$1 Trillion, no wait, $3 Trillion, ok, maybe $8 Trillion. The numbers are mind boggling both in size and in inconsistency. Money that doesn't exist and we have no way to procure. Hell, most of us don't comprehend how much money that even is.
$8,000,000,000,000
And what do we need all of those dollars for? To "fix" the greatest healthcare system on planet earth.
Quit laughing and turn off CNN.
The claims are ridiculous and they are being eaten up by the populace who believe in a problem that doesn't even exist.
Folks, there IS NO healthcare crisis and never was. Not in the United States, anyhow.
You keep hearing about 50 million uninsured Americans, and how there is no affordable insurance available for them because of the greedy insurance companies making record profits. And because of this huge problem, Uncles Obama and Franks along with Aunt Pelosi are working tirelessly to ensure that every American receives the health coverage "they deserve". They tell those of us who have insurance we are happy with not to worry, we won't have to give it up.
Lie number 1.
The bill they tried to ram through Congress before the August recess so nobody could actually read it first indeed gives you the option of keeping your current health coverage...for five years. After that, or sooner if you change jobs in the interim, the Government will be deciding what the best option for you is. The entire scam is a move toward "single payer" health coverage. Better known as Socialized medicine. Why five years? Well...there is an election in four. I'll let you figure out the rest.
But lets forget about the specifics of an absolutely horrible bill for a second and just concentrate on the "problem" we are trying to solve.
Latest estimates are that 50 million people in the U.S. indeed do not have health coverage. This much is true. And where the truth stops.
They would have you believe that is 50 million 4 years olds and their unwed, unemployed mothers who can't get medical treatment because they can't afford to pay those evil insurance companies.
Lie number 2
The latest breakdown of the 50 million I've heard is appoximately:
20 million who qualify for some sort of existing Government program and simply haven't applied. This would be medicare, medicaid, social security and the like. These people are "uninsured" by choice.
20 million more earn in excess of $50k/yr. Mostly self employed. They can certainly afford health insurance but simply choose not to purchase it.
5 million are "undocumented citizens"...the codeword for illegals. Sorry folks, you don't belong here in the first place. I feel no obligation to give you a dime for any purpose.
Then we have the REAL "problem"
5 million folks who truly DO need an affordable insurance option. They make too much money to qualify for Government assitance, but not enough to reasonably purchase their own health coverage.
5 million sounds like a lot, right? Out of 300+ million citizens it's less than 2% of the population. For this we are going to spend trillions of tax payer dollars and ultimately force substandard care provided by a wasteful, bureaucratic, single payer, big brother?
Think about this for a second. They are talking about trillions of dollars to fix a "problem" that only 5 million people truly have. 1 trillion divided by 5 million is $200,000 per person. I dunno, maybe I'm being unrealistic here, but I'm pretty sure we could just buy health insurance for each of those 5 million people for the rest of their lives and come in well under $200k each.
But we have to revamp the entire health care industry at the cost of multiple trillions (nobody really knows where it stops) assuredly lowering the quality of care, all because of greedy, evil insurance companies? That's what the President and Speaker of the house keep telling us.
One last bit of food for thought. If the "problem" is truly the insurance companies then the root of the problem is the Government. The insurance industry is one of the most tightly regulated in the U.S. IF, indeed, it is their greed and corruption that has caused this "problem", then it is the Federal Government who shoulders the blame as they allowed it to happen under their close, watchful eye. And we're going to turn over the entire system to them?
I could write for hours on the problems in the health care industry. They are many, to be sure. They are not, however, anywhere near the level we are being sold on right now. And certainly no where near as problematic or costly as the very bill written to "fix" the problem.
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Great blog my friend!!! I do disagree with your 5% being Illegals, I think that # is closer to 10%. And remember a % of those that live in the right states are getting free health care. We must defeat this bill at all cost, Obama is leading us into SOCIALISM, there is no doubt in my mind, his redistribution of wealth programs must be stopped! You say you could write for hours, please do so!!!
TigerBait10
Hold On Tight, MS
Total Comments (1076)
This rant is so funny. Only you, CCC, could come up with this. Thanks for making me laugh out loud. Everyone knows that insurace companies aren't greedy. They love us and want us to be happy.
kelso!
Total Comments (1185)
Dude, you can't possibly believe this...can you?
kelso!
Total Comments (1185)
That's so funny. What in the world are you talking about? Wealth has and will always be redistributed to the wealthy. Nobody, including Darth Obama, is going to take money from the wealthy. Relax.
kelso!
Total Comments (1185)
I see your reading comprehension hasn't improved one bit. Sadly, this comes as no surprise. No worries Kelso, I knew this would be well beyond your grasp. Go back to googling chicks in bikinis and believing none of what's going on in Washington affects you since you don't pay any taxes. Let the grownups discuss this one while you run along to play NBA live, or something.
C-C-C
Total Comments (23588)
Do you know what Socialism is? The Federal Government already embraces many socialist ideals and has for years. The current administrations ideology is unquestionably socialist. It's been the far left's agenda for decades. There have always just been checks in place to prevent them from advancing it too far. Right now the stars are aligned for another year and a half to push through as much of that agenda as humanly possible. And they're off to a damn quick start before the American public even knows what hit them because there will be a delay before we feel the effects of the actions.
Where are all the liberals who were crying about Bush running up the deficit while fighting a war on two fronts? The Obama administration and far left Congress has increased the deficit more than every President in history...COMBINED. And they've done it in an incredible 6 months. AND they promise to double or triple it AGAIN over the next 6 months.
Where are the ACLU libs who were throwing fits when Bush wanted to listen to overseas calls with suspected terrorists? They were worried about Uncle George listening in on their phone sex calls to the Philippines, but don't seem at all concerned with the Obama plan to keep detailed medical records on every citizen from birth on, including your DNA to make tracking you easy. You know, an ACTUAL violation of civil liberties and a cornerstone of Socialism.
"Single payer system" is a fancy term for Socialized medicine. You know, the Government has been so successful with Medicare and Medicaid, obviously we should turn it all over to them...oh...wait. Medicare and Medicaid are THE two biggest reasons Health care costs for the rest of us are out of control. Who is gonna subsidize the new system? Well, nobody. With no profit motive, what happens to Doctors and hospitals? Drug research? Medical equipment?
I realize I'm wasting my time on you. You don't understand a single thing I'm saying. All you know is you're content to let the Government handle everything...eliminating personal responsibility.
C-C-C
Total Comments (23588)
More nonsense. You wouldn't know the truth if it bytche slapped you.
The top 1% of wage earners pay 36.9% of the taxes.
The top 20% of wage earners pay 86% of the taxes.
The top 50% of wage earners pay 96.7% of the taxes.
The bottom 50% of wage earners pay 3.3% of the taxes.
Tell me again how there is no redistribution of wealth.
Let me explain this so even you can understand. All of these spending programs the Obama administration is pushing through have to be PAID FOR. The VAST majority of the programs are designed to benefit the "poor" (those in the bottom 50% of wage earners). Where is the money going to come from to pay for all of this? Same place the Government gets all of it's money...TAXES. See above who is paying the taxes in this country.
I'll bet you were one of the fools crying about "tax cuts for the rich" too, weren't ya? Can't cut taxes for people who DON'T PAY ANY to begin with.
C-C-C
Total Comments (23588)
If insurance companies profits aren't out of control, how do they have so much money to throw at our elected officials to defeat this bill? If our current system is so great why would insurance companies be so scared of the government system that would give Americans a choice of coverage and coverage to people who don't have the resources to pay for current insurance coverage?
beaverblazer
Total Comments (535)
Yes, because it was the insurance companies who defeated this bill, not citizens phoning into their representatives threatening to vote them out if they pass this bill as is.
JAubin: Go Gators!…
Swansea, MA
Total Comments (1478)
Here is the problem you and most people don't grasp.
It's not an either/or situation.
YES there are problems with the insurance industry (profit is NOT one of them, but I'm not going to waste time trying to explain why to a bunch of people who believe anything Pelosi tells them) YES there is room for reform. YES the problems are very fixable.
The insurance companies aren't scared of competition from the Government as you seem to believe. The Government option will cause insurance premiums to RISE substantially.
Look. The Government doesn't compete on health coverage. They mandate. Medicare and Medicaid don't just get a bill from the hospital and pay it like insurance companies do. THEY tell the hospital and doctors how much they are going to pay and that's that. The hospital and doctor has no recourse. They MUST accept what the Government determines they are going to pay and cannot charge the patient anything in addition.
Here's the problem with that. The Government pays LESS than what the actual COSTS are to treat medicare and medicaid patients. Doctors and Hospitals LOSE money every single time they take on a patient on one of those programs.
That's not all.
By law, non-profit hospitals and any care giver that accepts medicare/medicaid MUST treat anyone who walks in the door regardless of ability to pay. These are your "uninsured" that everyone is so concerned about. They still get treatment whether they can pay or not. This results in HUGE losses for the care givers.
In order to recover these losses, they have to charge insured patients much much MORE than they otherwise would. Any guesses what that does to insurance premiums? You got it...runs them up up up.
Now stay with me here. Any public option Government health plan is going to be modeled after some version of medicaid. As more people leave private insurance to sign up for the public plan, private insurance costs will continue to skyrocket as there are even more people on Government health care to be subsidized by the private payers. At some point, private insurance collapses and we have socialized medicine for all, which is a COMPLETE disaster.
The only reason the current system works, insuring only the poor and elderly, is because we have enough people with private insurance to subsidize it. The more people there are on Government coverage the higher the private insurance HAS to go to subsidize it.
This is something most people don't realize. Insurance premiums are what they are not because the insurance companies are greedy, but because they are paying for the under insured folks on GOVERNMENT plans, as well as those with no insurance at all. Not only will adding more people to the Government rolls increase the cost of private coverage, it will ultimately cause the private plans to collapse entirely.
Government provided health care DOES NOT WORK on a large scale. It's been proven over and over again.
C-C-C
Total Comments (23588)
If you've ever seen an itemized bill from a hospital you know what I'm talking about. You'll see something like "Tylenol 3 - $6".
No, the hospital isn't trying to get rich selling you OTC meds at ridiculous prices. They are simply recouping costs from all of the patients they had to treat either below cost or entirely "free". Nothing in this world is truly free...someone is paying for it. In this case, it's those of us with private insurance who are doing the paying. Whenever you force a business to give up profits by mandate, such as raising corporate taxes, or comping services to those who can't afford to pay, it's everyone else who uses those services that ACTUALLY pays in the form of higher prices.
Keep that in mind the next time you support the idea of Government taxing corporations at an even greater rate then they already pay. That Corporation is left with two options, neither of which is to lower profits. They either raise prices to recoup the difference or they move overseas where the tax rate and labor costs are much less daunting.
And this doesn't make the corporations "greedy" by any stretch of the imagination. They have shareholders they are accountable to. "Record profits" do NOT necessarily mean a bunch of people are getting rich. Businesses don't exist for the betterment of society, they exist to hopefully make a profit. When the profit motive is taken away, quality suffers immensely.
C-C-C
Total Comments (23588)
LOL it wont be funny when you realize the truth.
TigerBait10
Hold On Tight, MS
Total Comments (1076)
funny - I didn't see this on network television
Pictures from Washington D.C. - the massive rally against ObamaCare this past weekend - Sept 11-12
P. J. Crew
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That's because nobody dares to show support against The Messiah
JAubin: Go Gators!…
Swansea, MA
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I have to support the current President, but I can't wait until he leaves.
Man vs. Evil
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