Free Republic

An excellent, straightforward, and easy to understand explanation of what we can expect our lives to be like under the new Health Care Reform plan H.R.3962.

Bureaucrats in Congress can spin all they want about a public option "creating competition" but people who live and work in the real world know they're full of it. Seventy-two percent (72%) of voters nationwide say passage of the proposed health care plan could lead companies to drop private health insurance coverage for their employees. Forty-eight percent (48%) say it's very likely. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 16% say it’s unlikely that employers would seek to save money by shifting their workers to a government health insurance "public" option. But only three percent (3%) say...

Immorality Drives Medical Costs By Roger Fredinburg Watching the “Great Debate” over medical insurance, rising medical costs and ever broadening government control, I am reminded of some interesting facts, the details of which are not evident in the public or political discussion. I thought we ought to at least review them before the “rulers” of “Amerika” completely destroy the republic. Have you asked questions like; What is the cost of substance abuse on the medical system? What are the medical costs of sexual deviance and promiscuity? What’s the price of gluttony? How about laziness, slothfulness, sedentary lifestyles etc. what is...

IOWA CITY — Wendell Potter refers to the health insurance industry as “masters of deceit.” It’s not a slam from an outsider. Potter, 58, of Philadelphia, was once one of them. After a 20-year career in public relations that ended as chief corporate spokesman of CIGNA Corp., one of the nation’s largest health insurers, Potter left last year. “I told them I just didn’t want to do it anymore,” he said in a phone interview with The Gazette. At the time, he didn’t plan on speaking out against the industry where he had honed a successful career. But after seeing...

When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled her 1,990-page health insurance industry reform plan on Thursday, with its public option provisions, it’s a shame the public was banned from the announcement of the public option. Keep out. Keep out. Surely a new day of transparency and bipartisanship was on display at the steps of the Capitol Building. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland) told reporters that the bill was crafted in “the most deliberative, transparent and open process” he had seen in his 29-year career on Capitol Hill. Well, since Hoyer says there is transparency, there must be transparency, right? Since...

SMALL businesses have the highest hopes for health reform, but they'd be big losers under the bills Con gress is debating. For more than 20 years, small-business owners have listed health costs as their No. 1 concern. But leading "reform" bills would make things worse -- ballooning expenses for firms that now offer insurance and slamming companies that can't afford the benefit. The 1,990-page bill the House leadership unveiled Thursday would impose a dizzying barrage of new regulations on employers, and force them to either provide government-specified health insurance or pay a penalty of up to 8 percent of their...

"Let’s Play Monopoly"Jim Longworth October 30th / November 1st, 2009 If you want proof that Congress is collegially corrupted and gratuitously gridlocked, look no further than Sen. Harry Reid’s recent power play in which he used the McCarran-Ferguson Act as his weapon of mass distraction. McCarran-Ferguson (which I will affectionately refer to as “MF”) was passed in 1945, ostensibly to protect the “business of insurance”. In effect, the Act established that Federal anti trust laws would not necessarily apply to companies like our modern day Blue Cross Blue Shield. But MF included a loophole. It also empowered Congress to pass...

The announcement that starting Sunday, San Francisco would no longer impound the cars of drivers who do not have a driver's license - many of whom are undocumented immigrants - set off a roar of outrage in the city and beyond. It's been called a "get out of jail free pass" and "sanctuary on wheels." ... The reality is that undocumented immigrants are in double jeopardy. They are not allowed to get a driver's license - although they could in California until 1994 - but if they are stopped their car is taken away ... because they don't have a...

I recently received an email from my Congressman asking my opinion concerning an issue that has arisen from the debate over ObamaCare. That question was “Should Congress cut Medicare funding by $400 billion to fund the Democrats’ health care bill?” Those are the exact words and check boxes are provided for an answer of yes, no or don’t know. No matter how I answer the question, it can be interpreted that I support one big government program over another. The question begs another question, that being is there a right amount of funding to strip from Medicare and push to...

A) Single-payer Euro-style healthcare system but comes with a Constitutional amendment protecting human life at all stages of fetal development. -or- B) Limitless, widely-available abortion on demand - any stage, any reason. George Tillers as common as gas stations. Getting an abortion is as hassle-free as picking up a gallon of milk. But, the healthcare system remains what we have now and will never change. (We all know the holy grail of liberals is single-payer with government funded abortions - not an option here.)

Healthcare reform will come about in some shape or form at some point in time. After all, we have seen major healthcare reform initiatives since 1920 including Truman’s attempt at universal healthcare in the 1950s. Today’s healthcare reform discussions have two major flaws: 1) The word “money” is not voiced enough, and, 2) The discussion is plagued and derailed by misinformation. The operative word missing from today’s healthcare reform discussion is money. Modifying insurance and reforming our tort system is not enough to solve this quagmire. As with many problems, the key issue is simply money. Who gets what? When...

Young adults are the nation’s largest group of uninsured — there were 13.2 million of them nationally in 2007, or 29%, according to the latest figures from the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit research group in New York. They borrow leftover prescription drugs from friends, attempt to self-diagnose ailments online, stretch their diabetes and asthma medicines for as long as possible and set their own broken bones. When emergencies strike, they rarely can afford the bills that follow.

My inbox just received this from Jonestown Washington: After months of campaigning, cajoling and lying about health care reform, Team Lightbringer is trotting out the big guns: stoners with video editing software. Stephen -- We just finished going through the submissions to OFA's Health Reform Video Challenge, and they're great. There are personal stories that grab your heart, brilliant summaries of what reform would really mean, and plenty of biting satire that calls out the insurance lobbyists. Kind of makes you wistful for the days when all they did was bitch about pharmaceutical companies being the big boogeymen (boogeypersons?) in...

WASHINGTON – House health care legislation expected within days is likely to include a new long-term care insurance program to help seniors and disabled people stay out of nursing homes, senior Democrats say. The voluntary program would begin to close a gap in the social safety net overlooked in the broader health care debate, but it must overcome objections from insurance companies that sell long-term care coverage and from fiscal conservatives.

The Associated Press posted an interesting piece revealing that the health insurance industry is far from the image that Democrats and other leftists want to present. Insurance companies are so often presented as rapacious, fat-cats ripping off all their customers and growing fat on profits. But the AP finds that reality does not quite fit the left-wing image. In fact, the insurance industry makes far less profits than other industries. As the AP notes, the Hershey chocolate company even has a higher profit margin than health insurers. Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6...

Ex-A.I.G. Chief Is Back, Luring Talent From Rescued Firm By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH Maurice R. Greenberg, who built the American International Group into an insurance behemoth with an impenetrable maze of on- and offshore companies, is at it again. Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once employed. Now, Mr. Greenberg may have received some...

If recent reports are accurate, legislation being prepared in the U.S. Senate would cause nearly every healthy American under the age of 65 to become uninsured. Under current proposals, large employers would face a fine of up to $750 per employee if they didn’t offer health insurance. Since that is much less than employers currently spend on employee health insurance premiums, most businesses would choose to pay the fine and drop their group health insurance. Individuals who did not buy health insurance would face an initial fine of between $0 and $100. Since the biggest fine is much lower than...

The public option is back. Its Lazarus act is hailed as a sign of how rosy the health- care debate looks for Democrats. August is but a sepia-tinged memory. Passage of a sweeping bill is now considered a lock by the wisest Beltway pundits. And legislation may even include the most shining prize of all, the public option that liberals -- no matter what the talking points for public consumption -- consider a way station to the Valhalla of a government-controlled system. The flush on ObamaCare's cheeks, though, is not necessarily a sign of health. The return of the public...

While Democrats in Congress have spent months demonizing insurers as greedy villainous monsters, from Barack Obama to Nancy Pelosi to Alan Grayson, the American media stood mute rather than report on the extent of this supposed greed. Why? It’s not as if these companies don’t have annual reports, or that business media haven’t tracked their performance. The publicly-traded companies have their bottom lines exposed for all to see, and yet the media has steadfastly whistled and looked askance rather than inform people about the extent of their demonic, villainous, greedy, filthy lucre. The AP finally got around to it today...

When you get the AP doing fact checking, you have to know something's amiss in Obama fantasyland. In the POTUS's desperate attempt to simplify his demand for remaking America's health care system, he reverts to the proven Alinsky techniques of finding a demon, targeting that demon and isolating it to stir up public discontent. His latest mantras have been focused on portraying those evil health insurers in the same light as Wall Street CEO's. Trouble is, facts get in the way of the rhetoric. Per AP's Calvin Woodward today, health insurers' profits have barely exceeded 2% in the latest annual...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Quick quiz: What do these enterprises have in common? Farm and construction machinery, Tupperware, the railroads, Hershey sweets, Yum food brands and Yahoo? Answer: They're all more profitable than the health insurance industry. In the health care debate, Democrats and their allies have gone after insurance companies as rapacious profiteers making "immoral" and "obscene" returns while "the bodies pile up." Ledgers tell a different reality. Health insurance profit margins typically run about 6 percent, give or take a point or two. That's anemic compared with other forms of insurance and a broad array of industries, even some...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Coastal insurance bills proposed by lawmakers from Mobile and Baldwin counties don't go far enough, according to a grassroots group of local homeowners. "Right now, our legislators are listening to big money, and they need to listen to us," said A.C. Leggett, a member of the Homeowners' Hurricane Insurance Initiative, in an e-mail. "Our legislators want to do a little bit at a time. We cannot afford to do that." Insurers have vigorously, and successfully, opposed some of the same bills that the homeowners group considers too weak.

Many people wish they could look into a crystal ball and see what the future holds. Here, through the wonder of YouTube and British comedy, I present a light-hearted look at the single-payer health care system. Laugh while you can. Hilarious VIDEO on original article.

When Barack Obama promised to deliver "a new kind of politics" to Washington, most folk didn't picture Rahm Emanuel with a baseball bat...What is a little novel is the public and bare-knuckle way in which the Obama team is waging these campaigns...In recent weeks the Windy City gang added a new name to their list of societal offenders: the Chamber of Commerce. For the cheek of disagreeing with Democrats on climate and financial regulation, it was reported the Oval Office will neuter the business lobby. Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett warned CEOs they'd be wise to seek better protection. That was...

Health Reform: House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says it's constitutional to mandate insurance coverage. Congress, he insists, has "broad authority" to make us buy things to provide for the "general welfare." Democrats' Alice In Wonderland interpretation of what they consider to be a "living Constitution," where words mean what they say they mean based on political considerations, gets more bizarre by the minute. (snip) We've been down this road before. In 1994, Hillary Clinton's secretive health care task force was trying to nationalize health care. "A mandate requiring all individuals to purchase health insurance would be an unprecedented form of...

Hoyer's now a confirmed nazi. He has no understanding of what is and isn't constitutional. The General welfare clause is not a hammer he can use to force all americans to buy healthcare. If that were the case the founders would have used this clause to do whatever the hell they wanted to, because you can say ANYTHING you want to do or make others do is for the "general welfare". Friggin little Eichmann. Here's the bill: For the whole series of Zero dollar bills, go here: "Flickr Archive of Zero Bills"

WASHINGTON (AP) - Top Senate Democrats intend to try to strip the health insurance industry of its exemption from federal antitrust laws, according to congressional officials, the latest evidence of a deepening struggle over President Barack Obama's effort to overhaul the health care industry.

I have heard all sorts of stories of insurance companies that won’t pay for necessary treatment. Many of these tales of woe end up with someone who was denied care dying. An alternative tale is someone with insurance having their claim denied because of some obscure “loophole” and going bankrupt. Lots of these tales are told by the Obama administration and the Liberal media (but I repeat myself) in either so-called “news” reports, in editorials or in carefully chosen letters to the editor. Well, I call bullshit on these stories. Why? Because I have some personal experience with these issues....

From Section 6002 on page 1435: INCLUSION OF COST OF EMPLOYER-SPONSORED HEALTH COVERAGE ON W–2The definition of taxable income is revised to include "the aggregate cost of applicable employer-sponsored coverage". . . "The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2009."

VIDEO'S: When he started his first organic food store in Austin, Texas in 1978, Whole Foods Market CEO and co-founder John Mackey had no idea that he would eventually usher in not just a revolution in how we shop but what we buy. If you dig being able to buy dozens of types of once-exotic apples, or cheese, or wine, or soaps, or countless other items, you can thank Mackey in part for helping to create cathedrals of commerce that have vastly enriched our day-to-day lives and vastly expanded our palates.

Well, when you threaten an industry with an additional $13 billion (at least) in taxes per year, implement a new health insurance government run “option” to “compete” that will undercut the price of current premiums, and then tax the living daylights out of many current private plans, what the hell do you expect? Obama’s threats are now completely mainstream and the media – and the people – don’t seem to want to complain. They want single payer, they want all private insurance for health care to be illegal. If you don’t think that’s their end game, you’re blind.

The Senate Finance Committee recently approved Senator Max Baucus's bill to reform the nation’s health-care system. Every Democrat on the Committee voted to approve this big government plan; all but one Republican opposed it. I opposed it because it not only won't reduce health-care costs (which is the number one goal), but, for many Americans, it will actually make things worse. Many Americans, including middle-income families and the chronically ill, will see their insurance premiums go up and their taxes increased. Others, like seniors, will see their health-care choices eliminated. And everybody should be concerned about rationing of health care...

From an e-mail on the inside: AMTrust Financial created a new subsidiary for the purposes of buying us called American Capital Acquisition Corporation (ACAC) Additionally – “Naturally, this announcement also raises questions about personnel and related matters. We are pleased to report that we expect a significant majority of the Personal Lines team to transition to ACAC.” I wonder if GMAC management feared the worst with the healthcare reform bill?

Just an anti-ObamaCare ad during the Red River shootout (OU leading Tex 6-0, BTW).....that means they are going for the kill. An ad during the big college football game of the week is serious stuff, costs a lot, and reaches a lot of people. I don't care for the insurance cos too much, but hell, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and I wish them well in their quest to crush Obama and his asinine socialist health care plan.

If you don’t believe that the Republican party leadership works in concert with the Democrat party leadership to protect the financial interests of unscrupulous big business, as distinguished from honorable businessmen, then you need to brush up on your history starting with the trusts and monopolies of the late 1800’s early 1900’s. If you do this and follow the path forward you will stumble upon the very actions of Congress which have resulted in today’s lack of competition in the purchase of health insurance policies. I will spare you the colorful historical details and hit the highlights for brevity’s sake...

Florida Senator George LeMieux blasted federal officials this week for reneging on a promise to contain premiums for a long-term-care insurance program.

Premiums will rise up to 50 percent for individual policies and 19 percent for small group plans if healthcare reform passes, a new report released by a major health industry trade group claims. Sponsored by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) and conducted by Oliver Wyman Inc., the report faults reform legislation for lacking a strong individual mandate. Requiring healthy Americans to purchase reform would help offset costs for the millions of people with health problems who would purchase insurance policies under the new system, the study finds. "Requiring insurers to guarantee issue coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions —...

Ian Pearl has fought for his life every day of his 37 years. Confined to a wheelchair and hooked to a breathing tube, the muscular dystrophy victim refuses to give up. But his insurance company already has. Legally barred from discriminating against individuals who submit large claims, the New York-based insurer simply canceled lines of coverage altogether in entire states to avoid paying high-cost claims like Mr. Pearl's. In an e-mail, one Guardian Life Insurance Co. executive called high-cost patients such as Mr. Pearl "dogs" that the company could "get rid of." A federal court quickly ruled that the company's...

I know everybody here hates NPR, but I found this episode of "This American Life" focusing on healthcare, more specifically, why people often get too much un-necessary care, to be quite even-handed. What struck me is how the main problem with our system boils down to a problem with human nature, which to me is a very conservative point.

Barack Obama's plans to reform of US health care face a critical congressional vote on Tuesday. But on the eve of the crucial test for the US president's top domestic policy priority, the White House and the health insurance industry descended into open conflict. Mr Obama has promised to reform the US health care system, asserting that all Americans are entitled to insurance coverage, that costs must be cut significantly to reduce soaring federal debt and that private insurers must be prevented from denying coverage or dropping it when a person becomes seriously ill. As the Senate Finance Committee prepares...

The Senate Finance Committee holds its big health-care vote today, but the bigger story is that the health-care industry may finally be coming to its senses. After months of serving as Rose Garden props, insurers, doctors and hospitals are discovering they've been taken for a ride on ObamaCare. Too bad it may be too late to stop the train. The best scales-from-the-eyes moment comes courtesy of America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry lobby. Yesterday AHIP released an important PricewaterhouseCoopers study showing that the Finance bill would on average add some $1,700 a year to the cost of family coverage in...

Nothing brings a smile to an adult's face quicker than the sight of a happy, chubby baby. But the sight of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who measures 25-inches long and weighs 17 pounds, is bringing a frown to the hypothetical face of insurance company Rocky Mountain Health Plans, The Denver Post reported on its Web site Monday.

What if you, and every member of your family, had the chance to save $4,000 each?. Would you be interested? Under the terms of what's being called "the Baucus bill" -- Washington-speak for the bill the Senate Finance Committee will vote on tomorrow -- that is how much you could save by dropping your health insurance. People might have thought that health care reform would lead to an increase in the number of people getting health insurance coverage. Indeed, the Congressional Budget Office claims the Senate Finance Committee's health care bill will reduce the number of uninsured in 2019 by...

America's Health Insurance Plans commissioned a study from PriceWaterhouseCoopers recently on the Baucus health bill and it shows many things that we all expected and feared would happen. The cost of insurance will go waaaaay up....by about 18% on average ON TOP of the expected inflation. Key Findings Health reform could have a significant impact on the cost of private health insurance coverage.There are four provisions included in the Senate Finance Committee proposal that could increase private health insurance premiums above the levels projected under current law: A new tax on high-cost health care plans,Insurance market reforms coupled with a...

Frustrated parents of a big infant who is being denied insurance view the system as "absurd." Alex Lange is a chubby, dimpled, healthy and happy 4-month-old. But in the cold, calculating numbered charts of insurance companies, he is fat. That's why he is being turned down for health insurance. And that's why he is a weighty symbol of a problem in the health care reform debate. Insurance companies can turn down people with pre-existing conditions who aren't covered in a group health care plan. Alex's pre-existing condition — "obesity" — makes him a financial risk. Health insurance reform measures are...

She’s Madge the manicurist for the new millennium. Stephanie Courtney, also known as “Flo,” the perky Progressive Insurance salesgirl with the red lipstick, is the commercial break’s new sweetheart. And in an age when the DVR is said to have killed the television pitchman, Courtney is attaining TV ad icon status.

When President Obama addressed Congress last month he made a promise. "There are also those who claim that our [health care] reform effort will insure illegal immigrants. This, too, is false - the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally." Rep. Joe Wilson, South Carolina Republican, yelled, "You lie," which made that section of the president's speech a part of every newscast. Illegal immigrants technically are not covered in the bill. However, the health care bill that the Senate Finance Committee likely will pass today does not contain any mechanism to keep illegals from receiving...

Another set of gentle reminders to those in both the House and Senate TO READ THE BILLS and THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK! Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Every Congressman should be required to engage brain …before putting mouth into gear. Were it, we might not have heard, “you lie”, or the recent outburst from Rep. Alan Grayson (D. Fl.). But, at least, Rep. Wilson (R. S.C.) was telling the truth. Rep. Grayson was, well, not exactly. If you have been following the remarks of Grayson, you “learned” that 45,000 die each year because they don’t have insurance.

snip... A Genuine Solution The solution to America’s health care problems is not more government intervention. Government violations of individual rights through government interference in the marketplace are the source of the problems. Government meddling in health insurance has all but eliminated choice, competition, and innovation, and has driven up the cost of health insurance. Government interference in medicine has caused incalculable harm to both patients and doctors, and driven up the cost of health care. Government controls have bred more controls, as politicians and bureaucrats have tried to “solve” the problems created by one set of regulations by imposing...

Just about all of us want some kind of health care reform. But different people want different things from that reform. One trouble with crafting legislation that would make some people happy is that it would make other people unhappy. But the proposals put forth so far by Democrats, and supported by President Obama, have the unique gift of satisfying virtually no one. ObamaCare, inasmuch as there is such a thing, is bound to disappoint you, no matter what you'd like to see in health care reform.