Originally posted by sgreger1
-
+ 1 for all my older relatives who did everything right and now have to worry about their medicare being over run by this..... Shame on you politicians..... Both sides of the aisle..... and plus one for the populace on a whole. this is just one more nail in the coffin of American Sovereignty. -
I have nothing else to say about this but:
Comment
-
OMG i'm doing that next time I goto the beach..Comment
-
So they passed it, just barely. I knew they would. Now only a few more steps to go. Like the PACT, it's a done deal.
"A bloc of pro-life Democrats turned out to be the linchpin to passage of the Senate's massive health insurance overhaul Sunday night, as President Obama cemented a 219-212 victory with a pledge to issue an executive order "clarifying" abortion language in the Senate bill."
So close.Comment
-
Remember this one folks. Obama had to make a promise (read lie) to his fellow party members to make this happen. Which doesn't really matter when you consider that the people of this country overwhelmingly didn't want this bill to pass (abortion or not). We've been told not to worry just let it pass and you will like it. No matter what side of the aisle you hail from this is not "For the People by the People"Originally posted by sgreger1Comment
-
The next president is gonna have reverse all this crap.Comment
-
Originally posted by tom502
Like all things government, it's designed so that no one can ever take it down. It's not going anywhere, even if a republican gets elected. It's like the patriot act, once it's born it doesn't die easily, even if repealing it seems like a no brainer.Comment
-
For those who want to know what's in it, here is the list from Reuters. Doesn't sound like too bad a plan:
WITHIN THE FIRST YEAR OF ENACTMENT
*Insurance companies will be barred from dropping people from coverage when they get sick. Lifetime coverage limits will be eliminated and annual limits are to be restricted.
*Insurers will be barred from excluding children for coverage because of pre-existing conditions.
*Young adults will be able to stay on their parents' health plans until the age of 26. Many health plans currently drop dependents from coverage when they turn 19 or finish college.
*Uninsured adults with a pre-existing conditions will be able to obtain health coverage through a new program that will expire once new insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014.
*A temporary reinsurance program is created to help companies maintain health coverage for early retirees between the ages of 55 and 64. This also expires in 2014.
*Medicare drug beneficiaries who fall into the "doughnut hole" coverage gap will get a $250 rebate. The bill eventually closes that gap which currently begins after $2,700 is spent on drugs. Coverage starts again after $6,154 is spent.
*A tax credit becomes available for some small businesses to help provide coverage for workers.
*A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2011
*Medicare provides 10 percent bonus payments to primary care physicians and general surgeons.
*Medicare beneficiaries will be able to get a free annual wellness visit and personalized prevention plan service. New health plans will be required to cover preventive services with little or no cost to patients.
*A new program under the Medicaid plan for the poor goes into effect in October that allows states to offer home and community based care for the disabled that might otherwise require institutional care.
*Payments to insurers offering Medicare Advantage services are frozen at 2010 levels. These payments are to be gradually reduced to bring them more in line with traditional Medicare.
*Employers are required to disclose the value of health benefits on employees' W-2 tax forms.
*An annual fee is imposed on pharmaceutical companies according to market share. The fee does not apply to companies with sales of $5 million or less.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2012
*Physician payment reforms are implemented in Medicare to enhance primary care services and encourage doctors to form "accountable care organizations" to improve quality and efficiency of care.
*An incentive program is established in Medicare for acute care hospitals to improve quality outcomes.
*The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which oversees the government programs, begin tracking hospital readmission rates and puts in place financial incentives to reduce preventable readmissions.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2013
*A national pilot program is established for Medicare on payment bundling to encourage doctors, hospitals and other care providers to better coordinate patient care.
*The threshold for claiming medical expenses on itemized tax returns is raised to 10 percent from 7.5 percent of income. The threshold remains at 7.5 percent for the elderly through 2016.
*The Medicare payroll tax is raised to 2.35 percent from 1.45 percent for individuals earning more than $200,000 and married couples with incomes over $250,000. The tax is imposed on some investment income for that income group.
*A 2.9 percent excise tax in imposed on the sale of medical devices. Anything generally purchased at the retail level by the public is excluded from the tax.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2014
*State health insurance exchanges for small businesses and individuals open.
*Most people will be required to obtain health insurance coverage or pay a fine if they don't. Healthcare tax credits become available to help people with incomes up to 400 percent of poverty purchase coverage on the exchange.
*Health plans no longer can exclude people from coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
*Employers with 50 or more workers who do not offer coverage face a fine of $2,000 for each employee if any worker receives subsidized insurance on the exchange. The first 30 employees aren't counted for the fine.
*Health insurance companies begin paying a fee based on their market share.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2015
*Medicare creates a physician payment program aimed at rewarding quality of care rather than volume of services.
WHAT HAPPENS IN 2018
*An excise tax on high cost employer-provided plans is imposed. The first $27,500 of a family plan and $10,200 for individual coverage is exempt from the tax. Higher levels are set for plans covering retirees and people in high risk professions. (Reporting by Donna Smith; Editing by David Alexander and Eric Beech)
EDIT: "*A 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services that use ultraviolet lamps goes into effect on July 1."
That is clearly a direct "F*ck you" to Boehner.
My only concern is that they are dropping the pre existing conditions thing, adding a tax based on marketshare onto drugs, devices, and insurance companies. So now they have to cover all these people that were too expensive to be profitable last year, and also have a new tax to pay. I don't see how this could not affect my current premiums from raising but maybe it all works out somehow.Comment
-
What if a conservative think tank, such as the Heritage Foundation, had first dreamed up the reforms found in Obamacare?
The Obama plan has a broad family resemblance to Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts plan. It builds on ideas developed at the Heritage Foundation in the early 1990s that formed the basis for Republican counter-proposals to Clintoncare in 1993-1994.
Enjoy your Marxist health care and don't forget to thank the Heritage Foundation for such 'socialized' ideas! Such 'radical' Marxist ideas could only have sprung from a Marxist organization such as the Heritate Foundatiion, right?Comment
-
Sarah Palin says:
"Yesterday we saw the consequence of voting for those who believe in “fundamentally transforming” America whether we want it or not. Yesterday they voted. In November, we get to vote."
Let's all wish Sarah well in selling the public on the idea that your children SHOULD be denied health insurance due to pre-existing conditions.
Good luck with that one Sarah!Comment
-
OOPS! Looks like Obama's numbers are bouncing back since the health care vote!Originally posted by Bigblue1Comment
-
Originally posted by snupy
Um... all I did was post an unbiased list of what's in the bill from Reuters and than said it doesn't sound like a bad plan.
Romneycare sucks and now Romney is playing the "I though it was a good idea but now that we've seen it in action it's not working" card.
He's pulling what Reagan pulled on the amnesty thing, supporting it and then after the fact talking shit about it.
All in all I think most of the stuff in here is a great start in the right direction. Don't think the mandate will work since the fine is low, so people will not buy coverage until they get sick because they know they can't be denied due to pre-existing conditions. Also extremely happy they got rid of pre-existing conditions clause, as well as the "you can stay on your parents plan until 26". I remember when I turned 19 and was dropped from my mom's plan and I had to spend $350 for a crappy HMO out of the 1400 a month I made at subway.Comment
-
David Frum, a former Bush speech writer, had the following to say:
A huge part of the blame for today’s disaster attaches to conservatives and Republicans ourselves......
We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat....
There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?......
o today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.
Can the Republicans leverage the health care passage in the mid-term elections? How can they, if the Republican Party splits and the fiscal only conservatives flee the fiscal/social conservatives?
"Respectfully, sir, while we do not have a trademark on the tea bag, you are well aware that people associate it with the Tea Party movement," Abbott, 50, recalls saying to Steele. "If you co-opt that image, you damage our brand and weaken our movement."
Lest there was any confusion, she added: "It does not belong to you, it belongs to us as an independent movement."....
But Tea Partiers insist that they are not beholden to the GOP and warn that Republican candidates counting on an endorsement from them in November may well be disappointed.......
Joe Walsh, a Tea Party Republican who won the Republican primary for 8th U.S. congressional district in Illinois, said conservatives in his district are furious. "The biggest applause I get from audiences comes when I whack the Republicans over the head for doing the same thing as the Democrats," he said..........
The first comes from social conservatives, or the religious right. The Tea Party movement is dominated by fiscal conservatives and leaders like Eric Odom of the American Liberty Alliance say social issues like abortion and gay marriage should be avoided.
When asked about abortion, for instance, Tina Dupont of the Tea Party of West Michigan says the group does not discuss it. "Most of us are probably pro-lifers," she said. "But we avoid the topic because it is so divisive."
This has been noted by some on the religious right. "At the national level you have people saying it is all about fiscal issues and not about social issues because they say they are divisive," said Tony Perkins, president of Christian lobby group the Family Research Council.
The next elections will be interesting indeed.Comment
-
My thoughts exactly. I fully expect the penalty to be increased at some point for that reason. I have personally been wondering if I should buy insurance now, delay it, or never buy it and pay the penalty, since it will be cheaper.Originally posted by sgreger1
But then, I will be 46 this year. My body fat percentage is 3% below the low end of what is considered 'normal,' meaning 'not overweight.' I rarely eat processed foods, sticking primarily with chicken, beans and steamed veggies and very rarely eat sugar. I go up and down a mountain every other day. I was even rollerblading 50 miles a week 15 years ago when I was smoking 2.5 packs of cigs per day. In short, I never get sick.
Even when I do, I have always controlled my own healthcare costs. When I had health insurance, I kept high deductibles and paid for doctor visits out of pocket, kind of like how I pay for oil changes or new tires on my car out of pocket, even though I have car insurance. When a doctor hands me a prescription, I ask 'how much does it cost?' They never know, so I ask them if they can call a pharmacy and find out. If it was too high, I tell the doctor I will need a prescription for something else, preferably a generic that has been on the market for 30-50 years whose side effects are well documented and well known. I never understood those people who were in shock and awe at picking up a prescription and then complaining it cost $200 or $300. Isn't it a bit late to be finding out the cost while at the pharmacy?
I guess I've never had reason to have health insurance, although perhaps I have been lucky to have never experienced a major illness or accident.Comment
-
Ok. Let's go with that. Americans should have the right to CHOOSE whether to purchase health insurance or not. My grandmother had that choice. She CHOSE not to buy health insurance. She inadvertently ended up burning her behind sitting on a heater. She was in the hospital for 8-9 months. The final bill was $250,000, which she couldn't pay, because she CHOSE to exercise her right to NOT buy health insurance. (She didn't have the money anyway.)Originally posted by redheadedmax
Any clue who ended up paying her health care bill? How many others like her have the hospitals treated? Do we just let those expenses keep spiralling out of control and increasing the deficit? Do we deny care to those who can't afford and leave them to die/let them eat cake?Comment
Comment