I cannot wait for this reform to go thru.
whatever works lol
I never said I didn’t want change but we all know what happens when the feds get involved. If they say it will cost $1 trillion you KNOW it will be at least $10 trillion. That is not a solution. I am not sure what is at this point.
Looks like the merged bill will have the Opt-Out Public Option. This is my personal favorite choice, because the guys rallying against it are from some of the states that would benefit the most. Let’s see them put their money where their mouths are and have the balls to opt out for their state if they’re so against it…they’ll be voted out in no time.
2012 IS THE END.
Sweet, so states can opt-out, and yet still have to pay taxes to fund it:hang:
So I guess there is no need to talk about this because it won’t start until 2013 and we will all be dead before that. lol
Nope, this isn’t funded by taxes. Fail.
Q: What will the public plan cost the government?
A: The Senate hasn’t released a cost estimate of the public plan. But Mr. Obama and Democrats have pledged the health bill will be fully supported by tax increases and spending cuts, and won’t add to the deficit. If the plan pays health-care providers at lower rates than private insurers, it could put pressure on health costs and, eventually, help save government money by driving down costs of medical services. But government insurance programs have historically cost more than planned. Medicare had modest cost expectations when it was created in 1965. It is now one of the biggest contributors to the federal budget deficit.
Sounds like taxes to me :gotme:
Have you read the current bill? It’s funded by premiums and a tax on Cadillac health plans in the states that opt in.
yup.
Tap your feet as much as you can from now until 2012, Republicans.
wow, u believe eveything that spews from his lieing mouth dont u. Just like “anyone who makes under 250,000 a year wont see their taxes go up” right? Was it the next day that white house officials said to disregard obamas statements?
Who’s He? Obama hasn’t even entered the process yet.
And I believe every word that’s in the written bill. Kind of hard to fake that.
Problem is, many “Cadillac plans” are held by those who are union workers, yet don’t make $250k/year. Hence the pledge won’t quite hold.
Ultimately, the question will be:
-
if the plan is to be funded by premiums alone, I’d bet that it would soon run into a “liquidity crisis”, earlier than Medicare’s (due 2017). I figure most of those who get put into the public option would be the sicker ones who can’t afford a regular plan; hence the outlays from the public option might be worse than those on a “normal” plan.
-
in order to generate needed savings on a public option, the government might have to force payment cuts to those that accept it. As it stands, doctors are still on the hook for a 21% rate cut under Medicare, so I’d bet that if Medicare eligibility is used to enforce participation in the public option , the number of doctors accepting both will plummet.
-
in any case, there’s been no mention of what cost containment there will be with the public option in place. Without it, the public option won’t survive without a larger input from the government, and that WILL mean higher taxes - whether above $250k or not.
I have zero health insurance. You’d think Id be for this but I am 100% against it. Ive been saying for along time the actuall costs need to come down first. Even if you just started with prescription costs. Even just more widespread generic scripts would be a start. There are a crap load of $4 a month scripts. Why not more? Why are some generics still $100+ a month ? Shit the only one Im on, even generic, unfortunatley isnt one of the $4 ones, and it is over $100 a month. There are so many aspects that should and could be addressed before we dive bomb into a massive reform.
And if reform is the awnser, why not start small, try things, experiment with them, pick a city, pick a state, shit pick a branch of the government. See how it works first. NOOOO we need this enormus sweeping cluster fuck reform and NOW, it needs to pass like yesterday!!! Just like all the bailouts and stimulus… Dont let a good crisis go to waste, right?
Did you know that average health insurance profits are only 2.2%? This isnt going to solve everything like they say it will.
I dunno, Plain and simple more govt. involvement is bad and alot of us know that, but some welcome it with open arms. But for me, I dont trust a single thing about this administration.
you might like this one:
http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2009/08/25/why-health-insurers-make-lousy-villains.html
however the problem is the overall system including interactions, you simply can’t fix it little bits at a time.
also, LOL @ enormus
I like this bit of the article :
“Health insurers turn out to be underperformers compared with the other parts of the healthcare sector. Pharmaceutical companies have a profit margin of 16.4 percent—seventh highest of the 215 industries that Morningstar tracks. Others segments of healthcare with margins well above the median include healthcare information (9.4 percent), home healthcare firms (8.5 percent), medical labs (8.2 percent), and generic drugmakers (6.5 percent).
The big money, in other words, isn’t in the insurance industry. If it’s anywhere, it’s in the pharmaceutical industry.”
More people need to read and understand that^
I am by no means against capatilism but in my opinion when it comes to health and education, they should not be looked at for means of profit. Go make some Redbull or TV’s if you want to make money, dont do it on peoples health and (what should be) their right to educate themselves further if they so choose.
Anyways… the only thing you hear the government talking about is insurance companys, and we will compete with them with the public option…how are you going to compete when you have a say 4% to 2% profit margin range to work with? OK, lets get it down to 1% then? What will happen then is the insurance companys will say fuck this, Im out, and either sell to the govt. or just close. So eventually we will only have a govt. run health care option??? And then I can only imagine what the govt. will start ordering us to do if we are under their hand alone for our health care. Im just speculating here but really, whats going to come out of this?
I feel like you’re missing a link.
We don’t want to go after Pharma. companies for being successful because that would be anti-capitalist. We do want to stop health care companies from paying them whatever they feel like charging. The problem is that everybody is in business together to rip off the consumer and cover their own asses. If the private sector refuses to sort this out (or can’t) then a public option will. (in theory)
Yeah I hear ya, Im not saying lets just go burn down all the pharma. co’s.
Like I mentioned I am by no means against capitalism, business and profits are what makes our country great, however when profits play a part in peoples well being and life in general, then yes I am against it.
I guess I just have retarded views.
Medications keep people out of the hospital and enable them to live longer lives without more costly surgeries. Yes they make a lot of money, but the alternative is a lot more expensive. Also, the R&D costs are enormous.
The US is the only place in the world that they charge the prices they charge. We basically subsidize everyone else right now since they all have price controls. When an American can save lots of money on an American product by buying it in Canada, we’re doing it wrong.