Leaderboard

This sounds similar to the problems we face when our government dabbles in making childcare more universal, or so I'm told. I'm fortunate enough to have a wife who can stay at home with the kids so we haven't had to worry about it. Anyway, according to other family members and friends who have children in daycare, the moment the government agrees to pay a certain amount of daycare expense, the cost of daycare magically increases because the daycare providers know that people were used to paying X amount out of pocket and can still do so, so since the fee for service isn't also capped by the government, they simply increase the costs. All of that taxpayer funding simply makes those daycares a bit more profitable.

6 weeks around here:

As a health insurance professional, I can confirm this to be true from my knowledge and experience. If there were no such thing as health insurance, most healthcare costs would be much lower. What people don't understand about health insurance is that the discounted amount paid by the insurance company is, for all intents and purposes, a 'write-off' that the provider is willing to 'eat' in exchange for guaranteed payment and preferred provider status for a given insurance network. One way to fix this would be for all health insurance to operate on a reimbursement basis and for all networks to be eliminated, this would enable everyone to attend the doctor of their choosing. In order for this to work, health insurance would need to work on an indemnity basis with specific payments and specific maximums for each service. Individuals could choose a plan that would reimburse what they wanted to have covered and they could negotiate with the doctors and hospitals for any overage on an individual basis. This would lead to hospital pricing transparency, as most hospitals would not be interested or willing to negotiate with every customer. Then, with transparency, hospitals would compete via pricing and/or amenities. The health insurance would not have anything to do with the hospital at all, only with the customer, and the customer would be able to know up front exactly what the cost would be for each type of service, with the option (in most cases) to refuse any service they felt unnecessary. Anyway, just my two cents. This type of market focuses on all parties marketing to the customer. Right now, hospitals and insurance companies make the deals and nobody knows how much their ER visit actually costs until they get the bill, even if they are self pay with no insurance - ridiculous.

Why end there? If people can't eat, they die. Universal Food. If people don't have a roof over their heads, they die. Universal Shelter. If people don't have clothing they die. Universal Clothing. The American Experiment has proven that the best way (not the perfect way because there's no such thing) to alleviate poverty and suffering is through a free market economy working under the US Constitution. This especially is the best way when applied to a multiculturally diverse group of people.

@Tyme I'm going to address the smoking. @MormonGator e-cigs or vaping is WORSE than smoking regular cigarettes. Read why https://www.webmd.com/lung-cancer/vaping-lung-cancer @Tyme I smoked 1 to 1.5 packs of menthol cigarettes (menthol are the worst on the esophagus and lungs) for 29 years. Four times during those years I tried to stop by going cold turkey. Never lasted longer than about 18 hours. Finally, after losing 35 pounds and thinking that NOW I would be able to breathe better with that excess weight gone, imagine my shock and despair when after nearly falling to my knees after rushing up 22 stairs to get some products at work! Talking with a RN friend of mine about that, she suggested that I try one of the patch's for quitting smoking. I can't remember the brand name, only that it was the 3 patch program. Because I am so very susceptible to drugs, I started out with Patch 2. Was on that for the 6 weeks, then dropped down to Patch 3. Another girlfriend of mine had a partial pack of the Patch 3, it only had 6 patches instead of 7. By the time I used the last one, I realized that my craving for cigarettes was gone. Along with using the patches, I used carrot, celery and english cucumber sticks as substitutes for the cigarette holding hand to mouth habit. I had learned the hard way to substitute a healthy habit when I quit drinking alcohol. I craved sugar then, and ate so much I gained 50 pounds in 5 months! Also, I was told by the support group I joined through the Patch company that I would need to Clean Up my home of residual smoke/nicotine on the ceilings, walls, furniture & fabrics. Shortly after going on the patch, I spent two weeks scrubbing my 14' x 50' trailer house. From the ceilings to the floors. Didn't scrub the upholstered furniture or the carpets. Did take all the window coverings down and launder them as well as super scrubbing the windows. Also, the bathroom (where the washer & dryer were) was THE hardest to get clean of the nicotine. The tub/shower wall unit was so infused with the nicotine that it took a week of spraying pure bleach on the walls, closing the bathroom door with the exhaust fan on and stuffing a throw rug under the bottom door gap so that my cat and dog wouldn't get "gassed" to death! I would leave it on all day while I was at work. Then come home and rinse it all off. Then repeat & rinse for the full 7 days. I scrubbed all the paneling, and the entire trailer was all that cheap paneling, with pine sol, TSP and HOT water. I could only do 8 foot wide section each day after work, and during the week ends I would do all of the cupboards and 1/4 of the wood furniture. BUT once the smell of stale tobacco was gone when I entered a warm home (literally warm, as in 75-78 degrees), that trigger to smoke was eliminated. The directions on the Patch said to spend less time in the rooms where you smoked the most, occupy the rooms where you didn't smoke more. Well for me, the only "room" I didn't smoke in was the clothes closet! I removed all of the ashtrays. Not just washed them up and put them in a cupboard - I removed them from the house. Gave them to the Salvation Army! When my then husband came home from working [he installed vinyl siding on homes and would be in another town/county for weeks at a time] I made him smoke out on the porch. He even turned the entertainment unit with the TV on it to face the window so he could still watch & hear the TV. He had to use cleaned out tuna cans for ashtrays since all of ours were gone. Back then, the cost of the box of Patch 2 was the same as a carton of my cigarettes. By the end of the 6th week the cost of a carton of cigarettes had gone up $1.50, BUT the cost of the patch remained the same. For a year I kept tabs on the cost of the cigarettes - at on my one year anniversary of quitting, I had saved nearly $3,500.00!!! Of course I didn't subtract the cost of the patches - I wanted the saved dollar amount to be more. It took me nearly 5 years to quit liking the smell of second hand smoke - the wafting coming from someone walking by, or who stood too close to the doorway of the store where I was a cashier at. Now, after 19 years, that smell is repugnant and offensive to me. When a heavy smoker walks by me they stink so bad. Want to know what you smell like @Tyme? Dump your full of cigarette ashes and butts ashtray BUT don't wipe it out or wash it. Add a bit of HOT water then smell it. Yep, that is EXACTLY what you smell like. After smoking all day and NOT brushing your teeth & mouth after your lunch, then you talk to someone, THAT is EXACTLY what your breath smells like. Had someone told me that around the second or third time I was trying to quit, believe me, I would have tried much, much harder to quit and stay smoke free. I have always detested smelling bad. Showered twice a day, used deodorant multiple times during the day. NEVER wore my work clothes twice in a row, etc., etc., etc. Now @Tyme let's talk about the cessation of coffee. YES it is the caffeine that is a true addiction. Going off of it - all of it [soda drinks that are packed with caffeine, root beer that has caffeine in it, power drinks that are packed with caffeine AND high fructose content, tea, even Hot Chocolate] not just coffee. To ease the intensity of the withdrawal headaches, drink half caffeinated coffee with half decaf. One large tin of each mixed into a much larger container. Then when that is empty, mix a small container of caffeinated coffee with a large container of decaff. By the time that is empty, your addiction should be ended. At least with me it was. I had been drinking coffee since I was 5 years old. Half cup of coffee with half cup of milk. Every three years the amount of coffee increased by 1/4 of a cup until I was drinking black coffee. My entire family of 11 people were coffee drinkers. Us children had a coffee cup at every meal AFTER we drank our 8oz of milk. Us kids didn't even hear about the LDS church until my oldest brother was 15 (I was 7 and the middle of 7 children). ALL of us kids drank their first cup of half coffee half milk/cream at the age of 5. We only drank tea in the form of iced tea and only during the summer. We drank hot coffee year round, and iced coffee in the summer also. LOVE iced coffee. I am not fond of hot chocolate, never have been. I love quite a few of the herbal infusions, BUT one must be very careful of mixing them. I drink tepid coffee. My Stake Presidency and Branch Presidency know this and they sign my temple recommend. I also prefer Pero over all of the other "Coffee" substitutes. It took me several years to get the right amount per coffee mug - too much is nasty, too little is nearly as nasty. I drink them all black w/splenda. One thing I learned from a dear friend who is a recovering alcoholic is, you MUST trade a bad habit with a good, healthy habit. Doesn't need to be a good, healthy food - just a good, healthy habit. Along with using carrot, celery and cucumber sticks as substitutes, I kept my hands busy with writing in a journal. Then super busy writing letters to my friends that 1st Husband tried to keep me from. @Carborendum in 2006 I was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. One of the things that my Dr wanted me to reduce was my drinking carbonated drinks (they dehydrate your body) and caffeine drinks (which also dehydrate your body). I complained about needing the Wake Me Up of caffeine and she told me that 8 oz of UN-sweetened Apple juice will do the same as three 6oz cups of coffee! Guess what? She was right. After going off of carbonated drinks, and NOT quitting the caffeine- I got severe cramps in my feet and legs, then in the muscles of my lower back and abdomen. Often all at the same time, like around 2-3 am! The only thing to ease/stop the cramps was drinking electrolyte drink. Mix 1 quart water; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon table salt; 3 to 4 tablespoons sugar [real sugar NOT any of the substitutes]. This does NOT store well for longer than 12 hours. I also add about 1 tablespoon or more of crystallized lemon or lime juice for flavor. BUT to know when you no longer need to drink it and to drink PLAIN water, don't add the flavoring. When you can taste the salty sweet, that is when you no longer need it. I had come back into activity a year before I quit smoking, so that when I went on the patch, and felt I was getting close to buying another pack of cigs - I would call my HT and Branch President and request a blessing. They always came through, and those many, many blessing also came through. I never slid back into smoking. I also had the mindset of Not Setting Myself Up To Fail. Like some of the others have said, if you back slide, pick yourself up and quit again!

The basic concept of insurance is to prevent someone from going bankrupt from a catastrophic cost. When insurance goes beyond helping in catastrophic situations to common, regular and usual situations - the purpose for insurance has been removed and a very different purpose substituted. The Traveler

I freakin loved White Gold Wielder. I'm astounded at how violently I've done a 180 on those books. 30 years ago I was a huge fan, learned much about the nature of evil and the dangers of black-and-white thinking. Now I look back at a pedophile rapist protagonist in the first three books, and one who murdered her own mother in the second three, and I wonder what the crap was I thinking. Both of them spending thousands of pages selfishly stuck in their own crap. Lots of notions about lots of important things, but the healing power of an atoning sacrifice was utterly absent. Dood gained purity by burning magically until the blackness in him was fully a fused part of him instead of being burned away. Symbolism of the chemical makeup of white gold. As I look down at my keyboard, I see my white gold wedding band on my finger. Now I'm ticked off at my younger self.

That's the thing. If you would have invested the money you paid in taxes you would have money set aside at the time of the emergency. So, this is a cultural difference. Exchanging liberty (your freedom to decide what to do with your money, e.g. put it in alternative medicine or whatever you think is best for your family) for dependence on government to avoid the risks of personal responsibility.

Strongly pro but then I have universal health care.

Your brother wanted to force people to pay for his child's emergency care. And that's the problem - it is very easy to be accused of "you want my kid to die" if you don't agree that people should be forced to give their money to be managed by somebody else. Nothing is stopping anybody from giving money for somebody's healthcare. If my kid would get sick and I didn't have enough money to pay for it, I can call on my family and friends worldwide to help and those who can, will. I wouldn't have to force them to give their money to a bureaucracy who can't even keep illegal immigrants out of the country. Okay, you can call me heartless now.

These arguments always come back to a bait and switch... They flow like this... Pick a topic most people will agree with (Say like helping the Poor and Needy)... then once you know everyone agrees then you pick a method (in this case Universal Healthcare) as an answer to that topic. Then when any one disagrees or points out problem with the method ignore the points made and instead attack them for be an heartless monster who does not care about the topic. Such a bait and switch is fundamentally dishonest and I see no reason to engage such people

I’d like to see a Mormon Republican run against Trump in the primary. The only one who stands a chance is Romney. It could get ugly. I think Trump would attack the church. would you like to see that? Do you think Romney has a chance?

Ohh... I have a calligraphy set. Maybe that will work! Thanks, Carb! P.S. I was surprised to find out Korean characters are a lot simpler!

I'm Australian so here we have Medicare, which I guess in theory is 'free healthcare for everyone' but its not perfect, and costs the government money it really doesn't have. There are also really long waiting lists, when my child was 2 years old for example he needed a minor operation for his ears (grommets) the waiting list was almost 2 years for the operation to be done on medicare. My doctor looked me straight in the eye and told me my son would be permanently deaf if I waited that long. So I paid the $900 for the operation to be done straight away. Once you are on a certain income level you are forced to have full private health insurance (hospital cover, not just extras like dental/physio/optical) or the tax department will basically fine you when you do your taxes (its called the medicare levy and its between 1-2% of your annual income). I'm in a small family (2 adults and our child is free until he is 21) and have mid level hospital cover and high level extras (we need the top level optical and dental) and it costs us $190 f/n (which is almost double what our 'fine' would be). A lot of people can't afford a bill like that or the fine if they don't have it. The system has many problems, the income thresholds are not very high so anyone in an upper middle class situation is forced to pay for health insurance that they probably can't afford or pay the government a average of a couple of thousand dollars at tax time. The taxation system is not the best here either, once you hit a certain income level you are taxed 50cents out of every dollar, so when you get a pay rise, you're likely only to see half of it, but that pay rise has landed you in the 'income bracket' for the medicare levy so now you have a $5000 a year health insurance bill or get a fine at tax time. So a lot of the time the pay rise lands you financially worse off than before you had it in the first place. Its good for low income earners to have access to somewhat ok health cover (until waiting lists send their children deaf!) its ok for really high income earners because it doesn't really effect them, but its terrible for anyone considered middle or upper middle class ($80 to $120K for singles $160K-$250K for families), because most can't afford to have private health insurance and at the same time, can't afford not to have it. My husband calls it socialism, which he thinks is way to close to communism. But he does get a bit extra passionate about politics!

I worked for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida. The reason why there is Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida which is a different company from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina or Blue Cross and Blue Shield of <insert state here> is because the insurance companies lobbied for the government to regulate who can insure people where to eliminate competition... hence, the end of interstate healthcare cost competition.

Panhandling and homelessness are indeed real problems with real victims, and often no easy answer. I recently spoke to a crusty old officer working in our city's homeless outreach team. He tells several things: - There are people who panhandle and have homes and cars, but they are the minority. Most of them live in our ever shifting homeless camps, or shelters. - Most of the long-timers have chosen this lifestyle, but you have to put "choose" in quotes. Addiction and substance abuse and mental illness are all over the place. So are poor communication skills, no work ethic, low education, no marketable skills, and poor health. Not everyone was raised by parents who loved them. Not everyone went to school, or have never been sexually abused by a stepfather or whatever. - There are many ways people can become broken, and three missed paychecks and a failed marriage (or similar stressful disaster) might claim more of us than we're comfortable admitting. "There but for the grace of God go I". It's easier to break, than to recover from a break. - He did absolutely confirm the notion that giving these folks money does not help them. Like, ever. Unless you define "help" as "I want this guy to continue living this lifestyle, so I'm going to give him money so he can make that happen." If that's your definition of help, then donate away. - A good "solution" he has seen work on an individual basis, involves first a dedicated individual who wants to do more with their life. Then a combination of a strong support system, good rehab, a job or paid training they can ease into, and good physical/mental health.

THAT'S the problem. Insurance is bad enough as it is. Regulating it some more to become socialized is magnifying the problem by a factor of 100. See: Obamacare. Because you don't have a relationship between patient and doctors. You have a relationship with patients and insurance. And doctors and insurance. The insurance LIMITS your doctors and your options. The government LIMITS insurance (can't sell across state lines, must cover everything and the kitchen sink, etc. etc.) without much regard for patient need. Hence, the problem is exacerbated. You've had this system so long that American doctors don't know how to do proper medicine. They are masters at prescribing procedures that have guaranteed payment by insurance, not prescribing procedures specific to a particular patient's needs. And that's because people has gotten so used to insurance that they go "I CAN'T AFFORD THAT!" if the doctor VEERS from what is prescribed by the insurance company. That's the problem. The amount you pay into the system is now under the management of the Federal Government who spent $1.7 billion developing JUST THE WEBSITE. Like I said, exchanging liberty for government dependency to avoid the risk of personal responsibility.

The interesting thing here is that I fundamentally agreed with you that a) Romney had acted somewhat mercenarily, b) that he is not an ideal Senator, and c) and that he’d be a bad candidate to throw against Trump in a hypothetical 2020 primary. But since I dared to say something uncomplimentary against Trump and offered a half-hearted check against some animal-crackers anti-Romney conspiracy theories, you find it necessary to go on the warpath with an atopical, combative reply that borders on unhinged; and accuse me of “minimizing” concerns about Romney in what was fundamentally an anti-Romney post. And THIS, dear @Tyme, is what we are up against; and it’s why we in the GOP have no choice but to stand back and watch this crazy train run right off the rails. But, no cult of personality here; nosiree . . .

I thought I would share with you two personal experiences: First - While doing consulting in Phoenix I met a doctor (and member of the church) that had a clinic in Mexico. He use to have a practice in New York. I was interested in why he opened up a medical clinic in Mexico. He said that he can fly a patient from New York to his clinic, perform open heart surgery, keep the patient at his clinic under medical care during recovery and fly the patient back to New York for less than they will pay for a year of medical insurance - and he makes more profit than when he charged outrageous prices for his services in New York. Second - About a year ago I had to have cataract surgery on one eye. I was prescribed specialized eye drops for pre and post surgery that would cost me $600 in deductibles from a decent medical plan. I refused to pay the for the medication and first argued with the pharmacists and got no where - so I went back to my doctor and requested that he prescribe a generic or something else. My doctor said there was no generic of substitute. (You are right about one thing - our current system is not capitalistic). I went back and argued some more with my pharmacists - Finely they said there was one other possibility - I could buy the eye drops out of pocket without filling an insurance claim - my out of pocket expense would by $150. Most in the discussion concerning the cost of medical care in the USA do not realize that the top three reasons for increases in medical costs over the last 50 years is not medical. Currently over 80% of what a person pays for their actual medical care (with or without insurance) does not go towards their specific medical care. Let me explain what happens when money goes through a government agency (which is currently one of the top three reasons already for the most substantial increases in medical costs). Lets take Social Security for example. By federal law any private retirement fund must operate with 6% or less overhead or the controllers of that fund go to federal prison. Social Security operates with 60% overhead. That means that only 40% of the funds collected will be returned to those receiving Social Security. Currently those receiving Social Security - if they only received back what they put in - using the current life expectancy tables they would receive $70,000 per year on average. Guess what happens to money going through a government agency? Any purported changes to health care that does not address directly why health care costs are sky rocketing - is in essence a scam. Currently one of the most rapidly increasing costs of health care is the amount paid to government for services that have nothing to do with patient health care. The notion that universal health care will decrease health care care cost is an outright bold face lie and deception! Especially because it does not decrease the cost of governmental interference, nor does it address the other two reason that health care costs have increased much more than inflation for the last 60 years. One last point - I have a brother that use to be a strong advocate of universal health care - a couple of years ago we (my brother and I) were on vacation in Norway when he contracted a gull stone. Norway has the best universal health care in the world or so it is touted. After his experience - he has had a complete reversal in his attitude concerning universal health care. His response was that anyone that advocates universal health care has never been forced in to using it. The Traveler

I was gonna suggest going in March. I could go then too. But then I remembered it is election year. You don't want to go "local" with me during campaign season. It can get hairy. Christmas is actually a super duper awesome time to take a Filipino local adventure. We haven't planned our Christmas yet (expecting my son to start his mission around this time). I'll let you know if we can do a Philippine Christmas that year.

The Giant was the christ figure, not Covenant...

The reason has become cultural due to the grip of health insurance. Americans now have this culture that "they shouldn't have to pay for" going to a doctor for a cough. Insurance should cover it. You even have celebrities yelling at women's marches for insurance to cover tampons and birth control. So, if they have to pay for a doctor's visit for a cough, then that's "unaffordable".

Quadruple like! This is why I despise the whole concept of insurance. (Or at least the modern implementations thereof. Catastrophic, maybe I could accept, but not the demonic variants we have now.)

I’m in a pit of despair. I lasted a whopping twenty hours without cigs. The blessings are too great not to quit. I have a pretty good understanding of the blessings. That really begs the question why I can’t quit. I hope one day I can quit so I can get baptized.

You reminded me of the story at the beginning of Elder Eyring's talk in the April 2012 Saturday Morning Session of General Conference.

This is not entirely true. There are some alternative therapies available, but regulations do favour shutting such down. It is definitely a frustration of the universal health care system that it only covers medical/pharmaceutical care. Many in my family have been let down by the medical model of care but have been able to find relief in alternative health care. My wife was able to resolve chronic fatigue issues and eczema using a combination of homeopathy and nutritional support and fasting. I personally believe the homeopathy had little if anything to do with it and that the nutrition and fasting made the difference, but the point is the medical system only offered anti-depressants for the fatigue because they didn't know what else to do and suggested cortisone cream for her skin and it didn't help. This is after being referred to specialists because no one had any answers. When there is a traumatic emergency the hospital/medical care system is exactly what I'd want helping my family, but for chronic conditions that can often be resolved outside the traditional medical umbrella it would be nice not to be left with the bill, especially since we pay the same portion of taxes as others but use the system less. It's certainly not perfect, but it's what I'm used to and I wouldn't want to be hit with the costs at the time of the emergency as that just seems like insult to injury.

Haven’t made plans for summer yet. But, in April my husband and I are taking our 14 year old granddaughter to London so she can visit her best friend. We will actually be in the Ipswich area for about two weeks. I’m really looking forward to this trip.

We're going to end up in the Caribbean this late winter, early spring. Not sure which island yet.

Hmm, let me see now. "Universal" health care for: @Vort, yes we should care for the elderly, and he's of an age where he probably won't need it for too many more years @MormonGator, @Fether and @LiterateParakeet? No, that would be vet care. @zil? IN NO WAY, IN ANY FORM, ANYWHERE, EVER. @anatess2 and @Sunday21 Yes, with the best possible doctors on call 24 hours a day @Carborendum no, that would be stone masonry for the rough stone rolling @lostinwater perhaps not, it could be for a lost cause @pam Why? @Traveler No, should be covered by travel er insurance @NeuroTypical not typically

So, the only valid definitions and rankings for science are those given in a medical (specifically looking at surgical methods) journal? As a chemist, I am well aware of some of the disdain that we in the hard sciences can express towards those in the social sciences. If we want, we can branch into our own bash on the social sciences thread. When all gets said and done, though, I'm not sure it is appropriate to stubbornly insist that surveys like this are not science, when they are a perfectly good, scientific way to measure people's (in general or a specific demographic) attitudes, beliefs, and opinions. Certainly they can be done well, or they can be done poorly, some have better methodology than others, and there can be real value in critiquing someone's methodology (and they frequently do). For those who are interested in how members of the Church view evolution (and some of the theological challenges and nuances that science versus religion bring), the survey results should prove interesting.

It could. But it requires every single person in the populace to be invested in the welfare of every member of the populace. This means - you are a unicultural family that shares the same traditions, beliefs, lifestyle. Such that, every member chooses not to go and drink 64 ounces of soda in one sitting, not smoke drink or do leisure drugs, not go have sex with prostitutes, eat healthy without extreme dieting and exercise regularly and be vaccinated, etc. because That's Who They Are. Lots of horror stories in places with government-run healthcare. But it's basically accepted in exchange for liberty. That's not gonna happen in the US anytime soon. For example, Canada, UK, Australia have government-run healthcare and people are prohibited from alternative medicine. You will also note that these countries do not have the same liberties as outlined in the US Bill of Rights. In the UK, for example, you can be jailed for "hate speech". So, you basically have a culture that are tolerant of government. This is not the USA either. In places with government-run healthcare, you'll see declining birth rates - I don't know if it's a correlation, but it is interesting to note. Now this is just Fake News. The biggest opponents of this are ordinary citizens who believe in Small Government. Sure. If you want the USA to be transformed into a Government Dependent people - which is basically the old England that y'all fought a revolution to be free from - then you would want Big Government with the government managing 1/3 of your economy. Fine if you got somebody the likes of Trump who is economy-savvy. Not too fine when you got the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez making legislation for you. I'm super against it that I am currently lambasting my own President Duterte for being DUMB AND STUPID on healthcare. I'm no right-wing whatever. I'm Filipino.

It's true. A few years ago we were sitting in faculty meeting talking about defense plans and the VP was giving particular advice to anyone who might be carrying because he couldn't actually demand to know, and a couple of teachers sitting near me practically had conniptions when they realized teachers might be carrying and it was perfectly legal.

I had Surgery and Hospitalization Only coverage prior to Obamacare. I had this insurance while I was pregnant. I negotiated EVERYTHING with the doctors and labs. It was a frustratingly complicated thing because everyone you ask doesn't know who you need to talk to for rates. I persevered and eventually got charged the super cheap insurance rates. My OB knows I'm self-pay so he was more free with the way he handled my care because he didn't have to do any pre-approvals from the insurance. The hospital was covered by insurance, so I didn't know how much the hospital charged my insurance until the insurance company sent me the paperwork. My son had to have stitches on his eyebrow. It was considered surgery so covered by insurance. But, the way my insurance coverage was - there's no "in network" anything. The procedure is covered up to a certain amount. So, I took my son to a plastic surgeon. Line of stitches on his eyebrow. No noticeable scar. 0 out of pocket expense for me because the surgeon was fine with the amount the insurance covered.

See that would be the Topic of General Agreement. Most people would agree with that... The Method you chose (Universal Healthcare) is where the disagreement comes from. For example I think Universal Healthcare will only make things more expensive (see Obama Care). While many like to claim that the Healthcare system is proof that Capitalism and the Free Market are failures, its only true because they got strangled out. (Compare the shopping you did to get the best value of your latest toy vs the shopping you did on your latest medical procedures) The simple fact is most of your Local Healthcare is practically a Monopoly, that is not free market. If you want to do 'something' to rein in outrageous healthcare costs... You need to break the Monopoly (see Anatess deregulation comments)

YES. Healthcare needs to be DEREGULATED. Regulations were instituted due to the Health Insurance Industry. The way the health insurance industry caused healthcare to become unaffordable is a case study in how socialism caused the crisis in Venezuela. This is relatively the same thing that made college tuition unaffordable.

Statistically this will always be the case because the majority of people are healthy. Take a pool from only those who suffer from a treatable but incurable medical condition; I hypothesize a different result.

My brother has 6 kids and is self-employed. i think he has catastrophic health coverage, but he has more than enough liability before all that kicks in to put him back financially for a decade or more. A staunch republican (or was, before Trump), he told me once that his view of things changed radically one night when his child was sort-of ill and he had decide whether to go into the emergency room or not, knowing that he didn't have enough money to pay. i'm for universal healthcare in theory. There are quite a few nations where the citizens report overall satisfaction with their universal healthcare. However, In practice in the US, i'm not sure. i have a feeling like universal healthcare may work as well here as democracy does in Iraq. The theory is great (even ideal), but without people accustomed to the processes (something that takes a very, very , very long time), things don't work very well. i work with many people from India, and they express amazement that people actually follow the traffic rules here. That most people don't just blow by red lights. But it all only works if everyone following the rule is as much cultural as it is legal. Our hybrid system is an expensive monster. But it's moderately monstrous to most of both sides - rather than entirely demonic to one or the other. There are lots of outliers though - and i know those people really are destroyed financially by it. i tend to think the maxim that "For every problem there is a solution that is simple, neat—and wrong." applies here.

I read the address. I watched it as well. I am coming from the place where I KNOW that without my father I would not be active in the church. I know that my children learn more from their father than they do me. I don't see the address as saying that its on the mom's to do all the teaching of the children. I see it as being prepared to work with their father in this. He and I are one in purpose to help our children find their own testimony.

Free? There's no such thing as Free. 1 Cor 6:20 - even your very life was bought for a price. So how about you tell me how you go about making something free? Or even "affordable"? Because, an affordable house in San Francisco is $1M while that's unaffordable in Houston.

Letting the government run anything, usually makes things worse, not better. Exceptions are waging war, treaties, the justice system, levying taxes. Maybe roads. Maybe industry regulation or the occasional social issue, but not nearly as often as we might think. For everything else, the whole "Imma go vote to spend other people's money on things so that I can get re-elected" stuff usually turns out worse than a free market solution.

Something almost nobody knew until recently - conceal carry has been legal in Utah schools for, like, two decades now. Kind of takes the steam out of the whole "we can't allow guns in schools - the teachers will accidentally shoot someone" argument, doesn't it.

I don't consider public school being time lost. Public school is for Reading, Writing, Arithmetic - things we still have to take time for in home school - and living the gospel in action with their peers. In our family of public schooled children, we practice Christian Living. My kids can be in public school and still live their faith. So anyway, at home. When the kids were babies, nightly bed-time reading is gospel reading. This was when they were just a few days old until they learned to read. They're probably just listening to the drone of my voice and not necessary the bible story but it's a routine. The way I grew up, my dad teaches scriptures first thing in the morning and my mother teaches lessons from Aesop's Fables and the like at night before we go to bed. I am such a not-morning-person that gospel reading in the morning is just not something I am in a good mindset for. So, my kids grew up with both "Aesop's Fables and the like" and gospel study at night after dinner and before bed from both my husband and I. We didn't have FHE on Mondays. Everyday is FHE starting with dinner. But that's not just it. Gospel lesson can also be any "teachable moment" thing. This can happen at anytime of the day - while driving in the car, in the middle of the grocery store, at music lessons, while watching a show on TV, etc. etc. This was also the time that the iPhone was invented. So, for example, my kids would be in the car fighting over something, I'd make them go look for scriptures about say... sharing... in my phone and we'd talk about it. Etc. etc.

He needs to be more mature first. My impression from his posts is he's really not ready to be in serious relationships yet.

I have seen both, men and women as abusers. Society tend to focus more on men due to the fact that male abusers tend to use physical violence. Instead, female abusers tend to use other means such as emotional, verbal and psychological abuse.

Hi Coco Risu, so sorry you are going through this. Because of the atonement, it is possible for you and your husband to move from where you are now to a place where you have a full reconciliation of your relationship with each other where things are as good as they ever were, or even better. That can only happen however where there is full repentance on his part and full forgiveness on your part. Even if he doesn't repent however, you can sill fully forgive him and receive the blessings of the atonement from that. Forgiving him doesn't mean you give him a pass, it doesn't mean you'll never struggle with hurt feelings, and it doesn't even mean you have to stay with him. It means you let go of any anger or vindictiveness toward him over it. You feel sadness over his fall from grace rather than spite. That will let you be happier, and it gives him an environment where it is easier for him to repent. I think you both might benefit from a series of posts on my blog, here is part 1 http://latterday-marriage.blogspot.com/2017/09/healing-wounds-part-1-where-to-start.html

Wow! @Tyme, do this, and you won't have time to smoke!

I read to that point and took the unread books back to the store for a refund. Lots of people try to justify continuing to read, but once the main character becomes a rapist, forget it, I'm out. The things people unnecessarily submit themselves to in the name of "realism" baffles me.

Not likely - we have an excellent tax-payer funded system of universal health care here.

I wouldn't submit to it even if it existed. Meanwhile, does your poor missionary son know what a hateful soul his father is? Sigh. I may have to just not mention you lest he die of embarrassment.

I'm torn between taking this as a badge of honor or a grave flaw.