PORTLAND, Maine — Though she’s just 17, Margo Arruda believes she knows what’s at stake in the ongoing national debate about health care.
Diagnosed with diabetes at age 9 — “That’ll make you grow up fast,” she quipped — Arruda was moved to post a letter on the Obama campaign’s website shortly after the Supreme Court upheld the president’s signature policy accomplishment.
“”I never, ever thought anyone would read that letter,” she said emphatically on Tuesday. “Even if no one ever saw it, it’s good karma, I guess,” was her thought in posting it.
But not only was it read, it was featured on the campaign website for a week and was posted on a campaign blog.
“I was woken up by this phone call,” Arruda recalled, with the voice of a woman identifying herself as being with the president’s re-election campaign. She said, “We got your letter and we loved it,” Arruda recalled, which quickly brought her fully awake. She readily gave permission for the letter to be used on the site.
“It was pretty sweet. I posted it all over Facebook,” she said. Apparently, the site gets a lot of Web traffic. An uncle who lives in England, with whom she does not have regular contact and who is not one of her Facebook “friends,” spotted the letter on the Obama campaign site and contacted her.
Since she was diagnosed on a Fourth of July with Type I, or juvenile diabetes, a disease which involves a genetic predisposition triggered by a virus, Arruda said the anniversary of that day brings difficult emotions.
“I usually get in a weird kind of funk at that time of year,” she said, but the Supreme Court’s June 28 ruling boosted her mood. And she wanted those responsible for creating the comprehensive health insurance overhaul to know it mattered — “that what they did meant something to someone.”
Among the components of the law that apply to Arruda are that she can stay on her parents’ health insurance until she is 26, and after that, she can’t be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.
“That is a huge thing,” she said of the law’s protection.
Arruda lived in Rockland where she attended the small, private Watershed School, but the family moved to Portland last year and she completed her senior year at Casco Bay High School. She will attend the University of Southern Maine in the fall and plans to major in English literature.
Earlier, she considered becoming a nurse to ensure that she had good health insurance. Her mother is a nurse.
“I had convinced myself to be a nurse, even though I don’t like sick people,” she said. Now, feeling more confident about having insurance, she plans to earn a doctoral degree and teach.
Arruda was an Obama fan in 2008, and remembers talking about the candidate with a friend. She turns 18 in October, and will be able to vote for the president in her first election, a choice she is enthusiastic about making.
Wow, what an ignorant statement. The news is that she will not be denied coverage because of her pre-existing condition of Type I Diabetes. Your “impression” about her wants and financial status are pointless and should stay in your own head, as neither you nor I know anything about them. Her letter made it to the president and it was published, that is also news.
“She can stay on her parents’ health insurance until she is 26, and after that, she can’t be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition.” Suppose this is why insurance giants (Consider upon who’s backs these folks have gotten to be so rich and powerful?) have dumped millions over the last few years into propping up the campaign war chest of Washington politicians? Thankfully there is a least on man in Washington telling them where they can put their blood money. Yep, “Obamacare” is an applicable term and one that most Americans will eventually come to appreciate no matter how much the right wingers howl. Maybe by the end of his second term President Obama can bring us the one payer system he wanted and we needed.
If not, then President H Clinton surely will in 2017.
“I had convinced myself to be a nurse, even though I don’t like sick people,” she said. Now, feeling more confident about having insurance, she plans to earn a doctoral degree and teach.
Ummmmmm, aren’t YOU one of those sick people you don’t like? Not that you SHOULD be a nurse, God forbid.
Oh, and here’s some info. about the Watershed School:
2011-2012 Tuition: $12,500Payment
options:
Option A – Pay the annual tuition in full. If paid by June 1, 2011 deduct 4%
as a tuition discount.
Option B – Budget monthly or periodic payments through FACTS Tuition Management Company .
Financial Aid: You may apply for financial aid online at FACTS. The Grant and Aid application is
processed by FACTS and requires a $20
application fee. Note: Financial aid is limited. Please contact the office if
you have any questions. 207.594.1873
What’s your point? You’re not even arguing against the letter she wrote, you’re just screeching and throwing mud. She wants to teach and was concerned about the period of time between when she graduates and lands a job. That’s a issue for a lot of young people and it’s especially an issue for people who have conditions that require ongoing attention. Speak to that point instead of throwing a temper tantrum about nothing relevant.
Dilska’s point is that if she or more accurately her parents have the ability to afford a 12k plus per year tuition at a private school, than health care costs should not be on the front burner for this young woman when she needs her own policy. The is far from the first person to be faced with this situation. Yes, she writes well, yes, it’s too bad she and many others are born with this disease, but a quick google of her mane quickly indicates to the casual observer that she has been quite active in many different ways with the media and the social network, so her letter to the president is of no surprise. Where it’s gets sticky is where the BDN continues to beat the Democrat drum and publish this article as yet another ruse of paying homage to our anointed one,,,Obama.
Cut the regal insinuations.
You don’t know how she got into that school, so why make the assumptions? Notice how she left that school and moved to Portland? It’s just as possible the family fell into hard times — either way, you don’t know. Either way, it’s not relavant.
What telling is that you’ll go to far lengths to smear the girl instead of just addressing the merits of her argument. That’s sad. That proves you don’t have much of an argument at all.
I think that a more intelligent interpretation of that line would be that she doesn’t like people being sick.
Isn’t it the Tea Party who thinks that all public schools are horrid?
Wasn’t it Lepage that pushed for charter schools?
Has it not been stated over and over that people need to support and educate the children they have and not use taxpayer money to do so?
Had this girl had a silver spoon hanging out of her mouth and stated that she was behind the tea party 100 percent you would have been all for her.
Republicans continue to punish the poor and middle, while plumping the rich. Apparently they are ignorant of history: the rich have always sought to oppress the poor while getting more and more gold.
I predict that the current cruelty of Republicans–seeking to deny affordable care for millions of their fellow citizens, who are truly suffering or even dying–will go down in history as an example of the power of propaganda to brainwash people to the point of despicable callousness.
Isn’t it ironic that they’re attacking this girl for having attended a private school? They’re abandoning their principles in order to sling mud. It’s pathetic.
And they are also called the religious righ? Shouldn’t be. I can’t find a religion that supports greed, and hoarding things and money. They all say give to the poor. Yes, Moses says to go ahead and enjoy the fruits of your labor, but once you are plentiful, give to the poor, and the beast, or other creatures of nature.
“seeking to deny affordable care for million”
Who is offering affordable care for millions? Not Obamacare. Obamacare forces you to buy insurance from insurance companies or be penalized (taxed). Since Obamacare started being instituted my insurance costs have increased.
so your health insurance costs never went up before Affordable Health Care Act? yeah, right!
No where did I say that Chuck. I do see that you could not argue the fact that Obamacare will not lower costs.
Josey,
“Since Obamacare started being instituted my insurance costs have increased.” My mistake for reading your meaning from your statement. My point was that the monopoly of health insurance in Maine meant costs went up 15-20% a year before the Health Care Act. If the State of Maine gets with the Act, that will open up the insurance market, and you can choose a provider outside of Maine that may be cheaper for you. Otherwise, we’re stuck with Anthem and whatever increases they cram down our throats. You made it seem like costs didn’t go up until after the Act was approved.
I agree Chuck, we need to open up the state to more competition, but a massive boondoggle like Obamacare is not needed to do that.
And to my early point, my insurance rate has gone up nearly every year. I t just has gone down as was promised with Obamacare. My previous insurer dropped the plan we had here because of Obamacare.
The Insurance Exchanges that the governor and legislature refuse to start work on will do this. Under the Affordable Care Act, every state will have an insurance exchange if the legislators do their work, the exchange will be designed by the state. If they don’t, the federal government will design the exchange. This is where insurance companies are getting the big pay off since it is insurance companies, who will be providing the insurance. There is no public option in the exchange, which is what many liberals and progressives would have liked , an opportunity to have a single payer plan, while others could purchase their insurance from an insurance company. The government is not going to make internal decisions about your health, but the insurance company will have to abide by the laws – unless you are already insured under a grandfathered or self-insured plan.
Ah yes, the “single payer” plan. Which means the taxpayer picks up the tab.
In case you did not understand the words, I’ll say it again there is no single-payer option with the Affordable Care Act. Insurance companies are going to be providing the insurance.
Under single payer plans, the single payer is the government. It administers the plan and makes payment for health care incidents. You go to your doctor, he bills the system. He gets paid. No middle man necessary. Everyone pays into the system as most of us do now with Medicare so yes we all pay for it. It is not free. Single payer just means that it is administered by the federal government. And, by the way, at much less cost to us than when insurance companies administer insurance.
“Everyone pays into the system as most of us do now with Medicare so yes we all pay for it”
No we all do not pay for it. Some who use medicare do not pay into the system. And I’m glad to see that you would allow the government control yet another aspect of your life. Afterall, the government is so efficient at running things.
Yes, I am happy to have paid into the two socialized systems from which I will benefit – Tricare and Medicare. And since the government will not really have much to say about my healthcare any more than say, an insurance company, I am not concerned. I would much rather that profit not be what runs the engine of our health care system. Insurance companies have profit motive to think of so do their best to make sure that the bottom line is nurtured not the health of people. Those who pay into Medicare receive it, many people don’t because they have not paid into the system or because of other health insurance that disallows them. My husband’s cousin, for example, is not eligible to receive Medicare so she is grateful to be able to be covered now because of the Affordable Care Act. I don’t know about those people you are talking about, but the spousal benefit allows those who do not work outside the home or whose work experience outside the home is limited to also receive Social Security and Medicare based on their spouse’s work experience. Also, some people just do not receive Medicare because of other insurance for example, Maine state workers are not eligible for Medicare because they have health insurance through the state.
Thank you for backing up my statement that some collect who do not pay in. And if you have a problem with insurance companies and their profits, then don’t buy from them. Pay your own way. If you have a serious illness then the insurance company is a pretty good deal for the money you pay. You pay couple thouseand say a year and they pay for your hundreds of thousands of dollars of bills.
That’s happening everywhere, Josey. Problem is ‘the disciples’ refuse to see it, or are too naive to admit it!
Several studies have shown otherwise.
Studies show a lot of things, but reality is what it is.
Seconded! Health care coverage premiums are on the rise. I once was paying $25 a week for GOOD health care, now I’m paying $50 a week for average health care
It’s not just about you. 50,000 people lose their lives each year because they can’t afford insurance.
Another thing: the premiums for a married person making $30,000, under the ACA, can’t be more than 200 dollars a month. Huge savings over the current system.
affordable care 200 a month, yea and I wonder what it covers. whose going to be picking up all the shortfalls.
You and I….Until the whole thing bankrupts the country.
What’s bankrupting the country is the cost of medical care in general, not Obamacare which just seeks a way for individuals to afford and receive care. Our bad habits bankrupt the country but right wingers demand everyone’s “right” to ruin their health with tobacco, alcohol and poor nutrition. Obamacare seeks to provide people with the opportunity to seek preventive medical care that is more cost effective than treating serious illness. You are a false conservative.
Where do you get off with the notion that conservatives promote poor health choices? And what is a false conservative? If condoning personal responsibility, empowerment, self reliance, having the ability to bring yourself a far in life as you have the the ambition for is being a false conservative, I guess that is what I am. By the way, I don’t drink, smoke, and eat poorly. I’m not overweight, and have poor health habits, nor do I condone it.
You have no clue about what’s bankrupting the country. You just repeat Republican mantras. If you take care of yourself, you should want policies that encourage others to do the same. Instead you shout “It’ll bankrupt the country”. Why wouldn’t you want a requirement for health insurance? Offered through private insurance companies. Do you mind sharing the road with uninsured drivers? Should we not mandate vehicle liability insurance?
Many if not most of the uninsured are the poor whose lifestyle choices, food choices, through no fault of their own due to lack of information and affordability to do something else cause many them to be in poorer health. Bad eating habits, drinking lots of Coke, and smoking all promoted on commercial TV keep them trapped into these addictions . The right agenda wants to get more of us into the lower economic category, keep us uneducated so they can continue to rip of us and are calloused about the sick AND the poor.
The cigarettes and or booze alone would make a world of difference in health quality and free up hundreds per month for healthier choices. Public school teaches some of the healthier practices along the way, and the consequences from smoking and drinking are obvious to even the most casual observer. I smoked for 21 years. I knew better the whole time, but continued to make the bad choice until 13 years ago. When one chooses unhealthy food, unless they are very young, they know the consequences. It is taught in schools. Throwing money at these people will not make them smarter. It’s been going on for a long time. As we make people more dependent on welfare, conditions get worse. I disagree with the fact the right is purposefully holding down the poor. Quite the contrary, it’s the left who want more people on the welfare rolls to strengthen the dependence on government to further their political power. I started adulthood poor myself. With a high school education I managed to eventually climb to a career that I aspired for and make a good living in the process with no ones help, and no assistance. Just good planning and a little luck. People can succeed and live a healthy life if they really aspire to do so.
You make some good points but desire comes from a feeling of hope and the top down system that has evolved in this country is responsible for a loss of hope thus a lack of inspiration to even try. Public school education about health issues is lost along the way. It is adults that need preventive health ed. The left may want to get more people on public assistance because it is better than dying or letting people suffer. You have a simplistic view of what is happening in the world and I don’t mean that disrespectfully.
Just wait until you go to your primary care. You will hear how the “Government Standards” have changed. The recommendations have all changed. No cholesterol check, no mamogram, no need to see a specialist for dermatology issues. I have insurance, yet I was given this whole list of tests which have always been part of my annual physical, however, now the “government recommends” all these tests, which are preventative, no longer be annual. It was disgusting. I felt like I was in Europe. I called my insurance co. to report this. They told me just because it is a gov’t recommendation does not mean I cannot have these tests done. This is where we are heading. The bad habits I see are not coming from conservatives. Have you seen the people paying with their EBT cards? They are buying all the junk. Maybe we can have a gov’t food store, where all they distribute is health food for the EBT card holders.
Oh that’s right, I am suppose to work hard so that some lazy saps can sit home and do nothing and be covered from the womb to the tomb.
========
I never said everyone.
LOL.
oh, balogna.
I see the brains of the liberals has chimed in.
Well, I know balogna when I read it — liberal or not.
But yes, I am a flaming– card-carrying LIBERAL.
Well liberal, what part of my comment was bologna?
FACT: If you do not buy insurance you will be penalized (taxed)
FACT: My insurance cost has continued to rise after Obamacare was passed.
and life that is viable at birth (but with defects) and people over 75 will be expendable. I’m with you, Josey. The left uses words like cruel, etc. to ‘label’ us, however, they will be the ones whining if it passes. Hope to God it doesn’t. If they like socialized medicine, move to Britian or Canada. Ask them what they think of the system. Outrageous taxes and very little benefit.
Actually, Republicans believe in equality of opportunity, not equality of results. Unlike the class and race obsessed Democrats, we choose not to look at people in such terms.
The great Jim Geraghty of National Review Online puts it all in perfect perspective today:
“He can’t run on his record. The “wrong track” numbers are still terribly high. His accomplishments like the stimulus and Obamacare are so unpopular that swing-state Democrats almost never mention them. So Obama is going to run on populist rage, and tell Americans that the only thing standing between them and their oft-delayed dreams of prosperity and security are rich guys like Mitt Romney.
Have no illusions, this strategy could work. There are a lot of Americans who have not achieved their dreams.
Some of them have not achieved their dreams because of insufficient opportunity or bad luck. But I would bet an even larger percentage of those who are disappointed with their lives have reached that point at least partially because of their own actions: not working hard in their education or their jobs, hesitation about pursuing opportunities, succumbing to drug or alcohol abuse, quitting endeavors in the face of adversity, cutting corners or run-ins with the law, drifting into aimless slacker-dom, and so on. To put it in Obama’s terms, there are a lot of people who failed who weren’t smart or hard working.
Most self-help authors begin with a very hard message to the reader: Whatever condition your life is in, it is up to you to change it. You cannot wait for some outside factor to make your life better. The only person who can seriously improve the quality of your life is you. Others can help, but if you’re not willing to expect more and better from yourself in everything that you do, their efforts will almost certainly fail. In the end, whether you succeed or fail in what you want out of life is up to you.
To a lot of people, this is a terrifying message. It means they can’t blame their parents, their siblings, their teachers, their peers, their bosses, society, the government, God, vast conspiracies, Fate, random chance, or anyone else for the fact that their lives are not what they want them to be. It means admitting that they’ve let themselves down, and some people will do and believe anything rather than confront truths as hard as that.
The failure of those who prefer to seek scapegoats instead of looking honestly at themselves is not something any federal program can solve.
But . . . the message that ‘it’s somebody else’s fault’ is a very seductive one, and one that is pervasive in society. Why, you might even see one the most powerful man in America insisting that his policies haven’t worked because of ATMs, corporate-jet owners, the Tea Party, Republicans, Japan’s earthquake, the Arab Spring, George Bush, ‘Fat-Cat’ Wall Street . . .”
Equality of opportunity requires a fair free market. We live in a corrupt corporation-dominated system that isn’t even close.
I would agree with your statement if it said, “Equality of opportunity requires a fair free market. We live in a corrupt government/corporation-dominated system that isn’t even close.”
Spoken like a true Socialist.
We all weren’t born with the same opportunities to get ahead. It’s not as simple as republicans make it sound.
Yeh, but the libs claim we are all born equal. We are all responsible for the beds we make ourselves.
—–
So it’s acceptable to you and your liberal friends for people to make poor health choices throughout their lives, then become a burden on the healthcare system later in life, when all they needed to do is take control of what the consume and get a little exercise though out life as a child and an adult. I understand some people have no choice, but what about the people that do have a choice. Don’t tell me that its a minority, because anytime I have the unfortunate circumstance to go to the emergency room an EMMC, it is overcrowded with overweight, out of shape people that continually make matters worse for themselves. I do have a heart, but not to those that do absolutely nothing to help themselves in life and expect everyone else to provide for them, which you liberals get sucked right into their game. At my expense with higher taxes, when all it takes is a little personal pride. I don’t believe for a minute that some of these people have control to change their lives but choose not to as long as things are given to them for free.
….
Great Post.
Unfortunately, the progressives have indoctrinated so many with the victim mentality. A mind set that prevents personal progress while ensuring votes for government to “help”.
Who is brain washing who SpruceDweller??? The talking points on both sides of the aisle are weak at best. I’m against ObummerCare because it takes away my freedom to choose! If I don’t want to have health insurance, that’s my hard luck if I get sick. Just saying!
A lot of people have less choice than you. 50,000 a year die because they can’t afford insurance at all.
We need freedom for all citizens, not just the privileged.Besides, the current system isn’t a free market at all, it is a “dysfunctional” market, as G W Bush claimed. It other words, you’re being fooled into believing you have a fair choice.
And people in Great Britain are dying because they have the same thing as Obama Care and can’t get in to see a doctor. Which is the better system?
People in the United States die or become really sick all the time because they do not have insurance or because their insurer refused a procedure. My nephew had lyme disease and his doctor recommended a certain common, but expensive treatment known to achieve results. The insurer refused to cover it. If you know anything about lyme disease, you know that it is critical to get early treatment otherwise you may have serious life-long health problems. My nephew went ahead and had the treatment, thank goodness, but he and the doctor’s office then spent months trying to get the insurer to pay up – which they eventually did.
Another example, for you, my daughter had a kidney infection and fever of 104 degrees. Her insurer refused to allow her to be hospitalized despite her vomiting, agony in pain, and her mental deterioration as a result of a prolonged very high fever. She was expected to drive to the outpatient care to receive twice daily IV antibiotic treatments despite her poor condition. She very easily could have died because they refused to hospitalize her.
And the Affordable Care Act does not have a public option or single
payer system as Great Britain does, but offers only health insurance.
And since you obviously do not know this, you can purchase health
insurance in Great Britain if you want to also.
Those who talk about rationing – LePage for instance – seem to forget that there is also a lot of rationing that goes on in our system. The first type of rationing of health care is when you cannot afford it on your own and your employer does not provide it. Then there is the rationing that goes on for those who are already seriously ill. Insurers often drop them; or they have limitations to the amount of money that can be spent on their care; that sort of thing. All of that is a type of rationing. Even if you have insurance you find rationing, but if you don’t your options are seriously limited, especially if you have a serious health condition. Rationing can happen as a result of location, if there isn’t a provider of a particular service or care you need in your area, then that is rationing. It is also a form of rationing to not be able to get in to see a doctor in a timely manner. I had a problem that needed attention, and I had to wait four months to see a specialist.
A better system is one in which the value of your life is not determined by how much money you have. We have had the system where money determines the value of your life for a long time, and it has proven to be very costly to us. Personally, I believe that health care is a right so I opt for a system in which all lives are valued equally and all individuals receive health care coverage. This is paid for through taxes as Medicare is. As for results of care? Time and again, studies have shown that countries with socialized medicine have much better results for the cost of care than the US does. I would like to see more cost containment and the Affordable Care Act has that as a component as well. It is also supposed to review quality and effectiveness of care so that the best types of health management can be employed.
You think that it is just your hard luck if you get sick, but really it isn’t necessarily. If you are well able to afford any health costs due to illness or accident, then good for you, when it happens make sure you pay those bills. Are you aware, though of the cost of care? Take the example I gave of my daughter with a kidney infection. Twice daily outpatient intravenous antibiotic treatments for five days came in at a cost of $9,000. Her insurance covered only $6,000 of that cost, and she had to pay the remainder. Had she been hospitalized it would have been completely covered by her insurance. Which is why they refused to allow hospitalization.
Another example, my son has very serious mental illness – one month at the psychiatric unit of a county hospital in Idaho cost $60,000. Since he did not have health insurance, the county taxpayers picked up the tab for that. Two months at the state hospital cost well over that amount. Now, his medications for one month cost $2,100 that is the cost without insurance or assistance. That is over $25,000 per year. Think about that. It is more than many people make in one year.
Could you afford any of those costs out of pocket? Do you think that you would consider that just your hard luck and shrug it off? So, if you aren’t insured and don’t have the money to pay for unanticipated health care issues it is going to come from someone else.
Is that you Barack hussein?
Thank you for putting so much wisdom and heart into this forum. I hope many people listen and truly hear you. You’re courageous to speak out, and you will be mocked. It only highlights the virtue of what you are saying.
Spoken like O’sham-a. Is this you barracks?
I actually have something intelligent and knowledgeable based on real facts to say and this is all you’ve got? Pathetic.
Isn’t America one of the few countries in the world where REGARDLESS of your ability to pay, if you go to the emergency room, they HAVE to treat you. Of course the treatment of someone with insurance vs someone without insurance is probably going to be different, BUT, that being said, they still have to treat you! Oh and you talk about people running up the tax payer bills…how about all of the people on Dirigo Health or Maine Care or whatever it is called now that run to the hospital every time they have a sniffle or fall down? Frivolous ER visits and frivolous lawsuits all should have laws banning them. I remember I went to St. Joe’s to visit my grandfather after hours and I had to check in through the ER, the lady ahead of me in line had rushed her son to the emergency room because he had a “fever” of 99.8 degrees and she had her Maine Care card out…I showed great restraint, because I seriously wanted to ask her if she had ever heard of an aspirin and a primary care physician.
It’s easy to take the ideological position of “freedom to choose” and “it’s my hard luck if I get sick” when healthy. But when push comes to shove and a heart attack or a broken leg pushes an uninsured person into the ER/hospital, somebody has to pick up the tab for some pretty big medical bills. Right now, uncompensated care is primarily covered (i.e. 85%) by government payments to help hospitals cover their losses. (http://www.kff.org/uninsured/upload/the-cost-of-care-for-the-uninsured-what-do-we-spend-who-pays-and-what-would-full-coverage-add-to-medical-spending.pdf). The difference is made up by increased rates on medical services for everybody else.
So it’s not just your problem if you get sick and don’t have insurance – when multiplied millions of times over, that line of thinking creates a national problem that all tax payers and anyone seeking healthcare has to deal with. The Obama administration has not made the case for it very well, but the mandate confronts the massive government spending on uncompensated care by making people contribute to their OWN medical costs. It’s not a perfect system, but it’s better than the unsustainable status quo.
Are you pro choice when comes of abortion? are you pro choice when it come to homosexuals being Married? Seem to me that many want to choose, and make sure other have no damn rights at all.
Get a new bi-line. Obama is leading the country further into debt, and some are too blind to see it. Just wait to you are in Iran and Syria, sure will blame that on Bush.
Republicans want those who can work to work…You fail to admit that there are millions of people who can work but choose to live off the government and are to stupid or lazy to help themselves…You seem to forget that people who have and run business create jobs…You seem to forget that rich people donate huge money to Obamas campaign….Not to you or others who need it but to his campaign…Do you think for one minut they do that for free???
You paint republicans with ‘broad’ strokes of your uninformed brush. Your ilk will be crying foul when you pay astronomical taxes for very little health care. If it is instituted, it will go down in history as an example of the power of proaganda to brainwash people to the despicable stupidity of the left.
Where is the affordable in this monstrosity of a healthcare takeover?
Democrats continue to punish the poor and middle classes, while plumping the rich. Apparently they are ignorant of history: Democrats giving themselves pay raises and not paying for their health care. I predict that the current policy of the President-seeking to make this a socialist country-will go down in history as an example of the power of propaganda to brainwash voters to the point of despicablke callousness.
Love your words, I have many more, so I used them. Maybe you should be a spruce dweller.
I bet you don’t know that the top 1% pays over 30% of all the money taken in by the IRS. Seems like the rich are paying more than their fair share.
Hey Hey I Agree !
Headlining news, really?
But here’s my insight– being denied coverage based on a pre-existing condition is unfortunate for anyone. I would completely, 100% support an act by Congress to reform that specific problem. However, in an attempt to garner dependency and mass support, they lumped the pre-existing condition reform into the largest increase of federal power in the history of our nation. For me, that is a slap in the face to those of us with chronic health problems. There is a point when an American has to question whether or not his or her personal benefit is worth such a gross expanse of government power.
For many years before I retired medicare taxes were taken from my paychecks. I don’t recall anyone ever asking me if I wanted them to ,they just did it. Now that I’m 65 and on Medicare I’m extremely grateful that they forced me to pay. It has been a blessing for me and millions of others and people like you carped on about government intrusion and all the other BS when they enacted Medicare but it has become one of the most liked government run programs in the country. Why would this law be a slap in the face to anyone with chronic health problems when it guarantees your insurance company can’t deny you coverage or raise your rates so high you couldn’t afford the coverage? That just doesn’t make sense to me.
Right on, I agree 100%.
It’s a slap in the face because guaranteed coverage should’ve been handled on it’s own- not lumped in with the individual mandate as an attempt to make the Afforable Care Act seem absolutely necessary. Whenever I voice my opinions against the ACA, people try to tell me it’s needed because of the fact that ill people can’t be denied coverage. That’s always everyone’s reason for why the reform was necessary– and that’s exactly why it was included in the ginormous bill.
the largest increase in federal power came in the form of the patriot act…implemented by bush and upheld by obama.
Believe me- I’m no fan of the patriot act.
Margo, you are a voice of and a role model to, your generation. Go out there and do what motivates you. Work hard and be an asset to your chosen community.
If she is lucky for all that to happen…..
What if she can’t find a job in the down economy and she becomes too old to be covered by her parents, or say she gets married has complications stops working and becomes a stay at home mom and her ex husband takes off with the kid(s), or even split the kids and she is too old to go back to her parents policy and after years of unemployment, how does she get a job to afford COBRA and coverage? There is no unemployment for suddenly becoming divorced, and say her ex doesn’t make enough to get help?
I thought Maine had pre-existing condition laws before LePage?
Yeah, it was called Dirigo Health. Remember that?
Amen Margo!
Did Dirigo Health deny people with pre-existing conditions? I don’t think so. Is it free to stay on your parents insurance until the age of 26? Nope, they must pay for you. Therefore, I am trying to figure out how Obamacare does anything except mortgage this poor girls future and limit her access to care by putting 40 million more people in line for the same doctors.
Why don’t reporters care to give us the facts anymore? This is basically propaganda. Joseph Goebbels would be proud.
However, it is reassuring to know that she will still be able to afford her private tuition while forcing others to pay for her health care.
Her next letter when she turns 26 will be one begging the government to pay for her insurance. I have no problem with the pre-existing condition part, but the ill-informed teens think that will not cost them (or their parents) anything. They and some older individuals think that insurance companies are bottomless pits of money (like they think the government is). Someone needs to explain the real world to this young lady before she gets shock of her life. (ie, “What, it’s not free?”)
The problem under Obamacare isn’t so much the cost of private health insurance, but whether private health insurance will even exist by the time Margo turns 26, about nine years from now. Unless Obamacare is repealed or drastic changes are made, health insurers will be out of business; there just won’t be any left.
Bad moon rising.
Such compassion for insurance companies. By the way, they are such bottomless pits that they can expend enormous amounts of money on dividends, high-priced lobbyists, and generous pay and golden parachutes for CEOs.
Under the Affordable Care Act, people pay for insurance. In fact, that is what so many people, including you, seem to make comments about. Make up your mind, either it is free or forces you to PURCHASE something. Which is it? As for this young woman, her parents are paying for her insurance so what’s it to you?
Furthermore, I suspect that this young woman is much more well-informed than you are about the Affordable Care Act given other comments of yours. I would bet that she has done a lot of reading up on the Affordable Care Act as anyone with a serious life-threatening illness should be doing. And, I suspect that she already knows much more about the “real world” than you do. She has had since childhood a serious life threatening illness so she knows that the real world can be a pretty cruel place, even to those who are little kids. She sounds like a good kid who does well in school, and she has the resolve to make something of herself. How can you criticize her for this? Because she has an opinion about a law that has relieved her of a great deal of anxiety about her future? She already knows that it is not free and she already knows a lot about the real world, in the real world people get sick whether they think they will or not.
There is something incredibly ill-informed and mean-spirited about many of the comments regarding this young woman. She is excited because her letter is being used by the president’s campaign. That is a big deal for a kid, and it is something she can feel proud of and very happy about.
Well I’m glad you know so much about me and this young lady. Yet most of your post was assumptions.
Carry on Nostradamus
as far as i can tell by the article the people she is forcing to pay her health care are her parents…I am sure they are happy to do this.
Notice that she’s shifted her schools to public schools.
Ah, but Dirigo Health was deemed bad and expendable, right? Maybe wrong.
I wish her the best of luck, in her future studies and her insurance coverage. I hope that private health insurance is still available when she turns 26 and that she manages to get over her dislike of sick people. If she can do that, nursing might be a good career for her.
“I had convinced myself to be a nurse, even though I don’t like sick people,” she said. Now, feeling more confident about having insurance, she plans to earn a doctoral degree and teach.
Anyone else see the irony here?
I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t mean that comment about sick people literally.
Don’t assume anything. You never know what the circumstances are now, or will be in the future. I have health insurance and am thankful for it. This story points out the REALITY of what our young people are facing.
I don’t require any lectures on what our young people are facing! I have a disabled spouse, a 4 year old daughter, and a 5 month old daughter. I am the soul bread winner for our family, and I consider myself incredibly blessed to have insurance that covers us all. You don’t know me, and you don’t know my story.
I didn’t comment on this girls motivations, or her feelings, I didn’t attack her, or her family, I commented on her situation, and the purpose for running a so obviously biased story in a local newspaper.
I am glad for her family that they have the means to care for her illness. Having experienced the opposite and NOT having the means to deal with a lifelong illness, YES!! I’m a little bitter at having to pay MORE!!! to the government to cover OTHER PEOPLES medical costs when I can’t afford to help MY SPOUSE WHO I LOVE SO MUCH get the care that might help her live a better life. So pardon me while I ponder the paradox of making someone else’ life better, at no cost to them, while my family suffers. And now, thanks to this new law, if we decide to move (which we WERE considering) to a climate that my spouse could be much more acclimated to, IT WILL BE AN EXTRA 3.8% TAX on our real estate transactions. AWESOME!
And thanks BDN for taking down my original comment. Huh… guess it hit a little too close to home for you.
This was more of a reply to everyone, not you Teach :) I’m a passionate person, most especially where my family is concerned.
Your situation is what many of us have a problem with. Nothing will change for those of us who take responsibility for ourselves and our family, and do whatever it takes to provide for them, like you do. People who get a free ride now will continue to get a free ride, only with better healthcare at our expense. You can’t “tax” insurance premiums from someone who pays no taxes in the first place.
The people who are for Obama and Obamacare don’t worry about the 3.8% real estate tax. Renters and trailer dwellers don’t have to worry about it anyway.
You do know that you probably will be able to receive a tax credit depending upon your income.
I believe a family of 4 earning $50,000 would be able to receive a $10,000 tax credit.
Now as far as selling your house the figure of 3.8% is for those people making over $250,000 (for a couple) and your profit is over $250,000 then the 3.8% is imposed on the amount over the $250,000. I don’t know about you but I sure as hell don’t have to worry about paying any tax on my house.
I think you will find as time goes on you will not see the kind of increases that have prevailed for the last 30 or 40 years, there is a provision in the ACA that limits insurance companies to only 20% for their profit and overhead costs. That is why this Aug. there are many checks being sent out to policy holders because the insurance companies did not spend 80% of their income on claims.
There are many places to obtain info concerning the act one being The Kasier Foundation, do not believe everything you hear about the ACA read about it yourself.
I empathise with you and your difficulty BUT want to correct one line in your comment. You have insurance so WILL NOT be required to pay 3.8 % extra. Those who are not covered will have to pay 3.8% for insurance if they are within a certain income bracket. Once again Obamacare is about all of us getting covered not charging those who already are.
At age 17, one would expect this young woman to support Obama & his philosophy. Give her a couple decades of real life & see how her views change. What’s that saying? “If you are under 30 & not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are over 30 & not a conservative, you have no brain.”
Written by a 30+ conservative,no doubt.
If you’re under 30 and are not a liberal, you have no heart. If you’re over 30 and not a liberal, you STILL have no heart.
and also no brain?
The original statement was in regard to hearts, not brains; that’s what I was responding to.
I think there are many intelligent conservatives, though far too many have been taken in by Tea Party drivel and politicians’ lies, and are losing (or have forever lost) their ability to empathize with others.
You got that wrong If you are over 30 and a conservative you have no brain.
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
I like pieces of obamacare but hate that majority of it and disagree with it…I’m happy with my health care plan that I pay for! Because I choose to not because the government tells me too
are you under the impression that 33 million americans do not carry insurance becasue they ‘choose’ not to?
I believe the saying goes: If you are in your 20’s and not a liberal, you have no heart. If you are in your 30’s and still a liberal, you have no brains. This could apply to anyone in their 20’s with the Maine People’s Alliance. I always tell them to come back to my house when they are in their 30’s.
Sorry about your disease, Margo, but you are not pledging to vote for the right person. Obamanoncare is going to be a boondoggle for those who have to pay for those who are promised “free” care, and that is not right.
What part of her letter does she get giddy about free healthcare? The answer is no where. No one is giddy about that, so stop trying to derail the conversation.
Just as long as there’s no mandate- Oops too late
Oh well, many of us with religious objections will be able to opt-out
And what might that religion be? JW? Scientology? Christian Science?
Why do you have a problem with religion?
She needs to write LePage and Charlie Summers and the rest of the GOP that want to take that away from her.
Yessah
Hi muney – take away from her something that does not belong to her? You libs have things so completely upside down it is startling. Please show me where in the U.S. Constitution that is appropriate for the government to force one grouop of people to support another group of people.
Keep looking, it must be in there somewhere, right?
Access to Health Care is a right – something called Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness – and promoting the General Welfare.
So-called conservatives hate the Founding Principles.
Yessah
Right to Life Liberty and the persuit of happiness does NOT include Healthcare. What next? Should they government buy you a car because it would make you happy? Give me a freakin’ break. Work for a living and get what you earn.
No.
Your thoughts are wrong.
The founding fathers took care of the sick and those less fortunate.
If you do a little research about how they did that, you would realize that it was surely part of LIFE, Liberty – and the pursuit of happiness……
In general, most people I know, regardless of political ideology, take care of somebody who is sick or less fortunate in some manner, whether it be buying them some heating oil, bringing over meals, giving rides to medical appointments, providing financial help, or whatever. That being said, what specific examples relating to which founding father(s) are you referring to?
…
I think in Maine it is the pursuit of methadone.
Um, that’s what healthcare reform bars against. Those of us who are insured are picking up the slack of the uninsured. That’s the case now.
Are you an American? Do you not see that we are all in this together as Americans? We take care of us, and we are stronger because we do. Ah, Grasshopper, five fingers are just five fingers, but fold them together just so and they make a fist.
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,
promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America.”
Maybe our founding fathers understood how to make a fist.
Margo, you rock. As a person who has had type 1 diabetes for 47 years, I understand what you face and fear. Nobody who does not have this disease can make any kind of informed statement about what it is like to live with it. I have seen tremendous change in technology and treatments, and also in the health insurance industry. I made career choices based on health insurance, not what I am best at or what nurtures my psyche. It has not been a bad life, but it has been stressful – and stress aggravates diabetes management tremendously. Follow your bliss lady. You deserve it.
Dear MoonlabelUSA,
I am sorry that you and your family are suffering. I think the Affordable Care Act will make things better for everyone, including your family. If you left this state, you would find that many states prior to the ACA allowed insurance companies to deny anyone for a prior condition. Your husband would not be able to get insurance. Instead, whereever you move that will be an option for you. The whole point of insurance, is that we all have it so that if any of us is unlucky enough to have a child like Margo with Type 1 diabetes or an illness like your husband’s, it is covered. The ACA also ensures that people in poverty will be covered by MaineCare. While I would have preferred “Medicare for All”, that could not pass. This at least ensures everyone access to care. Life doesn’t have to be dog eat dog, everyman for himself. We can decide to be a community and share the cost of trouble.
A lot of people have less choice than you. 50,000 a year die because they can’t afford insurance at all.
We need freedom for all citizens, not just the privileged.
What ObamaCare is trying to do is prevent those people who use the emergency room at hospitals for their care, making you have basic health care will take care of this problem..going to the emergency room is way more expensive than basic health care..
“RomneyCare,” “ObamaCare,” “WhoCares?” Every “tax paying” citizen should “Care.” As a conservative, I am not arguing that “ObamaCare” is giving free health care for those that some individuals have described as the “get a job” population, but my concern is we need to “Fight The Power” and agree this is a local and State government issue first and the Federal Government should not be in our backyard on this issue. I can also look any Democratic (liberal) or not and honestly say, “Big Insurance” could use an ethical overhaul, but why are we debating the role of the “Federal Government” and another “Fill In The Blank Care” bill. As the citizens of our great State of Maine, we CAN implement our own State Health Care bill and demonstrate to D.C. that they can ease their tyranny. Similar to my thoughts with “Big Banks” that would never fail, I have a local Federal Credit Union accounts because they (Big Banks) are not going to get 1 cent of my money. Good for us for sending Bank of America packing and we should have the same sensibility of our health care. Just like the Big Banks the Federal Government will not profit from me because of strong-arm tactics.
LePage is EVIL… He will deny Maine joining the health care plan even though the Government is paying 100% for the first years, then 90 %… He and the GOP are CRIMINALS, and will be Murderers of innocent citizens…
They Government has money? Where did they get their money??
It’s a great day whenever I hear about a young person like Margo making time to show her appreciation to those who have affected an improvement of quality in their life. Margo, I am proud of your action and wish you the best of success in your chosen professional career!!
…..
As a mother of a daughter diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 13, I am very grateful that my daughter will not be penalized for a prior diagnosis when she needs health insurance. She currently does pay for her health insurance offered by her employer. Unless you have dealt with it first-hand, you don’t know how intense or expensive the regimen for Type I diabetes can be. Test strips cost about $1 each, and my daughter can go through 10-20 per day depending on how she feels. She is on two kinds of insulin (long acting and short term). Without these medications, her kidneys, eyes, limbs, etc., are going to fail (resulting in dialysis, legal blindness, and amputation, just to name a few of the intensive and expensive medical costs and situations she would have to face in life). She is 20 years old, a hard worker, and she takes good care of her diabetes.
Best wishes, Margo!
These are the people who will be denied coverage for a debilitating condition.
Don’t clutter up your life and forget to live.
…lol..say ‘no’ to obamacare and the feds eventually come knocking…say ‘no’ to romneycare and the state police eventually come knocking..what’s the big deal, republicrats?
…good grief..bickering republicrats…
…the biggest ‘difference’ between obamacare and romneycare is when you say ‘no’ to obamacare the feds eventually come knocking and when you say ‘no’ to romneycare the state police eventually come knocking…it’s not worth bickering over, republicrats!
BRAINWASHED
….
My wife has had juvenile diabetes all her life and the government never helped her at all .They did it on their own . Her father and mother took it out of their pockets and hard work .She knows the struggle and to this day we ask the government for nothing she has a pump now and it did not come from the backs of taxpayers matter of fact we still make monthly payments on the pump. If we can do it so can others
If you are a taxpayer, you are paying for some gov’t services. You don’t sound noble by not using what’s available, only somewhat misguided. And you are not the one with diabetes. To be denied insurance benefits, and we also all pay tons for coverage, because of a pre-existing condition is what this article is about. It’s flat out wrong, as is for-profit health care. Let the doctors and nurses and providers make the money, not the insurance companies. If my last $500 doctor bill all went to the doctor, then fine, but it mostly goes to bureaucrats
There is no point in her letter that she talks about being thankful for others footing the bill. She’s happy that she can stay on her parent’s insurance between the time that she graduates and finds a job. At what part does “the back of taxpayers” come in? Quit screeching for a moment and try using your critical thinking skills.
..
Another ad for obama, brought to you by the BDN. No surprise here.
As the parasites multiple, and the congressional enablers ignore fiscal and social responsibility, our society declines ever more rapidly into a state of malaise and mediocrity that has allowed an arrogant and incompetent bumbler to soil America’s integrity at 1600 Pennsylvanian Avenue.
the only one soiling integrity are the right wingt nut cases
why should my health care dollars pay for those who wont pay for their own? does the shoe fit?
Your opinion, one in a few million, there are others out here who do not wish to be taxed yet again by your President. Good luck on your health issues.
17 years old and not a clue.
//////
Obamacare=Biggest tax increase in the worlds history
a lie– your taxes have never been lower
and its romney care—
now tell me why my health care dollars should pay for those who dont have health insurance? does the shoe fit?
I see once again BDN censors are hard at work removing anything that doesn’t march in jack-booted lockstep with their liberal agenda of promoting Obamacare! While they allow the some old tired liberal posters to post anything they want, no matter how vile!
////
No, you liberals just make personal attacks against anyone (and everyone) that disagrees with your twisted sense of entitlement! And those vile personal attacks are fine with BDN, because they are from supporters of their sick political views.
I can find at least a dozen regular, liberal posters that break that rule on every thread, and just because they are liberal, BDN does nothing about it. But let one conservative post anything even remotely questionable and it’s removed. If done even once more, they are banned form posting! Yet the same old tired liberal posters are free to post their vitriolic hatred all they want.
That double standard sticks to high heaven, but is completely understandable coming from a liberal rag like the BDN.
Sure……
That sounds really sad!
What’s really sad is that YOU are one of the biggest offenders! I know you sure offend me!
Wow, you sound like you’re really oppressed. You poor thing. Maybe when people respond to you they should be more politically correct so they don’t offend you? After all, you are entitled to live your life without ever hearing something you don’t like!
Paranoid much? Try making a post without all the screeching and ad hominem attacks and maybe it won’t get deleted. Just a tip from your liberal buddy xoxo
You AREN’T my buddy. I don’t socialize with socialists! (Especially rude, vile, psychotic ones!)
Okay, see your comment right there? That’s exactly why you have you posts removed.
So Margo supports Obama and ObamaCare because now she can pursue a useless degree with very limited opportunities for significant employment while others subsidize her health care and life choices.
Something to be proud of. (sarcasm)
To you so-called “conservatives”:
President GW Bush said, “People have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room.”
My question to you is: When an uninsured person shows up in the emergency room with an injury or illness, and especially if they need to be admitted and maybe undergo surgery and physical therapy — who do you think pays for that now? Do you think the docs and nurses and the pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies just donate their time and products?
I just don’t get you so-called conservatives. You squawk about “wagon riders” and “wagon pullers” except when it’s health care. Then it’s just fine for someone to refuse to buy insurance, safe in the knowledge that if they sick or injured the rest of us will pick up the tab. So what you’re saying is, it’s disgusting when the guvmint gives some pauper a hundred bucks a week for food stamps, but just peachy keen for the taxpayers to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills for some bum who can afford but chooses not to buy health insurance.
How is it that your minds are so weak, that you are so easily brainwashed by the Foxies and Rush and Sean and their ilk?
By the way, the “individual mandate” was dreamed up by the Heritage Foundation and supported by the GOP as a “personal responsibility” alternative to single-payer “socialism.” That is, of course, until Obama picked it up.
And that, really, is what it’s all about, isn’t it?
You folks are utterly brainwashed.
I read all the comments from both sides and the middle about the rich, middle class and the poor, and how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the middle class pays for it all. The message has been lost over time and ideals but we all have the same opportunity to succeed it just depends on our own ambitions or if you want to wait someone else will build it for you.
Another paid political ad notice how all the anti s disappeared whether you violated terms of service or not or how minor your offense
Margo you poor littel girl. you have diabetes, well I also have diebetes and have had for all my life. I am now 73 years old and I haven’t died yet. oh by the way I have also worked all my life. the reason that your letter was posted is because it is fodder for Obomas campaing.
Margo you poor little dear,so you have diabetes. well I also have diabetes and have had most of my life. I am now 73 years old and I worked untill I turned 65. It ‘s just like you young people to be a little dramatic. the only reason that your letter got posted on the Oboma web site is that they can use it for fodder on their wen site.
…..
I am posting these links to combat intentional misinformation and for those who want to know how it actually affects you
Happy reading!
http://dpc.senate.gov/healthreformbill/healthbill52.pdf
http://www.healthcare.gov/law/features/index.htmls.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform/healthcare-overview
Of course, had she gone away to school she would have had to return home for the election in order to vote as a ‘first time voter’ as she wasn’t old enough to vote in the last primary – thanks to Teapublican efforts aimed at suppressing Democrat voters, especially college students- not to mention the elderly, the poor and disabled, and minorities.
The same holds for students from out of state attending Maine campuses who stand a good chance of being accused of election fraud for voting in Maine, assuming they can even obtain an absentee ballot!
Vote – no matter what it takes! It’s more important than ever to figure it out. Do it, NOW.
Obama 2012
—
Being a young woman of 18, I can agree with his “assumptions”. So what if she is happy her letter is being printed and she can have a job she is excited for without worrying about healthcare. Choosing a job you will enjoy is hard and having the confidence to follow that path is harder still. Since she is going for a literature major she probably is very informed on the healthcare bill. She also stated that she has been informed since the last election on what is going on in our government. That makes her more informed that half of the country.
If she says she doesn’t like sick people, she probably has good reason since she has diabetes and hospitals probably don’t bring good memories. The comment could very well not have been those exact words and could just have been spun out of context. (Ironic much)
As to her schooling, how do you know she could afford it in the first place? There are such things as scholarships. If she is worried about affording healthcare, she probably had some sort of financial aid.
Lastly, to those who say she is trying to be a freeloader: She never said she didn’t want to work hard. She never said she wouldn’t pay for healthcare either. She just said she wanted to be as able to get healthcare as someone without a pre-existing condition.
Having to stoop to flinging petty insults may indicate you have run out of logical arguments.