Health Care: Summers Draws Line on Deficits but Not on Costs

“But when I pressed Summers on whether the President would sign a bill that increased health care costs he said “the president’s bill will meet what has been the agreed test, that the Congressional Budget Office assesses the bill and concludes that it reduces the budget deficit.” The president’s own actuary said the bill will raise costs. So, is Summer’s equivocating for the president? And what of the president saying he wouldn’t sign a bill that does cover everyone? Just more ‘campaign-promise’ like statement to get any bill?

Who listens to this guy? The guy cost Harvard a billion dollars investing in hedge funds, was fired by Harvard, is accepting the use of citigroups corporate jet and teliing dodd not to include citigroup in salary caps. He was paid nearly 8 million dollars from hedge fund managers and wall street companies bailed out by tarp money. What a guy to have just another corrupt czar obama put on salary with tax payer monies.

If the health care bill had a viable public option, it would reduce spending, on both a local and a national level.
A few years ago, California state senator Sheila Kuehl proposed a single payer system for California. UTLA, the teachers union of the Los Angeles Unified School district, conducted a study and concluded that if LAUSD enrolled all its employees in a single payer system, it would save between $ 100 to $ 200 million a year.
The reason is simple – Lower over head. A single payer system does not pay CEO salaries. It does not pay stockholder dividends. It does not finance lobbyists or political campaign contributions. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the health insurance industry is spending about $ 1.4 million a day to defeat health care reform. If you check the Huffington Post, around November 14, you will discover a report by Goldman Sachs which predicted soaring profit margins if the public option is defeated.
The Senators who oppose health care reform all get generous campaign contributions from investment firms, the health insurance industry and Big Pharma. If you don’t beleive me, go to Google, type in Center for Responsive Politics and then add the name of the Senator of your choice and you’ll see what I mean.
The same would apply to a public optin – or even opening Medicare to everybody. Local governments could enroll all their employees in a public option and get better medical coverage for less money. The same would apply on a national level.
So it is possible to save money and provide medical coverage.

Let me get this straight… the whole point of healthcare reform was to bring down COSTS and make insurance available and affordable to everyone, or at least that’s what we were told. NOW we find out it’s not “necessary” to reduce COSTS, just reduce deficit. So, the Obama squad scores points for reducing deficit, while the people (you know, those individuals the government is supposed to REPRESENT) will see no difference in their healthcare COSTS. I’ll wait for someone to explain this.

I do not fish. Someone who knows something about fishing should help pull the hook that William Joseph Miller has swallowed. He has obviously spent most of his senior citizen life standing in a government created line to see what it is giving away FREE. I wonder how you became a senior citizen without knowing all politicians lie and all need to be voted out. Take your nap.

both the CBO and the commonweath fund have published that there would be a saving..if we wait long enough we will find a report that doubles the HHS cost overrun..it is time to change the system..the pharmaceutical companies will see tremendous increase in earnings based on the uninsured having coverage and the emphasis that people should take their medications..let them chip in a few more billions..
let’s show the rest of the world that we can pull this off

As Stanley Laurel was noted to say to Oliver Hardy “This is a fine mess you have gotten us into this time Ollie”.
We are caught in a real conundrum in that our number one job growth generator is the healthcare industry. But with new jobs comes the problem of paying for them. Thus the consumer is on the hook for paying for the jobs, moreso, paying for the inequities and inefficiences of the health care monster “health insurance”.
Having worked quite a few years in the field, the ‘industry’ has gotten away with everything they wanted , with no governance, accountability nor concern for anything other than meeting their bottom line and satisfying their shareholders, and their systems are bloated with inefficiencies.
If we are ever going to gain an upper hand on costs, we need to reduce the costs for many programs that place a stanglehold on the consumer and businesses. Until the HC insurers are required to get their house in order, we will continue to debate the merits of any HC plan coming through Capitol Hill.
They must think we are village idiots out here, if we are unable to see through their smoke and mirrors games they are playing. If Congress wants to do anything meaningful, they will require negotiations in good faith be the foundation for any further discussions.
We are being held hostage to a select few major carriers and industries in this country and they are bringing us to our knee’s. The banks don’t want to lend to re-mortgagers because there is not enough incentive (profit) for them because low interest rates.
The insurance industries do not want to refund monies back into state budgets when they do not have disasters in Florida or gulf coast cities. They could very easily, they had no capital outlay of any expenses but still charge exorbitant rates because of the
‘fear factor’. When they see they have no accountability they give their management huge bonuses, meanwhile these small towns and citizens are feeling the pinch of layoffs and instability throughout the entire economy.
Large business needs to realize they have a responsibility to their shareholders, but the greater responsibility is to the society at large. They can argue that point into the ground and probably hire 100 lobbyists to refute it, but the fact remains we are all in this fight together.
Reducing the budget can be done but we need to look at cost reductions, revenue generators and a flat tax that makes it more proportionate and allows us to whittle down the budget with forecasting better acheieved instead of hit and miss like we are presently doing. There are so many ways we can paint a better economic portfolio, but when big business gets too big, they start carrying a big stick and either threaten or abuse their right to participate in a free enterprise system that benefits more than themselves.
I’ll stop now, but we all know I’m just flogging a dead horse and the problems will continue to persist until when ‘they’ can say ‘we’ instead of ‘me’.

That’s an idiotic statement, when the entire proposal is based on reducing costs.

I will not vote for any politician that tries to block healthcare reform.
Quite frankly I think the American people and Obama alike are tired of the politics surrounding Health Reform. Just get it done! Ensure a good plan where insurance companies need to compete rather than dictate the cost and coverage. Where every working class Joe can afford health care coverage. Our policies are not aligned in this country. Minimum wage is what? 7.25 an hour – you certainly can not afford healthcare on 7.25 an hour. Be realistic, there are people out there working 2 and 3 jobs at minimum wage and unable to get healthcare. It’s pathetic and the government needs to resolve the problem now. Not later, now! I blame the republicans and lebierman for stalling the process for their own political gain. They don’t care if another child dies because they have no health care – they just want to make sure they get elected next term. This is the political game the American people can longer afford to play.

The Senators who oppose health care reform all get generous campaign contributions from investment firms, the health insurance industry and Big Pharma. If you don’t beleive me, go to Google, type in Center for Responsive Politics and then add the name of the Senator of your choice and you’ll see what I mean.

Anyone who favors the public option has not lookerd very hard at Europe and England. 3 week waits to get an x-ray, 2 weeks to get it read, and if you haven’t died by the time they diagnose you, you probably didn’t need to be there to begin with.
Universal coverage sounds good, but the only way it works is if you outlaw private health coverage and force everyone into the same lousy system.
Notice Congress conviently opted themselves out of the public system early on. They know what’s coming down the road. Now the govenment will decide if you live or die in the healthcare system, just like it is in Europe.
Where is the motivation to do well and study to get a good job with health coverage? Where’s the motivation to take care of yourself and don’t do drugs, smoke or drink heavily?
I like our present system with some modifications rather than a government run system. Last I looked, there was no ban on smoking, drinking heavily or doing drugs in Obamacare. Now I get to pay for all of those loosers too. Change better be coming in November.