3 pain points to watch as health reform moves to Senate
November 18, 2009 by Christian SchappelPosted in: Health care, Pay and benefits, Special Report - Benefits
The latest healthcare reform bill just passed the House. But making it through the Senate will be even harder as a few rough edges still need some smoothing.
Three things both the House and Senate do agree on:
- Requiring most people to carry health insurance or pay a penalty
- Providing “affordability credits” to lower-income individuals, and
- Expanding Medicaid by reducing thresholds for eligibility.
But that’s pretty much where the similarities end. There’s still a lot to be resolved in both bills.
Three must-watch points of contention:
Public option
The House bill includes the creation of a government-run insurance plan, which is meant to spark competition with private insurers.
The Senate is working to combine two different proposals — one from the Senate Finance Committee and one from the Health Education, Labor and Pension Committee — into a single bill.
And while the exact provisions of the merged bill are being kept under wraps, it is also expected to include a public option — but it could allow individual states to opt out.
Cost
$1.1 trillion – that’s what the House version is expected to cost over 10 years. The Senate version is expected to be less expensive.
President Obama has already said he’d like reform to cost no more than $900 billion, which could improve the Senate bill’s chances.
Funding
The House wants to impose a 5.4% income surcharge on individuals with an adjusted gross income of more than $500,000 a year and on couples with more than $1 million.
The Senate Finance Committee has proposed charging an excise tax on high-end health plans – “Cadillac Plans” – and charge new annual fees to various industry sectors.
The fees would look something like this:
- $6.7 billion from insurance companies
- $4 billion from manufacturers of medical devices, and
- $2.3 billion from drug makers.
Info: Click here to view a side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate proposals.
Tags: affordability credits, Ben Nelson, Bob Casey, Cadillac Plans, healthcare reform, House, Medicaid, obama, public option, Senate, Senate Finance Committee
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November 19th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Has anyone been able to locate Section 2742(b) referenced on page 17 of the Senate bill? If yes, please reply with page number. I cannot locate it.
November 19th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
One need only to look at the latest government panel on Mammograms. Take a good look, because that is what our government run health care system is going to look like. A government panel (no doctors) telling us when it is acceptable for us to die, based on economics.
Give Grandma a big hug and a kiss cause even though you have the money, her old wrinkled butt just isn’t worth saving. She has outlived her usefulness to the federal government.
We need that extra money for our politicians families. They don’t fall under this plan and they deserve to live.
GO OBAMA!!!!
November 19th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
A friend who once worked in the old Soviet union used to talk about management and production using examples. He used to say ” there is never a shortage of razor blades in the USSR….they’re all in warehouse # 51 in Minsk but no one knows hoe to get them to the stores!!” Sounds a little like the where is the H1N1 vaccine…they probably sent it to one of those non-existent congressional districts in Arizona for use by the non-existent people who just got a non-existent job.
We are about to hand over our healthcare to a bunch of liars and fools who would be unemployable outisde of government.
Rick…grandma does have one advantage…she won’t be around as long as the rest of us to wonder and worry!
November 19th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
…apologize for the typo’s….this topic tends to set me off just a tad!!!
November 19th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Hey Mike
That govenment panel was put togher by Mr. Bush, Also being in health care business, I hear many many many more complaints from people related to HMOs and Insurance companies than I do Medicare particpants, you telling me the HMO, the private section, do it better. Don’ think so. Stop being brainwashed by FOX news . The greatest country in the world should not have people who are hungry or without health insruance.
November 20th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Amen to Len’s comments. If it is left up to the insurance companies, big business, and some of our politicians, we will continue to hear “let them eat cake!” Ordinary citizens are getting tired of having only the crumbs that are left on the table, while others go about their usual ways of life. If you have no home, no food, and no health care, and no way to get them, what do you have left to lose? Wake up people before it’s too late!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:20 am
Amen, Rick and Mike. Let’s see what Len and Billie think in a few years after the government takes over! We are going to start euthenizing are sick and elderly.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:49 am
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), first convened by the U.S. Public Health Service in 1984, and since 1998 sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The USPSTF conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the “gold standard” for clinical preventive services.
The mission of the USPSTF is to evaluate the benefits of individual services based on age, gender, and risk factors for disease; make recommendations about which preventive services should be incorporated routinely into primary medical care and for which populations; and identify a research agenda for clinical preventive care.
So Len this is not a Bush appointed panel, it has been around since 1984. So maybe you should get a brain that at least could be washed. Unfortunately now that OBAMA is in power, they now need to start looking at whether or not is is economical to treat you or not. Let a government panel decide if your grandmother or mother should live or die because she does not pay taxes anymore and is of no use to the Federal Government.
I know several women who have had breast cancer and they all discovered their lumps through self examination and were confirmed with a mammogram. My wife just had a lumpectomy, which she found on a self examination, and was confirmed by a mammogram. Fortunately it was not malignant but it could have become malignant, so they took it out. Talk to a Dr. that deals with breast cancer and see how many lives they think it saves and whether or not they think those lives have value.
Also, I wonder if the insurance companies look at the studies that this group conducts to assess what they will or won’t cover? HMMMM??
And Len, do you know people who have no food, no home and no health care and NO WAY TO GET THEM?? Now let me get this straight. No way to get a home? (it’s called hard work) No way to get food? (once again, hard work will cure that) No way to get to a hospital where they cannot be denied treatment? If you know these people, YOU take them!!! What kind of a man personally knows people who are hungry with no way to get to the hospital and they just sit there and do nothing? Shame on you.
And insurance companies are the bad guys!!
Wake up and quit voting for socialists!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Sorry, this last paragraph should have been addressed to bilie.
And billie, do you know people who have no food, no home and no health care and NO WAY TO GET THEM?? Now let me get this straight. No way to get a home? (it’s called hard work) No way to get food? (once again, hard work will cure that) No way to get to a hospital where they cannot be denied treatment? If you know these people, YOU take them!!! What kind of a man personally knows people who are hungry with no way to get to the hospital and they just sit there and do nothing? Shame on you.
And insurance companies are the bad guys!!
Wake up and quit voting for socialists!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:07 am
I work for a service bureau. We service about 9,000 employees. I spend most of my day filling out WIC forms, Medicaid forms, Childcare assistance forms, Section 8 forms, food stamp forms, HUD home forms, etc. There is more government assistance than we can sustain already! We can’t take anymore. People are actually “CHOOSING” to live below the poverty line because they can get more free stuff that way. My wife is an RN at the local health unit and she actually has had women tell her that they keep getting pregnant because they can get more gov’t assistance that way. Really? Is that what this country has come to?
I’ve worked my a** off since I was 15 years old and I’ve never asked for a handout. I worked for and EARNED everything I have, which isn’t a lot, but it’s mine. Where did this “gimme, gimme, gimme” attitude come from? We have become a country of entitlement and it’s unraveling us at the seams.
I am scared for my son’s future. I’m really afraid that this administration will turn us into a larger version of Cuba. What is a hard-working, God-fearing, tax paying, country loving man to do?
November 20th, 2009 at 10:15 am
If there is so much *FREE* stuff! Why is there so many homeless and hungry men, woman, families and children in this country?????????
November 20th, 2009 at 10:22 am
AMEN Michael!!
Melissa: First off, I am not sure there are that many, and secondly maybe it is because they sit around on their lazy butts and do nothing. If nothing is what you do, then nothing is what you get!! Unless you are on welfare!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:26 am
Have any of you ever been on welfare? I’m guessing not! Do you live in the woods or the city? Maybe you should tell the homeless about all the *FREE* stuff available out there, so they don’t have to spend this winter in the freezing cold.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Here are a couple of paragraphs from an excellent article ( A Thanksgiving Lesson )by Chip Wood about the pilgrims and their initial attempt at socialism and its utter failure.
The colonists struggled desperately for two more years. When spring arrived in April 1623, virtually all of their provisions were gone. Unless that year’s harvest improved, they feared few would survive the next winter. The Pilgrim leaders decided on a bold course. The colony would abandon its communal approach and permit each person to work for his own benefit, not for the common good.
Here is how the governor of the colony, William Bradford, explained what happened then. This is taken from his marvelously readable memoir (if you can make adjustments for the Old English spellings),
History of Plimoth Plantation:
The experience that was had in this commone course and condition, tried sundrie years, and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanitie of that conceite of Plato & other ancients, applauded by some of later times;—that ye taking away of properties, and bringing it in communitie into a commone wealth, would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God.
For this communitie (so farr as it was) was found to breed much confusion & discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefite and comforte. For yet young men that were most able and fitte for labor & services did repine that they should spend their time & strength to worke for other men’s wives and children with out any recompense.
For those of you who had a Government run education:
Eventually those who are doing all the work and having everything taken from them by those who who choose to do nothing, quit working and the whole system falls apart.
Less Governement and Less Taxes!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Melissa: I do volunteer work with the homeless and a large percentage choose this way of life. It’s something that most of us cannot understand. And Yes Melissa there is alot of “free stuff” & Michael is right because alot of people on welfare like it there. I don’t think it’s fair to penalize someone who works hard to give all of their hard earned money to someone who is too lazy to work. And I do know lots of those types. Their comment is why work when the govt gives it to us for free. However, if you are blessed then help others voluntarily. There could be solutions to our problems but unfortunately as Americans we have become selfish and do not want to change our way of life. One person or groups of people cannot change our country. It will take a different mindset than that of entitlement. Try a mission trip to a 3rd world country where they are thankful for everything yet do not expect their govt to give them anything. They work hard and have basically nothing! They are a Content people. They don’t have a credit card system where instant gratification is the norm. They don’t have “I deserve (fill in the blank) and I will do whatever it takes to get it” mentality. God has blessed our country and we need to realize that. As sad as it is to see someone in our country going hungry they are well-fed in comparison to the rest of the world. My challenge for anyone reading this is: “what are you doing personally to help others in need?” or do you just complain!
November 20th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Amen to less Government and definetly Less Taxes! I truly can’t afford anymore taxes or I will be trying to find *FREE* stuff.
November 20th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Why are we putting people in prison when they assist someone that is terminal to die? Can we put the government in prison because that is what they are doing to our elderly? Remember getting old is not terminal but it is contagious and it will happen to you.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:25 am
So I have been wasting all my tears and worries on homeless people that want to be that way! I’m so upset. This has been a HUGE! issue for me since I was a kid. So from now on I will do what I can to help, but not let myself get as upset as I use to about homelessness.
We kind of got off track with the issue of Government taking over healthcare. Maybe the government will let all the self made homeless people die instead of giving them medical attention when they need it. (it isn’t funny, but possibly true)
November 20th, 2009 at 11:33 am
There are many more than 3 items to watch on this health care fiasco. Dig deep and see how the SIEU Union will benefit. And now, embedded within is (in a Health Reform Bill?) special monies of great amounts to Louisianna, in an attempt to buy off another vote. This Pelosi and REid combination is more than an honest person can endure.
And yes, Len and Billie, FOX is very good at keeping us up to date on what is going on with this Administration. One of the reasons Conservatives are so much smarter about the issues. Liberals just get fed what the Obamenites want them to know. So sad.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hey Melissa,
My wife was on welfare after her first husband refused to be a man and support his family. She left him and took their three kids with her. (ages 8, 4 and a new born) She was on welfare for 6 months. Why? Because she worked a full time job, and then waitressed in the evening to make sure that her children had food to eat and a place to sleep and clothes to wear. She worked 2 and 3 jobs at times to make ends meet, and still made time for her kids. She is a wonderful mother and a wonderful wife. She is now an accounts receivable manager for her employer.
She chose to better her situation, instead of crying the blues. By the way, she received no support from her ex husband.
Yes she got support from the government, but she wanted to make it on her own. She used the system in the manner it was meant to be used. Temporary help until she could get on her feet.
Also, have you been to a homeless shelter to help feed the homeless? I go quite often, and I can tell you that the majority of truly homeless people need to be in an institution. I would not have any problem with our tax dollars going to put these people in a home where they can be cared for. The majority of them that i have been exposed to all have some mental issues that contribute to them being homeless. I also think the numbers of homeless are way over exaggerated.
The “other homeless” people usually arrive in fairly decent cars, are well dressed, and are rude as hell. They take bigger portions and for the most part are overweight. (really hungry)
I get hungry quite often, do I fall into the “under-fed” category?
November 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
No, I have never helped feed the homeless at a shelter. I have stopped to drop food off and I gather food where I work to take to the shelters, but never helped to serve them.
So if alot of them are mentally ill, they are not choosing to be that way, correct? I’m guessing, but I bet a lot of them are Veterans?
I also have been on welfare, while I worked. There are people that knwo how to work the system, I will not argue that. Maybe someone needs to teach the people that are losing their jobs and homes how to work it.
I wish there were a quick fix, but I don’t see one.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Healthcare bill taxes
When polling Americans about healthcare, there are ways to get two very different answers to the same question. If you ask people “should everyone be required to have healthcare?” the answer comes back 67% yes, 27% no. But, when the question is rephrased to “should we require everybody to carry insurance, or face a federal penalty?” it flips and 64% say no, and 28% yes. Perhaps if the media would bother reporting on all of the new taxes this plan carries with it, support would dip even lower?)
http://www.atr.org/userfiles/111809pr-comptaxreid%282%29.pdf
A vote for Obamacare is a vote for THIS For decades progressives have slowly penetrated our education, political, and judicial systems in an attempt to further progressive ideas. To get an idea of what we are in for when Obama brand Progressivism is finally fully implemented, one need look no further than Venezuela and Cuba.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:56 am
So if the government takes over healthcare, am I still going to be covered under the plan I have through my employer? They pay my healthcare 100%, do you know how lucky I am. Not to many companies do that. If I want to put my husband and child on they would charge me, but just myself is 100% paid.
What are you suppose to do if you can’t afford to buy the governement healthcare policy? My parents are both retired and they just went through this. My dad retired and my mom had no insurance coverage. She had a very hard time finding one that they could afford.
November 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 am
Solution is simple. Just put us under the same health care as our lawmakers. With the influx of participants, rates should be more affordable.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:27 pm
Dianne for President!!!!!
Seems like a good way to solve that problem.
November 23rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Watching the arguments for and against closure this past week end, it really came home to me this question: If Health Care Reform is SO important, why do we have to wait 4 years for any benefits to kick in????? Are the people needing help right now just being put on hold? And we have to start paying the taxes (to keep this bill deficit free HA!) in 2010? We all know the answer to that. The government needs the money. And they won’t be putting it in a trust fund held for health insurance. Oh NO. It will go right out the door as soon as it is collected. Just like they do with Social Security. Talk about ponsi schemes. Don’t some people go to jail for this?
This is so blatantly a control move I just don’t believe those liberal democrats can’t see it. They must now something we don’t. Like, don’t worry, by 2012 we will have so much control, we can vote to retain our dear President Obama for life. (Just like they did in Venezuela)
I would hope one of our Senators would push for an amendment to whatever law is keeping us from the ability to buy insurance from any company that is operating in the United States right now, so competition could begin. We just do not want to have the Status Quo for 4 more years. And if they don’t do something about the frivolous lawsuits now, we can look for that to be added when we get a Conservative president (in 1012) along with majority in the Senate.
November 23rd, 2009 at 6:53 pm
This seems to be a complicated issue. My health insurance is going up at a steady increase of of 20% every year. This year I had to decrease my benefits to afford it. We own a business and provide insurance to our employees. With this increase we have been thinking of letting it go or offering “emergency medical” type plans. If insurance companies continue on this path we will lose our insurance.
On the other hand, I was for reforming the health care in our country because of this reason. What the government is coming up with bothers me. They are doing what they do best by complicating the issue and it will cost money to even implement the complicated system! I don’t know what the answer is. I really don’t think that government wants to kill grandma, but I do believe they are going through this too quickly and trying to appease insurance companies, etc. It is a scary thought if they don’t do anything, but even scarier if they implement the proposed plan.
November 24th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
I don’t understand why they government can’t start health care reform with small steps instead of this massive multi-billion dollar “project”. They could make one simple law that allows competitive insurance plans. Then another simple law that crubs frivolous law suits, and so forth. One foot in front of the other. Of course, that means they can’t slip all kinds of “pork” through the system unnoticed, which would take all the fun out of being in power, wouldn’t it?
November 24th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Sorry about the bad spelling. Thankfully it didn’t cost us a cent!
January 6th, 2010 at 11:46 am
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