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billb wrote:
[quote=Grace62]
Romney wrote an op-ed for USA Today back in '09 suggesting to Pres. Obama how the successful Mass. plan could be translated to a federal plan. At that time he praised the individual mandate as necessary in order for such a plan to work.
He changed his tune after he started running for the 2012 ticket.
http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?2...sg-1327132
Ah, so it was Romney who turned Obama around from his refusal to back the Individual Mandate back in 2008 ?
No, that was Blue-dog Democrats who naively thought that they would get political cover by embracing a Republican plan only to watch the Republicans run away from it and pretend that they never had anything to do with the idea and say that only socialist devils would approve of an individual mandate.
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this is from a friend of mine who doesn't like Obama much, but he works in health care as a surgical tech in Philly. self-described "Modern Yippie (reformed)"
As a health care worker it's time I weighed in on this issue... I regard the Obama plan mandating all people have health coverage as valid, though I see some considerable flaws... A great problem with health care are millions of people who refuse to pay for it... the electively unissured are a massive drain on the system. Strange that conservatives are against the essence of this plan...
I encounter many people in both my line of work and socially that don't have health insurance... this is more often less a matter of income but more a matter of they simply don't want to spend their money on a plan. I'm all for a mandate of coverage...
NPR did a feature on Americans without health insurance some 2 years ago when Obama came up with his plan. Their subject was a single computer guy who claimed he "only" made 50k after taxes (that's a 75k job). His big gripe: "I can't go snowboarding or rollerblading because I'm afraid I'll tear up my knee." Bollocks to him... and NPR for presenting such a spurious case. I know many people in this position that can not be lumped in with the genuine poor and low-income. They use reasons like being self-employed or "I'm an artist!" as reasons... in reality they refuse to pay $285 or so a month for their health... yet think nothing of paying $150 for cable or cell phone plans... or cite bogus ideological reasons like socialism...
I had a patient recently who owned 2 beauty salons but had no health insurance... I'm thinking more of these "scofflaws" and deadbeats who gamble with thier own health. Being uninsured also counters preventative care... had this bimbo been going to a doctor she may have not been in the condition she ended up in. I'm hoping aspects of this plan's mandate will reduce this demographic of the health care issue...
