Thursday, September 29, 2016

This is affordable healthcare...really?

It's been a long time since I've posted here! I had some big changes in my life these past couple of months that spread me really thin...something had to go. Unfortunately it was my blog for the time being. Am still quite stretched, but wanted to come on and say hello to you all. I hope your summer was great and that you are all doing well!

What inspired me to post today, albeit in a short, quick manner, was a somewhat elderly locksmith I met today. He is a Vietnam vet, a patriot, a hard worker, and an all-around great guy from all I could tell. We started talking about our country and where it's headed. In a nutshell, he told me he was a lifelong Democrat until Bill Clinton came along and gave dishonesty a new face. From there, it's only gotten worse and as he put it, today's Democrats are hardly the Democrats of the "little guy". Fast forward to today, and you can use your imagination as to what he thinks of Hillary.

But what put a heavy feeling in my heart for him is how Obamacare has impacted him. This man makes no more than $6,000 a year. Yet he and his wife pay $1500 a month for their required healthcare insurance. On top of that, their annual deductible is $15,000 a year. Tell me, how is that affordable healthcare? And when will people realize that having health insurance does not mean you have access to affordable healthcare?

My monthly premium is several hundred dollars less than the locksmith's, but my deductible went from $850 a year to $6000 a year. What good is "insurance" when I have to come up with six thousand out of my own pocket before I can have so much as an earache paid for? 

Some say the authors of ObamaCare purposely made it bad so that we would all become so desperate that we would gladly accept the single payer system that Hillary Clinton would want, should she become president. But that would be even worse. There is a reason why people from Canada come to the US regularly for their medical treatment needs. 

All I know is that I cannot fathom how this elderly locksmith and his wife can possibly be told they are better off under the grossly misnamed Affordable Healthcare Act. What a lark. Unfortunately, real people are caught in the crosshairs of this disgraceful law forced upon us all (except for the President and Congress...who are all exempt from it).

46 comments:

  1. What have the republicans in office, majority in both House and Senate done to make it better and more affordable? NOTHING! I lost track of how many times they tried to repeal it. Waste of money. You can't just blame democrats. Man up and tell the total story.

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    1. Um, hello, the Republicans have at least been trying to repeal it - the Democrats and Pres Obama keep saying NO!! Thank the Republicans for at least trying to undo this monstrosity against the American public. Thank the Democrats for keeping it as is. Wake up, sir.

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    2. Fix fine. Undo is NOT exceptable. That is backwards thinking.

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  2. I find it hard to believe a person would be required to pay $18,000.00 per year on a $6,000.00 a year income. There is more to the story that your not telling. And as far as November goes...my health insurance renews every November since I had it some 30 years, far before The AHA came to be.

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  3. My husband is unemployed and I work at a non-profit, so my annual income isn't much more than the locksmiths and we have to pay over $1400 a month for our premiums and we too have a $15,000 deductible. If the angry ranting commenter Mark wants to be outraged, it should be at what the govt is doing to average citizens like us. His anger shouldn't be at the messenger, Julie - who herself looks like she has a very crummy health insurance arrangement. We have to draw from our savings to meet the health insurance costs alone - we don't even think of going to the doctor unless it is an absolute emergency because we would have to come up with the first $15,000 out of our own pockets before insurance would even begin to pick up some of the costs. it is insane. but some people just don't want to believe it. they must have very cushy insurance from their companies or whatnot. People like us in the real world don't have that luxury.

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  4. By now, many people have heard Bill Clinton commenting on Obamacare at a recent Flint rally (check it out on YouTube). And though he’s supposed to be helping Hillary, it was absolutely amazing to hear his honesty regarding the failure of Obama’s signature piece of legislation. Here are Clinton’s exact words:

    "But the people that are getting killed in this deal are small business people and individuals who make just a little too much to get any of these subsidies … and they’re getting whacked! So you've got this crazy system where all of a sudden 25 million more people have healthcare and then the people who are out there busting it, sometimes 60 hours a week, wind up with their premiums doubled and their coverage cut in half. It's the craziest thing in the world."

    While it’s great that we’re able to provide healthcare coverage to those who desperately need it but can’t afford it, Obamacare, by Clinton’s own admission, overburdens the next higher income-level group which then becomes the next casualty of a system that was supposed to help everyone. It’s too bad that people like Mark Cichewicz can’t understand that.

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  5. So don't waste time trying to repeal it, as the republicans have. FIX IT, MAKE IT BETTER, be the bigger person. The cost is going up for me too. If they stopped doing the same thing, that has not worked some 60 times and sigested how to make it better for all, they might get somewhere.

    And BDV your situation is temporary. If not I'm sorry for you, but you can't live on that kind of money for very long. Your husband needs to get a job...any job, till things get back on track. If I come off angry, sorry, I'm not. I've been very happy and blessed. I do become angry when people say I don't have the right to happiness.

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    1. They need to repeal it and replace it with something that actually works. The problem is that the Democrats don’t like the idea of Obamacare needing to be fixed (and certainly not by the Republicans) because that would be an admission that it’s a failure on many levels. When Nancy Pelosi said that “we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what’s in it”, that should have been a red flag NOT to pass it. It seems that Democrats were more interested in “checking the box” that they had accomplished something rather than worrying about getting it right.

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  6. Sound bights Paul. Why don't you have a conversation with our congressional representatives. Tell them what Julie had to say, then get back to us.

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    1. “Sound bights Paul”???? Most of the time you don’t even make sense because your spelling and grammar are so poor. Educate yourself, learn to spell, and then get back to US …

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    2. Don't play the spelling card. My spelling has as much to do with health care as Bill's misgiving to Hillary's presidency. You get my point you just don't like it.

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    3. I’m not “playing” the spelling card. I’m simply pointing out your inability or unwillingness to look at issues rationally and comprehensively. When I provide a simple but important quote from Nancy Pelosi, you completely ignore it. Your spelling issue is symptomatic of a much bigger problem. Don’t get mad at me for that.

      By the way, are you not aware that there are numerous spell-check programs available?

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  8. In addition and because I talked to a vet yesterday who gets his health care paid for, (our taxes)...who also gets a discount for his family...(Blue Cross) and is thankful he served makes Julie's story that much harder to believe.

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    1. Mark, with all due respect, how can the Republicans fix it, when the renegade president vetoes and/or Executive Orders everything attempt to repeal Obamacare away? Please remember that 100% of Republicans voted against Obamcare in the secret midnight vote, and the vast, vast, vast majority of Democrats voted to pass it. We need the free market, and cross-state, pro-competition paths to fix this. That is what the Republicans are for, which will benefit all of us, no matter what political or economic class we are. As for our situation being temporary, it doesn’t feel temporary. When you are struggling for every dime, a minute seems like a day, and it has been 17 months for us. My husband doe to every job he can find: cutting grass, convenience stores, night security, you name it. He does NOT want govt (aka hardworking Americans efforts) assistance. But he is mostly a small business working guy which has always served us well and as you of course know, Small business is the backbone of America, but we are being killed, comletlely buried by things like Obamacare. I and my husband always voted democrat until we saw the gross behavior of bill Clinton, and it opened our eyes to our great disappointment, but we looked closer and we know that higher taxes, govt healthcare, Obamacare won’t cut it for us. We are working class but that doesn’t’ mean we want a handout. We were able to make it before. We want to keep making it on our own because that gives us dignity. But now because of obaamacare and other govt control we are in trouble. And Mark, of course you heard that a veteran is being taken care of. you cant be suspicious of people like Julie and people like my husband and myself just because she mentions that we just don’t have those benefits. You think because Julie is conservative that she must be rich and a liar. all i see is that she is speaking for people like me and my husband because she is in the same boat.. You cant’ completely be angry at Julie and mistrust her just because she is speaking for those of us who don’t have it as well as veterans (acutally if you look at the veteran scandal they too are being messed over for the most part by the govt. some are okay like the person you mentioned, but look at the ones who died waiting and those who are still waiting like you see in the news all the time) and I think the thing that you need to know the most is that yes my husband and I are struggling and I work for a non profit that benefits poor pregnant women, but we are both very conservative prolife Christians. And yes, we have no money and are worse off under the democrats but still give every thing we can hope to give to the inner city and other poor women who need help. And still Obamacare is absolutely killing us. It doesn’t care what politics or ideology someone believes in. But i wonder will you still be so nice to me now that you know i am a Christian conservative? from what I can see, I share the exact same view and concerns for the struggling people that Jule does but you always always are angry with her. it doesn't seem like she has very much money or she would have better health insurance. how is she and me different. why are you nice to me and not her i wonder. we are all in this together, you know that right?


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    2. I am sorry for your misfortunes. You sound like a very coserned person, not only for yourself but for all mankind. Julie on the other hand has demonstrated countless times she has no sympathy for the people who hold a contrasting opinion to hers. I rather there was no abortion, so does she but she references me as a baby killer because I respect the right of the mother to make her own mind up. My dislike for Julie started when she said a lot of things regarding marriage equality that just weren't true. In her words to start a dialog in the community. Well there is a wall between the way I think and the way her and her club thinks. And her club members have not always been Christian verbalizing members. She is the wolf in sheep's clothing, an instigatetor. Our paths may have never crossed if it hadn't been for that hateful column she wrote years ago. As I read between the lines our fait was sealed. I have been in a respectful relationship over 30 years, now married and my life didn't change yours one bit. Good luck with your life. I hope it all works out for you both.

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    3. You keep pointing to some obscure “hateful column” that Julie wrote years ago which “started” your “dislike for Julie”. Please provide a link to that blog/column! Or please paste the words into your next post. I’ve asked for that several times but never got any response.

      The fact is that your hatred for Julie is just a smokescreen. You hate EVERYONE who points out that a man cannot “marry” another man and that homosexual activity is categorized as a sin. I’ve pointed out many times that even irreligious people recognize the fact that two men are NOT anatomically designed to have sex with each other. Any textbook on human anatomy/physiology will tell you that. Unless you’re willing to start thinking with your mind and not your emotions, you’ll never get beyond your hatred.

      Julie, or anyone else who points outs moral absolutes is not a “wolf in sheep’s clothing”. Do you even understand what that phrase means? It’s attributed to people who distort God’s divine truth. It’s applicable to people who argue that Jesus never talked about same-sex “marriage” (implying that Jesus considers it acceptable). It’s applicable to people who argue that the biblical writers never talked about “committed” homosexual relationships (implying that that sin is no longer sinful if a couple practices it without involving anyone else). The list goes on and on.

      Finally, how old are you? Somewhere in your 60s? Most people never make it to 90, which means that you only have a short amount of time to confess your sin and to turn from it. No one is forcing you to have sex with another man. You may have a piece of paper from some county clerk telling you that you’re “married” to your husband, but you can never be “married” to a man in God’s eyes. Many unrepentant homosexuals who have died are now experiencing God’s divine wrath. They’d give absolutely anything to be where you are today, but it’s too late for them. All of the “Jesus never mentioned same-sex ‘marriage’” and “the Bible doesn’t say anything against ‘committed’ homosexual relationships” arguments won’t work. I’ll ask you this simple question: Is the pleasure of homosexual activity worth the price?

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    4. Paul: Ask Julie for a copy. I'm sure it was her first ever comments on same sex marriage. It ran in the Source not her blog. Keep your unwanted comments to your self regarding my sexuality and faith. My replie was to BDV, not you.

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    5. Mark, YOU are the one making the accusations about an allegedly “hateful” column. Act like a man and be willing to back what you say! Don’t spread lies!

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    6. Ask her. I don't expect you to see the loathing between the lines because you won't live and let live. The people who read it didn't appreciate it, not the gay ones anyway. Read all the comments too.

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    7. Why can’t you act like an adult? So because you can’t produce a document which obviously doesn’t exist, it’s now become “loathing between the lines”. I can understand how gay people might not “appreciate” the truth, but it still needs to be stated.

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    8. It was before the new editor took over, one maybe two years before. But fine believe as you wish. I pitched all the old articals when I moved. I thought you and Julie were friends. Hell with it

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    9. OK, so what did that “hateful column she wrote” specifically state that was so “hateful”? If it was so “hateful”, and you’re still suffering the effects of it, you should be able to at least paraphrase what she had written.

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  9. And you see BDV, Paul is just another fraction of Julie's self righteousness. He has been saying the same and worse for years.

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    1. There’s nothing inaccurate or “hateful” about what I stated. Please re-read what I had written.

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    2. I don't care what you think. I don't believe as you do, never will. So just drop it.

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    3. Stop trying to convince everyone that homosexual activity is a good thing, and I’ll stop commenting.

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    4. To a gay man, sex between two men is as good a thing as heterosexual sex is to you. Unless your a nun. I O U no explanations.

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    5. So, for people who want to engage in sexual activity with, say, underage children or even their pets, it’s a “good thing” as long as it feels good? Do you see the foolishness and inconsistency of your argument? Someone who wants to practice bestiality will use the exact same argument that you’re promoting. Let’s be CONSISTENT and categorize ALL of that as immoral and unacceptable.

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    6. To a gay man, sex between two men is as good a thing as heterosexual sex is to you. Unless your a nun. I O U no explanations.

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  10. You go down the same hateful road each time I talk to you. I love sex with men. No one is hurt in the process. I don't put my organ in animals for fun. And I don't and never will condone the kind of sex that sounds commonplace to you with children or beasts. Who puts these thoughts in your head?

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    1. Who puts these thoughts in my head? Actually, God does because He recognizes the sinfulness of man:
      “You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Also you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it; it is a perversion.” (Leviticus 18:22-23)

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  11. Mark, I don't see Paul as just "another fraction of Julie's self-righteousness". I was just hoping to have an honest dialog. I don't see Jule as self-righteous. I see her as someone brave enough to tell the truth no matter how much people might hate her for it. And I hate to say this but it seems like you hate her for it. I was curious about that first "hateful column" she wrote about same sex marriage so i googled it. there is no direct link to it but if you google Julie Szydlowski What's wrong with defending traditional marriage you should be able to find it. the article was not hateful but i thought eye opening. and it seemed to us that she was concerned not hateful. Please don't be lead by those trying to take you down a bad road. If anything Paul Doveinis is being a friend to you. I hope one day you will see that.

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    1. Thanks, BDV, that was that only column that I could find. It has to be the same column that Mark keeps referring to because it qualifies as being written several years ago (2010). But as you already noted, it contains nothing even remotely “hateful”. Here’s the link:

      http://www.sourcenewspapers.com/opinion/guest-column-what-s-wrong-with-defending-traditional-marriage/article_74237fd7-d0a1-54f4-8d14-a5d2d193a2f7.html

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  12. BDV October 9, 2016 at 5:46 PM
    Mark, I don't see Paul as just "another fraction of Julie's self-righteousness". I was just hoping to have an honest dialog. Just like Julie, your searching for honest dialog? Who are you BDV? And how on earth did you find the column without the title "What's wrong with defending traditional marriage". Where are all the comments from everyone who read Julie back then?
    Julie gives credit to the voters that took away the rights of Americans to marry the people they love in California, in 2008. If this had been allowed to stand we would also still have slaves. Gay men, Lesbians, mothers and fathers of them, sisters and brothers and children of them, aunts and uncles, friends neighbors and Co workers of them, find this descusting in 2016 and they make up the majority of Americans in this country today. I find this column descusting, judgmental, and unsubstantiated. The Supreme Court agreed and struck down the ban on same-sex MARRAGE. And if you can't see the hate between her lines you might as well be Julie.

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    1. Wow, you’re just so filled with hate and anger. We were able to find the “hateful” column that Julie had written, which obviously isn’t hateful at all, and you go off the rails again!!!! Maybe put your glasses on and read the actual words and not try to read “between her lines”. And now your hatred will obviously extend to BDV because she’s able to understand Julie’s many clear and rational points.

      I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, many in the LGBT crowd, and homosexuals in particular, are some of the most closed-minded, hate-filled people on the planet. You either bow to our homosexual lifestyle, or else!

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    3. She wrote the story. She judged the people it was about and you sentence us everytime you post.

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    4. I was just quoting you - in fact, I have copied it directly from your post: "And you see BDV, Paul is just another fraction of Julie's self righteousness. He has been saying the same and worse for years." I googled Julie's name and the phrase "traditional marriage" and found the column. It wasn't difficult. I see you seem to be now turning on me too because I don't happen to see hate in Julie's columns or in Paul's comments for that matter. But you seem to be angry and I feel bad for you. As for who I am, I'm just a mom and wife trying to keep my head above water. Nothing too interesting, but I do recognize the truth when I see it but i know some people have a hard time dealing with the truth.

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  14. First off understand my truth. I was born gay. If God knows the number of hairs on my head, he also knows I was born this way. He embraces me as his perfect creation. He knew I would fashion my life after that of my parents with one exception. That being the man I married. I understand why the old testament laws were designed this way, they made perfect since for the time. You can't say you would change being straight for gay if all the arguments Julie and Paul have made were pro gay. How can I get you to understand that I believe sexuality is determined at birth. That this sexuality has nothing to do with choice unless your bisexual. That my sexuality has nothing to do with children or animals as Paul has suggested. For me it has nothing to do with cake, pictures or a venue. It has to do with a lifetime of love, dedication and commitment that culminated on our wedding day. That day dose not change the fact that we spent 30 years together. Or that our faith wasn't a part of our life together, not even for a moment. Now keep in mind what Julie's column said then, what she has said since and the one side fits all mission, with no exceptions she has been on ever since. The condemnation of major religions that think differently than Julie or Paul for their acceptance. This bigotry has gone on all my life and is such a small part of my life but your right it bothers me. At age 63 don't you think I have heard it all. Can't you see how I might be upset. To a gay man reading her column her objective is plain as day. Please don't make me feel like you don't understand. I want the same things out of life you want.

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    1. Mark, you’re making an absolutely critical mistake, which I’ve repeatedly pointed out. We should NEVER try to determine what is “good” or “moral” based simply on our feelings or desires. Instead, we should ALWAYS cling to what is “good” or “moral” based on what God has already defined as such. You may have had same-sex attraction all of your life, but those feelings and desires can’t be used to push aside God’s clear teachings regarding homosexual activity. Your situation is no different than other people in our society who experience other types of sexual desires. We have adults in our society who’ve experienced sexual attraction to children, and even to animals, for as long as they can remember (they’ll often claim that they’ve been “born” that way), but those feeling and desires CANNOT act as the basis for disregarding God’s moral laws.

      You’re not a “perfect creation”, as you claim. How in the world did you come up with that conclusion? You’re a fallen sinner, with unique sinful desires, just like the rest of us. Your sexual desires need to be evaluated on the basis of what God says about them, not how you feel about them. And your same-sex attraction needs to be dealt with just like any other sinful sexual desire. Your “God created me ‘perfect’, and therefore my same-sex attraction must be viewed as ‘good’ and ‘right’” argument is a complete perversion of the Bible’s most basic teachings, and must be rejected. Otherwise, ANY sin can be justified and promoted based on someone’s “feeling” or “desire” to practice it.

      Even with God’s help, no one says that same-sex attraction will necessarily go away. But there are many homosexuals who have turned from that type of activity and come out of that lifestyle, with God’s help. Google “Joe Dallas” to witness the testimony of a man who lived the homosexual lifestyle for many years, and who now helps others deal with same-sex attraction.

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    2. I won't even read this Paul. I did not address you.

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    4. You referenced “Paul” three times.

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  15. The importance of healthcare IT companies have grown manifold after the new healthcare Act emphasized on the importance of technology in healthcare and made mandatory the use of certain software and technology in the health sector. However healthcare IT is a relatively new industry and most companies are start-ups. Affordable Healthcare Services Providers

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