We are psyched to launch our new health care ad starring Zach Braff and Donald Faison from Scrubs. Not only are they great guys but are as passionate about the need to reform the health care system as we are.
When we were surveying the landscape of all the organizations and efforts talking about health care reform there was a huge void – no one was talking to us. The 18-29 year old us that is the least insured age group and gets saddled with horrendous debt. We have a huge stake in this fight so we made this ad that airs nationally tonight.
~Mary
Tags: Donald Faison, health care, Scrubs, Zach Braff
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Mary Bio: @Rockthevote Email the author at: blog(at)rockthevote.com |
Wow, and I thought this was supposed to be a non-partisan organization that promoted voter registration…what a bunch of liberal bullcrap.
I’m 22 and I’d like to have healthcare, but I think stealing it from someone who works harder/is smarter/makes more money than me isn’t the way to get it. Free healthcare is NOT free. Some of the money will come from society’s pocket, but most will probably be borrowed from China, which already owns trillions of dollars worth of American debt. Wouldn’t that suck if they decided to call it all in? Our dollar would become 100% worthless. Chances are they wouldn’t do though cause that would be killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, but the fact that a ruthless, anti-American, communist regime has that power over us is horrifying, and the politicians who allowed that to happen should be thrown in jail for treason.
But that’s cool. Keep eatin up all of Obama’s crap like the sheeple you are. Just don’t get all pissy when I say that I told you so
Hi, Ryan!
You seem pretty upset! As far as I understand it, Rock the Vote is a non-partisan organization that supports youth issues in politics and encourages youth involvement. Since young people overwhelmingly support a strong public option, RTV got on board, and God love ‘em for it.
I think you’re a little bit confused about what the current reform really entails — the increased amount of ‘free healthcare’ it provides would be minimal (that’s already mainly provided by Medicare and Medicaid, which even the Republican party would prefer to expand rather than destroy). What the public option would do is create a large, non-profit, government-run insurance company that would accept premiums and copays like any other company: again, not ‘free’. People who currently don’t work for large employers, own small businesses, or can’t buy individual insurance would have the option (that’s the ‘option’ part of public option) to get insurance through this government program. The idea is that with the government negotiating with care providers, and competing with private insurance, our costs will go down, not up.
The reason this is all very important — and not some kind of left-wing conspiracy — is that Americans pay the most for health care in the entire world, and what we get, when measured in terms of infant mortality, longevity, individual health, and consumer satisfaction, is simply awful. John McCain had a health care reform plan, too, in 2008 — everybody agrees that something has to be done.
On a personal note, I’m guessing from your prose that I’m a little bit smarter than you, that I work a little bit harder, and while one never knows about how much money anyone has, I’d be really happy if I had the opportunity to help you get health insurance. I’d be /especially/ happy if I could help some of the 11 million American children that don’t have health insurance — they don’t deserve to be treated the way our current system treats them.
Nick—LOVE, Love, Love your comment, this is exactly how I feel and have been trying to tell people all along =) Do you mind if I repost sometime, on facebook?
Hi Nick!
I don’t think anyone could have asked for a better example of the typical cliché liberal elitist jerk. That little parting stab was pretty clever, but I’ve been in this game long enough to know that good writing isn’t necessarily a manifestation of intelligence. Just out of curiosity, how long did it take you to write your little piece? Did you write it in Word so it could make the green and red squiggly lines under your grammar and spelling mistakes?
Bro, if you really think your “prose” makes you any more or less intelligent than someone else, then you seriously need a reality check. Hitler was a darn fine writer, but his views on the world and how it should operate…not so much. I mean, if you really want to play that game, I could pick apart your comment piece by piece and point out parts that could have been worded much better than they were, but that would take far too much time, and honestly, it would just be childish.
Since you so arrogantly presume to know so much about me based on one typo, allow me to tell you a little about myself. I’m currently a senior college student at a large University in the Southeast. I’m majoring in biology with an emphasis on environmental science, and I’m minoring in general philosophy. I enjoy reading books, finding random things on the interweb, being with friends, and long walks on the beach.
I would consider myself both a social and fiscal conservative, however a few of my political views deviate from archetypal conservatism. I’ve been debating both on the internet (I *try* to keep it at a minimum) and in the live forum for a long time, and I very much enjoy it. I believe that civil discourse is an absolutely necessary component of the exchange of ideas in both academia and society in general (notice I said *civil* discourse). Oh, and the term “civil discourse” generally doesn’t encompass personal attacks, however subtle they may be
Getting back on subject…
I think you’re a little bit confused about my definition of “free” in the context of the healthcare debate. Notice that part about some of the money coming from society’s pocket? Regardless of the fact that a lower income individual will still have to pay some amount of money for the public option, there will still need to be substantial government funding in order to keep the program running. That’s why it will be “cheaper”; you steal more money from the upper class to make healthcare cost for the lower class go down. It’s still textbook socialism no matter how you slice it.
And all that bullcrap about the government running a cheaper and more efficient healthcare program than a standard private company is, well, bullcrap. Now watch closely: *history–i.e., the net sum of human experience–has shown us time and time again that government-run programs are almost never as efficient as their private sector counterparts*. Now see, this is where your 1-dimentional “I have good prose so I must be smart” thinking has gotten you into trouble: history is inescapable. What makes us so arrogant as to think that we can defy thousands of years of human experience?
The very nature of government prevents fiscal efficiency in that there is no such thing as a government program “running out of money”. If a government program begins to fail, well, the government can simply raise taxes, or worse, borrow money from countries like China. Medicare’s overpayment for prescription drugs is a prime example of the poor administrative oversight prevalent in most government funded programs.
As for Americans paying more for healthcare than the rest of world, well, once again, more bullcrap. We have the most sophisticated healthcare technology and the best doctors in the world. I knew a woman from the UK whose mother needed a complex back surgery, and her government was neither willing nor able to provide it to her. So what did she do? She came to the US. It almost makes sense that we pay more for healthcare, right? Wrong, in a sense. Americans in general simply make more money than citizens of other socialist nations, so increased cost is largely negated by the increased average income.
Of course, at the heart of the issue lies the question of what the proper role of government really is. You stated that *you* would like to help out the 11 million children who aren’t currently covered by healthcare. That’s awfully nice of you, but is it really the government’s job to force you to? Or rather, to force ME to? It’s called “forced charity”. A necessary and inseparable component of charity is free will. If I am forced to perform an act of charity, well, I haven’t really performed an act of charity; I’ve simply done what the people with the guns told me to do. So is it the government’s job to force me to perform an act of charity?
The bottom line is that the public option will be every bit as inefficient as medicare, it will be lower quality than private plans, and mark my words: it WILL be a money-pit the likes of which we have probably never seen. It’s unconstitutional, counter-intuitive, and will give the government yet another degree of control over our lives. But that’s ok. Just keep focusing on your prose and you’ll be fine
Say “baaa” for Obaaaama!
Wow.
Ryan, apparently you aren’t as challenged as some indicated.
Liberal self-righteousness, spoken here.
Oh, Nick. Maybe you’d be happy to pay for others since you imply your relative smartness, hard working nature, and well off financial status in your post, but how about you do that, and since I really don’t feel the need, I don’t. Free choice, its a wonderful concept.
Your over simplified view of the “public option” is laughable, cute almost. A fresh faced college kids mission to save the world. However, going with your implied financially successful status…how about if a subsidized, government run competitor to your industry surfaced, one that both makes and enforces the rules that you compete under? How would that impact you? Maybe run you right out of that financially succesful coccoon you currently inhabit?
It isn’t smart to underestimate your competition, Nick. We see through the plan. It isn’t about health care in the end. Its about seizing an issue that has a broad component of sympathy and morality at its core, and using it to piggyback big-government socialism, to keep an underclass down and dependent so as to keep their “protectors” in power.
When there aren’t any horses, you don’t need blacksmiths, Bro.
Hey, Monique — repost away! It’s my pleasure!
Hi Ryan,
I guess the basic difference between your opinions and mine is that you consider health care and health insurance to be just like every other industry. I understand and accept that the free market is transformative for consumer products, raw materials, labor and even (when well regulated) finance. I don’t think an unrestricted free market is right for education, food, water, or health care — at least not in their most basic form. Just as a citizen without education is less effective as a citizen, a citizen without access to basic health care is less productive.
When you say that ‘government-run programs are almost never as efficient as their private sector counterparts’, you make a complex situation into a cartoon. The government (in the form of Medicaid and Medicare) has coexisted with private insurance for generations. State schools don’t prevent world-class private schools. Deregulation of the phone company wasn’t so bad — deregulation of California’s energy grid practically shut down the state. The question is not “which is better, government or business” but which is better for this? And the experiences of other nations show that government can play an effective role in ensuring the health of its citizens. This is not the unique founding moment of American socialism — by your definition of socialism, we’ve had it since the inception of the Republic.
I get it that you don’t care about the suffering of those around you. I understand that you consider community standards to be a conspiracy of ‘those with guns’ to force you to be charitable and kind. I think you’re being shortsighted in that respect, and selfish. But I also am willing to bet that you are not happy with the system we have, and that you believe that it is not necessary for people like you, or children, or other people with promise and bright futures, to go without insurance and without health care. So what’re you going to do? Try to have a positive influence on the debate, or throw rocks at people who are trying to make a change?
Paco — just for the record, you’re making the argument that liberal humanism is an intentional conspiracy perpetrated by politicians and upper-class voters to enforce the dependence of the “underclass” and thereby maintain eternal political power.
And not only that, you’re arguing that I personally know this, and am trying to increase support for a health insurance public option as part of a master plan for national domination.
And that you, Paco, see through this, and have identified my plan, and are letting me know that you know. You get it — perhaps you’re the only one that gets it.
I can only conclude that you’re either an Objectivist or a schizophrenic. I’m just a guy from California. I have a dog. Some of my friends have had trouble with their insurance companies and it got me interested in health care policy. I’m not trying to seize world power or build a socialist death laser.
Would you like to talk about health care reform?
Nick,
I believe you to be either interpreting Ryan’s comments incorrectly (doubtful) or engaging in a bit of spin and guilty of that we all are from time to time. In the spirit of open discourse I will add my two cents on the health care debate. Regarding the efficiency of Government, one needs to look no further then Medicare/Medicaid/Social Security or the postal service as stellar examples of government efficiency (Please note this is only US examples, there are numerous other examples worldwide). I do not believe people should be left on the streets to die, where our views diverge is in determining the most effective manner to which this basic care can be provided. I would rather see the US work towards bringing costs of care down through a combination of tort reform, reducing the costs associated with bringing a new drug to market and allowing for interstate sale of private insurance. I agree with your earlier statement that people without healthcare are less productive and I believe basic healthcare should be available to all of our citizens, I just do not believe the government to be the solution.
I am also familiar with the phrase “There are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics”. I have attached a link to the 2007 study from the US Census burueau showing the household income levels of some 46M uninsured Americans. Cutting right to the chase, there are 9.725 million uninsured Americans living in households making $75,000 per year or more and there are about 8 million Americans without health insurance in households making between $50,000 and $75,000. With those two groups combined, 38.3% of Americans without health insurance (17.75 million people) lived in households with $50,000 or more of household income in 2007. Many find it sufficient to say that the uninsured cannot “afford” medical insurance. But what you can afford depends not only on how much money you have but also on what your priorities are. Many people who are uninsured have incomes from which medical insurance premiums could readily be paid without any undue strain.
http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf
Long story short, too late..I know, yes the system needs to be changed. Government is not the answer and will undoubtedly make the situation worse… My humble opinion.
I drive an old, used car with low payments; not one that’s new or leased.
I brown-bag at work every day; don’t eat out much.
I buy clothes at a discount with cash, rather than trendy with a credit card.
On a night-out, I set a money limit. When the night’s cash is depleted, I’m done/go home.
So for my health? I spend $187 every month for catastrophic health insurance in case of a cataclysmic event. In case of cancer or a car accident, I’ll get care. Meanwhile, I eat right/exercise & so far have never spent more than $400/year out-of-pocket for doctors’ visits. They usually “cut me a deal” if not, n/c, when they hear I’m “paying out of pocket.”
The govt doesn’t buy my car insurance for me or my renter’s insurance, so why health insurance? Why shouldn’t I be banking for future health care by buying my own health insurance? Convince me otherwise. I think it’s time to grow-some.
Michael —
That’s an excellent argument, and under most of the plans Congress is currently considering, those people would be covered by insurance mandates, and not given free or reduced-cost care. They would then stop being drains on the system (through medical bankruptcy, emergency room use and general poor health) and start contributing to it. Subsidized public option insurance would be offered to the other 61% of uninsured Americans that you cite — who are too poor to get Medicaid, but can’t reasonably afford real health insurance, and that includes the 11 million children that I am apparently the only one who even considers when talking about health care policy.
Where government’s efficiency is concerned (and my work is undertaken mainly through the Post Office, which I find cheap and effective), remember that these people currently _have no insurance_. That means that private industry’s efficiency in insuring these people is ZERO. That’s a pretty low bar for government to get over in order to provide real improvement.
Hi, Becky!
You’re right, you’re doing the right thing, and that’s great. I am almost positive, however, that in the case of cancer or a car accident, you would probably be financially wiped out. Check your deductible — do you have enough to cover it in the case of an emergency (for instance, if your deductible is $5,000, do you have $5,000?) What’s your co-insurance rate? I’d guess that it’s 20% or 30% — that means that if you have an accident and have $10,000 in insurance bills, you pay the $5K deductible plus at least 20% of the other 5K — that’s a $6,000 charge. That’s probably not much different than the discount you would get if you told the hospital you were uninsured — and you pay through the nose to get it.
Under the House plan, government would not “buy you” insurance — they would make a government-run plan available to you. You wouldn’t be forced into that plan — from seeing the way that seniors defend Medicare, though, I’m under the impression that a government insurance plan (whose goal is to encourage health and cut costs) would be fairer and better than the private insurance plan (whose goal is to maximize profits and avoid getting sued) you currently have.
Becky,
If I heard you say that in a bar I would buy you a drink, well put! You don’t find very much personal accountability in indivduals or government these days
OH MY! indeed. What a bunch of liberal BS. Why should I listen to two people who aren’t doctors, they just play doctors on TV? My actual doctors are in favor of health care reform but they are against any government involvement, and I agree with them.
I’m with Becky and I am happy with my coverage. I have catastrophic coverage only, and I receive a 30 percent discount by paying cash for doctor visits. I get a nice discount and my doctors save money by not having to file insurance claims for my visits.
My only health condition is an eye injury from my youth. I require monthly checkups and daily medication. I pay out of pocket for both, and my monthly bill is far less than it would be if I bought health insurance. I don’t want or need health insurance and I resent the government’s attempt to cram it down my throat. True reform should begin with getting the government out of the way by eliminating the interstate ban and enacting tort reform. The government should not be in the business of providing health care.
Health care is not a right. It is not in the Bill of Rights or any other document and with good reason.
Dudes,
Like, everything should be free or subsidized! I heard the president talk about all this waste in Medicare and Medicaid last night. Will he not go and clean it up out of spite if he doesn’t get his legislation passed? That would totally suck! Apparently, $500 billion is not worth cleaning up if you can’t get a program implemented that costs about $1 trillion.
And since we’re talking about issues that concern young people, where’s my subsidized cannabis? I keep hearing about these “green shoots”, but I don’t know where to find ‘em. RTV needs to get involved!
I can’t fathom why you would be surprised that “Rock the Vote” has a liberal agenda, it has had a liberal agenda since it’s inception. It’s no different than the soap opera “reality TV” shows they now have instead of music videos, or even the music videos themselves.
Then again, I’m old. I remember when MTV was MUSIC TeleVision–back when they actually played music videos night and day. Those days are long gone. Now it’s “young liberal entertainment TV” (YLE-TV).
Eesh, discourse gets a little thin as we travel the page. Not that I wouldn’t like to see more music on MTV, but let’s focus, here.
CR makes a familiar argument that I’ve never understood — “health care is not a right”. Lots of things aren’t constitutionally-protected rights: access to alcohol, national parks, trap shooting, whatever. I mean, geez — there’s nothing in the Bill of Rights that says that all people should be allowed to freely circulate on government-purchased interstate highways, but we did that.
The argument I think you want to make is “I do not want to provide others with a health insurance guarantee.” Considering that this guarantee already exists in the form of laws that make it illegal for hospital emergency rooms to turn away the sick, really what we’re talking about is the form that guarantee should take. It is cheaper AND more humane to provide health insurance rather than emergency care only.
I know that I’m answering your unshakable, bedrock faith that all things the government does are extremely bad, but we are the only industrialized country in the WORLD with an all-private insurance industry for non-seniors, AND we pay the most per capita for health insurance. We are just not getting our money’s worth from the current system, and while tort reform and interstate competition would make great reforms, we can do that and solve the problem of uninsurance and underinsurance as well.
It’s nice to see some young people supporting health care reform. Thought I was one of the only ones. The main complaint I have is that the other side won’t even compromise. They spread lies and don’t listen to a thing. Holding their ears la la la la la. America needs this to survive, you don’t need a phd to see that. If your against any reform at all you need to be better informed. I have insurace it’s good (expensive) but it goes up by 30%+ each year. How can you say that’s not a problem. Especially in this economy when many people are not receiving any raises. In the four years since I started my current job my insurance has more than doubled. If it keeps going at this rate it will cost over 25% of my pay-and I only pay half. I’m young healthy so insurance companies love me. Most people are screwed especially if you have a pre existing condition. Go to the doc for a simple headache? Could be a pre existing condition later. This the USA-Not the United States of me, myself and I! We ALL need to work together twords some sort of reform. I’m willing to compromise, are you?
Scrubs is still on the air? Wow, that show is as old and outdated as Obama’s rhetoric! Then again, any movement that would even speak to Mario Armando Lavandeira (let alone hire it as a spokesthing) is either on its last legs or just plain wrong. So while you folks are hip-hopping around and celebrating your diversity in lockstep uniformity, ask yourselves this question: “Of all the possible ways to correct the health care problem (it’s not a crisis) why is your government avoiding to mention the most inexpensive but most effective way of changing the health care system: tort reform” The only one that would hurt would be lawyers.
Oh yeah! I forgot, your president is a lawyer, his primary goal is to make a complex system only a lawyer could understand and profit from. Maybe you should be asking yourselves “Why was his law license revoked not long after he got it?”
Its called personal responsibility. I didn’t have health insurance when I first got married. We were expecting a child, so I went out and found a job that offered health insurance. Sometimes you gotta suck it up and work a job that you may not like to provide things like insurance for your family. I didn’t have insurance from the age of 18-24 because I didn’t feel like I needed it. I would be pretty pissed if I were forced into paying for it not only for myself but for someone who is too lazy to work for themselves. If the government offers a public option, it will cause the insurance industry to lose more money than I can imagine. Then who is getting laid off? I work with several people who make good money and opt out of our work provided insurance, and that is their right as they state. Don’t force people to buy something they don’t want.
Dear Ryan,
Frankly, I read about the first paragraph of the actually important part of your rebuttal after poorly choosing to read that first part where you cry about Nick’s personal attacks by responding with your own. After that first paragraph I stopped reading. I couldn’t read it any longer.
The second I hit the word socialism (one of the last words in the paragraph), I instantly went into nerd raging, pissed off-liberal mode. I will trust that you know something about the pros and cons of socialism so I won’t have to bother with asking you what the pros and cons are. I have to do this constantly with most of the Conservatives I associate myself with because like many other Conservatives they believe that socialism, fascism and communism are all interchangeable words that can be thrown around at will. Anyway, I figured that it would still be worth it to call you out on the fact that you, like many others, appear to enjoy classifying everything Obama does as Socialism. Thanks for the laughs, but that’s not true and I’m not the only one who recognizes it.
In fact, lets prove my point by taking a quote from the top U.S. socialist, Frank Llewellyn, the National Director of the Democratic Socialists of America. “He’s not any kind of socialist at all…a market guy.” I think you’ll enjoy this quote too. “The Republicans are doing the same thing they did when Roosevelt was president — confusing somebody who is trying to save capitalism from itself with somebody who is trying to destroy it. [Obama] is not trying to destroy capitalism.”
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/09/09/top-u-s-socialist-says-barack-obama-is-not-one-of-them/
Have a nice day.
Mike, that is great that you went out and got a job with insurance! I also did the same thing and am now stuck at a job I despise for the single fact that it provides insurance. Although I have friends who would love to just get any old job with insurance. But finding a job in this economy is hard. With pre exististing conditions and no job they are screwed. And I highly doubt the insurance agencies would have to fire anyone. That’s what companies have to do now because rates are so high. Insurance compnies spend 30% on costs and pay millions to CEOs. They scream they don’t have money but take in millions in profits and even pay some bonuses to employees who can find ways to deny you based on pre existing conditions. There has to be some kind of reform even if it’s just a little. Some people say just go out and buy insurance but not everyone can do that. Even if they want to pay a massive amount NO ONE will insure them. Companies don’t care about sick people, they care about the profits. I have a friend who is young in her 20′s but because of a pre existing condition pays $524 in insurance because her prescription would be over $1000 a month. Half of a months salary. I have another friend who does opt out of his employer insurance like you mentioned but only because the cost is so high he can’t afford it and it only covers him if something major were to happen. Does no one have friends or family without insurance or does no one care? The insurance companies are screwing us out of money and no one is saying anything about it. They only insure healthy people like me. Some of my friends even say-I got insurance go buy it if you want it that bad- but duh your young and healthy of course they’ll insure you. Your not going to use your insurance! Ahhh! I don’t care about Republicans or Democrats, I care about my friends and family who if they got sick would be totally screwed!!! Maybe there should be no reform, lets see how bad it gets when rates keep sky rocketing and your insurance premiums become the biggest chunk out of your paycheck. I don’t mind, I have the perfect plan. Just don’t get sick it’s that easy!
“[...] no one was talking to us. The 18-29 year old us [...]”
And a commercial starring two multi-millionaire, 30-somethings is supposed to speak for us? This is just another example of self-righteous, Hollywood indoctrination.
Dear Henrik,
Just because one socialist hack won’t call Obama a socialist…does not mean Obama isn’t a socialist. So here’s a hypothetical for you: I’m a conservative, and I say that Ron Paul isn’t a conservative. So is Ron Paul not a conservative now??
Let’s face it: socialism is a dirty word in American politics. If you’re a self-proclaimed socialist in America, you know that 1) ALOT of people don’t like you and 2) you’re in a fringe minority. So what good would it do you to name one of your own who insists on hiding in the shadows of flimsy rhetoric to hide his true political nature, a socialist? In other words, the fox is in the henhouse, so wouldn’t it be stupid for the other foxes to tell the hens that there’s a fox in there with them?
I don’t think anyone in their right mind would disagree with me when I say that the core tenet of socialism is the redistribution…ahem, excuse me…the *forced* redistribution of wealth. EVERYTHING–every product, every service, everyTHING that costs money in this world–can be converted to $. It’s all interchangeable. You don’t have to take 20$ from Bill Gates and give it to Joe Blow to be a socialist; you could do that, yes, but you could also take 20$ from Bill Gates and buy Joe Blow a lamp, or a DVD player, or a flu shot. Bam–socialist.
And no, I find very few, if any, redeeming qualities in socialism. It’s never worked in the past, and it doesn’t work now, so utilizing our fierce powers of deduction…what makes us think we can make it work in the future? If capitalism is so evil, why has it helped to create one of the strongest and wealthiest nations the world has ever seen? As we redneck idiots say “down heeya in the Sayouth: the proof is in the pudding”.
Socialism is straight communism minus the violent overthrow of the established order. It’s the same end, but it’s accomplished through different (and admittedly more pleasant) means. Now I *won’t* say that it’s fascism, since “fascism” is such a poorly understood/defined term in American politics that all the term really does is act as a label for any political construct a person doesn’t like. I try to avoid using the term as much as possible.
As for your disdain for the first part of my response to Nick, I really couldn’t care less. I don’t take kindly to liberal snobbery, and I believe it should be answered critically and without hesitation. Many of the negative conservative stereotypes have arisen from our lack of initiative to combat the caricatures that liberals have projected on us. It’s a dirty way to win a debate, and I take immense pleasure in exposing these tactics for what they are.
Now don’t get me wrong: I’m NOT saying that some conservatives don’t engage in the same kind of cowardly behavior. I don’t think we engage in it to the same extent as liberals, but I think that, in general, liberals have been much more effective in creating these stereotypes and making them stick.
What I personally mean by someone finally talking for my age group– I don’t mean the scrubs guys I mean Rock the vote. They used those guys because they know a lot of young people like scrubs. It’s funny. You don’t have to agree with what they say but I think this was a good idea. Putting it in terms teenagers can understand in a format they will watch. Who cares how much money they make, it’s all about the message. And they’re not speaking for us, they’re speaking TO us.
Where is the money coming from to insure millions more people? Also, people should ask themselves where Obama is going to conjure up the additional doctors, nurses, and hospitals needed to take care of millions more patients.
If he is unable to do this, government-run medical care in the United States can be expected to produce what government-run medical care in Canada, Britain, and other countries has produced…delays of weeks or months to get many treatments, not to mention arbitrary rationing decisions by bureaucrats.
While I agree the system is in need of reform, having the Government step in is not the answer. Saying that they have sub par managerial skills or a gross inability to respond to market demand would an understatement. Take a walk through a VA hospital and compare that to a privately run hospital. The contrast is disturbing.
I’m waiting for the RTV acknowledgement that today is the 8th anniversary of 9/11. Or perhaps they’ll let coke-head, whore-banger Charlie Sheen (since he’ll speak TO us) ramble on about how 9/11 was an inside job.
Hi, Michael.
There are some problems with VA hospitals in the US — especially because the Bush administration neglected to properly increase their funding at the same time that he was sending them thousands of new patients with incredibly difficult medical problems. This led to some well-publicized embarrassments, and this situation has been repeated several times over the past hundred years.
However, on the whole (and you can ask veterans you know if they prefer their VA coverage or their private coverage), the VA beats private insurance in the vast majority of metrics.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0501.longman.html
This is /exactly because/ the government takes responsibility for our veterans. In our current system, nobody takes responsibility for the victims of private insurance. Who’s on the side of someone who loses their health insurance unfairly, or the person who is denied coverage for care they need (and have paid for through premiums)?
Most government programs could be improved: virtually none of them could be compared to the massive fuck-up that is the American system of private insurance. There are very few delays that are as bad as the complete failure to insure fifteen percent of our own population.
I believe Nick used the post office as an example of efficiency and cheapness….. the post office loses billions a year and who picks up the tab… we do. It costs the post office 80 cents to mail a letter that we pay $42 cents to send. You call that efficient. Try going to the post office window at a few seconds after noon and have the screen slammed down on your face and have a grouchy po employee state ” we’re closed”. and walk away. Would the UPS store ever do that?…NO. Why can’t the government just buy catastrophic policies for the poor CITIZENS and reform the lawyers and cut out waste in the system? Oh and I like BO putting Sebelius in charge of reforming the lawyers….funny that she was a lobbying for the lawyers before this job… oh the cycle of life…all politicians are corrupt dirtbags that want us all bickering with each other instead of marching on washington as a united group.
I think what we are all failing to realize, is that health insurance is not a constitutional right. No where in the constitution does it say that a person has the right to proper health. Obviously the uninsured cannot just be forgotten and thrown on the wayside, but the fact is that it is a small minority in the U.S. that are uninsured. This add says 18-29′s are the most uninsured age group, but that must be put into context. That does not necessarily mean that that figure is a large amount. Our medical system is the best in the world, but costs are getting out of hand. I do not know how that problem can be solved, but it certainly is not through this health care bill. Perhaps the national government could find the perfect medium between controlling costs in the insurance industry, while still staying clear of the private sector to some extent. At any rate if some piece of legislation is to be passed, it should not be voted on for at least a year. It seems that a bill as important as this cannot be properly drafted in such a short span of time. There are many provisions in the bill that are completely ludicrous, particularly those involving grants to be given to ACORN. But that is besides the point.
I feel like I am just shooting the bull, because I barely know what I am talking about, and have only taken one high school AP course in government, so feel free to discredit anything I have said and label me as an ignoramus.
The real reason I wrote this was to voice of my lost respect for Zach (JD) and Donald (Turk). Scrubs is my favorite show, and still is. However, this whole fight ‘the powers that be’ bull made my heart sink a little. The show just will not be quite the same knowing my heroes are ‘hip’ activists. AND that line about the powers that be, and them covering their own asses will not change with this bill. All members of congress along with their families are insured on a special government plan, and this bill will not affect them. They will be able to stay on their special insurance plan, and will not be subjected to the insurance reforms that they are trying to pass. They have no skin in the game, and so are more willing to ignore the public, and keep listening to the lobbyists.
Wow so, ya know what’s funny? This whole organization is supposed to be supported by the same age group they claim is uneducated! hahaha That’s like saying, “Hey kids, you’re dumb, but we’re gonna pretend like you’re smart enough to know all the important facets of health care reform.”
Even the name “Rock the Vote” implies it’s leading a society that is soaked in superficiality, i.e. a group of self-righteous college kids who somehow think they’re political economists…a group that takes their advice from actors and musicians…Seriously? One word: Kanye. What makes them so much more intelligent or trustworthy than any politician?
The majority of the people that follow this organization aren’t doing so because they believe in it, or because they’ve done research on the issues, but because people like Zach Braff and Donald Faison told them to. Why do you think they get stars to do the speaking and not politicians? It’s a smart marketing strategy really. It’s easy to get the naive, gullible, and ignorant to follow.
On a personal note, I’m a college student, and I’m not Republican or Democrat; I just consider myself conservative. I believe both groups are way too power hungry. But that’s irrelevant; I’m not really trying to make a point about whether health care reform is good or bad…just about how manipulative this group is. But as far as the issues go, what ever happened to obeying the Constitution?
It’s hilarious that there is not even an attempt for RTV to appear unbiased politically. Everything about health care reform I’ve read on RTV sound like Democrat talking points and Obama speeches.
Really to sad to see a great idea like trying to get young citizens to make themselves informed and be part of the process of self-government having turned so quickly into a pool full of narcissistic, self-absorbed brats swimming around blithely under the delusion that they can change the world simply by watching videos and demanding that their parents and grandparents pay for whatever they don’t have the way they bought them everything else.
Just read the RTV staff bio page and you see what an incredibly shallow and pathetic movement this is. You just have to wonder who in their right mind would take seriously the world views of people who share such important information as their astrological sign and first concert.
The world is a serious place, unless you want to splash around in the shallow end of the think tank.
And there’s nothing richer than millionaire’s dancing around doing a commercial explaining how awful it is that young people don’t have insurance, and indignantly demanding that someone else pays for it. I employ several “invincibles” who make plenty of money but choose not to buy insurance. 35% of the population identified as not covered by insurance make more than enough money to buy health insurance. RTV should be addressing this terrible, growing phenomenon if it was really interest in the public good. But RTV is really all about something else.
J.D. and Turk hopped on the health care band wagon. But I guess they are from Hollywood, What do you expect?
Watch the video, (too bad without the writer of Scrubs their not funny or Charming)
What they say is total crap! 18-29 year olds are not covered usually because they choose not to be covered (YOU KNOW, GET A BIGGER PAY CHECK WHEN YOU DONT PAY FOR YOUR OWN HEALTH CARE). Also, what insurance company turns down a person in this age group? None of them would do this, why? Because this is the healthiest cheapest age group (18-29). What they are saying is total crap.
Rock the Vote, its way cool dude,
I find this video clip an insult to my intelligence. Socialism never works. It looks nice on paper but it has never helped any one in the long run. We currently have Medicare and Medicade for those who are of low income or are elderly. Let that take care of those who need it.
I live in Mississippi, the poorest state in the union. In some of the towns near me almost 70% of the population is below the national poverty line. I have seen the devastation that government programs can cause to a community. These people do not try to get better. There is no point to go out and work when the government credit card is refilled monthly. One lady told me Obama was going to pay all of her bills and she was never going to work again. She actually believes that and she is not the only one! It is sad and scary! For the government to hand out more money that it does not have is INSANE. There is nothing wrong with these people. They are just lazy and have no ambition.
I pay for my car insurance. If my car is totaled out tomorrow the government won’t care. Why should they have any say in my health care? It’s none of their business. Doctors go to school for far too long to be regulated by the government. I know people from Canada and other countries with Universal Healthcare. These people come here because they are afraid to seek help in their own county. I know a young lady who broke her leg while visiting a county with Universal Healthcare. The injury was not complicated but the medical facility was so busy and the staff so poorly trained that she almost lost her leg and her father had to hire a special plane to retrieve her so that she could get proper medical care in the United States. If she had waited any longer the leg would have had to been removed. This is no joke! Do you like having all of your limbs? I am not a religious person buy I pray this bill dies!
Got through the first few posts, and I am really enjoying the debate.
Unforunately I cannot offer much in the way of an intelligent counterpoint.
Thus I shall point out an obvious reaction which is common to basic human nature, and leave it to personal interpretation.
When forced to act, individuals resist.
Kindly feel free to ignore this paradigm; however, internally, please consider its relevance to your perspective.
Thank you for giving me the pleasure of expressing my thoughts.
It is sad that so many people abuse the word socialism. Our country is a republic with a free market. We do although, depend on many social programs, Schools, police, fire department, municipal services such as water and sewage, and of course a slew of medical programs for the elderly and children. The fact that we pay so much for our insurance and receive such a low level of care demands a change. The system left to its own devices has only spiraled out of control. I’m certain that any bill that is passed will not be perfect, but it needs to broadly reform the health industry. Programs implemented in the bill that do not work will need to be tweaked and if that does not work they should be dropped. I can’t believe there are so many people that fear this. Universal Health Care is essential to our country’s standing in the world. The overhaul of our healthcare system is the greatest humanitarian challenge ever attempted by our government. I hope that more people with something useful to offer will weigh in on the subject.
Hey Kevin,
I’m maybe not the person that can add the most to this (long!) discussion, but I agree with you — and lots of others do, too. The public option for health care is supported by a majority of American doctors (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112839232) as well as over fifty percent of all citizens (http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=5ba17aa2-f1b9-4445-a6b8-62b9d1ba8693).
Our problem in Congress is that they’re swayed by an extremely vocal minority — people who believe they’re entitled to make decisions for the rest of us — that uses money and influence to keep reform from happening, and tells stories (that you see repeated over and over in this thread — government can’t do anything right, the public option is socialism, nobody reads the bill, etc. etc. etc.) that anger the constituency who lost the last election.
I do not think that there are very many people in real life who walk around saying things, for example, like ‘bob’ above — resist the public option? He’s going to revolt against the choice to have a government-sponsored health insurance plan? Really? Two wars, a bank bailout, a massive stimulus package, and he’s threatening individual, libertarian resistance to a /choice/?
The public option is the best policy anyone’s put forward, and something has to change because the system is broken. They don’t like it, they don’t have to use it.