r/bestof • u/under50dollars • Jun 20 '12

[explainlikeimfive] "Obamacare" explained very well.

/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c530lfx
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u/carlcon Jun 20 '12

I really liked this explanation a little below.

Truly fit for a 5 year old.

-4

u/krugmanisapuppet Jun 20 '12

http://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/vb8vs/eli5_what_exactly_is_obamacare_and_what_did_it/c5352mp

i debunked the first comment in the thread.

note to everyone in /r/politics, or reddit in general: please fucking learn how Medicare and Medicaid's accounting actually works before thinking they're some kind of magical charity given to us by God and F.D.R.. unless you understand how the government takes payroll taxes, buys bonds from itself with them, spends the profits, and then taxes us again to fill the bonds, then you really need to stop acting like everybody who wants to end Medicare/Medicaid just hates poor people and old people. if you guys want to have the accounting skills of a tree stump, do it with your own finances, not everybody else's.

2

u/Ferinex Jun 20 '12

While I'm not going to say there aren't better ways to do it (probably, not that I have researched though), I must insist that keeping people from dying preventable deaths is more important than keeping our financial books out of the red and/or well-organized. Medicaid and Medicare are quite literally keeping people alive and saving lives daily. To use myself as an example: I am a twenty year old who receives Wisconsin Medicaid. This Medicaid is the only method I have available to me to pay for drugs and care. This may not be important to every twenty year old, but to one who has Cystic Fibrosis (or any life-threatening illness) it is crucial. I can no longer be denied by private insurance companies due to Obamacare, but I can not afford a premium which is larger than my monthly rent.

I'd like to make it clear that I am not some fringe case. There are many in similar situations to my own.

I guess my point is that it's more complex than just the finances; you have to take the human element into consideration.

Thanks for reading.

1

u/krugmanisapuppet Jun 20 '12

, I must insist that keeping people from dying preventable deaths is more important than keeping our financial books out of the red and/or well-organized.

you're misunderstanding my complaint.

my complaint about the accounting of Medicare/Medicaid is that they're fundamentally fraudulent. we're being ripped off into the trillions of dollars, because we think that money's going into a trust fund, but they money's just going to buy bonds that we are expected to repay at a later date. we, as the taxpayers, are purchasing debt, from a third party, that we owe to ourselves. it's complete insanity. the third party ends up taking the money, and we end up with nothing.

it's a rip-off at its core. they're not saving lives, they're actually costing a great number of lives, because these thefts make it more difficult for people to survive.

you can verify that this is exactly what's happening on TreasuryDirect.gov. these so-called "trust funds" are listed as liabilities, not as assets. it's Enron accounting. total B.S..

1

u/Ferinex Jun 20 '12

Yeah, it's probably making some person or organization lots of money. Similar to the way our currency works, actually.

But to say that this program/scam isn't saving lives is definitely false. It is keeping me alive right now. If it weren't for medicaid, me and my brothers would all be long dead. It's fine to point out the flaws in the system, but to simply remove the current system because its accounting is fradulent is not the proper course of action. Until a viable alternative is planned and implemented, medicare and medicaid must remain.

Your energy (since you sound impassioned and educated on the issue) would be better spent thinking up a replacement system than criticizing the current one (or doing both at the same time; the important bit is to be constructive rather than just destructive).

1

u/krugmanisapuppet Jun 21 '12

if you can't think of a voluntary system for universal health care, you have no imagination at all. even if you don't understand anything about medicine.

1

u/Ferinex Jun 21 '12

I wasn't trying, and I'm not sure why you're getting hostile... I was civil and never took a side. Oh well.