ordering a pizza in 2015

[snickerd3]

Don't let the pregnant woman order the pizza!

Those would be my topping choices even if I wasn't pregnant. Although it is usually plain cheese pizza anyways cuz the hubby and I don't agree on toppings.

Darn, no free pizza for me

 

[MGX]

I smell a pizza bailout!

 

[FLBuff PE]

with mushrooms, black olives and extra cheese please!

I'd attend that pizza party. Don't let the haters get you down, snick!

 

[Dleg]

So that they can permanently hold that over people's heads as a campaign promise, i.e. "Don't for the Republicans, they're going to take away your free healthcare." Single payer is all about power. The government will have the power to decide what health care you and your family recieve. When they control your health care they control you. At least with a private insurer, if you don't like what they do to you, you can find another company. Not so with the imperial federal government.
One more thing on this, the pre-existing condition thing is a bunch of bullshit as well. That would be like me going and buying flood insurance after a damn hurricane that flooded my house. No insurance company would write that policy without someone holding a gun to their heads. Consequently, the government is going to use force to do this to health insurance companies. So someone decides that they don't want health insurance until they get cancer or some other disease that is going to cost a lot of money. The insurance companies are simply going to pass the costs off for this treatment to all the other policy holders, in effect raising the bill on all of the rest of us.

Which is exactly why the "system" (cough) is broken and in need of repair....

Honestly, I think you are thinking with the over-confidence of youth on this issue, Chucktown. Imagine, if you will, being a responsible engineer, paying extra for a really premium health care package for you and your family. Now imagine getting fed up with your job and deciding you want to go back to school to become, oh, something else....

And now imagine that, during this time, you remain a responsible family provider, and you still pay for a reasonably good health insurance package while you are in school. Then, somewhere around age 38, after four years of hard studying, no exercize, too much coffee, too many late night BLTs, you start having chest pains....

And suddenly you find yourself with a "pre-existing condition" that will not be covered by the health insurance offered under your new job... Unless, of course, you go into the military and get covered by their (federal) health care system, which does cover pre-existing conditions...

Or, at the very least, you decide not to go back to school, and to stick it out with your employer, and your employer decides to change health care companies. Suddenly you are required to go to the new insurance company office and fill out all their forms, and lo and behold, you discover that you've been dropped for coverage for future heart problems, or future cancer because you had a mole removed when you were 34, etc. etc. etc. - all pre-existing conditions.

BS? I don't know because I haven't had to have any major procedures done, but I have sat through the interview process with new health care insurers after my employer switched coverage, and been told these ^^^ very things. A neat way for an employer to reduce their heatlh care costs, indeed! Just change insurers mid-stream... Hey, it's the free market, baby.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

That's a fanciful situation you describe, Dleg, but it is covered under our current, purportedly "broken", system. The existing federal health care regulations do not allow insurance companies to deny you coverage when you change jobs or your company changes insurance providers. As long as you do not have a lapse in your coverage at any time, they can't deny you for a pre-existing condition. They can rape you on premiums, as well they should be able to because you are going to cost them more money over the long term, but at least you will still be covered.

 

[Dleg]

I'll send Aetna to talk to you, then.

 

[Guest]

Okay .. okay ... I think somone needs to bring some sanity to this discussion ...

How about something we can all agree upon? A little tart reform ....

JR

 

[Dleg]

As long as the taxpayers didn't have to pay for her breast implants.

 

[wilheldp_PE]

I'll send Aetna to talk to you, then.

It's in Title 1 of HIPAA which was passed in 1996. If your discussions with Aetna happened before 1996, then I don't doubt your story. If not, then they were violating HIPAA and could be in for a world of shit.

 

[Dleg]

I guess I just don't know my rights, and their representatives out here (smaller local insurance company, subcontracted I guess?) pull anything and everything to get out of coverage.

Just one more reason I think the system is broken - nobody even knows there are rules.

 

[Dexman1349]

They can rape you on premiums, as well they should be able to because you are going to cost them more money over the long term, but at least you will still be covered.

I can agree to paying increased premiums if I am personally a higher risk participant. However, our issue here is that because we are part of a group plan the ENTIRE COMPANY is bent over on premiums when the SPOUSES of 2 employees have "pre-existing conditions" that transferred over when the company changed insurance providers. These two individuals' conditions dropped the entire company's policy to a "lower tier" (higher risk) level and thus raise our premiums by about 40%.

Luckily for me the company splits the premiums 50/50 with the employee so I am only responsible for 20% of the increased rates. I am really glad that my wife and kids are covered under her plan so I'm not raped on 20% more on the entire family...

 

[Dleg]

I was just listening to a discussion program on NPR, and it was said that the former CEO of Aetna was making a salary of $225,000 PER DAY.

Does that seem "right" to anybody? OK - you are going to say "well it must mean that he ran the company exceptionally well, so he deserved it" But what definition of "exceptionally well" are you using? Clearly the only definition that would justify a salary like that would be that he ran the company in an exceptionally profitable way. And is that the priority we want our heatlh care providers to be held to? Profits? How do you think that affects the quality of health care you receive, as a customer?

 

[Supe]

As long as the taxpayers didn't have to pay for her breast implants.

I am shocked, Mr. President. Are you suggesting that you aren't backing the Bucks for Boobs program that was implemented by your very own administration?

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Luckily for me the company splits the premiums 50/50 with the employee so I am only responsible for 20% of the increased rates. I am really glad that my wife and kids are covered under her plan so I'm not raped on 20% more on the entire family...

Do you have the option to switch to your wife's policy too?

 

[Capt Worley PE]

I am shocked, Mr. President. Are you suggesting that you aren't backing the Bucks for Boobs program that was implemented by your very own administration?

It seems President Dleg has already mastered the political bait and switch, but I certainly never expected it to occur on this program.

 

[Supe]

If I don't have some clarification on this soon, I'm going to resign. This goes entirely against my system of values and beliefs.

 

[Chucktown PE]

^^Careful there big fella. You may end up in Greenland if you're not careful.

There is no resigning, you already know too much. I learned the hard way.

 

[benbo]

There is no resigning, you already know too much. I learned the hard way.

I heard that in cabinet meetings, Dleg refers to his administration as "this thing of ours."

 

[snickerd3]

pizza pizza

 

[Ble_PE]

I wish Mrs. ble liked pizza so I could have it more often. Oh well, I'm probably better off that she doesn't, that way I don't eat as much.