Sunday, November 08, 2009
House Approves Obama's Government Takeover Of Health Care
The largest expansion of the federal government in modern times moved one step closer to reality as the House of Representatives voted last night 220-215 to approve a version of President Barack Hussein Obama's national health insurance plan that includes a public option. All five Democratic members of Indiana's congressional delegation, including Andre Carson, Joe Donnelly, Brad Ellsworth, Baron Hill and Pete Visclosky, voted in favor of the legislation, while all Republicans from Indiana voted against it. Only one Republican nationally voted for the plan, Rep. Joseph Cao, a first term Republican who represents a New Orleans district. The federal government has no way of paying for the $1.2 trillion cost of the legislation other than to borrow more money from foreigners. When will the spigot run dry?
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19 comments:
About the only thing worse than not reforming health care is passing 2000 pages acknowledged as unreadable, inapplicable (to Congress), and unaffordable. Tackle this in smaller chunks, where we can read the bill before passage, make it applicable to Congress, and explicitedly explain where we're reducing spending to pay for it, and I bet a lot of America is up for it.
Bayh 554-0750
Senator.Bayh@address-verify.com
Senator Evan Bayh
463 Russell Bldg
United States Senate
Washington D.C. 20510
Lugar 226-5555
Good. Now once my home is paid off, and I have plenty in the bank for future cars/bills, I can quit my job and be a total load. Why wake up at 5AM to drag myself into work, actually have to do something for a boss, when I can just sit at home and play on the internet all day or watch TV?
This bill is fully funded and according to the CBO will reduce the debt by $129 billion. Deficit hawks rejoice!
I had to allow just one Wilson comment to show you how incredibly misdirected he is if he actually believes the rhetoric that this plan will reduce the deficit.
It sends chills down my back, seeing socialism creeping in slowly and deliberately by lawmakers. Quickly and violently by coup might be the only thing worse.
The post-vote cheerleaders gushing about 'now everyone has access to affordable healthcare' is infuriating. Even factcheck.org says tells us around 85% of all Americans already have 'affordable healthcare' since they are currently insured.
Census data show 15% of Americans are at or below the 'poverty level,' too. It is not surprising that these two measurements divide the population with the same proportions.
What's next on the agenda, guaranteeing all Americans will have 'access to above poverty level' income?
Maybe all Americans need 'equal access to new cars' or 'equal access to HD televisions,' too?
Congress is turning into a giant Pavlovian experiment, training people to sit around, waiting, and salivating each time a new handout gets offered to them.
Wall Street Journal reported in July...
House Democrat Health Bill Adds to Budget Deficit, CBO Says
"WASHINGTON -- House Democratic legislation overhauling the nation's health care system would add more than $230 billion to the federal budget deficit over the next ten years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the official scorekeeper of legislation on Capitol Hill.
That assessment means the legislation violates one of main principles that President Barack Obama has set for any health-care legislation: that it do nothing to increase the deficit. The report is likely to increase doubts that centrist Democrats have expressed about the $1 trillion package, and could stall action in the House."
Now they say their $230B has vanished. What an amazing turnaround in their thinking! It must be a miracle.
Move ahead to September:
The CBO's dubious healthcare cost estimates
And on to October:
The baucus plan's phony deficit reduction
Many changes & improvements were made as the legislative process proceeded.
The bill voted for last night used this official letter from the CBO for the cost estimates:
http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/107xx/doc10710/hr3962Dingell_mgr_amendment_update.pdf
Two key phrases in the Dingel document: "income tax surcharge on high-income individuals" and "collections of penalties paid by individuals and employers."
Note to Wilson, read today's column by Marilym Flowers in the Star. So much for fully funded, just more smoke and mirrors to get a bill passed.
When I hear socialism, government-run health care, and why not "just sit at home and play on the internet all day or watch TV?", I don't think forced purchasing of policies from private companies (plans average $950 per month for a family of four), plus up to $5,000 in health care costs per year, plus 2.5% in fines for those who don't pay.
Maybe if modern, democratic socialism ACTUALLY DID creep in, we'd have something worth talking about -- like Canada's health plan or some of the better European plans, the kind where you talk to a doctor, he provides a service, and the government pays the bill out of taxpayer dollars and the patient doesn't have to worry about endless red tape.
Yea all the good little worker bees they have our number and you can't hide til you are drained dry.
Gary,
Instead of hyperventilating, why don't you have a more honest debate of the issue? What is insurance if it's not socialized medicine? Doesn't insurance spread the risk across a pool of people?
Look, what we have hasn't been working and can't continue. The cost of insurance has doubled for our small company (140 people)in four years and it is a struggle to keep it going. Our 401k match was cut after the last increase and employees keep paying more also.
You can be critical of what was passed - but how does that compare to the Republican plan? Oh, that's right, Republicans have been sitting on the sidelines throwing stones. There is no plan. They didn't even pass tort reform when they had both houses and the Presidency. Wasn't it Bush who added the Medicare drug benefit? (and what a f'd up mess that is)
I'm a big fan of MSA and high deductible insurance myself. It pushes some accountability on the consumer and restores insurance to its place as insurance rather than this thing that it has become.
And speaking of tort reform, in Indiana we have caps on medical malpractice... how has that worked for us? Is our health care significantly less than, say, Ohio? I don't think so.
I don't expect you to agree with me, but you could at least look at some real issues.
Don't whine to me, Greg, about your employer-provided insurance. I've been purchasing my own for years. Yes, the cost of it has increased substantially. Every time the government looks to squeeze more money out of Medicaid/Medicare providers, those of us with private insurance wind up paying the freight for those covered by the government plan. That's what happens when the government becomes so heavily involved in an industry and distorts natural market forces. People like you then blame the private sector when it was the governmental action in the first place that caused the problem.
People seem to forget that the HMO act of 73 was supposed to cure health care also, as well as every other medical bill since. So, how has that worked out?
The more government gets involved the worse things will become. Also the scam and fraud artists come out of the wordwork to steal government largess (actually steal money from the remainder of the population with the help of government.
Health care would be very affordable if nobody was insured and there were no free plans offered by the government. The ability to over-utilize health care in this country has thrown the system completely out of whack. People use every excuse in the world to go to the doctor when they know they aren't paying for it out of their own pocket. Diseases are being invented. People are being drugged needlessly. It's an absolute joke. Most of the prescription drugs people take have side effects that are worse than what they are being taken to treat. Don't even get me started on the psychotic drugs that about one in 10 people are now taking.
And Gart, I firmly believe doctors and hospitals increase their fees because the patient isn't paying it - as well as to cover the cost of dealing with the extra paperwork and aggravation the insurance providers cause.
I have seen '20% off' signs in IU Med clinics for those who pay cash.
Research!America, where I work, would like Indiana's members of Congress to go on the record with their opinions about health and research, which directly relate to this health care reform debate.
So far, none of Indiana's congressional delegation have weighed in on these important issues, but you can use our site http://www.yourcongressyourhealth.org to contact your representative and senators and ask them to share their views. We also have public opinion poll data for comparison.
When I'm sick I listen to my body and first turn to nutrition to heal me. It works.
Just recently I was not feeling too well after ignoring a craving I had for apples for the past 10 days.
I finally went out and bought some apples, ate them seeds and all, and felt like a million bucks the next day.
I never go to the doctor because I don't trust the industry. I don't trust the AMA or big pharma. I trust government even less.
I can't remember anymore how many people I know who are addicted to prescription pills...especially painkillers.
There are two great health-care crises in America—one involving coverage and the other cost. The Obama plan appears likely to tackle the first but not the second. This is bad economics but also bad politics: the crisis of cost affects 85 percent of Americans, while the crisis of coverage affects about 15 percent. Obama's message to the country appears to be "We have a dysfunctional health-care system with out-of-control costs, and let's add 45 million people to it." - Fareed Zakaria- Newsweek
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