Cuts OKd in retirees' health benefits

[UAL_TECH]

Employers can ax those eligible for Medicare, U.S. says

Dianna Johnston, a lawyer for the commission, said many employers and labor unions had told it that "if they had to provide identical benefits for retirees under 65 and over 65, they would just drop retiree health benefits altogether for both groups."

So just die already

B) UT

 

[local 12 proud]

Everything will be fine once we have socialized health care. <_<

 

[delldude]

And many wonder why unions have such bad PR...drop you like a used condom.

Thanks for the dues A-hole....

 

[KCFlyer]

Everything will be fine once we have socialized health care. <_<

What's better? Under our current system, if a former employer drops your health coverage, you could purchase your own to supplement that lousy old medicare. But then you might have to find another job at 70 to help pay the premium.

 

[Seatacus]

work till you die...........problem solved

 

[local 12 proud]

What's better? Under our current system, if a former employer drops your health coverage, you could purchase your own to supplement that lousy old medicare. But then you might have to find another job at 70 to help pay the premium.

The government screws up anything it touches, the last thing we need is the health care system being ran by a bunch of nit wits and crooks in DC. you just admitted how lousy medicare is, take a look at the other social services how well those are working. You can start with social security which I will probably never see even though I've paid into the system for the last 32 years!

What I find so Ironic is that the same ones who complain the most about Government Interference into our privacy, are the same ones advocating more Big Government. :huh:

Universal Health Care Wont Work

 

[KCFlyer]

The government screws up anything it touches, the last thing we need is the health care system being ran by a bunch of nit wits and crooks in DC. you just admitted how lousy medicare is, take a look at the other social services how well those are working. You can start with social security which I will probably never see even though I've paid into the system for the last 32 years!

What I find so Ironic is that the same ones who complain the most about Government Interference into our privacy, are the same ones advocating more Big Government. :huh:

Universal Health Care Wont Work

I said medicare was lousy with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. The days of employers paying for the health care of retirees is long gone...those that have it now had better get used to losing it in the future. That being the case - medicare doesn't look so bad when the alternative is...working til you die.

The free market has failed for the health care in the United States. Prescription prices are higher here than anywhere else in the world because the pharmaceutical companies are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to advertise pills that can give me a four hour hard on. I don't need a four hour hard on, but the costs to advertise that pill are passed on to the drugs that I DO need. And doctors don't seem to be lowering their costs, despite many of their patients coming in with their self diagnosis that they NEED that four hour hard on...the tell the doctor what they want, and the doctor writes them a prescription. That's not medicine, that's being an order taker.

Insurance companies are looking for any reason to deny major claims. I have worked for my current employer for 9 years. For those 9 years, they have paid a large portion of my insurance premium...together we have paid on average about $13,000 per year. for 9 years. That's $117,000 over 9 years. In return, I've claimed a foot surgery, an endoscopy, annual physicals, prescriptions, and a couple of ER visits. The family had a foot surgery and annual physicals and their prescriptions. So let's say the total of those services was $25,000...that's still almost $90,000 more than I've paid in...but if I am diagnosed with a life threatening illness, they shift into high gear to find ways to deny coverage.

Have you seen the movie Sicko? Many on the right won't, simply because Michael Moore made the movie. But it's not about the uninsured, and it's not so much about "socialized medicine"...it's about those of us who think we HAVE insurance...until we find that we aren't really covered. And he compares that to countries with "socialized medicine". We can do better than we're doing.

As for other social services - I'm pretty happy with the police and fire services, and the roads here are in pretty good shape. We have some great parks here in the KC area, and our District Attorney has helped keep the dangerous people off the streets in my town.

One additional note about Medicare. My dad died of cancer a few years ago. Medicare paid for his treatment...not at Bob's House of Chemo, but at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He often took his treatments next to Tom Landry - who could afford the best care available. My mom had a stent placed in her brain...the surgery was performed by one of the best in the country, again at Baylor. And again, Medicare paid for it. If that is representative of what "socialized medicine" is all about, then I'm all for it.

 

[local 12 proud]

One additional note about Medicare. My dad died of cancer a few years ago. Medicare paid for his treatment...not at Bob's House of Chemo, but at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He often took his treatments next to Tom Landry - who could afford the best care available. My mom had a stent placed in her brain...the surgery was performed by one of the best in the country, again at Baylor. And again, Medicare paid for it. If that is representative of what "socialized medicine" is all about, then I'm all for it.

If medicare is as good as you now describe it, then there is no need for change. seems the safety net worked well for your dad. Had he lived in Canada he may have died sooner unless of course he had the money to travel to the USA for treatment.

Canadians who love "socialized medicine"

 

[Seatacus]

One additional note about Medicare. My dad died of cancer a few years ago. Medicare paid for his treatment...not at Bob's House of Chemo, but at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas. He often took his treatments next to Tom Landry - who could afford the best care available. My mom had a stent placed in her brain...the surgery was performed by one of the best in the country, again at Baylor. And again, Medicare paid for it. If that is representative of what "socialized medicine" is all about, then I'm all for it.

I am happy that Medicare worked for you. In my own family's experience Medicare did not cover completely the cost of a stem cell transplant. It needed to be supplemented by some other insurance. Even then more money was needed on top of the insurance. Bottom line for us was Medicare was good but not good enough.

 

[North by Northwest]

work till you die...........problem solved

Corporate America is trying it's best to make that happen. That way they can collect more of what's left of your pensions ...as "target bonuses". They will do only as much as Americans allow them. Eisenhower...saw this down the pike. That is why he warned the American populace of the enemy within.

 

[KCFlyer]

If medicare is as good as you now describe it, then there is no need for change. seems the safety net worked well for your dad. Had he lived in Canada he may have died sooner unless of course he had the money to travel to the USA for treatment.

Canadians who love "socialized medicine"

So local...you're happy with American health care the way it is?

 

[delldude]

So local...you're happy with American health care the way it is?

Explain "The way it is".....

Do you want a handout?

People that drive purchase car insurance.....why doesn't the government pay my auto insurance?

Which is a "right" and which would be an entitlement?

 

[local 12 proud]

So local...you're happy with American health care the way it is?

KC, its not perfect for sure but its not the disasterous failure socialized medicine would most likely prove to be.

I don't want more Government, I want less!

Now im sounding like Ron Paul....

 

[KCFlyer]

KC, its not perfect for sure but its not the disasterous failure socialized medicine would most likely prove to be.

I don't want more Government, I want less!

Now im sounding like Ron Paul....

I don't think "socialized medicine" (actually single payor...they're different beasts) would be such a bad thing. Everybody likes to cite the long waits in Canada, but fails to recognize that the wait times are averages....usually a good indicator until you realize that there is more land area in Canada than there is in the US, yet the population is less than that of the city Los Angeles. You betcha you've got a long wait for an MRI if you are in Nipawin Saskatchewan when the doctor in Saskatoon is serving an area 400 miles in diameter. It's about the same wait as the guy in Hoxie Kansas would have. If doctors will suddenly decide that "socialized medicine" isn't lucrative enough for them, perhaps they could "hone their skills" and become aircraft mechanics. Or computer programmers. Or telemarketers. Wait a minute...even under "socialized medicine" they'd be paid a LOT more than those careers pay. Why would waits increase in the US because the health care system has changed - unless it's because we'd be serving the folks we'd just as soon let die.

You don't want a government telling you what operations you can and can't have, but have no problem with a publicly traded insurance company making the same decisions...decisions which are based not on health care, but on "shareholder value". Look at what the focus on shareholder value has done to YOUR industry. Then there's the taxes. US companies are already behind the eight ball because they are spending about $12,000 per employee every year to provide health care...while their foreign competitors are paying NOTHING. Yeah...those foreign workers taxes are higher...but you know something? Those foreign workers have something called "jobs", which companies in the US are slashing right and left - in large part because of health care costs - so they say.

Why do you think "socialized medicine" would be a disastrous failure? Take a look at the WHOLE picture when answering that. For me - yeah, taxes would go up some, but US companies might suddenly find that it's better for "shareholder value" to create MORE jobs here, since they are no longer behind the eight ball with health care costs.

 

[local 12 proud]

Why do you think "socialized medicine" would be a disastrous failure? Take a look at the WHOLE picture when answering that. For me - yeah, taxes would go up some, but US companies might suddenly find that it's better for "shareholder value" to create MORE jobs here, since they are no longer behind the eight ball with health care costs.

Ive already given you an example, look what a mess social security has become, projected to be insolvent before I reach retirement. how much tax are you willing to pay for all these government (handouts) programs? 50%, 60%, 70% where does it stop KC? Take a look at what welfare has done to several generations, take a look at public housing what a disaster that has become, take a look at our public schools that are failing, I could go on but whats the point? You seem to think that the government should take care of you from cradle to grave on one hand but should'nt have the right to tap a phone on the other.....Go figure!