The Political Thread

[Arcadia]

Amen. ;)

 

Seriously, churches do wonderful things. Religion can be a great teacher and a great comfort for many. But is it fair to put the onus of caring for the needy only on those who are faithful? I think non-church goers need to pull some of the weight too ... and there's many more of us than there are of them, I hear.

[SherlockedCAMPer]

Who said anything about fair. If we all believed the God of the Jewish/Christian Bible we'd realize that God isn't fair at all. He is not about fairness, He's all for justice. And that is the better option as fair would mean that a first time offender of 1st degree murder would get off with next to no time in jail because s/he had never broken the law before & it wouldn't be fair to have that person in jail for life even though a just sentence would have that person in jail for life.

 

Also, US Christians who say Trump was put in office by God are not equating him to the Messiah (at least not all as many of them would say that's heresy since it is). With that being said the Bible does say that all government is in place by God (see Romans 13:1).

 

Finally, any good church providing any sort of public assistance including but not limited to services such as Meals on Wheels start within their walls (that's where the need is generally known first) but also reach out to the community around them. I know that's what my church and several others in my area do. That's what the early church did as well.

[J.P.]

But still putting the whole burden of those services on churches would exclude a big part of the citizens from participating.

God might be not fair (and I could argue about justice), but a state should be IMO.

[Fantasy Lover]

http://qklnk.co/P6OHds I hope he will get impeached if this turns out to be true (I know we will get Pence)

[Arcadia]

God might be not fair (and I could argue about justice), but a state should be IMO.

 

Yep-p.

 

Who said anything about fair. If we all believed the God of the Jewish/Christian Bible....

 

But we don't. That's the "problem" with faith-based services ... not everyone shares the same faith, and one faith may not be comfortable giving or receiving services to/from another. Nor, imo, should they be forced to. Faith is a private thing and should remain so, imo.

 

And in my faith, God is fair. That's why I don't believe in fundamentalist sects ... they don't encompass my faith. Doesn't make me right, but it doesn't make me wrong, either.

[Surelock]

President Bannon is such a funny guy:

 

 

[Pseudonym]

I was expecting something insulting from Trump, but Trump Jnr is the one who p*ssed people off this morning. Idiot attacked Sadiq Khan on Twitter, what an utter imbecile. 

[Arcadia]

Found an article about it. Proof that there is a stupidity gene.
 
One of your MP's had a great comeback, did you see it? 
 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/03/22/donald-trump-jr-insults-london-mayor-sadiq-khan-on-twitter-after-terror-attack.html

[Surelock]

So big boy Donald finally got to play in the truck today:

 

https://twitter.com/SteveKopack/status/844995773838315520

 

Isn't it cute how he honks the horn?

 

We're so proud of him!

[Arcadia]

Republicans control all branches of government.

 

Still can't repeal Affordable Care. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/obamacare-repeal-votes-congress-236459

 

:D :D :D

 

 

(Welcome to Washington, Mr. Trump!!)

[Fantasy Lover]

Oh, those will get on trump's naughty list :p, anyway :bouncy:

[J.P.]

Funny. I was following the debate live for a while on FB (I'm having a very politically active friend over there) and what I find striking is that while the opponents of Trumpcare were presenting possible effects of the bill, the supporters were babbling some vague "our plan is better than Obamacare because Obamacare was awful and our plan is better" statements.

 

Mr Spock would surely say: Fascinating.

[Fantasy Lover]

Everything is better when a white man does it, even golfing.

[Arcadia]

[T.o.b.y]

Republicans control all branches of government.

 

Still can't repeal Affordable Care. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/03/obamacare-repeal-votes-congress-236459

 

:D :D :D

 

 

(Welcome to Washington, Mr. Trump!!)

Say, is it true though what the German papers write, that the reason there weren't enough Republican votes wasn't any pro-Obamacare sentiment but the opposite - many conservatives thought the proposed changes didn't go far enough? From over here, it didn't look like many cared about affordable care...

[Arcadia]

Exactly. The "hard right" wanted to remove ALL requirements from insurance. For example, right now, under "Obamacare", insurance companies cannot turn you down if you have a pre-existing condition. Also, they are required to cover certain things, among them: emergency-room visits, hospital stays, mental health care, maternity care, preventive care and prescription drug coverage. This is why premiums have gone up; before, you might have been able to pay less for insurance if you were willing to have no coverage for certain things. (In reality, though, most Americans get their insurance through their employers, and don't really have an option what will/won't be covered; their employer chooses that for them when they contract with the insurance company. I know, because it used to be my job to do that very thing.)

 

The self-styled "Freedom Caucus" wanted to do away with all that, on the theory that it would make insurance cost less for those who don't need, say, maternity care. But it would drive up the cost for those who do, because the expense of maternity care would be spread amongst fewer people. So essentially, the more wealthy you are, the more coverage you could afford, and those who can't afford it ... too bad. Which is essentially what we had before Obama.

 

Meanwhile, the more "moderate" wing of the party couldn't go along with that, because they realize that what most Americans want is cheaper insurance, not less insurance. (Duh. ) So the Republicans imploded, and left "Obamacare" intact. For now. It will be interesting to see where they go from here.

[J.P.]

Well, we all have been born. So maternity expenses apply to us all, don't they?

[Pseudonym]

Pretty sure some men wouldn't see it that way. It applied to their mothers rather than them. (In their eyes).

[SherlockedCAMPer]

The only way to keep healthcare costs seemingly low on the consumer end is to have it funded by the government (not something I go for because the only way to fund that is through increased taxes [the US government fails at education and I don't want to see what they would do with my healthcare if they fully funded it]).  The other option would be to have insurance be semi-a la carte whereby there are fixed rates that cover a certain number of medical expenses with certain minimum requirements of coverage such as all plans would cover hospital/ER visits & regular check-ups.  For example:

 

Option 1: High-Deductible Health Plan

Coverage: Regular check-ups fully covered with possible reasonable co-pay ($10-$20), Hospital & ER Fully covered after deductible met

 

Option 2: Low-Cost Plan of the Bare Minimum

Coverage: Regular check-ups, Hospital, & ER fully covered after reasonable co-pay (see amount in Option 1) and possible deductible that is considerably lower than Option 1

 

Option 3: Mid-Cost Plan

Coverage: All of Option 2 with possibly a lower deductible plus 2-3 more specialty areas (consumer picks which areas), the rest comes out of pocket or covered after a larger deductible than the hospital/ER deductible.

 

Option 4: High-Cost plan

Coverage: All of option 3 with 4-6 (or more) specialty areas covered (again consumer picks which areas are covered), the rest comes either out of pocket or by deductible.

 

Some might also argue for having 2+ price points for each option depending on how high risk the insured was such as happens with different rates for car insurance based on coverage selected & how high-risk the driver is.

[Arcadia]

I'm sorry, Camper, but I have to take exception to some of that. My education was funded in part or whole by the federal government, and it was excellent, thank you. The best school I ever attended ... best curriculum, best teachers, most dedicated students ... was 100% run by the federal government. I've no doubt there are schools that fail, but it's usually due to more than one factor ... just like the cost of health care.

 

I would happily accept healthcare that was provided by the government. That's what my dad got for years through the VA, his care was excellent. Consistent, coordinated and caring. I've no doubt that there are VA centers that fail as well, but since there is at least one that succeeds, obviously the funding source cannot be the only reason for failure.

 

At any rate, I don't think anyone is talking about extending government provided health care to the general public. There has been some talk of government run health insurance. Like Medicare, for example, which my mother has depended on for 30 years and it hasn't let her down yet. (I'll be relieved when I can finally get on it myself.) Primarily what the ACA does, however, is regulate private insurance. We can argue about whether that's a good thing or not, but let's at least call it what it is.

[J.P.]

Wondering if it can be viewed outside of Germany

https://www.zdf.de/politik/auslandsjournal/trumpcare-gescheitert-reaktionen-der-anhaenger-100.html

[Caya]

Works here in Austria, fwiw.

[Fantasy Lover]

https://mic.com/articles/172361/trump-executive-order-president-signs-order-rolling-back-obama-s-clean-power-plan?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social#.LQjR3YfDF

Oh, this is absolutely wonderful :(

[Van Buren Supernova]

I read news once in awhile, not necessary daily as they are depressing.

I used to have safe place without all those for quick reading materials, an apps where the contents are only about science, environment, medical, mostly science. Yet, since he took office, I see the news about him EVEN in there, because he actually affects things in science, environment and medical. &&^$#^%@$#%

[Arcadia]

Wondering if it can be viewed outside of Germany

https://www.zdf.de/politik/auslandsjournal/trumpcare-gescheitert-reaktionen-der-anhaenger-100.html

 

Can see it, but don't understand a word of it. But I gather it's about one of those volunteer services that tries to provide some healthcare to the poor? There's one around here somewhere, wonderful organization but can't meet the demand.