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Topic: Spreading The Wealth The Obama Way
no photo
Thu 10/30/08 04:19 PM



Not sure how maine's mental facilities are, and i know are hospitals are hurting due to the Maine care and Medicare screwing them over. And now there is talk of federal healthcare plan...

Our welfare system is probably the "best" in the country. I say "best" meaning, most expensive. There is no time limit on it, and it just about pays the best in the country. I think it covers the cost of school too...(to include college) If you can't make endsmeat maine will hook you up.

But if you are looking to get ahead, it sucks. Maine ranks top 5 in the U.S. for the lowest average income. It also ranks in the top 5 in the U.S. for the highest taxes. I heard it was the leader in both, but im not sure...

Cost of living sucks up here. You want to buy a new car you end up forking over $1,200 to register it (not kidding).

This is why we can't get enough businesses up here. Rules are too strict and taxes are too high. I would hate to see the rest of the country suffer from all this....


Yes, there is Medicare and state aid. They are issues. They have been pretty stable over the years. A big problem is the working uninsured. They make too much money to qualify for state aid and don't make enough money to buy their own insurance. They have fallen through the cracks.
They are the people that Obama wants to help. It is not a universal health care system. I like it better than McCain wanting to tax our health insurance.


There are definitely pros and cons. I still think both are kinda sad.

BTW the biggest issue here in maine is, in fact, the government insurances. As i mentioned earlier Maine gives the unfortunate a pretty decent ticket. Free health insurance, the best monthly stipend (just about in the U.S.), and there is no time limit on how long people can stay on welfare. Hell, people move here from Massachusettes and other states because their welfare ran out.

Unfortunately we don't want the U.S. to deal with what Maine has to deal with. Trust me...

But Temp did bring up a good argument... If we are already paying for it now, than what harm could it do?

I still think if we focused our energies on bigger issues this problem would iron itself out.
I agree with you in theroy..But one word always comes into play and will not let it happen..GREED

Winx's photo
Thu 10/30/08 04:26 PM



Not sure how maine's mental facilities are, and i know are hospitals are hurting due to the Maine care and Medicare screwing them over. And now there is talk of federal healthcare plan...

Our welfare system is probably the "best" in the country. I say "best" meaning, most expensive. There is no time limit on it, and it just about pays the best in the country. I think it covers the cost of school too...(to include college) If you can't make endsmeat maine will hook you up.

But if you are looking to get ahead, it sucks. Maine ranks top 5 in the U.S. for the lowest average income. It also ranks in the top 5 in the U.S. for the highest taxes. I heard it was the leader in both, but im not sure...

Cost of living sucks up here. You want to buy a new car you end up forking over $1,200 to register it (not kidding).

This is why we can't get enough businesses up here. Rules are too strict and taxes are too high. I would hate to see the rest of the country suffer from all this....


Yes, there is Medicare and state aid. They are issues. They have been pretty stable over the years. A big problem is the working uninsured. They make too much money to qualify for state aid and don't make enough money to buy their own insurance. They have fallen through the cracks.
They are the people that Obama wants to help. It is not a universal health care system. I like it better than McCain wanting to tax our health insurance.


There are definitely pros and cons. I still think both are kinda sad.

BTW the biggest issue here in maine is, in fact, the government insurances. As i mentioned earlier Maine gives the unfortunate a pretty decent ticket. Free health insurance, the best monthly stipend (just about in the U.S.), and there is no time limit on how long people can stay on welfare. Hell, people move here from Massachusettes and other states because their welfare ran out.

Unfortunately we don't want the U.S. to deal with what Maine has to deal with. Trust me...

But Temp did bring up a good argument... If we are already paying for it now, than what harm could it do?

I still think if we focused our energies on bigger issues this problem would iron itself out.


Hopefully when the economy gets straightened out, things will start falling into place better. But...health care is a big issue to me.

cutelildevilsmom's photo
Thu 10/30/08 05:23 PM





Not sure how maine's mental facilities are, and i know are hospitals are hurting due to the Maine care and Medicare screwing them over. And now there is talk of federal healthcare plan...

Our welfare system is probably the "best" in the country. I say "best" meaning, most expensive. There is no time limit on it, and it just about pays the best in the country. I think it covers the cost of school too...(to include college) If you can't make endsmeat maine will hook you up.

But if you are looking to get ahead, it sucks. Maine ranks top 5 in the U.S. for the lowest average income. It also ranks in the top 5 in the U.S. for the highest taxes. I heard it was the leader in both, but im not sure...

Cost of living sucks up here. You want to buy a new car you end up forking over $1,200 to register it (not kidding).

This is why we can't get enough businesses up here. Rules are too strict and taxes are too high. I would hate to see the rest of the country suffer from all this....


Last night I read about the hospitals in our newspapers, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The hospitals are not suffering from being screwed by Medicare and state aid, as you say.

The hospitals are almost closing down because there are so many uninsured people using them. Uninsured people get sick.

Templter explains how to fix that one very well.


That's preventive medicine. While studying to become a doctor, i notice not enough attention is spent on the learning of preventive medicine. This is an easy fix. Hey, you know the leading cause of illness is poor diet and lack of exercise? (If you have free healthcare this should be manditory...IMO)

Yes, fact, in my state, according to the hospital staff, they ARE IN FACT GETTING SCREWED BY STATE HEALTH CARE. That is a fact.

When the state pays $2,000 for a $10,000 surgery who do you think picks up the slack? The money has to come from somewhere, or staff and equipment needs to be cut back...

Yes, you are right, and so was Templter. Uninsured people are a problem as well. This is another cut back. But here in maine, if you can't afford insurance, you are covered. Medicare, and maine care, and probably a handful of other government insurances will cover you.

The problem is not the need of the healthcare. The problem is not being able to afford healthinsurance.

If you focus on the problem, instead of the symptom, you will find that the trick is to lower the cost of living. When you lower the cost of living, people can afford their own healthcare.

If you just make government programs to make up for shortcomings, than you will have a situation like we have in maine.

We have one of the highest costs of living in the U.S. due to high taxes. The high taxes are keeping private businesses from starting up. This is costing jobs. It is a vicious circle. Please understand this...
Only problem I have what you say is giving away free health care..If we are already paying for it its not giving it away, its making it more cost effective..My wages have been froze for 4 yrs so my employer can afford to cover me on insurance..I pay for it everyday now.. If Im going to pay anyways lets make it cost effective and work instead of the system in place that dosnt..You talk about what the states pay, ever seen a bill for someone uninsured..Its criminal!!!!!


I agree. I have no argument. If we are paying for it now, it should pay for itself. And i do like preventive medicine. If Americans had a healthy diet and were physically active it would solve 75% of illness. Did you know that poor diet and lack of exercise is the number 2 (no pun intended) killer in the U.S. It kills somewhere between 150,000 to 400,000. (Which 400,000 ties it with the number one killer, tobacco)

I still think people don't ask themselves "why" nearly often enough. We are a sinking ship. National healthcare is another bucket bailing out water. Unfortunately the ship will still be sinking until someone plugs the hole.

The problem needs to be treated, not just a symptom.

That's actually another problem i find with philosophies of many doctors. They hear the complaint, and figure out which medication should be prescribed to fix the problem (many times). Instead of just treating it with medicine, often its much more effective to find the source of the problem, and tret the problem. (Physical Therapy can solve a lot of pain, as does a regular visit to a chiropractor. No pain = no medication. No medication = no side effects from medication, to include long term effects)

I emphasize, instead of searching for a quick shot of pain killers we need to treat the problem at its source.

Focus on the value of our dollar.

If our dollar were still backed by gold, we would be paying a dollar or less per gallon of gasoline. Save $300 a month in gas, and $500 to $800 a month in heating expenses... POOF We could afford insurance... More people getting insurance, gives hospitals money, they start charging less and people pay less, which means more money saved...

Now we gotta concentrate on getting businesses here up and running. Unfortunately increasing taxes on them is not a good way of doing this...

When you don't have insurance,preventive care is hard to come by.chiropractors can f@#$k up a back.I know.I take medication for my panic disorder and depression.Born with it and suffered many years without medicine.there is no cure for depression .I have insurance but would love to see a national plan that I pay for and is not attached to my job.They could even make it sliding scale.This way if I switch jobs to better myself,I would still be insured fully without paying Cobra prices.different plans could be offered from different companies.This would create jobs.People would go to the DR when they had symptoms or just for checkups,mammograms etc because they would be insured.companies won't have to offer healthcare so they would save money.
I don't want universal healthcare,just a decent healthplan which I won't lose if I quit,lose my job.I recently had emergency gallbladder surgery.Thank god for insurance but what if I lost my job before the insurance paid?

Drivinmenutz's photo
Thu 10/30/08 05:56 PM
First things first. You solve the problem of our diminishing dollar you get some jobs back over here, or help some new ones get started, then you see if we still need a national health care plan.

(We most likely wouldn't....)

Best way to help the less fortunate,is to prevent people from falling into that catagory...

Drivinmenutz's photo
Thu 10/30/08 05:59 PM
On a side note, i would rather see money being spent on healthcare instead of an aggressive foreign policy of wars and intervention (like Obama's, McCain's Bush's, Clinton's etc.

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