I am left of centre), good intentions but typically an inability to roll out policies successfully, rarely go as planned, probably applies to all sides of government most of the time.

Trying to fix/improve the US health care system, in such a heavily populated country already with massive debt and a struggling economy almost seems an impossible task.

 

[Dufresne]

Americans might want to consider ditching Obamacare and just going right to single payer or a public option. I'm sure that appeals to you GG .

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find 10% of Canadians who'd like to give up our healthcare system. And we're full of conservatives up here. We've had a conservative government in power now for the last several years. Health coverage is a good thing, and we all seem to pretty much agree on that because we've had a taste of it.

 

[*GG*]

Americans might want to consider ditching Obamacare and just going right to single payer or a public option. I'm sure that appeals to you GG .

Not at all, I think the Free Market with a safety net for the poor, chronically ill and disabled would be best! Lasik eye surgery costs are not as high as when it first came out, maybe hair transplantation and whatever area insurance does not cover.

We are not sensitive to price when seeking services, most insurance companies do not provide for an incentive to shop around, and most states do not even make it easy to shop around! I know my sisters insurance company provides her with an incentive to shop around, they cut her a check. NH makes it a little easier to shop around, but it still is a hassle to find out the costs of procedures. I you have an MRI done at a hospital you/your insurance company is going to pay a lot more typically instead of a more specialized company.

I remember years ago when I was suffering from plantar fascitis, the podiatrist saw my good coverage, and I do look over the charges that my insurance pays, and if I recall correctly, they paid over $1,000 for each shoe insert! And I know of other people who have had similar issues, they were told to get shoe inserts, and they paid less than $100 for both!

The insurance companies have just passed along the cost to us consumers, but not sure how much more that can happen. The economy stinks and most people do not feel like we are out of the recession from years ago!

GG