Debate thread (Sept. 10)

[wdefromtx 3,611]

11 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

It’s essentially what the heritage foundation proposed and Romney adapted in MA. But Republicans in the Senate kept teasing support that never came after numerous concessions.

Ok, how many republicans voted yes for it once they made concessions? 
 

Are you willing to answer? 

Edited September 12 by wdefromtx

[TexasTiger 14,310]

36 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

Ok, how many republicans voted yes for it once they made concessions? 
 

Are you willing to answer? 

None. That’s the point. They kept dragging it out, pretending they would and then refused. Still got 60 votes, but they haven’t been able to improve it with zero Republicans who keep promising a better plan but never producing one.

[wdefromtx 3,611]

5 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

None. That’s the point. They kept dragging it out, pretending they would and then refused. Still got 60 votes, but they haven’t been able to improve it with zero Republicans who keep promising a better plan but never producing one.

So it's the republicans fault that democrats passed a flawed bill on their own and blame republicans for not fixing their mess? 🤣

I said it when it passed, as soon as the dems passed it they took 100% ownership of it. Can't blame republicans. 

The damage was already done when they passed it, I could care less what Trump or any other republican has promised or have not promised since.

The ACA has f-ed myself and my family by costing us much much more in healthcare costs and forced companies to go to crappy plans. Plain and simple, and I knew it was going to happen before it ever passed. I imagine many people in the center or right of center are still a little salty about it too. 

At this point just don't make it worse.

[TexasTiger 14,310]

1 hour ago, wdefromtx said:

So it's the republicans fault that democrats passed a flawed bill on their own and blame republicans for not fixing their mess? 🤣

I said it when it passed, as soon as the dems passed it they took 100% ownership of it. Can't blame republicans. 

The damage was already done when they passed it, I could care less what Trump or any other republican has promised or have not promised since.

The ACA has f-ed myself and my family by costing us much much more in healthcare costs and forced companies to go to crappy plans. Plain and simple, and I knew it was going to happen before it ever passed. I imagine many people in the center or right of center are still a little salty about it too. 

At this point just don't make it worse.

What’s the Republican plan?

[Didba 5,510]

1 hour ago, wdefromtx said:

So it's the republicans fault that democrats passed a flawed bill on their own and blame republicans for not fixing their mess? 🤣

I said it when it passed, as soon as the dems passed it they took 100% ownership of it. Can't blame republicans. 

The damage was already done when they passed it, I could care less what Trump or any other republican has promised or have not promised since.

The ACA has f-ed myself and my family by costing us much much more in healthcare costs and forced companies to go to crappy plans. Plain and simple, and I knew it was going to happen before it ever passed. I imagine many people in the center or right of center are still a little salty about it too. 

At this point just don't make it worse.

Just to show the other side of the coin.

Without it, my wife and I would’ve gone without healthcare for three years when I was in law school. 

now it wasn’t amazing insurance and certainly nothing like I have now as a lawyer but it was still insurance and we didn’t have to pay anything unless we chose to get a better plan. 

[wdefromtx 3,611]

40 minutes ago, Didba said:

Just to show the other side of the coin.

Without it, my wife and I would’ve gone without healthcare for three years when I was in law school. 

now it wasn’t amazing insurance and certainly nothing like I have now as a lawyer but it was still insurance and we didn’t have to pay anything unless we chose to get a better plan. 

Real question here....what years and if you don't mind how much were you paying? 

 

Edited September 13 by wdefromtx

[Didba 5,510]

42 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

Real question here....what years and if you don't mind how much were you paying? 

If I got your question right:

this was between 2019 and 2022. 

at first I didn’t pay anything when it was just me. No vision or dental. Just health. I don’t think I even used the full $300 credit from the government.

When my wife and I got married in 2020. We put her on it, she got us a on a better plan and  added dental/vision; I think we went over the $500 credit by maybe $200. So we paid $200 a month. 

but it also didn’t cover a lot of stuff like certain specialist visits until our deductible was met. So we could be hit with like a $1500 test from a specialist if it wasn’t an emergency room type thing. 

Also, a ton of place weren’t in network  

this was marketplace insurance through the ACA. So we did have some choice in plans like I mentioned. 

I'm glad we had it but it’s not true universal healthcare and it didn’t really solve the crazy medical/insurance industry situation at all. So while it’s good and I’m glad it’s available, more reform is still needed. 

Edited September 13 by Didba

[wdefromtx 3,611]

18 minutes ago, Didba said:

If I got your question right:

this was between 2019 and 2022. 

at first I didn’t pay anything when it was just me. No vision or dental. Just health. I don’t think I even used the full $300 credit from the government.

When my wife and I got married in 2020. We put her on it, she got us a on a better plan and  added dental/vision; I think we went over the $500 credit by maybe $200. So we paid $200 a month. 

but it also didn’t cover a lot of stuff like certain specialist visits until our deductible was met. So we could be hit with like a $1500 test from a specialist if it wasn’t an emergency room type thing.  

I am glad you were able to get insurance, but you could have  before the ACA.

My wife and I were able to get pretty good health insurance while in school from 2003-2007. First was through a program Auburn offered and many schools did (I know Texas schools did too) that you could get very affordable and actually pretty good insurance, and it was only $1200 for an entire school year. And when I needed to get it for my wife because she switched companies, and we did not like their insurance I got us insurance through BCBSAL. It was a little higher deductible and costs, but it was really good. I think I was paying a maybe $100-$150 a month. Oh and since we did not have much income while I was in school and we also had a daughter we had her on the CHIPS program. CHIPS used to be awesome, don't know if it still is or if it got ruined as well. 

My dad and stepmom were small business owners and were able to get great health insurance for themselves prior to the ACA. After it came into effect, they were paying in excess of $1000 a month for premiums and also hundreds a month in prescription costs. Because the law made them give up their plans. 

To be clear, I am not against people getting healthcare and the ACA may have helped some people, it absolutely screwed a lot of people. 

When I graduated and before the ACA came into full force, I had awesome insurance for my entire family. 

Instead of finding a way to get insurance to people that needed it, democrats penalized people that had access to great insurance and tried to force everyone to get the same insurance.  

Edited September 13 by wdefromtx

[RunInRed 18,383]

[wdefromtx 3,611]

No tax on OT. 

Will Harris adopt it like no tax on tips? 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

1 hour ago, wdefromtx said:

No tax on OT. 

Will Harris adopt it like no tax on tips? 

Let’s go bankrupt sooner!!! Whoo!

[TexasTiger 14,310]

 

[auburnatl1 6,182]

24 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

Let’s go bankrupt sooner!!! Whoo!

Thank you. You know you’re in trouble when a “conservative” is in a free stuff contest.

ps both the dems and maga need to visit grown up land.  It’s scary neither candidate even mentions it. 

 

Edited September 13 by auburnatl1

[Didba 5,510]

11 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

No tax on OT. 

Will Harris adopt it like no tax on tips? 

No because no tax on OT is not economically viable. I was talking to a bunch of union workers about it and they all condemned it even though it would make them a ton of money. 

[wdefromtx 3,611]

7 minutes ago, Didba said:

No because no tax on OT is not economically viable. I was talking to a bunch of union workers about it and they all condemned it even though it would make them a ton of money. 

I wonder how much the government relies on tax on OT as a % compared to regular time. 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

23 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

I wonder how much the government relies on tax on OT as a % compared to regular time. 

What’s the logic behind it? Why not tax overtime? You’re getting time and half? Why should you get tax-free money on hours 41-45? And what an accounting nightmare.

[TexasTiger 14,310]

13 hours ago, TexasTiger said:

What’s the Republican plan?

@wdefromtx? 

[Didba 5,510]

23 minutes ago, wdefromtx said:

I wonder how much the government relies on tax on OT as a % compared to regular time. 

I couldn’t tell you off of the top of my head but these union workers were telling me it’s probably a large amount of money. 

I’ve never had a job where I could get OT so I’m not as familiar with it as they are.

Lots of perks of being a lawyer but OT isn’t one of them. 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

Just now, Didba said:

I couldn’t tell you off of the top of my head but these union workers were telling me it’s probably a large amount of money. 

I’ve never had a job where I could get OT so I’m not as familiar with it as they are.

Lots of perks of being a lawyer but OT isn’t one of them. 

Yeah, but you round up your billables. 😉

[Didba 5,510]

11 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

Yeah, but you round up your billables. 😉

Nah, instead we just drive up our clients’ medical bills… can’t be a bloodsucking ambulance chaser taking 40% if our clients don’t have $$$ in bills😉

[AU9377 6,037]

14 hours ago, wdefromtx said:

So it's the republicans fault that democrats passed a flawed bill on their own and blame republicans for not fixing their mess? 🤣

I said it when it passed, as soon as the dems passed it they took 100% ownership of it. Can't blame republicans. 

The damage was already done when they passed it, I could care less what Trump or any other republican has promised or have not promised since.

The ACA has f-ed myself and my family by costing us much much more in healthcare costs and forced companies to go to crappy plans. Plain and simple, and I knew it was going to happen before it ever passed. I imagine many people in the center or right of center are still a little salty about it too. 

At this point just don't make it worse.

Health care costs were out of control long before the ACA.  We have decided as a nation that we want sick and injured people to get medical care whether or not they can pay for it.  Frankly, if we consider ourselves to be one of the greatest nations, ensuring that our citizens have access to medical care shouldn't be much of a debate.  Every other similar country and every one of our allies has a form of universal health care coverage. 

The question becomes how we do that?  The ACA is full of faults, but it is a step in the right direction.  Trusting the private sector to deal with the problem was a fool's errand.  Doing so has produced the highest costs on the planet.  We pay close to an average of 3 times what citizens of other countries pay for prescription drugs.  Many drugs cost 30 and 40 times  more in the U.S.

The ACA can be made much better, but politicians have to empty their pockets of money from Big Pharma in order to even start the conversation.  It is obscene how those companies suck money from the federal budget.

[homersapien 12,245]

On 9/12/2024 at 10:33 AM, ArgoEagle said:

.....They did in fact, not fiction, fact check Trump several times to Harris' 0.  You can't deny that......

 

And why was that do you suppose?

Was it because they had it in for Trump, or could it possibly be because of the number of lies Trump tells?

[wdefromtx 3,611]

20 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

@wdefromtx? 

I think the plan back in 2008-2009 was leave it alone. Which considering what was being proposed back then, I was in favor of leaving it alone. It was not as bad as they tried to make it seem. It is worse now, so I guess they got what they wanted. 

Since then, I could care less. At this point leave it alone as far as I am concerned. 

Democrats f-ed it up so, you should be asking yourself what they are going to do to fix their mistakes. 

[TexasTiger 14,310]

11 minutes ago, Didba said:

Nah, instead we just drive up our clients’ medical bills… can’t be a bloodsucking ambulance chaser taking 40% if our clients don’t have $$$ in bills😉

Okay, but if you work 8 minutes on a phone call is it a quarter hour?

[wdefromtx 3,611]

5 minutes ago, AU9377 said:

Health care costs were out of control long before the ACA.  We have decided as a nation that we want sick and injured people to get medical care whether or not they can pay for it.  Frankly, if we consider ourselves to be one of the greatest nations, ensuring that our citizens have access to medical care shouldn't be much of a debate.  Every other similar country and every one of our allies has a form of universal health care coverage. 

The question becomes how we do that?  The ACA is full of faults, but it is a step in the right direction.  Trusting the private sector to deal with the problem was a fool's errand.  Doing so has produced the highest costs on the planet.  We pay close to an average of 3 times what citizens of other countries pay for prescription drugs.  Many drugs cost 30 and 40 times  more in the U.S.

The ACA can be made much better, but politicians have to empty their pockets of money from Big Pharma in order to even start the conversation.  It is obscene how those companies suck money from the federal budget.

ACA took costs that were high and sent them through the roof. 

And made insurance worse for many people that had good insurance. 

ACA helped politicians line their pockets. That door went wide open even more so than before, reeling it in is now much harder.