Ohhhh, so you just reassert your point about Democrats never backing down, but Republicans do without any factual basis whatsoever! What a novel losing debate strategy!

Obamacare isn't perfect and needs to be fixed or replaced with something better. Not the Trumpian "something great" if it should be replaced, but something that is well thought out and addresses what Obamacare couldn't accomplish if the entire premise is systemically not going to work.

Did you see what I did there? I *gasp* recognize that sometimes things don't work! OMG! IT'S AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also didn't say it's a "fucking disaster", because it isn't. If it were that, explain how the uninsured rate has dropped very significantly. It was never going to achieve 100% insurance rate. The only way that happens is with single payer.

Here's how stupid you are. You don't seem to understand that if Obamacare isn't the answer, you're just making single payer universal health care more likely to be enacted. The American people are not going to go back to being denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. They're just not gonna. Obamacare is the least left policy you could possibly enact that would help control costs and decrease the number of people who are uninsured.

You can scream to the top of your lungs, but Obamacare was enacted to remedy real problems. I'm even sympathetic to the argument that those were real problems, but Obamacare isn't the answer, but if you're going to make that argument, you have to propose something that has historical precedent and rationale to solve those problems. And you simply don't have one.

So again, keep struggling in the quicksand until it swallows you whole, and single payer is enacted.

Your evidence about health insurance premiums is anecdotal, and quite frankly, you don't seem to understand that your numbers and description of what happened to her is absolutely ridiculous. You don't get on medicaid because your insurance premiums go up under Obamacare. You qualify for Medicaid because of a lack of income.

Secondly, the claim is absolutely ridiculous that her premiums went up that much. For data we have available, *unsubsidized* premiums for the lowest cost silver plans for data we have in the Obamacare exchanges was $257 a month for a single person.

http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/analysis-of-2017-premium-changes-and-insurer-participation-in-the-affordable-care-acts-health-insurance-marke
tplaces/

If she qualifies for Medicaid, then surely she could go on a silver plan in the Obamacare exchanges and come out likely paying less. Oh, and, on top of that, she would EASILY qualify for federal subsidies if she qualified for medicaid.

Oh, and btw, without Obamacare, if health care companies decided to raise those premiums just to price gouge, what protection would she have? Not much. Obamacare insures that you can only take in so much that isn't spent on health care.

Your story is completely utterly full of crap on so many levels, it's clear you made it up.

I'm dismissing all your numbers are being unsubstantiated bullshit. Have premiums gone up? Sure have. Were they going up before Obamacare? Yep! There's a healthy debate about how much Obamacare is contributing to premium increases. Obamacare isn't perfect. I'm happy to discuss rationally what could be done to improve Obamacare, or another plausible alternative. But not with you, since you pull numbers out of your ass that easily are completely debunked.

BTW, FYI, Obamacare was not intended to lower premiums nor to completely eliminate the number of uninsured. It was to control costs in all forms and reduce the amount of uninsured, as well as reform the health care system to eliminate problems like being denied coverage because of pre-existing conditions, people having to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills, etc.

Some of its goals it succeeded in, and some not so much. That's a fair assessment at this point. Medical related bankruptcies have not declined. Being denied coverage due to a pre-existing condition has been eliminated. Premiums have gone up, but we simply don't have enough data to determine if they've slowed or accelerated since Obamacare was implemented. If you go by the immediate years after Obamacare was fully implemented, they slowed.

http://healthaffairs.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/Adler_Exhibit1.png

More recently, they've accelerated. It's important to note that health care costs are not solely determined by premiums alone. It's interesting you cherry picked premiums only to prove costs haven't been controlled because premiums are your best case to make that point. Copays, coinsurance, deductibles, prescription drugs, all those play a role. IE, if the average American pays more in premiums but less everywhere else, it's possible the net average is lower for total costs paid for health care.

These are complex topics that have no room for bringing in rose colored ideologically tinted lenses to force the outcome to be "a fucking disaster", where you'll bring in anecdotal evidence, some of which is completely utterly made up.

Just how far are you willing to make stuff up? Hillary Clinton, according to you, has never in the last 40 years done anything substantially positive.

REALLY?! Look, I understand not necessarily wanting her to be President. OK, fine. But that claim is absolutely ridiculous. Over $2 billion has been raised by the Clinton Foundation, and over 90% of that has gone to charitable work according to independent studies. Before you go down the path of "paid access", blah blah blah, even if that were true, the reality is $1.8 billion went to charitable works around the world through the Clinton Foundation Hillary Clinton helped to create and run.

That's not substantial?!?!

Dude, just stop. The only people who believe that BS are people within your bubble. You're not convincing anyone else who didn't already think Hillary Clinton personally killed Vince Foster. You're just making people like me think you're a complete loon.

Democrats Don't back down. Republicans are.

Obamacare is a fucking disaster and need to be scrapped.

My sisters premiums went from 400 to 1500$/month and she was forced onto medicade because of this.

My brothers went from 250$ to 600/month.

Both are single without kids.

My CEO work for for OBAMA and got a setaside from this disaster. My rates have stayed nearly the same.

Its purpose was to lower rates and cover everyone. Nether of this occurred.



You want a known crook with a 40 years of scandal after scandal. She has yet to create anything positively substantial of all her years of service. Even her / husbands charity is fraught with scandal.

You are a stupid fool to even consider such a person.

Even the Mafia looks up to the Clintons and wonder in amazement of how to get away with all the shit they do.

2 more comments have been lost in the ether at this killed duplicate.

Yes (edit: Maybe?), some advantage. It utilises the venturi effect to increase the airflow beyond what you'd get from the tiny little fan in the bottom.

Many people think it's not a big enough advantage to pay the premium that commercial fans of this type tend to charge

That looked like a really nice place - like they'd spent some time and effort on it... watching it go up like that must have been heart-breaking...

I just hope their house insurance premiums were up to date and their insurance company doesn't try pulling any "act of God" shenanigans...

Yeah, I refuse to pay a premium for a placebo, Not because I feel I am immune to all that subconscious fuckery, but because I'd hate to think I am in any way subsidising wine snobbery.

Also, Champagne vs sparkling wine. They both stink. Idk how anybody puts their nose in a glass of either, regardless of price.

No cancer, seems kinda unfair to pay health insurance premiums toward someone else's treatment.

Haven't been unemployed. Seems kinda unfair to pay for unemployment insurance.

Don't drive much, seems kinda unfair to pay for all these roads.

My kid is in private school, seems kinda unfair that I have to pay for the public ones too.

See where this reasoning takes us?

Even before self-driving cars, they should make "safe driving computer" that tracks your eyeballs and makes annoying beeps when you aren't looking at the road.

Then require those computers for any teenager that wants to drive, or for anyone after they get in an accident (car insurance company could say "install this device, or pay higher premiums.")

newt,

Paying $500/mo and getting what you want/afford is not the same as getting what we say you can have. Your such a stooge.

Why would anyone want to rely of government if they don't have to? I was taught better than that. Obviously you don't have any self pride or dignity. Your such a stooge.

In essence the VA is a single payer system. The government pays. Not the Veterans. Your such a stooge.

Blah Blah .. military, Interstate Highway department, police,, Public utilities. All proper Government functions , Granted they are slow, inefficient, for good reasons, as intended by the founders. Your such a stooge.

ACA still doesn't cover all. But will penalize and imprison those who fail ( or cant ) pay premiums. Yea for total government control..Hand over total control of you life to them. Your such a stooge.

Once again you prove that Your such a stooge.


Your friend,
bk33

Ok you can un-friend me.

Any person who believes in or supports a system where you pay far more for a far inferior product is a moron. End of story. People can wave the catchphrases around as much as they like, but that is fucking stupidity. In which case, "socialism" is the opposite of stupidity, even in socialist lite countries like Australia.

My father in law is having 2 femoral bypass surgeries in the next 2 months. Completely free, air conditioned 2 bed room, free medication (oxycodone for the win), free at home post op care visits, very little waiting (isn't an emergency but is urgent enough to not be considered elective). Great surgeons and other staff. Food still sucks (it's a hospital of course), but if that's the worst complaint that can be made about the system that costs 7% less of GDP than the US and freely hands out so very much more, I know what I would choose...

BK33, does your sister receive free or reduced cost care under medicare? If so, the system has worked for her. She can now put those premiums towards other costs, or savings for retirement or w/e she wants to. It might not be optimal, but it's a far sight better than close to 20k a year...

I am truly glad for your situation.

My sister was paying 500$/mo in premiums since she has Crohn's. When she went to sign up for an equivalent new policy when all this started her premium went up to 1600$/mo.
Due to her age she just ended up signing up for medicare.

Your situation worked out and my sisters isnt.
There are still winners and losers under Obama care.

Actually, my mind is very easy to change. From being homophobic, to hating certain skin colors, I realize how stupid I was growing up as a person and how I had to unteach myself a lot of things.

As for my post; judgment is one thing. I do judge the car driver (And I judge the truck driver, although much less...) When that car intentionally rammed the truck it put not only their own lives in danger but other lives as well. That sort of accident can cause major destruction when 10 more are added to the equation.

I am glad neither the car's driver nor the truck driver were truly hurt. I am glad that people in our country only need to pay higher premiums in situations like this. That is a good thing and justice isn't wanting them dead...

If you are talking about my hatred for major corporations, then not sure where I shouldn't judge. Major for-profit healthcare providers, evil, evil. Same with car/personal injury-healthcare providers.

First of all, I'm sorry that you had a bad experience with that claim. Auto accidents are never fun to deal with. The goal of a good claims rep should be to do what they can to put the customer at ease and work to get the claim settled fairly and efficiently.

For the most part, the adjusters I deal with at other companies do work in good faith to settle their claims. Insurance adjusters are held to a high ethical standard. At most of the larger carriers (with some exceptions), the ethical standards are quite high. Otherwise, they would be sued right out of business.

There are certainly some bad companies out there and some bad adjusters out there. There are a few smaller companies in Texas and California that I can think of that have particularly bad practices--I'm not sure why the Texas and California DOI's haven't shut them down.

That said, the obligation of an ethical insurance adjuster is to pay what the company owes. No more, and no less. Paying less than what is owed, or stonewalling, delaying, or otherwise acting in bad faith, is certainly unethical. But it is also unethical to overpay claims--to pay out on coverages that have not been purchased, for example, or to pay more than what the claim is worth. Personal lines insurance companies operate on very slim margins. If we consistently overpay on claims, then it will come back to our customers in the form of higher premiums, which could result in losing customers and perhaps the business being closed.

I'm not sure what you're talking about with regard to Florida's Uninsured Motorist laws. They're pretty similar to the UM laws in most other states. There's not a lot of variation there. Florida is a no-fault state, so you do have to file under your Personal Injury Protection first. (Which blows. No-fault laws just make your premiums more expensive.)

@entr0py

The premise is not off at all. Starbucks simply skipped all the moving around steps and located in the "middle of the beach" where the existing coffee shop already was, because (it is likely) that is the best spot in the market.

Starbucks, or any business, does not open to "drive them out of business" they open a store to sell their goods and make a profit.

As someone who has worked with several retailers in very aggressive market sectors (pizza, fast casual, etc) I can tell you that the two vital components to any successful retailer/restaurant are 1) Good location 2) Good Operations. A good location means your customer will see you and get to you. Good operations means once they are there they will be served well.

More often then not when we start working with a new client we look at their competition not because we want to "drive them out of business", but because they have already looked at and evaluated the market. We then evaluate their locations and see if that is still the correct location or not. Markets shift for a variety of reasons - housing growth, retail expansion, major retailers relocating, etc.

"It's easier to steal someone else's customer base than try to create your own." Really? I find this to be the silliest argument. There is a limited amount of money people are going to spend on a product. Lets say a town will spend $1000 a day on coffee. If you open another coffee shop they are not going to spend an additional thousand. The $1000 is just going to be divided up. Maybe there is a slight increase because of access, but by and large people are only going to spend so much. Furthermore, people are creatures of habit. They are actually more likely to continue to go where they have been going unless you offer something better. That better might be a combination of easier access, faster service, a nicer interior, cheaper prices, or better product.

In the city I work in there are several grocery chains expanding and opening new stores. Does that mean people are spending more on groceries? No. What has happened is the grocer with the weakest operations closed. Those locations (over 30) have since been taken over by a variety of both national chains and local independent grocers (all who have better operations). This competition has meant better prices and service for customers.

I buy my coffee a block from my house (and I usually just buy the beans they roast on site) from a local shop. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that other people choose to go to the Starbucks up the street. The coffee I buy is better and I pay a premium for it.

Edit: One last thought - Among the many competitive advantages corporate users have is that they can operate at a loss or lower profit than many "local" stores. That being said the same is not quite as true from franchisee business owners (who have different advantages, hopefully).