Bernie Sanders

Bazza

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I watched his segment in last night's Town Hall Meeting and really enjoyed it.

I thought the format was MUCH better than any of the "debates" we have seen.

I also really like a LOT of what Bernie had to say.

Call it "socialism" if you want but he's right about a lot of stuff.

Our health care insurance companies are raking us over the coals and it's only going to get worse. We need a single payer system and a simpler federal tax structure.

I'm not saying I'll vote for him but IMHO he'd be better than the Dem. alternative.

GO Bernie Go!

 

Tide1986

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I imagine any for-profit company can be characterized as "raking us over the coals". If only people realized the legions of bureaucrats who will make a profit off of healthcare in a single-payer system. Is it really any different/better than a for-profit company?
 
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chanson78

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I imagine any for-profit company can be characterized as "raking us over the coals".
There is a difference between being a for profit company and an industry that employs legion of lawyers and lobbyists to double dip at the trough. Trying to compare a small business owner, who for the most part is for-profit, who manages to squeeze out a 25% margin versus the insurance industry who has managed to get many laws and benefit systems to be completely advantageous to them through lobbying is a bit disingenuous.
 

Tide1986

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There is a difference between being a for profit company and an industry that employs legion of lawyers and lobbyists to double dip at the trough. Trying to compare a small business owner, who for the most part is for-profit, who manages to squeeze out a 25% margin versus the insurance industry who has managed to get many laws and benefit systems to be completely advantageous to them through lobbying is a bit disingenuous.
Small business owners have benefited from the trough as well (e.g. tax cuts). I'm pretty sure you recall the various Republican administrations that have promoted cuts in order to benefit small businesses. Check out the National Federation of Independent Business and see who they represent, what they fight for, and what they laud as accomplishments in advocating on behalf of small businesses.
 

Tide1986

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So just for clarity's sake, are you really saying that a small business owner, say some local plumber and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are the same with regards to their benefiting from government lobbying and laws designed to benefit them?
I'm saying they benefit from the proverbial trough as well.
 

chanson78

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Small business owners have benefited from the trough as well (e.g. tax cuts). I'm pretty sure you recall the various Republican administrations that have promoted cuts in order to benefit small businesses. Check out the National Federation of Independent Business and see who they represent, what they fight for, and what they laud as accomplishments in advocating on behalf of small businesses.
So just for clarity's sake, are you really saying that a small business owner, say some local plumber and Blue Cross/Blue Shield are the same with regards to their benefiting from government lobbying and laws designed to benefit them?
 

Gr8hope

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When small business benefit, employees benefit through more job availability. The government then benefits, through more tax collection. The economy then benefits. This is lost on so many who believe the government owns what we earn, not us.

Bazza: "Call it socialism, if you want" Actually Bernie calls himself a socialist. This is not what America is.
 
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mittman

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I agree about what insurance companies have done to our healthcare system, but Bernie can't raise taxes enough to pay for a healthcare system that would satisfy those that think it is a right.

IMO getting to a single payer was the goal all along for many who supported ACA, and it will put our healthcare system in the same morass as Social Security. Who is to define what level of care is considered a right? I personally don't trust anyone to, including me.
 

Tide1986

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I agree about what insurance companies have done to our healthcare system, but Bernie can't raise taxes enough to pay for a healthcare system that would satisfy those that think it is a right.

IMO getting to a single payer was the goal all along for many who supported ACA, and it will put our healthcare system in the same morass as Social Security. Who is to define what level of care is considered a right? I personally don't trust anyone to, including me.
This piece presents some interesting ideas on how to reform the mess that has been made of our healthcare system:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/instead-of-obamacare-giving-health-care-power-to-the-people-1453502774

While America’s health-care system has long needed reform, President Obama unfortunately made many parts of it worse. His Affordable Care Act is based on more federal spending, regulation and coercion—and Americans are now experiencing the many unhappy consequences.
 

TIDE-HSV

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One problem with single-payer systems is that someone has to administer them. Most people not on Medicare think it's administered by the government. The truth is that it's, in Alabama, administered by BC/BS. So, we have private "nonprofit" administration, overlaid by government oversight. Certainly if the government ran it instead, those employees would have to be paid. However, they wouldn't be paid the almost 5 million with the CEO of BC/BS of Alabama was paid in 2013. In fact, since 2011, the top ten execs of BC/BS have doubled their salaries and all of them are paid more than a million...
 

Tidewater

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Adam Smith said:
People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices…. But though the law cannot hinder people of the same trade from sometimes assembling together, it ought to do nothing to facilitate such assemblies, much less to render them necessary.
The Wealth Of Nations, Book IV Chapter VIII, p. 145, para. c27.

Adam Smith. Not so stupid.
 

ValuJet

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I've heard before that law students at the top of their class become instructors. The ones just below that become judges. The ones in the middle of the pack, and who apparently understand economics, are the ones who make all the money.

I'm guessing Bernie was a straight A student, that is, if he's a lawyer.
 

Al A Bama

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I watched his segment in last night's Town Hall Meeting and really enjoyed it.

I thought the format was MUCH better than any of the "debates" we have seen.

I also really like a LOT of what Bernie had to say.

Call it "socialism" if you want but he's right about a lot of stuff.

Our health care insurance companies are raking us over the coals and it's only going to get worse. We need a single payer system and a simpler federal tax structure.

I'm not saying I'll vote for him but IMHO he'd be better than the Dem. alternative.

GO Bernie Go!

IMHO, he isn't just a FOOL, he's an OLD FOOL!
 

Tide1986

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One problem with single-payer systems is that someone has to administer them. Most people not on Medicare think it's administered by the government. The truth is that it's, in Alabama, administered by BC/BS. So, we have private "nonprofit" administration, overlaid by government oversight. Certainly if the government ran it instead, those employees would have to be paid. However, they wouldn't be paid the almost 5 million with the CEO of BC/BS of Alabama was paid in 2013. In fact, since 2011, the top ten execs of BC/BS have doubled their salaries and all of them are paid more than a million...
I'm not familiar with the details of the administration of Jurisdiction J, but I am aware that Cahaba Government Benefits Administrators is a federal contractor providing Medicare administration in the jurisdiction. Cahaba has roughly 600 employees and is a separate entity affiliated with BCBS of Alabama.
 

Al A Bama

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I watched his segment in last night's Town Hall Meeting and really enjoyed it.

I thought the format was MUCH better than any of the "debates" we have seen.

I also really like a LOT of what Bernie had to say.

Call it "socialism" if you want but he's right about a lot of stuff.

Our health care insurance companies are raking us over the coals and it's only going to get worse. We need a single payer system and a simpler federal tax structure.

I'm not saying I'll vote for him but IMHO he'd be better than the Dem. alternative.

GO Bernie Go!

Bazza,

He will go after your last cent, even if it's a bad scent! Get ready to give him your bank account/s!
 

Bazza

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Bazza,

He will go after your last cent, even if it's a bad scent! Get ready to give him your bank account/s!

With all due respect, Al - right now the system is already stacked against us. I welcome some type of reform and unfortunately I haven't been impressed with a whole lot of what previous administrations have "accomplished".

Again - I'm not saying Bernie will get my vote.

I'm only saying I like a LOT of what he has to say.

As always you are entitled to your opinions as YMMV.....

 

Tide1986

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With all due respect, Al - right now the system is already stacked against us. I welcome some type of reform and unfortunately I haven't been impressed with a whole lot of what previous administrations have "accomplished".

Again - I'm not saying Bernie will get my vote.

I'm only saying I like a LOT of what he has to say.

As always you are entitled to your opinions as YMMV.....

His "for all intents and purposes" cap on income is rather a scary position for an American citizen to take.
 

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