April 2008 Weddings
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Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
I don't want to start a debate, but CLICKLY POLL
I just read the following sentitment on facebook. Do you agree or disagree? I'll elaborate on it's context later.
[poll]
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Re: I don't want to start a debate, but CLICKLY POLL
This is what spurred the poll:
OP: Obama- "We'll work with your employer to lower your premiums by $2,500 per family per year!"...We don't even pay $2500 a year on premiums, so is the government going to pay me?
ME: That's great. I'm glad you pay less than $2,500/year in health care premiums and have access to affordable health care. Many don't. Consider yourself fortunate.
OP: I am fortunate, fortunate to understand that health care is a service not a right, and definately shouldn't be treated like one.
--
I can't even reply because facebook does not offer the
option.
If you chose 'agree,' and would like to elaborate, please do. I'm not here to argue or debate; just trying to understand a line of thinking that is so far removed from my own.
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I think everyone should be able to get affordable health care. It's definitely not fair that there are people out there that need help and are sick and can't get it.
If my uncle had health care when he got sick they would have done a biopsy that might have just saved his life. But, he didn't have health care so they didn't do any biopsy and they didn't catch his cancer in time and he died. At 50. All because he didn't have insurance.
So yeah, I think everyone deserves to have health care options.
Here is my problem with health care- I have recently made a change in my life and stopped using Western Medicine as much as possible. I HAVE to go to a regular doctor for my shoulder stuff because it's being controlled by Worker's Comp. And what happens? They make things worse! I had surgery, it didn't work, and now I have less mobility than I did before the surgery. When worker's comp decides they are ready to just give me a settlement I am going to start using alternative methods, mostly acupuncture and massage. If I had the option to do it my way from the get-go I am confident the results would have been different and surgery would not have been needed, but the insurance said no to acupuncture and doing it myself may have meant losing my coverage.
So, I have to ask- is alternative medicine going to be covered? I plan on only taking Homeopathic remedies from now on, use a midwife and a birth center for child care and well woman care, and consult a Homeapathist if I am ever sick or injured again. So if these things are not going to be covered I am being forced to PAY for this "Right". I don't see it as a right if I am going to be forced to pay for it.
I don't have insurance. I don't want insurance. If something happens to me or my children that requires a hospital visit we will pay out of pocket for it or work with local grand programs to get them covered. I much prefer this way of doing things! When I had to be hospitalized because of my asthma attack my payments were $112 for 12 months. That's about what you pay for insurance. But once I'd paid it off (which I did in full about 6 months early) I was done with it. I didn't have to keep paying $112/month for something I was no longer using. Make sense?
So I am opposed of the current health care bill. I want whoever wants affordable health care to have access to it, I just do not like being forced into it. Being fined for not accepting something that is a "Right" seems backwards and silly to me.
*hops off soap box*
Interesting points.
That's a good question re: alternative medicine. I don't know. Do some existing plans already cover things like acupuncture?
I'm also following your point about your hospital stay, but that was only $1,344. What if you ended up with a hospital bill 100x that? How would you ever pay that?
Thanks for sharing your perspective, I appreciate it!
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Lol. You're right, pretty sure I know where you stand. If you care to share why, I'm all ears. If not, that's fair too
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I'm sorry to hear about your uncle, Carrie.
I agree. And not just options, but affordable options.
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Interesting point about the alternative medicine. I wonder if there's something in it about that.
I do have to say about the insurance part though--I was absolutely shocked to see how much DH's 5 day/4night hospital stay was to get his gallbladder removed last fall. The total cost came out to $75,000 or so for the surgery, hospital stay, etc. If we didn't have insurance, I have no idea how we'd pay that!
Interesting point about the alternative medicine. I wonder if there's something in it about that.
I do have to say about the insurance part though--I was absolutely shocked to see how much DH's 5 day/4night hospital stay was to get his gallbladder removed last fall. The total cost came out to $75,000 or so for the surgery, hospital stay, etc. If we didn't have insurance, I have no idea how we'd pay that!
Most PPO options do allow for alternative care. I will also say that all good alternative medicine practitioners will tell you that sometimes you NEED to see a specialist or MD in that field so I don't think it's fair to think that you can survive on alternative methods alone. And I agree with Andrea, what if that bill is 100K. And I don't like the fact that my medical premiums are paying for those without insurance currently. I have mixed reviews on this, but I think accessible and affordable health coverage is something that needs to be looked at. My parents are too young for medicare/medicaid but my Dad's insurance only lasts for so long after he retires, so he's had to work around 5 years longer than he should have so that he can get that extra coverage. So while I have mixed reviews on the current bill (I've only made it through about 100 pages of it...) I'm more pissed off that the media has talked more about the politics of it rather than the actual bill.
I just have to add an example to the idea that Jaye's bill was relatively small, though I do respect and appreciate both sides of the argument.
We just got the "bill" for having our baby and it was over $20,000 for an absolutely normal, uncomplicated delivery and healthy baby. Yikes! We could not afford a baby without insurance because of the bloated costs of procedures.
i'm sure you guys know where i stand as well, but i don't like the health care bill as it is now...
one of the things i dislike about the bill is that if i don't have adequate health care as deemed so by the HC committee, then they will "tax" my income 2.5%. but the tax cannot be labeled a tax. they call it a "fee".. a fee for what? and any nonresident aliens are EXEMPT from the tax. so then i'm paying for their taxes from my measly income. i'm not ok with that.
i do agree that there needs to be reform in the HC industry... but i do NOT think that it's this bill.
from what i understand there is an income cap for who will have to pay the fee. i haven't been able to find the exact number yet, but it's there.
and in my humble opinion, no matter what had been put into this bill, not everyone would have been happy, and people would pick out things to argue about no matter what. it is what it is. i'm just happy that something is finally being done.
and also, thumbs up to kara's comment directly above me.
This is how I feel. I am not crazy about everything in the bill but I am glad that the government is doing something about it. If someone doesn't want health insurance then they can pay the fine. Obviously if they can pay the fine then they can probably afford to get whatever health care they need.
I would never go without health coverage if I could help it and I know a number of people who can't afford it and their jobs don't cover it. That is not their fault. Not only that but I have seen a lot of things being in HR and administering benefits for my employees. Health coverage is VERY expensive and the rates are only going up, not down. Health care rates have increased at a percentage much greater than salaries. I'm glad that people that want/need coverage will be able to get it.
~~~MARRIED BIO~~~
That's the other thing. I think in most cases, buying health insurance would cost less than paying the fine (for those with lower incomes) because of the subisidies available. The government will be providing subisidies to help cover health insurance costs for those families that make up to 4x the poverty level (so, up to $80,000 - or was it $88,000? - for a family of 4). ETA: It is $88,000.
Here's a decent summary:
http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/st_healthcareproposals_20090912.html
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Share. I may not agree but now I'm more interested in knowing how and why you feel that way.
~~~MARRIED BIO~~~
These are very good points. However, when I had my asthma attack I actually did have insurance, it just didn't pay for it (no clue why... the insurance company just said it didn't qualify under my plan, hence part of my hate for insurance companies!). I was told by the lady in the billing office that if I didn't have insurance I could get an the Asthma Association of America's grant program, which would cover 100% of my hospital expenses. But since I had insurance, I didn't qualify. I also know that when my nephew was born with spinal bifada and no insurance a Spinal Bifada group covered 100% of his over $200,000 bill. I thought that was a great way to do things (private companies using private funding to pay bills of patients who's illnesses fall into their category), but is completely dependent upon there being a group for that particular illness. A mystery illness isn't really going to be able to benefit from that.
Seriously, if alternative medicine is covered, I am more on board with the health care bill! And I honestly don't know if it is or isn't because I haven't been able to read it (has anyone really?) and I haven't heard that covered in the news at all.
This is another problem I have. What costs $20,000? The doctor? Any drugs they may have fed through your IV? The actual bed itself?
My midwife charges for deliveries on a sliding scale starting at free (they will never turn down a mother who wants a home birth) to $5,000 for a wealthier couple wanting to deliver at the birth center. Our delivery, pending complications, will cost about $3,000 because of our income. And even the midwife admits that is triple what it costs them to actually attend the birth (maintain their insurance, equipments costs, site rental fees for the birth center, etc.).
So maybe a cap on what a hospital can charge for certain things would be nice, though then you get into the sticky situation of cutting doctor's incomes which may cause some great doctors to leave the field leaving us with sub-par health care.
I do believe something needs to happen in this country. For sure, 100%. I just don't know what the "right" solution is. Do we become Canada or do we become Greece? Personally I'd like to become Denmark, but no one else seems to agree with me.
This is a hard one to debate and I can definitely see both sides (possibly more vividly than some). I am not 100% on either side. But I just hope that any strong opposition isn't just about the cost because once we give in to money as the ultimate decider we lose our humanity.
Doing something is better than nothing?? I absolutely disagree.
I'm w/ KrittyKat....Thats all I'm gonna say.
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