My VERY conservative next door neighbor

[Raggaemon]

I have two bumper stickers on my car, one that reads, Obama-Biden 2012, the other says, I Love Obamacare. My rabidly conservative neighbor saw the stickers, but we agreed to avoid talking politics because it usually means that sparks fly, he gets upset because I respond to his right-wing talking points with information that twists him in knots.

So ... my neighbor came over for something last week, I could tell he was itching to say something about my new bumper stickers, and he did. My neighbor said, "you won't like Obamacare so much when it ends up costing you more taxes". I calmly asked my neighbor, "what's your answer to people without healthcare, do you agree with Mitt Romney that they can get help at the emergency room?" All he could say was to repeat himself.

[gateley]

1. Welcome to DU, Raggaemon!

[democrat_patriot]

2. I would have questioned the "it's going to cost more in taxes" thing first

Than moved into Romney's tax plan WILL raise taxes on YOU by $4000 at least.

I have a 'severely conservative' neighbor and I asked why he was voting for Romney. What plans did Romney have that actually helped him. He had no answer, just "I don't like Obama". Hard to counter that.

[still_one]

3. romney's solution not only kills people, but it costs more also /nt

[BellaKos]

4. Like so many policies these days

Obamacare is necessarily complicated and therefore hard to explain.

But it boils down to the $12 aspirin that a patient is charged while in the hospital. The reason for the exorbitant cost is because the cost of treating emergency room patients with no health insurance is shifted to people who have insurance. Therefore, an insured patient is charged $12 for an aspirin. Then, his premium will go up in short order (because insurance companies aren't gonna' eat the cost if they can get away with it.) It's a cycle of cost shifting that insured patients and local taxes pay for. The only remedy is to make certain that everyone has some form of medical insurance in order to more fairly distribute cost.

In other words, your neighbor is already paying for those poor people he apparently despises. The cost is in embedded in his insurance premium or in local taxes -- like the property taxes where I live that are used to support the county hospital.

Or we could just let accident victims bleed to death in the street. Or we could risk being exposed to antibiotic-resistant TB or other contagious diseases because, god forbid, we can't possibly tolerate rich people paying more taxes.

Well, you know what I mean.

[HopeHoops]

5. Oh, you can certainly get it at the emergency room - along with the bills and collection notices.

I've GOT insurance, but I've still got several thousand backed up in bills and most are in collections right now. rMoney doesn't know SHIT about how it works - his accountants handle it.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. Why is it

that some people think that the WORST thing in the world that can happen to them is having to pay more taxes- esp. if doing so actually does something beneficial for themselves and, more importantly, DECREASE their expenses in other areas? People in "socialist" countries like Canada and Europe pay LOTS more than we do in taxes but there is a SIGNIFICANT return on their money. Their taxes cover LOTS of things (i.e. childcare, health care, education) that we pay loads more for OUT OF OUR OWN POCKETS! We're getting a RAW deal in this country and yet some people are totally ignorant of all of they ways we/they get shafted and, in fact, are "propagandized" to the point that they will FIGHT AGAINST efforts to make things better for themselves and/or others.