rushmc 23 #1 November 24, 2009 IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with it All about ratings"America will never be destroyed from the outside, if we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #2 November 24, 2009 Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings In the months of debate over health care I've yet to read anything personally relevant from diverse media sources (New York Times, CNN, AP wire, the AARP news letter, The Economist, Libertarian Enterprise) and on-line forums. I doubt that's going to change. Interesting questions would be 1. What coverage is required? Coming up with even a few thousand dollars in co-payments or deductibles isn't going to bankrupt most financially responsible people who aren't among the 80M already covered by government insurance and doing so once a decade is a lot cheaper than paying for even a year of insurance with no co-insurance requirements especially when the out-of-pocket expenses can be paid with pre-tax dollars. OTOH selling super-premium packages to more of the American public would be great for the insurance company's bottom line. 2. What will the tax treatment be? In high tax states you can achieve marginal tax rates which would make individual insurance purchased with post tax money cost 100% more than employer provided (example: 28% federal, 9.3% CA state, 6.2% FICA, 6.2% employer's share of FICA, 1.45% medicare, 1.45% employer's share, 1.1% CA state disability, for a 53.6% total). Under current law only self-employed people with net profit and those who've spent 7.5% of their AGI on medical care can deduct insurance from their taxable income. Bringing insurance premium tax treatment in line with that provided to employer purchased plans or making those taxable would have a huge impact on affordability. 3. How much more will insurance companies covering pre-existing conditions be allowed to charge people with those conditions? While HIPAA requires group plans to cover hazardous recreational activities, the insurance companies got the law written to allow "source of injury" exclusions so although they need to cover employees who ride motorcycles they can exclude the most likely expensive injuries. A plan written for the insurance companies could require pre-existing condition coverage that's not affordable. 4. How will the government be allowed to negotiate? I've paid $12 for blood tests with a sticker price of $300 and my insurance company usually has a negotiated rate 1/3 to 1/2 the providers' list prices. A public option that's not allowed to negotiate in the same way as private plans is not going to be a competitive alternative which keeps prices down. 5. What are the likely effects on pricing? A lot of un-insured Americans are young people at the start of their careers for whom insurance is affordable (under $100 for a month even if you're female). Changes in the demographics from which premium prices are derived could make affordability a lot worse. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChangoLanzao 0 #3 November 24, 2009 Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings My advice would be to just watch it all on CSPAN to the extent possible. Listen to the source directly when possible. In any case, it's going to be good. Edit: Oops! ... never mind CSPAN is the State run media and cannot be trusted! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rushmc 23 #4 November 24, 2009 Quote Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings My advice would be to just watch it all on CSPAN to the extent possible. Listen to the source directly when possible. In any case, it's going to be good. Edit: Oops! ... never mind CSPAN is the State run media and cannot be trusted! CSPAN is good. Just work to understand who are the liar and deceivers. The truth is everything. Agree?"America will never be destroyed from the outside, if we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Abraham Lincoln Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DrewEckhardt 0 #5 November 24, 2009 Quote Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings My advice would be to just watch it all on CSPAN to the extent possible. Listen to the source directly when possible. In any case, it's going to be good. Edit: Oops! ... never mind CSPAN is the State run media and cannot be trusted! Like many Americans I work 10-12 hours a day and commute up to 2. Watching CSPAN wouldn't be that practical. Reading a two to ten page summary on the most relevant pieces would be easy. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChangoLanzao 0 #6 November 24, 2009 Quote Quote Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings My advice would be to just watch it all on CSPAN to the extent possible. Listen to the source directly when possible. In any case, it's going to be good. Edit: Oops! ... never mind CSPAN is the State run media and cannot be trusted! CSPAN is good. Just work to understand who are the liar and deceivers. The truth is everything. Agree? Sorry, but even on such a simple point I'm having a hard time agreeing with you As I see it, the big problem isn't that people don't see the truth, but that we seem to have orthogonal interpretations of it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ChangoLanzao 0 #7 November 24, 2009 Quote Quote Quote IMO what we are about to see in the Senate is going to be an epic battle. Follow you news sites and look for others. Cause the spin and debate is going to be precedent setting. And the state run media will have a hay day with itAll about ratings My advice would be to just watch it all on CSPAN to the extent possible. Listen to the source directly when possible. In any case, it's going to be good. Edit: Oops! ... never mind CSPAN is the State run media and cannot be trusted! Like many Americans I work 10-12 hours a day and commute up to 2. Watching CSPAN wouldn't be that practical. Reading a two to ten page summary on the most relevant pieces would be easy. Hopefully it will be on live radio ... and, of course there will be transcripts. You might be able to listen to four hours worth each day while you commute, maybe not. Be carefull who's summary you're reading; it's too easy these days to spin the context. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
