Max Baucus has found a way to bring together the whole country
I was beginning to think it couldn't be done but Max Baucus has done it. His outline released today from the Senate Finance Committee I am pretty sure is that document that can bring together the left, the right and the middle. I think they can all agree that this plan sucks and whoever votes for it should be removed from office. Congrats Max, you've brought the country together. And you've done it by writing a bill that might even get 1 Republican vote.
I'm no health care expert. I'm just an engineer who reads. And I'll admit I don't understand some of the rates and re-imbursements set out here. But I can see where there is enough in this bill for all sides to hate it and not enough in this bill for any side to say I'll take the bad because I get the good with it.
More after the fold.
For those faint at heart I'm going to swear a lot here, you've been warned : )
This won't be my best writing because I'm writing while pissed (this turd of a proposal from Baucus has me outraged) but here goes.
Hmm, where does one start with this turd blossom?
- Start with the big one for everyone to hate. We get an individual mandate without a public option and no employee mandate. Who is going to be happy being forced to buy insurance but not being given the option of a decent priced insurance to buy? How do you go around all summer and say the current pricing system is broken, costs are out of control and the country is going to be bankrupted by the price of current insurance and then turn around and tell everyone they have to buy it but their employers don't have to provide it. And not just small businesses. My corner grocer doesn't have to provide his 10 employees with health insurance because he is small time and doesn't have huge bargaining power. But apparently Wal Mart with it's huge economy of scale and ability to negotiate prices doesn't have to either. Wow, that's crap. So the left calls this a gift to the insurance industry, the right calls this an invasion of their rites and the middle just goes screw you for forcing me to by a crap product. Good job Max "Insurance Company Whore" Baucus.
- The insurance options available in the exchanges. Setting that bottom "Bronze" tier at 65%. So apparently even the cheapest whore has a minimum price? What, 50% seemed too low to you. But 65% that sounds about right. Because you decided what? That this should assure that anyone who actually has to go into the hospital should have to pay their full $11,500 yearly maximum out of pocket expense while also throwing 13% of their earnings into their insurance premiums to get there? Could you have done any less for the American people here or did you decide this was the minimum level at which you could whore yourself to the insurance industry and still look at yourself in the morning? Did we find your minimum? Am I insulting whores by comparing you to them? Who is going to like this plan. Each person who has to buy this mandated crap insurance will hate you every month they pay their premium on their non cost controlled mandated private policy (see (1) above) but now they'll also hate you when they get some work done thought the year and finds that they are paying for it all out of pocket while having insurance. Low end policies structured with high out of pocket expenses before the insurers pay a red cent is the industry way now. How happy is someone who is being forced to pay say 10% of their income per month to their insurance premium going to be when they also have to pay for $5000 of medical bills without seeing their insurance company pay a cent. I don't know all the details but I know insurance policies. This isn't a very unlikely circumstance. Do you think they're going to be grateful for the crap insurance you made them buy or do you think they will hate your insurance industry kissing ass and think that "Fuckers!!! I could have paid this $5000 without insurance and still kept that other 10% of my income." I think left, right or center we're all going to want the head of anyone who voted for this if this happens to us. Which will be very good for Republicans since they are all going to vote against this.
- Cost controls. This ones easy. Again, we all have to buy insurance now. There are no cost controls in place for us. So that cost curve we hear that Max Baucus wants to bend? Should we have asked which way he wanted to bend it? I've been foolishly assuming you wanted to bend it down. And we all know what happens when you assume... I guess I should have been remembering that Max Baucus is the insurance industries man whore. I think we can bring all ends of the political spectrum in line to hate the lack of cost control and cost reduction.
- Funding this turd? Levy's on the insurance industry and no means of preventing that cost from just being passed on to the consumer. Which end of the political spectrum is in favor of having their premiums go up even more than they were already going to go up from the status quo? Who was this supposed to please? Max Baucus is the insurance industries bitch, we all know if this is his funding plan that it's not going to hurt the insurance industry and is going to just be passed on to the consumer. I can see all ends of the political spectrum coming together and singing Kumbaya as we get ready to lynch our Congresswhores for this one. So Max Baucus has again brought us all together.
- Cap HSA contributions at $2000. This will affect some people, it will have no positive effect on anyone however. Now most people don't have HSAs or know what they are. Mostly because for anyone who get's really sick they are useless and nobody actually ahs enough money in one to cover getting really sick. But for those who use it wouldn't it make them happier if they could tuck away up to their maximum yearly out of pocket expense tax free if they could do so? I mean if the government is going to set up a system that makes you buy insurance and makes the minimum insurance you can buy an expensive fat turd shouldn't it at least let you save some money to pay for your medical expenses since it will take a long time before your insurance lays out a cent without taxing it. This is just a hidden tax. And nobody likes a hidden tax. If you're the right you are just fundamentally opposed to taxes. And if you are the middle class who uses an HSA you've just been taxed by a party that said they weren't going to raise your taxes. But they didn't even do it to you straight up - they snuck it in there, the sneaky fucking bastards. Who is going to be happy with this?
This was just a quick review of some of the instant, everyone will hate this turd highlights I found reading through this once. There are things to individually hate from different perspectives too. Some things to be liked by one side and hated by others. But if I am the Republican Party I am praying that the Democrats pass this piece of shit. They can even stop ebbing the party of no at that point and work with the Democrats. Because this would be about the easiest plan in the world to run against. Because the left is going to walk away from this piece of shit, no effort required by the Republicans. And they can campaign the moderates using this as an example of Democratic leadership. This is the perfect re-election document for Republicans. Something they won't vote for anyway that will completely alienate the Democratic base.
Good job Max Baucus. You've brought the entire country together so they can say a collective fuck you to the Democratic party if this bill passes. Good job sir, go collect your bribe you whore.