Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
scottish-guy
Well said Frequent!
If kkjason or anybody else wants to get pissed about about so-called spongers then look no further than Amazon, Google, and the Family at the head of the UK (watching my words, Jellybean) - the trillions in taxes which are dodged by corporate entities and wealthy individuals places his cousin's "free" beer, fags, and tampons firmly in the "so microscopic that the Lord himself could not find it with a telescope" department.
KKjason has yet to learn Socrates' great truth - "If you want to be wrong follow the masses". As you and I know, welfare recipients as a group can be represented by a statistical distribution, so you have to wonder where KKjason believes the spongers are - at the mean is what he seems to be saying. I'd have thought they're clustered around and beyond the third standard deviation from the mean
But then he's a man who can't even understand how insurance works ...
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kittyboy
People in the USA have tried to fix healthcare and been stopped by the conservative machine.
I expect the USA government to help people get education and level the playing field for those who are not powerful.
I love the conservative mindset....INDIVIDUAL responsibility...anyone who needs help is a bloodsucking leech who should suffer.
Corporations and the wealthy over the last 40 years have changed the rules so it is harder to succeed. I know people who have died because of the USA healthcare system. They did not have health insurance . Many conservatives. Maybe yourself included...think too bad. They made bad choices. Fuck them. Let them die.
I understand many people have tried to fix the system. I asked if you personally have made the effort? If so, then I applaud you. If not, the point you are trying to make is moot. Do not complain about a system if you are not willing to be an agent of change.
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
frequent
KKjason has yet to learn Socrates' great truth - "If you want to be wrong follow the masses". As you and I know, welfare recipients as a group can be represented by a statistical distribution, so you have to wonder where KKjason believes the spongers are - at the mean is what he seems to be saying. I'd have thought they're clustered around and beyond the third standard deviation from the mean
But then he's a man who can't even understand how insurance works ...
Hey. Wait a minute. You don’t know me, yet you want to now sling insults at me. How very grown up of you. You must be so proud that you can sling mud. Bravo!
That being said, you and Scottish seem so ready to ridicule America. As I said, I can take it, yet you are unwilling to discuss the issues in Europe and other Western countries. Talk about hypocritical. The medical system in Sweden, for example, is so fractured and dysfunctional that thousands come to Thailsnd every year for care. Norway even pays for its citizens to get treatment here because they have acknowledged their own failures. In your way of thinking, these must be two shining examples of a taxpayer funded system. Again, look at yourself before insulting others.
Re: No country for old men?
I set up and run an employer sponsored self funded insurance plan for 10 years and it amazes me how Americans (I am one) let their preconceived notions color their opinions. All health care involves pools some pools collect their income from employee paychecks and employer contributions and others from taxes. The idea that by paying a monthly invoice one is showing "individual responsibility" does not take into consideration that your monthly premiums are still pooled and that your premiums are going to pay the healthcare expenses of someone else. If your insurance is provided by an employer and if one of your coworkers has a serious illness and you are perfectly healthy then when renewal roles around your insurance premiums are going to increase; thus your premiums have nothing to do with your health and your healthcare costs at any given point in your life. Its all a pool, a pool of risk. Whether the cost of that risk is borne by an employer and its employees or by a nation as a whole is a concept Americans cannot understand. Americans are big on "individual responsibility" but still they refuse to allow healthcare providers to refuse treatment to those who cannot pay. Yes, I always loved the argument about "personal responsibility" like anyone actually is personally responsible for their true healthcare costs...its all a pool and it doesn't take a real serious medical emergency to make your paltry monthly premium look pathetic in light of the EOBS coming in showing tens of thousands of dollars in costs.
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
scottish-guy
..and the Family at the head of the UK (watching my words, Jellybean)
I'm pretty sure the lèse majeste laws in Thailand do not apply to the British royals, if that is who you are referring to.
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kkjason
Hey. Wait a minute. You don’t know me, yet you want to now sling insults at me.
I'm merely inferring from what you have written, no insults intended. By the way, you seem incapable of providing any evidence of your assertion that "if you stop for moment, you can write a long list of things you can't stand about your own government". I find that a profoundly insulting comment since you appear to think I stoop to the level of the sort of people who delight in finding fault in their government and country and, moreover, are arrogant enough to believe that they can make a difference. Perhaps you haven't heard of the "Serenity Prayer" which begins "Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change ...". It's trite, but it contains a worthwhile thought and is, I'd hazard, essentially Buddhist (not that I'm claiming to be One Of Them)
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
a447
I'm pretty sure the lèse majeste laws in Thailand do not apply to the British royals, if that is who you are referring to.
It's never worried arsenal, who LM's Betty all the time about something I wrote. However, I think you'd find that the Thai media only ever post adulatory reports of the British royals on the basis that in Thailand every royal in the world wherever they may be, dead or alive, is above criticism
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TaoR
I set up and run an employer sponsored self funded insurance plan for 10 years and it amazes me how Americans (I am one) let their preconceived notions color their opinions. All health care involves pools some pools collect their income from employee paychecks and employer contributions and others from taxes. The idea that by paying a monthly invoice one is showing "individual responsibility" does not take into consideration that your monthly premiums are still pooled and that your premiums are going to pay the healthcare expenses of someone else. If your insurance is provided by an employer and if one of your coworkers has a serious illness and you are perfectly healthy then when renewal roles around your insurance premiums are going to increase; thus your premiums have nothing to do with your health and your healthcare costs at any given point in your life. Its all a pool, a pool of risk. Whether the cost of that risk is borne by an employer and its employees or by a nation as a whole is a concept Americans cannot understand. Americans are big on "individual responsibility" but still they refuse to allow healthcare providers to refuse treatment to those who cannot pay. Yes, I always loved the argument about "personal responsibility" like anyone actually is personally responsible for their true healthcare costs...its all a pool and it doesn't take a real serious medical emergency to make your paltry monthly premium look pathetic in light of the EOBS coming in showing tens of thousands of dollars in costs.
I offer up this link for an assessment of what's wrong with American health insurance
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kkjason
I understand many people have tried to fix the system. I asked if you personally have made the effort? If so, then I applaud you. If not, the point you are trying to make is moot. Do not complain about a system if you are not willing to be an agent of change.
Yes, all those college kids agitating for greater gun control, they're certainly making a difference as "agents for change" aren't they
Re: No country for old men?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
kkjason
I understand many people have tried to fix the system. I asked if you personally have made the effort? If so, then I applaud you. If not, the point you are trying to make is moot. Do not complain about a system if you are not willing to be an agent of change.
And what would you consider a personal effort to change the system? Should I appoint myself healthcare czar and rile the healthcare world by fiat?
I worked I. Healthcare for many years and volunteered as an hiv counselor for 15 years. I lobbied my elected resmpresentarives for years for national healthcare. I lobby my insurance company, doctor, family and friends at all opportunities. I am lobbying on this board for a sensible approach to healthcare on the USA. Ahh...do I pass your test?
Have you personally tried to fix the USA?