Congress should nor be involved with the minutiae of the health care business!

[blueworld]

The Senate HCR Bill as I've read it so far, descends into "assigning bands", "risk pools", insurance exchanges, limits some services such as generic drug availability, expands other services - the guts of the insurance industry NOT the Legislative industry. I don't believe Congress even has the KNOWLEDGE to modify the minutiae and certainly not the time!

The Cadillac Tax is an easy way to provide funding for mediocre reform that is ACCEPTABLE to the GOP & Dem Conservatives. It's not the best way or the ONLY way; it's simply the easiest way.

If we are not going to eliminate for-profit health insurance companies, and we are not, then Congress must allow these companies to operate for the benefit of their shareholders. They do this by assigning risk to specific groups of insured people & they have infinite actuaries, accountants & lawyers to facilitate their goals.

Attempting to tax the INSURED to pay for health care reform is obscene. And I don't believe there is a fair way to do it, even if all political parties were pursuing the goal with integrity rather than partisan game playing.

The Legislative Branch of our government is tasked with legislating. They exist to pass laws, oversee & regulate. The goal is clearly defined in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution: "...form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...".

Businesses offer products or services to consumers with an eye to making reasonable profit and expanding their offerings in future. Yes, most businesses care about their customers, want to be good citizens and are not greedy or dishonest. However - they exist for their own survival FIRST - not for the common welfare FIRST. This is simply the reality we've always accepted as part of Capitalism.

It seems obvious then that the goals of Congress do not & CANNOT mesh with Business. Congress cannot & should not be involved with the minutiae of business - any sort of business. They should restrict themselves to high-level goals such as: all pre-existing conditions must be covered; no lifetime limits on benefits paid out.etc. in order to provide the maximum benefit to the largest number of Americans.

There are hundreds of types of insurance policies offered in this country, from HMO's to PPO's to Cafeteria Plans to Catastrophic Plans...each type has endless flavor variations by state, region, type of health care, availability of specialized services...they've had generations to develop the behemoth we call health care in this country.

How can they determine that a PPO that pays 50% of dental costs "out of network" is a Gold or Platinum Plan? Some PPO's pay up to 80%. And NONE of the dentists I know are "in network" for ANY Dental Plan because they hate the paperwork & the lousy payments!

If Congress is tasked with legislating & funding the legislation, great. But I look to the Democrats AS THE MAJORITY to put the working people of this country first. If bankruptcies are frequently related to medical emergencies the last thing we need is to tax or limit availability to health care!

Let Congress tax those who have benefited from all the tax cuts and deregulation within this country for decades, particularly the last 8 years.

Our jobs are gone, our savings are gone or going. Let Congress provide a more robust public option even if they have to fight it out for the next 2 years. Let them finance it on the backs of the courtiers who have broken the backs of the working stiffs for the last 8 years.

And I'm very grateful the Unions in this country are taking up the serious fight at last.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. I don't understand why it's easier to tax a few million middle class workers...

... than it is to tax a few thousand really wealthy people.

[blueworld]

4. It's easier to get the total votes they need to pass the whole HCR bill

However, if the compromises they negotiate ultimately put a worse financial burden on the working class then what? Win the next election and worry about it after we're all sick or dead?

Like the Feds are doing now with foreclosures? The banks aren't renegotiating anything. People are losing their homes everyday, and may still be on the hook for some of the mortgage money. While the Congressional watchdogs are attacking or defending Reid's comments about the Prez as racist or not.

I'm not the brightest for sure, but consider that the insurance company stocks rose nicely today.

[stray cat]

2. Who should then?

[blueworld]

3. I put it in the post - the insurance companies

Congress should legislate & regulate overall business PRACTICES, not set up "bands" & "gold plans" & "bronze plans" - how could they possibly know? And how can they possibly put in enough detail to prevent the manipulation that will happen next year? They can't outwit the details, they can only legislate reform goals.

They can determine that insurance business practices are exploitative and/or too exclusionary, such as refusing to insure pre-existing conditions. They can also determine that a 35% administrative overhead cost is ridiculous when compared to benefits paid out.

They can mandate that insurance companies can't sell other product lines like property/casualty or life insurance if they eliminate health insurance in a particular state.

Most importantly they can open up the enrollment process for the only government run plan they have: Medicare.