Gov Perry's Refusal to Implement ACA

[macksback]

Originally Posted by Eva Damita

I'm sure you've heard of how Gov. Perry refuses to accept the over 100 billion dollars in federal funds to implement the affordable care act. In the state of Texas, we pay the highest in all America in covering those without health care and our premiums are skyrocketing (mom pays 500 a month!). I feel this is not simply a 'Democrat' or 'Republican' issue - its more of what is right and helping others. Getting into politics can be risky, but I'd just like to know opinions on the issue - if you stand behind Perry , tell why, and if not, also share why and some points.

There are millions of working Texans without health care...what other ways could we solve this problem and increasing premiums without accepting these federal funds (100 billion)?

Thanks for sharing, I volunteer Saturdays, so I'll chime in later this evening. No debates needed, just seeking comments and opinions, and most importantly, enlightenment from those who are for and against his refusal, knowledge is power!

Third Coast Born and Texas Raised!!

E.D

Honey there is not one working or otherwise, Texan without health care period. Now there are some with out insurance but none without healthcare.

[Eva Damita]

Originally Posted by Liliana Vess

Essentially, Perry is making a stand for states rights without considering people. It's all about the politics and not about the people.

It's pretty astounding, in that at the end of the day, a lot of the things he opposes would actually save the state money. The state pays far less to provide family planning services, for example, than it pays for CHIP perinatal and the possibility of those children joining the CHIP program in the future. This is of course both states rights AND conservative ideals that are border on anti-woman.

Same with the idea of preventative health care. There will never come a time when hospitals will turn people away from care in an emergency situation. The amount of people that enter emergency care for non-emergent issues is insane, and the cost is insane x100. Giving better access to more reasonable care would save money in the long run.

Overall...very sad stuff.

Very true, those wo insurance visit the ER more than visiting their kids , and for minor scrapes and bruises at that.

And Macksback...I meant to insurance - healthcare insurance. My mistake, but everyone seemed to know what was implied, thank you.

See what some of our Dallas friends are saying, I belive Wellendowed has a good point....

"ok - for those attacking the ACA act tell me what's the alternative? The ACA has some good and bad- don't know why the DEMS and GOP can't keep the good- and take out or amend the bad. Everyone is talking about the cost of the ACA, but look at the cost prior ACA- when someone was sick and went to the ER and had no health insurance- who do you think ate that cost?????
I am not saying ACA was the perfect plan- but the number of insured in this country is ridiculous- Gov Perry has a tough decision- there's good and bad if he takes or doesn't take the money but keep in mind people- a lot of people think the uninsured in Texas or America are the homeless, sick etc- but in reality you have many hard working Texans who have jobs but simply can't afford healthcare.
It's amazing how people are quick to point out how much the ACA will cost, but won't whisper a word on how much the U.S spends on Defense. The U.S spends 700 billion on Defense- China is #2 and spends 150 billion and they actually have a bigger military in terms of manpower. In fact the U.S spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined and that includes China, Russia, U.K, France, Germany Canada and etc- yet no one wants to think about drastically cutting defense spending- heck the cold war is over- can someone justify why the U.S spends nearly 5 times as much on defense than the #2 Country(China) or why the U.S spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined? "

http://www.eccie.net/showthread.php?t=655574&highlight=

[RGB93]

Watch this video on Obama Care
https://www.youtube.com/embed/rEM4NK...yer_detailpage

[Don T. Lukbak]

Obamacare devotees insist that someone else, anyone else, take responsibility for their own medical expenses. They don't care who's doing the paying or even if anybody gets paid...just so long as they personally don't have to pay. Simple as that. More "free" shit for unproductive people/more power for government bureaucrats.

Obamacare is only notionally about medical care; it's primarily a takeover of individual sovereignty by the federal government. No aspect of a citizen's life will fall outside the realm of government business when that bastard becomes fully implemented.

If you love Liberty, of necessity you will hate Obamacare.

[macksback]

The alternative Eva is not to have the Federal government mess with it.
"but in reality you have many hard working Texans who have jobs but simply can't afford healthcare." The answer is none. If you need health care in this state or anywhere in the country , you will get it period. Stop trying to confuse health care with health insurance.

Just this morning I read that Obamacare will allow insurance companies to charge an additional 50% premium on top of whatever someone pays if they smoke. So here come the bastards trying to tell you how to live your life.

[Don T. Lukbak]

Originally Posted by Eva Damita

It's amazing how people are quick to point out how much the ACA will cost, but won't whisper a word on how much the U.S spends on Defense. The U.S spends 700 billion on Defense- China is #2 and spends 150 billion and they actually have a bigger military in terms of manpower. In fact the U.S spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined and that includes China, Russia, U.K, France, Germany Canada and etc- yet no one wants to think about drastically cutting defense spending- heck the cold war is over- can someone justify why the U.S spends nearly 5 times as much on defense than the #2 Country(China) or why the U.S spends more on defense than the next 12 countries combined?

Time and time again history has taught that peace is not a natural condition of human society. War is. Time and time again there have been long intervals of general peace because of the clout of some hegemon or the other. Pax Romana was a mostly calm period until the Romans started thinking they spent too much on their Legions..grew weak..and then all hell broke loose. Pax Brittanica, same. Now, with Pax Americana, the USA is Sheriff of the Shithouse. Hegemony ain't cheap....and when one nation abdicates that responsibility another will rapidly fill the void.

Who do you nominate: Pax Sinica? Pax Calipha? Come on...you can't just say I'm not playing any more...someone damn sure will be.

[Wikdj2]

I work in insurance and have a copy of the ACA on my laptop. I have made it a point to educate myself on this as it will affect my business

First thing, about Perry turning down the money offered to implement the ACA in Texas: The ACA requires that each state use its Medicaid system to implement the changes in healthcare. Whereas that sounds great, here is the problem. That money is only there to get the system started. Once that money is gone, it is up to the state to find the funds to continue the program. What that would mean, in the long run, is the necessity for more state level taxes (in addition to the federal taxes coming down the pipe) in order to keep the program running.

Now the biggest issue in the industry regarding the ACA is the fact that the ACA itself is an almost hollow frame. It merely dictates WHAT it wants done but does not describe how. Within all of this each state is supposed to come up with its own system that is supposed to integrate with a federal system to track all things at all levels; costs, prices, availability, rules, laws, follow ups, etc. Now stop and think about that. Fifty different systems to integrate with one system and they are supposed to effectively communicate back and forth. Name one time that the federal government has done anything effectively. Name one......

What you are going to find in the near future and what is going on now in preparation for 2014 is that all health care plans are going to be stripped down to bare bones offerings. You will find very few companies that will offer the "cadillac" plans that everyone has gotten used to. I know of a number of companies that have reverted to straight HSA's for their employees and they aren't happy about that.

Perry is doing the right thing. Whether you like it or not, he is attempting to protect your wallet. If you want to discuss the reasons for the extremely high cost of healthcare, we can do another thread on that. I used to work in surgical sales and go to see the ugly side of the medical industry in regards to why things cost so much.

OH!!! If anyone wants quotes on any kind of health, dental/vision, you can PM me just your date of birth and ZIP code. I can give you an idea of what your future costs are going to be.

[Guest123018-4]

You know, those that want population control are the same ones that want free healthcare. How you gonna have some population reduction without a little natural selection. I am thinking the more democrats that are lost to natural selection would be the best thing this world could nave from population control. Primary reason I am pro-abortion; just dont want my tax dollars to pay for it.

[DEAR_JOHN]

Perry couldn't even get something as simple as no texting while driving right, what makes anybody think he can get something more complex tended to?

[targaman86]

I just read that states were left to fill in the details and that is bad because the systems will never be consistent? So you are against states rights and everything should be dictated at the Federal level?

Speaking of the cost of insurance and healthcare in general, my neighbor is a radiologist with a practice servicing 2 hospitals in Houston. These are located in some of the nicer areas, not what I would typically associate with non-payers. However, he tells me that they routinely write off almost 20% of what's billed to uncollectible, bad debt. Really? A business model that supports 20% bad debt? Not in my business experience...at least not without an offsetting markup of at least 5% on the 80% who pay!

Several years ago, insurance companies said that tort reform would help to control the rise in medical costs by reducing the number of personal injury lawsuits. Well, the payouts due to medical malpractice are now preset for the most part, but I haven't seen the increases in my health insurance subside. Why is a free market desirable in business, but not in the courts?

I have a $5,000 HSA plan and only once since 2006 have I met the deductible. So why do I keep seeing double digit increases? What was $363/month in 2007 just renewed at $703/month for 2013. The Cadillac plans are dead because the insurance companies want you to take some risk and responsibility in controlling costs. I was good with that when I made the decision to go to the HSA, but now I'm considering taking on more of the risk with a $7500 or $10000 deductible to rein costs in AGAIN. How much risk are they taking at that point?

Perry pulled the same crap 2 years ago when he turned down tarp/stimulus money targeted towards public education that other states received. Then he reluctantly accepted it when the bad press hit and docked the state education budget by the same amount, thus negating the benefit. I believe Texas expense per child for education falls in the bottom 25% of the country. There's a long term recipe for disaster. Now here we go again with the ACA.

Someone stated that Texas is thriving because we reject this stuff and keep our taxes down? You need to wake up. My property taxes on a comparable home went 3x when I moved back from Ohio. Sales tax went up approx. 3%. I don't know what the tax on gas is that's included at the pump, but it's higher. We pride ourselves on having no state and local taxes here, but you're paying it in other ways. People are coming here for the jobs. We're just fortunate that Texas is the Oil & Gas capital right now while other industries are struggling.

[Wikdj2]

Originally Posted by targaman86

I just read that states were left to fill in the details and that is bad because the systems will never be consistent? So you are against states rights and everything should be dictated at the Federal level?

Speaking of the cost of insurance and healthcare in general, my neighbor is a radiologist with a practice servicing 2 hospitals in Houston. These are located in some of the nicer areas, not what I would typically associate with non-payers. However, he tells me that they routinely write off almost 20% of what's billed to uncollectible, bad debt. Really? A business model that supports 20% bad debt? Not in my business experience...at least not without an offsetting markup of at least 5% on the 80% who pay!

Several years ago, insurance companies said that tort reform would help to control the rise in medical costs by reducing the number of personal injury lawsuits. Well, the payouts due to medical malpractice are now preset for the most part, but I haven't seen the increases in my health insurance subside. Why is a free market desirable in business, but not in the courts?

I have a $5,000 HSA plan and only once since 2006 have I met the deductible. So why do I keep seeing double digit increases? What was $363/month in 2007 just renewed at $703/month for 2013. The Cadillac plans are dead because the insurance companies want you to take some risk and responsibility in controlling costs. I was good with that when I made the decision to go to the HSA, but now I'm considering taking on more of the risk with a $7500 or $10000 deductible to rein costs in AGAIN. How much risk are they taking at that point?

Perry pulled the same crap 2 years ago when he turned down tarp/stimulus money targeted towards public education that other states received. Then he reluctantly accepted it when the bad press hit and docked the state education budget by the same amount, thus negating the benefit. I believe Texas expense per child for education falls in the bottom 25% of the country. There's a long term recipe for disaster. Now here we go again with the ACA.

Someone stated that Texas is thriving because we reject this stuff and keep our taxes down? You need to wake up. My property taxes on a comparable home went 3x when I moved back from Ohio. Sales tax went up approx. 3%. I don't know what the tax on gas is that's included at the pump, but it's higher. We pride ourselves on having no state and local taxes here, but you're paying it in other ways. People are coming here for the jobs. We're just fortunate that Texas is the Oil & Gas capital right now while other industries are struggling.

703 a month?!?!!? Are you paying for an entire family? I just got a 39 yr old woman and her kid a plan for less than $500 a month. WOW!!!

As far as risk taken by the insurance companies, they do assume a lot of the risk. Risk is potential. Is could be a little, it could be a lot. But that's all for another thread or discussion.

[targaman86]

Yes, $703 is for a family of 5. 46 yo healthy, non-smoking parents. Increase was only 5 or 6% from last year and I think that is by far the smallest of the 6 years I've been with BCBS on this plan. I'm guessing there's a bump at the 40 and 45 year marks vs. your 39 yo client.

[Adabear]

All I am gonna say is that most of the time when these questions are asked, the true answer is not wanted. I will say that the OP seems to have had on open mind but, the easy answer for most of our problems is personal responsibility. If I had a family and my job did not have insurance for them or I could not afford it, I would get a better job or a second job to afford it. End of story. For the crowd that says "What about the people that can not help themselves?", I say find me the 90 your old widow you are talking about and I will gladly help her. Find me a 35 year old lazy ass and I will say no.

Let the attacks come now. Just know, I did not go to college myself, Last year I officially turned my community service group into a non profit (We have donated over $45k here in Houston), and I think both political parties are a joke. Without real reform, we will be in deep crap.

**I applaud Perry's decision, in answer to the OP based on the comments made previously and the future burden we will have**

[Wikdj2]

Amen to the personal responsibility. I think if the government were truly concerned and wanted to do something about health care, then they would implement things that promoted eating healthy foods, exercise, etc. How? I don't know, but promote stuff like that to reduce our obesity rate BELOW 30% and get the rate of diabetes down...that would knock a helluva a lot of the costs down.

[Trey]

Didn't the First Lady try that? Then folks came out saying she was telling them how to feed their kids.