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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: i-node who wrote (504540)	8/13/2009 2:04:05 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575797

According to that link, 1.6 million Americans lost their insurance in the first half of 2006 alone because their employer dropped it due to affordability. Since then, we have gone into the longest and deepest recession since the Great Depression. It is extremely unlikely that those employers have restored health insurance and that no others have also dropped it to cut costs. Yes, unemployment has increased massively under Obama and it isn't shocking if there are a more without insurance. But if the stimulus is working as you have suggested, this is a temporary condition. Read the first line again. The employees lost coverage not because they were became unemployed but because their employer couldn't afford the coverage. That's why employers, particularly small businesses, are on the side of reform. That means we do not have the best health system in the world as you keep suggesting. My premium has gone up 400% in ten years even as my coverage has become much less and my deductible much higher. That's not an example of a good health system.

To: i-node who wrote (504540)	8/13/2009 2:11:15 PM
From: combjelly	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575797

"Yes, unemployment has increased massively under Obama and it isn't shocking if there are a more without insurance" You are intentionally missing the point. I was talking about people who are employed. Their companies just don't offer health insurance as a benefit any more. Since the workers were unlikely to have gotten a raise, then the only insurance they can get is totally out of their pocket and at a higher rate than what their employer considered to be unaffordable. Given that 1.6 million lost insurance this way in Q106, and the economy has gotten a lot worse since then, how many more workers are in that particular boat? Insurance premiums paid by employers has increased 119% since 1999. It has increased almost the same for employees. In the face of stagnant wages, this is a huge burden. And smaller companies are pitching in the towel. They can't keep up. "We certainly do not want to ditch the best health care system in the world for what is, in effect, a temporary condition" This isn't a temporary condition. It has been going on for decades. The rate of increase has gone up in recent years and there is no sign of it slowing. "You see how this works?" I do see how it works. And understand it isn't sustainable. Something you seem to fail to grasp.