Obamacare success stories please

[Robbi]

I usually follow threads like this but don't post, but this is how I feel as well. I am seeing it a LOT with my brother and others I know his age (early/mid 20s). I am getting concerned about how much and what changes we will be seeing when it's time to renew our insurance at work. I am so sick and tired of having to paying for everyone else because we are "lucky."

On top of all of it, we're supposed to feel guilty for hard work and success. If we don't feel bad, then we're hard hearted Hannahs or Hanks. A strong work ethic used to be normal. Now it seems that working hard and having the fruits of that work should shame us. Something is backward.

 

[lauradis]

Here another novel idea take the money you get in tax returns and donate to federal debt for the greater good of all citizens in USA.

Basically that's what your asking the lucky to do.

Put up or

 

[robinb]

Some of those same low income family are eligible for reduced or free lunch at schools, food stamps, and free health care for their kids. And now lower cost health care for whole family. those are just headliner give outs. Your welcome.

I have seen very few people who hate the poor as much as you seem to.

I was curious so I looked at the "who posted" count and you have posted 27 posts (out of 199, 1 out of every 8 posts) on a thread called "Obamacare success stories please" and NONE of them are success stories. While you are certainly allowed to post when and where you want, I just find the whole thing odd.

 

[dansamy]

On top of all of it, we're supposed to feel guilty for hard work and success. If we don't feel bad, then we're hard hearted Hannahs or Hanks. A strong work ethic used to be normal. Now it seems that working hard and having the fruits of that work should shame us. Something is backward.

I think hard working individuals have plenty to be proud of and thankful about. Being able to afford to pay taxes & still be quite comfortable is not shameful. Being able to help your family & still have enough is a blessing.

 

[lauradis]

I have seen very few people who hate the poor as much as you seem to.

I was curious so I looked at the "who posted" count and you have posted 27 posts (out of 199, 1 out of every 8 posts) on a thread called "Obamacare success stories please" and NONE of them are success stories. While you are certainly allowed to post when and where you want, I just find the whole thing odd.

No I'm just being a brat. I don't hate the poor. I hate people whining about not having enough, then not really taking the risk to try.

The government stinks at charity. I'm just sick of giving to something that doesn't seem to work well.

 

[dansamy]

The government stinks at charity. I'm just sick of giving to something that doesn't seem to work well.

Yeah, they do!

(FWIW, I'm not whining about not having enough or not doing anything about it. My husband and I worked our way through school without student loans. He's an airplane mechanic. I'm a nurse. We're both hard working people. We have enough to meet our needs and enough to enjoy some of the things we like. On our way up, we benefitted from SNAP, WIC & Pell. I'm thankful we had the help when we really needed it. And in a few years, given his current health, dh is likely to be on SSDI & Medicare. After paying into it for decades.)

 

[lauradis]

Yeah, they do!

(FWIW, I'm not whining about not having enough or not doing anything about it. My husband and I worked our way through school without student loans. He's an airplane mechanic. I'm a nurse. We're both hard working people. We have enough to meet our needs and enough to enjoy some of the things we like. On our way up, we benefitted from SNAP, WIC & Pell. I'm thankful we had the help when we really needed it. And in a few years, given his current health, dh is likely to be on SSDI & Medicare. After paying into it for decades.)

Its not about wanting to not help people. Its the system. We also worked our way up "the system". Never stopped, keep climbing, not dead yet.

People get comfortable at a spot and stop.

Oh everyday I post a success story.

Here's today my best friends son who is 4 is still eligible for medicaid, she is going to get great break for herself on the exchange, and her mother has agreed to pay for it. That's win for her because she couldn't afford coverage before

 

[Robbi]

I think hard working individuals have plenty to be proud of and thankful about. Being able to afford to pay taxes & still be quite comfortable is not shameful. Being able to help your family & still have enough is a blessing.

I have seen very few people who hate the poor as much as you seem to.

I was curious so I looked at the "who posted" count and you have posted 27 posts (out of 199, 1 out of every 8 posts) on a thread called "Obamacare success stories please" and NONE of them are success stories. While you are certainly allowed to post when and where you want, I just find the whole thing odd.

I think it sounds more like frustration than hate.

 

[dansamy]

Its not about wanting to not help people. Its the system. We also worked our way up "the system". Never stopped, keep climbing, not dead yet.

People get comfortable at a spot and stop.

Oh everyday I post a success story.

Here's today my best friends son who is 4 is still eligible for medicaid, she is going to get great break for herself on the exchange, and her mother has agreed to pay for it. That's win for her because she couldn't afford coverage before

I agree that the system sucks. I was grateful for the help along the way. I also know I'll reach a certain ceiling because I enjoy taking care of patients. I'm only going to ever earn so much by remaining at the bedside. That's fine. That's my choice. I earn a comfortable living. It's not without its own struggles, but it's fine.

Our country needs mechanics and welders, plumbers & electricians. I would say nurses too, but an aggressive campaign has garnered us a surplus. We're good now! :-D

 

[lauradis]

I think it sounds more like frustration than hate.

Thank you Im not really a hating monster, just have to much free time on my hands this month. lol plus happy dance 13 more days till disney

I agree that the system sucks. I was grateful for the help along the way. I also know I'll reach a certain ceiling because I enjoy taking care of patients. I'm only going to ever earn so much by remaining at the bedside. That's fine. That's my choice. I earn a comfortable living. It's not without its own struggles, but it's fine.

Our country needs mechanics and welders, plumbers & electricians. I would say nurses too, but an aggressive campaign has garnered us a surplus. We're good now! :-D

We have to work towards a real solution. And if I know what it was I would be able to pass thru the next pay grade lol

maybe ACA is the starting point, but all the other give me programs don't seem to go away even if they are broken.

Think more people would except ACA if they put a time limit in.

If business isn't running as peachie as I want, We make adjustments, government programs don't.

 

[dansamy]

And I'm not nearly as liberal as my latest posts make me seem. I think welfare recipients should pass drug screens. I think cash benefits should be extremely limited. I think the SafeLink program should offer ONLY a landline. But I also acutely understand the plight of the working poor. Living just over the lines is much harder than living well below it.

 

[Colleen27]

Why should they care it doesn't effect them? They are exempt at this point and time. This is a bigger problem. Then class war fare we keep discusses.

Why is it "class warfare" if people happy to have access to insurance for the first time in years aren't upset about others paying higher premiums, but no one ever calls it "class warfare" when better off people simply couldn't care less that lower income Americans can't afford care?

Luckily they have their food stamps and WIC to help

That's the problem, though - the people hardest hit by regressive taxes (and by the pre-ACA health insurance system) are those in the median income range, too high for public assistance but low enough that the choices are health insurance or retirement savings, health insurance or rent/mortgage, etc.

 

[robinb]

Off topic ...

I think welfare recipients should pass drug screens.

Why? It didn't work in Florida, what makes you think it will work elsewhere?

I think the SafeLink program should offer ONLY a landline.

Again, why? They are limited on the number of minutes they can use so why does it matter? Being able to use a phone away from home is probably more important than using one inside your home.

But I also acutely understand the plight of the working poor. Living just over the lines is much harder than living well below it.

No argument from me. My best friend is one of the working poor. She makes too much to qualify for much but lives paycheck to measly paycheck. She's also a homeowner who struggles by and rents out rtooms in her house to pay her mortgage and taxes. She would be sunk if she had to pay for her housing.

 

[lauradis]

Why is it "class warfare" if people happy to have access to insurance for the first time in years aren't upset about others paying higher premiums, but no one ever calls it "class warfare" when better off people simply couldn't care less that lower income Americans can't afford care?

That's the problem, though - the people hardest hit by regressive taxes (and by the pre-ACA health insurance system) are those in the median income range, too high for public assistance but low enough that the choices are health insurance or retirement savings, health insurance or rent/mortgage, etc.

This is where you are wrong. Being from every "class" in my life time I have had the privilege of feeling the pain and the success of every level.

Personally if the government went to universal coverage, I really wouldn't have a problem with the program. Aca isn't going to work for the simple fact that nothing has been done to address the cost control, maybe I'm wrong we will have to wait and see, but in mean time most Americans really can't afford the cost of aca , but that's ok because everyone is required for the most part to have insurance. Insurance doesn't really promise that you will be able to afford to go get medical treatment if you are sick.

Insurance in simple is to protect you from $$$ loss not medical care. That's the sticking point most supports seem to ignore.

 

[Colleen27]

On top of all of it, we're supposed to feel guilty for hard work and success. If we don't feel bad, then we're hard hearted Hannahs or Hanks. A strong work ethic used to be normal. Now it seems that working hard and having the fruits of that work should shame us. Something is backward.

No one is suggesting that people feel bad for being successful. But this implication that lower income workers lack work ethic, lack determination, lack ambition, etc. is demeaning and insulting and serves absolutely no purpose other than to characterize them as unworthy and therefore easily disregarded in discussions of issues like health care access. Plenty of very hard working people are living without insurance in this country, not for lack of work ethic but because they live in small towns where the businesses are too small to offer insurance, or because they took a risk to try to earn more by starting their own businesses. They're working hard but they aren't working in fields or areas where it is as simple as looking for a different job to have benefits.

And I'm not nearly as liberal as my latest posts make me seem. I think welfare recipients should pass drug screens. I think cash benefits should be extremely limited. I think the SafeLink program should offer ONLY a landline. But I also acutely understand the plight of the working poor. Living just over the lines is much harder than living well below it.

I agree. And I'm not all that liberal on social spending either; I think there's value in Safelink, and think that cell phones make it moreso simply because physical addresses can be so unstable/transient for the poorest Americans, but I agree that cash benefits should be very limited and that education (both in work skills and home management) should be a part of any social program.

Where my "liberal" comes out is when the subject is support for lower-income *working* families, both because such supports encourage work and therefore provides a route to long-term stability and because they provide the foundation for strong small-business "main street" growth by easing the constant pressure on workers to seek out jobs at bigger companies that can offer better benefit packages.

 

[luvmy3]

That's the problem, though - the people hardest hit by regressive taxes (and by the pre-ACA health insurance system) are those in the median income range, too high for public assistance but low enough that the choices are health insurance or retirement savings, health insurance or rent/mortgage, etc.

Yes I realize that but I responded to the pp based on when they said "low income". I wrongly assumed that they were talking about those below the median level when I made that comment.

 

[dansamy]

No one is suggesting that people feel bad for being successful. But this implication that lower income workers lack work ethic, lack determination, lack ambition, etc. is demeaning and insulting and serves absolutely no purpose other than to characterize them as unworthy and therefore easily disregarded in discussions of issues like health care access. Plenty of very hard working people are living without insurance in this country, not for lack of work ethic but because they live in small towns where the businesses are too small to offer insurance, or because they took a risk to try to earn more by starting their own businesses. They're working hard but they aren't working in fields or areas where it is as simple as looking for a different job to have benefits.

I agree. And I'm not all that liberal on social spending either; I think there's value in Safelink, and think that cell phones make it moreso simply because physical addresses can be so unstable/transient for the poorest Americans, but I agree that cash benefits should be very limited and that education (both in work skills and home management) should be a part of any social program.

Where my "liberal" comes out is when the subject is support for lower-income *working* families, both because such supports encourage work and therefore provides a route to long-term stability and because they provide the foundation for strong small-business "main street" growth by easing the constant pressure on workers to seek out jobs at bigger companies that can offer better benefit packages.

This. I'm a big supporter of helping people who are working hard & making efforts. I think there should be more support for that. To help people. I am NOT a supporter of continuing generations of welfare recipients who are dependent upon government and charity for their every need. That has to stop. And do not tell me that it doesn't exist. I personally know people collecting cash benefits from more than one state.

 

[dansamy]

Yes I realize that but I responded to the pp based on when they said "low income". I wrongly assumed that they were talking about those below the median level when I made that comment.

Sorry. My bad for not making myself clear.
The problem with regressive taxes is they punish the people who are working hard to provide for themselves. They're caught in the gaps of everything. ACA is no exception. It's criminal that these hard working Americans are faced with choices like moving away from their support systems to states that did expand Medicaid or getting a second job. Or a third. Or going without.

 

[lauradis]

This. I'm a big supporter of helping people who are working hard & making efforts. I think there should be more support for that. To help people. I am NOT a supporter of continuing generations of welfare recipients who are dependent upon government and charity for their every need. That has to stop. And do not tell me that it doesn't exist. I personally know people collecting cash benefits from more than one state.

But can't you see once you make the middle class more dependent on programs they are in the same boat of welfare recipients. The only difference is you have better paying job or a job of some kind. If you take more then you give, someone has to pay for this mess we have created.

 

[dansamy]

Duplicate post. Sorry