Obama Budget Would Create $634 Billion Health-Care Fund

[TheCoxwain]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama intends to release a budget tomorrow that creates a 10-year, $634 billion "reserve fund" to partially pay for a vast expansion of the U.S. health care system, an overhaul that many experts project will cost as much as $1 trillion over the next decade.

Obama would pay for the expansion by trimming tax breaks for the wealthy and tightening payments to insurers, hospitals and physicians, according to a senior administration official.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022502587.html?hpid=topnews

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This is Serious Firepower .. Obama is not thinking in terms of small incremental changes..

Republicans are going to forget to breathe when they see this ...


WAY TO Go Obama !!!

[T Wolf]

1. Until the insurance leeches are removed from the equation - not much will really change.

take their profit and profit-driven decisions out of health care and we could have a great system.

Until then - it's just window-dressing to make a slum building look a little better to the suckers who have to live there.

[TheCoxwain]

4. This plan will slowly but surely marginalize them ....elbow them out of the equation

But buckle up .. this is going to be one hell of a ride

[Juche]

6. I hope so

My impression is the plan, if/when it gets passed will let people pick from a variety of public and private health plans. Since public plans tend to have lower overhead (medicare about 3% vs 20% for private insurance) they will outcompete the private plans which will either become marginalized or have to lower overhead and profit and/or start treating their patients with a modicum of respect.

[nodehopper]

24. that was Edwards' plan--I haven't seen that model in Obama's plan

do you have a link? I'd like to read more about that.

[Juche]

26. Here is Obama's plan

The concept seems similar to Edward's idea of having private & public plans compete and allowing more mobility between plans.

http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf

(3) LOWER COSTS BY TAKING ON ANTICOMPETITIVE ACTIONS IN THE DRUG AND INSURANCE COMPANIES. It
is not right that Americans families are paying skyrocketing premiums while drug and insurance industries are
enjoying record profits. These companies benefit most from the status quo and in many cases are the greatest
obstacles to reform. The Obama-Biden plan will tackle needless waste and spiraling costs by increasing
competition in the insurance and drug markets.

? Increasing competition in the insurance industry. The insurance business today is dominated by a
small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. In recent years, for-profit
companies have bought up not-for-profit insurers around the country. There have been over 400 health
care mergers in the last 10 years and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market.24
These changes were supposed to make the industry more efficient, but instead premiums have
skyrocketed, increasing over 87 percent over the past six years.25 Over the same time period, insurance
administrative overhead has been the fastest-growing component of health spending. The 2007
Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System reported that between 2000
and 2005, administrative overhead – including both administrative expenses and insurance industry
profits – increased 12.0 percent per year, 3.4 percentage points faster than the average health
expenditure growth of 8.6 percent.26

And while health care costs continue to rise for families, CEOs of these insurance companies have
received multi-million dollar bonuses.27 Barack Obama and Joe Biden will prevent companies from
abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. In markets where the insurance
business is not competitive, their plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums
for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. Barack Obama and
Joe Biden’s new National Health Insurance Exchange will also help increase competition by insurers.

[nodehopper]

27. cool, thanks!

[Oregone]

7. Thats quite hopeful...

Many have been hoping since Truman (when other nations started UHC) that such a brilliant plan would be contrived. Is it merely a coincidence that it happens now? Isn't your perspective a bit shortsighted to be so hopeful? Do you think these private companies won't worm around and figure out how to not only survive, but thrive in the new conditions? Do you think you can just play nice and marginalize such a powerful lobby? I don't know. I don't buy it.

[TheCoxwain]

8. They will fight with all they have .. but once the law is set and the ball starts rolling..

there is precious little that they can do but slide slowly towards oblivion ..

All hell will break loose between now and then .. we have seen these wars before ..and have seen the better side lose ..


But have hope buddy - This time it is different .. People are less gullible and will back universal health care especially when they are unsure about holding on to jobs ... I just have a good feeling about this.

[cyclezealot]

11. Initially...Sounds incremential . .. Plus 1.

Not a solution.. As long as the insurance leeches are in charge there will be no cost savings.

[MineralMan]

2. Heads will explode, no doubt.

I can hardly wait to see the fireworks.

[babylonsister]

3. Yikes! Forget to breathe is right. Now I know why he

said it's not going to be easy getting this passed.

Yes, we can, we have to!

[RandySF]

5. Guys, I think we have a progressive in the White House.

:)

[avaistheone1]

12. The progressive solution is single payer universal coverage -

Not handing out $634 billion dollars of our tax dollars to the health care insurance industry.

:banghead:

[dana_b]

21. that is my worst fear

this, if it goes through, will have to be so highly regulated by non-insurance company people that the costs of just enacting it could be much more. I do not trust insurance companies at all! They have screwed with just about everyone I know.

[Mojorabbit]

9. I hope they do not lower

medicare reimbursement for family practice.

[BlueIdaho]

10. The health care system can't be fixed by evolution

It requires revolutionary change. What the republicans still don't understand is America has ALREADY made the shift from a center right to a center left nation - and its about damn time!

[harun]

25. It is too easy for them to harpoon a slow migration, agree.

[avaistheone1]

13. It's insane to hand over $635 billion taxpayer dollars to health insurance companies

especially when we could provide single-payer universal coverage for the same price or likely for even much less.

Once again we are handing over our dollars and the controls to corporations who have already proven they will not manage it well. To hell we that!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We need single-payer universal coverage now.

[and-justice-for-all]

14. OUT STANDING!!! But I prefer Single-payer......

I hope to see NHS before Obama leaves office in 2016.

[lovuian]

15. with millions without jobs and insurance

I think single payer is the only way

[avaistheone1]

16. I agree the California nurses association say well over 2 million new jobs will

be created with a single-payer universal health care program.

This would be an ongoing self-sustaining stimulus, versus a stimulus which just lasts a couple of years to build a road, or a bridge.

Single-payer universal health coverage is good for us and good for the economy. :fistbump:

[JayMusgrove]

17. I would love it if some Republicans forget to breathe.

The less of them living and breathing , the better. IMO

I don't want them to be killed, but they are killing us with current health insurance costs.

[groundloop]

18. Agreed, however....

Will still need 1 or 2 republicans to go along with this plan just enough to allow it to be voted on.

[quaker bill]

19. You may prefer single payer

But here is how it will happen:

People will be given the option of buying into a Federal system. It will, by partial marginalization of the insurance profiteers, be less expensive and more effective. They will stick with it and more will come, and they will stick with it. At some point the insurance companies will serve the only wealthy few and the remaining "free market" ideologs who care to spend more money to get less care on some twisted "principle". More power to them.

Sooner or later, the voting block for single payer will have grown sufficiently in size and comfort with the system, that failure to support it will become politically untenable. At this point it will become "universal". Note that there will always be an option for the rich to pay more and get private care if they have the bucks and want to spend them that way.

[ConcernedCanuk]

20. President Obama would be wise to investigate our Canadian Health Care system

.
.
.

I believe, per capita our system costs less than HALF what the US system is costing it's citizens

and ours covers EVERYBODY - from welfare recipients to millionaires

If I need a heart transplant, kneecaps, hernias repaired - limbs removed/replaced

I show them my card -go in - get the job done

and I don't owe a dime

I read how many US citizens LOSE THEIR LIFE SAVINGS just for one illness or operation

don't happen here . .

President Obama - take a look North

[TheCoxwain]

22. I guess Canada dosent have too many bloodsucking greedy rich people who

will let their mothers die if it earns them another dime.

[area51]

23. YES.

I'd like to see the Canadian healthcare system used as a model for this country.