How bad is the 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. After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
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 to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
9. No reimportation 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 4 will rise an average of $1000 a year — meaning in 10 years, you family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.
I could go on, but it should be clear: this is not reform. This is a con job.
Sign our petition: kill the Senate bill.
Make no mistake, we need health care reform. But the Senate’s idea of reform is a disaster, and will make things far worse than they are today.
We will continue to fight for real health care reform. Now, we must kill this fake reform.
A couple of left leaning blog posts followed Jane’s appearance on Fox & Friends, “Jane Hamsher appeared on Fox & Friends this morning” by pontificator on Daily Kos, and “Why I Went on Fox and Friends” By: Jane Hamsher on FDL ACTION.
Does it bother you that no one in the Senate of White House went to bat for real choice in health insurance and consumer savings in pharmaceuticals? If so, how much does it bother you?
I really don’t want to made the decision to stop filing IRS tax returns. Food comes first.
Regarding the first horror you listed. The idea that we might have to pay (gasp!) 8 percent of our income to health insurance companies.
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p>My wife’s a public school teacher and we use her health insurance. It’s a nice deal, since she pays 20 percent of the premium, which is way better than most people in the private sector. If we used my company’s insurance, it would be 50/50.
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p>So, what percentage is that of her gross pay?
7.44 percent.
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Have you looked at lifetime payout maximums for your coverage?
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p>Are you aware that most personal bankruptcies are driven by medical costs, and that most of those happen to people who had health insurance? Are you aware that most providers offer one rate to those who are insured and a different lower rate to “private pay” patients?
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p>The annual premium you pay is the beginning, not the end, of the amount you end up paying — directly or indirectly — to health insurance companies.
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p>The bottom line is to look at the total gross revenue received by the health insurance industry, look at the total gross revenue received by health care providers, and compare that on a per-capita basis to other western nations. Now look at the various outcome-based measures of what Americans receive for these extraordinarily high costs.
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p>The passage of this bill does represent a political victory of Democrats over Republicans. It is also yet another victory of corporate interests over the will of an overwhelming majority of Americans. It is not a significant step towards solving the health care crisis we face.
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p>What bothers me most is the fact that a self-proclaimed “progressive” is willing to go on Fox News and make common cause with conservative extremists like Grover Norquist, all to savage a bill that provides coverage for millions of people without health insurance and provides billions in subsidies in the largest expansion of the social safety net since 1965.
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p>That’s what bothers me.
If you examine your reasoning, you will find seeking common cause wherever it exists represents an advance in political status quo and that the substance of your concern is your disagreement with her position.
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p>By your reasoning it would be wrong for John Kerry to make common cause with Lindsey Graham and go on Fox to advocate climate change legislation.
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p>This health insurance subsidy bill is subject to change at any time by any Congress in the future. Funding can be decreased which undermines the goal of universal coverage. Insurance companies can maximize deductibles and co-pays and put health services out of reach of people who have to pay 8% of their income for it or a 2% penalty collected by the IRS. Obama campaigned on no individual mandate. Do you think he ought to be held accountable for that?
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p>This bill is not social security or medicare which are both public programs. This solution is built on the private health insurance industry and done without a public option, which is a public plan. We don’t get the choice Obama advocated for and now claims he did not. Do you think he ought to be held accountable for that?
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p>Real progressives will fight for the public option now and put the WH under pressure to deliver it as part of the conference committee bill. Progressives who don’t care about keeping their elected officials accountable will claim the Senate bill is good enough.
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p>Even the teabaggers have shown more spunk advocating their positions than progressives on public option.