Thread: 10 lessons learned from this election

On a side note, but in conjunction with this thread, does anyone find it fascinating that part of Obama's success this campaign can be partially contributed to the changing face of our nation? Minorities, especially female minorities are in the numbers to out-vote the white vote.

We are at a point where the powerful white male is forced to think of others besides himself. I find that to be an amazing historical milestone.

GOP Asks: What Went Wrong for Romney? - Yahoo! News

Although the focus is already shifting to the looming fiscal cliff, there is no shortage of soul-searching, blame-gaming and hand-wringing on the part of Republicans after Mitt Romney's stinging defeat on Tuesday night -- and don't expect it to end anytime soon.
"This race wasn't a problem of candidate, it was a problem of fit," one smart GOP strategist told The Note. "The GOP no longer fits the modern electorate. We have fundamental issues with Latinos, young voters and women."
Another keen Republican political observer, J. Hogan Gidley, who was communications director for Rick Santorum's presidential bid, did not mince words with ABC's Russell Goldman.
"The Republican Party hasn't done a great job, and should be ashamed of itself, for not going after all Americans," Gidley said. "We can't take any one group for granted and need to look for ways to appeal to black and Latino voters."

Do you guys not know how much your insurance is going to cost you? Exactly why do you think this guy didn't have hard numbers to base his decision on? Seriously, that is my biggest issue with people; wait and see how this works out instead of trying to plan for it in advance. EVERYONE should be pro-active. If he knows that he won't be able to make it with his current employee load because that stupid law isn't going to be overturned, it would be very very irresponsible to wait to cut them until he couldn't afford them anymore. Hopefully the cuts will mean that his other employees won't lose their jobs. I will *NEVER* understand why anyone would want the federal government involved in their healthcare. One program. That's all I'm asking for. One program the federal government has run efficiently OR effectively.....doesn't even have to be both.

eta-It shouldn't matter what your skin color is when it comes to the issues. Why does everything always have to be about race? Shouldn't they have the same wants and needs as white people?

We have our open enrollment happening right now and our healthcare costs have not gone up. Anthem BCBS. This is the second year in a row that we've not seen an increase.

Programs that the federal govt has done well?
Interstate highway system
Higher education/land-grant institutions established by the Morrill Act
NIH
NOAA
NREL
FAA


The federal government has made investments where others will not.

I'm actually optimistic that Obamacare will help the economy. I use my own family as an example. My dh and I have always wanted to start our own business. Until now, that hasn't been an option bc the only way we can get healthcare coverage for him is through employee sponsored plans. We have may more options under the new healthcare bill.

I also think we ARE providing subsidized healthcare to folks now-- but we do it by ambulance and ER, the two MOST expensive ways to deliver healthcare. We spend more per capita than other countries with much poorer outcomes. Why is that? I don't think the plan is perfect, but do feel it is important.

I also think it is an outrage that the life expectancy for a person in poverty is 10-14 years LESS than a person not in poverty. I guess you could say I'm pro-life in that regard.

Lillie, or someone else, what will the estimated health care costs be under Obamacare? I admit to being too lazy to go back and look for the answer somewhere in the posts!

My FIL and uncle have both been doing the math for months on what Obamacare will cost them. My FIL thinks he can continue without laying anyone off but will have to do away with the Christmas bonus he gave them and possibly the # of vacation days. My uncle will be laying off 3 people, which he will have to do in order to be able to afford to keep his other employees without going under. They both have been running successful small businesses for over 30 years so I trust that they know what is necessary to continue with that.
I think that not acknowledging that Obamacare and increased taxes on small businesses will hurt them is sticking your head in the sand.

Personally I can say since Obamacare has passed, our health insurance has gone up $200/month. You can blame that on whatever you want, but they told DH is was a direct result of Obamacare. Nothing in this world is free. Everyone under the age of 26 being on their parents, free BC, the insurance companies are not going to just absorb those costs. Whether or not you think it is a justified expense or not, costs are going to go up and they are going to go up a lot unless your employer is willing to absorb the cost. If your employer absorbs the cost, they will just have to have less employees.

I do not know about anyone else, but $200 a month extra is a lot to us.

We are having open enrollment for healthcare right now too. My healthcare costs have gone up in one area only, and that has nothing to do with Obamacare. In addition to partially (but certainly not completely) paying for my insurance premiums, my company also puts a certain amount of money into my HSA every year. They have had this program in place for several years now, and every year until this year, I have gotten $1200 in my HSA. This year I got $800, so I suppose you can say my health care costs went up $400 a year. However, this has nothing to do with Obamacare, because the reason that they are putting less money in my HSA account this year is because I crossed a salary cap this year. In other words, they will only fund $1200 to people who make less than X in annual salary each year. Once you hit X, they knock it down to $800. Once you hit Y, they knock it down again. And so on. I made over X this year for the first time, so I got bumped down on my HSA account. However, that has nothing to do with Obamacare, since these policies have been in place ever since they adopted the HSA program (I think in 2008?) And obviously, what I lost in health care benefits I more than gained in salary, so I'm not complaining too hard.

In my experience, health insurance often increases. I remember when I worked, we got a govt raise and at the same time our health care went up (more than our raise).

However, the way the healthcare itself is going is not good. People haven't realized it yet. Even I am happy to have a special option for insurance for my mom that used to not exist, but in the long run I know that we are running ourselves down into the ground.

Originally Posted by myyams

In my experience, health insurance often increases. I remember when I worked, we got a govt raise and at the same time our health care went up (more than our raise).

$100 per month two years in a row is more than a little. If you do not except that prices are going up, what do you think is paying for the extra benefits?

I have check stubs dating back to 2000. My insurance has gone up consistently by 15 - 20% every year. I don't understand how it can be blamed on Clinton (2000 - 2001), Bush (2001 - 2009), or Obama (2009 - current). But I guess it's easier to blame Obama care than actually look at how much your (general) health care cost over the past 15 years or so.