Obamacare Helping the USVI --> NOT

LOL Neil, The pool is finished except for painting. I need laborers to paint the fence but JJ, our 8 year old son, is going to attempt the task. Hmm, we will see how long he lasts. The flipflops didn't make it through the plastering. Good thing I bought about 10 pair. I will continue to pay 100% for my employees. I have no turnover.:-).

Have a good one.

Tam

Neil, It's Tammy. I wasn't ranting. Hot flashing most likely but not ranting especially against the poor. I have been just as poor as those poor people you see sleeping on the side of the road. Health care cost are not bankrupting my small business and I pay 100% of my employees medical. Taxes and government regulations are the greatest hardship on my company. This has been the worst year yet. However, because we are self reliant and anticipated we were able to divirsify, overcome, hire new people, keep our private insurance so if someone needs an MRI they can get it, not to mention that one new hire has epilepsy and is covered with this condition under our private insurance policy after 3 months of employment. So, I am doing my part. I believe that most small businesses have been unable to do that because our tax rate just went sky high and the first thing to go was benefits for employees. Both our insurance broker and CPA have told us that we are the only company that they do business with still providing 100% medical coverage. This year because I was nursing my dying mother who could not get the medical care she needed no matter how much I was willing to pay,(because she was old and expendable), I didn't keep on top of the changing laws and though I pay 40% of my income to the government, I got blindsided by a huge tax bill as a result of a NEW law that was carefully tacked on some obscure bill passed through congress. That NEW law created some serious scrambling to keep my business up and running. Every year on December 30th we have a big office party were I give my employees the profits of our company. No profit sharing investments. We pay all the bills for January and then the rest get split up among the employees. We all look forward to that day. We all work hard for it. I explained to them all what happened and that there would be no bonus and they RALLIED! We found that if we split the company into 3 different companies that we could overcome the NEW tax law, hire more people for each company, (have to have a certain amount to get private insurance), make more profit and at the same time lower our costs by moving into an economically depressed area called a hub zone. Did I mention that all my employees with the exception of my oldest daughter is under 30.

Twelve years ago, I lost everything I had and was nailing shingles on a roof in 100 degree heat. I didn't go on welfare, I fed my children and I worked. I am not a rocket scientist and if I can survive anyone who is not physically or mentally challenged can. All the while you think I am on my rich fat capitalistic high horse here in the beautiful virgin islands, I am wearing my $1.50 Walmart flipflops, driving my 12 year old pickup truck, with my gray hair in a very unflattering pony tail, replastering my leaking swimming pool in god awful heat cause I cannot find any unemployed young people who want to do it for me at a decent wage with food included. It is much easier for them to collect a check from the government, deal drugs and lay on the beach.

End of rant Neil. Good night.

PS. I have a great but not an orginal idea about reigning in insurance cost. Just have them compete across state lines. The costs will come way down.

Use IRS Form 8941 to get credit for all the premiums you paid. If you didn't take advantage of both the credit and the deductions for 2010 and 2011 then file 1040x amendments to go back and claim the benegit

@ Tammy: The moderator will delete my message if I suggest who resurfaced my pool but do PM me if need be.

Regarding healthcare, I hold a strickly Canadian viewpoint.

Healthcare should be free and accessable to all and paid for by all through taxation.

Small business that pay for health insurance should be taking advantage of the tax credit the get for paying premiums. Download form 8941 to see how Obama made provisions for small businesses and self employed people to get relief.

As for the lady whose mother on social security had her benefits lowered, she should learn that Obabmacare has no effect on Medicare. Medicare lowers benefits independent of the Affordable Care Act.

And as for those people who oppose socialism... Socialism means public school, paved roads, and public safety. Medicare is socialism too, or would she rather have no Medicare? Socialism means Pell grants, free vaccinations, and emergency rooms that see ebeyonr without requiring a payment upfront. That is why she had obstetric care with only a downpayment.I think they don't realize what socialism really is? Would they rather be like African countries where no insurance means death? What is wrong with being responsible and prepaying health care? What is wrong with everyone chipping in for catastrophes the way we do with car insurance? Even if it means that the us gar eaters pay higher premiums?

lonelyconservative.com/.../ronald-reagans-warning-about-socialized-...

Doesn't look that link will work but anyone interested can google.

I don't really care to discuss politics, religion or try to persuade someone to my point of view. Everyone has their own thoughts feelings, beliefs and up until now entitled to exercise those rapidly disappearing FREEDOMS. I never thought I would see what is happening to our country. I tell my children if I could take you back in time to when I was a child and then fast forward you to the present it would scare the hell out of you. Kind of like the frog in boiling water. If you put him in cold water and slowly bring it to a boil he will not jump out and will slowly die.

Socialism is the philosphy of failure, the creed of ignorance, the gospel of envy, it's inherent virture is the equal sharing of misery.

Winston Churchill

Miss Justice, my businesses don't qualify because I pay my employees too well. My obstectric care was full price but broken down in payments that the clinic deemed I could pay based on my income at the time. It took me two years of monthly payment to pay the hospital bill. This country had a system that worked but became overburdened by by a society that encourages and supports not working. My bother and I were delivering papers at 8 and 10, cutting the grass of our elderly neighbors, babysitting, bagging groceries, pumping gas and any after school job we could find. Now children don't work because they have so much homework and extra curricular activities and then go to college for 4 to 10 years while their now elderly parents support them and keep them on their medical insurance praying that they may find a job in their field when they graduate and possible help them pay off the hundreds of thousands of dollars they had to borrow to send them to college in the first place. Never mind. I am beating a dead horse here and I know it.

A young woman on her 2nd unwed pregnancy said to her coworker the other day. "I hate my job. I hate coming to work. Now I have to pay a co pay when I go to the doctor. It was so much easier when I had no insurance. Everything was free. I also could get food stamps, a monthly check, not have to work and wick until the baby was 5. She has fully paid for medical through her job, 12 weeks paid maternity leave, two weeks payed vacation, two weeks paid regular and medical leave." I told her she was right and she should just walk right out the door. She informed me that she can't do that because the WEFARE CHECK wouldn't cover her bills. I told her that next time she should find a baby daddy that would support her and her children.

dougtamjj - you are not alone...

LOL Neil, The pool is finished except for painting. I need laborers to paint the fence but JJ, our 8 year old son, is going to attempt the task. Hmm, we will see how long he lasts. The flipflops didn't make it through the plastering. Good thing I bought about 10 pair. I will continue to pay 100% for my employees. I have no turnover.:-).

Have a good one.

Tam

You're a peach.

But did you ever think by making employees pay for part, you might also make them try to be healthier? In fact, I wish they'd charge me BY WEIGHT, ...then I might lose a few more pounds.

Saw a report in the paper today that the number of companies offering healthcare coverage was ALREADY DROPPING over the past few years, BEFORE Obamacare. If the Supreme Court rules against it, we're in for a healthcare apocalypse of higher costs and more people who can't pay but still go to the hospital.

---And who's going to pay for it? TAMI and NEIL are going to pay for it in higher premiums and higer taxes. So in advance, on behalf of all the people who will not be able to afford health insurance but still seek care, or can't afford healthcare in-between jobs, but still get sick and show up in the emergency room, and all those with pre-existing conditions who will be denied coverage, I thank us. 😎

Neil, I do love a good debate but I have already shared too much on a moving forum. My situation has nothing to do with relocation to the VI. We could continue to go back and forth but it would take some concrete proof to convince me that my experience with socialized medicine was anything but horrible. To see my beloved country follow the path to socialism fills me with sorrow. A topic for another day and another forum.

As far as my employees. My family as I like to call them, they do pay. They pay by working hard, coming in early and staying late if needed, by scheduling their vacations when we are less busy, by being honest and for the most part being happy to come to work. (With the exception of the hormonal pregnant one who doesn't want to work anywhere), Their reward is a good paying job, good benefits, a good work environment and employers who care about them. They know without them there would be no company. I would much rather give them full medical, good wages and all the profits of the company for a bonus each year than give one penny to a government (IRS) that want me to support able bodied people who can provide for themselves. As for dictating their personal lives by forcing them to live according to what the government deems healthy, (ie, proper weight, drinking habits, smoking whatever), I'm not their mommy and they can be as fat or as skinny as they want. If our health insurance premiums go up they get less bonus. We do however have a company membership at planet fitness. They do not have to go. They all go every morning before work. Except for pregnant harmonal doesn't want to work anyway girl. LOL. They don't need me or the government to tell them how to live.

One last note. I have one young lady working for me. She discovered a lump in her breast this past weekend. Monday she had an appointment with our family and company doctor. Today she has a mamogram and an ultrasound. It would not have been a preventative mamogram that is free with obamacare. It was considered a diganostic test so it had to be paid for. She had a $40 copay and they would have taken payment if she could not pay it in one lump sum. My question to you and vicanuk is how long would she have had to wait in a country such as Canada to have those diagnostic test run and then how long would she have had to wait for treatment if it was needed. I do know that if she had been 70 instead of 30 even here in the states now she would be considered expendable.

One last note. I have one young lady working for me. She discovered a lump in her breast this past weekend. Monday she had an appointment with our family and company doctor. Today she has a mamogram and an ultrasound. It would not have been a preventative mamogram that is free with obamacare. It was considered a diganostic test so it had to be paid for. She had a $40 copay and they would have taken payment if she could not pay it in one lump sum. My question to you and vicanuk is how long would she have had to wait in a country such as Canada to have those diagnostic test run and then how long would she have had to wait for treatment if it was needed. I do know that if she had been 70 instead of 30 even here in the states now she would be considered expendable.

I don't want to debate this either, But just 'cause I'm anal when it comes to this stuff, I checked with a friend of mine in Toronto this evening who has breast cancer. Her answer was 3 days to Dr visit, then 2 more for the imaging tests. Then 3 weeks later for surgery. About as long as it took my friend in Ohio who works for the hospital system that's treating her. The post surgery chemo was timely (a problem with some classes of chemo drugs here in the US). That was almost a year ago, and so far, she's doing well. She said her experience is pretty typical. We've had discussions for years about our differing health systems, so I pretty much expected what she was going to tell me.

On a personal note, my Mom, found out that she had breast cancer a little over a year ago. While she was fighting and succombed to another illness shortly after, the Dr's had the imaging tests completed, and a new cancer doc had seen her and submitted her treatment plan (surgery) which was OK'd. She was 84.

Hope that helps answer your questions, and gives you some food for thought about your assumptions on medical services to the elderly.

Thank you watruw8ing. Good luck to your friend and especially to your mother. I never mind being wrong. In fact I would welcome it. I sincerely hope my experiences are not the norm nor the future of our country. I don't think I am wrong expecially with the feedback of medical doctor friends who share their experiences with me. In any case, I am grieving horribly for my mother and there is not an ounce of my being that does not feel like an open raw wound so my reasoning, and mental processes my be dictated by emotional feelings. I think I am going to go walk about for while and sort it all out.

Tami... Both you and I have been on this forum for several years. I have long enjoyed your stories of JJ and how he has enjoyed the island experience. It will be fun to hear about his fence painting.

When it comes to healthcare for everyone it appears that you and I might be islands apart. I have long believed that in a civilized society there are some things that EVERYONE should have without question. The most important one to me is... HEALTHCARE... regardless of ability to pay, moral character, place of birth or whatever.

We all have our stories and our personal prejudice. When I say personal prejudice, I mean just that. There are some people , practices and stuff that I just don't like. BUT.. I am ready to pay through taxes, fees or charitable contributions a part of the costs to provide health coverage to those groups, people...etc that I do not like or approve of...Even if they do not choose to get a job.

So, we all work hard and have our own stories about healthcare. The fact is that healthcare in the USA has become a major money maker for too many big corporations. I think that is wrong on many levels. The billion dollar insurance giants, the billion dollar at pharmaceutical manufacturers. the billion dollar care providers (Sutter, Kaiser, Etc) are all guilty of abusing sick people who need help... not bankruptcy.

The answer is a simple (maybe not so simple) government plan that shares the cost and assures that every person has access to needed medical coverage without fear of bankruptcy. The reason we do not have this is the POWER and money the huge medical corporations have used to influence our government and every day people.

I get real tired of people talking about FREE healthcare. Nothing is free. We all pay in various ways. Sometimes it is the extra we pay because a poor person goes to the emergency room for a minor problem and has no insurance. Sometimes it is when a person like former Vice President Dick Cheney has a multi million dollar full heart transplant. Yes, you and I helped pay for that procedure through our taxes that paid his retired government health plan. If I ever need a heart transplant, I hope I can get it without bankrupting my family.

It is time to do this healthcare thing right.... That means we all pay our share.

ms information has a lot of good points.
i find it sad to think that last year a two week old ( or just born, can't remember) baby was denied care because it was considered a pre-existing condition. how is that possible.
i do not think a person should be denied health care that could save a persons life because they do not have health insurance. i know that people without insurance will go to the hospital for minor illnesses because they do not have to pay. that is completely wrong. of course when we have had to go to the emergency room here, we had to pay about 140.00 just for that visit-no insurance at the time.
the insurance companies need a serious overhauling to their system as do the drug companies.
another thing, most dr's will not accept a payment plan. the hospital will though.

Lets put something in perspective. All of the income tax collected in the USVI, stays in the USVI. Plus there are the other taxes (hotel, excise, import, etc.) that all stay here. With all of that revenue, the US federal government still needs to grant 40% of the funding necessary to support the USVI government budget. In essence, all of the tax payers in the 50 states are currently subsidizing the USVI ..... with nothing in return. This is similar to the US Post Office. It takes one stamp to send a letter across town in New York City. It takes the same one stamp to send a letter from NYC to STT. Which letter costs the PO more to deliver?

To get health care that is fully covered by the USVI government, would take a drastic increase in USVI income tax or the addition of some other tax .... or more subsidies from the Fed.s with nothing in return again. Or we should expect the standard of care to go down. You just can't have it both ways.

Tami... Both you and I have been on this forum for several years. I have long enjoyed your stories of JJ and how he has enjoyed the island experience. It will be fun to hear about his fence painting.

When it comes to healthcare for everyone it appears that you and I might be islands apart. I have long believed that in a civilized society there are some things that EVERYONE should have without question. The most important one to me is... HEALTHCARE... regardless of ability to pay, moral character, place of birth or whatever.

We all have our stories and our personal prejudice. When I say personal prejudice, I mean just that. There are some people , practices and stuff that I just don't like. BUT.. I am ready to pay through taxes, fees or charitable contributions a part of the costs to provide health coverage to those groups, people...etc that I do not like or approve of...Even if they do not choose to get a job.

So, we all work hard and have our own stories about healthcare. The fact is that healthcare in the USA has become a major money maker for too many big corporations. I think that is wrong on many levels. The billion dollar insurance giants, the billion dollar at pharmaceutical manufacturers. the billion dollar care providers (Sutter, Kaiser, Etc) are all guilty of abusing sick people who need help... not bankruptcy.

The answer is a simple (maybe not so simple) government plan that shares the cost and assures that every person has access to needed medical coverage without fear of bankruptcy. The reason we do not have this is the POWER and money the huge medical corporations have used to influence our government and every day people.

I get real tired of people talking about FREE healthcare. Nothing is free. We all pay in various ways. Sometimes it is the extra we pay because a poor person goes to the emergency room for a minor problem and has no insurance. Sometimes it is when a person like former Vice President Dick Cheney has a multi million dollar full heart transplant. Yes, you and I helped pay for that procedure through our taxes that paid his retired government health plan. If I ever need a heart transplant, I hope I can get it without bankrupting my family.

It is time to do this healthcare thing right.... That means we all pay our share.

I couldn't agree more. Insurance used to be about spreading risk. Now it's about lining the pockets of the already obscenely rich who DO NOT reinvest in job creating businesses. I'm for a single payor system with the care being provided by private sector docs and hospitals and administered by not-for-profit organizations. Free market rules don't apply in oligarchies such as what we currently have.

this is a wonderfully robust conversation on a timely topic. everyone's perspective is worthy as it's based upon experience as well as knowledge.

like in the story of the blind men who each described the elephant differently based upon what he was actually able to touch, so does the affordable healthcare debate continue.

as i have stated before, the affordable health care initiative does not grant free health care. it provides the opportunity for more americans with the means, to access health care coverage on their own.

those who do not have this provided by employers, self-employed, with pre-existing conditions... they would have options that are more affordable. affordable. did i say "affordable?"

those who cannot afford to be in the open market have access to medicaid and medicare. or we all collectively pay. personal responsibility, which seemed to be the "catchphrase" of the opponents of so-called "obamacare" (which was started in the truman era, get it right) seems not to matter so much. it does matter. when you can afford it, you pay your own way.

with greater access to affordable health care, the struggle and sacrifice outlined in some of the posts in this thread might not be necessary and people could enjoy a better quality of life, be able to afford better educations for themselves and their loved ones, and be able to save better for retirement or investments in the family such as real property.

i am FOR affordable health care for ALL.

If Obamacare survives the Supreme Court, I'm most looking forward to:
1) Coverage for pre-existing conditions
2) The end of arbitrary withdrawals of insurance coverage
3) Not going bankrupt if I have a major illness

Even though I have healthcare insurance now, it is an individual plan, and those plans are particularly vulnerable to abuses #1 and #2 by insurance companies, leaving me with problem #3. Currently, individual health insurance is primarily designed for profit, not to help customers who need it.

What does "affordable health care" cover?

i have had to wait a year for a surgery i need as it was a pre existing condition. when i went to see my dr in december he really wanted me to have that surgery at that time. we are now 5 months later. i will be able to have the surgery if i can afford to fly to stt, pay for my husbands ticket there, pay for a hotel room and any co pays i need to pay and set up a payment plan for the hospital for the remainder. even with health insurance it is not cheap. 4 years ago when i was first told i needed this surgery, the cost would have been about 10 grand. i did not have the surgery at that time. living paycheck to paycheck is no fun. but thank god i finally have health insurance even if it does take half of my pay per pay period.
someone called a radio talk show yesterday and told people to just not eat lunch out everyday then they could afford health care. how out of the times that person is. there is no individual health coverage here. and even if there were, it would come to close to 800 a month. or more.

someone called a radio talk show yesterday and told people to just not eat lunch out everyday then they could afford health care. how out of the times that person is. there is no individual health coverage here. and even if there were, it would come to close to 800 a month. or more.

Thinking our last year's premiums and out of pocket costs for hubby's hospital admission and RX drugs, I just want to know where that person eats lunch. I need to avoid that place.

he was figuring 15 dollar lunches times 1 person=300 for health care which is ridiculous because if you could get health care it would cost more than twice that

Lets put something in perspective. All of the income tax collected in the USVI, stays in the USVI. Plus there are the other taxes (hotel, excise, import, etc.) that all stay here. With all of that revenue, the US federal government still needs to grant 40% of the funding necessary to support the USVI government budget. In essence, all of the tax payers in the 50 states are currently subsidizing the USVI ..... with nothing in return. This is similar to the US Post Office. It takes one stamp to send a letter across town in New York City. It takes the same one stamp to send a letter from NYC to STT. Which letter costs the PO more to deliver?

To get health care that is fully covered by the USVI government, would take a drastic increase in USVI income tax or the addition of some other tax .... or more subsidies from the Fed.s with nothing in return again. Or we should expect the standard of care to go down. You just can't have it both ways.

Lucy, you make an excellent point about the Federal subsidies we all benefit from.
But such redistributions of wealth for the benefit of all were designed to IMPROVE local situations, especially rural and poor areas.

Yet what do the islands have to show for it? ....more poverty and inepititude. So I don't think it's about subsidies.

Even if the VI wasn't so subsidized, ...and had its own proper tax base (reasonable property and sales taxes like nearly everywhere else) , it wouldn't change the culture of kleptocracy and inepitude in our lifetime.

Neil - yes you are correct in that the socialistic experiment of the USVI Gov.t is a failure. And to think that there will be more services (.... like gratis health care) under the current infrastructure just will not happen. Never is there any discussion about the USVI Gov.t organization consolidation, down sizing and budget reduction. If there was and a plan implemented, then maybe there would be more monies for extra services. The USVI has about 110,000 residents and a gov.t with all the various departments, legislature, etc. of a state like Florida that has 19 million. The in-balance should be investigated and corrected.

What does "affordable health care" cover?

affordable health care is the increased ability of adult americans to purchase health insurance for themselves and their loved ones. what is covered, will depend on the plans purchased. just as with any insurance. hope that helps.

What does "affordable health care" cover?

It's a combination of certain minimum required coverage, plus whatever each insurance company chooses to offer. There is lots of info and links here: http://www.healthcare.gov/using-insurance/understanding/services/index.html

Some excerpts:

"Starting in 2014, certain essential health benefits will be covered under all policies."

"What services are covered under my insurance policy?
It depends on what policy you buy. Coverage under many individual policies today can be very limited. This will change."

"new health plans must cover certain preventive services without cost sharing"

"Pre-existing conditions for anyone: Starting in 2014, these same policies will not be allowed to exclude coverage for pre-existing conditions for anyone."

"How can I find out what is covered in my insurance plan?
Read your policy. Often this is hard to do. Insurance policies can be complex documents and not always easy to follow. Call your insurance company for more information about what your policy covers.

Starting in 2012, all insurance papers must be written in clear and understandable language that explains what’s covered and how it works, so you can understand your choices more clearly and decide what coverage is really best for you."

Well, thanks to Obamacare my OB/GYN is no longer taking Medicare patients. Offered to pay cash and was told that that was against the law!!! Called every doctor's office in this county of about 25K and none were taking new Medicare patients and were phasing out all together Medicare patients that they have been seeing. So, what good is having the govt. insurance if no one will see you???? For the doctors to be not allowed to take cash is just plain insane, but, once you are identified as a Medicare patient, they are not allowed to take your cash.
Change of subject, but, Lasik surgery has never been paid by insurance as it is elective procedure. Just a few years back it was 5K and now some eye doctors charge only $500. and better care. The free market works and works well. But, let the govt get involved and the price goes up. Or, you can get no care at all.