Healthcare

"If you hide your ignorance, no-one will hit you, and you will never learn"

"8 Million Poor Children Now Have Access Basic Medical Care - What, That Wasn't Enough to Buy My Way Out of the Doghouse..? from Spike1138 on Vimeo.

Fuck you. You get Biden.

"44 million Americans are uninsured, and eight out of ten of these are workers or their dependents. Why is being uninsured a problem?

About 44 million people in this country have no health insurance, and another 38 million have inadequate health insurance. This means that nearly one-third of Americans face each day without the security of knowing that, if and when they need it, medical care is available to them and their families.

Having no health insurance also often means that people will postpone necessary care and forego preventive care - such as childhood immunizations and routine check-ups-completely. Because the uninsured usually have no regular doctor and limited access to prescription medications, they are more likely to be hospitalized for health conditions that could have been avoided.

Delaying care for fear of medical bills is a downward spiral that leads to ultimately higher health care costs for all of us. More than one third of uninsured adults reported they have problems paying their bills, which helps explain why many of the uninsured don't seek out the care they need until the last minute. But when an uninsured person is in crisis and cannot pay, that burden falls upon the insured population, the hospitals, the doctors and the government. And these billions of dollars of "uncompensated care" drive up health insurance premiums for everyone.

"The people who are most at risk today are those who have no health insurance at all. They're at risk of not getting regular care when they need it. They're at risk of not catching real problems before they get serious enough to not be treatable. They're at risk of not getting the best treatment when they actually do get sick. And they're at tremendous financial risk. They could lose everything that they've saved in their lives because of some even fairly minor health problem."

--Sherry Glied, PhD, Associate Professor of Public Health, Columbia University

"I believed that my resignation under pressure would change our whole form of government. 

The change might not be apparent for many years; but once the first President had resigned under fire and thereby established a precedent, the opponents of future Presidents would have a formidable new leverage. 

It was not hard to visualize a situation in which Congress, confronted with a President it did not like could paralyze him by blocking him on legislation, foreign affairs and appointments. 

Then, when the country was fed up with the resulting stalemate, Congress could claim that it would be better for the country if the President resigned. 

And Nixon would be cited as the precedent. 

By forcing Presidents out through resignation, Congress would no longer have to take the responsibility and bear the verdict of history for voting impeachment."

Richard Nixon, 

The Memoirs of Richard Nixon (1978)

"Are You in a Tough Spot? - Yes. Do I Feel Sorry For You? - I Do Not... Gimme Numbers." from Spike1138 on Vimeo.

(CNN) - The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on Thursday. The landmark 5-4 decision will dictate the way health care is administered to millions of Americans.

Here's a look at health care in the United States by the numbers, including the populations that could be most affected by the decision on what has come to be known as "Obamacare."

Obama: Health care ruling a victory for all Americans

49.9 million -- The number of uninsured Americans in 2010. That's 16.3% of the total population.

18.4% -- Percentage of uninsured Americans younger than 65 in 2010.

28.4% -- The percentage of Americans 25 to 34 without insurance.

7.3 million -- The number of children in the United States without health insurance, 9.8% of all children in the country.

15.4% - The percentage of children living in poverty who are also uninsured

26.9% -- Percentage of people earning less than $25,000 a year who are also uninsured.

256.2 million -- The number of Americans who were insured in 2010.

195.9 million -- The number of Americans with private health insurance in 2010, 64% of the total population.

169.3 million -- The number of Americans who get their insurance through the workplace.

95 million -- Number of people in the United States covered by government health insurance, 31% of the population.

44.3 million -- Number of Americans receiving Medicare coverage in 2010.

48.6 million -- The number of Americans covered by Medicaid in 2010.

$940 billion -- The amount of money the Congressional Budget Office estimates it will cost to provide the expanded insurance coverage over 10 years.

$143 billion -- The amount by which the plan could reduce the deficit over the first 10 years. And over the following decade, the CBO projected, health reform could reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion, although the agency stressed such long-term projections are highly uncertain.


2.35% -- The tax rate high-income individuals would pay into Medicare, up from 1.45%. High-income is defined as individuals making more than $200,000 ($250,000 for couples filing jointly).

2014 -- The year that people who don't buy insurance will be penalized $95 or up to 1% in income.

19.1% - Percentage of people living in the South who are uninsured, the highest percentage of any region.

24.6% - The percentage of uninsured people in Texas, the highest of any state.

5.6% - The percentage of uninsured people in Massachusetts, the lowest of any state.


"The greatness comes not when things go always good for you, but the greatness comes when you are really tested, when you take some knocks, some disappointments, when sadness comes; 
because only if you've been in the deepest valley can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain... 

Always give your best. 

Never get discouraged. 

Never be petty. 

Always remember: 

Others may hate you. 

But those who hate you don't win, unless you hate them. 

And then, you destroy yourself."

Richard Nixon