Scruit

OMG. Where to start... You don't see it as being in the public interest that children are educated? YOU were educated (I assumed, although I'm wondering now). They work just fine, too. Why can't they all be that good? Responsibility for what? To me personal responsibility means you do the right thing and make up for your mistakes. My friend who's son got leukemia did nothing wrong. Or do you think different? This was not cheap insurance - this was a standard United Healthcare PPO plan. Health insurances have a lifetime max. That's not a choice that the insured can make. People need to do a better job of understanding what choices can be made. What is the lifetime max on your health insurance? Mine is 2 million. If my son (through no fault, intent of choice of mine) was to get leukemia then my family would be bankrupted. What better choice could I have made? I don't even think an unlimited insurance even exists in this country?

We need to talk about why we're supposed to be cool with bankrupting families when someone gets sick. So why are schools not run for-profit? Or Fire stations? Or the police? "You house was broken into? Well, give use your CC number and choose immediate service, 24 apathy or fax-in-a-report-and-we'll-wipe-our-arses-with-it service." I see healthcare as a basic human service like education, police, fire etc. All should be non-profit.

I work for a non-profit. I still get paid. My company is happy doing what it does and not making a profit.

Pretty sure rubber doesn't spark...

So say the sweaty hippies on Wall Street. I say that keeping people alive should not be source of profit. All aspects of healthcare should be operated on a non-profit basis.

CNN fail.

You think the health care bill is the only reason that health care is coming more expensive? So tort reform, corporate greed (drugs manufacturers, health insurance companies etc) and the fact that most of the health bill hasn't taken effect yet doesn't count for anything? You're sticking with Obama's healthcare reform being THE reason you can't afford healthcare? US Health care has been getting disproportionaltely more expensive for 20 years. Can't really pin that on Obama, can we? But I'm sure people will try.

Sex with animals puts you at higher risk of std? Sure, if you mean Mange or Mad Cow Disease...

$195 of Badass... Daaaang!

Sucks thair their insurance can bail out like that. Insurance should be all -or-nothing with no maximum. I've heard "But the insurance company can't afford $4m forevery patient!" What makes us think the parents can afford it??

Direct parallel #4 - Broken ankle. US: (me). Skipped ER because I knew they'd charge me $2500 and just tell me my ankle was broken and to see an ortho. Went direct to ortho instead the next day. Ortho sent me for MRI, decided on non-surgical treatment. 9 weeks of physio. Total cost of care $5000. Out of pocket for me was $2000. Would have been $2500 higher if I went to ER. UK: (mother). Went to ER with a Tri-malleolar fracture of her ankle (much more serious injury than mine). Admitted immediately. Surgery recommended and scheduled for the next day. Pins/plates installed. Kept for a week, then released to 6 mounths of outpatient care and physiotherapy. Out of pocket cost was zero. Just remember, when someone declines health insurance and then can't pay their bills, the rest of us pay for it. I wish I had the right to quit paying all my bills and have everyone else pay them instead.

Don't forget I've lived under a socialised health care system so you can't BS me on how it works. Direct parallel #1: Broken nose. I've had a broken nose in the UK and one in the US. Both required closed reduction surgery. US: Went to emergency room. Was there for 3 hours. Given MRI and told to go to an ENT. Booked with an ENT, 3 days later was earliest appointment. ENT recommended suregry and booked me in a week later. Outpatient. Total of all charges was $8,000. I was $5000 out of pocket due to deductible, co-pays and 90% coverage. UK: Went to emergency room. Was there for 3 hours. ENT on staff recommended surgery. Booked in 3 days later. Outpatient. Out of pocket cost was zero. Direct Parallel #2: Ambulance hospitalization. Once in the UK, once in the US. Both me, both for same reason. US: 911 called, ambulance arrived 10 minutes later. Basic tests performed on-scene, transported out of house on a chair, moved to stretcher, into ambulance. Arrived at hospital 20 minutes later. Admitted to ER and placed in room. Testing included blood tests, functional tests and ultrasound. Released 4 hours later and told no cause was found and I was apparently better now. Cost of hospitalization was $3200, about $1000 of that was out-of-pocket. UK: 999 called. Paramedic arrived 10 minutes later. Basic tests performed on-scene, transported out of house on a chair, moved to stretcher, into ambulance. Arrived at hospital 20 minutes later. Admitted to ER and placed in room. Testing included blood tests, functional tests. Told no cause was found and I was apparently better now, so kept for observation for 2 days for further testing. Isotopic brain scan, MRI, and other tests performed over the next 6 weeks. All ruled out a more serious cause for the hospitalization. Told to follow up with family doctor if anything else was noted. Out-of-pocket cost of hospitalization was zero. Direct Parallel #3: US: 6yo Child diagnosed with AML (leukemia). (Child of a co-worker - I worked as a fundraiser for his hospital costs). Treated at the hosptial, total bills by the time the AML went into remission came to over $5 MILLION dollars. Insurance paid out $1m and then said; "Lifetime max!" and went away. Parents left with $4m in bills. Declared bankruptcy and lost their house. Family of 4 went to live in a 1-bed apt. Took them 10 years to recover financially. UK: 10yo child diagnosed with Craniopharyngioma (Brain tumor) (My brother). The NHS did the tumour removal surgery within a week of the tumor's discovery. Operation took alomost 9 hours, he was hospitalized for weeks and then scheduled for 18 months of 2x a wk radiotherapy (like chemo but uses radiation to target remaiing tumor cells instead of drugs) at Weston Park Cancer Hospital in Sheffield, including transportation. Total out of pocket for everything - Zero. You can't BS with with dire predictions of socialist medicine, because I know what it is REALLY like.

It's to prevent abuses like you hear about in some countries. You only dare vote for the incumbent president or the pollworker who is watching you wote will make a phone call and have you beaten or shot.

Trash pickup is private where I am. I'm sure if I refused to engage a trash service I'd find out quick enough that the government can make me purchase it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T61-KXCN3Yc

Genuine question - not making a political point... We are already required to have car insurance and it is commonly accepted that those who do not have such insurance are an undue burden on the people as a whole - what is the difference between that and requiring us to have health insurance? Just like car insruance, you should be able to file a certificate of self-insurance if you have the assets to pay for your own healthcare if needed. But if you cannot afford to pay for your health care then that's just like not being able to paty for damages you cause in a crash - hence why we are required to buy car insurance? How much cheaper would *my* car insurance be if I wasn't also subsidizing the damages caused by the uninsured? Therefore, how much cheaper would my health insurance be if I wasn't subsidizing the health costs of the uninsured?

I thought that voting machines were suppowed to be set up to provide privacy so only you can see what selection you make. This is supposed to prevend undue influence from people in the room if they can see what you are selecting. Berlin Township (Delaware County) has their machines turned all facing the middle of the room so as I stood there people in line could see what I was choosing. I told the poll workers that the machines were facing the wrong way and that they should be facing outwards to provide privacy - they told me I was wrong. I contacted the BOE and asked them - they agreed with me and are going to have Berlin Township turn their machines around. (Cheshire Road loaction) Anyone else use the same location? Can you tell me if they turned the machines around by the time you voted?

If I have some distance to cover then I'll slab it. Country roads aroudn here are all straight so it makes little difference. I avoid rush hour slabbing like the plague.

I huse two front-facing cameras in my subaru. One is a tight zoom so i can read license plates for cars within 10' of me. The other is a fisheye lens so I can see the status of a traffic light even when I'm inside the intersection waiting to turn left. I also have another major fisheye (1.7mm) that allows me to see the entire inside of the car from the a-pillar. Nothing wrong with fisheye as long as you know what you're doing and you're using it to solve a specific problem. I'd prefer a variable focal length myself, so I can choose. Smallest I've uses is 1.7mm (see all the occupants of a car from inside the car) and longest I've used is 80mm (read a license plate from 100')

They are used as sacrificial cameras for Mythbusters experiments too.

Good luck.

The only reason I don't get a GoPro or similar is that I record every journey I take. Every vehicle I own has a dashcam in it. (5) Even my wife's car (she didn't want one until she got blamed in a crash she didn't think was her fault - now she is happy to have one) For that reason, the cameras I use for everyday recording have to be fully automatic (start recording on ignition on, stop on ignition off, automatically overwrite the oldest video etc.) I can't be hitting record, stop and clearing old recordings every time I ride/drive. On rare occasions where my vehicles are operated by other people (when they are at the shop) I rely on the fully automatic feature to keep people honest. Or to catch them when they're not. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfwfSzbr5Ac If GoPro had auto-power-on/off cycle-recording then I'd be all over it for it's higher quality (video and build).

The bill is too complex and the pro and anti sides are both arguing generalities. I don't know what to vote.