Florida State Seminoles

[eCat]

While the Affordable Care Act was making its way through Congress in 2009 and 2010, President Obama famously promised the American people over and over again that if you like your health plan, you can keep it.
Obamacare

“Let me be exactly clear about what health care reform means to you,” Obama said at one rally in July 2009. “First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you.”

But the president's promise is turning out to be false for millions of Americans who have had their health insurance policies canceled because they don't meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

According to health policy expert Bob Laszewski, roughly 16 million Americans will lose their current plans because of Obamacare:

The U.S. individual health insurance market currently totals about 19 million people. Because the Obama administration's regulations on grandfathering existing plans were so stringent about 85% of those, 16 million, are not grandfathered and must comply with Obamacare at their next renewal. The rules are very complex. For example, if you had an individual plan in March of 2010 when the law was passed and you only increased the deductible from $1,000 to $1,500 in the years since, your plan has lost its grandfather status and it will no longer be available to you when it would have renewed in 2014.

These 16 million people are now receiving letters from their carriers saying they are losing their current coverage and must re-enroll in order to avoid a break in coverage and comply with the new health law's benefit mandates––the vast majority by January 1. Most of these will be seeing some pretty big rate increases.

But unless they live in Washington state, Nevada, Colorado, and Kentucky, they can't now get on an exchange site to see their plan options, new prices, and provider directories so they can make an informed decision before they lose their coverage.

[sardis]

Those people need to understand that the new plan is better for them and for the overall welfare of the country.

[sardis]

Who is Snowden a traitor to? The government? US citizens? The constitution?

[Bklyn]

I can't believe any true American would applaud his actions. He's a trader bitch and I hope he has to spend the rest of his life in Putin's Russia.

I'm glad he did it.

I'm glad he told everyone what the press already told us almost a decade ago about the NSA's power to collect personal data. I'm glad people finally paid attention after the PTSD of terror attacks and the thirst for retribution against the Middle East wore off. I'm definitely not glad he released a bunch of data on our espionage apparatus against foreign entities. Let him feel what it's like living under greater oppression. He should be glad he's not gay though...and he better not try to pull the same shit over there.

[Bklyn]

He's a traitor against the United States. He gave up state secrets to foreign entities. The NSA information was not a secret.

[eCat]

He's a traitor against the United States. He gave up state secrets to foreign entities. The NSA information was not a secret.

I believe Snowden had some discipline in what he released and did not release.

As I understand it he pretty much told the U.S. to quit fucking with him or he'd release more stuff.

He wasn't selling nuclear secrets to the Russians or technology to the Chinese, he was making a decision that our government didn't have the right to invade personal privacy of people without due cause. I support his efforts.

[eCat]

Those people need to understand that the new plan is better for them and for the overall welfare of the country.

as long as it isn't "most people", who cares right? Those people just fall into the category of 16 million losers.

[sardis]

Are we sure he gave state secrets to our enemies? I haven't read anything where he handed information over to the Chinese and Russians.

[Bklyn]

He released documents on NSA or CIA (can't remember) facilities in the UK (partnered with the Brits) that were not known to the world. He released documents detailing our surveillance methods with foreign heads of state. He did not sell anything (as far as I know) to the Russians or Chinese (who are not our enemies, btw). He did put intelligence assets in danger with his leaks. You don't have to sell anything to be involved in espionage.

[eCat]

I hope in the near future a president allows him to come back to the United States as a protected whistleblower.

[10ac]

I'm thinking a lot of people would like to see him back in the USA...

[hedge]

"Hell, my roommate has about 4000 units of real estate, either apartments or single family homes. His income has never been above $30,000."

That's my situation (not the 4000 units, but the keeping the income way down so as not to pay various taxes). But my question is, do they look at the $30K when determining "income" in that situation, or do they look at what the business brought in? If it's the former, I can make sure I qualify for a subsidy. If the latter, I can't...

[AlabamAlum]

I would throw him a parade for revealing that the NSA is/was spying on US citizens. That made him a patriot. Him showing the sausage being made with our country-to-country spying/intel muddied the water and added a streak of treason to his patriotic act. It was a miscalculation, IMO and that will keep a future president from bring him back.

[Bklyn]

The same way many people don't know he wasn't whistleblowing when he released the information on the NSA metadata mining, I am apt to believe that the "lot of people" who would like to see him back in the USA are those who have no real idea all of the things he leaked. I am also very sure that an overwhelming majority of people would label his actions espionage if they were read a list of things he did, but the responders were blind to who the subject was.

There are some who know the details and history but don't see a problem with it (eCat being one), but I think they are in the extreme minority.

[BigRedMan]

Those people need to understand that the new plan is better for them and for the overall welfare of the country.

Yeah cause gubment has always fixed things and made things better.

Fuck everybody else. I am out for me and me only. And if you don't think the politicians on both sides are doing the same thing, then you are blind.

[hedge]

"Because the Obama administration's regulations on grandfathering existing plans were so stringent about 85% of those, 16 million, are not grandfathered and must comply with Obamacare at their next renewal."

That's me exactly...

[eCat]

The same way many people don't know he wasn't whistleblowing when he released the information on the NSA metadata mining, I am apt to believe that the "lot of people" who would like to see him back in the USA are those who have no real idea all of the things he leaked. I am also very sure that an overwhelming majority of people would label his actions espionage if they were read a list of things he did, but the responders were blind to who the subject was.

There are some who know the details and history but don't see a problem with it (eCat being one), but I think they are in the extreme minority.

Well I guess for me its like this - you really think Merkel, Mexico, and Brazil are surprised the NSA is hacking their cell phones and emails when they are doing it to their own citizens? Their outrage is mock outrage because I'm certain they knew this was happening as soon as word got out the NSA was snooping.

Does it change anything regards to Snowden telling them? I don't know but you have to keep it in context of where I'm coming from. I think Israel is a shitbag for spying on us.

There is a difference between Snowden and that kid that just dumped thousands of documents to wikileaks. Snowden had access to alot of shit, and he exposed what he thought was morally and constitutionally wrong - he just didn't do a mass dump

[sardis]

Sure, why the hell not....It's California.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10 ... 38000?lite

[hedge]

From that article, it looks like the protestors made out pretty good as well. But what really struck me was, a university cop is pulling in over $110K a year? Damn...

[innocentbystander]

because OLD PEOPLE go to the Doctor and put in claims. HUGE claims. So they are very expensive to insure. And this is all about making it cheaper for them because they vote.

its not about poor people. I was poor when I was 20, I never went to the Doctor. Ever. And I had a kick-ass health insurance policy. This is about old people taking more wealth from young people

that still doesn't explain why its about them. Are you saying forcing young people to buy insurance covers the cost of old people? That might be true if old people were actually buying insurance in the exchange. They aren't.

The "exchanges" are money going to health insurance companies, NOT the government. That is why the "web portal" is so conveluted and why it will take years to get to work. The data gathered from all these insurance companies (spanning all 57 of President Obama's states) are tied to government data (E-Verify, Social Security, IRS, etc) to calculate the price you have to pay given your specific location (by zipcode) age, earning power, and lifestyle. That money you pay goes to an insurance company to "cover" you.

Obviously, the insurance companies want young healthy people (specificaly YOUNG MEN because young women put in claims for pap smears and breast exams and bullshit claims for birth control pills) because young men do NOT put in claims. Your premiums are generally FREE MONEY to health insurance companies. SO, the more FREE MONEY the insurance company gets from all the YOUNG MEN, the cheaper than can afford to charge old people who are a "net negative" for the insurance company because they put in so many fucking claims.

That is how the ACA works. Its just another government mandated, ponzi scheme, wealth transfer, from young to old. Because old people vote and they do NOT want to be made to feel guilty that they are fucking over their kids and grand kids.