The problem is, Obamacare is forcing things like Maternity Care on everybody regardless of whether or not they need it. That, along with Dental and Eye (which was not on many "Budget" Plans Pre-ACA) drives up insurance costs for lower income people. Back before ACA when I was paying $180/mo, my plan did not have Prescriptions, Eye, or Dental. But, ACA comes along and tells Highmark "All of your plans MUST include Prescriptions, Eye, and Dental." Well they can't give that out for free! They have to increase the premiums for increased coverage. Then, what happens, is most of the people like me who can't afford full healthcare simply drop it altogether and go without and just eat the yearly fine. But if people are doing THAT, then some insurance companies go out of business because of loss of customers, and the few that are left can jack up the premiums because they have little to no competition on the Marketplace. No small-time insurance company is permitted to step up and offer budget plans, because of the ACA's rules. Remember: All plans MUST include Prescriptions, Maternal, Eye, and Dental! You can't get, say, a partial plan that only covers hospitalization and doctor visits, oh no. We can't have that. See, that's what it was Pre-ACA. You could go out and get one of these "budget" plans. Sure, if you got hurt, you had to pay like 10% out of pocket, and some meds would be expensive, but hey. 90% of all meds have a cheap generic alternative that costs $10 or less. That's what I did the two times I had to use my medical insurance -- I asked for generic alternatives to what the doctor prescribed. Walked home with a bag of pills (4-5 prescrips) for like $40. I didn't mind not having prescriptions on my insurance, lol.
More regulation has led to the increases in costs... Obamacare included. Adding more and more oversight is not going to address the root problem of healthcare. That being that healthcare is run as a business, not a service. There are countless natural remedies, but those make no money, so are not "recommended". There is so much money spent on R&D, lawyers, and education that it keeps driving the price up, not down. These root problems need addressed before any hope of decreasing costs can be realized.
Two steps forward, one step back. Subsidizing healthcare in general, even (and especially) services you yourself do not need, is part of living in a civilization that makes healthcare a right. But the lack of customization is indeed hurting smaller insurance companies and pushing us toward monopolies. I think we can agree that the loss of those budget-plans is also hurting a lot of consumers. Really, if there's one thing I think we need to preserve most about the ACA, it's the assurance that folks won't be dropped by their coverage for having chronic/pre-existing conditions. The ACA needs reform, but it's downright shameful that wasn't a regulation before its existence. It's the reason a lot of people say "Obamacare saved my life," and defend it as a whole.
For a minute I thought traditional values and ideology would be gone following Nov. 8, but now I see a much brighter future.
"Fake news" "Fake news" Meet TheOnion. It's a fake news website. That does fake news ON PURPOSE. Like Donald trump "entire personality is rigged against him" Theonion.com
Fake news? Like when the mainstream media speculated that the church arson in Mississippi was a Trump supporter, probably white and racist.... then turns out to be a black member of the church. And now the media is silent about it. Yeah, fake news.
Rofl. TheOnion does it with satire. Lots of satire. http://www.theonion.com/article/kidnapped-journalist-forced-explain-isis-captors-w-54485 Kidnapped journalist is forced to explain isis what Buzzfeed is. Now... On the topic of fake news; It totally exists, and it was everywhere. During the elections there was way more fake news of a Donald Trump than Hillary Clinton They don't do it to favor certain people. It just clickbait monetization. Some people actually fall for it! Believe it or not, if you google "Is Donald Trump Racist", the top results are 3 insecure articles saying its true. I'm not saying that he is or isn't, but these websites are the first thing people see, and they have no sources or aren't very legit. People just need to have internet literacy. To know fake, from fact. Oftentimes fake websites will use weird domains. Abcnews.co Is a real news source, but abcnews.com.co Isn't. Check if they even have sources! "Morgan Freeman shoots weapons at the White House" probably doesn't have sources. The sources could easily be taken out of context too. Don't look at their random images. They can easily be taken out of context. For example, "Mexican Stock Market crash" If they don't have sources, fake images is the next best thing. Does the thumbnail seem misleading? If it doesn't have the characters or has a question you should know something's up. "Donald Trump punches black family in face" And it only has a picture of Donald. And if it sounds or looks like bullsh*t, it probably bullsh*t. Here's a happy note for you guys. Donald Trump kicks black family out of home. It's true though... White House
Not sure what your point with that is. That's clearly an edited video of separate clips mashed together. And obviously, Trump's rolling his eyes and smirking, because he knows that Clinton and Obama haven't done squat about the Immigration problem, in fact, both Clinton and Obama have made it worse and Trump says he wants to make it better. Let's give the man a chance to see if he will/can actually do that. Trump won the election, time to step back and help him do what he promised to do. If he fails, then at least he can't blame it on people trying to block him.
Honestly, i'm staggered you're still defending him. I thought you would've given up about the time he fired the head of the justice department for refusing to defend his hate-law. I mean, how do you defend that?
Playing the devil's advocate here: If I understand the US constitution correctly (I'm not American) all execute power comes from the president and those below the president who wield execute power do so in the president's place and thus, have no power of their own. Therefore, any executive power that goes against the president's orders is inherently unconstitutional and thus needs be be removed. If I recall correctly there's even a law specifically allowing that, but I can't remember the exact title right now, I'll add it when I remember though. The system isn't perfect, but what @Xylia said is correct: Let's see what happens first. At least for us non-americans Trump might actually be a good thing because pulling out troops out of Germany might just make us feel like we're not an occupied nation anymore.
What i've read is that the justice department doesn't work for the president, they work for the constitution, and the muslim ban was in violation of the immigration and nationality act of 1965. Regardless of it's legality, the worst of it is that he fired a person for arguing what he was doing was illegal. As for "let's see what happens first": We're seeing what's happening first. *This* happened first. We are well past the 'first chance' now.
Devil's advocate done right it seems. I don't agree with most of Trump's policies (though I'll party hella mad if finally gets the US nukes out of Germany), but yeah. What he did was legal, but utterly immoral, useless and downright stupid. Still, it doesn't hurt to view things from the other side. Still cool?
i'm unsure what you mean by "Still cool?" if you mean "are we still cool with each other?", then yes. i don't hate anyone for their opinions on this. it's a difficult time and i don't want to just hate people i strongly disagree with.
That's what I meant, yeah, and I'm happy you agree! True. A friend of mine worked with Iraqi translators during his service who were promised a visa to the US. They fought, bled, and sometimes died for America and now they can't enter the country, and if that isn't a freaking disgrace I don't know what is.
Just to people defending Trump, if this isn't seen already http://www.boredpanda.com/trump-mus...ebook&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=BPFacebook Also about Devil's advocate
The thing is, I honestly believe that Trump has good intentions (although his general rethoric implies that he does his best at challenging this belief), but he chooses the wrong method. He's the kind of person to pour concrete over a leaking pipe instead of fixing the actual pipe. Minimizing the risk of terrorism is a noble cause, but banning entry to millions of people is not the way to do so. The thing about terrorism is that it works, and every measure against it doesn't work and increases public fear, so whatever happens, the terrorists win. Illegal immigration is a problem, yes, but a wall won't fix that. Instead, maybe one should reduce incentives for illegal immigration and - this is one of Trump's promises that got drowned out by him grabbing the pussy - make legal immigration easier. Trump is not an inherently evil person, but also not the saviour or God-emperor his voters make him out to be. He's a businessman first and politician second, and you can't run a country like a company. I have a couple of friends in the US and I wouldn't wanna see the US go bankrupt several times in the next four or, god forbid, eight years. Really, the only thing I 100% agree on with Trump is gun laws. I'm not American, but I have a right to self-defense, and when every second counts the police will be there in a couple of minutes.
I'll put it like this; Thank you, Earth, for giving me more reasons to go to space. Also screw you, Earth, for not leaving me a starship. Where's that Scotty when you need to be beamed up?