"WILL IT COME OUT FROM MY PAYCHECK" the woman screamed

[question everything]

at Dingell's face.

And as I was watching all these people screaming: mine, mine, me, me I wish that someone would have asked them: do you care, at all, that there are close to 50 million people in this country with no health insurance? If you, madam, lose your paycheck tomorrow - as happened to so many people and could happen to you - would you worry about access to health care?

[KingFlorez]

1. If they don't like the plan, they should leave the country

That's the simplest solution, no one is forcing them to stay here.

[question everything]

2. This can work both ways

Remember all the people who said they were going to leave the country if: Reagan won, if Bush won, etc?

Not to mention the prohibition on stem cells research? They are citizens and they have a right to express their opinion. I just with they would let others express theirs, that they would not put their faces and shout at the face of a member of Congress and that they would stop long enough to think: there, by the grace of god goes I. (About the unemployed).

[KingFlorez]

3. I understand all that

I just think the "leave" response is what people who act irrationally deserve, because they aren't trying to have a serious debate.

[Diamonique]

4. That's just about the dumbest question I've heard in this "discussion".

Isn't it coming out of her paycheck now?

Or is she somehow getting free health care?

[and-justice-for-all]

5. I know, she already pays for Social Services/Medicade/Medicare

unless she does not pay her taxes.

[handmade34]

6. one of the concerns I see with the status quo

is there is such inequity in the area of healthcare. People fortunate to have a job that pays for all health insurance benefits often don't understand that many, many people pay the full premium themselves. (I was paying $1200/month when i had insurance) ...and they certainly don't understand that some can't afford coverage, they don't understand that some people are refused coverage.... those close minded people just don't understand.

[havocmom]

31. They don't want to understand. They don't care about anyone else

And they don't have the ability to think they might be in need someday. They WON'T hear the fact that most bankruptcies in the US are due to medical costs, and of those, the majority of filers HAD insurance.

[Hansel]

28. The Democrats need to make these points.

You can bet if the Republicans were on this side they would.

[alsame]

7. I always shut up people like this by pointing out that I pay

school taxes even though I have no children of my own. Some of MY MONEY is taken to help educate another person's child. And that is perfectly okay with me.

They have no concept of the greater good, the social contracts that hold this society together, until you point out ways in which they themselves benefit from someone else's money.

[question everything]

14. I've always compared public education to universal health insurance

We all pay taxes to support public schools. Everyone has a right to education, regardless of income or of "pre-existing" conditions. And the ones that don't like it can always pay for private schools.

We should have universal health system supported by our taxes, and the ones that don't like a "government program" can purchase their own private insurance or pay their physicians up front.

The worse - and I have not heard it yet this time, though I did in the early 90s - are the ones who want to know where, in our Constitution, do we have a right for health care. My reply is: no place. Neither do we have a right to safe roads and bridges, to clean water and to public education. We, as voters, determine that we need these services and are willing to support them with our taxes.

[NYC Liberal]

19. Yes, but you assume these people also think education is a right, too.

I've seen plenty of them who don't think that. A lot of them DON'T support having public education.

[havocmom]

32. I shut them down by saying if they don't want to pay taxes, they don't support the troops either.

A two dollar magnet doesn't cut it.

[demwing]

35. That would be the 9th Amendment

Amendment 9 - Construction of Constitution. Ratified 12/15/1791.

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

[question everything]

36. Thank you. I will remember next time

because I think some still ask about that right... when they don't say that "after all, not everyone drives a Cadillac."

[donco6]

41. We didn't have a "right" to education, either, until the 1850s, give or take.

So we could argue that health care is a right - just not one that's recognized yet.

[Norrin Radd]

42. I always answer, "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

You can't have any of those without good health.

[handmade34]

17. "social contracts that hold this society together"

excellent. That is what a society is, many people with social contracts that keep us civil and our days relatively sane... I fear they have lost touch with that concept and what it means to our everyday existence

[LiberalFighter]

8. Someone should ask them if they know the cost of their health insurance.

There are probably numerous questions:

1) Do they have a job?

2) Does the employer offer health insurance coverage?

3) Does the employer provide 100% or does the employee have to pay any premium?

4) Do they know the cost of their insurance premiums?

5) Do they know the cost of the employer's portion of the insurance coverage?

6) Do they have dental and vision?

7) If they have a spouse do one them mooch off of the other employer's insurance?

And finally,

8) Do they want the total of their taxes and insurance premiums to be less than what it is now?

[question everything]

23. Right. And many realize this only after they lose their jobs

and find out how expensive COBRA is.

[LiberalFighter]

9. I suppose their insurance premiums aren't deducted from their paycheck.

[jberryhill]

10. The woman in the Arkansas tape put it best

...the one obviously already on Medicare, so it doesn't matter.

"Why should the 80% of Americans who have health insurance have to change anything for the 20% who don't?"

20% of their fellow citizens of the country they are so proud of can just. drop. dead.

[dflprincess]

15. Another person who has never had to try and use her insurance for a major medical expense

or she'd have figured out that insurance and access to health care are not related when she started looking for a bankruptcy lawyer.

[handmade34]

18. priceless is their exhibition of ignorance and lack of civility

and sense of citizenship

[girl gone mad]

21. We spent $5Trillion...

and sent 4,300 soldiers to their deaths because .001% of the population was killed in a terrorist attack.

Someone should remind her about that.

[stranger81]

30. Exactly. That woman showed a stunning lack of compassion

for someone who almost certainly calls herself a Christian. Or a human.

[newspeak]

39. and that's when someone needs to ask her

how about when you become part of the twenty percent? Because no job is "safe" in these times.

[Honeycombe8]

11. He should've replied, "It already does! Who do you think pays for the $700/mo.

ins. policy you have? Your employer? Think again! That is a cost of you as an employee, and that gets passed along when they consider wages. And your other taxes that increase every year to pay for the very expensive ER room treatments given to the indigent for minor ailments, when they could've been treated for a few dollars in a doctor's office!"

Doesn't sound like he was well prepared. He was probably shaken up, though.

[question everything]

24. Assuming all of them can even listen to reason

They stand and scream and want to be heard, but will not shut up to hear a reply. At least, not a reply that they expect.

[harun]

12. It comes out of our paychecks today.

[zulchzulu]

13. We always have to deal with moochers, freeloaders and selfish oafs

Besides, the woman probably doesn't have a paycheck anyway. I would have asked her where she works...

[Jennicut]

16. If they can't be bothered to read the various articles online out there about the legislation

then screw them. I am tired of ignorant people who choose to be stupid. Research the damn bills in the House and Senate instead of letting Rush or Glenn Beck tell you what it is all about. Its like they decided to switch their brains off or something. I don't listen to just one news source or read one type of article, I read many. Sheesh.

[tavalon]

20. Yes, it will and guess what, Ms. Grinch?

Your heart is three sizes too small. Your soul isn't so terribly big either.

[Tulio]

22. Not to be contrary...but I can really get how folks may be

concerned and have tunnel vision where it concerns their paycheck. "Is it coming out of my paycheck?" sometimes means, "Will I have enough left over for gas?" Not defending her. I can just see if from a different perspective without the spin.

~Tulio

[question everything]

25. The answer is NO, unless she is making more than $250K

in this case her worries that you describe are unwarranted.

Still, is she cable of thinking beyond her paycheck that could disappear tomorrow? After all, 250,000 people still lost their jobs last month, even though in macro view this was good news..

[Hansel]

29. I doubt it.

My experience with people who make these kinds of statements is that they are selfish. They are just as well off or more well off than others around them.

My co-worker does this. We are in the same job and make approximately the same amount of money. I have no problems paying taxes whatsoever. I come from a family that was so poor at one point in time that we ate macaroni and tomato juice, mayonnaise sandwiches and brown sugar sandwiches for nearly a year. Fridays were better because we could have tuna sandwiches.

When I was a child my parents always told me that we had an obligation and responsibility to our country and community. That even though we had to pay money out of our checks we got many many good things back from the money we paid and that it benefits many people who are worse off than us. So the best way to look at it when we were to go to look for jobs was to find out what we would be paid and cut it by a 1/3, because that was our paycheck. If we wanted more money, we should look for a better paying job.

My co-worker constantly pisses and moans about how much he gets paid. He whines about taxes constantly and is dead set against national health care because he can get it on his own for cheap if he has to. I told him that my daughter was denied coverage because she had had gastric by-pass surgery and was still 20 lbs overweight. It was considered a pre-existing condition. He basically called me a liar and said my daughter could get it, she would just have to pay more for it. When I repeated that it didn't matter how much she would pay, she could not get it. Then he called me a liar. He said she might have to pay $15,000 a year, but basically tough sh*t, she can get it. Even though she makes half as much as him, that was her problem. Unfortunately, even if should could have afforded it, no one would insure her.

Of course, his family lives in one of the wealthiest communities in our state. He has never one time in his life wanted for anything.

It's called selfishness.

[TomCADem]

26. It Already Does - Employer Provided Healthcare - $6,500 Per Capita

That is how employer provided healthcare works. With healthcare costs increasing, American worker wages are depressed as more money goes to healthcare. So, it is already coming out of her paycheck.

<>

[krispos42]

27. God I hope so.

I want universal single payer, paid for with a flat tax on individual and corporate incomes.

I currnently pay a sizeable percentage of my gross for private insurance. I figure they could quintuple my Medicare/Medicaid tax, and if it eliminated my need for private insurance, my net income would go up.

According to the IRS, the adjusted gross income on individuals was some 8.7 trillion last year.


If USP could cut annual medical costs in the US to, say, 1 trillion a year, half paid by a flat tax on individuals and half on corporations, then about a 6% flat tax on individual incomes would be needed to finance this.

Hell, that would give me a decent-sized net GAIN in my paycheck!

[Brigid]

33. Does she think health care is free?

Right now she either pays ridiculous premiums for an individual policy or pays her share of a plan provided by her -- or her husband's -- employer. God, these people are so stupid it makes me ill. :crazy:

[mscuedawg]

34. YES!!! Its called ....

* Federal income tax withholding
* Social Security tax withholding
* Medicare tax withholding
* State income tax withholding
* Various local tax withholdings (such as city, county, or school district taxes, state disability or unemployment insurance).

For further reference, look at your paystub...

:banghead:

[opihimoimoi]

37. "Ye will noes them by there QUESTIONs" msplng intended

[PatSeg]

38. She is probably already paying premiums

for health insurance, premiums that are increasing far faster than her income, and each year her co-pays and deductibles are probably increasing as well. A one or two week hospital stay could wipe out any savings she has or push her towards bankruptcy AND she could lose the insurance she has.

I wish the Dems would focus more on how those already insured are being seriously affected by this broken health care system, or how they could be ruined financially by just one illness or operation.

So many of these people would pay LESS and get MORE health care with a public option. They will be the first to scream and yell once they get raked over the coals by their insurance companies, wondering why the government doesn't do something. For them entitlement is always subjective.

[Politicub]

40. If the idiot has health insurance through her employer

It's coming out of her paycheck -- or at least a subsidy is coming out of her check.

What a fucking moron.

[Critters2]

43. I'm a religious pacifist, and I have to pay for the damned army.

And I bitch relatively little about that.