Daschle today on NPR: 50% of Seniors HAD NO INSURANCE before MediCare!

[JanMichael]

That's WHY we have it gawd dammit!

Before MediCare millions of working class familys were broken when a grandparent got seriously ill, they were devastated!

Now close to 100% of Seniors are covered.

Why, oh why, do the American People keep needing to be reminded of these FACTS?!

It's like when we have to re-explain the basics of Progressive Taxation and why it's better than Regressive Taxation.

Have we raised a Nation of people that has a sizable percentage of voters that can't comprehend these ideas?????

[LoZoccolo]

1. Facts don't matter to them...

...because they'll be like "why should /I/ have to pay for /their/ insurance" or if not that then "why should /anyone/ have to pay for insurance for people who don't work hard enough to afford it?"

[SharonAnn]

4. When they need it they'll find that they can't afford it, either!

They just haven't figured that out yet.

[dsc]

2. My grandfather died shortly before Medicare

of cancer. Fortunately it was a relatively short illness and my grandmother wasn't completely ruined but as it was she had to sell his business and work very hard to get financially sound again. This was very common before the advent of Medicare.

[SharonAnn]

3. And with today's insurance costs, 100% would be without

insurance. No one could afford it. And for the very wealthy it would be cheaper to be self-insured (pay their own medical bills) than to get insurance.

Medicare is important! I can't believe that the baby-boomer Republicans are willing to let this get destroyed. They'll be sorry if they succeed. Have they had insurance their whole life, paid for by employers thanks to unions, and they just don't know how expensive it is if you have to buy it yourself? And if you're over 65, it's even more expensive. Do they think they can hendle expenses without infurance? Do they think a Medical Savings Account would replace the need for Medicare? They're nuts. You could blow through that easily in a year and then you'd have NOTHING for the rest of your life.

My husband had a stent put in one of his small arteries ten days ago. The bill came from the hospital yesterday, $54,000. Thank goodness he's on Medicare and has Supplemental insurance. Otherwise he would've had to do without the surgery, would've had pain from the bloackage, and then would've died from a "heart attack". What an alternative.

I vote for Medicare! For all citizens of all ages!

[QC]

5. Most Americans' knowledge of history goes back a year or two

it often seems.

They have no idea that there was ever child labor, or an 80 hour work week, or filthy foods and toxic patent medicines on the market, or any of that.

This is especially true of the "small government" types who like to rail against regulations. I get one or two students like that every semester, and it's always a joy to see the look of blank incomprehension on their faces when I explain to them *why* we have government regulations. It's like I've suddenly started speaking Urdu or something.

[JanMichael]

6. Had to laugh!

Perhaps we should start teaching everyone Esperanto so they digest reality better!

It really is amazing how short the historical timeline is for many Americans.

The "Good Ol' Days" really weren't all that good....

[Yavin4]

8. Don't Worry

They have no idea that there was ever child labor, or an 80 hour work week, or filthy foods and toxic patent medicines on the market, or any of that.

If Bush steals another term, they'll find out about those "good ole days" on their own.

[TheBigGuy]

11. yeah, but did they have grandparents?

Has this country produced a generation of pod people.

My politics came alot from the tales my grandparents told me of the great depression and the tales my ma told me of Germany that she heard from her folks (about the Kaiser time and the 1920s) and that she grew up in (1940s and early 1950s)....certain political lessons where learned here, which where passed on to me...and one of the big reasons Im a Democrat.

So I really, really have to wonder whats happened to the historical memory people have of what happened in the past to their folks or grandparents.

[depakid]

15. Ain't that the truth

mention the abuses of Twain's "Gilded Age" or "the Lochner Era" and for all intents and purposes, you are speaking Urdu. Even so, in my experience, URDU becomes very clear and comprehensible to people who end up suffering, more and more often without recourse.

[Yavin4]

7. Privitization of All Social Services Is Not Effective

Whether it's medicare, education, police, jails, firefighting, etc., is not effective, because in order to make any kind of profit the provider has to be highly selective of who gets the service and has to deny certain services.

Private insurance companies ARE NOT going to insure the elderly because they can't make a profit. The private insurers would have to deny service to practically all of the elderly because they will be heavy users of the health care and their premiums would never cover the cost of the health care. Also, there's no way a provider could deny certain services.

Free market capitalism creates winners and losers, and it has the luxury of operating without a conscience. Social and political policy do not have that luxury. It would be a political and social disaster to let millions of elderly people die because they had no health insurance.

[JanMichael]

10. Well stated. Some activities CAN'T be selective.

If they were many, many, people would be at a loss.

Those industries, programs, should be "averaged" (or Collectivized) in order for us to be a caring/Civilized People.

[TheBigGuy]

9. and "moderate" Bob Dole...

..voted AGAINST medicare when he was in Congress!

Just a rememinder that the so called "moderate" Republicans really are not.

[SharonAnn]

13. But he was willing to vote for "Universal Care" when Hillary

presented her plan. Or so they say. Who knows? I wasn't paying much attention during those years because I was working, travelling for the job, and in graduate school. I have several years there that are kind of a blur.

[JanMichael]

18. I don't remember that.

Then again I was in something of a stupor too...I was living in Europe (partying mostly) at the time and only had the outside view.

[Clete]

12. This is most serious.

Young people don't realize if Medicare is done away with or put into the hands of private companies, which will provide very little health care and huge profits for their stockholders, they will be stuck with taking care of their parents in their old age. Either that or they will have to watch them waste away without care, if they can't afford to.

That deduction from your check is your contribution to ensure that Grandma and Grandpa get the health care they need.

[SharonAnn]

14. And don't forget those who become disabled. They're

covered by Medicare too. How would they like to cover their disabled family member's medical care from scratch?

[Clete]

16. This is something ignorant freepers don't think of.

Especially today. There was a time when the charity hospitals run by the Catholic nuns and the community hospitals would care for those who couldn't pay with some help from welfare, but that has all changed now.

[JanMichael]

17. Charity's have never had the resources to handle the entire country.

Never have and never will.

I wish we could all just accept that the problems, and simple needs, are universal and should (could) be handled in a non-sectarian way.

[Clete]

19. The other problem is that the person

needing help from charity has to wait to be chosen to receive it rather than to be able to walk into a clinic because he needs it.