Here in Canada, I regularly argue that even dental care should be part of our single-payer Medicare system.
Meanwhile, in the USAâŚ
Right up the road from me, happens every year. Thousands attend these free health clinics, many friends of mine in the local medical communities volunteer their expertise and time to help them, but itâs never enough (by which I only mean thereâs always more people who need and deserve help) and these people still keep voting Republican.
Well, thatâs the kicker, isnât it? My father-in-law was from Galax, and I guarantee you that if he was still alive heâd be ranting and raving about Obama being a Muslim terrorist and Obamacare being socialistâŚand then heâd ask one of us to please drive him to the VA.
Being from a rural area, I think some of you underestimate how much import people put (irrationally, I think) on gun ownership, and how equally irrational fear over gun ownership can be. Democrats wonât win the hearts and minds of these folks if theyâre determined that the Dems are trying to disarm them.
Source: Iâm in the ass-end of Illinois, which is like an upscale version of southwest VA. We get a lot of tourist money from Chicago hunters every fall and winter.
Of course, theyâre not, and the people keep lapping up the diarrheal bullshit sold to them by Fox News as if it was the nectar of the gods.
For these people to vote in their own best interests requires them to be better-educated than they are, ultimately. And at the moment, some of the most entrenched folks donât WANT to be better-educated. So maybe their kids. But then the public school system there is FUBARâd because it depends on the property taxes of poor people who vote in representatives that hate taxes andâŚ
I guess maybe a president who wanted to inject a lot of money into the educational system specifically of poor places might enact some change in 10-20 years assuming that it then doesnât get dismantledâŚmaybeâŚ?..but even that wonât touch the private schoolsâŚ
So much for the USAâs membership in the ranks of âdevelopedâ nations.
Iâve lived and worked in Europe, even have a Swedish social security numberâŚand I was disappointed in the mediocre care I got from that system. But everyone gets that care; no one goes without. We all got what we needed.
It was great to repatriate to the US for a lot of reasonsâŚbut health care was one of the most important. As a member of a very good health plan, I get the best health care in the world. I can pay my part of it, while the plan picks up the much greater share of the costs. Itâs expensive, but worth it. I can afford it.
That this situation is happening here in my country is an abomination. A national solution was carefully drawn up and then legislated with so much opposition that it still blows my mind. But it got through, imperfections and all. It simply called for each state to sign on for the benefit and welfare of its people. And yetâŚ
I am a genuine independent; âa pox on both partiesâ I have traditionally said. But Republican behavior during the present administrationâs terms has gone beyond the pale. The base motivation has been racist, despite the bullshit spewed out by GOP apologists. And it IS very obvious bullshit. These assholes have no idea what socialism really is, nor do they seem interested in understanding the enormous differences between the Affordable Care Act and socialized medicine. They simply cannot bring themselves to accept a good programâŚbecause that program originated with that âblack communistâ in the WH.
John McCain made it impossible for me to vote for him because of who he chose as a running mate. The GOP is making it impossible for me to vote for any of its candidates because of the vileness of its behavior, the inhumanity of its so-called âvaluesâ, itâs appeal to ignorance, and the phony-baloney âpatriotismâ mouthed by its leading spokespeople.
Exhibit A for the case could be right there in Virginia.
As much as I would like this to be about Virginiaâs rejection of expanded Medicaid, itâs very possible that a lot of these folks in line are already receiving Medicaid. Medicaid never has covered dental care and eye exams for adults. At least not in my state.
Hold onâŚI have it on good authority that nobody dies in America due to lack of insurance. In fact, this guy ran for President so he canât be lying to usâŚ
âWe donât have a setting across this country where if you donât have insurance, we just say to you, âTough luck, youâre going to die when you have your heart attack,ââ he explained. âNo, you go to the hospital, you get treated, you get care, and itâs paid for, either by charity, the government or by the hospital.â
âWe donât have people that become ill, who die in their apartment because they donât have insurance.â
No, apparently they die in the parking lot of shitty strip mall.
More likely they mostly donât vote at all.
In the 2012 midterm elections 35% of eligible voters from the bottom 25% by income (<$25,000) voted vs 57% of the top 25% (>~$85,000).
There are many reasons for this, of course.
Like working 3 part-time jobs, none of which will let you have time off to go vote?
I used to be all about a federal voting holiday, until I realized that the establishments at which the working poor are employed are exactly the ones that donât close for federal holidays. Name the last federal holiday that you can remember when you would not have been able to go out and get gas if you really wanted toâŚ
Now Iâm more about extended/weekend voting and/or voting by mail. Voting by mail works for me in Colorado, I donât see why it wouldnât work nationwide other than cries from the Right about the âvoter fraudâ boogeymanâŚ
Tax the rich, cut military, and scale back stupid law enforcement. Then build a single payer healthcare system for all. You know, do everything everyone wants except for a few thousand rich people. Someone tell me America doesnât have an aristocracy.
Same here.
I live in flyover territory, so we donât get much national news coverage, but we will be holding our 6th annual Mission of Mercy early next year.
Iâve never understood why dental is not included in Medicare/Medicaid or in regular health insurance. Is the dental industryâs lobbying group subpar or something? One of the big things I learned being involved with my grandmotherâs care while she lived in a nursing home is that dental care is probably one of the biggest things you can do to live a long, healthy life, because once you stop being able to chew and swallow properly, well, youâre not getting proper nutrition.My father is currently paying outrageous sums to try to get his dental taken care of; itâs easily the biggest expense he has had for the past two years.
In Minnesota, both dental and vision is covered by Medicaid. And chiropractic care and some acupuncture (Iâm not kidding). And to ensure that there were dentist that took Medicaid and its low coverage rates, they made the law state that if you wanted to be a provider for the 40,000 State employees with dental insurance, you had to take Medicaid too.
In other words, it doesnât have to be this bad.
Almost 14,847 votes were cast in Wise County, VA, out of a population of approximately 25,000 registered voters, or about 59% They vote at a moderately high percentage, and 75% of them voted Republican in 2012.
Over here, we call those âSundaysâ. The working poor canât all be working, or can they? I get you Americans have their stores open on sundays, too - they arenât allowed to open in Germany - but thatâs true for other countries, where people still manage to vote.
And thereâs till postal voting in most states, iirc.
A large part of why the GOP so aggressively blocked weekend and vote by mail was actually fears of people who would vote against them. In some states they blocked Sunday bus-to-vote after churches, and elsewhere blocked students who have hardly any time during the week. Sadly it was just another attempt to control who it was that showed up at the polls.
The last major election was really scary for voting rights.
In addition, gum disease is, by itself, a risk factor for coronary artery disease. Also possibly connected to strokes.
Yep, poor mouth health is really very bad for your body overall!
My home state. Always last to enter the modern era. sigh
