I am also in the Bible belt, and the condoms are out there for anyone to pick up. I believe the biggest issue with contraception is people are embarrassed to buy it because they don't want people to know about their sex life. This leads to either theft, no sex, or pregnancy depending on the individual.

But that's not the same as the OP and other posters saying that contraception isnt' available unless ACA or the like is in place.

It's out there always has been, just a matter of people getting it. I think they mean to say, it only matters if someone else is PAYING for it.

Conflating availability with who is footing the bill.

Are you sure you paid into the unemployment fund? Most self employed do not, even though they think they do. If you did, then you should be eligible for unemployment.

I am 100% positive.

I have an "S" corp, I paid myself salary with the taxes and I paid the employer side of all those taxes too. I filled out the parts for unemployment, state and fed taxes.

I was told all the way through my appeals that sure I'd paid it, but the law said I couldn't get it in the state of LA.

People who are poor don't have the same choices you do.

They're not buying 60" televisions.

I guess you aren't driving by the same projects I am, seeing said 60" TVs through the open doors of the apartments, while they're sitting on the porch.

And as for the rest of it...hey, life is tough.

Were it local-governor-care instead, would that really make you substantially happier? How so?

Because, you could have more of a say in how your state enacts or doesn't enact it.

If you didn't like that state's solution, you could move to one that more closely shares your views on life and how much they want to make you pay for someone else's life.

Unless you were one of the millions of people who have a precondition.

I did/still do.

You are missing the other really important bit, namely that your insurance is no longer tied to your employer. No one should lose health insurance simply because they lost their job.

I don't get this.

I've lost jobs, but never lost insurance. I'd pay COBRA till I either :

1. Found another job with insurance

or

2. Bought a private policy, generally when working through my own company consulting, etc.

There has always been a way to get insurance that wasn't tied to a job.

Socialism is paying for health care even for people who couldn't afford insurance. We do that too. But I happen to think its a good thing, and think healthcare SHOULD be socialized in a civilized society.

I'm still searching the US Constitution where it says that the feds can force me to be my brothers keeper by force.

The biggest problem is that once people have to pay for "routine" visits, they don't go on routine visits.

Well, people have to pay for transportation to get to work, fi they don't, they don't work. That's my problem too? I mean, if they don't try to take responsibility for themselves and their health, that's their problem. People need to save for what they need, rather than sacrifice health and buy 60" televisions.

What happened to people taking responsibility for their lives and answering to the consequences of their actions/inactions?

Where in the US constitution is it mandated that I be my brothers keeper....by force?

If you have to save to go to the doctor, people won't go to the doctor for routine care.

Well, if those people are that fucking stupid, then that's their problem, is it not?

I mean, what's next, if people don't want to save for food, and they start to starve, that's my problem too?

What happened to personal responsibility, and suffering the consequences of your actions (good or bad)?

Definitely. I mostly agree with the THEORY of insurance not covering your routine visits (other than the part where the doctors overcharge and you don't have the benefit of insurance negotiated prices, so you pay $600 for a $100 visit).

I found the opposite to be true. When I had my high deductible account and paid myself, I told the Doctors that, and they often knocked money off the bill.

I paid for an MRI I had and when I told them I was paying for it, they said, OH wait...and knocked off 15% off the bill.

Depending on where you go, a "routine" doctor's visit can range from $50 to $200.

I have no problem saving and budgeting for that, especially if I can save my medical bucks in a pre-tax HSA. Why shouldn't everyone budget routine medical needs (dr visits, routine meds) into their monthly budget just like other necessities such as utilities, food and gas?

You know, I think what got me was finding out that we actually have a federal position of: " U.S. government office that monitors scientific misconduct in biomedical research"

Seriously, we have a paid staff looking into this?? WTF business is that of the federal govt?

Seems like that should be something policed by the biomedical community, no?

Is biomedical misconduct in research against the law or something???

If not, what is the govt doing spending tax money on this?

In the U.S., if you're working independently, or even trying to, you're not eligible for unemployment.

I ran into this myself and was shocked.

I paid quite a lot into the unemployment system while working through my own company, but when I lost contracts and was in between job, I could not collect unemployment, even though I'd paid into the system.

Honestly, if I ever win the powerball, I'd take the money to hire legal guns and fight shit like this just on principal.

Around these parts, which I like to refer to as the Buckle of the Bible Belt, they lock the "generic" contraceptives (condoms, spermicide, etc.) up in a glass cabinet (because of theft), and I'm pretty sure you have to be at least 16 to buy them. For the "strong stuff," i.e. birth control or Plan B, you've got to go talk to either your doctor, or the nice folks down at Planned Parenthood.

Your part of the bible belt sounds much different than my notch in the bible belt I've lived in and grew up in.

It was Church of Christ country where I grew up, where we thought the Baptists were too liberal and no contraception was under lock and key (that didn't require a prescription that is).

I live in these areas and you can easily see the condoms, etc on display at most any grocery store, drug store or hell, even the fucking 7-11 has them out for easy pickings.

The deductible in an ACA plan does not apply to a large number of routine procedures. Those are covered with a co-pay instead. For example, instead of paying full price for a check-up because you haven't hit the deductible, you pay around $10-40 depending on plan.

This does not seem to be the case for any of the plans I looked at. And even when I hit deductible, the insurance on most of these plans seem to only pay about 70% tops of the bills.