Government-Run Health Care = Epic Fail
12:12 AM Edit This 3 Comments »
Congress is taking a recess in August. Obama wants the health care bill passed before then, because you know, the world will end as per usual if he doesn't get what he wants when he wants it regardless of how terrible an idea it is (cough, cough, "stimulus"). Now is the time to write your legislators. Please do some homework on this and if you don't want this insanity forced on you and your family, contact your Congresspeople and Senators like, yesterday and tell them that you oppose government-run health care, a.k.a. H.R.3200.
BCBS has an excellent plan for health care reform that makes the government-run plan look exactly like it was cooked up just like this. So don't let any idiot alarmist fool you into thinking there's no other way, 'cuz there totally is - http://capwiz.com/helptheuninsured/issues/alert/?alertid=13632946&type=CO
The easy way to find out who the eff your legislators are is included below, as well as my own scathing letters for you to plagiarize, because I am awesome and nice like that.
Senators:
Look up - http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
House of Reps:
Look up - https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
You'll need your 4-digit ZIP code extension for this - http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Read Me:
"PRESIDENT Obama promises that "if you like your health plan, you can keep it," even after he reforms our health-care system. That's untrue. The bills now before Congress would force you to switch to a managed-care plan with limits on your access to specialists and tests.
Two main bills are being rushed through Congress with the goal of combining them into a finished product by August. Under either, a new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these "qualified plans." If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year "grace period" to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you'll have less time.
And as soon as anything changes in your contract -- such as a change in copays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year -- you'll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).
When you file your taxes, if you can't prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you'll be fined thousands of dollars -- as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size -- and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).
It's one thing to require that people getting government assistance tolerate managed care, but the legislation limits you to a managed-care plan even if you and your employer are footing the bill (Senate bill, p. 57-58). The goal is to reduce everyone's consumption of health care and to ensure that people have the same health-care experience, regardless of ability to pay.
Nowhere does the legislation say how much health plans will cost, but a family of four is eligible for some government assistance until their household income reaches $88,000 (House bill, p. 137). If you earn more than that, you'll have to pay the cost no matter how high it goes.
The price tag for this legislation is a whopping $1.04 trillion to $1.6 trillion (Congressional Budget Office estimates). Half of the tab comes from tax increases on individuals earning $280,000 or more, and these new taxes will double in 2012 unless savings exceed predicted costs (House bill, p. 199). The rest of the cost is paid for by cutting seniors' health benefits under Medicare.
There's plenty of waste in Medicare, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates only 1 percent of the savings under the legislation will be from curbing waste, fraud and abuse. That means the rest will likely come from reducing what patients get.
One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."
This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?
Only a portion of the money accumulated from slashing senior benefits and raising taxes goes to pay for covering the uninsured. The Senate bill allocates huge sums to "community transformation grants," home visits for expectant families, services for migrant workers -- and the creation of dozens of new government councils, programs and advisory boards slipped into the last 500 pages.
The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll (June 21) finds that 83 percent of Americans are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their health care, and 81 percent are similarly satisfied with their health insurance.
They have good reason to be. If you're diagnosed with cancer, you have a better chance of surviving it in the United States than anywhere else, according to the Concord Five Continent Study. And the World Health Organization ranked the United States No. 1 out of 191 countries for being responsive to patients' needs, including providing timely treatments and a choice of doctors.
Congress should pursue less radical ways to cover the uninsured. We have too much to lose with this legislation."
Article by Betsy McCaughey: Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a former lieutenant governor of New York. betsy@hospitalinfection.org
Steal Me:
Below is my correspondance with Sen. Claire McASSkill. Feel free to use whatever you want our of it in your letters.
From: Summie Date: Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 10:21 AMSubject: Re: From the Desk of Senator Claire McCaskillTo: Senator McCaskill senator_mccaskill@mccaskill.senate.gov
Senator,
Your response to my request is less than encouraging. First, how many more times do you think we're going to fall for legislators crying "crisis?" This is becoming old hat in a very short time for the house and senate to pass enormous spending bills that don't do a bit of good under the guise of impending doom.
Second, if you really wanted to conduct health care reform, you wouldn't entertain the idea of government health plans. It doesn't work. Anywhere. Ever. Not even here with Medicare and Medicaid. You want to prove to me that you can do this? Reform your existing government-run health plans. Show me that it works and I'll listen, but I'll never believe that my company will keep my health insurance plan when big government will offer a cheaper, sub-par one that will be run into the ground financially and structurally like every other private sector pie that government sticks its fingers into.
Finally, there are many alternative ways to provide coverages for the uninsured: start with tort reform to stop unnecessary CYA testing and lower the costs malpractice insurance. Try rewarding people who purchase their own health care by offering a tax credit. Give them a partial reimbursement, then apply that to employers who provide health care. If the government could so a single thing to benefit the uninsured, then you would simply deregulate the health insurance industry so competition increases then leave it alone. Deregulation alone would unequivocally promote the health and livelihood of every American. I'm sure this appeal falls on deaf ears, but please just note the emphasis on my request for you to oppose any government-run health plans.
Thank you,
Summer
On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 5:23 PM, Senator McCaskill <senator_mccaskill@mccaskill.senate.gov> wrote:
Thank you for contacting me regarding our health care system. I appreciate having your comments and welcome the opportunity to respond.
There is no denying that our health care system is in dire need of reform. The soaring cost of medical care is crippling our economy, bankrupting our nation’s families, and becoming an unsustainable financial burden for American employers. In the last eight years, health care premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and there are nearly 46 million uninsured Americans - the majority of whom are employed. It’s tragic that in a country of great wealth like ours so many of our fellow Americans don’t have access to care; and that the uninsured are suffering from avoidable illnesses and receiving expensive medical care too late the cost of which gets passed on to the rest of us.
I am pleased to see my colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee and on the Finance Committee leading the health reform effort in the Senate. There are still many tough issues to resolve in the health care debate, including insurance coverage mandates, whether a public program will compete with private insurers, and how to pay for it. While theses topics are still being deliberated in committee hearings and roundtable discussions, the highest priorities for Congress and health industry leaders are protecting patient choice of care, curbing skyrocketing health costs, and expanding coverage for the uninsured.
Although I am hopeful that significant reform will be enacted by the end of this year, you should know that Congress has already passed several measures that have improved access to care for children and struggling families. In January, I voted for Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2), which will provide 4.1 million additional low-income children with quality health care coverage. I was also pleased that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enacted in February, included extended unemployment health benefits coverage as well as funds for cost saving health care initiatives like health information technology (health IT).
Addressing our nation’s health care crisis will be no small feat for Congress; but it will only get worse the longer we ignore it. Our nation's long term financial health requires a balance between family coverage needs and viable financing from businesses and the government. The current tenuous situation necessitates action on healthcare reform now. I look forward to working with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to find a fiscally responsible solution for the health of Americans and our nation’s economy, and I am hopeful that we will have significant reform enacted by the end of this year.
All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill
On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Summer wrote:
Senator McCaskill,
I do not support the impending Health Care Reform proposal that is currently being developed. Please keep this in mind when representing me as these discussions turn into legislation and vote no.
I agree that there should be reform to move the current bureaucracy driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of CONSUMER CHOICE and real FREE-MARKET COMPETITION; however, this plan to essentially turn health care into a larger scale government run system is not the answer.
I've sat in lines for entirely too many hours with my sickly grandma waiting for her to get in to see a doctor via her Medicare & Medicaid plan, only to have them make so many mistakes (once, resulting in having one of her toes amputated) to think that you guys can pull this off successfully.
Thanks so much,
Summer
Pass it on!
w/love,
Summie
BCBS has an excellent plan for health care reform that makes the government-run plan look exactly like it was cooked up just like this. So don't let any idiot alarmist fool you into thinking there's no other way, 'cuz there totally is - http://capwiz.com/helptheuninsured/issues/alert/?alertid=13632946&type=CO
The easy way to find out who the eff your legislators are is included below, as well as my own scathing letters for you to plagiarize, because I am awesome and nice like that.
Senators:
Look up - http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
House of Reps:
Look up - https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
You'll need your 4-digit ZIP code extension for this - http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp
Read Me:
"PRESIDENT Obama promises that "if you like your health plan, you can keep it," even after he reforms our health-care system. That's untrue. The bills now before Congress would force you to switch to a managed-care plan with limits on your access to specialists and tests.
Two main bills are being rushed through Congress with the goal of combining them into a finished product by August. Under either, a new government bureaucracy will select health plans that it considers in your best interest, and you will have to enroll in one of these "qualified plans." If you now get your plan through work, your employer has a five-year "grace period" to switch you into a qualified plan. If you buy your own insurance, you'll have less time.
And as soon as anything changes in your contract -- such as a change in copays or deductibles, which many insurers change every year -- you'll have to move into a qualified plan instead (House bill, p. 16-17).
When you file your taxes, if you can't prove to the IRS that you are in a qualified plan, you'll be fined thousands of dollars -- as much as the average cost of a health plan for your family size -- and then automatically enrolled in a randomly selected plan (House bill, p. 167-168).
It's one thing to require that people getting government assistance tolerate managed care, but the legislation limits you to a managed-care plan even if you and your employer are footing the bill (Senate bill, p. 57-58). The goal is to reduce everyone's consumption of health care and to ensure that people have the same health-care experience, regardless of ability to pay.
Nowhere does the legislation say how much health plans will cost, but a family of four is eligible for some government assistance until their household income reaches $88,000 (House bill, p. 137). If you earn more than that, you'll have to pay the cost no matter how high it goes.
The price tag for this legislation is a whopping $1.04 trillion to $1.6 trillion (Congressional Budget Office estimates). Half of the tab comes from tax increases on individuals earning $280,000 or more, and these new taxes will double in 2012 unless savings exceed predicted costs (House bill, p. 199). The rest of the cost is paid for by cutting seniors' health benefits under Medicare.
There's plenty of waste in Medicare, but the Congressional Budget Office estimates only 1 percent of the savings under the legislation will be from curbing waste, fraud and abuse. That means the rest will likely come from reducing what patients get.
One troubling provision of the House bill compels seniors to submit to a counseling session every five years (and more often if they become sick or go into a nursing home) about alternatives for end-of-life care (House bill, p. 425-430). The sessions cover highly sensitive matters such as whether to receive antibiotics and "the use of artificially administered nutrition and hydration."
This mandate invites abuse, and seniors could easily be pushed to refuse care. Do we really want government involved in such deeply personal issues?
Only a portion of the money accumulated from slashing senior benefits and raising taxes goes to pay for covering the uninsured. The Senate bill allocates huge sums to "community transformation grants," home visits for expectant families, services for migrant workers -- and the creation of dozens of new government councils, programs and advisory boards slipped into the last 500 pages.
The most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll (June 21) finds that 83 percent of Americans are very satisfied or somewhat satisfied with the quality of their health care, and 81 percent are similarly satisfied with their health insurance.
They have good reason to be. If you're diagnosed with cancer, you have a better chance of surviving it in the United States than anywhere else, according to the Concord Five Continent Study. And the World Health Organization ranked the United States No. 1 out of 191 countries for being responsive to patients' needs, including providing timely treatments and a choice of doctors.
Congress should pursue less radical ways to cover the uninsured. We have too much to lose with this legislation."
Article by Betsy McCaughey: Founder of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths and a former lieutenant governor of New York. betsy@hospitalinfection.org
Steal Me:
Below is my correspondance with Sen. Claire McASSkill. Feel free to use whatever you want our of it in your letters.
From: Summie Date: Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 10:21 AMSubject: Re: From the Desk of Senator Claire McCaskillTo: Senator McCaskill senator_mccaskill@mccaskill.senate.gov
Senator,
Your response to my request is less than encouraging. First, how many more times do you think we're going to fall for legislators crying "crisis?" This is becoming old hat in a very short time for the house and senate to pass enormous spending bills that don't do a bit of good under the guise of impending doom.
Second, if you really wanted to conduct health care reform, you wouldn't entertain the idea of government health plans. It doesn't work. Anywhere. Ever. Not even here with Medicare and Medicaid. You want to prove to me that you can do this? Reform your existing government-run health plans. Show me that it works and I'll listen, but I'll never believe that my company will keep my health insurance plan when big government will offer a cheaper, sub-par one that will be run into the ground financially and structurally like every other private sector pie that government sticks its fingers into.
Finally, there are many alternative ways to provide coverages for the uninsured: start with tort reform to stop unnecessary CYA testing and lower the costs malpractice insurance. Try rewarding people who purchase their own health care by offering a tax credit. Give them a partial reimbursement, then apply that to employers who provide health care. If the government could so a single thing to benefit the uninsured, then you would simply deregulate the health insurance industry so competition increases then leave it alone. Deregulation alone would unequivocally promote the health and livelihood of every American. I'm sure this appeal falls on deaf ears, but please just note the emphasis on my request for you to oppose any government-run health plans.
Thank you,
Summer
On Thu, Jul 16, 2009 at 5:23 PM, Senator McCaskill <senator_mccaskill@mccaskill.senate.gov> wrote:
Thank you for contacting me regarding our health care system. I appreciate having your comments and welcome the opportunity to respond.
There is no denying that our health care system is in dire need of reform. The soaring cost of medical care is crippling our economy, bankrupting our nation’s families, and becoming an unsustainable financial burden for American employers. In the last eight years, health care premiums have grown four times faster than wages, and there are nearly 46 million uninsured Americans - the majority of whom are employed. It’s tragic that in a country of great wealth like ours so many of our fellow Americans don’t have access to care; and that the uninsured are suffering from avoidable illnesses and receiving expensive medical care too late the cost of which gets passed on to the rest of us.
I am pleased to see my colleagues on the Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee and on the Finance Committee leading the health reform effort in the Senate. There are still many tough issues to resolve in the health care debate, including insurance coverage mandates, whether a public program will compete with private insurers, and how to pay for it. While theses topics are still being deliberated in committee hearings and roundtable discussions, the highest priorities for Congress and health industry leaders are protecting patient choice of care, curbing skyrocketing health costs, and expanding coverage for the uninsured.
Although I am hopeful that significant reform will be enacted by the end of this year, you should know that Congress has already passed several measures that have improved access to care for children and struggling families. In January, I voted for Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (H.R. 2), which will provide 4.1 million additional low-income children with quality health care coverage. I was also pleased that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), enacted in February, included extended unemployment health benefits coverage as well as funds for cost saving health care initiatives like health information technology (health IT).
Addressing our nation’s health care crisis will be no small feat for Congress; but it will only get worse the longer we ignore it. Our nation's long term financial health requires a balance between family coverage needs and viable financing from businesses and the government. The current tenuous situation necessitates action on healthcare reform now. I look forward to working with my colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to find a fiscally responsible solution for the health of Americans and our nation’s economy, and I am hopeful that we will have significant reform enacted by the end of this year.
All best,
Senator Claire McCaskill
On Wed, Jul 15, 2009 at 1:33 PM, Summer wrote:
Senator McCaskill,
I do not support the impending Health Care Reform proposal that is currently being developed. Please keep this in mind when representing me as these discussions turn into legislation and vote no.
I agree that there should be reform to move the current bureaucracy driven, heavily regulated third-party payment system to a new patient-centered system of CONSUMER CHOICE and real FREE-MARKET COMPETITION; however, this plan to essentially turn health care into a larger scale government run system is not the answer.
I've sat in lines for entirely too many hours with my sickly grandma waiting for her to get in to see a doctor via her Medicare & Medicaid plan, only to have them make so many mistakes (once, resulting in having one of her toes amputated) to think that you guys can pull this off successfully.
Thanks so much,
Summer
Pass it on!
w/love,
Summie
