The Effect Of Hr 3200 (us Health Care Bill) On Expat Americans

[Ulysses G.]

Lets keep this about expats please and not fall to the level of the rabidly obsessed Spee's in the world, basically SORE LOSERS.

SORE LOSERS with a point!

[maccaroni man]

Oy vey, what a crock! There is ALREADY rationing! The hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died prematurely over the years (according to the AMA) due to lack of access to health care were rationed, they had no decent access. Tort reform? That old canard. Total propaganda. Many objective sources saying that is a TINY portion of the total costs. BTW, I support tort reform but right wingers who parade that as a panacea for cost and access are 100 percent wrong.

the true reason for high health cost is, the medical community ability to prolong life, people are no longer passing on for the reasons they did 50 yrs ago. prolonged life for the old means higher cost. let people die when they should rather than forcing them to live would reduce cost immediatly.

[Gary A]

Someone touched on a major problem in the US. That is the thieves we elect and those thieves who keep the thievery legal. I'm talking about lawyers and their multi-million dollar medical lawsuits. Another point is why those elected officials are entitled to different insurance and retirement benefits than the masses? They all got raises this year. The retired people on Social Security got nothing.

A drug is deemed safe by the US government and if there are problems after it is put on the market, the lawyers file HUGE lawsuits.

If bullshit lawsuits were prohibited and lawyers billed by the courts for filing frivolous lawsuits, things would improve. That's not to let the drug companies off the hook. They will tell you that research is expensive. No doubt it is but why do they pay their top executives obscene amounts of money and spend more money on marketing than on research?

Doctors sometimes do stupid things and for that, they should be punished. Are they really punished, no. The insurance companies pay for their stupid mistakes and the hospitals and doctors pass the massive cost of the malpractice insurance on to us.

[Jingthing]

Oy vey, what a crock! There is ALREADY rationing! The hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died prematurely over the years (according to the AMA) due to lack of access to health care were rationed, they had no decent access. Tort reform? That old canard. Total propaganda. Many objective sources saying that is a TINY portion of the total costs. BTW, I support tort reform but right wingers who parade that as a panacea for cost and access are 100 percent wrong.

the true reason for high health cost is, the medical community ability to prolong life, people are no longer passing on for the reasons they did 50 yrs ago. prolonged life for the old means higher cost. let people die when they should rather than forcing them to live would reduce cost immediatly.

MANY countries have greater life expectancies than the US and also much higher rated health care systems (to the US's 37th) AND much lower cost. So your theory is wrong.

Agree with PB, there no or little impact on expats (with the exception of very high income expats). However, there is an impact on expats who repatriate.

Edited April 5, 2010 by Jingthing

[mogoso]

"Guantanamo: Obama pledged to close the detention facility at Guantanamo. On Jan. 22, his second day in office, he issued an executive order ordering Guantanamo closed in a year. Waiting, waiting, waiting...."

In case you forgot, the teabaggers wanted Gitmo to close, and Obama supported it. The teabaggers then declared that it was wrong to close Gitmo, and they prevented the senate from providing funds to close Gitmo.

"Pork-barreling: No Earmarks (Pork-Barreling) in the Budget or any bills"

Adding pork to bills has been in American politics for more than a hundred years - it was not initiated by Obama. When Bill Clinton tried a line-item veto - removing all pork - the teabaggers complained, claiming that the democratic president was doing something unconstitutional.

Teabaggers came into existence after the election of BH Obama all other statements in your diatribe therefore become invalid, but you knew that when you typed it out.

[hhgz]

"Teabaggers came into existence after the election of BH Obama all other statements in your diatribe therefore become invalid, but you knew that when you typed it out."

Oh, dear. I hope I haven't cause your rash to break out again. You disliked me using the term "teabaggers", and I suggest that you replace it with "republicans". If you do that, you'll realize that my post was correct...but you knew that before you typed it out.

Edited April 5, 2010 by hhgz

[hhgz]

"There is ALREADY rationing! The hundreds of thousands of Americans who have died prematurely over the years (according to the AMA) due to lack of access to health care were rationed, they had no decent access."

The republicans did their very best to ration health care. When Sarah Palin was governor of Alaska, she watched over the strict rationing of health care in Alaska, and I guess that the deaths that occurred were simply collateral damage.

http://crooksandliars.com/logan-murphy/sar...hind-mismanaged

[Spee]

Let's focus on the effect this bill has on expatriates - none.

The bill has no immediate effect on anyone, including expats and those expecting more redistribution through increased taxation. Your statement is fair enough.

The scary part lies ahead, as there is not a single person on the planet who has figured out how to pay for it. Some speculate that it can be paid for through massive tax increases, and one of those proposed is in the form of doing away with the $80k expat tax exemption. That is a potential $10k-$15k USD hit to expats. Rationing is the next bogey on the horizon. All one has to do is look at the UK and the rest of Europe for a crystal ball into the future.

As for another poster's allegations that the current system is a monopoly, aside from being patently false, does anyone think that central government control of a healthcare system is not a monopoly?

As for the rest of the partisan responses, this has nothing to do with Dems vs. GoP, left vs. right, or whatever vs. whomever. It has everything to do with the rights of individual citizens being put on the chopping block in direct contradiction to the nation's Constitution.

[samran]

As for another poster's allegations that the current system is a monopoly, aside from being patently false, does anyone think that central government control of a healthcare system is not a monopoly?

You should learn to read. I never said the current system is a monopoly, in fact, it is highly unregulated, which leads to poorer outcomes for patients and people who need medical services.

I said the provision of medical services displays all the characteristics of a monopoly. And that is what any orthodox economist will tell you. Limited barriers to entry, no alternate providers of services (AMA is a doctors union, licenses to practice are strictly controlled) and there is an assymetry of information between doctors and patients which lead to higher costs (as opposed to perfect information between suppliers and consumers in 'free' market economics). Unlike free markets, consumers don't get to 'choose' if they want service if they get sick. They are capitive customers.

The proof in the pudding is that an 'unregulated' market which the US largely is fails to deliver what the market truely demands, leading to the situation of under supply.

Basic economic theory says that where there is patent market failiure, like we see in medical provision by the 'free' market, you have intervention to correct underallocation of resources.

If doctors don't like it, they can always go and become hedge fund managers or entrapaneurs where they'll face very little regulation and can make their money there.

[mogoso]

"Teabaggers came into existence after the election of BH Obama all other statements in your diatribe therefore become invalid, but you knew that when you typed it out."

Oh, dear. I hope I haven't cause your rash to break out again. You disliked me using the term "teabaggers", and I suggest that you replace it with "republicans". If you do that, you'll realize that my post was correct...but you knew that before you typed it out.

Assumptions as to my political party are incorrect, but as I wouldn't expect a proper assumption from the Left, why would I expect an accurate observation of when the teaparty was started, nah the truth ain't in ya.

From pollsters who vary somewhat on the makeup of the tea party, of which I'm not a member, 15% are registered Demos and 25% are independents. The rest republicans or libertarians. What it is from my reading is people who believe in smaller gov't less taxes, personal responsibility. What I do disparage is outright lies and distortions to make a point

[MONKEYGIRL444]

Massachusetts already had a state health care plan (REQUIRING insurance) that is remarkably similar to the Obama bill. Senator Brown SUPPORTS the Massachusetts plan. So does republican Mitt Romney who is clearly running for president. Bottom line, if you think Massachusetts politics really mean anything on the national level, you don't know Massachusetts.

dude premiums are going up! mass. got it wrong premiums are supposed to go down

ITS AN UDDER FAILURE!

JING YOU STILL DONT GET IT, even the guys who voted for the bill say its not rerally about healthcare, its about controlling the masses.

[MONKEYGIRL444]

Back to the original topic; will there soon be some low-cost insurance that I can buy from an American carrier that will be a better option than my current self-insured status? Will it give me benefits outside the US?

Edit: added second question.

Not exactly. In 2014 (NOT NOW) there will be subsidies depending on your income. If you are very poor, you will be put on "free" medicaid (if under 65). Premiums will likely continue to go up, Obama plan or no Obama plan. The only realistic way there was to control costs was a Canadian universal government system, but socialist-phobic right winger Amercans were never interested in a real solution for BOTH cost and access. By caving to the private health insurance companies and big pharma, there is very little in cost controls in the current plan. There is some, which will hopefully decrease the outrageous rate of increase. I can't answer the benefits outside the US question; my impression is that US policies usually don't, that's why people buy travel insurance.

didnt obama say premiums would go down 2500$ if his bill passed. or that they would go down 3000%

come on jing you got what you wanted and still not happy!

how did obama cave to private insurance companies, they will go broke with his new bill. why would people buy private insurance when the penalty for not buying it is so small.

[Jingthing]

Premiums have been going up for YEARS and the latest MASSIVE increases happened BEFORE the law passed. You blame Obama ALREADY for that, for a bill that doesn't fully go into effect until 2014? You must think Americans are VERY stupid. You may be right about that.

If you do not understand how this law caved into the health insurance industry, you simply do not understand the first thing about this law. It is the biggest bonanza for them in history. The alternative was to ABOLISH their entire industry, which I favored. However, with the US being overrun with right wing reactionaries, when this bill which is to the RIGHT of the health reform that right winger RICHARD NIXON proposed, REAL reform, a la Canada, was simply politically impossible.

[MONKEYGIRL444]

americans are very smart , thats why it was such a struggle to get it passed.

JING YOU STILL THINK ITS ABOUT HEALTHCARE. I THINK YOU ARE THE STUPID ONE. YOU R LEADERS SAID ITS ABOUT GOVT CONTROL OF THE PEOPLE.

SO OBAMACARE IS MODELLED AFTER MASS. ONE. SO HOW IS OBAMABS ONE GOING TO HAVE DIFFERENT OUTCOMES?

[Jingthing]

All caps huh? You are very angry about this, aren't you Calm down. The Washington Post analysis states that ten years from now only 10 percent of Americans will notice any difference at all from this law. It is not a socialist radical law. It is a conservative right wing law. You need to get educated about reality, rather than screaming at people.

[sabbrina]

European style vat tax! IM all for it.

Let everyone pay for OBAMMA nonsense. I want poor paying too. Now they can see how destructive his agenda is.

Say a welfare person has to pay an additional 20% for his groceries, being upset he demands 20% more foodstamps, obama says no can do. Obama then invokes there is no free lunch.

[PeaceBlondie]

Because we seldom stay on the narrow topic (how this bill affects expats), I'm closing this for a while.