*, GOP Quietly Dismantling Employer-Provided Health Insurance System

[G_j]

Bush, GOP Quietly Dismantling Employer-Provided Health Insurance System

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0131-06.htm

Published on Monday, January 31, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times

Healthcare Overhaul Is Quietly Underway

by Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar

WASHINGTON — Emboldened by their success at the polls, the Bush administration and Republican leaders in Congress believe they have a new opportunity to move the nation away from the system of employer-provided health insurance that has covered most working Americans for the last half-century.

In its place, they want to erect a system in which workers — instead of looking to employers for health insurance — would take personal responsibility for protecting themselves and their families: They would buy high-deductible "catastrophic" insurance policies to cover major medical needs, then pay routine costs with money set aside in tax-sheltered health savings accounts.

Elements of that approach have been on the conservative agenda for years, but what has suddenly put it on the fast track is GOP confidence that the political balance of power has changed.

With Democratic strength reduced, President Bush, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Bakersfield) are pushing for action.


..more..

[madrchsod]

1. 401k`s for health insurance

google "medical savings accounts". it`s the wave of the future! sign up now! the stock market needs more money....

[MISSDem]

2. This was started with the prescription drug coverage legislation.

Some tried in vain to warn voters about this, alas, to no avail.

[bleedingheart]

3. our company is trying to push us into this system...it sucks!!

[m_welby]

4. It is absolutely on tha agenda.

I work at a healthcare corporation and they just dumped one of these healthcare account type plans on us. It's the wave of the futuree - no healthcare at all.

Oh, and don't think you or I will get all that money the company saves on not paying for healthcare. we'll still make the same crappy wage AND have to pay for our own healthcare.

[gnofg]

5. i do this

I own my own company(1 person company). It is very expensive. I've been doing it for 3 years. I write of my health insurance against my company and the do a MSA. They want to eliminate the health deduction for companies. If that happens your health insurance is gone. People are in for a rude awakening(Repubs). Us democrats know what a pile of shit* is.

[nonews]

7. GM spent $740 million...

in 2003 for health insurance for its employees and retirees. The long term goal here for the gov to take over all of these expenses and big coporations get the savings.

[LiberallyInclined]

14. I don't think that's THEIR long-term goal...

"...The long term goal here for the gov to take over all of these expenses and big coporations get the savings."

not from their perspective- they're for an "ownership" society where everyone pays their own way- they intend for the individual to take over "all of these expenses", NOT the government.

HOWEVER-

I think that it should be OUR long-term goal for the government to take over the expenses- as in universal health coverage for all.

[leftchick]

6. see what happens when repukes control everything?

back to the Gilded Age!!!

[gnofg]

9. deep down

they love child labor. it's cheap. Do you ever hear them complain about wages in developing countries.

[leftchick]

10. slave labor...

and it won't be just children either. Repukes hate everyone except rich repukes.

[G_j]

21. silly thing

they forgot that slaves don't work as well when they are sick.
:shrug:

[Bouncy Ball]

8. Please say this is not true.

Please.

What a catastrophe that would be. It's bad enough as things are.

Then again, this could be the thing that finally seals the fate of the republican party. Even the most hardcore repukes I know would be horrified at the idea of losing even their employer-provided health coverage.

It's not just Democrats who get sick. Or injured. Or have chronic health problems. PLENTY of republicans do.

I'll be watching this carefully.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

11. It's not only true, BB, it's already in place in a few places

My work offers health insurance at the same price as last year, but instead of a co-pay, we now have a deductible over $1,200, and have the option to put money into a "health savings account".
While you supposedly can take the money with you (it's like a very low interest savings account) you have to put your own money into it. On top of the premium you're already paying.
The insurance companies are thinking about the profits here and now. When peopel have co-payments or lower deductibles, they will get medial treatment more often, and thus increase their chances of catching some potential life-threatening contition in an early, treatable stage. Raise the premiums and more people will put off those visits until they absolutely have to go. At that point, it might be too late.

This is the first glimmers of Bush's "ownership society", and I think there will be rioting in the streets before it's over. This gilded age won't last forever.

[Melynn]

19. A real dilemma

If the Republicans get their insane health coverage passed in to law, it very would spell the end of the Republican party and conservatives.

On the other hand, how many people are going to suffer and die under "Bush care".

I root for the Repubs NOT passing "Bush care" in to law and beating the Repubs on other issues.

[Chef]

12. No Health Ins.

I know this sounds bad and is bad and, it will fail. But, in failure, there is an opportunity. When it fails, it will be time to go to a single payer system. In the meantime, things won't be smooth.

[MadHound]

13. Sad to say friend, but in the meantime people will die

But perhaps you're correct, I hope so. If this madness goes through, and then runs it's course, perhaps the body count will become so high that it will force UHC. Then again, perhaps not, and death due to lack of healthcare will become, like death due to lack of welfare is becoming routine.

This is absolute madness, another blow at the poor and middle class. I hope those in power when the middle class joins hands with the poor. Revolution results, bloody handed revolution. In this day and age, such a phenomenon would make the French Revolution look like the Teddy Bear Picnic.

[LiberallyInclined]

16. consider them martyrs-

in the social revolution that WILL lead to univeral healthcare and better conditions for all.

like the pukes are fond of saying- freedom isn't free.

and in a revolution- people die.

[ChickMagic]

15. Have they no decency whatsoever?

These workers are people. A good friend of mine developed breast cancer. Her insurance stuck her in a pretty nasty hospital. She worked for EDS and when Ross Perot heard about it, he rushed her to the best treatment center in town. He also god the head of the breast center as her doctor. He even paid for everything.


It used to be that way a long tme ago. what has happened?

[BuelahWitch]

17. So if there's no more medical ins for middle class and

working poor people, who gets to see the doctor, go to the hospital, etc.? THE RICH IN THIS COUNTRY CANNOT SUSTAIN THE ECONOMY! Whether it's goods, medicine, services, what have you, there aren't enough of them! Even your average Joe who has a house and an SUV and thinks he's upper middle class because of it can break under the strain of having to pay for healthcare for himself and his family. WHY DON'T THE FUCKING REPUBLICANS EVER LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE????

[G_j]

18. Medical Problems Cause Half Of All Bankruptcies

http://www.healthtalk.ca/bankruptcy_medical_020105_37829.php

Medical Problems Cause Half Of All Bankruptcies

February 02, 2005

Close to half of all US personal bankruptcies are caused by skyrocketing medical bills and health insurance offers no protection, according to a study published in the journal Health Affairs.

The Harvard University study estimated medical bankruptcies affect about 2 million Americans every year, counting debtors and their dependents, including 700,000 children.

For their findings, the Harvard team conducted indepth interviews with 931 people who filed for bankruptcy in 2001. In that year, 1.458 million American families filed for bankruptcy.

..more..

[Nikia]

20. They have completely lost touch with the average American

I think it is very hypocritical to have people who have their health care paid for by their employer the U.S. government make decisions like this for the rest of us.

[G_j]

22. before this hits the archives..kick