The Note: Curve Ball — Another Week, Another Set of Obstacles to Health Care Reform

I am an Independent, a conservative one. In defense of the Rep. I have to say that when they screw up they are attacked and then sent to the dugout. Whereas, when a Dem screws up – there is laughter, shaking of heads and then business as usual. As for Sanford getting the upgrade seats, that’s normal for all the Washington bloodsucking members.

A no Matt, the Americans I have spoken with (and we all work in the healthcare industry), DO NOT want healthcare reform. The doctor’s we work with are against it as well! I suspect it’s mostly the same old welfare recepients want it, the expect the working middle class to take care of them…….same old, same old…………

Oh well (sigh)… It was a nice idea and certainly got some interest but as usual the have get more and the rest of us are still waiting, (in the emergency room). Gee whiz, I shouda listened to my dad when he told me to become a doctor and get rich rather than become an electronic engineer and get UNEMPLOYED!
Jimmy Mac

This government has not had one instance where they have spent money now only for the cost to be reduced later. Never, ever has this happened. It won’t happen with the Obamacare either. My prayer is that this effort will go down in flames. Then perhaps someone in Congress will give the freedom and authority to spend their money on competitive health care plans and circumvent this monstrously big government.

If you love the IRS and all of it buracracy then you will love government healthcare. Please, no government healthcare for me.

If you say to someone that they can have free gasoline for the rest of their life than what bdo you think that person is going to do. They are going to drive a lot more. If you tell a person they can have free health care the rest of their life what do you think they are going to do? They are going to go to the doctor a lot more. I have seen this many times through employer provided insurance. The anwser here is to make everyone pay somthing, not just the rich and small business.

When they have balanced the budget and figure out a way fund with no new taxes then I will be interested to hear what they have to say. Until then we simply cannot afford another big ticket item so why waste our time.

STOP WITH THE Fear mongering
THE HEALTH CARE REFORM IS NOT I REPEAT NOT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE Stop letting the Republicans fear monger you we all know thats what their good at DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH!

I think that from what I read in my local paper this morning that the CBO says that the current bills under consideration will not reduce costs and would probably increase cost in the long run should be a signal to Congress that they don’t have it right and need to start over and do it right. With the growing federal government debt we cannot afford to get it wrong.
In his first 170 days in office Obama has increased the debt of the government by 901.25 Billion dollars. At this rate he will increase the debt of the Government by 1.82 Trillion dollars in his first year alone and 7.74 Trillion dollars by the end of his 4 year term in office. If he is elected for a second term with the same rate of spending then the government debt will increase by 15.48 Trillion dollars. Since the debt owed by the Government was 10.6 Trillion dollars when he took office an additional 7.74 Trillion will almost double the debt in just 4 years to 18.34 Trillion dollars and at the end of his second term it will have increased to an unthought of 26.08 Trillion dollars. The interest alone on this amount of debt will consume more than half of the entire federal budget. This does not even include what Obama wants to put into healthcare which has been estimated may actually cost upwards of 1.6 Billion dollars by the Congressional Budget Office. This is money that the Government does not have and cannot conceivably have without raising taxes to the point where everyone in the country will be paying a much higher tax rate than they are currently paying. No matter how you want to put it any healthcare reform will require government involvement which will lead to required government spending so the money is an important issue, if it’s not there then healthcare will have to wait until such time as it is available. Obama promised change but this is ridiculous he makes all who came before him look minor on their spending while in office. Time to stop spending and do what should have been done long ago, cut spending which is not specifically authorized in article 1 of the constitution.
Congress should focus their efforts on tort reform and then when the results are in from how it effects the costs of healthcare would be the time to take the next step. There is no need to pass something quickly that we will be sorry for down the road like Medicare.
When Medicare was created in 1965, benefits were relatively limited and retirees paid a substantial percentage of the costs of their own care. In 1965, Congressional actuaries expected Medicare to cost $3.1 billion by 1970. In 1969, that estimate was revised to $5 billion, and it actually came in at $6.8 billion. Things have gotten worse since, and Medicare today costs $455 billion and rising. Medicaid was intended as a last resort for the poor but now covers one-third of all long-term care expenses in the U.S. — that is, it has become a middle-class subsidy for aging parents of the Baby Boomers. Its annual bill is $227 billion, and so far this fiscal year is rising by 17%.
Additonally the house bill will add a large group of new folks to Medicade which means that the Federal Government won’t come up with all of the funding, the funding will be coming from the states many of which are sufering financial problems and cannot take on the new unfunded mandate from the federal government.

Steamroll the republicans! Straight up or down vote on public healthcare. Grow a spine democrats! More than 70% of the public want public healthcare!

They need to start taxing the wealthy who have private aircraft for access to airports and the airways system. That would be a good place to find revenue for health care. The common taxpayers have been carrying this burden for years. Some of them have never flown.

Grow a spine democrats. Straight up or down vote! More than 70% of this nation wants public healthcare. Steamroll the republicans! The voters have been!

As and advid blog reader. It would seam that most of the people do not like or want this Gov. health care. Why do our law makers refuse to listen to “WE The People” instead of – “Said executive director Mitch Stewart: “Our mission is to support the president’s agenda.”

The problm with Obama is that he promised and said things that he did not know. He doesn’t have insight views of issues. Also how can he convince people when he has to look at his teleprompters to speak, and not people’s eyes.

Every day I tune into my car radio here in South Texas to listen to Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Handity tell me this Health care reform is going to be the end of United Health Care, Cigna, Atnea , Blue Cross. They operate on a profit and they can’t compete with a government plan that doesn’t. At the same time they say the government plan won’t cover anything. Yet everyone will be flocking to it. The House of Representatives held meetings a while back where they invited the CEO’s of the insurance companies to voice their complants. They were ask would they change their ways if their was no reform. A congress man actually ask on of the Ceos (after someone has paid premiums all their lives with little or no claims and suddenly get sick will you stop dropping them because now they have become a liability. ) These guys who (unlike the Democrats) have a hugh pair of jewels, say no we will still drop them.
Back in the 80′s and even early 90 ‘s they only made about 5% profit after paying claims. They now get about 20% profit. When some American citizen retired from GM in the 70′s they were promised a pension after 30 years of service and medical care. That Medical care went up from about 50. a month to about 1500. for and older person. It is a major reason the car companies had so many financial problems. Plus these companies need to keep their stock price high by increasing their profits. The GOP was in control of the House and the Senate from 1994 to 2006. 12 years they let these companies run as wild as a 6 year old locked in a candy store. They have bullied the hospitals and doctors into only receiveing about 1/4 of what the charge actually is and dictated payment amounts and validity of certain test. Someone used to go to the hospital and stay for 3 days to discover what was wrong, now you must have and IV or you can not be in there. If you don’t have insurance you pay 3 to 4 times as much for a proceedure or xray as the insurance company pays out to the same place for an insuance claim. My small company of 9 people paid 82 thou in medical insurance premiums last year 76 thou the year before that 65 the year before that 60 the year before that. Same amount of people same policy. Why such a jump. WE all are now over 40. Its not like we have a lot of claims our deductable is 2500. dollars a year. The GOP has acheived so many proud moments while they were in charge and never has their been a bigger gap between the rich and the poor. I believe they did such an outstanding job it sent the middle class to the polls in record numbers. Don’t let them now scare you with their big Government theories. You know the Government of Citizens who are voted in. Government employees who are cops, teachers, nurses, and congressmen and judges. You know goverment OF THE PEOPLE BY THE PEOPLE FOR THE PEOPLE. I don’t believe big business is anywhere in the constitution. The GOP should know that though they are the conservitives. You know, don’t spend money on America just on other countries and sinceless wars. No taxes on the rich just take care of education and roads and cities though well, I don’t know cut walfare or stop paying that Vet who served his country in this war we lied about. Why didn’t you get out when Katrina came. Can’t you get a car on your 5.35 an hour job. Well, guess what they might not be able to afford a car or gas to put in it. But they can vote. It is the great equalizer.

WE DON’T NEED SOCIALIZED health care. Start improving the system with simple steps: Get illegal aliens out of the system – no free ride. See to it that more candidates are allowed into medical schools. Allow doctors and hospitals to advertise their prices for various procedures. After those steps are taken, wait 5 years to see how much improvement, then we can discuss further steps if needed.

For Angie in PA. Get over yourself. For myself this has nothing to do with fear mongering (and I question if the people using this term even know what it means) or the GOP. Sweetie, I live with what government control does to Medicaid daily. When you work in the healthcare field and have had to deal with the STUPID changes made to Mediciad in the name of a dollar (and we’re about to under go more changes because, primarily the democrats have busted the budget, thanks so much) then YOU can come talk to me. It may as a big surprize to you and many dems. that many of us are talking from experience. SO YOU DO YOUR research before you start making stupid statements.

I don’t know where “rightbehind” is coming from except right behind. 70% of the people I know don’t want public healthcare. The liberal dems. are the only ones who really want SOCIALIZED MEDICINE!

“When you work in the healthcare field and have had to deal with the STUPID changes made to Mediciad in the name of a dollar (and we’re about to under go more changes because, primarily the democrats have busted the budget, thanks so much) then YOU can come talk to me. It may as a big surprize to you and many dems. that many of us are talking from experience. SO YOU DO YOUR research before you start making stupid statements.”
Posted by: john | Jul 17, 2009 12:15:31 PM
_____________
What ARE you talking about?
Are you confusing Medicaid with Medicare?
What changes to Medicaid have you had to deal with?

Isnt it funny how the liberals on hear can only state how the GOP is fear mongering. They have no facts and they can only echo what other liberals say. The fact is we need health care reform but not this plan. The american public is starting to wake up to how the libs are trying to cram this down everyones throat and are becomming more skeptical by the day. Good try libs but it is not going to work this time.

@ rightbehind, why don’t you share with us where you get that 70% number at?

20 state medical societies have drafted a letter to congressional leaders vowing to fight creation of a government-sponsored health insurance program that could compete with private firms. A growing number of physician groups are also objecting to the plan. And the AMA is split on their decision to back the plan, they do not favor it as another commentator said.

Conspiring to deprive people from health care is not only immoral but an obvious conflict of interest and is tantamount to fraud.
seems to me the colossal elephant in the room is the fact we spend more than 5 times enriching OUR military industrialists than the whole rest of the world spends enriching theirs but yet it is said we cannot afford to care medically for each other under the blanket of our mutual society. absurd.
one catastrophic event medically can bring the economic ruination of your family and all else you hold dear.
and all this because its somehow good to make profit from peoples disease and discomfort. absurdly immoral.
Opposers to available healthcare for all in the U.S. must be more interested in pocketing huge profits, than tending to the interests of the general population.

If you eliminate for profit health insurance and for profit health care and go to universal single payer you eliminate this problem.

The current healthcare system ranks 37th overall in the world and the GOP says there’s “nothing wrong with the status quo.” Go figure.

Posted by: D.D.
More oversight would end fraudulent claims and if fraudulent claims were perpetrated on Medicaid what is going to stop that if everyone ends up being on some form of Medicaid. Nothing.
The govt. should so what it is supposed to do, regulate, force standardization, oversee and they should certainly fix what is broken before buying into a broken system.

@ rightbehind, why don’t you share with us where you get that 70% number at?
It was all over the news less than 2 weeks ago. Here’s one better for you. Prove it otherwise. Find a credible news agency. Not “faux”
Even most republicans don’t want the healthcare industry wiping out what they’ve worked for. As it is now the medical system is set up to wipe out what the average person works for in an entire life in about 30 days that don’t have insurance. The insurance companies can wipe it out in about 15 years.
You have a chance to bring all this into check. Don’t pass it up. The HMO employees could be put to work digitizing medical records which could be better jobs than they have now.

No nation that has public healthcare will give it up. We pay more for healthcare than any other nation on this planet and it’s rated 37TH. It’s time a patient gets what’s best for them instead of what’s best for the stockholders.

If the problem is the uninsured then force the insurance companies to offer low cost insurance to everyone, for the poor subsidize. Make insurance coverage mandatory. Force standardization and modernization to eliminate the mountains of paperwork and bureaucracy. It could all be done by mandates on the private sector but that is not what they are doing because that is never what they intended to do, solve the problems. What they want is the govt. to control health care because it generates money, bottom line.

Posted by: Anthony
I beg to differ, try to find anything in the grocery store including organic that doesn’t have some chemical or pesticide. The place to start with our health problems is forcing food companies to stop killing us number one, get the pesticides and pharmaceuticals out of our food and water for another. Stop genetically modifying our food. Restore traditional farming practices to mineralize our soil and get the hormones and antibiotics out of our meat and poultry. The business govt. should be in, protecting us, they don’t give a damn about.

Posted by: rightbehind Jul 17, 2009 11:23:27 AM…so you’re for raises taxes and giving healthcare to illegals or to people who simply dont want to pay for it and putting govt into a role of another program that they will surely eff up? You sound like an extreeeemly intelligent person (insert smile). Honestly you would have to be the biggest moron to think this administration can get it right after they have admitteed to getting the economy so wrong and oh the stimlus..yeah that working isnt it. Instead of saying steamroll the repubs like a drunk fratboy cheers at a college football game….why not try for some reform inside laws surrounding healthcare. People write your congrssmen or call them and tell them how reckless these policies are. It takes 2 seconds!!!

Grow a spine democrats! Straight up or down vote on public healthcare. Steamroll the republicans!
Posted by: rightbehind
They are sooooo anxious to get a Republican signature on this bill because they need a CYA policy pronto. Everything that has the Dem seal of approval and signature is tanking and they are reading the polls. They need a Republican that they can point to when it fails, if they could they would go down to Texas and get Bush to back it.

Most of the rich business owners who make more than $350,000 a year are democrats so why would the republicans only oppose this bill if mostly rich democrat business owners will be paying the bulk of the tax? Hmmm…

rightbehind; Duh! Think about it, if you were a member of a government who had control over a whole countries healthcare would you want to give up that amount of power? Get real. With regards to the amount we pay for insurance. We will just switch from high insurance costs to higher taxes (and for lower quality healthcare). Have you ever checked how much people in England pay in taxes?

rightbehind – You said “Straight up or down vote on public healthcare. Grow a spine democrats! More than 70% of the public want public healthcare!”
Are you willing to have them pass a bill which the CBO says will not reduce cost and will likely cause an increase in costs along with having problems with being sustaining in the out years or pass a bill which the CBO will back as reducing cost and being sustainable over the years.?
I know the CBo may not be the best reviewer but in many cases they have been correct in calling the true cost of legislation whihc is passed. Just look at how Congress missed the mark on the cost of Medicare when they first passed it. We can’t afford to have a financial mistake of the magnitude this bill is about.

federal employees-including the military
have successfully used a health system that the base conservatives would phrase as “socialist”

healthcare is not a commodity.
you mean like the wate, food, clothes & shelter that you dont pay money for ?

Angie, please give your definition of what socialism is so we can understand what you mean. Until then I will offer the definition I am working from. Taken from Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary, socialism is “any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.” That IS what the Dems are trying to do with health care so unless you can improve on that definition, the Dem ARE trying to move us toward socialized medicine. I welcome your definition of socialism so I can understand your thoughts better.

You mean no congressman wants this plan for themselves? Looks like a way to redistribute wealth and begin class warfare. I agree it is not socialized medicine, just pork barrel medicine. Why can’t we have the same plan as a congressman?

granny tranny – You said “federal employees-including the military
have successfully used a health system that the base conservatives would phrase as “socialist”"
You are totally incorrect on this one. Federal employees do not use a healthcare system which would be called “socialist” as you state. Federal employees do not have “public option health insurance” or any special government health plan availalbe to them. The healthcare insurance available to the federal employees is through private insurance companies (Blue Cross, Aetna, Group Health, Kaiser, etc). The federal government as the employer pays a portion of their monthly premium (just as many private employers do) as part of their compensation package and the employee pays the remainder from his salary. When the employee uses the services of a health care provider he (not the government) is responsible for any co-pays or deductibles which are due to the provider at the time of service. For reference just Google “FEHB”.
As far as letting the rest of us into their plans this could be a viable option but it would cost us all money. If Congress were to open these plans to the public the monthly premiums for a family plan would roughly be between $425.00 and $1300.00, for an individual the monthly premium would roughly be between $177.00 and $550.00 (premiums could be shared between the employer and employee if an employer chose to provide healthcare as an employee benefit). One of the differences in the plan costs is the level of benefits provided and the amount the patient pays when receiving healthcare. To me this would be a viable option as the government would not have to make a large outlay to open these plans to the public and they already negotiate the cost and benefits each year with the plan providers.
The biggest reason most people are looking for healthcare reform is the costs which keep rising. No bill should be passed until such time as it can be shown that the impact of the bill will significantly reduce costs. You folks on the left are looking for anything without realizing that the current bills being offered will not reduce costs and will likely increase government spending. Open your eyes and look at the big picture.
In your household do you continuosly spend money on items you don’t have money for but desire to have (i.e. $100 per month income and spend $125 per month)? If you can answer yes to this then please tell the rest of us how to do it because with that scenario the eventual result is bankruptcy and loss of your assets.