Cars, drivers, and percentage who can afford to drive falling in the USA now

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday April 12, 2010 · 7:52 PM PDT

2010/04/12 · 19:52

While reading about something else, I stumbled across this troubling fact. The number of young Americans who learn how to drive in high school or college, and who get drivers licenses is falling for the first time since World War II. Also, the number of cars in the US is falling, and many cash strapped people can not afford to drive the cars they do have.

This has big implications for their employ-ability because without a car or a drivers license, its very difficult, and in fact, in many of our sprawling, sidewalk-less communities, without transport, its almost impossible, to find and keep a job.

The United States is built for drivers, and if you don't drive, in most of this country, getting around is at best an ordeal. In some states, like California, some communities intentionally avoided being on bus lines and public transport, afraid that busses would bring "the wrong kinds of people" to them. Now they are paying the price for their abject stupidity!

Obviously. we need to rebuild the public transportation systems we had in the past if we are going to return to our nation's earlier lifestyle.

Europe and Asia have no such problems, they have excellent public transport.

Poll

5 votes Show Results

Do You see the decline of car ownership and drivers licenses as bad, good or in between

Good- it means less traffic for me. Less road rage too.

Good- because we need to reduce the number of those looking for work. Improve statistics. But funding cuts for public transportation need to be reversed. Car-sharing and automated busses sound like good ideas too.

Bad- its not good. People can't get around in many areas. I think we all need to remember, privatization created this mess. Lets bring back PUBLIC utilities, like bus companies. Even if it means pulling back on WTO free trade obligations.

Bad- How will poor people, especially those displaced from urban areas if gas prices rise, get around if they can't afford to drive- Lack of access to transportation creates an underclass.

Mixed- All the points above are true, but- It could be a blessing in disguise. Japan started falling in cars in 1990, they aren't a backwards nation. Gradually, some of us can switch to electric cars, automated busses, bullet trains, light rail, or bicycl

All of the above apply in various ways, in short, its another REAL national challenge. Like making quality health care affordable. We have to keep at it until we solve it. There are lots of ways to do that. But we need to keep an open mind and look at how

5 votes Vote Now!

Do You see the decline of car ownership and drivers licenses as bad, good or in between

Good- it means less traffic for me. Less road rage too.

1 vote

0 votes

Bad- How will poor people, especially those displaced from urban areas if gas prices rise, get around if they can't afford to drive- Lack of access to transportation creates an underclass.

1 vote

2 votes

New High Risk Pool's Preconditions Will Exclude Most Of Those Who Need It

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday April 11, 2010 · 2:18 PM PDT

2010/04/11 · 14:18

During a televised speech last year, President Obama announced, to much fanfare, that, if we only passed the bill, he implied, all people who currently who could not currently buy insurance "because of pre-existing conditions", would be given an opportunity they would not otherwise have had, to purchase it. A national high risk pool.

As always, the details were, and still are, unacceptably hazy. Although Americans should have realized they were being played, few people realized that this was an example of the adage that is something sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

So, implicitly- its now clear, that he also meant that ONLY those who otherwise could afford individual coverage which means only a very small percentage of us- would be helped.

It should have been obvious, because the COST to actually address the huge root problem ADEQUATELY for four years, would rival the cost of the six years represented by the actual bill. So, just as people who depend on premium caps and caps on out of pocket expenses are almost certain to be very disappointed when after waiting four years, they find those promises vanish into thin air, there was NO WAY that THAT promise would EVER actually HAPPEN.

Poll

34 votes Show Results

What can be done to make politicians honest and prevent them gaming the system with obvious lies to get elected or legislation passed?

A national searchable database of all political speeches by all candidates, and in general increased transparency

The people need the ability to call a new election, via a vote of no confidence, a national referendum, triggered by a petition,

Instant runoff voting (picking first second etc. choices) to encourage diversity and make third parties more viable choices.

End to political contributions - politicians would campaign via a website and debates, no campaign contributions allowed, violations punishable as a serious crime.

End corporate personhood, so that corporations money was not constitutionally protected free speech.

Require more of a period during which politicians were vetted, and take steps to end sound byte campaigns

ALL of the above

Nothing, we are AT THEIR MERCY

34 votes Vote Now!

What can be done to make politicians honest and prevent them gaming the system with obvious lies to get elected or legislation passed?

A national searchable database of all political speeches by all candidates, and in general increased transparency

1 vote

The people need the ability to call a new election, via a vote of no confidence, a national referendum, triggered by a petition,

1 vote

Instant runoff voting (picking first second etc. choices) to encourage diversity and make third parties more viable choices.

3 votes

End to political contributions - politicians would campaign via a website and debates, no campaign contributions allowed, violations punishable as a serious crime.

6 votes

End corporate personhood, so that corporations money was not constitutionally protected free speech.

4 votes

Require more of a period during which politicians were vetted, and take steps to end sound byte campaigns

0 votes

ALL of the above

13 votes

Nothing, we are AT THEIR MERCY

6 votes

Healthcare Crises in Massachusetts and Tennessee- Dysfunction only the tip of an iceberg?

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday April 10, 2010 · 12:43 PM PDT

2010/04/10 · 12:43

As most of us know by now, healthcare in Massachusetts is currently in a state of crisis as legislators, frustrated with their inability to control private insurance premiums are involved in a standoff with private firms which have stopped writing new policies.

Fewer realize that Tennessee's Medicaid "TennCare", their "public option" for the poor, is also in the end stages of a private insurance-caused breakdown. 100,000 people have been dumped from the rolls, many making less than the poverty line.

The media line is that rising costs have made the state drop those 100,000 people. What the media don't tell us is that this situation is competely unnecessary, and in many ways, its artificially manufactured.

Poll

23 votes Show Results

Free trade agreements like GATS that stand diametrically opposed to healthcare as a human right- Should we be endorsing their war on public healthcare as we do? Should we let GATS trigger on health insurance making public healthcare impossible?

23 votes Vote Now!

Free trade agreements like GATS that stand diametrically opposed to healthcare as a human right- Should we be endorsing their war on public healthcare as we do? Should we let GATS trigger on health insurance making public healthcare impossible?

No, We need public healthcare. We can't allow our nation to be trapped in a private model forever by GATS, NAFTA and their ilk. We also need healthcare as a human right, and we need to start fresh with a new honesty with all trade agreements.

21 votes

No, lets keep everything the way it is, keep healthcare unaffordable for everybody but the rich, globally.

2 votes

Big Worries About High Risk Pool: Six Month 'Dying Period', Huge Cost, Low Funding, Dishonesty.

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 28, 2010 · 7:44 AM PDT

2010/03/28 · 07:44

Concerns are being raised far and wide about the validity of patching the BROKEN insurance model using a $2.90 a year/person Band Aid. The high risk pool approach - (which was also the model for the election-winning and discussion-diverting "public option")

Many advocates for people with serious illnesses are concerned about the six month "waiting period", and indeed, studies have shown that for people with serious illness, that first six months is by far the most expensive. However, it will save the government a LOT of money asking people to spend their own money themselves while remaining uninsured during that six month waiting, (although some use the term "dying") period.

From "
Democrats' Plan to Help 'Uninsurables' Questioned:Advocates for cancer patients decry waiting period; budget for high-risk pool seen as low" Read More

Poll
22 votes Show Results
Do you agree with my point, that problems like this basically show that putting band aid patches on this insurance system is futile?

Yes, can it, and lets start on single payer now - We could have Medicare for all by November! We should notify the WTO of our plans.

No, I think it would DEFEAT THE PURPOSE if we had a high risk pool that allowed sick people to get coverage immediately.

No, Obama should be President for Life!

22 votes Vote Now!
Do you agree with my point, that problems like this basically show that putting band aid patches on this insurance system is futile?

Yes, can it, and lets start on single payer now - We could have Medicare for all by November! We should notify the WTO of our plans.

11 votes

No, I think it would DEFEAT THE PURPOSE if we had a high risk pool that allowed sick people to get coverage immediately.

9%

2 votes

No, Obama should be President for Life!

9 votes

Should foreign health insurance companies be compensated for changes in US's 'business climate'?

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 27, 2010 · 1:21 PM PDT

2010/03/27 · 13:21

Free Trade Agreements like the GATS are designed to encourage foreign investment in countries and be "one-way roads to privatization". Literally. In other words, irreversible.

GATS covers services. Like health insurance. The USA currently does not have many foreign health insurers in our market, because of the 50 different state markets, which make selling insurance here too complicated for foreign firms. (so they say) This is a longstanding issue and as trade barriers are prohibited by GATS, the EU has petitioned the US to provide some way firms can sell one "Harmonized" (or "harmonised") national policies, (like they do elsewhere, most notably the Third World countries).

What happens then?

When foreign insurers enter the US market, the provisions of GATS kick in to 'protect their investment'. The companies who participate, are in a sense, given a "right" to be here and an imaginary value is assigned to it based on its potential future worth, not their actual sales. If in the future, the US or a state does anything to limit their "rights" the US can be sued in a secretive, closed, WTO-court and the penalties can be huge.

BTW, US companies don't get compensated every time a law is made or changed.

Poll
18 votes Show Results
Do you think insurance companies should be compensated for changes in our healthcare business climate?

NO, If the people of the United States decide, say, "we as a nation want single payer by a 2/3 margin", laws that prohibit it, even free trade agreements, need to be renegotiated or struck down. Changes could be immediate. I also do not support compensati

If a US law says that we are dumping the insurance model and multinationals are here and need to leave, I would say they just misunderstood the need of the people here and made a mistake. They could be given, say ONE year to wrap things up. No compensatio

I would support a small amount of compensation based on their current business, NOT POTENTIAL SALES.

I would support a "right" to compensation based on POTENTIAL not actual sales even if it could end up being tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. (The existing situation)

18 votes Vote Now!
Do you think insurance companies should be compensated for changes in our healthcare business climate?

NO, If the people of the United States decide, say, "we as a nation want single payer by a 2/3 margin", laws that prohibit it, even free trade agreements, need to be renegotiated or struck down. Changes could be immediate. I also do not support compensati

14 votes

If a US law says that we are dumping the insurance model and multinationals are here and need to leave, I would say they just misunderstood the need of the people here and made a mistake. They could be given, say ONE year to wrap things up. No compensatio

2 votes

I would support a small amount of compensation based on their current business, NOT POTENTIAL SALES.

6%

1 vote

I would support a "right" to compensation based on POTENTIAL not actual sales even if it could end up being tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. (The existing situation)

6%

1 vote

Canada Marketing The Competitive Business Advantages Of Real Universal Healthcare On New Web Site

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday March 26, 2010 · 6:54 PM PDT

2010/03/26 · 18:54

The average Canadian saves around a quarter million dollars over the average American in health care costs over their lifetime

Their web site makes it crystal clear. Canada's health care system helps business owners attract the best talent and make more money. Its called..
PROFIT® and Canada's competitive advantage..

Here is the 'teaser text'..

"There's something about Canada's health care system that business leaders aren't telling you. In fact, it's Canada's best kept secret.
While we often hear about how taxation levels affect a corporation's ability to compete in the global marketplace, we rarely hear about a major advantage that Canadian businesses have over their U.S. counterparts: universal health care."

Poll

36 votes Show Results

Wouldn't you prefer the simplicity and predictability they have in Canada?

36 votes Vote Now!

Wouldn't you prefer the simplicity and predictability they have in Canada?

Yes, Canada's government seems more responsible. Predictable high quality health care is essential for a business or a family. I want Canadian style universal health care.

25 votes

Yes, but I want a better, US style UHC single payer that pays for all curative care, preventative care and Rx drugs with taxes. We must withdraw from the GATS sections on healthcare and education.

9 votes

Yes, even though I want to trust Obama, the WTO and their global privatization movement to look out for my intrerests. But I'm not sure if they will. I'm worried the GOP will win and we'll lose everything.

1 vote

No, I'd like to see Dems win in 2010 and 2012, then Obama's HCR in 2014, market rate access to healthcare insurance, subsidies for the poor, if they are WTO-legal, HCR, even if its privatized.

1 vote

The Injustice Of Using Our Healthcare As a Bargaining Chip In Free Trade

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday March 25, 2010 · 7:05 PM PDT

2010/03/25 · 19:05

I don't know how many folks here have seen my recent postings on the subject and then have been able to spend some time looking at the World Trade Organization issues that I have been posting about. I hope that you will because addressing them is really important to affordable health care in the US.

Reading through the Presidential WTO Report, I keep coming back to the section (reproduced in the box below) that explains why the US taxpayer must be held responsible for buying out multinationals in the future if we decide we need single payer, after they have entered the market..

A GATS Primer from Canadians.org

Poll

5 votes Show Results

US Corporations want profitable business in foreign emerging markets. In exchange, the United States is offering "access" to a public-healthcare-free American consumer, the GATS also bars many regulations, including some we may expect we would get.

5 votes Vote Now!

US Corporations want profitable business in foreign emerging markets. In exchange, the United States is offering "access" to a public-healthcare-free American consumer, the GATS also bars many regulations, including some we may expect we would get.

That is fine, our businesses need to be able to expand overseas, and we can make sacrifices, even give up public healthcare, and its affordability, so they can do so.

0 votes

No, that's not right. And why haven't they been honest about this?

5 votes

How to Take The Wind Out of the Sails of Anti HCR Lawsuits/Laws

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 24, 2010 · 8:36 AM PDT

2010/03/24 · 08:36

Here is how Democrats can take the wind out of the various lawsuits against mandates to buy (under)insurance and win in 2010 and 2012, surprising everybody.

We need to change the HCR from underinsurance to real insurance.

Curative care refers to treatment and therapies provided to a patient with an intent to improve symptoms or cure the patient's medical problem.

Write your Senators and Congressmen and ask that the Health Care bill be amended to put ALL Basic Curative Care IN the BASIC packages FOR BOTH GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL PLANS and then put all the expensive add-ons in the trade up packages, so that people with a serious illness can get basic Curative Care without having to pay extra money or being dumped,

That, I guarantee, would take the wind out of their sails! Read More

Poll
8 votes Show Results
Will you write asking that the "Basic" plan include ALL BASIC CURATIVE CARE?

Yes, its wise to not dump people when they get sick. Curative Care 100% in basic plan, extras in Silver, Gold, etc.

No, when they miss even one check, they should be dumped, for six months (or more.)

8 votes Vote Now!
Will you write asking that the "Basic" plan include ALL BASIC CURATIVE CARE?

Yes, its wise to not dump people when they get sick. Curative Care 100% in basic plan, extras in Silver, Gold, etc.

7 votes

No, when they miss even one check, they should be dumped, for six months (or more.)

1 vote

ABC's "V" Series Makes Comments About Cult-Like Behaviors, UHC, Need To 'Believe'

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday March 23, 2010 · 7:17 PM PDT

2010/03/23 · 19:17

Americans ecstatic about what is being represented as a "Earth shattering" victory are neglecting the basic questions they all should be asking about the proposed health insurance reform. We all should spend some quality time learning about healthcare around the world, and how ours differs. And discussing it. Despite the pressure to conform to the "conventional wisdom" that insurance mandate is the best we could ever expect.

The lizard people in ABC's "V" series offer - of all things, universal healthcare! The series seems to have disturbing parallels to the extreme media control exerted by the pro-insurance Obama administration. Not many want to question the media barrage, after all, who needs affordable healthcare when you have reassuring messages that "yes we can" afford unsubsidized private insurance, unaffordable to Americans since the 90s.

My advice to people. Gain some perspective on the rest of the world. See what's going on in Canada, the UK, Australia. Read More

Poll
16 votes Show Results
Will you get informed about healthcare 'outside'

Yes, I want the truth. The more we ALL know, soon, about every aspect of health care, the better chance we have of REAL improvement!

No, Healthcare doesn't need to be affordable to be 'accessible'. We're number one!

I like Ike.

16 votes Vote Now!
Will you get informed about healthcare 'outside'

Yes, I want the truth. The more we ALL know, soon, about every aspect of health care, the better chance we have of REAL improvement!

8 votes

No, Healthcare doesn't need to be affordable to be 'accessible'. We're number one!

0%

0 votes

I like Ike.

8 votes

Under/Uninsured Critically Ill Americans May Soon Need To Hibernate till Treatment Affordable

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday March 22, 2010 · 9:58 AM PDT

2010/03/22 · 09:58

It may soon be possible to place human beings in a state of hibernation, during which all bodily functions are slowed and aging, as well as progression of any illness slows to a near stop.

In the film "Avatar", a common situation in the film's (imaginary) future, as it is today, is lack of funds to pursue medical treatment. In the plot of the box-office record-shattering film, a young Marine suffers a spinal injury leaving him unable to move his lower body. He is put into suspended animation, "cold storage"- in the hopes of an affordable, future cure. However, he is revived when his twin brother, a scientist, dies before he can be sent to Pandora. The young man is offered his twin's job in the dangerous mining outpost so he can earn enough money to pursue eventual treatment. He hopes to earn enough money to purchase some kind of regenerative medicine (presumably, still under some form of extended patent protection 150 years in the future) from "The Corporation".

"Suspended animation
"Suspended animation is the slowing of life processes by external means without termination. Breathing, heartbeat, and other involuntary functions may still occur, but they can only be detected by artificial means"

Poll

11 votes Show Results

If you or a loved one was critically ill, and underfinanced, would you consider hibernation until health reform makes revival affordable?

11 votes Vote Now!

If you or a loved one was critically ill, and underfinanced, would you consider hibernation until health reform makes revival affordable?

Yes, its better than 101,000 Americans dying of preventable causes, annually, because they cannot afford health care, with no hope of revival, ever.

6 votes

No, people with low quality insurance and the uninsured should be prevented from accessing such facilities.

1 vote

No, even if I was critically ill, I wouldn't be interested. I would want to die rather than be suspended and wake up in a potentially confusing future, like Woody Allen in "Sleeper"

4 votes

Will Some New 'Protections' Be Invalidated By GATS Before Being Allowed To Take Effect?

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Sunday March 21, 2010 · 9:13 AM PDT

2010/03/21 · 09:13

Today, Nicholas Kristof's column in the New York Times spotlighted globalization's tradeoffs - on health insurance. A couple that he knows who are living in Hong Kong purchased a globalized policy sold by a London financial firm, one that specializes in health insurance, but their policy had an exemption that was used to limit care in their case. "Harmonized" policies - sold across an entire nation are a crucial part of the Senate bill's WEAK 'affordability' strategy. They are no substitute for public health care. The entry of multinational health care providers into the US market, however, carries a danger of triggering the GATS on health insurance, forever making a change of mind and a return to public healthcare very expensive or impossible. Read More

Poll

4 votes Show Results

If the Senate HCR bill triggers GATS, or has any chance of triggering GATS, would you vote for it?

4 votes Vote Now!

If the Senate HCR bill triggers GATS, or has any chance of triggering GATS, would you vote for it?

No, NO on giving up essential liberty - no on any bill that has any chance of triggering GATS

4 votes

Maybe, just like you can be a vegetarian and still be meat. Food for multinationals, Ponzi bait! I dig!

0 votes

Yes, lets give up essential liberty for easily invalidated false security. Sacrifice lives for free trade on the altar of profit! Go Bill!

0 votes

Healthcare Reform Lessons From The Antigua Online Gambling Case: IMPORTANT!

Andiamo

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday March 20, 2010 · 4:11 AM PDT

2010/03/20 · 04:11

The US Must Be VERY Careful Because Triggering GATS is Irreversible, Destroying Public Healthcare Forever

Description By Nick Skala
"Critics of the WTO recognized early on that GATS rules held the potential to infringe on the ability of governments to regulate committed services in the public interest, but trade officials assured them that such fears were unfounded. A May 2005 letter from the U.S. Trade Representative to state officials reiterated the top trade official's promises that the GATS did not pose a threat to their regulatory prerogatives, repeating eight times the Representative's view that "nothing in the GATS impedes the ability of a state to maintain or develop regulatory requirements as appropriate to each jurisdiction"

Poll

11 votes Show Results

Should We Ignore The Lessons From Antigua's Online Gambling Case As They Pertain To GATS and Healthcare?

11 votes Vote Now!

Should We Ignore The Lessons From Antigua's Online Gambling Case As They Pertain To GATS and Healthcare?

NO NO NO

4 votes

Yes, Lets Pretend This Doesn't Exist. Its Only Money, And Human Lives! We Can Always Build Another Country And People! Who Needs Trust? Its Overrated. Full Steam Ahead!

7 votes

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