Late last night, the health care bill and the reconciliation passed the House. The next step will be for the Senate-passed health care bill to go to the President’s desk, while the reconciliation bill, which passed with 220 votes, now heads to the Senate for debate. Republicans also had a vote in to recommit the bill, but that lost 199-232.
Some of the items in this bill include:
• Coverage cannot be dropped because of illness
• No denial for pre-existing conditions (to happen in 2014)
• Children up to ages 26 can stay on their parents insurance
• No lifetime maximums
• Subsidies will be available for families making roughly up to $75,000 a year
• Individuals who do not purchase insurance will face a fine
• Insurers cannot deny coverage to kids for pre-existing conditions
• All new plans have to cover preventive care
President Obama says that it’s not a victory for the Democratic party, but one for the American people. While the bill does contain some good fixes, it still isn’t true health care reform. It doesn’t curb spending, and in fact will ultimately lead to tax increases, despite what Congress claims.
Half the money needed to enact this program comes from $500 billion in Medicare cuts. Congress is basically raiding an existing program to subsidize the new program. Seniors are the ones who consistently come out to vote. And with our growing aging population, do you really think this is ultimately how Congress will pay for this program? No, they’ll look for a new revenue source and that comes from raising taxes.
States are not happy about this program either. Even though the federal government will pay for the first few years, states would be forced to partially fund these programs after a few years. This is a hardship on states, which are already struggling to fund their own Medicaid programs at the moment.
In fact, attorney generals from many states have started banding together to overturn the bill if it should pass, citing that the federal government is overstepping its constitutional power and infringing upon each state’s power. This is the first lawsuit but it’s likely that several more will follow. This can push the current bill back by years or even decades, proving that it’s just not a sustainable option for the American people.
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It's all wrong, no one has
It's all wrong, no one has ever been dropped because of illness, there is always another reason, not paying premiums, lying on the application, or dropping everybody, although this rarely happens. No doctor would get out of practicing, what else would they do, wash dishes? The only people happy with their health insurance either are rich and can afford anything, including now $25,000.00 deductibles, or are poor and are on medicaid, or have most of it paid by their employer. Me, I pay $700.00 a month for a $10,000.00 deductible for a male and female, 56 years old, and one 14 year old child. Saves me $400.00 a month from what I had before. But I will be penalized for having coverage with my business by the new Healthy Texas Plan. Those that do not have coverage, get to join. Fact is, we need to do something and at this point, it's a start.
Oh Yeah, the governmemt
Oh Yeah, the governmemt worked for the people alright, but only the 15% minority while the other 85% of the people went unnoticed! Amazing! I thought the government was to regulate; not dictate!
Thank you for helping to keep
Thank you for helping to keep us informed. I thought our congressional representatives worked for the people, but apparently not.
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