DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Universal healthcare shot down in Colorado

One of the bright spots in this election is that the universal healthcare law on the ballot in Colorado was destroyed. The bill, which was endorsed by Comrade Sanders, aimed to give anyone with permanent residence in Colorado "free" government healthcare.

This trainwreck of a bill would double state taxes to raise 26 billion in the first year, be exempt from TABOR and be able to raise taxes as needed to continue to pay.

With all the Californians that have been moving to Colorado, I thought the vote would be closer. But this got voted down 80% - 20%.

I am an active member of an IBS (irritable bowel) message board. We have a few people from Canada that post there, and they have a type of universal health care (informally called Medicare). I was shocked to find out that if they need an operation that they first have to get put on a list and sometimes have to wait over a year to get operated on. (Yikes!) I've heard this several times now. Sometimes if the wait it too long they come here to get surgery instead.

I gotta call BS ... ROCKET has a study with a stat to refute that ....

Thank god the stoners did one thing right ...

WAY TO GO STONERS!!!

Higher taxes cuts into the stoners drug money. Cant have that.

Your anti-science sentiment concerns me.

Your willingness to perpetuate the divide bothers me further.

I was all for Bernie Sanders and universal health care until I started to read about what I posted. Now? Not so sure.

You mean they get a chance to have surgery instead of being told you're too poor so just go die?! Sounds way better than here if you ask me.

I voted it down.

Thats so wrong on so many levels ... u have no idea what your talking about ... NONE!!

I agree. Here you get to have the surgery. Then a massive bill comes and you file bankruptcy. Duh. Murica'

Canada also has like 1/10th of our available medical equipment. Same with Europe. Neither have put in a lot of time into developing medical research like the US has.

Nice ... part of the truth comes out .... YOUR GETTING WARMER!!!

Huge progress for u and your lib buddies ...

Where's the 'part truth'?
The massive bill? Or do you think that a massive bill given to someone living paycheck to paycheck is no big thing?
Sorry. I'll always be for universal healthcare. We should not live in fear of illness taking not just our health but our livelihoods and financial futures. I'll never waiver.

Thats your option ....

Talk to someone who has gotten one of those big bills ...

Tell them to call the hospital ... they will reduce the debt based on their income ...

I have no problem helping people out with healthcare ... NONE .. we just need to figure out a GOOD WAY to do it ...

OBUMa care is PROVEN not to be the answer ...

Single payer HC(gov't run) is not the ANSWER EITHER ... for many reasons ..

Lets give "free market" a shot ... hsa's ...

Getting rid of LIABILITY INSURANCE for doctors ...

There's five or 6 common sense things we can try before we turn it over to the gov't that has PROVEN INEPT at every turn when it takes ANYTHING OVER ...

The "part truth" was ... yes u get a big bill ... one u don't have to pay the full amount on ... sometimes U don't even have to pay any ... depending on your financial status and what the hospitals will do for U or what assistance u can get from charitable groups ...

We do agree .. sumptin needs to be done ...

I want to try something new .. u appear to want to continue down a road thats ALL READY PROVEN NOT TO GET U TO THE DESIRED DESTINATION ...

Have you missed the last 60 years?

If you wanna know what's really stupid, we already have universal healthcare.

it's called medicare. The system works beautifully. My mom and Mom in Law both have it. My business partner has it and in December my wife will have it and I'll have it in Feb.

If you buy the right supplemental policy, it's very comprehensive.

My total cost per month will be $273 per month (108.00 + 165 for suppl). And I have no Deductible and no office visit costs. Low co pay on prescriptions.

Now, if we had applied Medicare evenly to all those that needed healthcare but done so at an advanced premium, say 500.00 per month (or whatever made sense) instead of 108 per month (medicare only, no supplemental) it would have been the same thing but we'd not have had to deal with all the political garbage.

For those that complain about Medicare, I've only seen good things come from having it.

Mom in law had serious surgery about 3 or so years back. Ulcer burst and she was losing blood like crazy. They did the emergency surgery at South Point hospital (cleveland clinic) and saved her life.

Total out of pocket for her $36.00 for TV and Phone service in her hospital room. Apparently Medicare doesn't cover that.

I've always thought that there should be some form of universal healthcare but Obama and congress screwed up big time on all of this.

It was sitting there right in front of Obama and he missed it. But then, so did Congress.

It works fine people..

Obama likes to give interviews where he appears more liberal than he is. Just last week he told Maher that he would have loved to do single payer... but the infrastructure for healthcare was already built, so he wanted to build around it.

To be clear, I'm no fan of the ACA. Something better needs to be implemented. But your scenario still pushes off to those that can pay. Do you think that when a hospital has to 'write off' a $50,000-$100,000 bill that money is just absorbed by cutting into the hospital profit?

Like I said, Obama and Congress got so caught up wrestling with each other, they forgot to do their jobs in our best interest.

I missed 3 of the last 60 ....haven't missed any of the last 30 since i started paying attention ... why? ...

I have had numerous surgical procedures, and by the time the discounts are such are all applied, the insurance covers little more than my co-pays and deductibles.

People today have $5000 deductibles, and 70/30 co-pays. Their insurance covers very little, or even nothing on most procedures.

I went to the ER with my diverticulitis. The bill was $4341. I paid $75, and the insurance company paid $381.

I had a CT scan done while in the hospital. They also had a doctor charge. These totaled over $800. The insurance company paid less than $200.

If I had a high deductible insurance policy, I would have had to have paid all of that out of my pocket, just like I had no insurance.

My last injection into my spine, the doctor charged $650. The insurance paid him only $87. The surgery center charged $2700. They got $350. If I had insurance with high deductibles, I would have paid 100% of that bill as well.

My cataract surgery billed at roughly $6000. My insurance paid $2100. Again, with one of the Obamacare policies, I would have paid 100% of the bill.

Most surgical procedures are fairly inexpensive, relatively speaking. GM is an exception, as he had a major medical issue. However, most people go in for relatively inexpensive procedures. When I had a hernia fixed, the hospital billed something like $8000, nut they were paid around $1500.

It is no wonder that so many people are choosing to not buy insurance. Further, if it looks like they are going to have a huge expense, they can buy it whenever.

Kids can stay on their parents' policies until they hit 26. Instead of putting healthy, young people into the system, and adding that policy money to the pool, they are adding nothing. When they leave their parents wings, they aren't buying insurance, unless they are really unhealthy. Why would they? They don't need it, so why pay for it? This further drives up costs, and the price for everyone.

Now, how does it help the person who is maybe 40 ..... who makes just enough that they don't get a subsidy, and don't get their insurance through their job ..... so they get shunted into the exchange, and then they get all of the factors I just mentioned forcing their premiums higher and higher, and their high deductibles and co-pays make their insurance all but useless. How does that help them?

I would also add this: There are people who might have a $20,000 hospital bill, with one of these high deductible, high co-pay plans, and they just might wind up declaring bankruptcy anyway. That $20,000 bill might cost them $10,000 by the time all is said and done, and if they don't have it, they don't have it.

One other thing; Hospitals that get government subsidies are not allowed to turn away anyone who needs care. I was shocked when I had to go to the ER when my COBRA ran out, and before my Medicare started up. I was cared for, and they gave me paperwork, and since i had no insurance, and a lower income, they paid the whole bill. People act like they are strapping people onto gurneys and shoving them down the road, but that's not the case when a hospital receives government subsidies. They are not allowed to do so.

I have lived through a lot of this stuff, and the things I haven't, friends of mine are going through now. Obamacare was a poorly designed program, and it is a disaster. It is hurting as many people, if not more, than it helps. It needs repealed and replaced with something that the insurance companies didn't write. Oh, and this is really sad .... the insurance companies did help write this thing, and they can't stay in many states because of the flaws in the system that they helped design.

The system really has one redeeming value, and that is that people with pre-existing conditions are covered. That should be part of any future plans. However, that one aspect being a plus does not mean that the rest of this mess is any good.

Just not sure how this plan of Trumps is going to work. Need info. HSA?

Doesn't really matter for me because as of Feb 1, I'll be on Medicare and I've already added a substantial supplemental plan. Over all, quite a bit cheaper than what I'm paying now on a Non-ACA related plan.

"One other thing; Hospitals that get government subsidies are not allowed to turn away anyone who needs care. I was shocked when I had to go to the ER when my COBRA ran out, and before my Medicare started up. I was cared for, and they gave me paperwork, and since i had no insurance, and a lower income, they paid the whole bill."

This is kinda my point. This "they" that you speak of is us. Tax payers. The government subsidies are us. Tax payers. Medicare is us. Tax payers. What I'm saying is we have healthcare for the poor or in need, it's our taxpayer money. I'd just like to know I'm included. In my tax bracket the burden of any medical costs would fall on me. I, like most Americans, can't afford to get a major illness. A cancer diagnosis would wipe me and most other Americans out. That's not exceptable to me. Personally I find it terrifying. Maybe being a hospice nurse I've seen too much.

The individual subsidies for insurance also fall on you. Oh, and these programs continue to this day. Some hospitals have programs for low income people that assist with co-pays and such. A lady in my church's mother in law has cancer that is inoperable. The Cleveland Clinic has a technique that she is a good candidate for, but her insurance does not cover it. The Clinic is covering her bills. I don't think that the public hospital subsidies were all the diminished with the onset of the ACA.

The Cleveland Clinic has something called H-Cap. Not sure what it stands for, but essentially, if you prove your income is low enough and that you don't have insurance, they will provide services. Things like check-ups, screenings, Eye exams etc.

And of course emergency services at no cost.

I have no idea what happens if they find you have cancer or something like that. No idea.

I will let you know if the prices have changed. I just had surgery for a large Incisional hernia last friday. (Still wearing my girdle six days later :D)

A lot of the high bills are due to people having ridiculous deductibles... If you have a crazy high deductible then there's not much to do... Hospitals also are dependent on what the negotiated rates on return from insurance companies are which Is why prices have continued to rise... Because Medicaid and Medicare agree to pay about 15% of the actual charge... So hospitals increase the charges so that they get compensated atleast somewhat but the groups that then get screwed are the middle class who either have to pay out of pocket (though as diam said should qualify for reduced costs) or those with private insurance but ridculous deductibles or coinsurance

The ACA is awful but I agre that overall health care reform is needed.... I don't agree with universial health care because the quality of healthcare in locations that have UHC has been poor from what I've seen... But there needs to be improvement in the health care coverage