10 Reasons to Kill the Senate Bill

FDL has become the go-to place for coverage of the health care bill
due to the work of our incredible team. Jon Walker's second-to-none
knowledge of the health care bill has made the policy and political
analysis he offers up at FDL Action a driving force. Dave Dayen's reporting at the FDL News Desk, Marcy Wheeler 's research and in-depth analysis at Emptywheel, Laura Flanders' interviews at GritTV, our FDL team of writers and editors, and our community members at The Seminal
provide the most independent and comprehensive picture of what's
happening moment-by-moment on the health care debate to be found
anywhere.

So, I asked them to help make it simple: how do we let people know
what's going to happen to them if the Senate bill passes. Everyone put
their heads together and came up with a list:

Top 10 Reasons to Kill Senate Health Care Bill

1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations - whether you want to or not
2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you'll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS.
3. Many will be forced to buy poor-quality insurance they can't afford
   to use, with $11,900 in annual out-of-pocket expenses over and above
   their annual premiums
4. Massive restriction on a woman's right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court
5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right
   now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and
   increase co-pays
6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans
   won't see any benefits - like an end to discrimination against those
   with preexisting conditions - until 2014 when the program begins.
7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others
8. Grants monopolies to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
9. No re-importation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years
10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance
    premiums for a family of four will rise an average of $1,000 a year -
    meaning in 10 years, your family's insurance premium will be $10,000
    more annually than it is right now.

Background information on each point:

1. Hardship Waiver And Restrictions On Immigrants Buying Insurance Undercut Arguments For An Individual Mandate, by Jon Walker
2. What's in the Manager's Amendment by David Dayen
3. MyBarackObama Tax by Marcy Wheeler
4. Emperor Ben Nelson: All Your Uteruses Are Belong To Me by Scarecrow
5. The Senate Bill is Designed to Make Your Health Insurance Worse by Jon Walker
6. Best way to "Fix It Later" Is With No Individual Mandate Now by Jon Walker
7. The Senate Health Care Bill is Built on a Mountain of Sand by Jon Walker
8. The Devil in Anna Eshoo's Details by Jane Hamsher
9. Liveblog of the Dorgan Reimportation Amendment by David Dayen
10. Answering Nate Silver's 20 Questions on the Health Care Bill by Jon Walker

The Senate bill isn't a "starter home,"
it's a sink hole. It needs to die so something else can take its
place. It doesn't matter whether people are on the right or the left -
once they understand the con job that's about to be foist upon them,
they agree. That's why Harry Reid and President Obama are trying to
jam it through as fast as they can, before people find out.

Sign the petition: kill the Senate bill.