georgerussia

I do not know how it works in U.S. Army, but in Russian army being overweight is not an issue at all - a person will be back in shape in 2-6 month. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Well, at least you're more honest than every Republican here. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

More likely "Ion01, are you attempting to join the dreamdancer-led CopyPasta Gang by copy-pasting the whole article from another site and not saying a single word on your own?" * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I have to admit that first couple of years being in the country I definitely leaned towards the Republican ideology (and I live in Silicon Valley - not exactly the Republican-friendly place). The thing which changed me is talking to other Republicans - including some here. As I said recently, the most dangerous enemy for Republicans are other Republicans - and this is indeed true. So the story is fine - but as soon as kitten talk to other R-kittens, they wouldn't be Republicans anymore. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Not really. My point is that the fact the government plan will be cheap does not mean that it will provide exactly the same set of services on the same terms as your current $500/mo plan. I would speculate that at least initially it gonna be so crappy in terms of value that only those who REALLY cannot afford anything else but still are not eligible to Medicare would get it. This is enough to get it competitive - look on Walmart which sells crap for cheap... even though I have never bought anything there, they're definitely very competitive. But, of course, nobody who can afford better would get this one. Why would Congress make it very quality? It's not like they're signing up themselves there. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Nope. You probably need a reminder. It all started with you saying that "the government requires you to buy service". And I replied that the government does not require you to buy anything; if you don't want to spend money, you can just pay some tax instead. Which is similar to donation - you can either donate money, or pay tax on those money instead. Then you said that the government does not require you to donate to any specific charity. And I replied that the the only requirement is that charity should be approved - pretty much as insurance company - and of course you do not have to donate, but you will pay extra in taxes instead. Then after dancing around you somehow stuck to the idea that what I said meant that you need to either donate $X, or pay $X in taxes - even though I never said that. I said that you need to either donate $X, or pay tax on $X - which is kinda different thing. Here it seems like you got confused (or got out of arguments), as you seem to stick to the point of donated/taxed amount, as well as health coverage cost/"missing coverage tax", and those numbers are completely different. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

There are more variables here even if you only consider costs. It may cost less because it reimburses less, or cover less - my current plan, for example, covers massages and chiropractors which is blatantly stupid. It also may only cover necessities - for example, if you break a leg, you gonna get a government-paid cast, but no surgery. Neck pain? No immediate MRI for you, here are painkillers, and if things go worse get back in six month, and you might get your MRI. And so on. There are a lot of ways to have it cheaper by providing less services. Even private industry already does it - for example, most HSA plans do not cover maternity. Not true. First, the amount of tax dollars is limited, and it is very hard to collect more. Second, why would the government do this only for healthcare, and does not do this for example for USPS? The government indeed can offer free mail delivery covered by taxpayers, so why do you think it doesn't? This is completely untrue. In most states there seems to be an "outsider" health insurance company, which provides the cheapest rates, but most doctors do not accept it. According to you, this should be the best choice for everyone, as it would save money, right? I wonder if you travel everywhere by bus, as it seem to provide the best savings as well. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

There is no such regulation, nor I ever said such thing. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Nope. The government is basically saying "you have to either donate $X, or pay tax on $X. The choice is yours, but you have to make either choice. You cannot just keep $X and pay no tax on it". Regarding the amount charged, it should consider the difference that the government may be required to pay for your medical services - something a charity would never be required to. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

[reply Ok, lets go with your contribution/tax deduction. Hyptothetical: I make 20k a year, and I donate $500 to a charity. Show me how I'm going to pay $500 less tax because of that donation than I would if I didn't make the donation. I have said "the gov's basically forces you to either donate, or to pay taxes on this amount". So if you did not donate those $500, you will pay tax on them - which, depending on your tax bracket may cost you from $5 to $300. So you either pay to charity, or you pay the government. The amount, of course, is different - and so it is for insurance. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

The only explanation I've seen was your "the government forces you to buy it". Which was easily countered by my explanation that the government forces you to buy it no more than it forces you to donate to charities. If I do not want to donate, the government charges me more in taxes, which according to you means the government forces me to donate. So, as you see, this is not a valid explanation. You have anything else to say? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

So could you please enlighten me and tell me the difference I apparently cannot understand? Or this is your typical chicken-out with your typical "I understand I screwed up and have nothing to reply, but I'm not man enough to admit it" message? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Please be more specific - do you consider Medicare a good value option or bad value option? Would you get it yourself if you can afford private insurance? "Cheap" is not the only criteria. In California you can get (at least in past) HealthNet health insurance, which was dirty cheap, but then you'd have hard time to find a doctor/hospital who would actually take it. Talk about value, price is only part of it. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Same as charity - the gov's basically forces you to either donate, or to pay taxes on this amount. There is no option not to donate the money and not to pay taxes on those money at the same time! * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

And here you got a typical Republican dilemma. If you're claiming that the government plan will be inexpensive and high-quality (i.e. very good considering the cost/benefits ratio), than you're basically saying that the government CAN run healthcare effectively, and compete with private industry very well. It would also raise a lot of moral issues, as basically you'd be saying that we all should support private industry - because this is your choice - even though it would be overall better for us not to. This would mean you're arguing for REMOVING the choice from the people. But if you're claiming that the government plan will be shitty (most likely inexpensive and low-quality) and generally has very low costs/benefit ratio, then you'd have hard time to explain why would it hurt or even kill the private industry - which, according to some Republicans, always provides much better service than the government. What is your position? It's obvious that you cannot maintain both "public option gonna be shit" and "public option gonna kill private insurance", as they're pretty much mutually exclusive. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Well, unlike paying for AIG rescues and for Iraq war, you have much more choices with a healthcare bill. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

True, it's not some specific charity - it could be any charity as long as it is approved by the government. Being approved is important part here - not all charities are tax-deductible, and a charity must follow some pretty strict guidelines to obtain and maintain such a status. And you know what? It's pretty much the same with a health care plan. You're not required to buy a plan from a specific company - just from the list of companies approved by the government. It could as well be "we're invading Iraq - open your wallets! You don't like it? Suck it, we don't care." * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Is there a transcript somewhere? * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

You are not required to purchase anything, as you can pay a tax instead. Hopefully you agree that Congress has the authority to establish new taxes? Technically it's pretty much the same as charity - you can donate your income, and pay no tax, or you can keep it and pay tax. However I do not see anyone here screaming about how the government mandates donations. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

...while being secretly gay and sucking dicks in airport toilet stalls. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I can make a comment "smart people do not eat shit", even though I have never eaten shit. And I wonder how the world survived the last 20 centuries without talk shows? It might help if I say that I do not watch TV at all. This means exactly that - no news, no sports, no talk shows, no other crap. In fact I do not have a TV at home, and indent to never have it. But you can of course say that I just heard about them right here recently, so I'm aware of his existence now. Not that it changed anything though. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I'd say the worst enemies of Republicans are Republicans. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

I'd like to hear Andy or Lawrocket's opinion about it, but here is my understanding why: DOJ belongs to executive branch. They cannot change laws (it's up to legislative branch), and they cannot decide that the law is non-constitutional (it's up to judicial branch). Until the law is in the books, and is not repealed by the legislative branch nor struck down by the judicial branch, the role of DOJ is to support and enforce the existing law. Therefore what they do is basically expected behavior, and it would be naive to expect anything else from them. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

It is impossible for you to insult me, don't praise yourself. I just pointed out that you claim you are Christian, and you are judging other people - even though your own lord and savior said something very explicit about it. Not to mention even the god does not judge anyone until the Judgment Day. Tells me a lot about what kind of Christian you actually are. And, of course, you're not going anywhere, as there is no hell. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *

Talk about eyes wide shut Yeah, I can say it this way too. It is hard to find another way, besides skipping the 3rd grade math, why it is so difficult to understand that the government, which opened 100 documents to public is more open than the one, which only opened 99 documents to public - even though both of them still keep 10,000 documents classified, and will likely never open 9,000 of them. But, apparently, for you the government will only become open once the list of undercover spies is published on the CIA website together with their legend, pictures and personal information. You Republicans sometime are so funny that I wish someone make a movie about you. Would be a nice comedy. * Don't pray for me if you wanna help - just send me a check. *