I am trying to wrap my mind around the new health care legislation that is about to be passed by the senate. I keep hearing from people "You better be worried because when the government takes over health care they'll pay you a lot less." But I can't help but think this is a nowhere near a government takeover of health care. I would love input, to see if I am missing something here. From what I understand, if this senate bill passes soon, it will:
1. Require all Americans to have some type of health insurance (no public option will be offered by the government.)
2. Require all health insurance companies to take on every applicant regardless of pre-existing condition.
3. Make it illegal for a health insurance company to drop your coverage if you become ill.
4. Use higher taxes here and there to subsidize those in lower income group's health insurance plans.
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a giant Christmas gift to health insurance companies? They have the threat of the IRS coming in and fining you $X,000.00 for not buying health insurance. How is this not good for health insurance? I can see a couple problems, health insurance companies that previously denied applicants who were high-risk will now be forced to insure them, paying extremely high medical bills, raising everybody's premiums. Those not able to afford the premiums, with or without the governmen't help, will be penalized by the IRS for not being able to buy health insurance. I'm not sure if I'm ready to throw my whole weight and support behind this bill, but I am happy that people who were previously unable to get health insurance will now be able to do so. Please feel free to post your own worries, concerns, or positives you can see coming from this. I am ready to learn.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
The passage of this health care gives me creepy flashbacks to earlier this year. See "stimulus" package debacle. Wasn't that *supposed to keep unemployment below 8% and stimulate job growth? We all know that's been just a fantasy. So why the hurry with arbitrary health care deadlines and the doomsday forecast from its supporters if we wait? I've heard this song before.
Isn't it obvious? The longer they wait, the more people oppose this thing, the lower Obama's numbers go, the less political capital they have, and the writing on the wall becomes more clear: voting yes = political martyrdom.
Just wait until this country's seniors, aka the majority of the electorate for the 2010 midterms, see how their medicare benefits will be slashed as a result of this bill (most of it is funded by cutting medicare). Rest assured they'll take it out on the current congress at the polls.
What really makes my skin crawl is that the conservative dems on the fence knew that the longer they held out, the more pork and favors they would get in exchange for their votes. Sens. Nelson (NE)and Landrieu (LA) are prime examples. Apparently, their votes are worth hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars. This is not lawmaking, this is sleazy backroom corruption. This is congress playing monopoly with future generations' money.
I don't want to be all doom and gloom though. I disagree on moral grounds with the business practice of dropping people who get sick, or turning people down due to preexisting conditions. However, I'm also realistic. You're kidding yourself if you don't think that insurance companies will simply pass on the substantial additional costs of covering anybody and everybody with their corresponding health issues right back to the consumers in the form of higher premiums.
But isn't this the main reason why Obama wanted to get health care done in the first place? To lower people's health care costs? According to the bill's supporters, this country will go bankrupt if we DON'T get it done. I love the logic here. We're trillions in the hole, but if we don't borrow another 2.3 trillion on top of that, we're going to go bankrupt. Only a politician could get away with making such a silly claim. His VP, Biden, has echoed it as well: "We have to keep spending money to keep from going bankrupt." Ridiculous.
What's even more ridiculous is how out of touch our elected leaders are with the country. They're surging right along as if this is what America wants. All the polls I've seen indicate the exact opposite: a sizeable majority opposes the bill. I'm done now.
"Please correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this a giant Christmas gift to health insurance companies?"
Creighton, I haven't read truer words in quite some time. What's truly marvelous about this legislation is that it's a single issue upon which liberals, libertarians and conservatives can all agree. We don't like it.
Conservatives are crying, "Socialism!" But this is far from socialist. This is fascism. It smacks of the state-sponsored corporatism of fascist Italy. Here is a detailed list of how much of our tax dollars went to purchasing the remaining necessary Democrat votes:
http://wmwmsblog.com/2009/12/more-on-the-tasty-sausages-our-esteemed-senate-is-making/
As Devin said, this is NOT what the American people want. What are we going to do about it? WE ARE GOING TO DOUCHE CONGRESS IN 2010. Seriously. If there is a single Congressman left who voted for this health care bill after the '10 elections, then the American people get what they deserve. We will have voted for corruption and sent a message that it's okay to tread on us.
On a side note, I work with a guy who was in Sen. Reid's ward in Nevada for a few years. Not to dig up on old argument (because liberalism has nothing to do with what Reid has done), if you were Harry's bishop, and you can see the theft and corruption and dishonesty that he is guilty of plastered on the news every day, wouldn't you just laugh your head off in temple recommend interviews?
"Are you honest in your dealings with your fellow men?"
"Yes."
"Bwah hah ha ha ha!!"
I know this doesn't happen very often, but I think you guys are both right. Without the public option, there's no threat of that government-run plan to bring premiums down. I think Devin hit it right on the nail with regards to passing it as soon as possible, even though it won't be in effect for a couple years. I also think Nick was exactly right when he said this isn't a bill for liberals (no public option), libretarians (government forcing you to buy health insurance), or conservatives (increasing taxes raising spending by 800 billion or so dollars over the next ten years.) So who is it a bill for? I know I'm dreaming, but with a bill this important, I really wish there was a bipartisan bill that all Americans could get behind. Fat chance. Really the senate should scrap this bill, take a Christmas break, try to figure out what the American people want, and start over.
Amen!!! Well said Creighton, well said. Too bad that won't happen.
You don't have to read the bill to realize that "disaster" is written all over it.
Here are some clues: The Dems wouldn't allow anyone to read it. They had to bribe senators to get it through. It says that parts of it cannot be repealed?!!?? The taxes kick in right away. The exorbitant but underestimated costs are supposed to be paid for from cuts in other bankrupt programs (Medicare).
Creighton, what's weird is that the AMA became one of the last entities to stick their finger in the pie and pull out what it thought would be satisfactory plums. When the dust settles, you will probably see a mass exodus from the AMA as a result.
As for the insurance companies, I agree with Nic - this is economic fascism in the truest sense. Insurance companies don't like this because they know it spells doom for their future. The government will suck the meat and bones out of the insurance companies' skins, then climb on in.
I see no silver linings. And the joint conference with the House will just make matters worse - more bribes, more provisions being altered in secret, more junk. I don't care that the Dems will be thrown out - this move will inflict lasting damage. Welcome back to 1934.
I'm going to try to answer the question everyone's been asking: why are they passing this even though it's political suicide and doesn't please anybody? The short answer is that it really isn't about healthcare at all: it's all about POWER, simple as that. Sure they'll take a hit in the next round of elections, but in the long-term they will eventually end up running the health sector. Once that happens it's like social security and medicare: nobody can get rid of it because too many people RELY on it. Basically people will HAVE to vote for democrats to keep their health insurance (or so the democrats will claim), and at that point it won't matter how mad we all were at the passage of it.
This may or may not happen--depending on whether the next Congress can successfully repeal this trainwreck or not--but that's what the democrats are hoping for. They're thinking long-term here, because let's face it: they were already on-track to lose their majority even before healthcare (at least in their own minds, though in a way it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy), so now it's a matter of getting as much done before that inevitable loss or power. Again, that may or may not be true, but it's their mentality in any case.
There was a conversation I had a little while ago with some other poly-sci students at school--some of whom were Democrats, by the way--and they (not me, surprisingly enough) lamented about how democrats ALWAYS overreach when they have majorities in Congress and the Presidency (specifically Clinton's first years in office), and it ALWAYS comes back to bite them. They don't know how to hold back and take things easy: if there isn't anyone to hold them back they reach for as much power as quickly as possible, consequences be darned. As long as it translates into some sort of long-term entitlement, they don't care about being ousted the next election cycle.
What's more, there's all this focus on how it's been a decades-long battle that they've never been able to win (I think we all know why at this point), so it's a huge ideological victory in their minds, which just re-inforces their natural propensity for wrecklessness which was bloated to begin with...
It's funny people keep asking me if I'm worried about making less but under the current legislation, doctors in Utah will be reimbursed at a higher rate for some reason I'm not aware of. However I'll need that extra dough to cover the tax increase I'll take to pay for the 40 million uninsured so I guess it all evens out in the end.
Look forward to the really long lines too! Fun stuff.
Hey, Creighton, Here is a clip of a rep who is a Dr and warning those going into the medicine about the health care bill. Until yesterday he was a Democrat, but this was the issue that pushed him over to the "dark side." the whole clip (under 3 min) is interesting.http://www.politico.com/singletitlevideo.html?bcpid=1155201977&bctid=58576111001
I couldn't get the link to work Chris, so you'll have to show me later. I tried to find it, but all I found was the AMA video about supporting the new bill. I'm interested to see how this works out over the next few years. Maybe it will turn out well, I hope it does.
Post a Comment