Underside of hillary's 'healthcare'

[undergroundpanther]

Unmentioned is anything resembling “government-run health care,” the bogeyman Republicans believe still scares many Americans more than the genuine threat they’ll be bankrupted by illness.

Clinton instead proposes that all Americans be required to purchase a policy, with subsidies provided to those who can’t afford one. She reiterated her plan to crack down on some of the insurance industry’s most odious practices such as denying coverage to those with existing illnesses or even the expectation—based on some past test—that a person might one day develop a disease. Her approach is similar to that of Democratic rival John Edwards but less cumbersome in its specifics. It is more expansive than the health-insurance initiative offered by Barack Obama, who would not mandate universal coverage.
The details, though, are less relevant than the politics: Clinton is sure to anger liberals and positively infuriate Republicans—making her look like the responsible centrist in the fight.

Those, like me, who believe we should do away with the health insurance industry and break our increasingly unworkable reliance on employers as the linchpin of the system, have no candidate—other than the endearing but unelectable Dennis Kucinich—offering a simple, efficient, plan such as Medicare for everyone. Those who want to depict Clinton as an extremist may be even more disappointed. The idea of an individual mandate to buy insurance is—gasp—Republican!
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070918_if_its_broke_fix_it/



Clinton unveiled her health care plan Monday in Iowa, promising to bring coverage to every American by building on the current employer-based system and using tax credits to make insurance more affordable.

Senator Clinton's thinking insults our intelligence and is almost delusional. Tax credits? To poor people? Requiring someone who is broke and out of work to prove that he has health insurance in order to get a job? How many people in the inner cities are going to be able to afford to front the insurance premiums and then wait 12 months to get their tax credits?

http://www.unknownnews.org/070920-fd-20-MarinadiPisa.html

Rethugss like Hillary for a reason..she's like them.

At some point, politically sophisticated conservatives will have to recognize that no Republican can win in 2008 and that their only choice is to support the most conservative Democrat for the nomination. Call me crazy, but I think that person is Hillary Clinton.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NzgxMjNlMWMzNzQ1NjlhMWI5YzNiYTM5YzdmZDdiNTQ=
http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=173&a=2947
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/c71fd600-2efe-11dc-b9b7-0000779fd2ac,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2Fc71fd600-2efe-11dc-b9b7-0000779fd2ac.html&_i_referer=

[Yael]

1. The only difference between her plan and Romney's plan

oh wait -- there isn't a difference...

[Faryn Balyncd]

12. Hillary's (& Romney's) mandatory insurance from predatory corporations is FASCIST healthcare........

Both fit the definition of what Mussolini termed "CORPORATISM".

Although inn some respects, the practices of 21st century insurance companies are more openly predatory than much of the corporate behavior of corporations in the 1930's.

[bonito]

2. Ding! n/t

[fenriswolf]

3. message

[HughMoran]

4. I'm so glad we're finally going to do something about the current system

It SUCKS!! It's a joyful game to find new and exciting reasons to bash Hillary, but Mass is doing this on a smaller scale and Dems and Republicans alike are hoping that it works. I'm sure the people bashing Hillary are hoping the new system in Mass doesn't work. That's rather small thinking IMHO.

[Missy Vixen]

6. You know what?

>It's a joyful game to find new and exciting reasons to bash Hillary<

What's the unemployment rate in Massachusetts?
What's the median income in Massachusetts?
How will the poor benefit from "tax credits" when, as undergroundpanther has already said, they can't afford to front 12 months of health insurance premiums?
What does the average person do when their health insurance premiums jump by 24% in a calendar year, just like the premiums at my husband's employer's did last month?

Frankly, Mrs. Clinton lost all credibility with me when I discovered the amount she's been subsidized by the health insurance and pharm industries. She has to know the suffering 44 million uninsured and the untold numbers of the insured deal with on a daily basis at the hands of health insurance companies, and she took those contributions anyway, didn't she?

By the way, how much did the Clinton family pay for President Clinton's heart surgery and aftercare? Are you aware that Congressional health insurance has no copays and is covered at 100%? How much would the average family be billed for the same procedure and hospital stay?

Julie

[HughMoran]

8. I think it's a good start - the voucher part can be easily fixed in Congress

At least she's using her head and getting on an issue that effects me every single day.

Burrowing into the details of her proposal is somewhat premature IMHO. I've can't say I remember a proposal from a Presidential candidate that made it into law exactly as proposed during the primary. I'm glad she's addressing it and I am going to keep an open mind.

[Missy Vixen]

13. You're kidding me, right?

>Burrowing into the details of her proposal is somewhat premature IMHO.<

Oh, yeah. Let's just allow her to ram through an unsuitable proposal that will end up hurting many more people than it actually helps. If it's "premature", why was she on five different shows last Sunday morning to discuss it? Furthermore, the only people this is actually going to assist in any way, shape or form is health insurance companies. The average person will be paying out for another expense they can't afford.

Julie

[HughMoran]

15. She's not even president yet

if she can get the uninsured covered and eventually help to shift the balance of power away from the corporate skum-bags, then I'm all for it. I really like her incremental approach - she and I know it's the only way it's gonna get done. Keep screaming - we pragmatic and patient people will actually get something done while the negative people are wagging their fingers at how you can't have ANY involvement from the insurance companies from jump-street. Good luck with that proposal!

[eridani]

9. MA is an unrelieved disaster for lower income people

It isn't working at all, except as a bad example.

[HughMoran]

16. I'm in the state right now

that is a red-herring as it is not that black-and-white as you may want to paint it and it is WAY to early to even pass jusgement, so you are being unreasonable.

[eridani]

18. No it isn't too early. Doctors in public health positions are now bearing the brunt of the disaster

Don't tell me; let me guess. You've never been seriously sick, and you get insurance at work. Here's a clue for you--not everybody is that lucky.

http://www.pnhp.org/news/2007/september/health_reform_failur.php

Why has progress been so meager? Because most of the promised new coverage is of the “buy it yourself” variety, with scant help offered to the struggling middle class. According to the Census Bureau, only 28 percent of Massachusetts uninsured have incomes low enough to qualify for free coverage. Thirty-four percent more can get partial subsidies - but the premiums and co-payments remain a barrier for many in this near-poor group.

And 244,000 of Massachusetts uninsured get zero assistance –just a stiff fine if they don’t buy coverage. A couple in their late 50s faces a minimum premium of $8,638 annually, for a policy with no drug coverage at all and a $2,000 deductible per person before insurance even kicks in. Such skimpy yet costly coverage is, in many cases, worse than no coverage at all. Illness will still bring crippling medical bills—but the $8,638 annual premium will empty their bank accounts even before the bills start arriving. Little wonder that barely 2 percent of those required to buy such coverage have thus far signed up.

While the middle class sinks, the health reform law has buoyed our state’s wealthiest health institutions. Hospitals like Massachusetts General are reporting record profits and enjoying rate increases tucked into the reform package. Blue Cross and other insurers that lobbied hard for the law stand to gain billions from the reform, which shrinks their contribution to the state’s free care pool and will force hundreds of thousands to purchase their defective products. Meanwhile, new rules for the free care pool will drastically cut funding for the hundreds of thousands who remain uninsured, and for the safety-net hospitals and clinics that care for them. (Disclosure --we’ve practiced for the past 25 years at a public hospital that is currently undergoing massive budget cuts.)

Health reform built on private insurance isn’t working and can’t work; it costs too much and delivers too little. At present, bureaucracy consumes 31 percent of each healthcare dollar. The Connector—the new state agency created to broker coverage under the reform law—is adding another 4.5 percent to the already sky-high overhead charged by private insurers. Administrative costs at Blue Cross are nearly five times higher than Medicare’s and 11 times those in Canada’s single payer system. Single payer reform could save $7.7 billion annually on paperwork and insurance profits in Massachusetts, enough to cover all of the uninsured and to upgrade coverage for the rest of us.

[IronLionZion]

17. The most radical left-wing state in the country is trying it

and that makes it very interesting. If nothing else, it will help unclog emergency rooms and get us moving in the right direction.

IMHO, I would like issues like this to be very decentralized. ie blue states can opt to have the universal mandate plan or single-payer or whatever they want while red state voters can bankrupt themselves with corporate insurance if they want to.

I feel the same way about gun legislation, civil unions, and many more issues, maybe even social security. methinks a lot of right wing lunatics will learn the hard way that they should be careful what they wish for. Senior citizens in Texas and Florida will feel the burn when they privatize social security...but that's what they want.

[Missy Vixen]

5. Thank you for calling this exactly what it is

I'd also like to advance the idea that there will probably be criminal or civil penalties for visiting an emergency room with no insurance if this asinine and ill-conceived plan is ratified. It's the next logical step to forcing citizens to self-insure. (If you get in a wreck in your uninsured car, what happens, for instance?)

Hillary Clinton is richly rewarding her contributors in the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, and anyone who thinks differently has lost his or her mind.

Julie

[Gloria]

7. According to a piece at the Washington Note.....Clinton's plan is derived from

one proposed by the late Sen. John Chafee (R-RI)...it is a Republican plan at its core.

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002359.php

[JTFrog]

10. Her health plan isn't the only thing

that is republican at its core. And as my signature line says:

[JTFrog]

11. Profit trumps healthcare.

Profit trumps domestic jobs. Power trumps peace.

When did these become democratic values?

[Faryn Balyncd]

14. A mandatory insurance plan will make the eventual attainmenment of single payer much MORE DIFFICULT.

A mandatory insurance plan is NOT a step toward the incremental attainment of a single payer plan.

To the contrary, is solidifies the strangle hold that the insurance companies have on the healthcare system, and further enriches the coffers that feed their lobbyists.

Many, if not most, promises of savings through efficiencies prove, over time, to be illusive. The one potential source of huge savings, that is real and attainable, is the elimination of the present predatory insurance industry. If universal healthcare is to be achieved in a manner that is affordable, we must insist on eliminating the huge amount of resources that now go, not to healthcare, but to the expenses and profits of the insurance industry.

Only a Single Payer Plan can do this.

And present proposals for attaining "universal coverage" by mandating insurance purchase is NOT a step in that direction.

To the contrary, it would be a giant step toward making an eventual Single Payer Plan, such as Medicare-for-all, nearly IMPOSSIBLE.

As such, mandatory insurance would be WORSE than doing nothing at all.

It is exactly what the forces of darkness - - - insurance companies, the lobbyists, the GOP, the Bush administration, and the RNC - - - want.