to wonder why any American's are against Obamacare?

[lowfatiscrap12]

Please, if you're an American, or if you're not American, tell me.
It's driving me insane.
What's wrong with proper healthcare for everyone?
I've got a few American's on Facebook, who happen to live in trailers, so not wealthy people, and you'd imagine they'd be more supportive of Obamacare than anyone.
I don't get it.
What's the problem?
Why would anyone want to keep the current system where one illness can bankrupt a family?

I met a young couple on holiday in the states a few years ago. He worked in a fast food place, she didn't work and had no insurance. They had a lovely tiny little girl with them, she had been born very prematurely and the bill was hundreds of thousands of dollars. I remember being stunned that they had to pay to have their baby kept alive, I find it amazing. I asked would they be charged double if she had had twins - yep they would.
I have American friends on Facebook and they are so anti Obama It's unreal.

I don't think most Americans realise that you can choose private health insurance here if you want and that it is comparitively cheap because it does not have to cover emergency departments etc.

California thank you for the explanation. that is absolutely horrifying.

I am quite stunned. And I take my hat off to Americans who are poor/in low paid/unstable work, who have children. What a beautiful leap of faith, I know I'd be too much of a coward.
The thought of having a child born or becoming poorly, and not having health cover......

I have a friend in the US who moved out of her home and into her car so she could afford healthcare :( I can't see any real advantage to the system they have now - it's no way to treat fellow humans!

I agree with the poster earlier who pointed out the republicans are anti-abortion but not happy to have accessible/affordable care once the babies are born - shows it's definitely not about being pro-life

I agree with the previous posters who have mentioned Michael Moores Sicko. Its a real eye opener and you will never moan about paying for a prescription again.

I cannot understand the American attitude to the nhs at all.

I think your NHS is superb. Live in Ireland , visiting northern Ireland some years back , ds ill. Doctor came to hotel -no charge and medicine free the next day. Unbelievable! Here in Ireland it is means tested. I think Obamacare is a great idea.

Ignore the thrust of the blog in general, but I remember reading this post and thinking the system sounded completely bonkers and so very un-patient led.

skepticalob.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/if-homebirth-midwives-want-to-be.html

I live in the US and what Im hearing from my people is its not so much the healthcare but the fact we now HAVE to buy it. Its no longer a choice. I work with young people that are well pissed off as they are paying for insurance now that is costing way more than a couple of sick visits a year that they had to pay themselves.

The price of our health insurance has gone WAY up since this was introduced because the insurance companies have to insure everyone,regardless of pre existing conditions and god forbid they dont make billions a year in profits so everyone is paying more.

To keep this affordable for both employers and individuals they have come up with high deductible plans now. I went from having a plan that covered everything with a small co pay ($10) and no deductible to one that has a $30 co pay and a $4000 a year deductible for my family. Blood tests,x rays etc are subject to the deductible but not office visits, they just have the co pay. I pay quite a bit more for the privilege of having this reduced benefit.

Most states have medicaid which will kick in and cover costs if you dont have insurance and need medical care but you need to be eligible for it and not every one is. There is also a provision that if you gave false info at the hospital ( and a lot of people did to avoid the bill ) that the government would cover it. I think Obama care is trying to save the government money but poorly thought out and will be a nightmare to administer.

In Massachusetts,where I live, it has been compulsory to have insurance for years. If you dont have it they fine you when you have your taxes done. Its cheaper to take the fine than buy even the cheapest policy that is not offered through your employer and you are paying the full whack. I know people who were paying $2000 a month for a family policy. The state offers a variety of plans and the cheapest one,which still isnt cheap, couple hundred bucks a week, is basically catastrophic health care coverage,ie covers nothing till you need something big. Serious illness, accident etc it will make sure hospital gets paid but will only pay 80% and you have to pay the rest. This can be a HUGE financial burden.

Even seniors have to carry a private health insurance as the government medicare ( seniors and disabled people ) doesnt come close to meeting costs.

A lot of doctors will not accept Medicaid ( welfare insurance basically ) because they dont pay enough

The VA ( for all military and ex military ) has a reputation for being shit, cutting corners, denying care etc ( friends son cannot get the medication he needs to keep him mentally stable, after a head wound received during active service. There is a top of the line hospital near me who could have him fixed in no time but he cant go there because he has VA insurance and they wont take it and the VA would allow him to go). I know very few people who are happy with the VA and being in the medical field myself I know that they will take any warm body to work there so long as they are a citizen, they dont pay well and overall are crap

But hey land of the free and home of the brave and all that happy horse shit

Sorry for the essay too :o

OP YABU.

Not everyone even here in the UK supports fully socialised medicine but a little thing called the post war consensus neutralised all opposition to its implementation (including the main medical bodies and a healthy majority of doctors until very shortly before 1948) and to propose major changes would make someone unelectable :(

I am not in favour of moving to a complete privatised system: too much harm done to the poor. I would, however, approve of a lot more people taking out private health insurance and those on high incomes being charged a percentage of care costs- possibly with taxes lowered- to significantly streamline the government run healthcare system and remove its quasi-monopoly in many areas. Too much state control and zero state control are both bad for different reasons.

Obamacare isn't "universal healthcare." It's a fairly complex piece of legislation to do with health insurance, and I think part of the problem is that it is so complex that most people don't really understand it and it's very easy to paint it as "socialized healthcare," which most Americans have a kneejerk reaction against. In a nutshell:

-Everyone who is not already covered by a work plan, Medicare (retirees, people with disabilities) or Medicaid (low-income people) will have to buy insurance.
-Medicaid eligibility has been expanded.
-Standard premiums by age and state and no penalties for preexisting conditions.
-Subsidies on insurance for low income people who do not qualify for Medicaid, and for very small businesses who choose to provide healthcare.
-Businesses of a certain size who don't provide insurance will be forced to pay up if the government has to subsidize an employee's healthcare.

The idea is that by getting everybody to have health insurance, many young and healthy people will come into the insurance market and premiums for everyone will be driven down.

Part of the problem is that I don't think the Dems sold it well enough to the public, and also that the Repugs' strategy since 2008 has been to OBSTRUCT EVERYTHING that Obama does, even if it's actually a good idea. A lot of people who have work-based plans seem to think that they are going to be forced to buy an insurance plan they haven't chosen, when in reality nothing will change for them.

My sister is a very good example of the type of person who opposes Obamacare. She genuinely thinks that if you are poor/don't have a job it is the result of your own choices because everyone has the same opportunities. She feels that she and her husband had to work hard to be as affluent as they are and doesn't see why she should give handouts to the "undeserving poor." I am not left-wing by any means but I think this is nuts. I don't understand why nobody has made an economic argument for it - having a healthier population generally has got to benefit everyone, surely? Britain figured out that public health was a vital public issue around the time of the Boer War for God's sake.

But if you have socialised medicine, then the quality is reduced so that adequate care can be provided to all, regardless of income, much like in the NHS - cost/benefit analysis becomes a factor in your care.

See what I don't get is you could say

But if you have privatised medicine, then the quality is reduced so that adequate care can be provided but not cost the insurance the earth, much like in the NHS - cost/benefit analysis becomes a factor in your care.

In my own case I have never received adequate care on the NHS - I have received life saving care on two occasions and I watched my mother on a drip knowing that it was 10k worth going into her arm all paid for by nhs, six times they did the drip so it was a total of 60.000 pounds worth just on the drip. I don't see how that is just adequate care. I watched my ex receiving life saving treatment and expensive operations, I find it hard to see that they cut corners with the care or cost - I have had fantastic care on the NHS.

Well this post has certainly confirmed my worst fears about the US system as I had hoped that some of the things I had heard were widely exagerated but clearly not.

A system that will treat a sick child but end up bankrupting a poor family in the process is just wrong and to think that some Americans think our system is bad.

The Billions spent on Wars and people are up in arms over accessible healthcare .
How much would it cost America to fund free at the point of need Healthcare system, similar to the NHS? (and would any political party be big and brave enough to propose it?).

pathan in the same way we are absurdly proud of the NHS the americans i have spoken to are just as absurdly proud of not having it. Everyone paying their own way etc.

Also as an earlier poster said many of the poorer citizens who would directly benefit (i think all would indirectly benefit to some extent) don't even want it. As they have been brainwashed to aspire to the american dream. 'why should people get something for nothing when they could just work harder' type attitude, and 'one day i'll be rich and then i don't want to pay for lazy people'.

They do not identify themselves as commies and genuinely believe the system is fair.

It's like turkeys voting for xmas.

I know very little about this subject (and from reading this topic the US system feels ridiculously complicated) but when I was pregnant with DD (born Jan 2011), I used to frequent a forum where most of the posters were American.

There was a massive obsession with wanting their babies born in the December before their due date as they would get a larger tax break. Many of the ladies arranged c-sections so they could fit the birth of their babies in the December, the numbers of posters who did this was frighteningly large.

I was shocked and horrified at the whole thing. I was just happily enjoying being pregnant and waiting for DD to arrive whenever, not stressing out over tax breaks.

Give me the NHS anyday. That kind of maternity system can't be good for anyone.

i read this recently. DP's company wants him to mover there but i am concerned as i have the beginning of MS so am very worried about coverage.

britishexpats.com/wiki/Health_Insurance

Overall, Americans pay about twice as much on medical care as British people do - it's something like 15% of their economy compared to 7-8% of ours. They think that Obamacare will make healthcare more expensive. They don't realise that a socialised system is in a better position to e.g. negotiate costs with pharmaceutical companies.
It is a very strange situation.

I'm going to make a huge leap here, but I don't think it's good. America is a great country,so many good things about it.
In my uneducated simplistic way, it's just not good to have a society, where people aren't responsible for each other is it?
I know I probably sound extremely guache and ill-educated, but it just seems so wrong to me.
I know America has a massive philanthropic tradition, but what happens if people become less giving?. It is just so wrong to me, and I'm not articulate enough to explain myself.

Nightlurker -Thanks for the further clarification but you said some states and also that if parents can afford insurance but don't have it then there could be problems so can I assume that the child would suffer?

As I said previously, our system is by no means perfect but it is there regardless of your circumstances, or if you are a child, the circumstances of your parents.

spuddy so sorry to hear that. I hope your health improves.