News about the pinheaded things by politicians and governemt.
Posts tagged Baucus
Consensus in on CBO Health Care Report: It’s a load of BS
Oct 13th
There’s a problem for the Democrats push for “Health Care Reform.” There are just too many intelligent people analyizing their plans, and all reach the same conclusion.
That holds true for the latest installment, the CBO scoring of Senator Baucus’s “Bill” (which hasn’t even been written yet).
The latest blow comes from a report done by the PriceWaterhouseCoopers. Baucus’s bill would actually make Insurance more expensive than if Congress took no action. Of course, the Democrats attack the report as being unreliable becuase it was paid for by the Insurance Industry.
The problem with that response is that many people analyzing the bill reached the conclusion that the Bill would actually increase Insurance Premiums before the report come out. (Me Included)
Given the actions of some of the Senators, they realize that the report is correct. They are attempting to exempt their state from certain provisions or make the Federal Government pay for the additional Medicare mandates. Include Senate Majority leader Harry Reid in this last category. He’ll impose additional Medicaid spending on the other 49 states, but don’t you dare expect his state to pay them.
I think the applicable word is “hypocrite.”
Of course, when you realize the plan “saves” money by shifting costs from the Federal Government to the States by shifting people to Medicaid from Medicare would increase Nevada’s Medicaid expenditures by 85%, it’s no wonder Reid wants the exemption.
The shifting of costs from Medicare to Medicaid was done to keep the Baucus plan from causing the deficit to increase. If you include the additional Medicaid costs the plan imposes on the States, the plan suddenly looks far worse than it does now. That’s a tough thing to do, considering the Federal costs are over $800 Billion for the first 10 years.
Not only do yoy have to factor in the $800+ Billion in Federal Spending, you also have to include the multiple billion worth of spending being imposed on the states.
The actual costs are likely to exceed $1 Trillion.
Congress basically used Enron style cost-shifting accounting to move costs off it’s books.
Here’s a “Concept” for Democratic Senators
Sep 23rd
The Senate today voted down a proposed Amendment to its latest Health Care Bill that would have required the Bill to be posted online 72 Hours before being voted on. They decided to post a “conceptual” version of the bill, instead. After all, posting the actual Bill would result in the vote being delayed for several weeks.
So? It’s not like any provision in the Bill is going to be implemented immediately. Most provisions don’t take effect for several years.
There is absolutely no reason not to post the Bill before voting on it.
Except for the obvious. The more the American people know about the Bill the more they oppose it.
Can’t let those peons know what’s in the Bill if it will get them all worked up, can we?
Something struck me just after I posted this. Posting the Bill will result in delaying voting for weeks in order to get an accurate cost estimate.
In other words, the Senate is going to schedule a vote on a Bill without having any idea as to how much it will cost.
It also suggests what the “conceptual” version of the Bill will be like. The “concept” being telling the American people whatever they need to in order to get it past.
I have a “concept” for those Senators, but I don’t think I can post it without getting in trouble.
And if you needed an illustration on just how disingenuous the decision not to post the bill is, Baucus’s proposal has already been posted online by OpenCongress.
And this editorial makes interesting reading on the subject.
It makes an important point. It wouldn’t take much effort at all to make these sorts of Bills readily accessible. If nothing else, Congress could simply use some sort of XML format.
The fact that these bills aren’t readily accessible kind of makes you think about whether our Senators want out input.
Another Amendment gave lie to the statement that the Bill wouldn’t result in anybody loosing their Insurance. Orrin Hatch proposed an amendment exempting Medicare Advantage Plans (Medicare in the form of Private Insurance) from Medicare Cuts.
The Amendment was voted down.
Good-bye Medicare Advantage Plans.
There are a large percentage of Seniors with these plans, and they are very happy with them. The fact that the Government is targeting these plans for elimination is why many Seniors are up in arms about Health Care Reform.
Chilling Behavior in Health Care Debate
Sep 22nd
Senator Max Baucus has sicked Federal Regulators on Humana.
What did the Health Insurer do to incur Senator Baucus’s wrath?
They told their customers that the Health Care proposal would result in cuts to Medicare Advantage Plans. A great many of Humana’s customers are on Medicare Advantage Plans with that company.
All they did was point out the results of those cuts, customers would face cuts in care.
That was like waving a red flag in front of a bull in regards to Baucus.
Who is Human to tell the truth about Baucus’s plan?
The Government bullying a company for telling the truth about Government policies, that is the type of thing that occurs in third-world Dictatorships, not representative Republics.
It’s time to remind our idiot leaders who they serve, and to remind them of this little thing called the First Amendment.
Senator Baucus need to be removed from power because it has apparently gone to his head.
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