On Monday, the Virginia State Senate passed three separate measures outlawing a government mandate for private citizens to purchase health insurance policies. These measures are expected to pass the Republican controlled House of Delegates and be signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell. The House of Delegates intended its vote to be a message to Congress and President Barack Obama about turning a substantial healthcare reform bill into law, like the bills the House of Representatives and Senate have both already passed.
While a federal mandate would override any state law, the House of Delegates took a dangerous step in sending this message to Congress on Monday.
According to the Pew Research poll, more than 80 percent of Americans support reforms that would require insurers to provide insurance to everyone regardless of gender or pre-existing conditions. However, without a mandate guaranteeing a sufficiently large and diverse pool of customers, insurers would be forced to raise prices to rates where only the sickest Americans would be willing to buy insurance. This would defeat the purpose of those stricter regulations.
The United States and Mexico are the only Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in the world that do not provide universal health insurance to their people, despite the fact that we spend far more on health care than any other country. While the proposals in Congress are far from perfect, they would extend insurance coverage to roughly 30 million Americans, while cutting the deficit by taxing the most generous health insurance plans
and cutting wasteful Medicare spending.
The proposal is a far cry from the socialist health care systems that exist in Canada and Europe. The Democrats have accepted Republican proposals such as medical malpractice reform and Sen. John McCain’s idea of selling insurance across state lines. The
Democrats have compromised, dropping their wishes of a public option or Medicare buy-in, trying to moderate their proposals in the spirit of Brooke Leonard’s call to moderation in Tuesday’s Collegiate Times.
Congress should move forward in making one of the bills that both houses have already passed into law. The moral and fiscal difficulties with the status quo are too large to ignore any longer.
Mike LaHaye
sophomore
economics major
A version of this article appeared in the Feb 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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If its not the do-nothing Republicans at the federal level, its the do-something-worst Republicans at the state level running roughshod over the American people, while cloaked behind their health care lies (i.e., death panels, death books, killing grandma, socialism, governments complete takeover of health care, ect.). Arent the Republicans the same people that lied and misled the American people into invading Iraq? Im sure they are. The dopes in America were fooled by the Republicans on lies about Iraq, and now they seem just as gullible when it comes to the health care lies. When will people stop listening to the lies of the Republicans and support something that will help the American people?
Of course, we cant afford the health care bill is what the Republicans will say. That is true; but, we couldnt afford Bushs rich tax cuts either, or the Iraq war, but the Republicans pushed ahead and neglected to fund either one. Therefore, Ive concluded that America will always overspend the taxpayers money; thus, it is time we spend that money on helping Americans. If we are going to be broke, we might as well be broke while trying to help Americans. As for the Republicans, Ive relegated them to nothing but a low-life bunch of liars who would do anything to punish President Obama, even if it means lying about him killing grandma. (Pathetic)
FYI- America needs to stand up to the unpatriotic Republicans!
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Amen Independent Hokie!
Couldn't agree with you more... Just another point; Doing nothing is even worst... If we can't afford the health care reform bill, then we cannot afford the unabated and out of control price increases in the current system.
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Only problem is that Democrats are the ones in control in the state senate.
There goes your theory I guess.
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I bet these people wanting others to pay for their health care are the same jerk faces that would take somebody else's parking spot in the lot after somebody else shoveled it. Get your own shovel and shovel your own spot. It can work for health care too. But at some point you just have to take the pain pill...it's cheaper and you won't be a financial burden on everyone else.
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Anonymous, if that is all I had to post, I would post that self-righteous crap anonymous too. Every time the government attempts to spend money on average citizens, the Republicans and the ill-informed come out with nonsense about spending. Where was all of this thinking when George Bush Jr. passed the rich tax cuts that taxpayers are paying for (1.3 trillion dollars), and invaded Iraq (1.2 trillion and counting) based on lies and mischaracterizations?
Did you ever ask yourself, why should I have to pay for tax cuts for the rich, and pay for a war built upon lies? I grudgingly helped pay for the rich tax cuts and Bushs illegal war, and I will gladly help pay for others to have healthcare. As for people such as yourself, I wish you would keep your nonsense to yourself, just as you want to withhold healthcare from average Americans!
FYI- If Tech would plow the parking lots, you wouldn't have the problem with parking. It's not other students you should be angry with, but Tech's adminisrtation!
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By Independent Hokie, you mean "Dirtbag Shill for the Far Left."
Grow up and try reading something besides the Huffington Post and the Daily Kos. Instead of being an Independent Hokie, try being an independent thinker.
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Hokie Hi, look at you, look at you, you can call names and insult, while neglecting to offer up anything tangible to the discussion; which, demonstrates that your IQ probably doesnt go any higher than your shoe size (size 6, lol). Just so that you know, 4.0 is a GPA and not a measure for your blood-alcohol level.
It must be nice to live in an alternate universe where reality is never contemplated, nor confronted from beyond an elementary and juvenile mindset. Concomitantly, if you didnt have anything of substance to contribute to the discourse, you should have kept your sorry, low-life butt under the rock of ignorance from which you managed to claw free (lol). Beam it up Scotty (Roger that, lol).
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Whatever, I guess you are in la la land, it has nothing to do with which party is in control, but which party works on behalf of the American people. It is evident that Republicans are mere liars, obstructionist and only do the bidding of big business.
Governor Bob McDonnell is a Republican, and just like Republicans, he will do all that he can to punish President Obama, even if it means signing such an asinine mandate.
Those same Republican legislators blocked Virginia from receiving stimulus money to extend unemployment benefits for Virginia workers that had lost their jobs; millions of dollars from the federal government that would have helped our state economy. All the while, they cry and lament about Virginias budget shortfall (cry me a river, lol). What a bunch of losers, and the dopes that vote for Republicans deserve what they get, a lot of lies and double talk, while the Republicans allow big business to stick it to average citizens. (Pathetic!)
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Independen Hokie, you should change your name to Democratic Hokie. The average independent (Libertarian or other party affiliated voter) does not rant like you do against Repubs, nor do they advocate that the feds stick their nose in everything only to make things worse.
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Ignorance must be bliss.
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Independent Hokie, if ignorance is bliss, you're the happiest mofo in America.
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Hokie Vet, somebody must be missing a village idiot; you should call home right away. How did you wonder upon a discussion for intellectuals, and does mom know that you are talking with adults?
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So let me get this straight, independent Hokie. You want a TAX INCREAS on people who already get healthcare through their employer; you want to FORCE everyone in America to buy health insurance, whether they want/need it or not; you admit that we're spending more than we can affort, so we should just keep it up and spend on something that YOU want.
Basically, you're telling us that you have a RIGHT to take other people's earnings to pay your doctor's bills. This is very different from my CHOOSING to buy insurance, CHOOSING to pool my money with that of others as a hedge against catastrophic medical bills. You want the gov't to FORCE me to pay on their terms.
If you can't see the difference here, your civics teacher obviously failed to teach you the ideals set out by the writers of our Constitution.
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So let me get this straight, Texas Mike. You want to worry about GETTING SICK if you suddenly lose you job and can't find affordable health insurance? You want the insurance companies to DROP COVERAGE if you come down with a serious illness?
Although indirectly, the public is already being FORCED to pay for those without insurance. People who choose not to/can't purchase health insurance aren't going to CHOOSE to stay home and die, and HOSPITALS aren't going to turn people away. This means HIGHER BILLS when the hospital decides how much to charge your insurance company and HIGHER TAXES to subsidize the hospitals. The healthcare bill, while admittedly expensive, will save ONE TRILLION dollars over the next 10 years.
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Wow, you must have studied the same Marxist economics that Mike did. Where are you going to come up with this infinite supply of health care behind free insurance? And how do you explain the fact that anyone can get health care? That insurance is not even a NEED, let alone a RIGHT?
You crazy socialists are all the same - present this imaginary vision of all the world having everything they want, and yet our economy somehow flourishing. Not only is it ignorant, but lethal to the future of our country.
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Brady, I want to take the responsibility to pay for my OWN healthcare. I save money (a foreign concept to many, I know) in case I lose my job and need to pay for insurance, mortgage, etc. for a while. I also work hard to make sure I'm not the guy that gets laid off, but if the worst does happen, it's my responsibility to take care of myself, not Uncle Sam's.
And while your trillion dollar figure sounds impressive, I have yet to see the story that explains how adding a huge gov't bureaucracy on top of the existing healthcare bureaucracy will lower costs. Please don't argue that the gov't will add efficiency, I deal with the gov't's idea of "efficiency" every day.
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By save 1 Trillion dollars you mean tax until they have 1 trillion dollars. Also, it costs more to go for a healthy visit to a doctor than a sick visit. The insurance companies do not pay everything and negotiate a lower cost with the hospitals. You are seriously misinformed. The government would be the people who end up paying more for health care than an insurance company because the only steaks that the government has is that they want political gain. The government has no steak in our health care besides the numbers that they can say are being treated.
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My two points were:
1) We need insurance reform.
2) We already have partially socialized medicine. Hospitals don't turn away people who can't pay, and medicare covers seniors.
Nobody really responded to point (1), so I'm going to assume you agree that insurance companies shouldn't drop coverage if you get sick.
On point (2) you call me a "Marxist" and a "crazy socialist." I can only assume your solution to sick people who can't afford treatment would be to turn them away. Get rid of seniors' Medicare, and require pre-payment for hospital procedures. That's a valid capitalistic solution, but you can't have it both ways. If you're going to cover sick people for free you need to require healthy people to pay into the program too. That's where the trillion dollars in savings comes from - not "tax until you have a trillion dollars."
And All in the wording, I'm not sure what you were getting at with the "steaks", but I'd be happy to come over for dinner.
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They don't drop you if you are sick, they drop you if you try to buy them when you are sick already and that is all that Obama is trying to fix with the "no preexisting conditions" thing and that is what would make everything expensive. If you have insurance and get sick they don't drop you, but you can run out of coverage and on any plan that will happen even if the government had a plan... no one has infinite money.
The savings is from just taxing massively because it doesn't get implemented for years because they have to tax massively without the health care plan to make the spending a "savings".
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Texas Mike, is that the same Constitution under which millions of Indians were murdered, and that allowed millions more Negroes to be systematically slaughtered and thought of as worthless. Oh, that Constitution; seems to me that somebodys civics teacher failed to expound the Constitutions lack of meaning for so many.
Well, our current health care system relegates the less fortunate as meaningless too, and the Republicans support such a system with their lies and distortions. Are they not teaching critical thinking skills at Tech?
Now, to your rant about the merits of doing nothing; ignorance is bliss (enjoy, lol).
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Alum, I couldnt care less whether the Republicans or Democrats win come the November 2010 elections. And just so we are clear, I dont care for Democrats or Republicans, but they are all that we have for now. For further clarification, Congress is nothing but a house of ill-repute and legalized racketeering thats backed by a populace that is misinformed.
Ostensibly, when I feel that one party or the other is manipulating the broken system that we call government, I pummel them with my pen. Nothing personal, when and if the Republicans start to work for the people, I will stay my pen. On the other hand, the Democrats seem to be trying to work for the people, but if they should stop, my pen is ready for them too.
Evidently, I dont constrain myself to parties and political clicks, I call it like I see, and when I dont see one faction or the other doing justice for the American people, out comes the pen. Try liberating yourself from petty party affiliations and dogmas, and fight for the American people for once!
FYI- Im for people and not for party, and I intend to fully exercise my First Amendment right!
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Please coordinate your talking points. Is healthcare too expensive because we pay for those who can't pay through taxes (no one is turned away, Brady #15), or are the "less fortunate" left to die (Independent Hokie #18)?
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You are the one being ignorant, you are comparing health care that has no immediate impact on anything to slavery and murder. You are being insensitive to the people that were murdered and you are trying to get your agenda through because of something that is not associated with them at all. You say republicans use fear tactics, but what do you call this?
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Use Senate reconciliation and expand Medicare via the Senates buy-in provisions. The CBO has already signed off on this as a means of saving money.
More importantly, if more Americans can do a buy-in with Medicare, it creates more cost control (because theres a genuine public option competitor).
It also helps to solve the problems of pre-existing conditions, because Medicare does not deny coverage on this basis.
Allowing a Medicare buy-in to Americans under 65 would give people a genuine alternative to private insurance and thereby render the pre-existing question moot.
It would also lower Medicare costs by expanding the risk pool of patients (the great bulk of medical expenses are accounted for by a small number of people, mostly the elderly, requiring very expensive treatment).
And it would substantially enhance the global competitiveness of American corporations. After all, in what other country in the world is health care a marginal cost of production for business? - Roosevelt Institute Marshall Auerback
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Journey Home, your comments offer hope for the American people, and they could be the foundation from which to build on. It sure beats what Ive heard from the Republicans, lies!
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So when is the US government going to send troops to these crazy states thinking they can opt out of federal laws like this? First sanctuary cities and now the states are doing it too. I guess until a new bill passes people will have to pay for their own care
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I appreciate your comment, but a better question would be, why are Republicans always involved in this type of nonsense? Unpatriotic liars are what they are!
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I still have no idea how you have not one word of scorn for the DEMOCRATS that are in control of the Senate. NOT ONE SINGLE WORD. In all of your meaningless, ill informed ranting dribble. Not a single word.
The governor is a Republican. Fine
Republicans were in power last year. Fine.
This year. This Senate, is not lead by the Republicans. This was a Democratic bill, passed by a Democratic senate.
I don't know what they are teaching you at VT, but I would be inclined to think that you at least know that a majority party in a chamber is usually the support behind a passed bill in that chamber.
You seem to believe that the Republicans are responsible not only for what is done under their governance, but what is also done under the governance of the opposing party.
I have no horse in the race about this issue, at least not expressed here. I have two problems though. One this article does not mention party affiliation of the Senate, and two that you seem to be irrationally angry at the Republicans for something passed in a Democratic majority.
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OBAMA and Bernanke are featured in a movie-- about greedy hedge funds called "Stock Shock." Even though the movie mostly focuses on Sirius XM stock being naked short sold nearly into bankruptcy (5 cents/share), I liked it because it exposes the dark side of Wall Street and revealed some of their secrets. DVD is everywhere but cheaper at www.stockshockmovie.com
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To: Whatever
I still have no idea how you have not one word of scorn for the DEMOCRATS that are in control of the Senate. NOT ONE SINGLE WORD. In all of your meaningless, ill informed ranting dribble. Not a single word.
You demonstrate that you need help relative to critical thinking skills, and it is a wonder that you managed to write your majority nonsense without passing out from laughter first (lol).
I have not mentioned the Democrats because it seems that they are trying to work for the American people; with the operative word being work. The Congress is supposed to work for the American people regardless of which party is in power; thus, you can save that majority nonsense for an Introductory to Civics course. When the Republicans state that the healthcare bill will kill grandma, is that factual or working for the American people? Of course it is not, it is the same drivel that you seem to condone!
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Hokie Hi, look at you, look at you, you can call names and insult, while neglecting to offer up anything tangible to the discussion; which, demonstrates that your IQ probably doesnt go any higher than your shoe size (size 6, lol). Just so that you know, 4.0 is a GPA and not a measure for your blood-alcohol level.
It must be nice to live in an alternate universe where reality is never contemplated, nor confronted from beyond an elementary and juvenile mindset. Concomitantly, if you didnt have anything of substance to contribute to the discourse, you should have kept your sorry, low-life butt under the rock of ignorance from which you managed to claw free (lol). Beam it up Scotty (Roger that, lol).
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Through all of this Go Hokies has managed to never get the difference between the Democrats of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Democrats of the Congress of the United States.
Which Democrats are you talking about helping the American people. The ones in the National Congress who passed the health care bill that they did, or the Democrats in the Senate of the Virginia legislature that passed the law that this article is written about and that you hate and blame on the Republicans(national, state, all)?
Both? Neither? Which ones? Do you even have a firm grasp on the difference. Why not just admit that when you read the article the first time you assumed that the Republicans controlled the Virginia state Senate and so shot off the rant that you did?
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SYK (So you know), Whatever, I know that you think the moniker Whatever makes you recondite, but I know that you are connected to the Collegiate Times; that is critical thinking at work!
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Whatever, it seems that you are the one that missed the point (not surprising); rather than offering up the pretense and false supposition that I cant discern the difference between state and national Republicans, you should reread my posts. As previously stated, you evidently lack critical-thinking skills because a sixth-grader could deduce from what I posted, that Im alluding to the state Republicans in my first post, and the Senate Republicans in Congress in my second post.
Since your head is so cloudy, here is how to deduce which set of Republicans Im referring to. In my first post I ask the question, Why are Republicans always involved in this type of nonsense? Ostensibly, the word nonsense refers to the state mandates in the article. Furthermore, the article goes on to say that the Republican controlled House of Delegates is expected to pass the measures. That was easy.
In my second posting, I provide more specificity by mentioning Congress, which is a dead giveaway for Senate/House Republicans. As fore stated, a sixth-grader could deduce to which set of Republicans Im referring.
Somebody needs a reading comprehension course coupled with at least six credits in something pertaining to critical thinking (smile). In reality, I elevated my comments from the state level to the national level to reveal a connection between the Republican nonsense on both levels (critical thinking).
SYK (So you know), I would like all Republicans in the nation to help the American people. Go Hokies!
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Whatever, it seems that you are the one that missed the point (not surprising); rather than offering up the pretense and false supposition that I cant discern the difference between state and national Republicans, you should reread my posts. As previously stated, you evidently lack critical-thinking skills because a sixth-grader could deduce from what I posted, that Im alluding to the state Republicans in my first post, and the Senate Republicans in Congress in my second post.
Since your head is so cloudy, here is how to deduce which set of Republicans Im referring to. In my first post I ask the question, Why are Republicans always involved in this type of nonsense? Ostensibly, the word nonsense refers to the state mandates in the article. Furthermore, the article goes on to say that the Republican controlled House of Delegates is expected to pass the measures. That was easy.
In my second posting, I provide more specificity by mentioning Congress, which is a dead giveaway for Senate/House Republicans. As fore stated, a sixth-grader could deduce to which set of Republicans Im referring.
Somebody needs a reading comprehension course coupled with at least six credits in something pertaining to critical thinking (smile). In reality, I elevated my comments from the state level to the national level to reveal a connection between the Republican nonsense on both levels (critical thinking).
SYK (So you know), I would like all Republicans in the nation to help the American people. Go Hokies!
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Whatever, it seems that you are the one that missed the point (not surprising); rather than offering up the pretense and false supposition that I cant discern the difference between state and national Republicans, you should reread my posts. As previously stated, you evidently lack critical-thinking skills because a sixth-grader could deduce from what I posted, that Im alluding to the state Republicans in my first post, and the Senate Republicans in Congress in my second post.
Since your head is so cloudy, here is how to deduce which set of Republicans Im referring to. In my first post I ask the question, Why are Republicans always involved in this type of nonsense? Ostensibly, the word nonsense refers to the state mandates in the article. Furthermore, the article goes on to say that the Republican controlled House of Delegates is expected to pass the measures. That was easy.
In my second posting, I provide more specificity by mentioning Congress, which is a dead giveaway for Senate/House Republicans. As fore stated, a sixth-grader could deduce to which set of Republicans Im referring.
Somebody needs a reading comprehension course coupled with at least six credits in something pertaining to critical thinking (smile). In reality, I elevated my comments from the state level to the national level to reveal a connection between the Republican nonsense on both levels (critical thinking).
SYK (So you know), I would like all Republicans in the nation to help the American people. Go Hokies!
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Like it or not, a federal mandate to individuals to purchase health care is clearly unconstitutional. The commerce clause gives Congress the power to regulate economic actions; however, choosing not to purchase health insurance (or any other good or service) is not an economic action at all (rather, it is the lack of such), and would be vulnerable to being declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. If Congress had the power to force everyone to buy particular products or services, they could force everyone to spend frivolously during a recession. Such an expansive interpretation of the commerce clause would be revolutionary and is not likely to happen. For a legal analysis written in such a way that everyone can understand it, see this link: http://tinyurl.com/yfccc32
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Health care is not a financial issue, it's a moral issue. Sometimes it is difficult to do the right thing and Americans are torn between their moral concious and their self interest.
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How is it moral to force those of us that work hard and get ahead to bring up those that chose not to. Are we not entitled to the fruits of our labor, is the farmer not allowed to reap the rewards of his harvest. If you want health care work if you don't want to work than you don't get the reward. I'm not bringing them up it's not my responsibility I got mine they can get theirs. This is a land where you are guaranteed a chance to succeed you aren't guaranteed success. Thats how we built a superpower while the plight of socialism inhibited the economies of the rest of the world.
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Anonymous, I agree that we are entitled to the fruits of our labor. I am recent graduate from Tech, but I cannot afford healthcare. I have worked very hard to find jobs related to my field of study, but there is an overabundance of over qualified unemployed competing for these jobs. I have been working full time since graduation, but because of my school loan payments, I cannot afford insurance. There are many others in my predicament because our parents cannot keep us on their policies. I live in fear of getting into an accident or getting sick because of this. Please don't insult those who are working hard and are successful, but still cannot afford healthcare.
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You received a world class education, if you can't afford health care not my problem. This country gives you a chance to succeed it does not guarantee success. If your job isn't cutting it find work elsewhere.
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