obamacare and vaping?

[Petrodus]

The thread is titled "obamacare and vaping?" you don't expect it to get political with the current situation? My family moved here for a reason. Might as well have moved to Russia or Greece at this point.

 

[Grateful4jerry]

A few weeks back i recieved a letter from my health ins. provider stating "the affordable care act requires health insuarance companies to set health plans based on family size, age, geography, and tobacco use........The federal government states that a tobacco user is someone who used tobacco products four or more times a week and has done so within last six months." Letter was for a one question survey asking if i fall into the yes or no category of being a tobacco user. If I understand that correctly,3 cigs a week is ok? While not many, still worse than vaping everyday I would think/hope!

 

[Petrodus]

I suggest MANY esmokers actually smoke 1 or more cigarettes every day ...
regardless to the popular PC type posts on the ECF giving the illusion most
esmokers no longer smoke any cigarettes.

No way to prove it ... even if we took a poll ...
most members would be reluctant to post they still smoke on occasion.

 

[NakiFantaki]

I suggest MANY esmokers actually smoke 1 or more cigarettes every day ...
regardless to the popular PC type posts on the ECF giving the illusion most
esmokers no longer smoke any cigarettes.

No way to prove it ... even if we took a poll ...
most members would be reluctant to post they still smoke on occasion.

I doubt that.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

 

[WarHawk-AVG]

I suggest MANY esmokers actually smoke 1 or more cigarettes every day ...
regardless to the popular PC type posts on the ECF giving the illusion most
esmokers no longer smoke any cigarettes.

No way to prove it ... even if we took a poll ...
most members would be reluctant to post they still smoke on occasion.

See my banner below...haven't touched one

 

[dave8944]

I haven't smoked at all either, and all my friends couldn't believe I was the one that quit since I LOVED smoking so much. I still don't mind the smell, but don't ever feel like smoking one. It's just pointless after your body adjusts to the fact that your need for nicotine is being satified without smoke.

 

[Penner]

Well, I also haven't smoked a cigarette since 1/14/11. I never thought it could happen but it did. The first day I started using ecigs I never touched another cigarette.

This was back in the day when you could only drip or used a teabag to stuff your little cartridge & do the "spin" thing, to get it to saturate the entire teabag. An 350? mAh tiny ego was just coming out - I didn't have one, I had the little white cigarette looking batteries that only lasted 15 minutes. So the convenience/ technology wasn't there.

I smoked cigarettes for 38 years.

Now I work with the public, & the smell of cigarettes nauseates me, & I just don't have any desire at all for one.

I have 6 cartons of cigarettes that I bought in 1/2011 (before I quit), sitting in my freezer for nearly 3 years now (to sell, lol, if the Zombie apocalypse comes).

 

[Petrodus]

There are countless stopped smoking testimonials ...
I suggest there are countless e-smokers which still smoke from time to time.
Only the "I totally 100% stopped smoking" testimonials are ECF PC testimonials
which get KUDOS.

 

[Barbara21]

Taking bets the OCA will eventually morph into a
single payer system ... which many speculate was the plan all along.

I certainly hope you're right.

I'm a Registered Nurse with family in Europe (mainly Germany).

Germany (like much of Europe) has a single-payer system. On a per-capita basis, they spend less than 60% of what we spend here in the US. They drink more. They smoke more.

Yet they have a longer life expectancy. (Almost two years longer, a significant amount.)

I know this is a hot topic for many people. And there is a lot of invective and misinformation flying around about single-payer systems. But we vapers are used to misinformation, right? We complain when others condemn vaping as a knee-jerk reaction because 'it looks like smoking'. In other words, for condemning it without learning all the facts. Let us not ourselves be guilty of the same thing.

 

[NakiFantaki]

There are countless stopped smoking testimonials ...
I suggest there are countless e-smokers which still smoke from time to time.
Only the "I totally 100% stopped smoking" testimonials are ECF PC testimonials
which get KUDOS.

Just because you smoke a cigarette from time to time does mean everyone else does the same.

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

 

[Luisa]

Exactly the opposite.
I was paying nearly double a non smoker under my employer's plan at work since 2006. I got myself nicotine free so that surcharge went away. However, our plan has such high deductibles and co-insurance that I still can't afford to actually use our VERY EXPENSIVE insurance.
Now, thanks to obamacare, my employer is offering a second option. A very CHEAP plan that meets the minimum requirements of the new law.
I still can't afford to use my insurance but it will only cost about a third as much as it did last year. It's less than half the price what I was paying in 2006.
I'm pretty happy with the new law. At least I'm not getting RIPPED OFF for insurance I can't actually use.

BTW, I'm an independent. I like to make my own choices, not bow to ideology.
Sent from work, sorry about the typos.

So,you don"t vape anymore? How many employees does your company have?

 

[Luisa]

You'd need to eat 28 pounds of eggplant to get the amount of nicotine in your blood that a smoker has.
There's a 2 year old thread about that here on ECF somewhere.
This is a topic that comes up a lot on ECF.

Edit: Ok I found the old thread. Its 22lbs not 28:
http://www.e-cigarette-forum.com/fo...cussion/219410-health-insurance-e-cigs-5.html

Edit for those of you knocking Obamacare:
I guess you don't know what it's like to walk around with a broken foot for for more than six months because you have no insurance. I guess you don't know what it's like to wear SANDALS IN JANUARY (subzero temps) because they are the only shoes that will fit over your broken foot. I guess you don't know what it's like that more than 33 years latter that I can still feel where I broke that foot as I sit here typing. I guess you don't know what it's like to have your WHOLE LIFE revolve around that FRIGGING FOOT THAT YOU BROKE 33 years ago. I have no life outside work, my foot hurts too much.

Actually,I had a terrible double break in my foot 20 years ago. I,too,had to borrow an orthopedic shoe. It took forever to heal. I never stopped being active and do 3 miles a day on a fast treadmill. My foot really needed to have surgery and that was something I could not afford. It was a terrible and painful break and took a long time to heal on its" own. Obama Care was not thought out well in the beginning. Read all 2000+ pages as I did when it was passed. It will eventually control every aspect of your life. I say "no thanks".

 

[Luisa]

Just because small monthly payments are sometimes accepted by hospitals and doctors
doesn't mean it's a law they have to accept tiny payment and can't come after you for the balance. Believe it Or Not.

There's no such law requiring medical to accept $10 per month.

Edit:
I've been looking for the one who started the rumor it's a law they
have to accept tiny payments and they can't do anything to you.
The rumor a few years ago was ... "As long as you pay $5 per month ...."

Maybe it depends on the Doctor and the Hospital. Some will work with people/

 

[Petrodus]

Maybe it depends on the Doctor and the Hospital. Some will work with people/

True ... At one time for a number of years
I was a financial consultant for some hospitals.
Most will work out payments ...
However, I wouldn't recommend telling the business office
"You have to take $10 a month ... it's the law"

 

[Luisa]

Our health insurance rates went up drastically after they passed obamacare last year and the year before. This is the first time they've actually gone down . The only reason they went down is because they offered the the second "obamacare minimum' as a choice this year. the standard plan is still very expensive. I had to have an ultrasound last month. I fully expect my insurance to refuse to pay. Why not, they were willing to deny me antibiotics when I had pneumonia. If I'm going to get ripped off for an insurance policy I'd rather it be cheap.

I bought my very first car when I was 49 and that's because my husband pays the rent. I've been too broke to buy a car for most of my life, let alone worry about gas.

That is odd. Obamacare was passed in 2009 and did not even go into effect until October of this year--just a few days ago in fact. I don"t understand how you had an Obama plan before October 1 of this year. I am sorry about your arm. I guess we are about even on bone breaks. I broke my left foot about 20 years ago--double break.a wishbone break, 9 years ago I fractured my left knee and broke my right foot in a silly home accident. Fortunately,I have had no upper body bone breaks.

 

[djezewski]

I suggest MANY esmokers actually smoke 1 or more cigarettes every day ...
regardless to the popular PC type posts on the ECF giving the illusion most
esmokers no longer smoke any cigarettes.

No way to prove it ... even if we took a poll ...
most members would be reluctant to post they still smoke on occasion.

I still do and I am not afraid to say so. 3-5 a day is better than a pack. I am much healthier right now than I was last fall and winter, so the e's are definitely helping.

 

[KjAthena]

.... Just remember that an injury or illness may cost you or a family member everything.....EVERY american does deserve healthcare...no one should die or suffer because they can not afford insurance.

 

[Racehorse]

Edit for those of you knocking Obamacare:
I guess you don't know what it's like to walk around with a broken foot for for more than six months because you have no insurance. I guess you don't know what it's like to wear SANDALS IN JANUARY (subzero temps) because they are the only shoes that will fit over your broken foot. I guess you don't know what it's like that more than 33 years latter that I can still feel where I broke that foot as I sit here typing. I guess you don't know what it's like to have your WHOLE LIFE revolve around that FRIGGING FOOT THAT YOU BROKE 33 years ago. I have no life outside work, my foot hurts too much.

Yes, that DOES sound a lot more painful than not being able to vape, or to have to vape under regulations. Thanks for putting it in perspective for me.

That people, all people, the majority of human beings in the US have access to affordable health care, is a much bigger issue to me than the minority of people who want to vape w/out being taxed and/or regulated.

Sorry, but that is just how it is for me. Ethically, I have weighed those 2 things against each other and they are not reallly comparable to me.

Every now and then I run across references on this forum about somebody having been homeless. I have talked to them, and it always turns out that their descent into that realm was due to a serious health issue, which depleted their finances, and which also sometimes rendered them unable to work.

There but for the grace of God go I..........

The other thing is that when people do not have access to health care, they are able to spread diseases to you and yours, etc. So it comes full circle, back at you. Without access to affordable health care, people do not get medical checks they need and often are in late stage disease by the time it is caught, which ends up raising insurance costs for everybody. Not to mention it causes a huge amount of human suffering and tradgedy, as there are certainly people who die all the time due to circumstances like this, as a close friend and neighbor of mine did last year.

So----if I were given an opportunity where i could save just one person or child who is suffering from a chronic or debilitating or serious disease or health problem, I would gladly put down my ecig and stop vaping.

Therefore, vaping is a one-issue thing for me....not something I put first in my political agenda when considering the other many things in the world i feel are more important.

Of course, I want our ability to vape unemcumbered to continue. That would be best case scenario.

If I am taxed and regulated for vaping, but it allows other people and their families to have access to affordable health care, it's a no-brainer for me which I would choose.

I realize this is not a one-to-one direct relationship, but if it WERE, I"m just telling you what is in my heart to do.

The hard reality is that I could go on living without nicotine. But somebody with a serious untreated medical condition might not be able to go on living.

 

[Racehorse]

Obama Care was not thought out well in the beginning.

Luisa, I do agree with that. However, we have to start somewhere. "lets get this party started" was sort of my thought.

I believe it was Koreo or Viet Nam or someplace that put an affordable health care system into place and were very successful. We need ot at least TRY.

 

[Racehorse]

double post, sorry.