Earlier quoted context omitted.
We were just one Senate vote away (Joe Lieberman) from getting a public option during the Obama administration. The law essentially needed a 60% supermajority to pass and it had 59% support of our legislature. Quite tragic - the next generation may get to try again.
Yup. The guy from Connecticut had to side with the insurance lobby. He had been on the ticket with Gore in 2000, so this was a total betrayal by a democrat. He didn’t even run for reelection after that vote, so he just burned everyone for no reason other than he wanted to keep the system we have today that hurts people and helps insurance companies. This guy is trash.
Molly Holzschlag has died
81–90 of 95 posts
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Norway? Where retire?
You can find many places with good QOL that are cheaper, like Spain. That said, Norway's pension fund is very attractive...
Taxes in Spain are quite high, even by comparison with other EU states. And it is not easy to get residency for long periods of time unless you have significant financial resources.
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
"I'd prefer not to risk transitioning to a universal system that might provide worse care than what I've always had." Your insurance is employer provided? You risk that every day then. Lots of people in the past few years have woken up to find out that their job - and with it their employer provided insurance - has gone bye-bye. Yeah, we have COBRA to continue it at exorbitant rates for some period of time. But healt…
It's a minuscule risk I'm comfortable with and manage actively. I got into this line of work because there's high demand. I haven't been without a job and make all of my career related decisions to optimize continued employment. I got bored of software 20 years ago and really am only in it for the insurance and pay. I've been laid off and gotten another job the same day.
> I got bored of software 20 years ago and really am only in it for the insurance and pay.
And you don't see how this is a horrible state of affairs? What of those who are forced to the same, but in careers that are actively harmful to their person?
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#84I sent Molly an email when I was a kid with a few questions about one of her HTML books. To my surprise, she sent over signed copies of a few of her books and wrote about me on her blog, something about inspiring the next generation.
Well, 20 years later and actively coding for a living, count me as having been inspired - Thank you Molly!!
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think it’s public, not private.
Ah, I was mistaken. I was correct in that insurance is mandatory, but most people get the insurance from a state-run insurance company: https://www.informedhealth.org/the-german-health-care-system... https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw/2018-2019/eur... [Corrected to admit my error]
First of all, it is not mandatory for everyone. Anyone with an income above an entry level IT job is exempt, but there are other exceptions as well.
Secondly it is not open to anyone. If you opted out of it at a young age you usually cannot come back (it's a bit more complicated). If you were not in the system for a couple of years and are over 55 you are out. So the US retiree will not get in, but the migrant with a low-incone that worked a couple of years in Germany has mandatory health care forever.
Thirdly, it is not a single state-run insurance company. There are many companies that provide mandatory health care and you can choose freely but you have to choose one if health insurance is mandatory for you. The companies differ in premiums and benefits but usually not by much. They also cannot refuse you if (and usually only if) health care is mandatory for you. The biggest ones are AOK, Barmer and maybe Tk. Bigger companies like BMW run their own ones for their employees.
Of course there are many companies that provide private health care. You can have private insurance in addition or, if you are exempt from mandatory health care, instead of the mandatory providers.
Everything is more complicated, but that is the rough idea.
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
Doesn't matter. Even if you are a German citizen and by 55 you've never been in the health system you're out of luck.
In the above described scenario (US-based retiree moving to Germany), its likely the social security totalization treaty applies, giving them access to the health system: https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/german...
This is about social security and has nothing to with health care.
In fact it says:
"Although the agreement between the United States and Germany allows the Social Security Administration to count your German credits to help you qualify for U.S. retirement, disability or survivor benefits, the agreement doesn’t cover Medicare benefits. As a result, we cannot count your credits in Germany to establish entitlement to free Medicare hospital insurance."
There might be other loopholes though.
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
So correct me if I'm wrong, but: * Germany has an Obamacare-like system: Insurance is private, but mandatory. * You can choose and change your insurance provider freely, and they cannot reject you So if that is true, health insurance companies have the risk of older residents joining, whether or not the previously resided in Germany, and it's not like they benefited from their contributions before. So how exactly wou…
I think it’s public, not private.
The insurance companies are private but of course mostly financed by public money.
I think health insurance for civil servants (who are in a completely separate system) is state-run, but regular health insurance is private.
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
F'ing incredible that the USA doesn't have universal healthcare yet. We lose so much efficiency, productivity, and creativity because of it. One of the primary reasons our average living standards keep going down.
Got to fight tooth and nail to protect tax cuts for bajillionaires, yo. Who knows, any one of us might be one someday.
Bootstraps and all that…
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#89Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lots of people don't want universal health care for reasons that are not incredible. I've had employer provided insurance I'm happy with ever since I left my student insurance plan over 25 years ago and have few complaints about it. I'd prefer not to risk transitioning to a universal system that might provide worse care than what I've always had. Kaiser in CA for example is the worst insurance I've had - would not wa…
"I'd prefer not to risk transitioning to a universal system that might provide worse care than what I've always had." Your insurance is employer provided? You risk that every day then. Lots of people in the past few years have woken up to find out that their job - and with it their employer provided insurance - has gone bye-bye. Yeah, we have COBRA to continue it at exorbitant rates for some period of time. But healt…
I’d transition to worse and more expensive healthcare if that’s what it takes to get to healthcare for everyone.
The transition will be painful for many who have good employer provided healthcare, but at least then we’ll have a somewhat unified voice demanding better care at better costs.
Every politician would be beholden to every voter on healthcare issues during every election.
Re: Molly Holzschlag has died
#90it always baffles me why websites like this use such high cloudflare "security" features; ironic that somebody who was an advocate for the Open Web (according to wikipedia) to have a death-announcement be on a not-open page. Thanks tusconsentinel, your site is now a joke to me ! (and no i shall not turn off JShelter)