Posted on 07/02/2009 9:33:16 PM PDT by smokingfrog
From NBC's Ken Strickland Details on some of the most contentious elements of health-care reform were released today by one of Senate committees drafting the bill.
The Senate Health Committee unveiled its plan for a public/government insurance program to compete with private insurers. And it also detailed the "play or pay" provision that would require companies to provide insurance coverage to their employees or pay fees to the government.
Today's announcement, while significant, provides only a few new pieces in what has become a giant health-care reform puzzle. Several outstanding issues remain -- chief among them total cost of reform and how you pay for that cost. Votes are at least weeks away, and bipartisanship on major elements remain elusive.
Here are the outlines of what the committee released today. (This is the committee chaired by Ted Kennedy, but temporarily run by Chris Dodd.)
The Public Option (officially called "Community Health Insurance Option") -- run by the Department of Health and Human Services -- government loans provide start-up cost, but would eventually become self financed through premium payments -- would follow the same rules as private insurance for things like defining benefits, consumer protections, and setting premiums "that are fair and based on local cost" -- doctors would not be under obligation to participate in the public option -- doctors payment rates -- negotiated by HHS Secretary -- would be "no more than the local average private rates, but could be less."
(Excerpt) Read more at firstread.msnbc.msn.com ...
I would like to have the same health care plan that Ol’Teddy gets. That would really be great. I mean it would be like getting away with murder.
Given his age, ol' Ted would be dead right now if he had the health system they are wanting to stick us with. They would have given him some Fentanyl and benzos, then ordered him to a few weeks of 'bed rest'.
So they release the plan late on Thurs before the long 4th weekend-—hmmm wonder what they don’t want us to see?
I hope he lives long enough to see it go down in flaming defeat.
Brokaw: Quick discussion. Is health care in America a privilege, a right, or a responsibility?
Sen. McCain?
McCain: I think it's a responsibility, in this respect, in that we should have available and affordable health care to every American citizen, to every family member. And with the plan that -- that I have, that will do that.
But government mandates I -- I'm always a little nervous about. But it is certainly my responsibility. It is certainly small-business people and others, and they understand that responsibility. American citizens understand that. Employers understand that.
But they certainly are a little nervous when Sen. Obama says, if you don't get the health care policy that I think you should have, then you're going to get fined. And, by the way, Sen. Obama has never mentioned how much that fine might be. Perhaps we might find that out tonight.
Obama: Well, why don't -- why don't -- let's talk about this, Tom, because there was just a lot of stuff out there.
Brokaw: Privilege, right or responsibility. Let's start with that.
Obama: Well, I think it should be a right for every American. In a country as wealthy as ours, for us to have people who are going bankrupt because they can't pay their medical bills -- for my mother to die of cancer at the age of 53 and have to spend the last months of her life in the hospital room arguing with insurance companies because they're saying that this may be a pre-existing condition and they don't have to pay her treatment, there's something fundamentally wrong about that.
So let me -- let me just talk about this fundamental difference. And, Tom, I know that we're under time constraints, but Sen. McCain through a lot of stuff out there.
Number one, let me just repeat, if you've got a health care plan that you like, you can keep it. All I'm going to do is help you to lower the premiums on it. You'll still have choice of doctor. There's no mandate involved.
Small businesses are not going to have a mandate. What we're going to give you is a 50 percent tax credit to help provide health care for those that you need.
Now, it's true that I say that you are going to have to make sure that your child has health care, because children are relatively cheap to insure and we don't want them going to the emergency room for treatable illnesses like asthma.
And when Sen. McCain says that he wants to provide children health care, what he doesn't mention is he voted against the expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program that is responsible for making sure that so many children who didn't have previously health insurance have it now.
Now, the final point I'll make on this whole issue of government intrusion and mandates -- it is absolutely true that I think it is important for government to crack down on insurance companies that are cheating their customers, that don't give you the fine print, so you end up thinking that you're paying for something and, when you finally get sick and you need it, you're not getting it.
And the reason that it's a problem to go shopping state by state, you know what insurance companies will do? They will find a state -- maybe Arizona, maybe another state -- where there are no requirements for you to get cancer screenings, where there are no requirements for you to have to get pre-existing conditions, and they will all set up shop there.
That's how in banking it works. Everybody goes to Delaware, because they've got very -- pretty loose laws when it comes to things like credit cards.
And in that situation, what happens is, is that the protections you have, the consumer protections that you need, you're not going to have available to you.
That is a fundamental difference that I have with Sen. McCain. He believes in deregulation in every circumstance. That's what we've been going through for the last eight years. It hasn't worked, and we need fundamental change.
Brokaw: Sen., we want to move on now. If we'd come back to the hall here, we're going to shift gears here a little bit and we're going to go to foreign policy and international matters, if we can...
McCain: I don't believe that -- did we hear the size of the fine?
In his own words.
If passed it’s going to create a very strong incentive for companies to strip down to 24 employees. Or break apart into independent contractor units of 24 employees or less.
Ramirez is in a league of his own, ain’t he?
He sure is. His current work is here:
http://www.ibdeditorials.com/Cartoons.aspx#cartoon331333845989043
Obama: ... In a country as wealthy as ours,...
Hey Obama! We’re broke thanks to you.
Obama: ... In a country as wealthy as ours,...
Hey Obama! We’re broke thanks to you.
Not pulling any punches there!!!
The Docs and hospitals stand to lose big on this one. Serves the AMA right for going wobbly in opposing this boondoggle.
You can bet, DHHS will serve up some very low fees and some very high benefits. Of course, you may not be able to find a doc after a while...
Oh, sick burn!
Well, in MA, the fine started at $900, IIRC. I think it has been raised to $1500, in the second year of the Commonwealth Care era. They are also forcing coverage folks may not need or want.
We were forced into a Prescription Drug plan we didn't want, costing us an additional $4000. I would have preferred to put that $4000 into an HSA, it would have covered not only the $1000 we actually spent on meds last year, but would have made it possible to pay against some of the $13K out of pocket costs we had last year.
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