Politics Thread

[bobbiemcgee]

U.S. Shale Driller Whiting Petroleum Files For Bankruptcy

Colorado shale cos. are down 85 to 98%.

[Strange Brew]

Colorado shale cos. are down 85 to 98%.

And that’s not a good thing.

[Xville]

Private health care: "How much will you pay to stay alive? Oh, infinity dollars? Well, guess what we'll be charging you..."

Agree that private health care needs an overhaul however the statement above doesnt matter. Out of pocket would be met,. However, I think it is crazy that it ever became commonplace for a company to pay a percentage or all of an individual's premium. Anyways, although private is effed up, the answer is not to put your health in the hands of government.

[Lloyd Braun]

Agree that private health care needs an overhaul however the statement above doesnt matter. Out of pocket would be met,. However, I think it is crazy that it ever became commonplace for a company to pay a percentage or all of an individual's premium. Anyways, although private is effed up, the answer is not to put your health in the hands of government.

The out of pocket numbers are also increasing exponentially. Compare your deductible now to 2, 5, 10 years ago.

Tricare and Medicare are actually quite successful programs with high approval ratings from those insured.

[Xville]

The out of pocket numbers are also increasing exponentially. Compare your deductible now to 2, 5, 10 years ago.

Tricare and Medicare are actually quite successful programs with high approval ratings from those insured.

Out of pocket and deductible are two different things, and they are not increasing exponentially at least not across the board. Premiums are at about a 10% clip on average. Fuethermore, only 1-2% ever hit the max and only 10% of population have any measurable health costs (about 5 k a year). Ya know on a average the number of times people see a doctor every year? 1.5 times. If you run or work for a small company, I highly recommend looking at a peo to stabilize costs like benefits etc. Anyways, ACA did some good things like preexisting conditions and put in out of pocket limit but it also fucked the middle class because the gap of what people were paying in premiums shrank which means everyone paid more. ACA started to do some good things, but it needs to be tweaked in a lot of areas.

Yeah I love paying an effing medicare tax every check it's awesome. Almost as I love paying ss that I'll never see.

Medicare works great at this low participation, its not scalable.

[Lloyd Braun]

Deductibles are the main contributor to out of pocket costs once you need healthcare. If you lump in deductibles and premiums together they are definitely increasing across the board.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-...502-story.html

Nobody loves paying a Medicare tax but what does that have to do with anything? You pay it now so that you are covered later. Whether Medicare will withstand all the healthcare changes is another story, and overhaul is likely needed. But that is because it is not designed for profit. It is absolutely scalable and would likely be cheaper, as it is currently covering our sickest and most costly population.

[boozehound]

Agree that private health care needs an overhaul however the statement above doesnt matter. Out of pocket would be met,. However, I think it is crazy that it ever became commonplace for a company to pay a percentage or all of an individual's premium. Anyways, although private is effed up, the answer is not to put your health in the hands of government.

Why is it crazy that a company would pay a percentage of your premium? Hell, they used to pay all of it. It was just a benefit. Like a pension. If you wanted to attract skilled employees you had to have benefits. You could argue that America worked best when companies provided health benefits and pensions for their employees. Employees were loyal to companies (somewhat forcibly, but regardless) and workers were able to retire with healthcare and a living wage. Now we have a system where 3 guys have half the country's wealth and the majority of people have no sufficient savings on which to retire and cannot afford their healthcare costs. It's difficult to see that working over the long haul. It's also why every government eventually fails. The wealthy continue to find ways to get wealthier at the expense of the rest of the populus until the wealth divide becomes so great that the people rise up and overthrow the regime. The best systems, in my opinion, balance capitalism with managing the wealth divide so that the average citizen stays relatively happy. Providing for affordable healthcare is at the very core of that.

[Xville]

Deductibles are the main contributor to out of pocket costs once you need healthcare. If you lump in deductibles and premiums together they are definitely increasing across the board.
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-...502-story.html

Nobody loves paying a Medicare tax but what does that have to do with anything? You pay it now so that you are covered later. Whether Medicare will withstand all the healthcare changes is another story, and overhaul is likely needed. But that is because it is not designed for profit. It is absolutely scalable and would likely be cheaper, as it is currently covering our sickest and most costly population.

If you think Medicare for all would be cheaper then I'm done with this conversation.

[Lloyd Braun]

If you think Medicare for all would be cheaper then I'm done with this conversation.

Cheaper per capita covered, not overall.

[Xville]

Why is it crazy that a company would pay a percentage of your premium? Hell, they used to pay all of it. It was just a benefit. Like a pension. If you wanted to attract skilled employees you had to have benefits. You could argue that America worked best when companies provided health benefits and pensions for their employees. Employees were loyal to companies (somewhat forcibly, but regardless) and workers were able to retire with healthcare and a living wage. Now we have a system where 3 guys have half the country's wealth and the majority of people have no sufficient savings on which to retire and cannot afford their healthcare costs. It's difficult to see that working over the long haul. It's also why every government eventually fails. The wealthy continue to find ways to get wealthier at the expense of the rest of the populus until the wealth divide becomes so great that the people rise up and overthrow the regime. The best systems, in my opinion, balance capitalism with managing the wealth divide so that the average citizen stays relatively happy. Providing for affordable healthcare is at the very core of that.

Pensions and benefits cost an employer a crap ton of money obviously. We are seeing the effects of companies paying out 30 years of payroll now and I'm sorry but paying 30 plus years after you no longer working there is insanity.

401k and IRAs are a better option, sucks that people cant be responsible enough to build that up over time to retire on. Personal responsibility.