What Presidential Healthcare Reform Means to You
Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at 12:11PM by aaps Three days before the Feb 25 media event, where chosen representatives can say their last words before the nuclear option is set off, The President’s Proposal on “healthcare reform” was released.
These 11 pages do not start with a blank sheet of paper, as Republicans recommended, but with the 2,000-page Senate bill. They are getting a disproportionate amount of commentary, but amount to little difference.
The $100 billion added to the price tag, the total net worth of 100,000 millionaires, is but one-tenth of the total $1 trillion. This is not real money residing in a Lock Box in Washington, or even in the bank accounts of currently living taxpayers. It will be created out of nothing, so lack of a Congressional Budget Office pronouncement on it doesn’t matter much.
The Proposal adds explicit taxes on the “rich”—such as expanding the Medicare levy to capital income as well as earned income—and tweaks the tax-equivalents on the middle class.
The House, Senate, and President set different income thresholds and percentage of income that people will have to pay in premiums for their mandated Health Plan. This is a low-wage trap: if your earnings exceed a certain threshold, all of your extra income will be sucked into the Health Plan. That is like a 100% marginal tax rate. For some people, the marginal tax will be greater than 100%. That means that the more you earn, the less you take home.
What you will get in return is all the health care the Secretary of HHS, or appointed bureaucrats, decide you should have—assuming it is available. Remember that this is not about expanding medical care: The reformers think that we already get 30% too much. It is about reducing gaps and disparities.
The Secretary is to set standards to “enable determination of an individual’s eligibility and financial responsibility for specific services prior to or at the point of service,” according to the Senate bill.
A sophisticated computer infrastructure can keep track of eligibility, to assure fairness. The computer can tell whether your ethnic group, your region, or your age group has already had its fair share of knee replacements, CT scans, coronary artery stents, and so on.
Price controls reduce spending by creating scarcity of supply. The President’s Proposal adds price controls for insurance premiums. Yes, you can keep your plan—if it still exists.
And you can keep your doctor—if he’s still in practice. The President’s Proposal could pre-emptively exclude doctors deemed to be “potentially fraudulent providers.” Or it may drive them out of business by aggressively “recovering overpayments” and levying huge penalties for billing errors or “unnecessary services”—now called “waste, fraud, or abuse.”
A survey by Investor’s Business Daily suggested that under ObamaCare, 45% of doctors would quit. It wasn’t a scientific survey, and people don’t necessarily do what they say. Maybe only 30% would quit, just as millions more people are demanding service. In a recent informal survey by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), fewer than 30% of physicians said they would voluntarily participate in a public plan similar to Medicare.
Many potential doctors are quitting before they start. Two-thirds of respondents to the AAPS survey said they were not advising their children to go to medical school.
Doctors who remain may restrict their practice to giving Botox injections. But even those signed up with your Plan might be doing something besides taking care of you. Dealing with the government-imposed computerized record might take up 25% or more of the doctor’s time. Then there’s time spent collecting information pertaining to eligibility (such as your exact ethnic group and lifestyle); documenting the mandated wellness checks; and providing the services that improve the doctor’s quality measures.
A new favorite word seems to be “strengthen,” which means increasing the power of government.
It’s all part of Change—truly radical, redistributive change—from confidential sickness care by highly trained physicians trying to heal individuals, to public “health care” by minimally trained “providers” trying to regiment and level society.
Once it is done, could it ever be undone?
Reader Comments (14)
This is not about health care. This is about depopulation. Old and handicapped will be denied care. This
is about government owning us. We will have no freedom. The government will become the number one
employer and will keep it's power because so many people will be indebted to them for their jobs that we won't be able to stop their Marxist aganda. Stand up people or your fate is to live in a third world country run by a dictator.
When most Americans are against this healthcare nightmare and the costs to the American taxpayer are prohibitive, but the government wants to shove it down our throats anyway, we know we are headed for a dictatorship. Our freedoms are rapidly being eaten away. We must demand that all of Congress must abide by the same laws and rules and then we would see these regulations and laws change dramatically. This goes for health care, Social Security, Medicare, etc. They think they are above us and that must change NOW.
Check out this posting on The Road to Hellth Blog. It's no accident that the 21% cut in Medicare reimbursement is going to happen immediately after Obama's televised meeting with the Republicans. The intent to create enough chaos that voters will demand immediate passage of anything the government has to offer...
http://roadtohellth.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=116:let-there-be-chaos&catid=37:dapblog&Itemid=175
I remember the Cold War, remember how, as free Americans, we pitied the Russians and others forced to live in third world countries where nearly every aspect of their lives was controlled by government, and only those with "pull" or the money to buy favors had access to the better things in life. Under the current administration, we are going in a straight line in that direction.
If the question "Shall we change our government from being a democracy to socialism?" was on our national voting ballot, there's no doubt the overwhelming American response would be NO and the ensuing outrage would be loudly heard around the globe. However, President Obama's ability to manipulate words and present things in a favorable way that aren't in the interest of freedom is leading our country toward socialism just as surely as if we were voting, "Yes, I choose socialism over democracy."
Obamacare is only the beginning, a beginning that will naturally result in government dictating all the important choices that we, as Americans, were raised to believe were our right to make. If we allow government to dictate these aspects of our lives, we are allowing it to decide our rights to work for what we receive in life.
As Americans, we were taught that hard work and laziness each brought its own reward, and that the choice was our own. Under our new socialistic regime, government is deciding the quality of our lives, taking from those who work and giving what they've taken to those who are unwilling to work. Do we really want to give up the right to acheive, to excel from our own initiative and willingness to work for what we have?
We must not let this happen. We have all let our representatives know that we don't want this horrible healthcare enforced. I think the most important thing we must make sure is not in the present bill is that it cannot be repealed. If it is passed with the buyouts of our representatives, we must be able to repeal it after we vote them out of office.
Socialized, government run and distributed health care as outlined in H.R. 3590 that is sitting in the Senate will create 111 new bureaucracies in Washington and put those policy makers into every aspect of our personal lives. Additionally, from a philosophic standpoint that is transcendent of partisan politics, choice aka liberty and freedom to choose is removed and put into the hands of the bureaucrats. The bill is not about health care it is about the takeover of another sector of the US economy. It is about central federal control. Read Ezekiel Emanuel, Obama's #1 adviser on health care. (just GOOGLE his name) Health care will be distributed only if that treatment serves the public good. What does this sound like. King George III taxed tea and there was a revolution. Where is Sam Adams.
The heart breaking fact is that we have no charismatic leaders or statesmen who are able to effectively spearhead us out of this malaise and the conservative movement is totally fragmented into small segments which have no action plans to actually lead us in the opposite direction. Few, if any, are willing to risk resources, time and even life to establish a true republic and bonafide Constitutional Gov. In fact, historically this country has not been run Constitutionally since the peoples favorite, Abraham Lincoln, turned this country into a Corporation run by Corporate lawyers which we call Congressmen and Senators, and by Executive Orders signed by Presidents with more power than King George to bring us under the control of international bankers. It is even more sad to see the masses of Americans who are deaf and blind followers of this deadly group of Progressives who will wake up when it is too late and discover that they are no longer free. They have certainly gotten the "change"" that they voted for. I am seriously considering repatriating because this is not "America" as the forefathers described it....this is a huge Ponzi scheme lie from Hell and no one wants to hear the truth anymore!!
PRAY, PRAY,PEOPLE PRAY! We have left God out too long and just took our good fortune, freedoms and rights for granted. Now, when it looks like its all going to be taken away, we better get on our knees and ask God to please not let this happen. What His answer will be I don't know. We may have gone too long without letting Him direct our lives. I am sure I will get rebuttal on this, but there are those of you out there that will join me in praying for God to intervene in this mess called Healthcare. I am 75 years old and it doesn't look like people my age will have much say in what we will receive in the way of healthcare, but we are not the only targets. It will touch us all! PRAY, PRAY, PRAY!!
There's been a lot of recent talk flying around about making it mandatory that senators and representatives must use the same healthcare program, social security, and medicare that applies to the rest of us, as a way of solving this problem. I agree, but does anyone out there know how we can make that happen? Since those same legislators are who propose the changes to the current system, and then vote for or against, I can't see how we can get that done.
I agree with JE. We need the good Lord to help us in our hour of need. I also grew up with the
following saying: "God helps those who help themselves". Folks, I think it is time we get off the
"Woe is Me" train and red ourselves of apathy and take charge of this situation we ALL allowed
ourselves to get into. It is time to take action and strong action! Flood our Congressperson's and
our Senator's phone lines and fax machines! Get involved in our local politics, get to know those
who are asking for your vote - check their voting record and their background. Talk is cheap and
politicians have proven over and over again that they will say anything to get on the current political
gravy train.
Join GOOOH (Get Out Of Our House) which is a doable means of ridding ourselves of the ineffective
members of the House of Representatives. Join your local Tea Party organization, don't have one?
Start one! This is our country it is high time we ALL were involved in cleaning up the mess the past
administrations have made of things and to prevent the current ding bat's administration from continuing
to repeat the bigger mess they have made in 2009. The country is currently bankrupt, adding additional
debt to the ledger is unconscionable. It very obvious that the current administration is totally clueless
when it comes to knowing how to manage their own check books and their governance is like a ship wreck floundering on the rocks.
This bogus healthcare ploy is not about making healthcare more affordable to the people, it is all about their agenda to destroy this once great country through socialism in order to satisfy their desire for power.
Obamacare seems as if it is in bed with the insurance folks. Think about how much they control our lives. Insurance can get expensive especially if you purchase it for varous reasons. I think our congressmen and our president should have the same disadvantages we normal people endure with our insurance companies. They have specail privileges with llittle or no co-pays and we the people pay their premiums. We should get involved and stop their priviledged health care. Plus limit their terms and quit giving them retirement for the rest of of their lives, especially if they serve one or two years and not paying into it. I am so disgusted with the Democratic party and all the crooked dealings they pull. The only reason they give out "our money" to those who don't want to work is to buy their votes for the Democrats. They want to be the only party for the American people. When Obama was chanting change during his campaign, no one bothered to ask what kind of change he was referring to. Now we know, Socialism. Don't you know that your children are being taught this way of life in most of our school systems, and many of your favoirte movie stars fall into the catagory. as well.= liberalism. ..
I reckon we'll find the doctors somewhere. The GOP, Teabaggers, and assorted individuals with strong obsessive compulsive tendencies much prefer the country's economy to erupt in an ever continuing fork-over to the super-rich. Shame upon those who prefer the current system that does not allow coverage to a vast army of working folks due to the big business ways of insurance companies and for profit providers.
Long Live our spendid president!
Well Mike,there will still be Doctors around, You just won't be able to call up today and go to the office next week.With 30m more people enjoying the benefits of free health care, You will find Drs. office time blocked out for months.Life saving procedures such as MRI's ,CT scans, even X--Rays will be unavailable for weeks or even months at a time.I've been an independent ins.sales agent for over 15yrs. and I haven't seen that vast army of working folks that were "not allowed" coverage by big ins. companies.Yes,I have seen people turned down because they had gotten sick or became grossly overweight and now have problems. OH, NOW you want insurance!! You didn't need it before you were overweight or before you became sick so you didn't take it.YOUR MISTAKE!! People like this who don't work or do work but had rather have that new car,big screen TV,fancy phones,$150.00 designer running shoes, instead of paying for ins.,walk into the ER and hospitals every day and walk away without paying.This contributes to our ever rising ins. premiums cost.Having health ins.is not a RIGHT.I cannot find any where in the Constitution or the Bill of Rights that states that any citizen has a right to health ins..Having ins. is a privilege as a result of working hard and sacrifice, as is home ownership.I'm tired of carrying people on my back that sit on their A- - all day and suckle off the tit of MY state and fed. governments. Obomacare is just another example of the progressive socialistic agenda of this administration.Wise up folks !! The progressives want you to be uninformed and stupid.They want you to be dependent.Dependent on them.That's where the votes come from. Oh,big government, if I vote for you will you take care of me??? Yes my child, I will tax the rich people and take care of you.QUESTION? What incentive is there to work? What happens when there is no one left to work? Ask Russia it really worked out well for them. This is not about Healthcare It's about progressive government control.When people are dependent on you, you are in control. If this were only about the cost of ins.we would be hearing our gov. talking about pooling,buying across state lines, tort reform,policing insurance and entitlement fraud.But oh no,lets just throw another TRILLION tax dollars against the wall and see if it sticks.That way all the illegals and deadbeats will be covered with free health ins.
We all know this debate is really a ploy for the progressive socialists to gain more power and controll over us all. Global redistribution of wealth is the ultimate goal. We need to take a real good look at ourselves and recognize our own self-rightous , greedy, self-centered tendancies as well. For example, I am currently once again trying to quit smoking, I've smoked for 40 years. If I am diagnosed with lung cancer, should I really expect ANYONE else to pay to try to save my life? NO! I am also really overweight, a battle I have lost for the past 30 years. Now, in my defense, I really don't eat as much as most co-workers I've marveled at, and I have followed many plans to the tea, and had no success, so I quit obsessing over it and just do the best I can. I happen to be very healthy, I only see my doctor when he reminds me it is time for physical, at which time he sees that everything looks fine. I work at a very physically demanding job, I'm self-employed, I am successful because the free-market works and I have worked very hard to become one of the best in my field and I have always lived by the golden rule . I believe that demonizing weight is a dangerous scapegoat. Just as everyone jumped on the Global warming bandwagon which was supposedly backed by science, and is now being exposed as the farce it is, I would also caution you to be wary of other popular bandwagons . Do I like the idea that I will not receive Social Security benefits that I can retire on? No, but I will accept that before I accept my grandchildren having to pay for Grandma's "comfortable" retirement lifestyle. I would rather work till the day I die than burden my children and grandchildren. We have to be willing to do without some "entitlements" in order to set things right for the future of our kids and grandkids. I've worked since I was 13, and I was not taught the truth concerning History by our government run public schools. I'm really pissed off that at 55 I am having to teach myself the truth about history, I am having to re-learn everything about the world and how things really work, but I have no choice. For years, I paid little attention and now I must get involved and champion the cause to save the Republic as our founders intended for future generations.