Posted on 09/01/2010 9:12:53 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As we head into the November elections, much is being made of the failing support for health care reform. According to the most recent Kaiser Family Foundation Tracking Poll , only 43% of those surveyed support the new legislation while 45% give the legislation an unfavorable review. This represents a 7% drop in support from the previous month’s polling results. As for the remaining 12%, data reveals that most of them failed to get the memo that Congress actually passed a health care reform law.
Not a great result for the proponents of Obamacare. And yet, as we dig deeper into the polls, a different result would appear to emerge – one that reveals a majority very much in favor of the new benefits provided by the landmark reform legislation.
To see what I’m talking about, ‘click’ on the following chart -
(CHART AT LINK)
As the chart highlights, there seems to be an awful lot of love out there for the ‘goodies’ contained in the health care reform bill. Indeed, given this rousing support for much of the legislation, one would think the Democrats would be taking a victory lap come November rather than running as far and as fast as they can from their health care votes.
And yet, despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of us are all for making sure that every child can have health coverage just as we favor the many other new benefits such as free preventative care services, no more insurance company shenanigans when it comes to pulling coverage when we need it the most, coverage for those with pre-existing conditions, and all the other nice bits brought to you by President Obama and his friends in Congress...
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
The “coverage for those with pre-existing conditions” coupled with the relatively small penalties, which go directly to government coffers, is the poison pill that is designed to kill the insurance industry. As Rush points out, the young will game the system by paying the penalty and standing on the sidelines. The only ones “in” the system will be those who enter once they are diagnosed with expensive diseases.
Boy O Boy.
Was it illegal for some children to have coverage before?
I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.
I have an Idea to fix Healthcare costs. Lets make it free. And Doctors and Nurses will work for free also.
And medicines and tools and machines that are used for healthcare are free also. And everyone who works for those Companies will work for Free also.
And everyone who works for Forbes will work for Free also.
There Problem fixed.
Mad Dawgg
P.S. Will I need a Passport for Canada If I'm going there to see a Doctor?
Government involvement has made health care as expensive as it is today, and Obamacare will only make it worse. THAT'S why we don't like it.
Gosh, why wouldn't I want to pay for that??
"But while Social Security will formally go "into the red" within a few years on a continual basis, and thus be an immediate and permanent contributor to formal budget deficits (as opposed to off-balance-sheet ones, where it has been operating now for a couple of decades) the real mess is coming in Medicare - which is being intentionally ignored.
"Simply put, there's no way we can fund what was promised with Medicare. We can manage to find ways to do it with Social Security - the simplest is not to remove the cap on tax payments, as doing so would cause the indexing to move up (negating much of the benefit.) No, the simplest is to raise the retirement age. While Social Security is simply a tax and entitlement (that is, a welfare benefit) on a legal basis, if you try to get rid of it Granny will likely reach for her shotgun. It is the "don't let them do that" meme that the Democrats have used for last 20 years to instead hide the truth - that is, bluntly, to lie about how Social Security is (or in this case is not) funded.
"But Medicare is an insoluble problem. We simply cannot, as a matter of public policy, give every older person who needs one a new hip. Nor can we afford hundreds of thousands of dollars per-person for treatment of obesity-related diseases (primarily cancer and diabetes and their complications) and other similar maladies - some of which are products of old age, but many of which are products of lifestyle choices.
"The simple fact of the matter is that we have to have a very public debate over exactly what sort of medical backstop you're entitled to from our society, with the facts and figures laid out. This must become immediately self-funding, and that debate then has to result in tax and spending policy, with hard enforcement created by an absolute bar on cost-shifting and budgetary games as are currently played by Congress. That is, Medicare has to be entirely isolated and self-funded - with no outside Congressional support - and no ability to either raid the funds or supplant them.
"We either do this or within the next 20 years it will blow up in our face as the Boomers both retire and become sicker. Trying to "bend the curve" by limiting reimbursements to doctors won't do it. The simple fact of the matter is that we are technologically capable of doing things in the medical trade that we cannot pay for when it comes to providing them to everyone. We can either ration by price or ration by scarcity, but we cannot avoid rationing of these expensive medical treatments and remedies.
"I prefer to ration by price but my preference in this regard is "soft." What I find unacceptable is the incessant lying by our government, and others including medical practitioners, in the making of the claim that we can avoid the rationing entirely.
"That simply can't happen.
"The average person earns $2.25 million in his or her lifetime - before taxes. One man in two will get cancer in his lifetime, one in three women. Many of those cancers are easily-treated and reasonably-inexpensive, but a whole lot of them are not - they're insanely expensive whether you survive the disease or not. Other chronic conditions are similarly expensive.
"It is, in fact, quite easy to run up a medical bill that exceeds the entire earnings potential of the average American during his or her lifetime. Note that this is before tax and actual living expenses, so this is in fact a bill that is at least three times, and likely four or five times, actual disposable income.
"We can't cover that folks.
"This is not about compassion, it is about math.
"We have (once again) written checks with our mouths that we cannot cash with our hands and minds, and yet we refuse to talk about it and have a frank discussion as Americans about where the line truly has to be - and what we will accept as Americans in order to move it from where it is now - the impossible - to where it will wind up.
"Yes, I know this is the "Third Rail" of American Politics - even more so than Social Security. B
"ut whether we want to step on it or not, that light you see in the distance is, in fact, a train."
No. I just don’t want to pay for OTHER PEOPLE’S health care. My families and my own are quite expensive enough.
The comments from the gentleman (for lack of a better term, and to keep from being banned) who wrote the article are troubling.
UN FRIGGING BEELEEVABLE.
Now back to Lurking and looking for my share of the _resident’s money.
Bump for later (Forbes blocked from work)
I was under the (obviously mistaken) impression that Forbes was a sensible business-minded publication. After reading a few comments, mostly by the blog author, I made a note to myself, "Forget Forbes."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.