It's very straightforward. Obama has already said that you can keep the coverage you have if you're happy with it. If you opt for the federal health insurance you must meet certain financial requirements and you will have to demonstrate this, just as you would for food stamps or public housing. If you don't want to do this, then you are free to pursue other insurance. The point is . . . the quoted accusation that it allows the government to enter upon your bank account without your permission is simply not true and is not a part of this bill. Listen once more, please . . . federal jerks will not have access to your money. It's an erroneous assumption. It's not in the Bill.
you have to admit, the right is doing a great job smearing this bill, and while i think there can be a much better bill, i am glad that healthcare is being addressed. You have to give the right credit though, if the democrats had half the skill the republicans have getting their agenda passed, it would be scary.
Illegal aliens should not be eligible for subsidized health insurance, in my opinion. Now, if an illegal lettuce picker breaks his leg, he shouldn't be left in the field to crawl back to Mexico. They should get emergency room care, be put in a cast, and be deported back to Mexico. But to give him, his wife, and his kids health insurance is obviously flawed and has little support outside the Hispanic community. AND . . . it is not actually part of the health bill. I presume when you say the "illegal alien component", you refer to the same page by page blog critique that has been referenced before. It says: Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free health care services. Well, Section 152 on page 50 of the Health Choices Act of 2009 bill includes a generic nondiscrimination clause, which says insurers may not discriminate with regard to "personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services." It says nothing about "non-US citizens" or immigrants, legal or otherwise. In fact, the legislation specifically states that undocumented aliens will not be eligible for credits to help them buy health insurance, in Section 246 on page 143. Section 246 of the bill states: "nothing… shall allow Federal payments [for] individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States,". This would seem to preclude illegal aliens. Here is what Obama himself said in response to Katie Couric's question about health care for illegal aliens on TV. Nancy Pelosi also says "illegal immigrants are not covered” I think the illegal aliens issue is another bogus accusation by the blogger.
The Rove-type Republican smear is often effective, but it has it's drawbacks. Much of it has been exposed as purely partisan obstructionism. Republicans have become the party of NO. And . . . the democrats are learning to fight fire with fire, which is bad for the entire system. The only good thing with the widening gap between left and right is that it leaves a power vacuum in the middle which is in desperate need of a major political party to emerge.
Red has done a good job refuting much of the "misinformation" that is spreading about this plan. I don't know that I agree with all of his interpretations, but the discussion brings to light the point that there should be no rush to get this thing passed. Its more than a thousand pages of information that many people don't understand to begin with. Add to the fact that it's written by politicians in bureaucrat-speak, and you have the potential for a real mess. And, as I understand it, even if it passes today, nothing goes into effect until 2013 anyway. So why rush it?....unless there is more to the motive than just improving health care. There is no legitimate reason for the administration not to take its time, get all of the information out there, refute the wrong info, and where the negative info is correct, fix the bill.
thanks for doing the legwork. i'll let my extreme right-wing representative know i support it. wait, is this a house bill?
I do plan to read the entire bill at some point and interpret it for myself (a novel idea, right?) but even though red has pretty much proven the major points of the blog wrong, the general idea of having government control (that is definitely in the bill) something like health care and insurance doesn't sit well with me. I don't have anything to back me up on this one except my opinion and the past failures of other nations at attempts at socialist "utopian" systems. I guess it's just a waiting game to see who gets to say "I told you so."
no you have plenty to back it up on. medicare is government run healthcare which is a complete failure. all the money put in by people has been stolen. vanished, gone, kaput. its no longer there although it was promised by the govt it would be. 20% of each state's budgets are to fund medicare. even though most states are broke. VA hospitals are a disaster as is social security as is medicare as is medicaid. do you really not have precedent to base your concerns? why anyone wants to trust their family's lives and their own with the most inefficient and ineffective conglomerate in the world is asinine at best. make no mistake, there will be no private insurance if this administration has its way. at least none of worth to compete against a printing press of money and artificially set prices. its just not viable.
Anytime a politician (Republican, Democrat, white, black, blue, green, etc.) uses the word "COMPREHENSIVE" to describe their plan...I become worried. The word is used to cover up all the crap and avoid explaining the fine details. It's also used to sound like they actually know what they're doing and suggests the public should just mind their own business and leave the real work to the all-knowing politicians. Whn Obama used the word to describe his plans for health care and immigration...I became worried.
I know this but red needs documented proof of those accusations to even give them a chance. I don't have time to go and dig up paperwork on all of the things I type.
