I just made up a new acronym, H/C. It stands for Health Care, and I thought it would help with some ease of topic recognition around here. While this isn't one of my best topics, and I don't have a pretty picture, unless you want one of the stuffed duck again, I thought, really, how could I screw it up any further than Congress is doing so far ?
According to Bloomberg.com,Senator Max Baucus' (D, MT) and Senator Grassley's (R, IA) committee working on health care "reform," is considering a wide range of "options" on how to finance the turkey reformed insurance system by taxing things, so that the thing could, in theory, be self financing.
I have to hand it to Baucus' & Grassley's genius at this, they've got enough proposals in there already to offend everybody. If the objective was to create sound bytes to make people feel queasy at the idea of government providing more health insurance, it's got the pasta pot boiling.
There's all sorts of things they'd like to make people cry over: First off, of course, is the usual the government giveth and then taketh away: taxing employer - provided health insurance. And there's bait for Republicans, offering a tax credit or deduction instead to replace the tax exclusion.
(insert disgusted liberal noise here. )
the idea already encountered opposition.
Ya think ?
The US Chamber of Commerce in Washington (they're very Republican - business oriented, in case you are not familiar with C of C ) said they might not fuss with that if something is done about medical malpractice changes.
(oh, as soon as the malpractice lawyers read that, there goes the neighborhood.)
While Obama has proposed his own tax changes to finance health-care reform -- including limiting itemized deductions for Americans in the top two income brackets -- the panel’s document didn’t indicate there is much congressional support for those suggestions. Baucus and Grassley, at the end of the options paper, pointed to his ideas in passing, noting they will be considered “in deference to the president.”
Hey, the Senate just admitted there was an election last fall. Whoo hoo. Deference to the president instead of the VP. We're making progress.
Fantasy Island Getaway:
Obama last week received a commitment from health-care companies and industry groups to pinpoint ways to lower health- care costs by $2 trillion over 10 years. The finance panel document also looks for cost savings within the existing health- care system, including cuts in payments to providers under Medicare and Medicaid.
My brain hurts. Even if you divide that 2 trillion by 10 years, it's a big number. But I think it's about double of what they just passed in supplemental military spending budget last week to last until just the end of this fiscal year. But I'm not sure, correct me if I'm wrong.
I'm missing the part where you motivate them to do this, but they think they're going to be able to cut on the old and the already poor. Should be interesting. They're talking oxygen and power chairs, maybe cutting in the parts of the country where "spending is above the national average."
Oh, like on the coasts, the liberal places where the cost of living is higher overall and they voted Democratic during the last election. Thanks!
I'm assuming they're (Insurance Industry) is going to do 2 things. One, they're going to start really messing with us further, those of us who thought we had okay insurance until we tried using it for something. They don't dare really screw with the younger retirees, but the late middle aged, starting to need occasional treatment, insured are fair game. This will piss us off further and then they will swoop in with the attack ads saying "this is only going to get worse under socialized medicine." We've all already had our moment where we looked at what they could do to us if they refused to authorize treatment, and we don't like the thought of croaking early and painfully in exchange for more generous executive compensation and golden parachutes for health insurance execs. But even scarier is the phrase:
Socialized medicine. We might turn into Canucks. Inuits. Lumberjacks. Russkies. Lapps. Vikings. Elves. Hobbits. Lutefisk eaters. Cross country skiers. Ice skaters. Windmill spinners. We might start wearing woolen sweaters. Who knows. But health insurance won't be like going to the casino anymore. It just has to be stopped.
Just when you think all is already lost, they veer back into something we here in greens 'n granola land all love to hate on :
They're thinking of taxing high fructose corn syrup !
Wild applause ! Wait, don't get too excited.
And Beer ! and Wine !
The Beer Institute and the Distilled Spirits Council have registered their dismay. As have Coke, Pepsi, and Dr Pepper. So misunderstood. Americans need cheap sugar solutions suspended in sweet liquids. What, Gawd Ferbid, if they started drinking water? We are talking about the suffering of sugar deprived children here !
BEER
WINE
That's fightin' words. I don't even drink the stuff, and that is scaring me. No wonder Governor Gropenfurher wants to legalize pot. Hey, the Supreme Court refused to hear those medical marijuana appeals today. One step closer to taxing something else in CA !
Les Funtleyder, a health-care analyst at Miller Tabak & Co. in New York, said he viewed the committee’s document as less a declaration of policy preferences than a testing of the waters.
This is the part where they're throwing all the boiled noodles at the wall and seeing what sticks. This watched pot is going to overboil with hyperbole as they fight over any sort of change.
If you don't insist they do this right, and level the playing field, it will end up being just another big tax giveaway to the insurance companies. So start paying attention. Unless you want to bear witness to the slow, eventual, total collapse of the health care system in this country caused by a system built on gaming the haves vs the have- nots vs. the entitled. I already know how my Republican Congressperson is going to vote, but I'm probably more familiar with some of his insurance donors than he is. Don't let him derail it. You could be the next untreated person in the hallway.
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edit update, 5/23/09 You may see an advertisement below because of the tag I used for this diary and the subject. I did not place this ad there. I do not approve of the ad, and it was done without my knowledge or consent as to what the ad actually represents, which is still unclear at this time, and it disturbs me that the name on the ad is connected with a union that is working in cooperation with the HMO that I despise for their shoddy treatment.