Hardball: Repukes will make it impossible to discharge medical bills through bankruptcy

[txlibdem]

Just heard this on Hardball with Chris Matthews. Rep. Jim Lungren (R-California) stated that the repukes will make repealing "Obama Care" (aka HCR), end the individual mandate but keep the ban on denying insurance due to preexisting conditions in place. When asked how they will stop young people from only getting insurance once they become sick, Rep. Lungren stated that the Republican plan is to make it impossible to free yourself from usurious medical costs via bankruptcy.

The discussion of the individual mandate involved the question of whether young people would buy insurance or (believing they are healthy and don't need it) stay out of the market until they get ill or injured. Matthews likened it to buying auto insurance right after you have an accident. Rep. Lungren, in explaining the Republican plan, was very telling of what their plans for America are.

Chris Matthews: "Are you saying young people are going to insure themselves without being pushed to do it?"

Rep Lungren: "One of the ways you could do it is to show people that if, in fact, they don't have insurance at the time that they do need care that the costs involved are to be borne by them and, in fact, they cannot discharge those in bankruptcy. That is a tremendous incentive for people to 'do the right thing.'"

Note that, last I heard, about 1 million people declare bankruptcy each year due to high medical bills. The Repukes don't want to fix the healthcare system (far too many wealthy donors for their particular brand of crazy), they just want you to be financially ruined if you can't afford health insurance but then get sick or seriously injured. It's all part of their "people need to take personal responsibility" code for ensuring profits for big companies and, thereby, devastation to the middle class and the poor.

[bluestateguy]

1. That has not stopped young people from taking out massive student loans

which cannot be discharged through bankruptcy.

Yet a lot of dumb kids take out $50,000 loans to go to some for profit college with its campus in a shopping mall.

[shanti]

19. i'll tell you why

there are many many many kids in college who are taking the loans/grants simply to have some money to LIVE on. THERE.ARE.NO.JOBS - hello! they aren't thinking of the future, they are worried about eating NOW.

[jwirr]

25. And there is a difference between college loans and medical bills.

The college loans can be taken our of your tax refunds each year if you are not paying for them. I don't think they can do that with medical bills.

[JCMach1]

31. YET... just wait

[jwirr]

32. I hear you - that and debtors prisons.

[rubberducky]

2. Thinning the herd.

[unblock]

3. power taking money from people who have no power.

that's the repukes' game from start to finish.

and it will be, until the powerless figure out a way to join together and exert power effectively.

[cutlassmama]

4. Oh lovely!

:sarcasm:

[walldude]

5. How are the Repukes going to get reform past the Senate and Obama?

They can get whatever they want through the house but they have to get past the senate and Obama's veto pen. Or are we saying the Dems will not obstruct any stupid legislation? Oh wait... shit.

[PA Democrat]

6. More Republican bullshit about people "taking personal responsibility"

Someone tell this corporate tool that most medical bankruptcies involve people who DO have insurance.

How about the filthy pigs who profit from the health insurance scam taking some responsibility to PROVIDE HEALTH CARE????

[txlibdem]

12. I did notice that not one word was said about the insurance co.s having any responsibilities

Their focus is entirely on how to force the consumer to buy health insurance, not one word on what responsibility the insurance carriers might have, nor even a single word on slowing/halting the rapid rise in medical costs in America.

[jtown1123]

38. Yupp. They really think young people are being careless? We can't EFFING afford health care. fin.

[divine_truine]

7. LUNGREN HAD HIS COSTUME RIPPED OFF ON hardball...

...eventhough it appears matthews uses a completely different tone when a repuke is on (in fact, most media shows do; with a few exceptions i.e. rachel, keith, ED, Amy, Laura Flanders, Glenn Greenwald, etc)

ONCE AGAIN, g.o.p./teabaggers HAVE NO PLAN FOR ADDRESSING SKYROCKETTING HEALTHCARE COSTS except to repeat ad nauseaum they only want to repeal 'obamacare'. They continue to whine that their 'ideas' were never implemented!

To the disingenuous scam that is the g.o.p./teabaggers: BRING IT ON A%%HOLES! your time in the House Majority will be short-lived & public-opinion will be vicious!

darryl issa, coward, please invite your ugly arse onto The ED Show or Rachel or Grit TV...i swear to the GodDess of Liberty you will be chewed up and spat to the ground!

[alstephenson]

16. So true. And a big welcome to DU!

:hi:

[shanti]

18. i can't STAND that lying piece of shit!

:grr: :mad: he and issa make me :puke: i have no idea how they get elected here in california, when all the other winners are dems! i swear, just looking at his face makes me want to kick him in the nads!

[handmade34]

30. that has become my new

word for disingenuous republicans: a%%holes!

[tallahasseedem]

8. They are starting to seal the deal...

for a Democratic victory in 2012.

[subterranean]

9. Medical bankruptcy is not limited to the uninsured.

Medical bills are the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in America. And of the 750,000 Americans who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills, more than half of them actually had medical insurance when they got sick. They "did the right thing," but that didn't help them. So if you have heart surgery but the insurance company denies payment due to some technicality, you could be paying off that bill for the rest of your life if Lungren gets his way.

[txlibdem]

13. You'll be paying that bill off for the rest of your life. Repuke heaven.

Does it seem like an accident that the Repuke focus is on ending bankruptcy protection? After stripping you of every dime and every asset you have managed to scrape together during your entire lifetime, you'll owe the balance till the day you die. Instant removal from the middle class and an express ticket to lifelong poverty, all legal with no escape.

[shanti]

20. the poorhouses are ready

:(

[gratuitous]

10. That would be an incentive, all right

As soon as you can persuade a 22-year-old young buck that he could be on the hook for catastrophic medical costs if he doesn't buy insurance. 52-year-old me can remember 22-year-old me with sufficient clarity that I believe I would have rolled the dice on that chance, "saving" the money from an insurance premium for necessities like beer and movies. And, of course, there's going to be those who come up snake eyes, but Rep. Lungren figures those people deserve a lifetime of indentured misery.

If only there was some way to cover everyone through payments to a one entity, which could streamline procedures, cut down unnecessary duplications and paperwork, and provide coverage to all? But what would such a system be called, where everyone was insured through a single payer? That's a real dome-scratcher, that is.

:think:

[ejpoeta]

11. that would be something wouldn't it. and everyone would be in it automatically...

no need to force people, they would pay into it automatically and when they needed it they could just go to a doctor and take care of it before it became something very expensive that they ended up in the er for.

[OKNancy]

14. I also believe that many who do file for bankruptcy for medical already

do have insurance. A 20% co-pay for a serious illness can ruin most anyone but the wealthy.

[lostnfound]

15. It is so helpful to through families out on the street after a debilitating accident or injury

Family values, indeed.

[Betty]

17. time to start building the debtors' prisons

let's get our prison population even higher.. the repuke's dream come true.

[PurityOfEssence]

36. It will also bring forth countless scofflaws

If you're bankrupt and STILL have huge debts, presumably ones for which wages will be garnished, there's very little incentive to work at all. Needless to say, the current trend of evaluating a person's credit rating as part of their worthiness of a job will keep many of these people from the option of even HAVING a job. These people will be sentenced to a life of financial slavery, living in tiny rentals with the threat of eviction over their heads as they struggle to eke by and pay off never-ending debts, with no hope of ever having anything of their own and the threat of homelessness always baying at the door.

Such a model for a large society simply cannot work. The inhumanity of the tough-guy approach is not even really the point; it won't work.

The deep, deep moral ugliness of this needs to be thrown right into their faces in public and they need to be asked why. It needs to be pointed out that insurance policies of the type needed aren't really an option for the young and struggling, regardless of the argument that it's human nature to skimp on this, especially when young.

The conservative meanness of laughing at the personal failure of others is a bad enough human trait, but this kind of recklessness seemingly just to prove one's superiority is ruinous.

[Bonhomme Richard]

21. You might as well just die and get it over with. n/t

[Xolodno]

22. Indentured Servitude.

Thats what they are really trying for.

The whole idea for Student Loans not to be discharged was to prevent any possible brain drain. So if you are offered a job in another country, although it may pay less, but cost of living is lower which makes up for it and perhaps in a resort like area...you will turn it down because you wont' be able to pay for your loans. And with family back in the states and not knowing if you will work again in the USA, this makes it absolute certain you will stay state-side.

With non-discharged medical, you will never be able to own significant asset. Where it be a family vacation home, extra funds for retirment, etc. They will go right after it. Almost guaranteeing the elimination of the middle class in the long haul and transfering wealth. And they can all claim that they covered the cost of medical without ever raising any taxes and thier blind followers will eat it up.

[txlibdem]

24. That's the only conclusion that makes any sense

It's that way for the poor now, working till they die just to keep afloat in this corrupt system. The Repukes just want to figure out how to steal all the assets from the middle class so they, too, will be poor. This is not the country I was told about in school. When did the fascist takeover happen, and how did we not notice?!?

[Xolodno]

26. Here...let me ruin your night some more...

...With an increase of a population in the lower class, you guarantee significant amount of enlistee's in the Military. With "patriotism" and so called "economic incentives" many sign up with the hope that the military will cover the cost of education and a better chance at a good job in the future. Why do you think thier commercials always try to play on about developing skills for the workplace.

I also can't help but wonder what the real reason the right wants a wall on the southern border...its common knowledge it won't stop illegal immigration, but I think everyone knows that wall don't just "help" keep people out...they also keep them in.

[Octafish]

23. Feudalism for the 21st Century

...and run by the Knights of the KKK.

[Safetykitten]

27. Other countries look at us and LAUGH!

[SOS]

28. United Health Care CEO got $102 million in 2009

While the working poor are driven to homelessness by outrageous medical bills.

Medical mercantilism in this country is a disgrace.

[txlibdem]

29. I like the phrase you used

Medical mercantilism is exactly what the Repugs describe as being "good" about American Medicine, enshrined by the full power of our government. The fact that it's the cause of so much destruction of lives and finances is apparently beside the point.

[Odin2005]

33. They want to enslave us, the bastards!

:grr:

[ladjf]

34. These guys must stay awake at night dreaming up more horrible

ways to treat the non-rich. nt

[kiranon]

35. Who'll buy insurance when the world is always ending - this time May 21, 2011.

Said with tongue in cheek. Do all Repubs have so much money they do not worry about catastrophic medical expenses that befall families - even families with insurance? Don't understand it at all.

[jtown1123]

37. What a moron. You aren't supposed to drive w/o insurance.

These assholes are unbelievable. I know so many young people who want health insurance but can't afford the $300 a month it costs. If it were $50 a month, sure. If it's between paying your rent and health insurance, the choice is simple. Exclude it from bankruptcy? Studen loans already can't be discharged. Way to fuck over an entire generation.

[txlibdem]

39. Repukes want to F over EVERY generation, now and till the end of time

That's their wet dream.

Thanks for your post, you brought something to mind that I'd forgotten about: the cost of health insurance is far too high. Much of that is due to the continually rising cost of medical care, that is one of the only truths that come out of the mouths of the insurance industry talking heads and pundits. But a large chunk of the costs are tied up in huge CEO pay and bonuses, advertising, wasted as overhead, and the rest gets spent hiring lawyers to try and get out of paying for medical care.