Comments by "Sean" (@sean2015) on "Brian Tyler Cohen" channel.

I'm not rich. In fact I'm well below the median income which AOC talks about, yet I don't feel that I'm entitled to "free health care". I'm fine with paying for it instead of leeching off everybody else. Someone like AOC has no place to be lecturing about livable wages and affordable housing when she earns $174K a year and lives in a luxury apartment building that does not offer affordable units. She also has no place lecturing about raising taxes to pay for her programs when her own mother left New York for Florida because Florida has lower taxes. AOC's proposals would cost $42 trillion, and NO, a Wall Street "transactions tax" would NOT even come CLOSE to paying for this. $42 trillion is TWICE the U.S. Gross National Product.
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@jamesl9371 Canada is like most European countries. You guys have a basic level of health insurance under which everyone is covered, however there are incentives (tax breaks etc.,) for people to purchase better-quality private insurance on their own (which many Canadians do) because just like in the US, not all treatments and services are covered under Canada's universal care system. How do I feel about health care, you ask? Pretty simple, I believe it should be affordable , but not free. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants a single-payer healthcare system that gives free healthcare (with zero co-pays and no cost-sharing) to everyone including illegal immigrants and people who don't pay one dime into the system. Not even Canada has that type of generous system, the likes of which is so ludicrous and unsustainable that I have trouble even talking about it. In fact all of AOC's proposals (free healthcare, free housing and free college tuition) would cost $42 trillion (which is more than twice America's GDP) and she has never been able to adequately explain how she would pay for all this. Her only solution has been "just print more money" (inflation anyone?)
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James Lade ”I don’t think they want to give free health care to illegal immigrants” ...well you’re wrong James I’m afraid. Because that is exactly what AOC and many other Liberal Democrats have proposed. Never mind that illegal immigrants in other countries like México (for example) face jail time and immediate deportation, but whenever America wants to enforce its immigration laws and protect its borders, it is labeled as “racist”, “cruel” and “inhumane” by everyone on the political left.
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@bateauivre9391 "in Europe health care basic coverage is universal and therefore accessible to everyone" ...that's exactly what I wrote in my comment, if you go back and read them. "Nobody dies because they can't afford basic treatments." ....that's how it is here in the U.S. too pal. Every single person in this country (whether they are insured or not) can go into an Emergency Room and get lifesaving medical treatment. People below a certain income can apply for something called Medicaid, which is a joint federal-state welfare program that accounts for a quarter of all state budgets. And as I specifically mentioned in some of my previous comments, almost all European countries have private insurers who sell better-quality health insurance above the basic government-funded coverage (...you mean Europe actually has for-profit health care? No way! That's only in America!) There is no such thing as "single-payer" healthcare except in places like North Korea where everything is government-owned.
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Bateau Ivre also, there’s no such thing as “free” healthcare. You just said so yourself at the top of this page and now you’re contradicting yourself. Universal healthcare is paid for through income, payroll and other types of taxes.
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@menow7851 if you're paying $1345 a month for your health insurance then you must be older than a dinosaur fossil and a three-pack-a-day smoker. I don't know what to tell you. I pay $87/month for my insurance and that includes dental as well as accidental injury.
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@jamesl9371 "Health care is not Free. You pay from taxes or your employer or your pocket." ...that's exactly my point. We've developed into such an entitled society that we think we have everything due to us for free. The idea of having single-payer healthcare in the U.S. is crazy. When something is free, people appreciate it less and they also tend to abuse it. Another thing James: when people have to pay for their own health care it gives them more of an incentive to look after their health in order to keep their costs down.
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@jamesl9371 I know that, that's exactly why I put in quotes. The absurdity of the far-left demanding things that are free. Our friends in places like Scandinavia have to be laughing and/or scowling at us. They may not have to pay for a trip to the ER, but they pay for the privilege. In fact they pay a helluva lot more in taxes than we do here in the US. Sweden for example, has a top marginal rate of close to 60% compared with 43% in the US. Not to mention that consumer goods are more expensive in Europe because of high VATs (similar to a sales tax, which the US does not have at the federal level).
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@bateauivre9391 When I say "better quality", I'm referring to insurers who would pay for medications, treatments or services which are otherwise not covered under the basic universal plan. That's what "better quality" means in terms of a healthcare plan. For example in Canada, physical therapy and services such as LASIK are not covered. Prescription medications are also not covered (you pay for those out of pocket). In the U.S., co-payments and cost-sharing depend widely on the type of plan you have. For example, you can have a plan with a much lower annual deductible, but you'll have to pay higher monthly premiums. Where you live, you say to have to reimburse 30% of the cost. I'm perfectly fine with such a system, so I don't see the point in us going back and forth. I just don't want healthcare being provided for "free" which is what a lot of people in our entitled society are demanding. When something is given for free, it is unsustainable and it will be abused. Low cost healthcare, yes sure. But not "free". And certainly not free to anyone who has entered the country illegally or remain in the country illegally by overstaying their visa.
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Bateau Ivre if you enter the country illegally you are NOT entitled to access any country’s healthcare system except in a genuine emergency. Same would happen to me if I snuck across the border illegally into Canada. That is NOT being “racist” or “sexist” or “xenophobic” like people on the left try to make it out to be. That’s called having respect for the law.
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Bateau Ivre AOC’s proposals are deranged, I’ll leave it at that.
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David Davies AOC is a stinking hypocrite who lectures us about the importance of affordable housing even as she lives in a luxury apartment in a building (the New Agora) which does not offer affordable units nor does it accept Section 8 applicants. She also claims to come from an impoverished background when in fact she grew up in Westchester county which is one of the wealthiest places in New York State if not the entire country. You really want to continue this debate with me? Why don’t you worry about your own country’s problems before fretting about what’s going on in Yankeeland?
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Felicia Dixon don’t make assumptions. I made $30,000 last year, having worked three jobs seven days a week at one point. Does that sound rich to you? Not all of us who are middle class feel entitled to handouts and freebies from the government.
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@daviddavies3637 so I can't criticize someone without being labeled as "bitter" or "jealous" of them? Gee, that makes a lot of sense. If you had read or comprehended any of what I wrote, you'd see this was about hypocrisy of a woman who claims to be a champion of the poor while she herself is living a life of extravagance and exclusivity. But then I would expect nothing less from Liberals. And how about all those rioters burning down and looting shops whom AOC claims are just peaceful protestors shoplifting a little bread and milk? Am I bitter or jealous of them too?
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@menow7851 "Pray if you travel that you don't get sick for they may deem you an "immigrant" and refuse you health care....you didn't "pay into their system"." most health insurance plans cover medical emergencies outside the U.S., but a lot of foreign countries won't even grant a visa unless you show proof of medical coverage. That's exactly what happened to me when I applied for Russian and Belarusian visas five years ago (in fact the Belarus Embassy actually wanted a signed letter from my insurer guaranteeing coverage before they would issue me a visa). Do you consider it wrong for countries like Belarus to refuse to accept immigrants or even visitors who don't have health insurance? If you're stupid enough to travel outside the U.S. without any health insurance or emergency coverage, then hospitals and doctors in many countries will probably expect you to pay in cash. And if you break your ankle while bungee jumping in Costa Rica then don't get mad when your insurance refuses to pay.
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@jamesl9371 well you should understand that we don't just take poor people and kick them to the curb. There are programs such as Medicare to provide health insurance for lower-income individuals. And no one here is ever denied emergency medical treatment whether they are insured or not. Federal law requires health care facilities to treat any patient regardless of whether or not they have insurance and even regardless of whether they're in the country legally (which is one reason why we have such a problem with illegal border crossings). I pay around $90/month for my health insurance and that includes dental. As an example, three years ago I had a severe flu and wound up in the emergency room one evening. At the time I was insured, but I was shocked to get a bill in the mail for $1400. I filed a grievance and submitted some paystubs and prior year W-2 forms and they reduced it by 75%. I wound up paying less than $300. Also, if you are delinquent on medical bills it cannot be disclosed on your credit report.
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Noot Noot exactly. If something is free it’s gonna get abused, i.e. people will be showing up at hospitals with sniffles or because they’re feeling sad because they just broke up with their boyfriend or girlfriend. This will lead to longer wait times and it’s not fair to people who have genuine emergencies or health care needs.
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James Lade ”Most people aren’t going to the doctor because it’s fun or because it’s free” ...I’ve heard this exact same line of reasoning from others. If you honestly believe that then it shows you understand nothing about human psychology - yes, people WILL show up at hospitals just because it’s free. Have you ever been to a buffet restaurant? People fill their plates, stuff their faces, and then they go back for seconds, thirds, fourths, fifths. They eat even after they’re full, they eat enough to make them sick. After all, it costs them nothing extra to do so, so they figure “why not?” James close to 90 percent of all health issues are related to lifestyle choices. Do you believe it’s fair for a three-pack-a-day smoker to benefit from taxpayer-funded healthcare at the expense of the rest of us taxpaying saps who get plenty of exercise and don’t smoke or drink? And I’ve already said this but I’ll say it again: Canada requires all of its prospective immigrants to undergo a thorough physical, and if it’s determined that they have a health condition which would cost over a certain amount of money to treat in the first year, their application for a work/residency permit gets denied. So no, Canadians are not all perfectly happy to pay for universal healthcare, otherwise they wouldn’t have so many strings attached. The oft-repeated myth that “Canada will take anybody in” is baloney. Not to mention their points-based immigration system (imagine if Trump ever proposed something like that - everybody would be labeling him a racist) but I digress.
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