Health insurance bill passes the house

[citizen k]

The public option does lower costs, because the public insurer has the advantage of being able to tell the hospitals what price they are allowed to charge.

Well, the private insurers have the advantage of being able to tell the hospitals how much they will pay despite what the hospitals are allowed to charge.

[garbon]

Actually who cares about costs? Clearly the US government can just spend as much as it likes.

[merithyn]

You won't be able to receive health care from emergency rooms without paying for it anymore. Crying shame, I tell ya. I swear, if we have to give up that plasma and XBox 360...

You're obviously not someone in the "in between" if you think that they have a plasma TV or XBox 360. The working poor usually make enough to get by, and not a whole lot else. At the same time, they don't qualify for food stamps, subsidized insurance, etc., because they make too much. Unless the government is very careful about where that cut off is, there is going to be a large group out there with no options.

[merithyn]

Of course, there is generally a disparity between what citizens think they can afford and what they can actually afford.

That's true, as well, but a $3800 fine is too steep. Show me someone right passed the poverty line who can afford $300+ per month. Unless they offer some sort of sliding scale in all states, that's just not going to be possible for any of these people.

We're sitting at more than 10% unemployment. The bankruptcy rate is the highest it's been in decades. It won't take long before people decide that it's in their best interest to quit working and go on public aid and public health because it saves them money to do so. This new policy that requires health insurance or face a $300/month fine will push a whole lot of people over that line.

[Admiral Yi]

Surely that $3,800 is the max fine, not the minimum or a flat rate.

[garbon]

We're sitting at more than 10% unemployment. The bankruptcy rate is the highest it's been in decades. It won't take long before people decide that it's in their best interest to quit working and go on public aid and public health because it saves them money to do so. This new policy that requires health insurance or face a $300/month fine will push a whole lot of people over that line.

That's the true democrat paradise.

[merithyn]

Surely that $3,800 is the max fine, not the minimum or a flat rate.

Ask Fate. He dropped the numbers into the conversation.

[Admiral Yi]

Hey Fate, is that $3,800 a max fine, a minimum, or a flat rate?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Hey Fate, is that $3,800 a max fine, a minimum, or a flat rate?

He was euthanized by the death panel.

[Admiral Yi]

He was euthanized by the death panel.

Last time I listen to Meri.

[merithyn]

Sorry.

I thought that was scheduled for tomorrow.

[Fate]

Hey Fate, is that $3,800 a max fine, a minimum, or a flat rate?

He was euthanized by the death panel.

Sarah Palin saved me from the death panel.

[Fate]

Hey Fate, is that $3,800 a max fine, a minimum, or a flat rate?

The language I read was "up to" but the $3,800 number is most frequently quoted by GOPtard blogs so who knows if it's still accurate with respect to the current iterations of health care reform.

[Fate]

You won't be able to receive health care from emergency rooms without paying for it anymore. Crying shame, I tell ya. I swear, if we have to give up that plasma and XBox 360...

You're obviously not someone in the "in between" if you think that they have a plasma TV or XBox 360. The working poor usually make enough to get by, and not a whole lot else. At the same time, they don't qualify for food stamps, subsidized insurance, etc., because they make too much. Unless the government is very careful about where that cut off is, there is going to be a large group out there with no options.

You have an option. Buy insurance or pay a fine.

[garbon]

:nelson

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091108/ap_on_bi_ge/us_health_care_overhaul

The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.

Speaking from the Rose Garden about 14 hours after the late Saturday vote, Obama urged senators to be like runners on a relay team and "take the baton and bring this effort to the finish line on behalf of the American people."

The problem is that the Senate won't run with it. The government health insurance plan included in the House bill is unacceptable to a few Democratic moderates who hold the balance of power in the Senate.

If a government plan is part of the deal, "as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote," said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.

"The House bill is dead on arrival in the Senate," Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said dismissively