Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Nope.

I have friends whose young daughter has a heart condition. They racked up something like $20K in bills. The insurance company refused to pay it.

They had to go to court to force them to pay what they were supposed to pay. And even then, they've taken their sweet time, waiting until the absolute maximum deadline to do so.

Shit like that is why insurance companies needed to be hammered with Obamacare. Who knows how many people have gotten screwed over by insurance companies who will now be able to get the coverage they are supposed to be receiving.

 

Sounds just like the situation President Obama's mother faced with her insurance company.

 

Only thing is, this one's legit.

And I've had my battles with insurance companies in the past too, for services that they are supposed to be paying for that they didn't, for some alleged reason or another.

 

Here's a great "money saving" program our government came up with.

Dollar coins! Canada loves them! We'll mint more and they'll save us money because they last longer than paper currency.

Only problem, no one wants them.

A Billion Dollars worth of dollar coins now sits in a warehouse as a result. Since it costs 32 cents to make each coin, that's $300M dollars wasted. (Plus, they had to build the warehouse.)

And the law requires us to mint $200M worth of coins each year.

So, forgive me if I don't believe the government knows how to best save money.

And, it's because they think they know what's best for us. They know what we want or need. It doesn't matter that Americans aren't ready to give up their $1 bill.

http://www.npr.org/2011/06/28/137480126/fed-sits-on-billions-of-unwanted-dollar-coins

 

Insurance companies must meet their obligations, I agree. However, Obamacare is an entirely different animal. It will add a shitload of money to the deficit and not be effective. It is a terrible idea. Be careful what you wish for...if the next president is a republican and Obamacare is not repealed, those on the right will be overseeing the entire system. If that's what you want and you are comfortable with that, good for you. However, I have to think you would be less than enthusiastic about the idea of a Republican calling the shots on who administers Obamacare and how they do it.

 

Well - actually, I think you could argue they DO know what is best for us because coins last longer than bills. If people used the coins and we could cut down on printing paper money, which wears out faster, we would cut spending, which I'm thinking most Americans would approve of.

 

Americans like paper money and big cars.

Government telling us to use coins and drive little cars won't work.

And, it's not government's job to "incentivize" us to change our behavior.

 

Of course, they'll run it into the ditch.

What else would be logical from a bunch that incessantly screeches -- uses it as their campaign platform -- that government does not work, will not work, and can never work?

It's like hiring the drunk fucker down at the corner bar who carries on endlessly about how Fords are shit cars, don't work for shit, if anyone ever gave him one for free he'd drive it out in a field to torch it, to fix your Ford.

 

But doesn't the government incentivize everything from marriage to donating to charity?

 

Exactly.

 

But you don't hear the Tea Party faithful wanting to get ride of those incentives.

 

In exchange for nothing? No.

If it resulted in lower overall tax rates, yes, most "Tea Party" folk would support elimination of those incentives.