Cut backs

tonyb

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Todd Blome's phone has been ringing off the hook this week with clients seeking tax advice after learning they'll get a "shocking increase" in their health insurance premiums when Obamacare's health insurance exchanges begin operating.




Letters have been landing in mailboxes all over Nebraska explaining the impact Obamacare will have on people who buy insurance coverage on their own, rather than through work.

Blome, a Lincoln accountant, understands: He got a letter, too.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Nebraska informed Blome his health care plan will terminate at year's end, and if he wants to move to a similar plan his new premium will go up 65 percent, costing him nearly $4,000 more per year.

He distinctly remembers President Obama looking into TV cameras and assuring Americans they would be able to keep their doctors, and policies.

His letter says otherwise.

"Stupid me, I took the president literally


I think many took them seriously.....and that's the problem. You can't believe a word that comes out of their mouths.....any of them. It doesn't matter what side of the isle you sit, eventually we all get that feeling of being duped. That has to change, and integrity has to be restored.

WLDock

Damn, thats steep. That is my fear.....not what it cost today but what it will cost in 5-10 years. The current state sucks in a major way, IMO! The costs of Hospital Care is absurd.

My income in no way shape or form has followed the rise in healthcare cost nor overall inflation.

WilliamM2

tonyb wrote: »

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...

My wife got the letter as well, as we purchase her insurance direct from BCBS, it's cheaper than adding her to my policy. It said the current plan would terminate at the end of the year, and she would need a different plan. In my wife's case, the coverage she will get is a little better, and the rate goes down about $20 a month. So it's not an increase for everybody.

She just landed a new job, and they will provide her insurance, so we will be cancelling the policy Nov. 1st anyways.

sandworms

Rick88 wrote: »

Attachment not found.

I voted for the one on the left

sucks2beme

Benefits are dead and dying anyway you look at it.
I guess we are all going to just have to deal with it.
When the jobs went offshore, so did all the wealth.
That's the real trickle down deal right there. Give it 10 more
years and I'll be standing out by the 7-11 doing day labor.

tonyb

sucks2beme wrote: »

Benefits are dead and dying anyway you look at it.
I guess we are all going to just have to deal with it.
When the jobs went offshore, so did all the wealth.
That's the real trickle down deal right there. Give it 10 more
years and I'll be standing out by the 7-11 doing day labor.

Maybe....I guess if you subscribe to, or accept that theory, again....do the math. If benefits and good jobs are leaving us, and nobody seems to care about the influx of cheap labor from the southern border, whats that say for the quality of life for millions of people in the near future ? Doesn't simple logic say to then change course ? Not a hard choice if you ask me, doesn't get anymore basic than that. Simple reasoning dictates actions have outcomes. If the perceived outcome is not desired, change the actions, change the path. Have we become that self absorbed, that self serving, that polarized that we can't do simple reasoning or simple math anymore ? If so, that doesn't bode well for the future of our species.

sucks2beme

The motto is, greed is good. We are looking at a 1901 approach to business.
The jobs went to the lowest cost labor. What's left? They want all imports to flow
through Mexico and be hauled by cheap Mexican truckers. All office work is going to India.
Call centers go to the Philippines or Vietnam. And all US workers will be working part
time for $8 an hour. Unless there is a "American spring" kind of event. don't expect it to change.

audio_alan

If true, it ticks me off that certain religions are exempt from ACA/Obamacare. What happened to separation of church and state?

I'll admit that I don't know all of the ramifications of it yet either, but it needs to be an all-or-none approach.... all religions, all races, everyone, including our elected politicians. No more of their sweetheart politician b.s. deals/exemptions! They need to live with the laws that they pass and mandate to the masses!

Taking that one step further, are Muslims exempt from car insurance too, because it's "gambling" (the reason stated for being exempt from ACA)? In most states (if not all by now), it's mandatory to provide proof of insurance to register your vehicle. Or do the Muslims have a loophole for that too? Which leads me to what really bugs me about this:

If you own a car, you're mandated to buy car insurance. Don't want to pay? Ok, fine, don't own a car. It's your choice.

If you buy a home and have a mortgage, you're mandated to buy homeowners insurance. Don't want to pay? Ok, fine, don't own a home. It's your choice.

If you are alive, now you're mandated to buy medical insurance. Don't want to pay? What now... kill yourself or be a criminal? This law is unconstitutional, plain and simple. It's a tax for being alive.


The real question is, how do us little guys fight these decisions that are being made on Capital Hill? Big business and Wall Street bankers have their ear, we don't. My only suggestion is to send them a message by voting ALL the bums out, EVERY election. Sure, you might get rid of some good apples, but it will get the career politicians out of office.

obieone

I don't what the problem is. I just put my billing address as 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.....

tonyb

sucks2beme wrote: »

The motto is, greed is good. We are looking at a 1901 approach to business.
The jobs went to the lowest cost labor. What's left? They want all imports to flow
through Mexico and be hauled by cheap Mexican truckers. All office work is going to India.
Call centers go to the Philippines or Vietnam. And all US workers will be working part
time for $8 an hour. Unless there is a "American spring" kind of event. don't expect it to change.

Good post, but greed is good.....to an extent of course. It's the overly greedy that pisses people off. The no holds barred, rake 'em over the coals, squeeze them until they bleed....then squeeze some more, type of greed. Wouldn't it be safe to say government has become just as, if not more, greedy than their corporate counter parts ? Yet we criticize CEO's but say zilch about the 500+ boneheads making excessive greed top priority. Some may even suggest corporations have a moral obligation to "give back", and lots of them in fact do but is it really their obligation ? Doesn't those you send to Washington have an obligation to work on your behalf ? Does not obligations fall under morality ? Then we should be working on promoting the morality of our young men and woman, no? We should send to Washington those who represent some traces of morality. But we don't do we ? We live by 60 second sound bites and what rests on the front page everyday without really knowing whats going on.

From talking to friends and neighbors, it saddens me to hear most are just tired of it all or simply don't care one way or the other. Yet they complain the loudest when things turn south for them. For decades we have had it good.....too good, and complacency has set in. That's the period of time when you lose the most as is evident today. History tells us time and time again that complacency is one of the final steps in the downfall of any civilization. It also tells us 200 years is roughly the life span of most too. We are over that mark and complacency surely has set in. This freedom thing, this "American experiment" as some like to call it, takes work....every day. We were founded by men who wanted to create something unique in a world of Kings and peasants. From where I sit though, some are allowing that Kings and peasants mentality to take hold again. For me, the key to this all succeeding is summed up in 2 words, Personal Responsibility. YOU are responsible for yourself and your family, not your neighbor, the state, or the federal government. You are responsible and dictate your own lifestyle, what you eat, your health, saving your money and earning that money. Once you give up that responsibility to a centralized government, like we are doing today, you in essence have wasted the last 240 years and have delivered yourself and your children back into the lands of the Kings and Peasants. Just my opinion of course, yours may vary.

cnh

Tony and I really don't disagree much on this. The only real point of disagreement I may have with some above is that this program is not real socialism. It can't be when the most will keep what they have, the rest will have their hours cut by their benevolent masters of industry, and those without will have to scrounge whatever healthcare remains in their state as mhardy describes (although to be fair, tax free N.H. is hardly a model for "giving" and "compassion", lol--it has become more and more a haven for rather well off Mass residents trying to escape taxes in their home state); it allows insurance companies the ability to scramble around and reconfigure themselves so as to still make sure they can "profit".

A true socialist program would be like welfare, Medicare, Social Security and even Military Defense, where almost everything is paid for by state redistribution of citizen taxes? Every "entitlement" program is a social program. Do you guys who are avid socialist naysayers from the "cold war" period hate all entitlements? Do you think that EVERY entitlement would do better "privatized"? If you do then you don't live on the same planet that I do because greed and corruption is certainly RAMPANT in the so-called FREE MARKET! lol And you're holding on to a pipe dream!

The main problem with Mr. Obama is that he tried to play "centrist", adopt that Romney Mass program that gives a LOT OF WIGGLE room to the people who are SUPPOSED to be competing for your business. TOO MUCH WIGGLE room. And if you're going to go with a program like that, you just have to go single payer and full Gov't. (I know you guys HATE that, but any half-assed program that tries to strike a middle ground, like the present one, is too full of contradictions--allows too many clever people too many options to CHEAT or work the program).

So until we actually have a socialist program. Which we DON'T, far from it! Let's keep the "S" word in our pocket, shall we. I ought to know what "socialism" looks like since I've spent 3 1/2 years in China and an entire lifetime studying it? This is NOT to say I am a Chinese sympathizer. I am not. But there are certainly "some" things that system can do that makes our free system look impotent. And the reason is because they have a strong central Gov't. And the people are not screaming bloody murder for the most part. In fact, reforms, a more open economy and slow generational changes in leadership may lead to a more Democratic China in the future. History is a hard thing to predict. There may come a time, in the, near future when the model will not be a Democratically free but horribly DIVIDED nation with free markets, but a strong centralized state with a freer citizenry and free markets that can be reigned in by the state if they decide to wreck havoc on the National Economy without having a self-serving politician filibuster every time some "pet" belief they have is violated.

To recap. Obamacare. Problematic, yes! But NOT for the reasons most people give, i.e., too much Gov't. The problem, too "little Gov't" too much healthcare industry "freedom"!

As a student of history, the most workable solutions I have seen involve Gov't restraint on unbridled Capitalism combined with a viable tax structure on those who can "afford" it to redistribute resources for everyone. The caveat, you can't have immoral politicians as the majority. When everyone is screaming bloody murder and they're also "on the take", receiving gifts, income, stock options from oil, and the health, pharmaceutical industry, etc. Can you really "trust" anything that "any" politician is talking about...anything? What a bunch of jokers! We're supposed to believe these servants of the "market" who we "elected" so they can serve not us but "profits"? lol

Democrats = Spineless opportunists who rarely do the right thing. Republicans = Endlessly talking about God and Country while collecting WELFARE from large corporate interests and serving "them" rather than "us"!

This country needs a party of the "people"! Where is it?


cnh

brgman

cnh wrote: »

Tony and I really don't disagree much on this. The only real point of disagreement I may have with some above is that this program is not real socialism. It can't be when the most will keep what they have, the rest will have their hours cut by their benevolent masters of industry, and those without will have to scrounge whatever healthcare remains in their state as mhardy describes (although to be fair, tax free N.H. is hardly a model for "giving" and "compassion", lol--it has become more and more a haven for rather well off Mass residents trying to escape taxes in their home state); it allows insurance companies the ability to scramble around and reconfigure themselves so as to still make sure they can "profit".

A true socialist program would be like welfare, Medicare, Social Security and even Military Defense, where almost everything is paid for by state redistribution of citizen taxes? Every "entitlement" program is a social program. Do you guys who are avid socialist naysayers from the "cold war" period hate all entitlements? Do you think that EVERY entitlement would do better "privatized"? If you do then you don't live on the same planet that I do because greed and corruption is certainly RAMPANT in the so-called FREE MARKET! lol And you're holding on to a pipe dream!

The main problem with Mr. Obama is that he tried to play "centrist", adopt that Romney Mass program that gives a LOT OF WIGGLE room to the people who are SUPPOSED to be competing for your business. TOO MUCH WIGGLE room. And if you're going to go with a program like that, you just have to go single payer and full Gov't. (I know you guys HATE that, but any half-assed program that tries to strike a middle ground, like the present one, is too full of contradictions--allows too many clever people too many options to CHEAT or work the program).

So until we actually have a socialist program. Which we DON'T, far from it! Let's keep the "S" word in our pocket, shall we. I ought to know what "socialism" looks like since I've spent 3 1/2 years in China and an entire lifetime studying it? This is NOT to say I am a Chinese sympathizer. I am not. But there are certainly "some" things that system can do that makes our free system look impotent. And the reason is because they have a strong central Gov't. And the people are not screaming bloody murder for the most part. In fact, reforms, a more open economy and slow generational changes in leadership may lead to a more Democratic China in the future. History is a hard thing to predict. There may come a time, in the, near future when the model will not be a Democratically free but horribly DIVIDED nation with free markets, but a strong centralized state with a freer citizenry and free markets that can be reigned in by the state if they decide to wreck havoc on the National Economy without having a self-serving politician filibuster every time some "pet" belief they have is violated.

To recap. Obamacare. Problematic, yes! But NOT for the reasons most people give, i.e., too much Gov't. The problem, too "little Gov't" too much healthcare industry "freedom"!

As a student of history, the most workable solutions I have seen involve Gov't restraint on unbridled Capitalism combined with a viable tax structure on those who can "afford" it to redistribute resources for everyone. The caveat, you can't have immoral politicians as the majority. When everyone is screaming bloody murder and they're also "on the take", receiving gifts, income, stock options from oil, and the health, pharmaceutical industry, etc. Can you really "trust" anything that "any" politician is talking about...anything? What a bunch of jokers! We're supposed to believe these servants of the "market" who we "elected" so they can serve not us but "profits"? lol

Democrats = Spineless opportunists who rarely do the right thing. Republicans = Endlessly talking about God and Country while collecting WELFARE from large corporate interests and serving "them" rather than "us"!

This country needs a party of the "people"! Where is it?


cnh

Drivel.
Leftist drivel.

tonyb

Cnh,

Good post my friend and as usual I respect your perspective. I find it problematic however to try and legislate morality to a larger degree as some propose. The answer to me anyway is you wouldn't need so much legislation in that regard if you concentrated on building better men....and woman. Again, I liken the whole thing to a doctor who treats the symptoms but forgoes the disease. You can't decry morality in society when at every turn government attacks it or turns a blind eye for profit and cronyism. We must jusge those in power by their actions, not their words.

As far as the ACA being socialism, I would beg to differ. Socialism isn't some switch you just turn on and one day poof....now we have it. It creeps in slowly, a piece of legislation at a time as to not draw attention to itself. Forcing people to buy something they may not want....c'mon man, ya gotta give me that one. Don't bring up car insurance or house insurance either, you don't have to drive and you don't have to own a home. Can I not "have to" buy health insurance ? No....not without a penalty/tax. Whats next ? You have to buy an electric car......appliances that meet certain energy usages ? In my mind, freedom comes with an inherit right to be left alone. To choose how to live your life, to be free from undue persecution, excessive taxation, and discriminatory behavior. Of course society in general needs some leeway to make laws so that everyone is on the same page but not unnecessary ones. How about we work on curing the disease, rather than keep treating the symptoms.