Dear Mr. President......One Simple Question and I will Shut Up

[Thickasabrick]

I understand there is some controversy surrounding whether you supported, campaigned or pushed for the public option. Whatever, at the end of the day we will not have a public option, or a medicare buy in. When you did talk about a public option you cited the very important reason for one which would provide competition and keep the insurance industry "honest" which would keep premiums affordable for everyone - especially since everyone would have to buy the product.

My question is this - what is the alternative? What mechanism will there be to provide competition and affordability? You said you got 95% of everything you wanted in the bill and skyrocketing premium costs must have made up at least 20% of what you wanted.

Please just help me understand this and I will shut up.

[fascisthunter]

1. .

:popcorn:

[bluethruandthru]

2. I think you're just supposed to shut up.

You're not supposed to question your leader.

[sam sarrha]

3. lead us or get the hell out of our way..

[peacetalksforall]

4. It's an honest question and constructed with numbers that would allow a focused answer.

[ZombieHorde]

5. Good question. nt

[Egnever]

6. Well I don't expect to answer you personally so I'll try for him

for price controls in the senate version there are exchanges that anyone will be able to buy into that encourage competition between providers. There are also provisions to set up non profit alternatives inside those exchanges which should also help to keep premiums down. On top of that there are mandates on the minimum of each health care dollar that must be spent 85% for large group insurers and 80% for small group insurers. It will no longer be possible to be charges more based on anything other than age and even then the max spread allowed is 1-3 where it is currently 1-4 or better.

There is training for doctors and nurses funds for local clinics and other measures in there as well to help try to bring down the end costs which with any luck will also help to bring down the costs of the premiums.


Also there are subsidies for people buying insurance depending on income that will help make health care affordable or more affordable for millions.


Lots of good stuff in there to try and control costs and the CBO has estimated that it will bring down the costs for most people as opposed to doing nothing.

It could be stronger to be sure but things always can.

Hopefully that helps you to understand. The bill is fairly easy to understand and posted online so you can read it yourself.

I encourage you to stop letting others tell you what to think about it and educate yourself.

[eridani]

7. The CBO doesnt' give a flying fuck about costs for PEOPLE

It is mandated to analyze costs to GOVERNMENT only. And FUCK age rating. Anyone who advocates it is a straight out sociopath.

[Egnever]

10. Rage on my uninformed friend

[eridani]

22. The CBO is about costs to government, period. n/t

[Thickasabrick]

9. I really think I have read everything out there as well as listened to

others opinions and their interpretations of the two bills (although it looks like the senate one will be what we are left with). So as to educating myself on this, I think I have.

I think the profit margin is misleading some people because the insurance companies could opt to approve expensive treatments versus inexpensive therefore, their profit (not margin) would increase. I have yet to see anything out there or in the bill that takes those types of decisions away from the insurance companies as opposed to leaving it with the physicians/patients...which is how it works now. The insurance companies will also be free to raise premiums based on expenses - which they help to drive up.

I plan on sending this everyday until I hear something or just give up or some reporter finally asks this question.

[Egnever]

11. Yes if you buy into silly conspiracy talk then this bill is the devil

All of a sudden insurers are going to demand pricier treatments :eyes:

There are mandated coverage levels that are the same as what congress has now. If your doctors order anything withing those coverage parameters your insurance company is forced to cover it.

I don't think you really want to educate yourself on it i think you are looking for reasons to be pissed off. The bill is out there for all to read go read it yourself and stop letting lunatic fringe conspiracy theorists tell you how to think.


You may have read a lot of bloviators opinions on it but you clearly haven't taken the time to read it yourself yet. Do that and stop letting others tell you what to think.

[Thickasabrick]

13. Good Lord have you been drinking the Kool-Aid. Insurers will do

anything and everything to jack their profits. They do not care about anything else. Since they can't dump people they will have to find more deviant and immoral ways to get around the laws to make more money.

Take off the blinders!!!

[Egnever]

17. LOL OK

:silly:

[Shagbark Hickory]

18. RE: the 85% thing.... they currently spend 75-80% on avg. An extra 5% is meaningless. nt

[rollingrock]

8. It was one of the biggest reasons people voted for him

he campaigned specifically for a strong public option and NO mandates. but when in office, he does the exact opposite: NO public option but a strong MANDATE to buy private insurance.

To add insult to injury ...Obama is now saying that he never campaigned on a public option. wtf??

[Laelth]

12. Excellent question. Of course, there is no adequate answer. n/t

Kill the bill.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failed health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth

[Maraya1969]

14. 80% of all the premiums taken in must be spent on medical care. I don't

see 70 million dollar salaries coming out of 20% of premiums

[rollingrock]

15. That's about what it is now

health insurance companies currently use up about 20% for overhead and profit, while Medicare only uses 3%. it won't make any difference. if anything, the insurance companies will simply jack up their rates to make up for any potential losses to their profits.

[Maraya1969]

23. Now they are allowed to pick and chose their premium holders. After they are going

to have to take in people with a lot of medical costs. They are going to pay a lot more. I don't know why they would have these stipulations if they would be making tons of money off of their 20%. Maybe they are going to end up paying a lot more than 20%. I just heard that figure on TV, it may be wrong.

[rollingrock]

24. As Howard Dean pointed out

this bill will allow the insurance companies to charge elderly customers (and others with more health problems) up to THREE times more than they charge younger customers. this bill has absolutely NO cost controls for the consumer. I would be impressed if the cap was more like 5% because a 20% cap is a joke, especially when there are no cost controls on PREMIUMS and DEDUCTIBLES which the consumer will be paying through their nose, and Medicare's overhead is only 3%. this bill is the insurance industry's wet dream.

[Thickasabrick]

16. Aetna's third quarter net income was 18%. For most companies

that's a pretty nice income. They are going to cut about 625 employees and slash policyholders (probably the old ones). Their CEO in 2008 made $24 million and their profit for 2008 was 1.38 billion after taxes.

When you are talking about that much money - 20% is a huge margin.

[Barack_America]

19. Isn't Medicare's administrative overhead something like 2-3%?

Why should taxpayers be throwing away 18% of their healthcare dollars into overinflated, CEO-salary-driven corporate insurance overhead?

[WT Fuheck]

20. understanding is overrated. Just shut up.

Love,
Barack

[Thickasabrick]

25. Is that you Mr. President? Just in case - I just sent it again to the

White House because you haven't left for Hawaii yet.

[jmc]

21. The real sign of a good compromise...

Both sides are pissed. We got a health care bill. I am not entirely happy with it, but the mandatory insurance is why I backed Hillary initially. In politics (and most dealings for that matter), the sign of a good compromise is that both parties are pissed. I hold hope that this is a stepping stone for a path to a solid bill that will eventually lead to universal health care. The journey of a thousand miles...