Social Security, Finances, Taxes, Healthcare
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
United States
July 27, 2009 8:18pm CST
We are all on a budget, let's discuss our budgets in abstract terms, as is often pointed out the lure of MyLot is that we will get paid for our discussions, each one of us comes here looking for gold. We get here and we find a different kind of gold though...
So here it is, all tied up in one discussion...
Let me frame the discussion like this...
I pay a mortgage,
Purchase food,
Health Insurance (Family Plan)
Fuel,
Utilities,
Car Insurance,
Licensing Fee's,
Car Maintenance,
Home Maintenance,
Telecommunications,
i. Home phone
ii. Cell phone
I participate in a 401K
I pay taxes,
I have two loans,
I have little to no savings,
Now, if you can't get blood from a stone and my electricity bill will be increased and the state is going to increase the amount I pay for income tax? Where is the money going to come from?
What essentially is going to happen is that people are used to new technology and we will be forced to give up some of the new technology and go back to the old days when we didn't have the new stuff.
Why? Because while I could budget my needs the government and other utility or fuel companies run by people who can not budget their needs have over spent and they are going to take away what I have worked hard to acquire.
What do you call a greedy elite person?
In the future Social Security will dry up, and Healthcare Insurance and Costs are always on the rise, while I'm not allowed to make mistakes at my job they are not accountable for the mistakes they make on their jobs. Have you ever had a case of Malpractice?
If we define insurance it is everyone pooling their money together to cover unexpected catastrophic loses. The Health care industry is so expensive that the pool of money is in danger of not existing so the rates keep going up and up while the quality of care keeps going down and down.
Some people live in dangerous situations which will inevitably create a health care need...
Does anyone see any solutions?
Should the Government take our hard earned money to function?
2 people like this
8 responses
@phildozer (284)
• United States
28 Jul 09
They way I like to think of it is that at least we can do something to affect our government. When we give the government money, we expect services, and if these services arent provided adequately, we can just kick the bums out, as my AP gov teacher liked to say. However when we give money to a company and they dont provide the service you thought you paid for, all you have is customer service to complain to. Dont get me wrong, im not some socialist, I like a free market economy, but I think when it comes to dealing with people's health and dealing with things we need to survive, it has to be up to a responsive government to provide those things for us.
2 people like this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
28 Jul 09
Thanks Phil,
I think you might be on to something there...
There is a big pool of money out there in corporate hands all around the world and they are not allowing it to flow down to the little people who are doing with out so much.
Now imagine if the technology and insurance industries had worked for the little person just how much of the capital would have been flowing all around?
Instead the money is soon to become worth less as pennies become worth more...
Or could it all turn to dust tomorrow?
@quita88 (3715)
• United States
28 Jul 09
I see no need in socialized medicine/healthcare.
Do you really see any need in it? we are not communists.
I too pay bills, etc.
I have health care.
I am a senior citizen too and the new health care reform takes away from us old folks. WE would be left out in the cold.
That sums it for me.
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
29 Jul 09
Hi Quita,
You know, I think we all need to sit down and talk this thing through, because what socialized health care is and does makes health care available to each every single person here in America will be covered for our medical needs. We could use the current employment of the people working in the insurance agencies as guardians of the program. There would be a lot of work both in record keeping and in organizing the related needs to make sure each person gets the best treatment available.
Our nation has good stuff to provide for all of our medical needs we just need to use what we have more wisely.
You are lucky that you have health coverage, I am more worried about people who do not have any coverage and the rising cost of treatments. Do you know how much some of these procedures cost?
Dealing with doctors you never see the total of the costs of treatments anymore. You get billed by code and most of your medicines do not show their actual cost when insurance is involved. I don't like the secrecy, a $3.00 medicine could be billed as $300.00 who would be the wiser?
When I go to the store I need to know how much an item costs...
These rich, wealthy elite folks don't have to ask the cost of anything and they treat the rest of us poor people in like manner thinking that we don't know, but in reality the ones that really don't know are the ones that don't ask the cost of products or services.
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
29 Jul 09
Response #2
Hi Quita88,
Thank You for explaining your position, I really appreciate your opinion and candor and I do not think of you as anything but beautiful.
I'm really afraid that many people are more like Stephcjh, in comment #6...
Here is what I received from the President Barack Obama today, have you seen this?
The White House, Washington
Dear Friend,
If you’re like most Americans, there’s nothing more important to you about health care than peace of mind.
Given the status quo, that’s understandable. The current system often denies insurance due to pre-existing conditions, charges steep out-of-pocket fees – and sometimes isn’t there at all if you become seriously ill.
It’s time to fix our unsustainable insurance system and create a new foundation for health care security. That means guaranteeing your health care security and stability with eight basic consumer protections:
* No discrimination for pre-existing conditions
* No exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays
* No cost-sharing for preventive care
* No dropping of coverage if you become seriously ill
* No gender discrimination
* No annual or lifetime caps on coverage
* Extended coverage for young adults
* Guaranteed insurance renewal so long as premiums are paid
Learn more about these consumer protections at Whitehouse.gov.
Over the next month there is going to be an avalanche of misinformation and scare tactics from those seeking to perpetuate the status quo. But we know the cost of doing nothing is too high. Health care costs will double over the next decade, millions more will become uninsured, and state and local governments will go bankrupt.
It’s time to act and reform health insurance, drive down costs and guarantee the health care security and stability of every American family. You can help by putting these core principles of reform in the hands of your friends, your family, and the rest of your social network.
Thank you,
Barack Obama
@quita88 (3715)
• United States
29 Jul 09
Do you realize what socialized means? it means we are governed by our officials in our choices------they make the rules for our BODIES and we are to adhere to that order----------
We would have no real choices in our care !
There is no individual choices to be made with the health care program our pres. is trying to force on us.
You as well as anyone else can get health care if you budget for it. I am considered low income.
The codes you see on medical bills are explained on the back or somewhere on your bill.
Of course I know what meds cost ! I just had two heart attacks and have had extensive hosptial stays, not to mention ambulance costs, twice, meds out my rear ,and yet the new health care plan takes away our individuality of choice.
Right now, I am 60 and if I need a referral or further testing, on the plan I won't get them.
If I were on my last leg, the plan is to pull my plug, whether I'd requested that option or not---do you want your plug pulled? I think not, you'd want the choice wouldn't you?
I do not intend to come off ugly here, but it's time Americans stood up for their rights before they are all lost to a man seeking Godliness in taking over our choices as Americans in our own health care choices.
I want to be able to make my own choices, not the president----
thanks
1 person likes this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
29 Jul 09
I would like to borrow your money stretcher if your money is stretched out as far as it will go and you are not using it anymore because you are done with your money stretcher for the moment, and when I am done stretching my money I will gladly return it so you can stretch the new batch of money... I'm just afraid that putting so much stress on the money stretcher we might very well wear it out before it's designated life expectancy reaches it's maximum limit.
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
29 Jul 09
You are right they should have...
Did you notice that I wrote I have no savings, yet I reveal that I have a 401K????
Well I do have some savings but nothing is left over at the end of the week for my personal savings my budget is running a bit too tight, in years past I worked more hours and so I could save a little but this year our hours are down as with most Americans.
We are not in a good situation.
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
31 Jul 09
Greatwhite...!!!
I'm usually in 100% agreement with you but this time around, I can't believe what I'm hearing? Aren't you aware of the problem-reaction-solution paradigm? Of course, medical costs are so high and forcing us all to desperately need medical care--because then the guy on the white horse offering it to everyone comes off as the hero? Look at how these buffoons have handled medicare and social security! You really think that it would be any better to hand them the reigns to the entire industry? Meanwhile Codex Alimentarius and the more recently passed food bill is reigning in control of our entire diet and destroying any alternative medicine options!
Our country is broke, and the stipulations of this so-called "health plan" will cost trillions (that we don't have) and opens itself up for use by citizens and non-citizens alike. Now, I'm poor as crap, and under the proposed plan I have to sign up voluntarily for a government endorsed plan--or get fined for not doing so! This is exactly the kind of catch-twenty-two that our corporacratic socialist "government" wants.
1 person likes this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
1 Aug 09
You are in agreement with me, you just didn't know it...
I do not endorse the use of a middle person (to be PC) for our health needs, the middle person in this case is the insurance for profits industry.
I wrote in the Evolution of Religion that we do not need a ruler, king or president... I certainly have no use for an industry that is between me and my doctor controlling the fee for services and yet I do not want an extortionist to remove every penny that I managed to save from my earnings and more taking away my ability to live in the comforts that I worked so hard for to obtain or acquire.
Technically who needs the insurance industry?
1 person likes this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
1 Aug 09
Furthermore;
There was a time when our doctors cared about their patients and would provide services for free, or maybe a chicken or what have you. It was gratitude for the service of healing, did and does Jesus charge to heal? I'm not talking about the false church built upon a corrupt foundation. Do you or have you any knowledge of reading where Jesus charged people who required healing? Some people were healed by their own faith, reaching out and touching the robe of Jesus or with a thought the miracle of healing passed from one to another. What do we know of Mohamed? Did Mohamed heal?
The power of GOD is alive, if you can tap into the source knowing the truth.
The word is truth,
The word is a name,
The word is good,
My Handshake is as good as my signature! My signature is my word and if you keep your promise to me I will keep my promise to you.
1 person likes this
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
11 Aug 09
Indeed... You'll get no arguments from me. I just doubt the utility or benevolence of anything, no matter how sweet it sounds (verily the sweeter it seems the more poisonous I suspect it to be), coming from our "leaders" today.
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
28 Jul 09
When I want to buy something new, it has to come out of what I make and I will budget accordingly. So if the government decides to increase its taxes, it impacts my buying the things I want. When I wanted a cell phone, I figured out a budget and how many inches I could afford, and I decided to save enough so that instead of paying $100 a month, I would only pay $30. That is part of the new technology you are talking about. When the government decides to offer health insurance, it forgets that many people will use the health insurance when they really do not need it and that will drive up the costs.
So if one budgets their own money, one knows what one can afford and if one cannot afford it one works harder. And yet the government considers us as a cash cow and will not budget but spend your money and more and leave you less to work with.
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
28 Jul 09
I love to hear the concept of borrowing your way out of debt...
If I can't afford it today, I certainly won't be able to afford it tomorrow and most loans are figured on future gains, but our future looks more like many of us are losing.
1 person likes this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
30 Jul 09
On the flip side of that thought, China is becoming more humane as America becomes more abusive??? Go figure??? (em)Scratching head(/em)
1 person likes this
@suspenseful (40192)
• Canada
30 Jul 09
That is the whole trouble with the government treating people as cash cows. You cannot borrow yourself out of debt and if you give money away as the government in the states is doing, there are always those who think the world owes them a living. Sooner or later, we have to pay back and who will you be indebted to when they demand considerations? I am sure that since much of the money to help America comes from Communist China, they may ask them to overlook some of their human rights violations.
1 person likes this
@stephcjh (38473)
• United States
29 Jul 09
I know it. It is all such a mess right now in the United States. My family and I are tax payers also and we have not had insurance for years because I work from home and my husbands job does not offer health insurance. We cannot afford to pay the monthly fee for it and the huge deductible either.
1 person likes this
@TheGreatWhiteBuffalo (4822)
• United States
29 Jul 09
Hi Stephcjh,
Would you take a look at my second response to Quita88? Have you seen that message?
I understand where you are coming from and I want to see everyone covered and protected if a health need should arise that would require any medical attention or hospitalization. It certainly should be a given right to live the best life possible. I really think there is only one choice...
@GardenGerty (169564)
• United States
28 Jul 09
I earn more, so the government can take more. I feel trapped where I am. We are not giving up much, but are trying hard to pay down much, so that there is more breathing room. I am fortunate, much more so than many others. We have enough to take care of our needs, but we do not have extravagant needs. We do not have enough insurance, either, but that is a risk we take, I guess. I cannot see becoming insurance poor.
@DavidReedy (2378)
• United States
31 Jul 09
It's interesting... Just recently I read an article by a professional marketer who notes that his college-aged son is already ditching all the doo-dads and has purchased the most basic of telephone services, and gets his cable tv through his computer... Indeed, it's almost like we're going to have to, one way or another, go back...
1 person likes this
