Health Care Debate - Austin, TX

[Anonymous]

We have to start somewhere. Do not use scare tactics. I am married to a very baptist and republican man, he is racist, he beats me, he let my immigration papers expire, I WAS LEGAL when I married him, now I am in fear for my life, my children, and have to spend thousands in immigration lawayers. HIS MOTHER, a dug addict, spend a little under ONE MILLION dollars for her lung cancer, she smoked pot, cigarrets and did coke until she died. HIS BROTHER, another drug addict, is collecting unemployment when he only used to work about 10 hours a week BECAUSE he does not want to pay child support. THEY are very oposed to the Health care reform (It does not matter if it has OBAMA's name on it) THEY, THEY, I am leaving him, and looking to see what I can do with Immigration, but to me, the ones that oposed this program are all UNINFORM, fear mongers and plain old liars. Like my very Baptist husband.

[Anonymous]

We simply cannot afford this purposed heath care reform.

[Dan in Bastrop]

Health Care and personal care are personal responsibilities not guaranteed under our constitution. Forcing citizens to participate violates our constitution and freedom we cherish. I do not want to pay for the healthcare for people who carry cell phones that cost 5 times more than mine, wear clothing that cost 5 times more than mine, lease vehicles that cost 5 more times than mine and eat 5 more times than me.

[Dan in Bastrop]

Health Care and personal care are personal responsibilities not guaranteed under our constitution. Forcing citizens to participate violates our constitution and freedom we cherish. I do not want to pay for the healthcare for people who carry cell phones that cost 5 times more than mine, wear clothing that costs 5 times more than mine, lease vehicles that cost 5 more times than mine and eat 5 times more than me. I most certainly do not feel I should have to pay for medical costs of those who don't pay taxes, including social security tax.

[Jason Campbell]

The Texas Population According to the US Census report, July 2008 is at 24,326,974.
According to data from the Texas State Data Center, 25% of Texas are uninsured.. or roughly 6.1 million Texans.
A Families USA Report says those 6.1 million uninsured; cost Texans an estimated $4.6 billion dollars annually which calculates out to $754 per uninsured person.
According to the Texas Medical Association, 40% of those 6.1 million, are illegal immigrants.
These illegal immigrants account for 2.21 million people of the 6.1 million uninsured number, or close to $1.6 Billion dollars of the $4.6 billion cost to Texans.
According to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, the burden of paying for the medical care for the uninsured caused an additional increase in Texas Health Insurance premiums to $1,551 on average.
Families USA reports that 80% of the uninsured have at least one family member that works full time, and 66% percents of those have health insurance available through their place of employment, but choose not to participate due to the high premium cost increases from covering the health insurance cost of the uninsured.
If you do the math here, the 66% of the 80% figure is 3.2 million people. If you subtracted the 3.2 million people who could now afford health insurance, and subtracted the 2.21 million illegal immigrants that should be kicked out of the country, that would leave you with only 669,000 uninsured Texas at a total cost of only $5.5 million dollars to the Texas Taxpayer.
This would cut the uninsured cost to the Texas taxpayer by $4.59 BILLION DOLLARS!!

We DO NOT HAVE A HEALTH CARE PROBLEM. We have a huge immigration problem!! If Congress would spend their time, energy, and MY money in fighting illegal immigration, then health insurance premiums would come down, and be affordable to those 66% who have it available, and choose not to participate.

[sam]

I am tired of the Insurance company telling my doctor what to do.Iam tired of insurance denying my medicine.Profit never heals anyone.

[purple drank]

Highways and public schools are not in the constitution so we should have them all destroyed immediately.

[jojo]

agree single payer hr 3200

[Jason Campbell]

Oh Ya. Single Payer sytem is much better. Just ask the Canucks. The video below shows you how much they enjoy their healthcare single payer system!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

[Anonymous]

Company's will drop their insurance plans if the government run insurance is cheaper. Most will pay his so called fine and still come out cheaper.

[Anonymous]

it is morally right to offer health care to all citizens

[Anonymous]

yes

[Jason Campbell]

hcs1999 wrote:

it is morally right to offer health care to all citizens

I agree. It is morally right to offer private health care to all LEGAL US Citizens. If this was done by the government, there would be less then 5% uninsured persons in the USA.

[Common]

I agree that Healthcare should be offered to ONLY legal citizens, but you can't deny helping ANYONE in need of help if they are in Danger.

[Jason Campbell]

Well, if they aren't legal then they shouldn't be here. Austin is one of many Sanctuary cities in Texas that have passed ordinaces requiring local officials to "turn" the other cheek to illegal immigration. As a result, Austin is at the top of the list of texas metro areas contributing to the more than $4.6 Billion dollars annually spent in Texas, on uninsured healthcare.

[Jason Campbell]

We have an illgal immigration problem, not a health care problem

[Common]

It's funny when you think that out of all the problems the U.S. is having you think illegal immigration is one of the biggest. Immigrants might use medical facilities in the U.S. but they also put billions back into the economy from purchasing goods and that doesnt even include how much is taken out of their checks for Social Security which they will never see, who do you think gets that money? but you don't hear that do you?

[Jason Campbell]

Uhmm .. you might want to read my post above regarding the facts and data on illegal immigration and how it directly contibutes to America's uninsured numbers... partucuraily here in Texas. And that's not me, that data comes directly from the Pew Hispanic Center. It's Hispanics declaring that the problem is illegal immigration.

Common wrote:

It's funny when you think that out of all the problems the U.S. is having you think illegal immigration is one of the biggest. Immigrants might use medical facilities in the U.S. but they also put billions back into the economy from purchasing goods and that doesnt even include how much is taken out of their checks for Social Security which they will never see, who do you think gets that money? but you don't hear that do you?

[heymanniceshot]

Maybe not a "PC" explanation, but to hell with being "PC". Jason is dead right. Bottom line, illegal immigration is burdensome to our economy and any number of sources can confirm it with data and analysis. If you want a perfect example of a sanctuary state that is bankrupt and overrun with illegals just look to California - net burden to the state taxpayer $9B annually. Our politicians Democrats and Republicans alike pander to the hispanic vote and shy from the issue - build the goddamn fence already!

[Common]

they might say it's a problem, but your making out to be bigger than it is. The War in Iraq, Health Care, the economy are much bigger. But YOU want to start with immigration. We need to start with the bigger problems first!