BO fining parents

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-29-2008
BO fining parents
111
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 1:11am

I was watching some of the debate from last week online because i missed it. McCain brought up that Obama wants to fine parents who do not have health insurance on their children.

I'm not sure how most people feel about this, but isn't health insurance just as important as shelter, education and food. I definitely think that not insuring your children should fall into the neglect category. People can complain about the cost of health care but if you can't afford having a child, don't have one.

I guess i was wondering what others thought about this.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 7:46am

My understanding is that parents would not be "fined."

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:27am
Actually, Obama didn't deny it. After Obama didn't answer about it, McCain brought it up again - still Obama didn't address it. Usually Obama is pretty quick to answer about things that he think are wrong from his opponents. He hasn't even addressed this on the campaign trail since the debate. That leaves me to believe that it's true.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:41am
You know, we were talking the other day at work about health insurance. I made the analogy to baseball...we have single a, double A, triple A and major leagues. Why can't we offer something like that with health insurance? If health care is socialized, we run the risk of having many poor doctors. Even with insurance there are poor doctors. Why can't we offer tiers of health insurance and you get what you can afford, and certain doctors are covered under each level, depending on their experience or expertise. Granted if you are a tier 1, you may not get the best doctor, but isn't any doctor better than none? And have the doctors be able to go up in the tiers for them to make more money as they become better or more proficient in their field. And as you make more money, you have more option to get better coverage, too. Tier 1 would be for the lowest income, and offered free or with a sliding scale up to a certain point, after that $ amount it is onto tier 2, and so on and so forth. One thing is that they would have to provide very strict penalties for fraudulent claims of what you make, in other words those that say they make less to get stuff for free, but if we keep the cost of the insurance reasonable for each income bracket, everyone benefits
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:45am

What do I think of it? I think that it'd be nice if John McCain's attacks actually reflected reality. Unfortunately, in this case, as in so many others, they do not.

Obama's health care plan would mandate that children be insured. He has not yet said how or if he will enforce such a mandatory requirement. McCain is theorizing that because sometimes the way government punishes noncompliance with laws/regulations is with fines, that Obama must be intending to fine any parents who are found to be not giving their children health insurance.....but he has no evidence to back this up - just a smear on Obama.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:48am
No....he didn't address it because you don't allow your opponent to force you into answering false charges, the very answering of which makes you look bad. To use an obvious - and extreme - example, if John McCain suggested that Obama beat Michelle, the damage to Obama would be done by his having to go in front of cameras and repeatedly correct the record....and just seeing him on TV saying "I do not beat my wife" is damaging enough.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:49am
Yes....absolutely. Let's make the children of dishwashers and gardners more vulnerable and at-risk than the children of those who inherit wealth. That seems fair.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:52am
And they are not already by having no health coverage?
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 8:54am
You bet they are. So let's fix that.....but not by offering them only as much health as they can afford. That's ALREADY the problem.
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-08-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 9:13am

Under your proposal, what would happen if the best doctors didn't want to work for the more wealthy patients and wanted to take care of the poorest of the country?

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-29-2008
In reply to: pie_28
Mon, 10-13-2008 - 9:15am
It's funny, how quickly Obama usually addresses what he perceives to be "false charges". Look at his pattern of behavior. I think it is telling that he didn't address this. It must be true.

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