B-Large

The reasonable concept of supply side economics was sold 30 years ago to working class conservatives, which seemed reasonable that lower taxes and regulation would grow businesses and expand incomes and prosperity. maybe it did work, but workers sure didn't win big... Their jobs were sent packing south and across oceans, blue collar folks got rear ended, and they now have a candidate talking about rethinking free trade and sending excess illegal labor home... makes sense to me.

I find it fascinating that the issue that will likely bankrupt our nation receives such a small amount of air time in our politics.

#1- Why should citizens in this country not be required to buy insurance? Why should they be able to skip paying premiums, and show up to ED's and get treatment and pass the cost on to the rest of us? Where is the heck is that a conservative principle? Public Responsibility, Individual Freedom? Everybody uses the healthcare system, unless you reference the deranged hermit who actually walks the walk and dies in the woods when he gets sick... When I think of this proposal, I think of the downside of self-interest, people who don't want to pay but always want to get. !@#$ that, I still see people who come in here run up big bills then welch on the promise to pay... millions of dollars, that will be divided up and billed to paying customers next year. horse **** I tell you. #2- Broken records here, but any insurer can sell policies in any State they wish to do business- the State insurance commission oversees insurance activities, I know because complaints about our hospital regarding insurance are investigated by the State, not the Federal Government . Is it any wonder why insurers would be reluctant to market plans in Mississippi? Any why an insurers doing business in Colorado has no interest in selling plans in Mississippi? So again I asked the question, what do State Lines have to do with anything? #3 Okay- but don't we want an aggressive Tax Code reform that is simpler and reduces paperwork? this is another deduction loophole, that doesn't sound like a move in the right direction to me. This sounds like another layer of politician manipulated inefficiency to me #4 You can use HSA today, we used one to cover our deductible expenses when we had ACA exchange plans. I think HSA are a great way to encourage better utilization, and encourage budgeting by individuals for medical expenses. Good point here. #5 You can already get cash prices for test at any facility. It will take you weeks to do it, but you cant get it. The issue with this is its not like buying cable- example, every cancer case is different and each provider at different facilities may recommend different drugs, different mixes, durations of treatment... I just don't think Americans not medically trained can make a good, informed decision based on just price... again, I have argue that Healthcare doesn't behave like a normal market, this is a good example of how it is highly individualized making economies of scale and efficiencies difficult. #6- agreed #7- We subsidize single payor systems around the world on drug prices. Canada buys Lipitor for $1 a pill, versus the US its $10 a pill... why? Because Canada sets a limit on what they are willing to spend, and Pfizer knows they can still sell to Canada at that low price because they still have Americans to gouge- its ridiculous. this is the main issue with not having a cohesive, single payor system in the US- there just is not budget, no cap on what we spend.. just a lot of whining and crying about high costs and any healthcare reform worth a damn being evil socialism. My suggestions are in many threads, go find them if you want to revisit.

As long as the people who don't buy insurance are allowed to be turned away no questions asked I'm down. I would require EMTALA to be repealed as part of the plan as well. No more freeloaders.

What we've done for a generation has brought us a 70k tax code, 150k in publicly held debt for every man, woman and child in the country, 121Trillion in future liabilities in programs, 15 years of wars with no end in sight and not much to show, a healthcare system that spend 3x our global friends and delivers worse results, and a country cultural were fiscal and social aptitude is a festering sewage pool.... I probably don't love his social views, but his stance on scope and power of central government is right on. I admire Bernie Sanders, he believes what he is putting out there, I think he is trying to do it right, but his policies represent a sustainable utopia that just doesn't work for the nature of human beings. Liberals hate guys like Koch. But they don't mind when when he donates a few hundred million to a hospital that serves the indigent, Medicaid and others whom are underserved. Or funds our museums, zoos, performing arts centers or other wonderful places that make our cities great places to leave. Time to open our ears and "listen"... It's a lost skill, there is a lot to learn and consider out there when we make a choice to shut up and open the ears.

Most people don't won't free anything... But they do desire affordable ways to educate their children, treat their illness, etc... And decent stable jobs that help them to do that.

My wedding cost $125, the fee of a license in King County Washington and private officiant. The fact that such a service exists is just evidence of how dumb some people are in this land.

Left, right, what the difference? Our government spends and doesn't ask tax payers to cover it, which is what I find most frustrating. Liberals wants the government to do everything, provide everything and ignore example worldwide how poorly that works. Conservatives have proven a blind adherence to tax cuts no matter how much we spend and no matter how many wars we fight with trillion dollar price tags. Until were willing to seriously discuss the Scope of Federal power and programming were not going to see anything change.

The Medicaid expansion in Ohio would make him unelectable among conservatives I'd venture to guess.

Shoulda quit his campaign a month ago Jeb Bush is on This Week whining on about Trump, and the new attack is he's not a conservative.... Is he? If he's not, what is he anyway? I don't know if I agree with Trump on everything, but it is wonderful to see spooners like Jeb and Hillary squirm while their money and pedigree in politics is proving useless to them... Good for America, go Bernie, go Donald...

Pick a grade, give your justification. C+/ B- for me - I know many don't care for HCR, and our system has a long way to go on better utilization and allocation of resources, and the bill was really an insurance expansion bill, but it is a gigantic step in making solid reforms for many of the weakest and most at risk in our society. I was a one issue voter, healthcare pulled my sway to vote for democrats. - what dinged him most for me has all been about fiscal achievements. I would to have seen a reasonable package of tax reforms proposed. I know there was no way a flat tax was in the cards for a Dem president, which I still think is best for our country, but in no way did he address the tax code- very disappointing, but no expected. - debt- we all see deficits have strunk over time since 2008, but I am not sure that wouldn't have just happened naturally as part of the recession boom cycle. What makes me the most angry is no proposal to seriously addressed the debt. I still think a robust proposal of reforms to large ticket items coupled with reasonable tax increases could have been sold to Americans, if and only if the reform package put us on a path to balanced budgets and repayment of debt over a period of time. He wanted to be a transformative president, many believe that was to more socialist policies.... But a transformative president would have put this country back on the path to fiscal sanity... Huge missed opportunity. - stimulus- the more I think about it, I think the stimulus was a dud. Originally I thought upwards of a trillion dollars flooded into the economy could never hurt, but thinking back some bigger picture efforts like tax reform, program reforms and budget measures would have provided a lot of confidence in the minds of most Americans. - national security- I think he's been okay- Imho he's been in a no win between ballooning costs of ongoing military action in Afghanistan and Iraq and Americans general fatigue in support of the effort. Ideally we would have never been in Iraq, and stopped digging when we were in a gigantic hole. I don't envy any president having to make these decisions, it is not easy. I'll add as things come to mind.

the Medicaid expansion alone has opened an avenue to many poor people to finally access medical care they were otherwise skipping on or unable to pay for. We've increased our primary care provider staff almost two fold and are currently setting up primary care practices in strategic places in the community to meet the need. We've also acquired systems in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs to begin to serve those areas that used to force many people to Denver for care. We have 2B cash stash currently that is earmarked for expanding current facilities both at the main campus and community clinics. How have conservatives expanded access and care? Did their 50 repeal votes help? I believe it's a messaging issue for slot of people. People sign up for insurance then never call to establish care with a PCP until they are acute, then can't be seen for weeks. I find a lot of people sign up for non managed care plan thinking they can just see specialist at thier whim but don't realize that alot of specialist won't see people who are self referred. I'm still amazed how many Americans have no idea how Heathcare works. But then again the people I know with 500-600 car payments and 300 cable bills whine about 50 copays on their health policies, so I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. People do need take more responsibility for their lives though, no doubt bout that my friend!

It should be a slam dunk partisan landslide, its mind boggling how it is not.

you cant erase the past, or make it right by removing artifacts that represent it. These items are a good reminder, good contrast to what we have achieved today as a Country. As much as I don't agree with The Confederacy, its important part of things we hold true and dear today.

Private might be the wrong adjective here, they are not private as we understand it as it pertains to "ownership". No one own the Federal Reserve and as we've said it is subject to oversight by the US Congress, but the policy decisions are I guess "private" or "undisclosed" to congress and the public in general. I have come to understand it as independent within the government, but it is certainly not privately owned, I think people confuse it as private because the reserve banks issue shares, and I think national banks are required to be members and own stock, so people believe for profit banks own a piece of the Federal Reserve bank- but I don't think it is like common or preferred stock in any way. People are very suspicious of the FR, but I find know really nothing about it or what's it created purpose is.

that is one of the biggest misconceptions correct, but congress does have oversight

Congress has oversight power with regards to the Federal Reserve. Its responsibilities can be changed by Statute, or "Act of Congress"- that is all I remember about the FD system from school. Gator could have googled the answer.

People need to stop pumping out so many kids. We already have a surplus of unneeded human capital, and I know this because much of it is employed at hospitals....

Raise the minimum wage?

So, reluctantly I am back at work, but my adventure sure was exciting and I hope to get back to it slowly but surely, but in the meantime I thought it would be interesting to compare plans we had in Maine/ Colorado to our employer sponsored plans offered by our hospital system. When you look at total cost of the plans, they are almost equal.... Our ACA plans were about 500/month and had a 6,000 annual deductible, but when I looked at my employer sponsored plan with a 500 deductible, the premium were much higher per month that it almost came out here same, the difference being my employer paid a large portion of that cost as part of my compensation package... Very close to what a subsidy from the State would have provided had we take it. Coincidentally, although my employer plan was slightly less expensive, I am captive to my hospital for all services, which isn't bad because we have exceptional services and no need to go elsewhere. My employer based plan is nice because I never get any paperwork post services where the ACA plans were piles of paperwork, much of it very convoluted and likely not able to be understood by the average policy holder. Getting prices of services in Maine was impossible, often incorrect, and spent slot of time, slot, on the phone getting services corrected and correctly billed and adjusted. A breast MRI was 3500, we paid full price because there was no discount if you had insurance and wanted it to go to deductible, but it would have been better to be uninsured and pay about 1200-1500... The annual plan selection was very easy on ACA plan, people who are confused are probably really stupid and are confused about pumping gas. At the end of the day, I'm still for single payor. The ACA was a welcome reform and increased access, but it's still uses a disjointed convoluted mess as it operating framework. We will waste trillions dicking around tinkering around the fringes of this behemoth, but in the end the only effective solution will be some sort of national health model with incentives in place to encourage responsible utilization of care and services.

My two retard in-laws will be gracing my home and parroting Rush Limbaughs screed, or at least try too. It all the Mexicans and Blacks fault they are going to be running into retirement on fumes, wholly dependent on social program like Medicare and SS. If I tune into Rush this afternoon, I know exactly what to expect from them that evening. In a way they're the perfect Americans, worked a like time ended up with nothing..... It's smart people like me that depend on such stupidity to get ahead.. And on the other side, we will visit our Liberal extended family in their gate community on x-mas day. The ones who jail break their Apple TV and phones so they can get all kind of content for free, illegally. The ones who think everyone should get everything from the government but take steep liberties on reporting taxes and deductions. Yep, they'll all be seen this holiday season.

Nice post. What I find very interesting about education is my Liberal friends preach on and on about equality and fairness, yet they pull and their strings and push around their weigh to make sure their kids end up in the very best position even if meant an "exception" to that fairness standard. So the framework to me is set to make changes to an entrenched educational system to begin addressing modern day educational needs. That aside, I don't have children, but as with most things I kind of feel like local is better. The one size fits all approach does not meet the needs of Children of different skills and aptitudes. To me, you build a system that accommodates a child skills, and gives every one the most opportunity. I assume that might be taking the best and the brightest and getting them into a high paced school with the freedom to push for excellence, but that also means children who are more geared toward learning a vocational skill would get to a school with the very best school for learning a valuable trade. The Federal Government might be best serving the populace by getting out of the educational game, and leaving it to States, better yet districts and communities to design and develop programs that address their needs. That probably means more school choice, more charter schools and other innovative ideas. IMHO, parent involvement is much more powerful and motivator for excellence that more Federal monies... but that's just me,

true, how does that pertain to the discussion?

Millions of American citizens have played the game and lived nice long lives. Most players don't make it to college, heck not even high school... the game is being made safer with head trauma in mind. Football build character and teaches team, accountability, preparation, goal setting, pride, and to me most importantly learning to live with winning and losing.

and he speaks so well.... for a !@#$.... lol that is an unbelievable awful quote.