If You Don’t Have Insurance, the President’s Plan:
Creates a new insurance marketplace — the Exchange — that allows people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices.
Sounds good. Hard to understand how it will work and really help out. We will see. In the end, removing barriers to competition by allowing insurers to sell in all 50 states (see our plan where we have impacted greatly the ability of state insurance commissioners to control these issues) would serve us better. That is the best ‘exchange’ that we could receive. Competitive pricing can only come from true deregulation which means dealing with the hodgepodge of 50 state insurance regulatory bodies.
Provides new tax credits to help people buy insurance.
Sounds good and we can agree. Once again, how is to be paid for? If the answer is selective taxation, we oppose it. If the answer is total participation by the entire nation, we support it.
Provides small businesses tax credits and affordable options for covering employees.
Again, sounds good and we can agree. Once again, how is to be paid for? If the answer is selective taxation, we oppose it. If the answer is total participation by the entire nation, we support it.
Offers a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice.
Oops. You messed up here. As long as the public option is on the table, those who fear federal takeover of the health care system will oppose you. And they will be right to do so. The public option is indeed the Trojan Horse we have previously posted about. Once there is public option, private coverage will rapidly evaporate for the vast majority of Americans. Once that happens, it is a natural transition to say that we should combine Medicare, Medicaid, the public option as well as perhaps VA together under one ‘federal umbrella’ for health care and related services. There you would have it – single payer . . . without firing a shot. Sorry Mr President, we see through this one and cannot buy in. Jettison this if you want to get more traction from the majority and those in the middle.
Immediately offers new, low-cost coverage through a national “high risk” pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created.
Again, sounds good and we can agree. Once again, how is to be paid for? If the answer is selective taxation, we oppose it. If the answer is total participation by the entire nation, we might support it. Why not eliminate the need for this – seems like you did if you are eliminating the ability of insurers to deny or drop coverage for medical or ‘high risk’ reasons. So why do we need this again?
The President’s Plan for Health Reform – http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hcsignon/?district=LA2&returnlink=false
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ObamaCare is NOT reform. It does not change what is broken – the system – but simply moves things around, making costs go UP not down; increasing complexity; reducing payments to providers which REDUCES access; etc.
The eight root causes of expenses(costs)-that-provide-no-value have been identified: see http://thesystemmd.com/?p=335. Obama’s so-called healthcare reform addresses NONE of them. Yet, his primary concern was the wasteful costs of our healthcare system.
It is too often assumed that those who oppose ObamaCare want to preserve the status quo. That is a common argument of those who support it. I oppose ObamaCare BECAUSE I want real reform. I (and most Americans) want to fix the system not add to its costs, reduce our choices, increase the costs to business, drive more nurses and doctors out of medicine. That is what HR 3200 will do.
The President created a great opportunity and then offered a quick, ‘easy’ solution to a sick patient (healthcare) who needs good medicine (not politics): evidence-based decisions; diagnosis before treatment; partner with the patient; and treating root causes not symptoms.
Deane, Well said and we agree. Much to be said for your comments. We have been open to all serious Real Health Reform solutions. The President says he is but remains tied to some ideas that are promoted by his base (the left, labor, trail lawyers etc.)
Keep reading and thanks for the comment.