This is a five part special comment on health care that was done today, each part will automatically start after the other, it's a long one but it has some good parts that may hit home for a couple of us.
For those that don't have an hour to kill, this is the last part and the most important, I don't want anyone to miss it. Countdown with Keith Olbermann Countdown with Keith Olbermann
Well, now, they got shelter and food from the gov...
So in the end, nothing to complain about.
BTW, isn't prison socialism, too?
The best part is the fact that the bill collectors can't call!Originally Posted by MyHAMP
Well, now, they got shelter and food from the gov...
So in the end, nothing to complain about.
BTW, isn't prison socialism, too?
The special deals for the 3 Senators make a mockery of the Senate in my view. The Republicans even worse with their wasting time delaying as long as possible etc.
The House bill is much better.. but geeesh what a mess to try and come up with a compromise when you have the Party of No 100% against everything and some D's upset about parts also. The public option in my view is critical but is probably dead. The sort of kind of exchanges are a week compromise. Congress simply doesn't work when you have this sort of situation and deal making bribes.
What ticks me off most about this legislation is that with all of the compromises that were made to get the bill through the Senate, why didn't anyone support the removal of the insurance mandate?
So, if this bill is passed, we all become captives of the insurance industry with no way to control costs. This is NOT what anyone wanted.
What I was hoping for:
1. A public option to help control insurance premiums.
2. Removal of the "Pre-existing Condition" clause.
That's it. How hard can it be to implement those two ideas?
I'm carefully optimistic that this is the first step (small step) to get REAL reform. The past showed how difficult it is to make ANY progress on that topic..
Permanent HAMP modification revoked by U.S.Bank/SPS 6 months after it has been fully executed. We hired an attorney because we share the opinion that a contract binds both parties. It went to court. Judge ruled in our favor (Motion to Enforce Loan Workout Plan Granted). BTW, here's the entire story:
http://www.loansafe.org/forum/loan-m...t-believe.html
It ain't over till it's over. They still have to merge the bills. I'm hoping if enough hell is raised we'll end up with the public option that's in the house bill.
It will never work without the insurance mandate. You have to have healthy people paying not just the old and sick. That is why it is impossible to work without the mandate but younger will pay much less etc.
The Senate has a very watered down pool but its run by insurance companies which should be either the government or the non profit exchanges in the House bill.
Why remove the pre-existing condition clause? That is one of the biggest problems we have people with any preexisting condition need to have coverage.
I fell and broke my elbow 20 years ago and it fully healed long ago. But it is a previously existing condition in my medical insurance which specifically excludes any coverage for anything in the future related to my left elbow!
Lots of folks have far more serious conditions and need coverage.
I never understood the way the health care system in this country was supposed to work.
I always thought you have health insurance to be covered when you get sick. And then, the insurance can drop you? Why should I consider that to be "insurance" in the first place?
That's like a car-insurance that covers you - UNLESS you have an accident....Huh? I don't get it.. What am I paying for?
I'm 30 years old now and I don't have health-insurance because I can't afford it. What I previously described leads to the question if I would even purchase health-insurance IF I could afford it because I don't see the sense in paying premiums for the time I'm healthy BUT might end up paying for a serious illness on my own since the insurance can decide what they pay and what not.
In that regards, the reform makes sense. And if they offer an insurance-plan for people who are making less than 150% (or 130%) of the poverty-line, you can def. count me and my mother in for that. She's 100% healthy and fit (she's 61 now) but if there is AFFORDABLE and RELIABLE insurance, she will get it as well.
Permanent HAMP modification revoked by U.S.Bank/SPS 6 months after it has been fully executed. We hired an attorney because we share the opinion that a contract binds both parties. It went to court. Judge ruled in our favor (Motion to Enforce Loan Workout Plan Granted). BTW, here's the entire story:
http://www.loansafe.org/forum/loan-m...t-believe.html
They can't drop you if you get sick from something that is not specifically excluded as a pre existing condition. All new conditions covered up to a lifetime cap of benefits. The Senate version (and I think House) get rid of the cap.
The mandatory for all converage is so you don't only get insurance when you are sick that would bankrupt any system. You have to cover the now healthy also or it would never work.
Today once the healthy will no insurance get sick they can not get coverage for that sickness or injury. Have to have the coverage before you get sick or injured.
Don't know if you guys know about it but the Kaiser Family Foundation site is an excellent source of health care info. I have been following it for several months, every day. Check out the side by side Senate and House bills comparision. Kaiser Health Reform Gateway: Health Care Reform and Health Insurance Reform Analysis, Data and Information
Now a moot point, but the bill proposed by former Senators Bob Dole, Baker and Daschle actually contained a possible public option if the insurance exchanges didn't work. Very odd since Dole and Baker are conservative Repubs and Dole voted against Medicare. Shows how the conserves have become more hardened thru the years -- now not one repub Senator will vote for a bill that doesn't even contain a public option.
The Dole, Baker, Daschle entire bill was weak probably because they had health ins company connections.
Dave: What I meant about the pre-existing condition clause is that it should be removed from use by the insurance companies. My daughter was recently diagnosed with severe scoliosis. The insurance companies will consider this to be a pre-existing condition and thus it's going to be harder than heck to find affordable insurance to cover her.
I don't want to be forced into purchasing health insurance if there is no public option to help control the cost of insurance premiums. If the Senate bill were to pass as is (which is the most likely scenario), there is nothing to control the cost of insurance. Why should the public be forced to buy overpriced insurance?
The Republicans are always to tout the importance of competition in capitalism yet, when an idea is put forth to create competition, they shoot it down?
There is in the Senate version the requirement that insurance companies pay out I forget 80-85% of premiums in benefits vs average of something like 70% now.
But as you say without a public option unlikely rates will go down. I don't like the phrase I keep hearing "bending the curve". All that could mean is a decreasing upward curve in costs but no decline.
We have the most expensive medical delivery system in the world and not the best care. The insurance companies with the million dollar salaries and huge profits have enjoyed their monopoly far too long.
Last week health insurance stocks soared upward looking for even more new profits especially with the public option all but dead thanks mostly to the "just say no" Republicans.
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