Home » By hook or by crook: the public option edges closer

Comments

By hook or by crook: the public option edges closer — 11 Comments

  1. Why then do so many people remain against Obamacare? Perhaps it’s because some of them, like me, don’t believe that private insurance will be able to compete with the public option as proposed;

    of course it cant… how much taxes does a state insurance company pay, and how much taxes does a free market company pay.

    i worked for 10 years creating rates and rules for insurance. most have no idea how the stuff works. they no longer use rates and rules as they moved away from the mcgarren furgeson act.

    they are already working towards that end!!!

    anyone notice that they want to tax medical stuff liek tampons, tongue depressors, etc.

    well, in that way, the stuf they pay will come back to them as a tax rebate to the state expenes, and it will be shifted from the insurers.

    how can the insurers compete when they are paying part of the cost of competition themselves?

    for the sake of easy math say its %10 on these items cost.

    so a box of supply A costs 100 and 10 in taxes.

    if the state pays, it pays 110, and gets 10 dollars back.

    if the insurance pays, it pays 110, and the state gets 10 dollars back.

    see how it works? you dont have to wait. its already there and we are too stupid to figure it out. thats how dumbed down we are.

    leatherstocking was written in 13th grade language level… the average for its day… when i was a kid, busines writing has to be to grade 8… now we wonder if we can operate at a 5th grade level…

    well, i operate above the old 13th as i am older and exceeded those qualifications then to get into bx science.

    however as my career as progressed, i have done worse and worse over time as the gap of understanding gets wider and wider and the peoples self confidence is so high you cant teach them, they can only teach you (even though they dont understand).

    to paraphrase benjimen franklyn…

    we have a banana republiuc now, how long can we keep it. (as there are still things worse)

  2. Regarding your predictions, neo,

    “some form of health care reform will be passed”

    – I’m not so sure. I can agree on one level, but my gut is saying they are trying awfully hard to make it appear that the health care bills they are backing are popular.

    In the end you may be right and trickery may work to get a bill passed that truly doesn’t have popular support, but the congress critters know that if they pi$$ off a large enough percentage of the population that they will be out of a job.

    “…it will include at least some type of public option.”

    If passed, yes, I agree.

    Doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t make it popular, but I agree some sort of public option would end up being included as a reward for that great percentage of the population that doesn’t even pay taxes.

    “The method will be controversial….”

    Quite.

    I envision something in the end that closely resembles the stench around how the 1994 AWB was passed.

    The AWB likewise was supposed to have overwhelming popular support – and democrats had their collective a$$es handed to them in the elections that same year, with even Clinton stating that the AWB played a large role in removing so many democrat congress critters from congress.

    “….and the results will not be deficit-neutral.”

    I agree. It won’t be deficit-neutral by a long shot.

    I suspect it will become so expensive and unwieldy a program that within a few years it will face collapse.

    Unfortunately, I think it will last just long enough to kill private insurance, leaving the general public with little other option than rationed health care.

    And of course once these types of programs are in place, hell will freeze over before it’s rescinded so we will then be stuck with the program forever.

    Regarding the CBO, has anyone actually checked to see how accurate their forecasts have been over the past 5, 10, 20, or 30 years?

  3. Democrats seem to believe that they’ll pay a higher price not pushing a public option. I think the verdict is still out on that. They’re being fed stories by the state media that makes them believe opposition has bottomed out and that the public option is slowly rebounding in support. The ‘independents’ are notoriously fickle and just might be swayed by enough news propaganda.

  4. I can’t go through a single day without wishing I could leave this country (if only my wife would let me). A few years ago I had a job offer overseas; my wife was supportive up until the moment I got the offer, and then disagreed vehemently with the idea (sigh).

    All I see in the public option is a healthcare system with too few doctors and nurses, and run with the efficiency, consistency and bedside manner as the TSA airport inspectors.

  5. “Why then do so many people remain against Obamacare?”

    Basically it is because every time Obama talks about what he envisions they can tell it doesn’t pass the common sense test. He wants lower costs, while including more people and increasing quality. Most people know that does not add up.

    Most people do not see why the problem can’t be broken down into pieces and each one done separately. For instance, we know that Medicare and Medicaid are going broke because of rising costs coupled with fraud and waste. Those are government run programs. Why can’t those issues be addressed now, without reference to private insurance? Obama cannot explain why and that makes people suspicious.

    The fact that most p[eople get health insurance from their employers has become a problem in the last 20 years because people are not staying with one company for an entire career. When they leave they lose coverage until they find a new job. If they have a pre-existing condition they may not find coverage as an individual and it may make it more difficult to get another job. More small businesses are being formed that cannot provide the level of insurance benefits that a large corporation can. The answer is for companies to offer health reimbursement programs to employees where they receive the money to buy their own personal policy, which they can keep if they leave their job. Obama and the dems do not address this issue at all. The reason is it would make it more difficult for the government option to drive private insurance out of the marketplace.

    Obama and the Congress want to force insurance companies to take all applicants with pre-existing conditions at no increase in premiums. Most people recognize that that will drive all premiums up over time. So, where is the cost saving?

    Most people and those dems that are honest recognize that the public option is designed to eventually drive private insurers out of business. Obama is on record as saying it may take 15 – 20 years and he can live with that. People are opposed because they see this as the route to socilaized medicine.

    Well, I could go on (tort reform, store front medical clinics, the unionization of the medical industry, etc.), but those are a few of the reasons Obama’s reform remains unpopular.

  6. “I don’t usually make predictions, but I’ll make a tentative one right now: some form of health care reform will be passed, and it will include at least some type of public option. The method will be controversial, and the results will not be deficit-neutral.”

    I hope that you’re wrong, but I fear that you are not… 🙁

  7. Public Option???

    Yes!!!!!!

    It’s way past time and those against it need to re-think their views.

    I’m sure I’ll be pounded on this, but it helps to remember:
    There by the grace of God, go I.

  8. 60% of Americans want the Public Option.

    So quit saying that folks are against it.

  9. For anyone who thinks “It’s way past time” to go the public option route, please check what happened to health care costs in Mitt Romney’s state after they passed mandatory health care laws…..

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>