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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to wonder what Barack Obama has done whilst in office to help the lives of Americans?

135 replies

ChoochiWoo · 25/02/2015 09:47

I appreciate as a Brit I know little about American politics, but Im wondered what policies, postive changes to American lives i.e improved the health system etc.... Its just every time I see him on TV hes fannyarsing with the likes of Beyonce and getting in selfie related gaffes!! AIBU to wonder ?

OP posts:
bumblebeader · 25/02/2015 20:17

Obamacare is a joke to the average working American. If you are working in an average paid job which does not provide health care, you have to pay for it yourself or you are fined by the government for not doing so. Obama makes me ashamed of America.

creighton · 25/02/2015 20:28

how does the government fine people for not paying for medical care?

creighton · 25/02/2015 20:32

bush started a war in Iraq because saddam Hussein embarrassed his father in the first gulf war. did he make you ashamed to be American?

GoodbyeToAllOfThat · 25/02/2015 20:33

bush started a war in Iraq because saddam Hussein embarrassed his father in the first gulf war. did he make you ashamed to be American?

There could be no Iraq without Tony Blair so does that make you ashamed to be British?

lertgush · 25/02/2015 20:34

If you choose not to buy health insurance you get a fine when you submit your taxes, although there are some loopholes.

It's the flipside of insurance companies not being allowed to deny anyone coverage.

creighton · 25/02/2015 20:40

I am not the one claiming that someone has made me feel ashamed bumblebeader is the one claiming that Obama is a joke and causing shame

keepitsimple0 · 25/02/2015 20:56

If you are working in an average paid job which does not provide health care, you have to pay for it yourself or you are fined by the government for not doing so.

that's because in the worst case, you have to all pick up the tab, and it's far more expensive. if somebody has no healthcare and finally goes to the emergency room for treatment it can cost a lot more, and the taxpayer pays for it.

america got themselves into a jam about 60 years and have been unwilling to update employment ever since. it's got to be the stupidest system to tie healthcare to employment. it anchors people to jobs, and turns employers into healthcare shoppers. it makes 0 sense.

Original poster
ChoochiWoo · 25/02/2015 21:21

This is just a lighthearted thread thread dont get all twisty, i didn't know much about obamacare did a quick google ..problem? Like a pp Said his public facade is a bit silly and fame hungry ...to quote P.L travers 'where is the gravitas??!'

OP posts:
Fabulassie · 25/02/2015 21:42

Nobody will rescind it because we don't have any representatives in Washington. What was that about "taxation without representation" being tyranny?

SquinkiesRule · 25/02/2015 21:49

I just finished filing my US taxes this evening (well Dh has to post them tomorrow), we owe them nothing, I earn too little what a flippin hassle it is. Not sure I can bare to do it year after year till we drop dead. But just about all our retirement is in US and I worry that we won't be able to access it one day if we renounce our US citizenship, they certainly seem to try and make things difficult.
I'm very glad we moved back to UK, things seem worse since we left even.

creighton · 25/02/2015 22:15

how is he fame hungry? he has made history for himself and his family in a way that some of us could never have imagined. who was the last American president with gravitas? Clinton is accused of rape in some areas, bush is an idiot, the other bush has no character, Reagan, oh dear! etc, etc. where is the gravitas?

Original poster
ChoochiWoo · 25/02/2015 23:29

Clinton accused of rape? hes always pissing around with innapropriate selfies #funeralgate ...fgs man your running a country!

OP posts:
lertgush · 26/02/2015 02:16

This is the most inane thread I've read on MN, and that's saying something...

LikeABadSethRogenMovie · 26/02/2015 02:48

Lertgush, YES!

Want2bSupermum · 26/02/2015 04:07

Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster. He broke a system that could have worked better if he had tinkered with some of the issues making it so expensive in the first place. Malpractice insurance costs for doctors is nuts and reform to the legal system would have seriously helped make care affordable.

Caterina99 · 26/02/2015 04:10

I'm involved in tax return prep for people on low income. I fully support what the ACA (not allowed to call it obamacare - too political) Is trying to achieve, but it's impact on tax returns is a total nightmare and no one understands it!

I know many people who are hugely opposed to the change in the healthcare laws, but (being british and having access to the NHS my whole life), I only see it as a good thing, and can't understand how a country like the USA can have such a system where it's own citizens are denied basic healthcare due to their income! It's not perfect, but it's a start.

Caterina99 · 26/02/2015 04:11

I hasten to add, that I agree, it definitely could have been implemented in a better way!!

Want2bSupermum · 26/02/2015 04:24

Insurance can't deny coverage but now we have hospitals that don't accept our insurance. We had to visit the ER early Monday morning due to DS having very bad croup. Poor kid could hardly breathe. We ended up driving to another hospital with a police escort as the bill would have been $3-5k. At the other hospital the bill was $500.

Average families who used to have coverage through their employer are now totally screwed. For us, I ran the numbers for DHs boss and based on the last 10 years of medical issues they would save considerable costs by doing self insurance. Right now each employee costs more than $30k to insure. Makes my blood boil that we are denied coverage at any hospital.

Want2bSupermum · 26/02/2015 04:28

If you are an illegal immigrant you sre exempt. I know a few people who are self employed who are going down that road to get around it.

CheerfulYank · 26/02/2015 04:30

Our insurance is definitely more expensive now. I still like Obama :), but what I've seen on here is that people don't seem to understand that the ACA is not the NHS. It has made things much more expensive for a lot of people.

Original poster
ChoochiWoo · 26/02/2015 05:45

Id have thought he'd have gone down a slightly different Route with healthcare, i.e at least make some.available to all but is That a long way off I suppose? Why do uncovered people experience when they go hospital or something?

OP posts:
Original poster
ChoochiWoo · 26/02/2015 05:46

*what do

OP posts:
Original poster
ChoochiWoo · 26/02/2015 05:47

Want2b that is horrible andso sad i really feel.for you.

OP posts:
flyingspaghettimonster · 26/02/2015 05:58

Obamacare is a crock of shit. We are living in the U.S. and it basically meant our insurance went from $350 a month to $600 a month and the copays are worse. It only helps those who were previously unable to get health insurance, but the cost is harsh on people like us who don't get insurance free with a job.

What he has done is actively stand against keystone pipeline an other negative environmental issues, support science, remove Bush's negative impact on scientific research... And provide a public face for american politics that is less embarassing than his predecessor.

AntiquityisOld · 26/02/2015 06:11

Because obviously being President is like being an absolute monarch & he made all these decisions alone. Oh no, that's right, he was continually thwarted by a hostile Senate.

And that doesn't even begin to touch on right wing press coverage & both hidden and overt racism.