648 Billion Dollar Reserve Fund for Health Care, to be Included in Obama's Budget

[MadBadger]

Just Breaking on CNN. To be spent over the next ten years

From the WaPo...they say 634, CNN says 648

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.

By first identifying a large pot of money to underwrite health care reform -- before laying out a proposal on who would be covered or how -- Obama hopes to signal his willingness to negotiate with Congress over the details of an eventual plan.

"We wanted to get this process going by putting some serious resources on the table," said the official, who was not permitted to speak on the record until formal release of the budget blueprint. "This is a reserve fund, instead of a 700-page plan. We learned the lessons of the past and want to work interactively with Congress. This is a first step."

Under the Obama budget blueprint, about half of the new "health care reserve fund" would come by limiting the tax break on itemized deductions for families with incomes above $250,000. The proposal would reduce the value of tax deductions by about 20 percent, a change which would generate about $318 billion over the next 10 years, according to administration documents provided to The Washington Post.
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Throughout the campaign, Obama promised to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, improve the quality of care in the country and save the typical American family $2,500 a year in medical costs. Despite an ever-weakening economy and skyrocketing federal deficit, he has remained firm to his pledge to press ahead this year. The budget "includes a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform -- a downpayment on the principle that we must have quality, affordable health care for every American," the President said in his address to Congress Tuesday night. "It's a step we must take if we hope to bring down our deficit in years to come."

MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022502587.html

[MadBadger]

1. Kick for the update with information

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Start by listening to regular physicians

the ones who aren't in the biz for a buck but who truly and sincerely want to help people.
Then take insurance companies out of the loop, or strongly curtail them. I'm sick and tired of insurance companies practicing medicine without a license. They do this by withholding coverage for certain medications and withholding coverage for certain treatments, or even certain doctors.