What Is Up With That Series-What Is Up With The Latest Health Care Legislation?
The What's Up With That Series
What's Up With Latest Health Care Legislation?
Feel in the dark about what the current health care legislation really has in store for us? Many people do. It's a small wonder considering all the lack of transparency in the whole process. It just got worse with the Democrats deciding to forgo the formal conferencing Normally used to reconcile differences between similar bills passed by the Senate and House. Instead they are going with an informal conference of just the Democrats with the Republicans (and the American people for that matter) completely shut out. So much for the promised
transparency and the whole process being on C-Span.
The House Health Care bill is 1,990 pages and the Senate's 2,400 plus pages. A lot of information for any representative to go through, let alone the average American. So What's Up With That? Here is some of the (distilled) information contained in theses bills:
1. Taxes to pay for it start in 2010, but benefits/coverage do not start until four years later in 2014. This allows them to count the revenues for 10 years, but the expenses for only six years. That kind of accounting practice could be considered criminal in the private sector or at least a huge scam. It is like buying a house, but having to make payments on it for four years before you could live in it!
2. Medicare to be cut by $470.7 billion. To make matters worse, they then (according to the Congressional Budget Office, The CBO) count that reduction twice. Once by being set aside to pay for future Medicare spending. Then again by using it to pay for spending on other parts of the legislation or for other programs.
3. Premiums will increase for 90% of Americans that already have health insurance according to the CBO.
4. Tax Increases of $518.5 billion from a variety of new types of taxes that will be passed on to us (consumers) in the form of higher health care costs.
5. The Senate Bill allows for federal funding of abortions (despite assertions to the contrary.)
6. Largest expansion of Medicaid since its inception in 1965, creating a $26 billion unfunded mandate on the states. This further stresses already stretched state budgets, ergo even more taxes on us.
7. Sweet deals for the states of Louisiana, Nebraska, Florida, Vermont and others at the expense of more taxes on citizens of other states who have to pay for these payoffs. U.S. Attorneys General from 13 separate states intend to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the part of the Senate Bill which stipulates that the federal government will pay for Nebraska's co-share of that state's Medicaid funding - forever!
8. The House Bill requires everyone to purchase healthcare or be fined or imprisoned - also considered unconstitutional by many people.
9. Would insure only 19 million individuals via a subsidy with 23 million left without coverage, i.e., not even half of the alleged uninsured would be covered. (Some would argue that there are really only about 10 to 12 million truly uninsured once eliminating illegal aliens, those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it and those who already qualify for current Medicaid, but just have not applied.
It will be more than interesting to see how this all turns as it effects our
very future as a country.
What's Up With Latest Health Care Legislation?
Feel in the dark about what the current health care legislation really has in store for us? Many people do. It's a small wonder considering all the lack of transparency in the whole process. It just got worse with the Democrats deciding to forgo the formal conferencing Normally used to reconcile differences between similar bills passed by the Senate and House. Instead they are going with an informal conference of just the Democrats with the Republicans (and the American people for that matter) completely shut out. So much for the promised
transparency and the whole process being on C-Span.
The House Health Care bill is 1,990 pages and the Senate's 2,400 plus pages. A lot of information for any representative to go through, let alone the average American. So What's Up With That? Here is some of the (distilled) information contained in theses bills:
1. Taxes to pay for it start in 2010, but benefits/coverage do not start until four years later in 2014. This allows them to count the revenues for 10 years, but the expenses for only six years. That kind of accounting practice could be considered criminal in the private sector or at least a huge scam. It is like buying a house, but having to make payments on it for four years before you could live in it!
2. Medicare to be cut by $470.7 billion. To make matters worse, they then (according to the Congressional Budget Office, The CBO) count that reduction twice. Once by being set aside to pay for future Medicare spending. Then again by using it to pay for spending on other parts of the legislation or for other programs.
3. Premiums will increase for 90% of Americans that already have health insurance according to the CBO.
4. Tax Increases of $518.5 billion from a variety of new types of taxes that will be passed on to us (consumers) in the form of higher health care costs.
5. The Senate Bill allows for federal funding of abortions (despite assertions to the contrary.)
6. Largest expansion of Medicaid since its inception in 1965, creating a $26 billion unfunded mandate on the states. This further stresses already stretched state budgets, ergo even more taxes on us.
7. Sweet deals for the states of Louisiana, Nebraska, Florida, Vermont and others at the expense of more taxes on citizens of other states who have to pay for these payoffs. U.S. Attorneys General from 13 separate states intend to file a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the part of the Senate Bill which stipulates that the federal government will pay for Nebraska's co-share of that state's Medicaid funding - forever!
8. The House Bill requires everyone to purchase healthcare or be fined or imprisoned - also considered unconstitutional by many people.
9. Would insure only 19 million individuals via a subsidy with 23 million left without coverage, i.e., not even half of the alleged uninsured would be covered. (Some would argue that there are really only about 10 to 12 million truly uninsured once eliminating illegal aliens, those who can afford insurance and choose not to buy it and those who already qualify for current Medicaid, but just have not applied.
It will be more than interesting to see how this all turns as it effects our
very future as a country.
