americans have an amazing ability to make the simple complex. why? so that the power is diffuse and not concentrated, to give everything and everybody a role in the creation of whatever it is that we are trying to fashion. can't have just one set of national standards for education, for example; there are as many standards as there are school boards. medicare is the most efficient srtructure to build from when designing comprehensive national healthcare. but that's socialism. all the various private entities have to have their fingers in the pie. that's about the way the war in iraq is being run, same with us prisons. it's as if the only role that should be centralized is road-building and war-making. to get unity and cohesion and efficiency anywhere else is jsut dangerous. america, divided, will soon fall, as our constitutional system subverts any hope that we can resolve our domestic imperatives.

Basic, enhanced, premium and premium-plus plans...

Steerage, second Class or first class.

Vista basic or premium.

Chevy belair, biscayne two-door or Impala.

Capitalism in action...Always tier services to make sure the rich feel good about getting the best and the poor feel bad and envious that they are getting less. It keeps idolizing the rich. It makes being rich THE goal. Forget humanity. Everything is for sale. The world is one big whore house. Have another drink.

There really is an upside to all this. People are going to get really serious about personal health habits. They are going to learn a lot of medicine over the internet. They are going to get really healthy and they are going to tell the government and health insurance pigs where they can put their mandatory premiums.

Thanks pigs, for pushing us into the American Health Rebellion. If your plan is to jail us for not payng premiums and then kill us in jail, I suggest you bring a sandwich. We outnumber you by at least 100,000 to 1. You bastards crossed the line with health insurance tyranny. You will regret attacking the middle class. We will join with the poor to denude you of your positions, self-respect, money, real estate and possibly your life. We would prefer that you go to prison but we will react in self defense.

How about this?
The current health insurance terrain is frought with peaks and valleys from patients with goldplated plans costing close to $20K per year to patients with low cost policies providing very little coverage for a few thousand. And the government is complicit in this because allows us to receive these benefits as pre-tax events from our employers regardless of our income.

The Forbes corporation used to provide health insurance to its employees with deductibles that were proportionate to income, so the $100K exective might be given a policy with a $5000 deductible and the $20K janitor might get a $500 deductible policy. I think that is fair.

Rather than trying to overhaul the system from the top down, how about from the bottom up? Change the unlimited tax favored status to limited tax free benefits proportionate to AGI {adjusted gross income). If an employee is only allowed to receive $8K in benefits and his employer provide $14 then the employee would pay tax on the pre-tax value of the difference [$14 - $8 = $6/(1-marginal tax rate)]. When people start paying taxes for things that they don't get to use much they frequently abandon them in exchange for more favorably tax treated options. In this case, more favorably tax treated options would be less expensive policies with more appropriate individual financial responsibility.

When patients have more individual responsiblity they tend to be less inclined to over-utilize, more inclined to select less expensive medications, etc. This would serve to LOWER costs.

Additionally, the government, through consensus with the insurance companies would define a universal "Basic Benefit Plan" that would be priced regionally [since costs are probably higher in some areas than others]. They then would create a second variable of pricing which would be the allowable government subsidy [amount receivable pre-tax]based on AGI.

Taxes paid on excess pemiums would go to supplement the less fortunate, not to fund wars or highways or any other non-health related initiatives.
What say you?

Say, "HELL NO!" to this fascist "individual mandated" health insurance scheme.

"Free lunch? Where AT? I don't get any free lunch. Mention that and I'd get laughed at."

He said the VA here has a cafeteria. They give you a meal ticket when you visit. He was just there for a routine checkup. They've been wanting him to come in every 3 months to get his heart checked since he had a heart attack 2 years ago.

They also want to give him a colonoscopy. And no, he's not looking forward to it. lol.

Medicare is not a panacea. Medicare beneficiaries are responsible for 20% of the Medicare Allowed Costs. There is no ceiling on that number. Current Medicare cost is going up to $110 per month = 1320 per year with no upside portection against catastrophic expense. Many beneficiaries purchase supplements for between 125 - 250 per member per month raising their total premium to $235 - 375/mo = $2800 - 4500/yr which is more in line with private insurance premiums for individuals.

Many of the lower income patients who would be subsidized and forced into the system would only have the basic coverage leaving them susceptible to upside costs in the event of a serious illness, said costs leaving many unable to pay and potentially leading to bankruptcy or the same stresses that exist in the current patchwork system.

In the old days (50 yrs ago) the old fashioned Major Medical Policy protected against the catastrophic upside potential which was much easier to estimate for insurers due to the lack of complex costly technology and procedures. But I don't know if such policies exist anymore.

Also, a significant portion of the current day costs is the defensive medicine that must be practiced by this generation of MD's. Even if malpractice was eliminated completely, it would take a couple of generations of MD's to change the mentality that exists today and that influences how we practice, test, etc.

In other countries with socialized medical systems there are many fewer malpractice cases because their judicial systems are not designed to encourage attorneys to use the system as a money making venture. As such, there is a much different mentality among physicians, patients and attorneys regarding the practice of medicine. In the current system physicians have come to be seen as wards of the insurance companies, basically doing what the insurance company says and in so-doing, denigrating them in the eyes of the public to mere technicians instead of the professionals that they are.

I hate to say we didn't try hard enough but we DIDN'T TRY HARD ENOUGH.

No disrespect for those who sat in jails but we needed MASS PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS and marches. I organized one gathering for Moveon.org this past summer and ..........NO ONE SHOWED UP.

I had two old farts sitting behind my car in traffic and I could see they were reading my americacantwait.com bumper sticker- "I Want a PUBLIC OPTION"- mouths a-going and heads a-shaking. They disapproved. Of course I drive the old car and they had the nice new SUV.

To set a necessary Bill to take effect four years from now is an insult to the American public and a clear indication of the real self image of our Congress (both houses) - TOTALLY CHICKENSHIT!!!!

And we're ACTUALLY PAYING THESE PEOPLE????????

This planet is making fantastic progress. As more and more nations free themselves from the rapidly shrinking USan sphere of influence, they are finding their freedom to implement public policies that actually work for the people. There are plenty of good models worldwide. It seems there is developing a sort of Club for Reason far away from the USan sphere of influence, where all the nations are adopting similarly beneficial policies for the simple reason that they work. These policies deliver the most out for the least in. So they get double the healthcare value. Now that's progress.

When our 40th President wrecked the not for profit health care system we had the for profit health care providers started sucking us drier and drier . Unless the for profit motive is taken out of health care we will continue to be drained of our very blood and wealth . Medicare is an insurance as is everything Congress has allowed us to talk about and at the rate we are going we will not have much of a nation very shortly .

2013 - How convenient for the politicians! They will have 4 years to pat themselves on the back and MSM will play along. There aren't enough articles like this in MSM.

Unfortunately, this is the consequence of an apathetic public that doesn't take an interest in government.

"Oy. What did your dad say?"

He just shook his head. lol.

The Health Care issue is NOT the issue. It's a smokescreen to pull the focus off the "war" (illegal occupation)
It was conceived and written to provide the maximum amount of controversy. BOTH Democrats and Republicans are working together to maximize this controversy and to keep it on the front burner as long as possible. This is to keep the "war" going on as long as possible.
They know that as soon as the "health care" issue is resolved, the war wil come back into focus.
Obama knew the fear factor wouldn't work so he plotted this smokescreen to dupe America into arguing over nonsense so more people can get killed. Every word that is spoken about this bill is one less word spoken against the slaughter of people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It will be more complicated so that only the well to do will be able to afford assistance to exploit it while the rest will get choked by the details.

We could have had a good socialism with HR 676 but now we have big government meddling for the insurance companies thanks to HR 3962 !

My father was at the VA today. He likes the care he gets btw. They even give him a free lunch.

Anyway, he was talking to the lady at the desk, and she says to him, "I'm leery of the government interferin' with my healthcare 'n 'at."

She works for the VA. Yup.

article below sounds like it's a report on a third world country sweat shop run by some multinational .....

except that it really IS AN AMERICAN "quality" -- quite basic and as american as apple pie....did it take 300 years to report THIS?:

======================

This copy is for your personal, noncommercial use only. You can order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers here or use the "Reprints" tool that appears next to any article. Visit www.nytreprints.com for samples and additional information. Order a reprint of this article now.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

November 17, 2009
Work-Related Injuries Underreported By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Employers and workers routinely underreport work-related injuries and illnesses, calling into question the accuracy of nationwide data that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration compiles each year, the Government Accountability Office said Monday.

The report, by the G.A.O., the auditing arm of Congress, said many employers did not report workplace injuries and illnesses for fear of increasing their workers’ compensation costs or hurting their chances of winning contracts.

The report also said workers did not report job-related injuries because they feared being fired or disciplined and worried that their co-workers might lose rewards, like bonuses or steak dinners, as part of safety-based incentive programs.

“The widespread underreporting so clearly documented in this report is undermining the health and safety of American workers,” said Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. “If we don’t know the full extent of the workplace hazards workers face, we cannot fully address these risks.”

Mr. Harkin was one of the Congressional leaders who requested the report.

In response to the report, which examined OSHA’s audits from 2005 to 2007, the safety administration said it would adopt the accountability office’s recommendations, which include requiring inspectors to interview employees during all audits to check the accuracy of employer-provided injury data.

The accountability office noted that the rate of workplace injuries — there were 4 million in 2007, including 5,600 fatalities — has declined fairly steadily since 1992, which OSHA attributed to improvements in workplace safety and the decline in the number of manufacturing jobs.

But the G.A.O. report cited several academic studies that found that OSHA data failed to include up to two-thirds of all workplace injuries and illnesses.

The report noted that because of OSHA’s “sole reliance on employer-reported injury and illness data” in one of its major surveys, “some academic studies have reported that the survey may undercount the total number of workplace injuries and illnesses.”

The accountability office also found that more than a third of the occupational health practitioners it surveyed said that employers or workers had pressured them to provide insufficient medical treatment to hide or play down work-related injuries or illnesses.

The safety and health administration requires employers with more than 10 workers to record every work-related injury or illness that results in lost work time or medical treatment other than first aid. Some occupational health practitioners say that to avoid recording an injury, some employers will try to limit treatment for a serious injury to just first aid.

In other cases, the practitioners said, employers might seek alternative diagnoses if the initial diagnosis would result in a recordable injury or illness.

One manager took an injured worker to several medical providers until the manager found one who would certify that treatment required only first aid, thus making it an injury that did not have to be recorded, one practitioner told researchers, according to the report. Many employers fear that reporting numerous injuries will prompt a full-scale OSHA inspection.

The accountability office said that 53 percent of health practitioners had reported experiencing pressure from company officials to play down injuries or illnesses, and that 47 percent had reported experiencing this pressure from workers.

“This report confirms that when it comes to the documenting of workplace injuries, we can’t just take employers at their word,” said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington and chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety. “The system, to this point, has been all too easy to game.”

According to the G.A.O. report, 67 percent of the 1,187 occupational health practitioners surveyed had reported observing worker fear of disciplinary action for reporting an injury or illness, and 46 percent said this fear had some impact on the accuracy of employers’ injury and illness records.

One reason workers fail to report injuries, the report said, was that their employers required drug testing after incidents resulting in reported injuries or illnesses, regardless of any evidence of drug use.

The report also questioned employers’ safety incentive programs, which reward workers when their worksites have few recordable injuries or illnesses.

While these programs can promote safe behavior, the report said three-quarters of health practitioners said they believed that workers sometimes avoided reporting work-related injuries and illnesses as a result of these programs because they feared that doing so would cause them or their co-workers to miss the chance of winning prizes.

Correction: November 16, 2009

A previous version of this article gave an incorrect name for the Government Accountability Office.

Let each of us pledge NOT to buy what these clowns are trying to mandate:: the purchase of for-profit health "care" insurance. Enough is enough. Let's tell them to GO TO HELL! We refuse to buy into this-period.

Perhaps it is time to abandon the US Medical system.

Most Americans can claim the religious exemption.

Doctors can work for a church as "spiritual" healers

Emergencies can be classified as a "spiritual" crisis and handled in special facilities at the church.

Drugs can be purchased off-shore, starving US Based pharma

Lab work can be done at the church or off-shore

Doctors can "visit" patients over the internet. It's time to develop a "human" web and abandon HMOs that limit you to 10 minutes with your doctor.

In short - a new system has be be built that is protected by what is left of the constitution.

It's also time to boycott republicans and democrats and support a humane third party that is humanly accountable.

Let's use creativity and the law to change the system in Washington

Wow, who would have thought that I would be googling "Religions that don't believe in health care," and then, when I got nothing from that, "Religions that do not believe in medicine." (Thank you, Google, for your search suggestions!)

It seems that the fairly large Christian Science Religion was probably the main one the Democrats had in their crazed and obsessed with getting something passed minds when they added in the religious exception clause to the health insurance mandate. It appears, and of course this will have to be verified later, that being a member of the Christian Science Religion will remove from oneself the burden of being a slave to the health insurance multimillionaire execs and the proposed slavery enforcement bureaucracy.

Anyone who has been going without health insurance and who knows or even just strongly suspects that it would do more harm economically than good health wise to be forced to get it now, that in other words it would do more harm than good overall, should consider joining this Religion. Because by default having to heal naturally for some number of years, those who have gone without health insurance have been, probably unbeknownst to them, following a set of very major tenets of this religion: that mankind is more spiritual than physical, and that healing is much more spiritual than physical, and all those who have spiritual health will be physically healed, subject to God's will.

(Jeez, I hope I didn't screw up my description of the Christian Scientists; I'm not exactly a veteran religious reporter, laugh out loud.) Here is where to go for many more details:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science

Note that:

(a) The Christian Science Religion does not expressly forbid adherents from getting health care, though apparently few who are at all serious about their devotion to the Religion do so, except, I would expect, with respect to emergency situations such as car crashes and with respect to dire situations like tumours that could be terminal.

(b) According to the Wikipedia article, many Christian Scientists are not obsessive about overstating what is supposed to be avoided. Many of them do not consider such things as dental care and vision correction as things that need to be avoided. It’s the physician care and medicines that they are thinking are generally unnecessary, in a big majority of cases, and at least for the true Christian Scientist.

(c) This Religion will probably constitute by far the biggest and the most dependable one with respect to not having to comply with any "mandate" to buy private and grossly overpriced health insurance.

Never forget that under single payer and other community based national health systems where private profits and obscene salaires have been mostly or completely removed from the system, adults only in rare circumstances, and children only in certain life threatening circumstances, are required to get the (at the time of the care decision) effectively free health care. Health care liberty is preserved in those systems, unlike in the right wing US proposal.

There are people in those countries who have such strong beliefs against health care in general or medicine in particular that they never or almost never use their national health care system! It is, for example fairly well known by international economists that, although there are probably few British who never ever use their Health Service, that the British are much more reserved and hesitant to use health services than are people of other countries.

What this reminds you of is that you as an American have the perfect right to claim opposition to health treatments (regardless of what combination of motivations for doing so you may have, and expressly including being motivated by not wishing to pay unaffordable amounts to health insurance mega Corporations). Many Americans will now be more or less REQUIRED to somehow gain an exemption to the mandate in order to truly claim opposition to health treatments in the US. One can expect a surge in new converts to the Christian Science Religion over the next few years.

Now that I think of it, (while listening to roots reggae star Gyptian) I think the Rastafarians may qualify for an exemption too, assuming no racism in the selection of religions that will qualify for exemption, And actually, since I already know quite a bit about them and more or less agree with them, maybe I'll formally join the Rastafarians very soon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rastafari_movement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fggeoCsmK6E

Who would have thought my love of reggae music might come in so handy some day. Redemption song indeed.

NDP-US, start to make it so, please >
http://www.unity-progress.blogspot.com/

"Health Insurance" is nothing but legalized extortion. Just like the legalized bribery of 'lobbyists' - such things are illegal if you try to pull them on your neighbor, or anyone else. This is pure Mafia government - fascism to the core. And it only gets worse - there is only one cure for fascism - extermination. But most of us won't see that in our lifetimes - it was only Hitler's insane invasion of Russia that ended fascism in Nazi Germany. Who would end it for us?

Certainly "We The People" are in no position to oppose the militarized system under which we subsist. Hitler's favorite trick was to send troops across the country to attack people they didn't know - he knew even cops and troops would balk at killing their own families and neighbors. And then there are all those mercenary outfits staffed with psychopaths... There is no hope for us - not for a very long time. It can only get worse. That's why a 'standing army' was banned - along with corporations without term limits, private banks, and that long list of obvious civil (human) rights that no longer exist - by those who revolted against the fascist (corporate/military-controlled) government of Britain at the time. There is no hope for us - and no future for our children, or probably even our grandchildren (at least the ones that survive this insanity).

We are long past the point of no return - and there's not a damned thing any of us can do about it. Even 'our' local SWAT teams are more than willing to intimidate, beat, torture, and even slaughter anyone who gets in their way - probably would kill their own family members and neighbors - something even the Nazis were unwilling to do, for the most part. But then, there were always a higher percentage of fascists in the US than in Germany - and don't forget that they supported the Nazis right up until (and even after) Pearl Harbor Day. The failed coup against FDR and all the domestic assassinations since should have given us a clue as to what was to come - a sneak attack by domestic terrorists who now rule this country.

We've been conned! The Dems. are just as much a bunch of Corp. stooges as the GOPERS they just use immense amounts of BS to try and hide it. This awful farce is so far from Real health Reform it doesn't deserve to see the light of day. I hope the GOpers somehow manage to ironically abort this disaster before it's born. The Dems. deserve a huge political pie in their faces for this disgusting waste of energy and time.

What a mess! Thanks, Carol, for actually reading through 1990 pages of this stuff and then summarizing it for the rest of us. How many people in the House did what you did and actually read what they voted for?

How can it be legal/constitutional to require We the People to have to buy ANYTHING from a private industry?
How can federal representatives make a law that We the People be codified by ability to pay - and will we subsidize their "highest level" while we go bankrupt paying not for care, but for insurance for the right to seek care?
What is our constitutional recourse here? This "reform" seems the antithesis of the Freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights

Live Simply So That Others May Simply Live

FINALLY, someone in a CD article notes that premiums are not the only expense associated with US health care. Unless you want your health insurance to be a never used novelty piece, when you actually seek the actual health care, you will have to pay co-pays that will easily and quickly add up to the $5,000 per year maximum that is in the house bill. Watch out for that to end up being as much as $7,000 per year in the final bill out of conference.

And I guess you can deduce from this article that you should immediately add $1,500 per year to whatever your annual premium is, because you will have to pay that as a deductible every time you first seek health care in a new year. Watch out for that to end up being about $2,000 out of conference. So to determine your total US health tab, add $6,500 to $9,000 per year to whatever your premium is unless your health insurance is just to be a worthless novelty piece.

If this insanity passes there will be millions of fools patting themselves on the back for complying with their right wing government and having health insurance through the exchange or whatever, but with no intention or financial wherewithal of actually seeking health care unless they get hit by a bus or something, in which case they will end up filing for bankruptcy just the same as they would have in the old system.

As I have said before, this is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. We are still going down, because systems with holes in them in go down the same way ships do.

How can you avoid becoming a slave to the multimillionaire health plantation owners (um, I mean the health insurance execs)?

--Your income is less than about 133% of the federal poverty line.

--You are in a religion that forswears health care. Start looking for one now; they should be free to join, and maybe you can participate on the internet and never have to physically go to a service (that may not be located in your area). Note that simply being in such a religion does not legally prevent you from getting health care in an emergency where you decide you really need it and want it.

--Move out of the US. Let's face it, with zero jobs created in more than a decade now, and now with the advent of forced purchases of private products, what is the point of living in the US anymore, unless you are old and stuck in your ways?, laugh out loud).

Yes, I know all too well this is far easier said than done. For example, Canada will in most cases catch you, arrest you and throw you out of the country for posing as a Canadian to try to get a Canadian job. You need a multi-year plan, or else you need a destination country that really, really wants new residents.

--Live in or move to a state that fights back by making the Health Insurance Deform partly illegal. There are moves afoot in about a dozen states to make it state law that no resident shall be forced to buy health insurance, and that no resident shall be forbidden from paying cash for health services. More states will join this movement assuming a small number of states blaze the trail by actually passing new legislation.

Here are the preliminary developments in the states:

http://www.ncsl.org/?tabid=18906

NDP-US, start to make it so, please >
http://www.unity-progress.blogspot.com/

I really appreciated this article for clearing up so much of what the MSM have barely mentioned despite their 24/7 opportunity to do so.

As for the allegation that this "deform" will cut Medicare by some $500 billion (over 10 years?) it is still not clear to me whether this would come from straight Medicare (Parts A & B) of from the AARP-type Medicare "Advantage" plans, in other words lead to raising the premiums for these or cut their benefits or both.

In any case the level of corruption in Washington is now clearly beyond the pale. In addition, this looks like a new and threatening role for the IRS, acting as the "insurance police," actually enforcing corrupt practices. Obscenity takes on new meaning.

-30-

No surprises here. The folks who dictate policy, dictated policy once again.

Like George Carlin used to say: "They Own the Place and they don't give a F@$% about you."

One cannot expect anything less than institutionalized corruption from an institution that is thoroughly corrupt.

The rules are rigged and we lose every time. Hmm, maybe it is time to demand the rules be changed.

Miller sez: "We will gamble as we choose a plan, decide which corporation will be the best for us, hoping we pick one that is not dominated by corporate bureaucrats focused on rationing care to maximize their profits."

***
Um, yeah. Good luck with that snipe hunt.

We will we have "no health insurance company left behind"?

the nwo prevails

they get their way or as country singer/guitar extaordinaire jerry reed once sang:

they got the gold mine
we got the shaft

this government is dead - has been for some time - and i do mean doa

there is nothing left for us to do - the palestinians will have their two state solution before we ever get any justice out of the republicats and pres peacenik

as the plo sifts through their pile of turds wondering what they are going to do so should wwe be sifting through ours

for us, the direction is down down down

our quality of life is so low now that we are near peasantry at the moment and still sinking fast

same is true of the whole world and there is only one question:

how long are we going to sit back and let the nwo destroy us and then subsequently when are we going to get off our poisoned and vaccinated asses and take the country back

simple question really

Democrats continue the drug profiteering begun under the 2003 Republican pillage plan:

The House version of the bill was said to have $14bn of drug cost savings per year over 10 years.

Obama's pal, Billy Tauzin, got the White House to reduce that to $8bn a year over 10 years, on the grounds that big pharma was going to be impoverished by reform.

Meanwhile, drug companies have increased prices by 9% this year, a total of $10bn (those profits will be there every year, amounting to $100bn over 10 years). Now that their profits ALREADY exceed the alleged saving by $2bn a year, these poor drug companies that Tauzin so ably represented have now revised the study on which they based their claim of impending poverty in Obama's White House deal.

It is robbery, plain and simple. Our government is an organized crime racket. I look forward to the day when the Democrats prove me wrong.

The details above can be found in a NYT article today called "Drug Makers Raise Prices in Face of Health Care Reform," which could alternately be titled "Democrats Deepen the Slave State to Secure Campaign Contributions. Corporations Continue to Collude with Government to Profit on the Backs of Citizens."

This legislative boondoggle cum clown show has really driven home the point that "Medicare for all" (Single Payer) is really the way to go.

In a related development of particular concern to me: a neighboring state, Arizona, is serious about opting out of the whole thing so they can stay in the current messy status quo. It would not be surprising if this comes to pass to have stories of poor Arizonans crossing over to California for medical care. It actually tempts me to propose this in a move reminiscent of the Great Depression where the LAPD stood guard at the CA. / AZ. border to prevent the further migration of poor Okies: stop all Arizonans crossing for medical care, put them on to buses, and drop them off at the front lawns of Senators Kyl and McCain.

This is really a very good summary of the flaws in the bill. My one quibble is that even the few modest provisions Miller identifies as "positive" should probably not be viewed as such--expansion of Medicaid and various other low income programs through this bill are going to amount to unfunded mandates, which will only intensify the crisis going on in local and county budgets across the nation. Single payer would lead directly to a sharp decrease in property taxes everywhere. This bill is going to force communities to instead keep edging them ever higher; or else, as may be more likely, abandon funding to medicaid and other crucial safety net programs.

I saw Eric Massa speak in Rochester, NY yesterday and he stated that the bill will take $500 billion out of Medicare. That is going to lead to reductions in Medicare payments to doctors, which will force doctors to require "suplemental policies"--in other words, by cutting Medicare to pay for all the subsidies for the new mandated insurance people are legally forced to buy, the Congress has ensured that in a few more years, the insurance companies will get yet another windfall when all the now underinsured Medicare recipients are forced to buy suplemental plans.

This bill is very similar to the Medicare Part D fiasco that Democrats have been running on for years now. If Republicans had passed this bill, groups like the AFL-CIO and Moveon.org would be screaming from the hilltops. Instead they are sending me emails, telling me to thank my heroic Democrat legislators.

Briggs Seekins

briggsseekins.wordpress.com

The last two paragraphs is all wishful thinking at this point. HR 676 takes care of that but it was never put on the table. In fact, not even the author of that bill John Conyers chose to use his powers to bring up that bill but Kucinich tried. In the end, Conyers chose to vote for mandatory care while Kucinich voted against it. Well here comes the millionaire's club, the Senate. I don't expect S703 to be brought up. In the end, what we have is deform indeed.

When entering a voting booth, disregard all candidates with an R or a D after their names.

Imagine that, bait and switch,
a corporate windfall with a
Dem president, Dem house, 60 Dem senators.
Ain't dem da apples?
How can you believe in dem?
Vote dem all out.

Single-payer OR SINGLE TERM(S), first, in 2010, then in 2012 (especially for Uncle 'Bomb) and finally, in 2014 for the filiBusters!

I just got health insurance, for the first time in a few years, through work...a HMO plan. I'll soon experience the "best health care system in the world" for myself.