I actually agree with Republicans... WTF!

THe healthcare bill has passed and they are now going to mandate that all Americans buy healthcare from a private company. That, my friends, is a load of bullshit.

Today, ABC reports:

The individual mandate is an "unprecedented overreach by the federal government forcing individual citizens to buy a good or a service for no other reason then they happen to be alive or a person," Republican governor of Minnesota Tim Pawlenty said today on "Good Morning America."

The Republicans are challenging the constitutionality of the healthcare mandate and I agree and I hope they succeed. Some say, "well it's mandated that you purchase auto insurance on your car". Yes, only if you drive. You have an option not to drive. And if you individually refuse to not drive or have a job that requires driving, that doesn't make it something you HAVE to do. You are still choosing to drive. Not like you HAVE to be alive. The healthcare mandate is "you breath, you buy a product from a private, for-profit company". That is a perfect example of something that makes our free country a little less free. If our government wants every American to have health insurance, well they better find a wy to provide us with it.

And the subsidy for people who can't afford health insurance is no answer. It has a crap load of requirements and will be VERY hard to qualify for.

So, if the Republicans are unsuccessful and the mandate stays, I encourage people to not get healthcare if they wouldn't have without the mandate and I hope all of them refuse to pay the fine. I have a feeling that is going to be the case and it's going to cause a whole of problems and cost the tax payers a whole bunch of money. This is yet another one of Obama's great ideas that he royally fucked up on execution. And I'm not being sarcastic. The man has great ideas for making the country better, but by the time it gets passed he's compromised so much it turns into a steaming pile of shit. I have a feeling I won't be voting him into a second term.

I think we should do the opposite. I think everyone without insurance should refuse to get it, and I think people with insurance should start canceling it until they take the mandate out of the bill. We're supposed to live in a free country but we're being forced to do business with a private, for-profit company that's already charging outragous amounts, posting record profits and there is nothing it the bill that makes them lower their rates. They can actually still raise their rates a little more under this bill. It's fucking ridiculous. Everyone should cancel their insurance on the same day and send a message to the insurance companies that we're not taking it up the ass anymore.

But we won't, because we're lazy Americans who seem to have no problem taking up the ass from big corporations. So, good luck with that.

I know, I know, "but what if I get sick with no health insurance". I've lived for the past 10 years with no health insurance. I've been sick, I've been injured and I'm fine. and I'm not overrun with medical bills. If you know where to go, you can survive just fine. And this may come as a shocker, but most people don't need all the shit that they're on. There is no other country on the planet that suffers from as many "syndromes" or "disorders" than we do. And no other country takes as much medication as we do. "But what if I get cancer". Well, you can make all your decisions in life based on fear of what-if's, or you can do something that might actually be good for you and the country in the long run. It's up to the American people. We always want to blame the government for everything, but it's the American people that are responsible for everything that is going on in this country. You want more jobs: stop using companies that ship all their jobs overseas (Facebook being the newest company to do that), you want better banking rates: stop using the big private banks and switch to a credit union, you want better treatment of employees: stop shopping at Walmart and stores like it, you want better healthcare rates, refuse to pay for expensive insurance. We decide and we have decided that making a difference takes too much work. So screw the unemployed and screw the workers and screw the uninsured and screw ourselves, we don't want to put in the extra effort.

Vigilante Justice Insurance Movie

People keep recommending vigilante justice movies to me and it made me remember a movie that combines parental vigilante justice with health insurance frustrations...

John Q: Starring Denzel Washington. I thought it was an underrated movie. Not a blockbuster hit, but definitely work watching. Denzel's kid needs a heart translate and due to having some of his hours cut at work, he doesn't qualify for his medical coverage. So in order to get his son a heart transplate, he takes the hospital hostage. Yeah, take that Kaiser Permanente!

7 Weeks 5 Days: The Insurance Debate

The News: The heart is beating.
The Truth: I honestly don't think we need health insurance.
The Plan: Learn as we go.
The Due Date: 01/26/2010
The Sex: It would be like trying to find a penis on a blueberry.
The Status: Still growing.

The Story: So we turned in the paperwork for the Oregon Health Plan. Now what that does, is get you a medical insurance plan through various providers (you have to pick two, one of them is Kaiser Permanente) and depending on your financial situation, it can be free or low cost or could not qualify. And I've searched online A LOT at health coverage plans and they all suck. If I want to pay around $100 a month, I could get coverage for JUST KRYSTAL that would cover 75% of maternity costs after I pay out a $5,000 deductible... Well, what's the point of that? Or I could pay $200 - $300 a month, again JUST FOR KRYSTAL, and have the plan cover 75% of maternity costs after a deductible of anywhere from $250 to $1,000. Better, but with the $200 a month, still not the greatest option. And my question regarding the Oregon Health Plan is this: are they going to give me a low cost option at a Kaiser health plan with a $5,000 or even $10,000 deductible? Because then I don't want it.

And I'm comparing all of that to this: Since we have no health insurance and we have no idea how long it will take the bureaucrats to make a decision on the Oregon Health Plan, Krystal just went to the Natural Medicine Doctor that I go to. He does prenatal care and is set up with a bunch of midwifes. So for a checkup and a sonogram he charges $60. And he says to come in once a month. Then using a midwife usually runs $2,000 to $3,000, which is less than the deductible of any reasonably affordable health insurance.

I really do think that most people mindlessly pay for health insurance because society hammers into our heads that we "need" it without doing the math and realizing that their premiums + deductibles + copays are making them pay more than if they just found an affordable doctor and paid out of their pocket for each visit. Of course people are worried about some horrible illness that will cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars when the chances of that happening are so low. I actually would prefer to use my natural medicine doctor even if we do get approved for the Oregon Health Plan because he's not a big corporate machine. The hospitals and corporate doctors make you pay for their expensive high tech machines even if they aren't using them on you, where as Dr. Sisco has older machines that are in good shape that do the job just fine. I don't need to pay for Dr. High-Roller's Multimillion dollar full body scanner that he will never use on me, my wife or my baby.

I think $60 a month plus the cost of a midwife is reasonable.