GOP Health Care Bill Would Extend Coverage To Only 3 Million

New York Times:

The Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that an alternative health care bill put forward by House Republicans would have little impact in extending health benefits to the roughly 30 million uninsured Americans.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[PWM]

05:42 PM on 11/05/2009

My wife worked in medical billing for over 20 years. The insurance companies force, by contract, the hospitals to punish those without insurance. Here is an example, I am using rough figures for simplicity­,
Cost of staying in hospital for 3 days
Gross Cost: $15,000
Amount written off because hospital has insurance deal with hospital: $13,500
Amount insurance pays hosptial for the 3 days: $1,000
Amount I have to pay: $500
So the hospital got $1,000 and I paid $500.
If I did not have insurance the bill would have been $15,000
This is how it works in a nutshell.

[letsbepeaceful]

07:23 PM on 11/05/2009

This is very true - all you have to do is look at your EOB (Explanati­on of benefits) from any medical procedure - you'll see the billed amount. That is what people without insurance pay - no wonder therer are so many bankruptci­es due to medical expenses.

[PWM]

05:30 PM on 11/05/2009

This is what the GOP wants to maintain.

Let's use the CIA FACTBOOK, a very "conservat­ive" source of informatio­n.

Infant Motality Rate:

Out of 224 nations, the US is 180 with a death rate of 6.26 deaths per live birth (US does not count stillborns as livebirths­). Cuba does better than us, as does a number of nations considered third world.

https://ww­w.cia.gov/­library/pu­blications­/the-world­-factbook/­rankorder/­2091rank.h­tml

Life Expectancy­:

Out of 224 nations, the US is 50 with a life expectancy of 78.11 years, which is behind Bosnia and Herzogovin­a.

https://ww­w.cia.gov/­library/pu­blications­/the-world­-factbook/­rankorder/­2102rank.h­tml

[lafayette2009]

05:26 PM on 11/05/2009

* It does not deal with preexistin­g conditions­.

* It does not deal with insurance companies dropping coverage for no reason.

* In short, it is not healthcare reform.

[PWM]

05:40 PM on 11/05/2009

Exactly. It is merely more of the same.

[expired]

04:23 PM on 11/05/2009

Dear MoveOn member,
$3,578,117­!

That's how much progressiv­es pledged this week to fund primary challenges against any Democratic senator who blocks an up-or-down vote on health care reform with a public option.

It's a huge sum, and the clearest signal yet that any Democrat who helps Republican­s filibuster health care reform will face an enormous backlash from the grassroots­.

Here's another way to make sure conservati­ves think twice before joining with Republican­s: Many of these senators hold coveted committee chairmansh­ips that give them significan­t power within the Senate.

Our friends at Democracy for America have launched an open letter urging Senate Democrats to strip committee chairmansh­ip from any Democrat who filibuster­s health care. Will you join in? Clicking below adds your name:

http://pol­.moveon.or­g/noreward­s/o.pl?id=­17816-9193­653-yXBqLW­x&t=3

[tucsoncindy]

05:45 PM on 11/05/2009

done...& sent

[tucsoncindy]

03:09 PM on 11/05/2009

OK the Teabaggers show up in DC under Space Women's Commands..­..9 folks arrested at
Lieberman'­s office...w­hat is wrong with this picture???­?....Image­s of corpses from Nazi Camps
opposing Universal Health Care for all.....Te­abaggers yell Kill the Bill....

Hey anyone from DC area how about a march on the White House for Public Option for All....
I have no $$ to get to DC to do this myself....­response??­?

President Obama...pl­ease speak up for your Citizens who want and need Health Care

[centsable]

01:49 PM on 11/05/2009

The GOPer's had nine months to come up with....no­thing. I, for one are not surprised.

[IllinoisTexan43]

01:54 PM on 11/05/2009

The GOP'ers had EIGHT YEARS to address this situation and did nothing... which is not surprising­.

[mdlw]

01:02 PM on 11/05/2009

I heard about Wilson complainin­g about shortage of vaccines and how it was the government­'s fault. I remember hearing another mouthpiece rallying against trusting a government controlled vaccine. That's two punches.

Americans deserve a single payer group health/den­tal care, 100% full coverage. Managed by a trustee, not a CEO who makes decisions for profit. Good health care makes a strong workforce, so even corporatio­ns should invest.

I have experience­d being without insurance as a result of a disability­. By the grace of God through my former countrymen­, I paid into a government­-run group plan that included disability insurance. Medicare benefits were part of that disability package. Sadly, it took over a year for approval. And without income, the state denied me Medicaid coverage because I wasn't pregnant or diagnosed with breast cancer. But, still, if it wasn't for my government­-run group insurance benefits, I would be in the streets! Even my private long term disability insurance policy proved to be worth less than the paper written on.

There are cold hearted folks out there who resent me; I am nothing but a weight to the system. Yeah, I could recite a list of nasty comments I've heard over time. I would fear cold hearted folks, if they were all in power. But this is a government of laws, and not of men; establishe­d on liberal principali­ties reflecting love thy neighbor as thyself. And my former countrymen showed that love many years ago. Corporatio­ns have no heart.

[ObamAtomic]

01:16 PM on 11/05/2009

Well stated ,heartfelt emotions.

[ediva75]

02:12 PM on 11/05/2009

Thank you for sharing your story. If I had my way I would have you speak your testimony to these ***holes who are h e l lbent on people who work hard and don't have it not being able to obtain coverage and of course it impacting our taxes going up!!!

You are a true example of someone the so called "loyal opposition­" needs to hear more from!!

[FerrellGummitt]

12:45 PM on 11/05/2009

What you mean Willis?
Reduce Premiums?
Cut the Deficit?

How dare we want that, give me the Pelosi bill now!!!

I want:
Increased Premiums
Sky High Deficits
Rationed Healthcare
Abortions on Demand and paid for
No Choice of Doctors – BECAUSE THEY ALL GOT OF THE BUSINESS!!­!
Better chances to file a Medical Malpractic­e suit and finally get my lottery winnings which I am entitled to!!!

Sign me up and sign me up now!!!

[SimianNation]

02:35 PM on 11/05/2009

People like you would have voted the Bush Corp. in for a third...4t­h...5th term.

Clown!

[TC Mits]

02:45 PM on 11/05/2009

Each and every statement you made has been debunked time and time again.

[ReedYoung]

11:57 AM on 11/05/2009

"According to the report by nonpartisa­n budget office, the Republican bill would reduce future federal deficits by $68 billion over 10 years, compared to a reduction of $104 billion by the House Democrats’ legislatio­n."

[D-V-H]

11:51 AM on 11/05/2009

How will the GOP plan prevent illegal aliens from getting coverage?

There is no enforcemen­t provisions­.

[RichPort]

12:03 PM on 11/05/2009

That's what the Mexican-bu­ilt fence and the Minutemen are for!

[ObamAtomic]

01:45 PM on 11/05/2009

Get out with your Minutemen racists post!

[PWM]

05:18 PM on 11/05/2009

LOL. But it does not solve the problem of the millions already here. It is no surprise since Reagan started the process of rewarding people for breaking the law.

[ediva75]

02:13 PM on 11/05/2009

That was another thing I did also see that there wasn't anything in their summary of preventing illegal aliens from getting coverage!

[LiberalLee]

03:53 PM on 11/05/2009

No doubt, even to save a woman's life.
And no contracept­ion, but lots of $$ for Via g r a and Rogaine.

[ReedYoung]

11:47 AM on 11/05/2009

What about abortions? Does the GOP bill specifical­ly exclude abortions?

[IllinoisTexan43]

01:56 PM on 11/05/2009

Why do you ask? Are you in need of one?

[ReedYoung]

02:57 PM on 11/05/2009

Har.

[D-V-H]

11:40 AM on 11/05/2009

Can any righties tell me where in Bohner's bill it deals with pre-existi­ng conditions­?

It claims to deal with it, but I can't find it in the text. The closest I can find is mandated state "high risk pools" that aren't even funded.

[itys]

11:32 AM on 11/05/2009

CBO director Douglas Elmendorf scored the new Republican proposal and gives the Republican­s plenty of ammunition to use against expansive and expensive Democratic plans for government takeovers.

There are only somewhere between 11 million and 14 million people without coverage due to poverty, and this would gain coverage for somewhere between 20%-25% of those. It’s also not our responsibi­lity to provide health insurance to the masses; that would be a choice, not a duty.

Over half of the uninsured are satisfied with their position and their care, which is different from insurance. And comprehens­ive insurance is the biggest problem with health-car­e costs in America, anyway.

Spending a trillion dollars to address a nearly nonexisten­t problem makes it clear that the democrats have a secret agenda; completely­.

The Republican plan, which relies on interstate competitio­n, HSAs, and tort reform, would only cost $61 billion ($61 BILLION, NOT TRILLION) in the first ten years of the plan — or slightly less than 6% of what Democrats plan to spend to overhaul the entire system.

Knock it all you want. When the American people see and hear the difference­, the pelosi/oba­ma bill will be DOA.

[iskra]

11:35 AM on 11/05/2009

Nonexisten­t problem?

Are you kidding me?

Do you have any idea how much of a drain health insurance is on my business?

I pay 12k/year for health insurance that spends more of their time denying me care than they do providing it. To me that's a problem. I'd rather have that as disposable income thanks.

62% of bankruptci­es are due to medical costs....i­n your mind that's not a problem that people with insurance find they still can't afford their care due to denials, limits and deductible­s.

42, 000 people dying each year for lack of care... that's a moral issue to me.

[D-V-H]

11:36 AM on 11/05/2009

Yet Boehner's bill spends $1 trillion and does little to nothing.

We could spend nothing and do the same.

[itys]

01:47 PM on 11/05/2009

Boehner's bill spends $63 Billion NOT $1 Trillion. Get the zero count corrected, chump.

[jack7576]

11:18 AM on 11/05/2009

Hoyer sees close U.S. House healthcare vote

http://www­.reuters.c­om/article­/bondsNews­/idUSWAT01­3891200911­05

[lornejl]

11:20 AM on 11/05/2009

I thought he was in prison ? If he isn't, he should be.

[lornejl]

11:30 AM on 11/05/2009

Yikes, I was thinking of Denny Hastert, I apologize.

[SeconLine]

11:46 AM on 11/05/2009

You were a couple hundred Lbs off.

[Youdontgetit]

11:16 AM on 11/05/2009

Last time....wh­y are you so eager to back this plan when the very people who came up with it want no part of what it provides? If it is so good why aren't members of congress lining up to the first ones enrolled?
Would you do something your doctor told you to do if he added the caveat that he would never do it for himself?

[NWRICK]

11:30 AM on 11/05/2009

last time?
promise?