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The Spectacle Blog
The health care legislation supported by Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Ted Kennedy, has now been officially released after being leaked earlier.
I looked through its 615 pages quickly, for some of the main features of the plan, and here are the highlights:
—A requirement that insurers cover everybody who applies for coverage, regardless of health status or preexisting conditions along with community rating so that everybody gets charged the same price for coverage with some wiggle room when it comes to age (but the rate differential is still capped at 2:1).
—A mandate forcing individuals to purchase health insurance.
— An expansion of Medicaid eligibility, and subsidies to purchase health care on an insurance exchange.
—Instead of a single national exchange, it will provide funding for states to start their own exchanges, called “gateways,” which will offer a public option.
—Measures to reduce costs through the use of information technology and improved preventive care.
While I intend to take some more time to look at the specifics, at first blush, this unsurprisingly is a very liberal proposal. While it promotes itself as the “Affordable Health Choices Act” the reality is much different. It certainly wouldn’t be affordable to taxpayers, and the choices offered would be limited to what would be deemed “qualified plans” by the government. Also, while individuals would be able to choose whether or not to participate, the exchange would also be open to employers — meaning if businesses decide to dump their employers on the exchange, individuals won’t actually have much of a choice. And of course, it says that each exchange, “shall include a public health insurance option” (pg 43), which of course is a way of migrating more people to government health care over time.
View all comments (57) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by Philip Klein
http://spectator.org/blog/2009/06/09/kennedy-health-care-plan-relea
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CC Ryder| 6.9.09 @ 9:02PM
Is Kennedy's health plan disaster any worse than Mitt Romney Care in Massachusetts?
Becky| 6.9.09 @ 9:18PM
I hope our new health system allows for lots of depression medicine. A lot of us may need it.
Joe The Plumber| 6.10.09 @ 4:59AM
Tell them to take their mandates and stuff them up their liberal you-know-whats. My money goes for food, rent and (maybe) gas.
JP| 6.10.09 @ 7:41AM
The big question, of course is funding. Like, Bush's Perscription Drug Bill, Congress probably low balled the cost. What I've been hearing is that the bill will require an additional $1 trillion per year in taxes to cover costs.
Employers would love to drop health care on the goverment, but Senator Kennedy and co. have a slew of tax proposals that target corporations as well as the wealthy. I've even read that Congress is considering taxing corporate revenue earned overseas. This has gotten the big tech companies worried so much that they are attempting to retain the services of none other than Bill Clinton. Thier hope is that the former President would have a heart to heart with Obama and explain to him the facts of life.
There are even rumours that Congress is now attempting to shelve indefinitely any energy tax legislation. It appears even Congress understands that one cannot nationalize all of the economy all at once. But, there is also a growing realization that the glitter that accompanies Obama is beginning to fade. Elections are approaching in 18 months; independents are beginning to gravitate back to the GOP; and Bail-Out Nation is very unpopular -even to most rank and file Dems.
I would expect a huge floor debate, not to mention an agressive PR campaign by the Dems. This health care thing is a one time shot. The Dems know that reforming health care will be unpopular once enacted. But once enacted, it cannot be undone. Or so they hope.
Bob| 6.10.09 @ 7:46AM
Philip, this may not work out the way you think. Insurance on the exchanges will cost a lot more than employer sponsored plans because of something in the industry we call a "census". The census is the basis upon which plans are priced. In general, corporations have lower average age profiles and better health profiles than the public at general. These plans are also not forced to cover people who don't have incomes although there are reasonable provisions for pre-existing conditions. For that reason, prices on the exchanges will be a lot higher than employer sponsored plans. The Obama administration don't understand this because they are academics, not business people. We generally call this the law of unintended consequences. That's why I continue to support a tiered system and test markets where we actually find out if something works before we implement it for everyone.
With that proviso, I tend to agree with your analysis.
Oldefarte| 6.10.09 @ 1:36PM
Supposedly when former Arkansas Representative Mills was inebriated and floundering with stripper Battistella in a DC water fountain at 2 am, he called Kennedy and asked him WELL, TED, I'VE GOT HER IN THE WATER-----NOW WHAT DO I DO WITH HER! Well 'Ol Ted has now got the American taxpayer in the universal healthcare water, and the only question is WHAT WILL HE DO WITH US!!!!!
maddernhell| 6.10.09 @ 3:05PM
Why do we need all this BS. If you want to bring health care costs down do the following: 1) Dr's office no longer files insurance papers. Patient pays Dr and files for re-imbursement from Insurer. This will eliminate a whole bunch of people who go to the Dr for sniffles. 2) all citizens will have a medical savings account to which they must contribute at least 5% of their pretax income just like a 401K it is not taxed until used. The patient can use the fund to pay the doctor or buy health insurance, catastrophic care insurance, or long term care insurance.. 3) Patient continues to pay into Medical Savings until such time as $30K is invested and or insurance policies are fully funded. Patient can transfer any amount over 30K to their qualified retirement plan without penalty.
under this plan the govt will cover any costs above 30K or above what the patient has in the medical savings account.
Now everyone is covered and responsible for their own health coverage.
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Missy| 6.10.09 @ 10:02PM
Good one, Oldef. Would socialized health care be good enough for Teddy?
Ken Hughes| 7.26.09 @ 12:56AM
This health care plan can’t be called an Obama plan Obama has no plan. It can’t be attributed to congress since none of them have read a single word of it so who exactly wrote this health care legislation? Could it have been the seventh grade students at MLK middle school? Probably not there to smart for this, I doubt anyone can find a first grader dumb enough to buy this Pig in a Polk.
It's an accumulation of all the liberal frustrations of the past. It’s as if every liberal intern within the Beltway were given a laptop and told to have at it.
Ken Hughes| 7.31.09 @ 5:53AM
I would like to see Obama explain the Kennedy heath care plan to Nancy Pelosi!
doug| 8.27.09 @ 1:51PM
we need to be thinking of everyone no person should be deprived of dental and medical care. how do we fund it ;how about first our elected members in DC stop taking a raise every time that they grant themselves one. Secondly let's stop all this waring and controling and most of all let's help the greedy share. some of these things are beginning to happen and we have just to help those less fochenit (the rich) to understand we are all in this together. Love and Peace
mevric| 9.3.09 @ 2:56AM
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Smith| 9.3.09 @ 2:58AM
some of these things are earn diploma beginning to happen and we have just to help those less fochenit Diploma
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Dubai Property Investment | 10.11.09 @ 2:17AM
Health issue is the most important right now and the plan we are hearing about it will not do any good to it.
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dubbyd | 10.27.09 @ 5:14PM
This article is very interesting. Thank you very much for sharing .
Emily| 10.31.09 @ 2:13PM
I think that this is very interesting. I think that as a part of the health care issue they should include that of drug addiction and what Narconon has been doing against it.
Supreet| 4.15.10 @ 3:39AM
Oh nice post!! The blog has been amazing, and so are the examples discussed. I got very important points like health care planning, how it could be managed.
Elder Law Bucks County| 4.19.10 @ 3:21AM
The blog describes the release of the Health Care Legislation, which has been chaired by Ted Kennedy. I analyzed the blog and got many tips of how the blog emphasizes on having a mandatory requirement that insures inclusion of every individual who applies for coverage etc. While I was researching this, I came across a website (www.buckscounty-elderlaw.com ) that deals with the legal practice of counseling and advising older adults and their representatives regarding the aspects of health and long-term care. This helps in maintaining a profile that is suitable for all the elderly so they are able to sustain their life with peace.
pricila| 4.24.10 @ 9:00AM
And now that the Globe has given Coakley a 15 point lead in their latest poll (ha!!), I think a lot of Liberals, will stay home on the 19th, or at least, that's what I hope will happen. online
jane| 4.28.10 @ 6:19AM
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