News about the pinheaded things by politicians and governemt.
Health Care
Obama’s “new” Health Care Proposal: Universal Health Care by Proxy
Feb 22nd
Barack Obama has finally released his own proposal for Health Care Reform. Most of his proposal is just a rehash of the Bills before the House and Senate with proposals for how differences should be reconciled. In other words, not that much is new.
Some highlights (or lowlights depending on your perspective).
One of the new proposals is for a new bureaucracy called the Health Insurance Rate Authority. This bureaucracy is slated to oversee increases in insurance premiums. The idea is similar to State oversight of Utility rates.
The problem here is that the justification for Government oversight of Utility rates is that Utilities are Government granted monopolies, and these type of monopolies need to be regulated to prevent “obscene” profits. The term “monopoly” usually doesn’t apply to the Health Insurance Industry and their profits can hardly be termed “obscene”.
Health Insurance Providers have a profit rate hovering around 3.5%. The average profit rate for a typical American Corporation is closer to 10%. How can you possibly justify regulating what an industry with lower than average profit rate can charge its customers? Especially when they are in a field where there is competition between providers.
This proposal to control Insurance Premiums becomes even more troublesome when coupled with all the other regulations being proposed.
Under the current proposals, the Government will control what conditions Insurers will cover, it will mandate that Insurers cover everybody (no preexisting condition clauses), will mandate no coverage limits, will mandate coverage of “dependents” up to the age of 26, etc.
Now, Obama proposes the Government control what premiums Insurers will be able to charge as well.
With the Government making all the decisions, how can we say that we have private Insurance?
Instead, we will have Government Health Care by proxy, with the only decision being made by private companies being who is employed. And even the terms of employment stand to be regulated by the Government under the current proposals with the mandate that 85% of revenues be spent on health care.
Senator Nelson. We knew what he was, now we know the price.
Dec 19th
Well, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid finally seems to have his 60th vote.
Senator Nelson has announced support of the Senate Health Care Bill. The cost? Revised language on Abortion, and an exemption for Nebraska in regards to Medicare expenditures.
That’s right. The Federal Government will pay for the Medicare expenditures for the State of Nebraska. All those other States with Senators that joined earlier will just have to pay those Medicare expenditures, themselves.
That means that not only will states like California have to pay the Medicare costs to take care of the citizens of California (including illegal aliens) they will have to pay for the Medicare costs for taking care of the citizens of Nebraska.
Governor Schwrazenegger has already stated additional Medicare costs would bankrupt his state.
This reminds me of the joke about the millionaire that propositions another man’s wife. After saying yes to $1 Million, he then offers $50. She get’s offended and asks what kind of woman he thinks she is.
His response? We’ve already established what kind of woman you are. Now we’re just negotiating price.
Well, we now know what kind of man Senator Nelson is and we know the price.
Latest Health Care Proposal: Expand Medicare!
Dec 11th
The Democrat’s latest proposal for Health Care “Reform” is a real doozy.
They’ve proposed expanding Medicare Coverage to those people in the 55-64 year bracket. This one is just so jaw-droppingly bad that I’m really not sure where to begin with criticism.
First, Medicare is already going bankrupt. The amount of money being spent will be far more than what the plan takes in within the next decade. Adding people in the 55-64 range will greatly increase the cost of the program, making it go bankrupt even sooner.
Only Government officials could conclude that extending a Government program they already have problems paying for would be a good idea.
Congress will either have to increase payroll taxes, cut benefits or engage in extra deficit spending (or a combination) in order pay for the additional costs.
Then there is the fact that people in the targeted age group are usually still employed, often with health benefits. Plus they have access to Health Insurance through AARP, and are likely to be able to afford it. The 55-64 year bracket are the people least likely to need Government Health Insurance.
Then there is the way that the Democrats planned to pay for there Health Care Reform. You know. That 500 Billion in savings from Medicare.
So is that still in the works?
How much sense does it make to take $500 Billion out of Medicare in order to finance an extension of Medicare?
Otherwise known as “The Government Givith and the Government Taketh Away.”
CBO Report: Senate Bill will cause Insurance Premiums to increase
Dec 3rd
It’s been awhile since I posted. I got sick. Then busy. Then sick again. (I know, no need to post personal problems.)
Anyway, the latest CBO report on the effect of the Senate’s latest Health Care Reform Bill undermines the arguments being made by the Democrats. The keep saying that the bill will lower Health Costs, but according to the CBO report, insurance premiums for anybody buying a personal insurance policy will face increased insurance premiums.
So much for lower cost.
At least for individuals.
One thing you need to remember in this entire debate, is that certain people have a Government centric view. This is especially true for long time Washington insiders. Meaning most of our elected officials.
To them, as long as the Health Care Cost for the Government go down, that is all that really matters. When these people talk about lowering costs, they’re not talking about your costs.
It gets even worse when you take into account the way the CBO scores things. The CBO makes certain assumptions, and sometimes those assumptions just aren’t realistic.
In the case of the Senate Bll, the CBO neglects to factor in the fact that a large number of healthy individuals will just refuse to purchase health insurance. It just isn’t worth it. Not when the bill guarantees your ability to purchase insurance after you get sick and caps the premiums Insurers can charge.
Insurance premiums for everyone will go up once you factor those provisions in.
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