March 21, 2010 05:45 PM
Ten immediate benefits of HCR
Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:
- Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 26th birthday
- Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
- No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
- Free preventative care for all
- Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
- Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
- The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
- Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
- Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
- AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.
In our community - half-rural and half-suburb -- 50 community health centers will receive funding to provide health and preventive services to people with no access right now. And that's just one benefit. They're all valuable.
cross-posted at USHealthCrisis.com
...
me-oww!
Medical weed for all!!!
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
we need it or not.
I think we ALL need it.
me-oww!
And a lie detector test!
The truth will set you free but can you handle the truth?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-TZ8Z5S9rI
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I think #ten didn't get a number. I'm thinking it's the community thing I can't read because I'm in edit.
I'm easily confused.
me-oww!
Armageddon?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I mistook #10 for 9. I just read it. How bad am I? I went to the cross post too. Anyway, #10 must be what the Underpants Gnomes call Profit! Only for them, it's #3.
me-oww!
1. blah blah blah
2...
3...
4. profit
it explains everything in this country
1. Collect Underpants
2. ???
3. Profit!!!!
me-oww!
#10: Abortions for Everyone! Yea! :)
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
So sayeth the PRO ABORTION coalition.
me-oww!
some wimmens tonight, just so we can git 'em some free abortions...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
uhborshuns evin iffn I ain't knocked up?
me-oww!
you betcha...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Limbaugh going to Costa Rica!
Of course, they'll arrest him at the border. Costa Rican's don't want
convicted dopers and alleged child molesters in their beautiful country.
Limbaugh in Costa Rican prison:
http://js-kit.com/blob/e9k3vG08Rlg6gBFRqxCLXo...
Sometimes the brain works faster than the fingers.
thanks for leaving it off for awhile.
BTW, that IS good news.
me-oww!
Jeb Hensarling just blamed Democrats for the Bush-era deficits.
Incredible, these people.
because they got nothing else to say except lies I suppose.
Paul Ryan is worse. He talked about how America was founded exclusively on good. (to paraphrase) I thought that was interesting as it was founded also on slavery and native conquest along with the destruction of pristine national resources.. not to mention their involvement in American "good" which as been war, spy and torture.
Republicans of this day are a shame to the greats like Lincoln and Roosevelt who wanted to stop people like this current GOP.
whose individual members should never again be allowed to hold public office,including dog catcher.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
This latest speaker, Shelley Moore Capito, sounds like she's having difficulty saying the talking points anymore. The script has been read verbatim so many times it's like a nervous twitch. Especially when they rattle off about the "Louisiana Purchase, the CornHusker Kickback, and the sweet-heart, BACK room deals..."
That phrase will be be historic. The talking points suck so bad it's worse than watching Battlefield Earth.
Word.
And oh my god am I sick of the word "bi-partisan". YOU FREAKING LOST.
Listen to them be such sore losers. They keep booing and causing the House to be out of order.
Your talking point that Democrats "are not listening to the American people" is wrong. You are effectively saying on record that the people calling Democrats FOR health care reform do not exist or matter.
We all knew it before. Thanks for making the distinction so crystal clear.
Oh don't forget, only Republicans are "real Americans".
The rest of us are obviously "fake Americans".
"The talking points suck so bad it's worse than watching Battlefield Earth."
I'm a big sci-fi fan but I've never been able to bring myself to sit through that bad boy.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
You'd know it's not "sci-fi" but "SF"!
was kickin it old skool
me-oww!
taxpayer funded abortions one more time I will make it my life's obligation to smack that person along side the head if I ever see him/her in public.
If I hear taxpayer funded abortions one more time I'm going out to get an abortion, I'm not even pregnant...hell, I'm a guy! - but I'll still get an abortion just to piss of these dumb ass republicans
Right on!
So 1-3 and 5 may cover some upper, upper middle class who can afford the unrestrained rates but couldn't afford paying cash retail to a hospital?
4 -- Explain. Literally, _free_ for _everybody_ on a walk-in basis and what is preventative?
6. OK
7. I see drug prices going up. Have to buy them from Canada! Oops, me bad. Have to have competitive bids! What? Oh, never mind.
8. Technically, a balance sheet is just a summary, right? Will anyone get to see where the money _really_ gets buried?
9. OK. If "early funding" becomes meaningful services, could be good.
So I count two or three that could make a significant difference and the same that might help a few near-rich. Not that I'm cynical or anything.
Is that the annual knees up at the gyn's, tooth cleaning, eye exams?
me-oww!
Explain!
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
So much for helping people with pre-existing conditions. They'll just have to try not to die before 2014. Then, if they're still alive, they just have to hope they can afford insurance rates through the roof and that the insurance companies don't find a way to drop them anyway. Oh well, if they can't afford insurance, that means they aren't potential mega-donors to Obama's presidential coffers anyway; nothing to see here, move on.
Update: The final vote will be at approx 9:30pm EST. Watching C-SPAN streaming right now.
Update: Now C-SPAN is saying 9:45pm EST.
wrong spot
me-oww!
your knees down.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I can't wait for this vote to happen and to pass in the affirmative. I really cannot take much more.
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
SOCIALISM!!!!!!!!!
Forgot to add that it will reduce the deficit.
Honestly, what's so bad about this that nut-jobs threaten to use guns if it's passed?
Well can you blame them, based on the rhetoric they're fed 24/7? And no one fucking calls the right wing media out on their bullshit? It's no wonder those insanely misinformed folks are scared out of their mind. It's downright shameful that the lies are allowed to propagate and pass off as truth. Astounding, even.
If anything, this has made me realize how badly we need to tackle the issue of EDUCATION in this country. Americans have lost the ability to filter through the shit. They have lost the ability to apply LOGIC when analyzing arguments. If we're really going to fix anything, it's got to start here. The ignorance in our country is AMAZING.
But FOX doesn't cover it so the Teabaggers who watch FOX exclusively never hear the talking points exposed for the lies and misinformation they are. Headlines in papers don't do it, as some of these people would at least accidentally see them, because they are written to grab attention, not inform. FOX LIES would be the best you can do. "Representative Dipwad (RWNJ) Says Obamacare is Socialism" is a typical headline. A better one you won't see is "Republican Rep Makes False Comparison". You or I might read that article, or even buy the paper, but Ralph Republican won't. Anyway, even our "liberal" MSM is guilty of the attention grabbing headline, as well as simply reporting "He said, She said" without bothering to research or give the facts in the srticle. AP is really bad about this.
If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?
Just get plenty of beer/popcorn in and sit back and watch the teabaggers riot and be gunned down on live TV by the NG/Army.
Its about time they put their money where their mouths are. Do they have the minerals to actually take to the streets with their guns !!!
Or will they do what they did when Bushco ripped our country apart, just hide in the woods muttering quietly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16n_0DDZV48
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I can't believe I'm losing my freedoms tonight! And they're just disgracing the 10th amendment! aiiieeeee!!!!!
9th.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Since every adult has pre-existing conditions (it's called "life"), I'd like to know how the high-risk pool is defined. And lets define "not cheap" while we're at it. Because insurance you can't afford is the same as no insurance. Also, what if you're over 50 but don't fit the high-risk definition? What kind of insurance and at what rate are those folks guaranteed to get? Or do they just fall between the cracks? I'm sure glad I still have a job...but I think once it's gone, I'll be pretty miuch coasting until Medicare kicks in.
> Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high->risk pool until the exchanges come online....
white and wealthy of them.
I know I know. I'm an ingrate. I should just shut up and eat my gruel.
me-oww!
1. Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
Adult children? That's an an oxymoron. How about just giving young people their own coverage instead of pretending a 27 year old is a child? Leave it to the existentialist Democrats to define a 27 year old as a child.
2. Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions.
Of course children who are 27 will still be excluded for the next 4 years.
3. No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage.
Translation: There are no price controls, and your annual premiums are going to way up.
4. Free preventative care for all.
Does that mean I can now get my teeth cleaned for free? Somehow I don't think so.
5. Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
How many people will die in the 4 years until the exchanges go into effect?
6. Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
At a time when public schools are being closed down due to lack of tax revenue, the last thing we need is more tax cuts. This is the sort of idiocy you expect from a Republican President. Oh wait, I forgot, Obama IS a Republican, or at least that's what he aspires to be.
7. The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
As we all know, seniors have the least access to affordable medications.
8. Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
Of course it doesn't require they stop overcharging for care or overpaying executives, but hey, as long they report it, who cares?
9. Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay.
Yay, funding for health centers in exchange for lifelong indentured servitude to corporations. This law is really starting to sound like a good deal to me.
Not an oxymoron! One remains a "child" as long as a parent remains alive.
One is a minor until age 18, regardless of parents' status.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Man. I've been an adult then since 1989. Why do I still act like a kid?
me-oww!
get a spanking if you don't behave yourself.
Therefore, a 27 year old is not a child.
A child is the offspring of it's parents. I am the child of my parents though I'm not a minor.
Now, please, for your own good, put the bong down.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Hahahaha, how old do you think Freequark is? I'm in my 20s, and this is going to be HUGE for my generation.
I'm so grateful that something is finally being done for the forgotten YOUNG people in this country. My generation faces challenges unlike every generation that came before us- finally, they threw us a bone. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
This law is going to force young people to buy health insurance from private corporations at prices set by those corporations. Does that not register with you?
According to virtually all legal definitions - e.g., the UN Convention on the Rights of Children - a *child* is defined as a person between the ages of birth and 18.
Arguing that a 27 year old is a child under the law is typical Democratic doublespeak. It's like saying a government mandate to force people to buy health insurance is the same as universal healthcare.
Theres many young adults who are unemployed or very low paid, living at home still with their parents or other family members. These people need affordable coverage.
Let's not forget the ambitious, hard-working young people who attend college for 4 to 5 years (or more) after high school, instead of immediately joining the workforce. They need coverage, too. Furthermore, they deserve it. We all do.
It shouldn't be done though by redefining adults as children. I mean, why cut it off at age 27? There are 28 year olds who live with their parents too. If we had true single payer, no one would be cut off at any age.
I can answer this one: because almost every member of Congress is a lawyer, and they expect their kids to be lawyers.
18: graduate high school, take a year off to see the world -- because your Congressional parent can afford it.
19: start college; add four years
23: graduate college; now add three years
26: graduate law school
And never was. Freequark arose by spontaneous generation from a pile of old meat trimmings. No parents. How sad.
I avoid giving out personal information about myself online, but I got seriously ill when I was 20 and ended up in the hospital for two months.
Fortunately, this was the '80s and my mother worked for an insurance company, so they agreed to keep me under her policy because I was in college at the time and still considered to be "living at home".
But as the costs racked up, by (what they thought was) the end of my illness, they were sending me home with "a portable IV pump" rather than pay for a hospital stay (I relapsed and ended up back in the hospital anyway).
I think that was right about the time insurance companies turned nasty and started denying every little thing.
* There are two types of Republicans: millionaires and suckers.
"Mugsy's Rap Sheet": Recording history for those who seek to rewrite it.
Now parents can add their "kids" to their plan.....and insurance companies can charge more to cover them once these "kids" are added!....This fixes what?
Cue the Kabuki....
Well some of the points are really confusing and hard to understand especially the 4 year term plan mentioned in point 2 but also some of the points i think are really good and must be appreciated.If i have to vote for this i would definitely vote in favor of it.Lets wait and see how it works out.Jame Geeks
Woah, woah woah- The Majority Whip just said the age is 26 for children to be covered on their parent's insurance. Can someone confirm this?
They want children to be able to stay on their parent's insurance until 26. It must be there they have been talking about it a lot today.
baaaaaa!
Cue the Kabuki....
this says "until their 27th birthday" You are 26 til you turn 27, no?
me-oww!
The Majority Whip said 26th birthday. I guess he misspoke?
but I couldn't possibly comment.
me-oww!
Rep. Bobby Scott also said 26th birthday.
whatever the cutoff date.
Cue the Kabuki....
Some people keep their kids on their insurance as long as possible because the kid is still going to college. This allows those parents to continue to insure those kids while their in grad school or still looking for a job- which, ya know, a lot of kids in their early-to-mid 20s are doing these days.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
but not his parents. Does this POS bill limit how much the insurance cos. can raise the rates to cover this "child"...Answer NO. If parents can afford to add him to their bill, they could afford to buy him his own plan...both ONLY help the insurance cos. Also, best/most affordable health care I ever got was from my college health clinic!
Cue the Kabuki....
You're wrong; keeping a child covered costs WAY less than buying a child his or her own plan.
Families get insurance at a discount. Individual plans cost a lot more per person.
Where I work, family coverage is nasty expensive. And employee plus spouse counts as family.
We pay 100% of the premium, theres no employer contribution what so ever.
That's a good point. My experience has been it's "cheaper by the dozen", so to speak. But I have always had "good" insurance (Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan). I don't doubt that some things depend on the specific insurance plan.
Exactly. "Adulthood" doesn't really begin with graduation from high school, anymore. My generation has to attend college to have a fighting chance in this world, sometimes beyond a 4 or 5 year stint working toward a Bachelor's degree. We enter the workforce in our mid-twenties, but often with existing debt from paying our way through college with student loans (and sadly, many of us also enter true adulthood with sizable credit card debt).
This is going to help us, in so many ways.
STILL IS a POS! And I been round these parts too long to believe that this bill will help many. Try this piece for 18 facts that counter some of the C&L* benefits listed above...
*C stand for Cheerleaders!?
http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2010/03/19/f...
Cue the Kabuki....
Well I'm not that thrilled about all of it either; excuse those of us who are looking for something to happy about tonight.
We're just trying not to drown in negativity.
Sorry to rain on ur party. But you seem to be happy over the myths in the piece I listed. Again, sorry that the facts harsh ur buzz.
Cue the Kabuki....
He started to, then he slurred it to 27th. It sounded like "twenty sizeventh" to me.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
If we had a president McCain we'd be bombing Iran and starting a 3rd expensive endless Republican war as Vice President Palin reads simple minded platitudes about "freedom" and "victory" of her TelePalmTer instead being on the cusp of passing health care reform for Americans.
/shudder
would have stripped the lead flashing off the White House roof by now.
4. Free preventative care for all .. seniors on medicare,
.. eliminating all co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses for preventive care for seniors on medicare ..
.. my guess that's what #4 is referring too ..
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Public Service Announcments on the tee-vee saying to exercise and eat lots of froots!.....BINGO there you have it, and it was freeee
Cue the Kabuki....
"Don't forget to brush and floss!"
me-oww!
The reason I suggest this reading of #4 is that in the c-span stream I'm watching now, the Democrats speaking in favor of the bill use the phrase "free preventative care for all seniors on medicare, eliminating co-pays and out-of-pocket expenses .."
The second time I heard that it dawned on me that's gotta be #4.
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
Still have to pay?
me-oww!
Right off the bat there are some beneficial things that will help millions of Americans. I'd like to see the Republicans explain why they'd want to repeal these items.
and what does "free" preventative care mean?
do i now get a physical without having a copay?
Riiiight. It's "too important" to do anything about. It must be left alone - like a house of cards lest anyone's sneeze send the whole thing crashing. Any suggestions that we take down the house of cards and build something with - say, 2 x 4's - well, that's not good sense. And we shouldn't be messing around in this. You don't go nosing in somebody's underwear drawer do you? WELL? No, America! This is too personal and too important. Look the other way and do nothing while people die.
Again, that's completely in line with the Randian philosophy that every person is responsible for themselves and only themselves.
It's not only morally but also intellectually bankrupt, but Republicans/Conservatives eat that shit like pancakes.
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
All but jumping up and down flailing his arms fear mongering and scare mongering. Funny were it not so sad and pathetic. I'm embarrassed for him. More of the same "freedom" and "greatest country in the world" and we have " best health care in the world" bullshit empty platitudes. What a pathetic compromised empty suit.
Ha ha!
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Now that we're talking about health care reform and they are out of power. Where were they when they had control of all 3 branches of government when they were turning Bill Clinton's legacy of peace and prosperity into record deficits and 2 endless expensive failed wars?
And all their buddies in Wall Street, while simultaneously wiping away the regulations that kept those crooks from destroying our economy. They know their constituents have forgotten all of that. They hope everyone else will too,
But don't you guys believe they are the only ones listening to the real 'mericans, who are SCREAMING for this bill "not to pass"?
They are the ones fighting for the people, at "the people's House"?
Don't you guys believe that?
/snark.
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
It's like someone found a way to make shit on a stick less appetizing. Want the worst GOP talking points in the most obnoxious delivery? Ask for no other than than John Boehner.
NO!
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
#10 - free "get your head out of your ass ectomy" for repubes.
The only thing that will be covered is their heads with their asses.
at this point tha ass and the head on a repube are pretty much one and the same thing.
Number 1: on COBRA, I was paying from 250 to 360 per month for two years as I was making 12k or less.
is popping off
Cue the Kabuki....
just got slapped around
Cue the Kabuki....
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
"Both sides would do well to respect the dignity of the House"
Did I hear people laughing after that?
That was the best quote of the night.
Word.
it is the people's house. Quit trying to make a mockery of it.
The "Chevy" Tax on Health Plans will impact me big time. I choose my employment, partially for the benefits. I gave up salary years ago, for assurance of a Union Health Plan. Now, those benefits will be taxed and scaled back as a result. Since I came in 9 years ago, I no longer have job security either, as I'm still considered relatively new, compared to my peers. If I still have a job, I won't get a choice to pay those taxes straight up, the plan will simply be cut to avoid them!! Yes, I made a trade off in salary and job security for those additional benefits. With this legislation, that plan will be killed by increased taxes. It's bogus to say that I will get extra salary for decreased benefits. No, the plan will just be cut to avoid those taxes and higher deductibles and exclusions are inevitable. Unionized employment doesn't work the way this trade off is argued and this legislation is anti worker. It also didn't work that way when I worked at Bank of America! What kind of fool thinks a heartless CEO would have passed on Health Care savings to his employees? After all, he doesn't have to!! It's a totally bogus talking point, invented in some ivory tower think tank by someone who never did honest labor. Some of my other Reasons:
Folks over 19 can be affected by "Pre-Existing" conditions games by the Insurance Companies. Even where it's forbidden, there is nothing to say that the insurance companies can't charge rates that in effect are what Pre-Existing clauses are today. So you're going to post costs, CEO Salaries, Medical Loss Ratio's online--BFD!! It won't mean a thing.
No, there is zero meaningful enforcement mechanism. Enforcement is still left up to the States. California can't stand up to Blue Shield, when it breaks the law, because the AG knows that Blue Shield can simply fight it in court, till it breaks the state's Attorney General's budget. If a progressive state like CA can't challenge Insurance Companies, think of a backward state like Mississippi, Texas or Alabama, that doesn't want to protect it's citizens from Corporate Greed. Remember, that in those Republican states, the "Bidness of Bidness", must never be challenged. There are other reasons, but anyone who believes that the Senate will honor it's promises to fix Nelson/Lieberman...well I've got a bridge to sell. I can offer one (Cheap) in Brooklyn or (Cheaper still) in San Francisco. If you don't like Golden...I've got a Bay Bridge!
This bill will make progressive ideas on health care unsellable for a generation. The Repugs will correctly be able to say "we tried it the progressive way and it didn't work". It's not set up for any cost control and is doomed to fail. Meanwhile, Progressive ideas like Single Payer or a Robust Public Option never stood a chance in this corrupt Congress. No, this legislation should rightly be called the "Insurance Profit Protection and Enforcement Act".
If this monster passes and isn't fixed (as the Senate promised), I'll be looking to oust those who fell for meaningless Senate promises. If that means supporting Repugs, so be it! Remember, the chief requirement to be a Senator, is that you've got to be a gifted liar and they exist on our side too. We even have one in the White House who sold out his promises on choice to buy Bart Stupak. Yes, we've been sold out by progressives who we believed in AGAIN! I'm angry and am going to stay that way if this monster isn't fixed. I didn't donate and work to get the backside of the party's hand in Nelson/Lieberman.
tl;dr. I skimmed, though.
I'm still pro this bill because it's a starting point. It's a platform that can be improved. This is how change happens- for those that want it, it never happens fast enough.
I think we all need to realize that we have to keep fighting; now that it has been started, we have to make it BETTER.
I believed and gave till it hurt and then gave again and hoped and hoped. Now I'm done. I have zero faith in the Senate and have had too many instance of where good ideas ran into Joe Lieberman or Blanche Lincoln.
Worse yet, Choice was compromised today to get this watered down piece of trash.
I'm 23. I can't give up yet. I've got a lifetime ahead of me to work on making it better.
How very sorry I am for the future you face. I wish it were different but we're being sold a bill of goods that will prohibit truly progressive ideas from coming into play. All we get are "market orientated solutions".
Yeah, shit sucks for people my age. Trust me, my generation is likely to be the first since this country's inception to have a lower standard of living/quality of life than the generation before us. That's a tough pill to swallow. But I'm not going to curl up on the ground and bitch and moan about it. I'm not going to give up hope, either, or the will to fight.
I'll fight to oppose a fine that the IRS trys to collect because I did not buy the mandated POS insurance cos. policy. Will you be fighting on behalf of the IRS?
Cue the Kabuki....
If I still have a job, all I'll get will be a compromised Health Plan. I won't have a choice not to get it. Where I once had a plan, I'll have one in name only. It's the continuing race to the bottom.
And Russ thanks for sharing your story....
I'm unemployed. Worked a total of 6 months since 2006 when I fractured my kneecap. But hey, I git a gig w/ the FED coming up. yup, I'll soon be ur friendly neighborhood Census worker. anyway...I just want to know the real deal w/ these 'mandates.' Right now I still can't qualify for medicaid because I have a few K in savings, so when these mandates start...how will I be affected? The only language I see says: buy the mandated coverage and then get a tax rebate...HUH? Buy coverage that I could not afford, let alone afford to use w/ co-pays/deductibles and such...only to get a partial rebate/refund by the MFing IRS? Really?!
Just the fact that the IRS is involved in healthcare at all just .....WTF!
Cue the Kabuki....
Trust me, I used to be idealistic. But too many interactions with the likes Joe Lieberman and Blanche Lincoln have made me from what you are...to what I am today. Even Obama continues to disappoint, from Bush Administration Torture, to using the Constitution as toilet paper, to sacrificing choice for bad policy!
I worked to get rid of Lieberman and watched as Ned Lamont took a 1 month vacation! Heck, I've even set myself up for disappointment in giving to Halter and Saltonstall (Stupak's primary opponent).
On TV, they are lauding the late Ted Kennedy. I believe he's spinning in his grave on this. No, I don't trust any Senator as far as I can throw him/her.
"bitch and moan", "This is how change happens- for those that want it, it never happens fast enough",
"we have to make it BETTER"
Speaking as a bitcher and moaner, you're full of BS and just spouting slogans handed to you by the DLC.
What the fuck is the DLC?
but this dem. 'leadership' is a bunch of so-called centrists that "help" form the debate and hasten concessions to the corporations and the gop.
Cue the Kabuki....
I would be looking into/preparing for emigration to Canada or Europe (anywhere)! This bill is a bad omen and cements the notion that America has become a corporatoracy and is continuing its slide downwards; it has shifted far to the right the past 30-40 years, with 2 conservative political parties, increasing inequality, a shredded social safety net, jobs shipped overseas, corporate media/uniformed public, and an eroding middle class and democracy. Take a trip to W. Europe to get an idea of what a real social safety net, excellent quality of life, educated public, and real media and real political parties (with a real liberal party) is like.
I'm a geospatial analyst with a great job in Northern Virginia. Also, the only other language I speak is French. My husband is in the US Army. I'm pretty sure we're stuck here, so we're trying to make the best of things.
Also, we both come from lower-middle class upbringings, and we can't afford a trip to West Europe. Maybe in a decade or so when we're both more established. The 20K in student loan debt has to go first, though. I'm sure you understand.
move to Hawaii. They have full coverage.
me-oww!
but your going to have to tell your personal story to someone that gives a shit about your personal plight. I'm more concerned about 32 million that aren't covered now and don't have the income you enjoy now.
With a History of Hodgkins back in the late 70's, I've got what could be called a Pre-Existing Condition. What hasn't happened to me over 30 years, still could cost me insurance in the Individual Market. All my life, I've made job choices based on Health Benefits. Yea, I didn't want to work 16 years for Bank of America or take a union job--but I have largely for the benfits.
Now, in my 50's I get to face a bill that will definitely cut my benefits. It's inevitable, since the value will be taxed and if you want to kill something--you tax it. It will be a race to the bottom as all employers will move to avoid it by cutting the cost of those benefits.
Had this bill or any of it's promised fixes done something like give me a choice to buy Medicare, I'd be all for it. But Joe Lieberscum killed that.
Worse yet, his ilk will kill any fixes to the lousy Lieberman/Nelson bill that the House is about to vote on.
will cause you to lose the benefits you have now.
They call it a Cadillac Tax. It's Semantics, but it's there. No, they wouldn't tax those on the upper income scale, but they would go after union members like me.
Screw this and screw anyone who votes for it.
The excise tax will result in employers switching to plans with higher co-pays and fewer covered services.
Older, less healthy employees with employer-based health care will be forced to pay much more in out-of-pocket expenses than they do now.
Cue the Kabuki....
For making my point.
I believe thaat you will be able to switch to one of the new plans. The unions have a pass until 2018 don't they?
That's all of 8 years and by then, Barrack Obama and all who voted for this will be gone. And folks like me will still not be in line for Medicare and at the mercy of the markets.
Thanks, thanks a lot to all who supported this nightmare. There's a fissure growing on the left and I'm of the side that's very angry at what is going to be forced down my throat. It won't even cover everyone. If it did, I'd drop my opposition...but there isn't enough good too offset the bad.
No, I'm not talking Death Panels as I know those are the insurance companies.
Meanwhile, the Repugs will be able to say they opposed this nightmare and Joe Lieberscum will still be around in 2018 to continue to stab us in the back.
be forced!
Cue the Kabuki....
Far better than I said it!
and I have a pre-existing condition. Nothing in the bill will force insurance companies to cover me. So if I move, I lose the 'benefits' I have.
It will force insurance companies to accept those with pre-existing conditions by, iirc, 2014.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
So they don't need to comply until 2014 and they can charge whatever they want once they can't exclude. Same difference.
Meanwhile, it's still the toothless State cops on the beat. No meaningful enforcement.
You can't put everyone with a pre-existing condition in the same pool without including people without pre-existing conditions, otherwise the pool would be empty almost immediately. They've got to keep the rates relatively low, too, because 1),They're probably losing their anti-trust exemptions soon (it's already passed the House overwhelmingly) and 2).They'll be competing with each other in the exchanges.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Obama made sure that that wouldn't be included? Remember, Obama doesn't want anything remotely progressive and that could actually help American (adults, anyway) in the bill. Anything that annoys his corporate benefactors is NOT included.
Here.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
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