Man Uses $1m Win To Finally Visit Doctor, Gets Terminal Cancer Diagnosis, Dies

[Joods]

Expenses have been cut. Extra work is not always available.

You make it sound so easy, but you aren't living our lives so you have no right to assume that we can just do what you suggest. And neither can thousands of other families. You do realize that extra available work has to actually be a thing, right?

You live somewhere without Walmarts and fast food? Around here those places are always hiring.

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Walmart? Fast food? Please. Let's get real here. Rob is a welder with several certifications in his field. That has been his occupation for 26 years. Why should he have to work at Walmart or in a fast food place? That would be taking a pay cut. And really fucking stupid. He is already employed. He works 40 hours a week. Sometimes he gets overtime. Sometimes he doesn't. The health insurance offered by his employer sucks. He's not even getting paid what he's worth. Unfortunately he would have to drive an hour out of the way just to get a job that would pay him what he's worth. And those jobs are union jobs that suck $100 a week out of one's pay just for union dues. 

You seem to be intentionally missing the point I have been making so at this time, since you want to be dense, I'm just going to stop conversing with you. I don't have to justify my family situation or Rob's income or how we make ends meet to you or anyone else. He busts his ass at work. Probably more than you do. He doesn't get all the credit he deserves in this life. In addition, he has been either walking five miles to work or riding a bike because we only have one family car and it isn't always convenient for him to take it. So don't fucking tell me that he should have to work "a few more hours" to make up for the shitty health insurance he gets. He's doing everything he can for his family and he is NOT lazy about it. Jobs just happen to suck in our area.

What you fail miserably to understand is that he makes just enough money for us to get by, but he makes too much money to qualify for any sort of assistance from the government for medical help or anything else.  He's already working a full time job. Technically, he shouldn't have to work extra hours just to afford decent healthcare. Jesus fucking christ. There are politicians who work far less in a year but they voted themselves nice pensions and nice paychecks and great healthcare, all while fucking over working class Americans. And judging by how you have responded in this thread, your standard of living is probably similar to theirs, so you seem to think there's nothing wrong with any of that. 

You clearly don't have a single clue as to what it takes to try busting your ass to raise three teens while you are still struggling to get medical care for yourself. 

Fast food jobs are not designed to support anyone with any sort of a living wage. But you already knew that, didn't you? I think you just want to piss on those who fall well below your own income bracket because you don't have anything of substance to add to this discussion.

[Amarok]

Making a welder work at fucking walmart just so he can get fucking health insurance  . Is fucking stupid . And your a total prick for even suggesting it Beta. Until their is decent living wage such jobs are not viable .

[Aegon]

Nowhere NEAR worthless. It's done some incredible things. Too many for me to go into without some serious time on my hands. It also opened up Americans' minds to how many benefits they can actually get from their insurer when insurance companies can't penalise them for needing health insurance.

So it's done incredible things, but for the guy in the article and thousands of others it's worthless. Is that correct?

....yes? Lol. Am I allowed to really like certain things about it and not others?

The solution is a comprehensive two tier system similar to that of Australia's. IMO

[Amarok]

So it's done incredible things, but for the guy in the article and thousands of others it's worthless. Is that correct?

....yes? Lol. Am I allowed to really like certain things about it and not others?

The solution is a comprehensive two tier system similar to that of Australia's. IMO

No apparently

[GrandizerII]

Just world bias is what people like alpha suffer from.

[pocaracas]

So it's done incredible things, but for the guy in the article and thousands of others it's worthless. Is that correct?

....yes? Lol. Am I allowed to really like certain things about it and not others?

The solution is a comprehensive two tier system similar to that of Australia's. IMO

While you're copying Australia... Deal with the gun problem.

[John V]

This is a discussion forum, so you have absolutely no way of knowing whether people here do more than just talk about healthcare reform.

I know people in general tend to bitch about big problems but do nothing about them, so it's reasonable to think that's what's going on here.

Talking helps work out the problems and guide people on how to vote/help in other ways. Besides, you bitch about plenty on here, and I sincerely doubt you've done shit to back up your right-wing lip service.

LMAO - right-wing lip service? I'm the guy defending Obamacare. I've said repeatedly I don't oppose single payer.

We do expect people to take a certain amount of personal responsibility for their healthcare.

You might, but I think there are some here who feel that health care is fully the government's problem.

As for the dems having a chance to fix it. That's bullshit. When the time came to fix it, they were blocked by Republicans. Then, the ultimate Rep. douchebag made his way into office on the promise of single payer and then screwed the pooch hard for both Republicans and Democrats.

You misunderstand. I don't mean fix Obamacare, I mean fix health care. Obamacare was the attempt at the fix. I'm saying that instead of Obamacare they could have gone to single payer, but didn't. They had the white house, both houses, and IIRC a mandate.

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Oddly, alpha, I was waiting for you to suggest one.

I'm not the one criticizing the current system, so yes - it's very odd that you would be waiting for me to suggest a solution.

Anyone can offer slings and arrows.  If you are only bringing criticism, you're indistinguishable from noise.

I'm the one defending ACA. My opponents are criticizing it. Amazing how the partisan lens distorts what's actually going on.

I advocate universal health care paid for via general fund taxes.

And I've said multiple times that I don't oppose that.

Research bears out that developed nations with such systems achieve better results than the USA, with less per capital expenditure, and have for quite some timem  I realize that doesn't align with your ideological viewpoint,

No, it doesn't, but I'm not a political ideologue, so I'm willing to compromise.

but frankly, I don't value politics based on ideology that achieves poor results.  I vote GOP until 8 years ago.  Their ideas suck.

Are you not an ideologue, or did you just change ideology? Note that the Dems aren't pushing single payer either, and they had a chance to make it happen.

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Walmart? Fast food? Please. Let's get real here. Rob is a welder with several certifications in his field. That has been his occupation for 26 years. Why should he have to work at Walmart or in a fast food place?

To pay his bills and afford health care.

That would be taking a pay cut.

Not instead of his regular job, in addition to his regular job.

Or hell, I don't know if they have this in your area, but I used to have a paper route that paid $20K a year, and that was over 20 years ago. I'd go in at 3am and be done by 6, then I'd go to my regular job.

You clearly don't have a single clue as to what it takes to try busting your ass to raise three teens while you are still struggling to get medical care for yourself. 

I don't consider 40 hour weeks with occasional overtime to be busting ass. That's just normal.

Fast food jobs are not designed to support anyone with any sort of a living wage. But you already knew that, didn't you? I think you just want to piss on those who fall well below your own income bracket because you don't have anything of substance to add to this discussion.

And again, I'm talking extra income, not a switch in main job.

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So it's done incredible things, but for the guy in the article and thousands of others it's worthless. Is that correct?

....yes? Lol. Am I allowed to really like certain things about it and not others?

I would think that when the "others" include thousands of people dying because they can't afford care - under the Affordable Care Act - that would overshadow whatever good you see in it.

[Aegon]

....yes? Lol. Am I allowed to really like certain things about it and not others?

I would think that when the "others" include thousands of people dying because they can't afford care - under the Affordable Care Act - that would overshadow whatever good you see in it.

Uh. It's not like these people weren't dying and all of a sudden the ACA caused their deaths. Prior to the law people were being denied health care for NEEDING HEALTH CARE. That's the most fucked up system of health care i can think of. Annual limits, lifetime limits, all being eliminated. MILLIONS of individuals insured when they previously could not afford to do so, through the elimination of pre existing conditions, the expansion of Medicaid, and the provision mandating employees with more than 50 employees must offer health insurance as well as the clause that allows young people to stay on their parents plan until 26. These are wildly popular, even with those who scream "SOCIALISM!!!"

The individual market hasn't been this accessible since the industry became uber-privitized in the 1940s. For the first time since then, the average person could now receive preventative care.* More people can actually afford their necessary prescription medication! That is PHENOMENAL. Now people are realizing just how many benefits they deserve, that they didn't know they could get. And everybody does DESERVE IT, Alpha. For being alive.

Do I need to go through the negatives? Of course it hit the employer based market badly at first. I oppose the HIIT tax, medical device tax and the Cadillac Tax. And although the mandate was the best way to enact the plan they created, I'm against the mandate idea in general. It shouldn't be necessary. It was here, though. I disagree with the premise of the bill. It's not a universal health care plan. It's a shotty attempt at appeasing cold hearted conservatives who don't think it's fair that people be able to afford to live, who for some reason are fine with 54% of bankruptcies resulting from medical debt as well as the fact that the US spends more on health care than any other nation while getting significantly less in return. THOSE stats are the result of our system. Where's the logic here? It's a desperate cling to Reaganism, to the age old (and ridiculous) idea that the government and the markets need to be at odds with one another in public and in bed with one another in private. We can never call what we have true capitalism while this reality bears true. Medical costs inhibit one's economic contribution (investments, housing market, etc), ability to work and overall quality of life. It's common sense to eliminate this problem, especially from the economic conservative's perspective. Let's do it how many before us have. No longer let the individual suffer from this cruel system. American conservatives are ALONE in opposing this, Alpha. In the whole goddamn world they're alone. It's just appalling.

*The influx of people receiving preventative care for the first time caused health care costs to jump in the short term, but obviously pays off in the long term.

EDIT: Hell, if a universal health care plan was pushed through Congress and implemented I'd probably be more likely to identify as Republican lol. Or at least a more moderate Dem. I just can't believe it's not a common sense bipartisan issue like it is throughout the rest of the West.

[Jackalope]

Medical costs inhibit one's economic contribution (investments, housing market, etc), ability to work and overall quality of life.

...not to mention that ILLNESS inhibits one's economic contribution. What's the economic cost (loss tax revenue, reduction of GDP, etc) of uninsured illness?

Let's also not forget that we were already paying extremely high costs for the uninsured to get service at the ER. The cost of one visit to the ER for preventable illness covers the cost of a *lot* of preventative care.

[Amarok]

Healthy workers are productive workers