M

I would like to direct your attention to page 97 line 20 of the bill that your URL is linking to. It is sec 205 (b)(3) for those who may have it from a differnt source. It says that if you do not have insurance that you will be enrolled in a plan if you are not medicaid eligible

M they beat me to it….. But I will wait for an apology from you now.

1. At present, due to favorable government tax laws, I don’t pay taxes on the roughly $2500 premiums I spend each year on my employee provided health insurance, nor do I pay taxes on the roughly $7500 my company spends each year on my behalf, nor do I pay taxes on the $2400 I contribute to my flexible spending account. For someone in the 25% tax bracket, this is a monthly tax savings of about $258. If the government stops meddling, that’s a cost we’ll all have to pay.

2. Because most health care costs occur at the end of life, the fact that the government takes care of those costs through Medicare means my insurance premiums don’t reflect the cost of these very ill and very costly people. Furthermore, presumably, doctor and hospital costs also don’t reflect the lost profits due to the inability of the elderly to pay for end-of-life care. If the government stops meddling, everyone’s health care costs are going to increase to cover them.

3. Because the elderly become so sick and so costly, no insurance company would ever provide insurance to them at any conceivable cost. Thus, if the government stops meddling, we can go back to the days of grandma choosing between taking her medicine or eating cat food for dinner. Or, we can pay for grandma’s medical expenses out of our own pockets. Better still, let’s abolish Social Security (another instance of government meddling) and end any chance grandma can ever live on her own. Then we can pay all her living expenses out or our own pocket, too, with the 7.65% raise we’ll get by not paying Social Security and Medicare taxes. This might be expensive, but clearly it’s worth it to stop government meddling in our lives. Correct?

4. If the government stops meddling in health care, then we can end the Veterans Administration and let all those soldiers purchase their own health insurance. Sure they may have service related conditions that make it impossible to ever obtain insurance, but, hey, that’s the chance you take when you volunteer your life for your country. Maybe we can all toss them a few bucks when we see them begging on the street.

These are just the first things that come to mind; I’m sure there are others. The fact is we all benefit because the government is “meddling” in our health care. If I recall correctly, if just the tax advantages of #1 above were removed (and, really, why shouldn’t they be removed?) much of the cost of the various versions of the health care reform plans could be paid for with no increase in the deficit. The problem is that a rational debate and discussion seems to be impossible given the partisan nature of the issue, the incredible anger from the side of those who oppose health care reform as currently envisioned, and the falsehoods that are being manufactured.

I would like to direct your attention to page 97 line 20 of the bill that your URL is linking to. It is sec 205 (b)(3) for those who may have it from a differnt source. It says that if you do not have insurance that you will be enrolled in a plan if you are not medicaid eligible