FCC and the internet

[Samuel Thurston, III]

On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 10:25 AM, Steve Furbish <sfurbish at nerdshack.com> wrote:
> Odd wrote:
>> Samuel Thurston, III wrote:
>>
>>> I'm self employed.  I pay about 9% income tax, and about 22% of my
>>> income goes to health insurance.
>>>
>>> If I payed 30% income tax, I would be paying LESS than I am paying
>>> now, under a single-payer system.
>>>
>>
>> That's a good point I hope those Americans on this list
>> that disagree with you can grasp.
>>
> Yet a point that many of you refuse to recognize it the situation faced
> by those who, like myself, have negotiated healthcare benefits with our
> employers for years at the expense of a higher wage and who now face
> seeing those negotiated benefits become worthless and our wage and/or
> retirement taxed at higher rates for the benefit of those, including
> most self-employed, who have always earned a higher income over
> healthcare benefits by choice.

I do recognize this point.  I also recognize that the balance of
benefits to wage-reduction is on an unsustainable course for the
current workforce, and for business owners.  I also recognize that my
tax dollars (and those of ALL self employed) have gone to tax breaks
to subsidize those employer plans you worked so hard to negotiate for
yourself.  I don't begrudge you that.

> As I near retirement I must admit that I
> failed to plan for being taxed to the poor house in order to provide
> benefits for those who have always enjoyed a higher standard of living
> by choosing wage over benefits.

But you have paid for it anyway.  Taxes for medicare and medicaid.
Higher insurance premiums to cover defaulted hospital payments by the
uninsured. Those who "choose the higher standard of living" but lose
the bet and become seriously ill or injured often wind up wiped out
and the taxpayer and billpayer picks up the tab... it's a losing
gamble, not just for the individual but for everyone.

>
>>
>>> Doesn't matter though, the
>>> spineless "socialists" trying to put a healthcare plan together took
>>> this entirely reasonable plan off the table from the start.
>>>
>>
>> That sucks. I had hoped that you'd get something akin to
>> what we have here in Europe. In the US, You pay more, and get
>> much less health care for your money than we do in Europe.
>> Or in Canada for that matter. But that is the reality when special
>> interests can grease the palms of politicians to the extent it's
>> done in your country.
>>
>> Last I heard some 50 million people don't have health insurance
>> in the US. I don't understand how anyone can be against giving
>> those people access to good health care. It boggles the mind.
>>
> Some estimates suggest between 15% and 25% of those represent people who
> entered our country illegally.  Strange that they came to our country
> rather than one of the more progessive socialist countries with superior
> healthcare systems?

And by all means, we should let them die in the streets for their
transgression? No. Healthcare should be a human right.

I don't know if you're aware of this, but Mexico actually is currently
experiencing an influx of sick American residents seeking medical
care.
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE57C40C20090813

>
>
>> I wish more people would see it the way you do, Samuel.
> Samuel sees it in a light most favorable to his own situation.

I sure do.  But I know that I will be employing people in the near
future and would like to make sure that they have coverage that both
they and I can afford, that my wife will soon be covered by an
employer-subsidized plan, and that I have  a young child who has to
live with the ramifications of the system we set up now.  So "my
situation" is vastly more nuanced than you might think.  I've been
doing research on healthcare reform on and off for 15 years, after we
covered it as a topic in high school debate and I found it
fascinating.

> That's
> how most Americans look at it and that is why there is a very large
> portion of the populace that cannot come to agreement on a plan that is
> fair to all.

Yet, a very large portion of the populace is in favor of the public
option, and a small majority would like single payer.

http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7943.pdf
http://www.srbi.com/TimePoll4794_Final_%20Report.pdf
http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/resources/PollMemo.pdf