If you are one who wants the same insurance plan your Congressman has, there is something you should know. The federal government is not inexperienced with health insurance or health care. Federal Employees, from Postman to President are insured, as are most other Americans, by the Medical Insurance Industry. They pay for coverage and the federal government pays part of their premiums. Sixty percent of insured Americans have the same type of coverage.
There is another pile of, shhh, falsehood in the opposition debate. McClatchy Correspondent, Les Blumenthal, wrote this eye opening article about Washington State’s Congressional delegation. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/staff/les_blumenthal/story/76072.htm Members of Congress do not get free healtcare. For example: Washington state Senators Patty Murray (D) and Maria Cantwell (D) pay different rates for different coverage. Murray insures herself and her husband for $356 per month. Cantwell insures just herself, and pays $140 for her policy. Washington Representative Dave Reichert, ( R ) insures himself and his wife for $469. He pays more because his dental and vision issues are also covered. If you have an interest in knowing about other representatives, I am including a link that will provide you with contact information for every person elected to represent you at the state or federal level. Enter your zip code in the panel at the top center of this page. http://www.congress.org/
There is a plan to require insurance identical to the federal employees plan. It is the Senate Finance Committee bill that is creating a furor because it does NOT include the “Public Option.” It doesn’t, and if you like that idea, WRITE YOUR REPRESENTATIVE OR SENATORS. You have a link to the address, just put your zip code in. If you don’t want to do that, use this link. http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ just point to your state and click. Or if you want to write to a different member, for example Senator Max Baucus (D-almost) --202-224-2651 – 202-224-9412 – http://baucus.senate.gov/contact/emailForm.cfm?subj=issue all you need do is click on his state.
The public option, as I understand it, is nothing like what the raging opposition says it is. Think of it as an extension of medicaid upward to the working poor who have jobs with small companies at low wages, and to the start up entrepreneurs who are struggling to make a business go. It does not have to be free, in fact, the premiums should be means dependent on a finely tuned sliding scale. None of this Free or Outrageous depending on if you make 99 dollars (free) or 100 dollars (99 dollars) pricing. But that is my idea. Feel free to share it with your representatives http://www.congress.org/ Or the lot of them http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
Or, support the Republican plan, IF YOU GET SICK DIE QUICKLY. And I am not going to apologize for that comment. The Republican Position, as I see it is, “We will make everybody buy insurance, but we are NOT going to insure ANYBODY.”
We all know how well mandatory insurance works. About 40% of drivers ignore the mandate on car insurance and drive anyway. Personally, if the government mandates it I think the government should collect a tax to pay for it. On cars it should be a fuel tax, and on health it should be an everybody pays the tax, everybody gets the coverage. We all pay anyway. If you are not paying premiums, you are paying doctor bills. Even if you don’t get sick you pay for medical care to some extent. You pay premiums for insurance even if you never use it. And in the case of medical care, if you do visit a doctor or go to a hospital, part of what gets paid makes up for losses from services that are delivered and not paid for.
recommend this
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 20
go up each year as well as deductibles. Bad economy for everyone but the insurance companies who've seen their profits quadruple over the last decade.
For me the public option is the compromise. I believe good healthcare should be a right, not a luxury commodity.
"Are those increased premiums going up because of inflation? If so look to the Government and the Fed not the insurance company."
Inflation is running so low that SS won't get any adjustment from it. Cost of labor is down with millions out of work. Other production costs may have some increase but that theses would push it up in excess of the rate of inflation, as the insurance premiums have done for several years, is not realistic. Of course, the CEO's salary and bonuses range higher and higher so I have a little problem believing that the insurance companies are just covering their needs.
Third decade for me.
If the bill is amended to do it, there will be a universal payroll tax, possibly part of the Medicare tax or separate, and the cost of insurance provided by employers will be deducted from that tax. As far as I know that is not being proposed at the moment. If you will be so kind as to click on one of the provided links, and suggest it, I THINK it will be.
Now, how do you propose paying for that?
What a lot of folks don't get here is that if you run around without insurance and get injured or sick, the hospitals still treat you. When they can't collect, the tack that money on to MY BILL, and the bills of those who can in the form of higher premiums and higher costs.
It's like the shoplifter who thinks nobody gets hurt when he steals a $10 shirt. But multiple that $10 by 1,000,000 shoplifters, and who do you think is picking up the tab?
Maybe a bookkeeping trick of some sort?
Strange, most of those on federal insurance, including myself with Medicare, think the federal insurance is the best I've ever had!
You have gone right to the heart of the issue. People like Tim Nelson currently use the emergency rooms by the millions - making us ultimately pay for them through the nose. Only with the public option is there any hope for the rest of us to get any relief from the burden we bear. Frankly, I think one of the most disheartening aspects of this issue is the attitude of many who think they have no stake in - nothing to be gained for -themselves in healthcare reform.
I cannot understand your confidence. Do you own nothing? Are your assets all in someone else's name? Last year a sore throat cost tens of thousands of dollars. It was a cancer. No one is forever immune, and while you might be fortunate enough to remain disease free, if you are injured things are going to go sour in a hurry.