Scheme to Tax Health Insurers to Pay for Public Option Is Ridiculous

Health care providers are charging insured and uninsured people different amounts for the same service too. That is ridiculous too.

The consumer ultimately pays for all. The extra costs are tacked onto the product at each stage to market.

Why not make a law forcing people who are clinging to their assets and lifestyles by their fingernails to spend thousands of dollars per year for insurance they cannot afford and do not wish to buy. Perhaps, if we can put a few million of those people into bankruptcy, the government can print money and give it to the banks and insurance companies directly.

Chuck - Thursday September 10, 2009 09:46AM EDT The main problem in the US is the ability of Big Corporations to affect our political system......................Chuck , that's free market capitalism, welcome to America baby, you can't immigrate over here and have your cake and eat it too.

Can anyone find the words that document where illegals are excluded from the proposed national plan? I am quite sure many of you national healthcare advocates can point to those words in the current documentation.

Government assumes that by always paying under cost (as Medicare does) will magically result in the providers reducing the real costs to provide treatments. This never happens. Instead companies that realize that they cannot even break even decide that it is not economically feasible to provide them and they stop. No amount of fancy speeches or made up figured or BHO pixie dust can change this reality. They just don't get it. Doctors are not only unwilling but are truely unable to provide services and treatments below cost over time.Less healthcare, less quality, long waits for lifesaving treatments. All very bad things to come with this plan.,

I provide health care and the insurance companies continually delay my payments by 6 months. Someone should be going to jail. They send me a letter in the mail that says that they could not pay because they don't have my adress. Idiots!

THE BEST HEALTH SISTEM FOR SENATOR SHELBY. VOTE THEM OUT

so in order to make private companies competative, you are going to raise taxes on them to pay for their increased competition? Wow. Why not fine people who work harder, oh yeah, we already do do that.

What's completely crazy is that we have to pay higher premiums to support the incredibly out of line salaries of the executives of these insurance companies. They they are REWARDED to deny claims and drop coverages... it's a racket. Insurance would be a lot more affordable if the 'costs' were better managed.

C'mon mmayzak, salaries for these executives are approximately 1% - 3% of the total costs. I concur, the insurance business is a racket and should be seriously investigated, but enough with the bloated salaries argument.

O'Barry campaigned on the promise that he would not mandate - now he is mandating that we all carry health ins.! Some argue that we are mandated to have auto ins. - true, but in an accident other people's lives and property are involved where as your health doesn't jeapordize anyone else. In reality - the govn can never give you anything for free without them taking it away from the tax payer! They have a poor track record of running anything efficiently not to mention the fraud perpetrated by govn employees (think Amtrack, Post Office, SS#, Medicaid) Our congressmen have their own retirement plan fully funded by tax payers and their own health ins. - bottom line THEY TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES FIRST!! They manipulate the poor and ignorant into thinking that they have their best interest in mind with propaganda such as "let's tax the corporations & rich" the corporations turn around and tag that tax into the price of the product or service they provide, so guess what - the tax payer/consumer picks up the tab once again!

O'Barry campaigned on the promise that he would not mandate - now he is mandating that we all carry health ins.! Some argue that we are mandated to have auto ins. - true, but in an accident other people's lives and property are involved where as your health doesn't jeapordize anyone else. In reality - the govn can never give you anything for free without them taking it away from the tax payer! They have a poor track record of running anything efficiently not to mention the fraud perpetrated by govn employees (think Amtrack, Post Office, SS#, Medicaid) Our congressmen have their own retirement plan fully funded by tax payers and their own health ins. - bottom line THEY TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES FIRST!! They manipulate the poor and ignorant into thinking that they have their best interest in mind with propaganda such as "let's tax the corporations & rich" the corporations turn around and tag that tax into the price of the product or service they provide, so guess what - the tax payer/consumer picks up the tab once again!

Isn't that like cutting off the hand that feeds you hypothetically?!//////// Listen! Here are the main points that Obama's administration is misssing: 1) It's an ambiguous plan that he/they still haven't convinced the constituents, let alone actually know what is in the bill or what it will REALLY cost! Yes, Obama is a very eloquent and inspirational speaker, but that doesn't sugar coat what is in this plan or where it will lead down the road fiscally! 2) What government run program and/ot takeover has been a positive money maker or run reliable?! They are ALL in the red and have many cost overruns! We already have a big enough federal deficit without another "Big Brother" program! Doing nothing isn't the answer though; this problem, let alone the upcoming federal deficit, social security, and medicare problems, are huge problems that are very tough to analyze and overcome! 3) Do you really think that the illegals WON'T be treated and WON'T be included? Is any hospital going to leave a badly hurt/deathly ill person or a pregnant mother on the streets using this regulation?! Isn't this then also a form of a "death panel", for lack of a better term/phrase, if they decline healthcare for those individuals?! Let's get real; they will also be taken care of, but still without paying into the system! That means more red tape and more deficit spending to cover their (illegals) cost(s)! 4) Do you think that those, who already can't afford healthcare, can MAGICALLY come up with the MANDATORY INSURANCE money needed for the proposed plan?! Uh duh! Yes, out of the "so-called" 35 million uninsured there are some who actually can pay for the present day healthcare insurance, but I would say that ISN'T the norm, especially with more people losing their jobs/benefits and ever increasing healthcare costs. Where are they going to get the money?! I'm sure not one of them wants to be put in the hypothetical position of losing any life savings due to an unexpected or very serious health matter that would drain them, or better yet, bankrupt them, let alone put the stress on their families! This is my two-cents worth, for whatever that is worth.

O'Barry campaigned on the promise that he would not mandate - now he is mandating that we all carry health ins.! Some argue that we are mandated to have auto ins. - true, but in an accident other people's lives and property are involved where as your health doesn't jeopardize anyone else. In reality - the govn can never give you anything for free without them taking it away from the tax payer! They have a poor track record of running anything efficiently not to mention the fraud perpetrated by govn employees (think Amtrack, Post Office, SS#, Medicaid) Our congressmen have their own retirement plan fully funded by tax payers and their own health ins. - bottom line THEY TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES FIRST!! They manipulate the poor and ignorant into thinking that they have their best interest in mind with propaganda such as "let's tax the corporations & rich" the corporations turn around and tag that tax into the price of the product or service they provide, so guess what - the tax payer/consumer picks up the tab once again!

It's a no win situation... the insurance companies are BEGGING for this legislation to pass (that requires every citizen to have some kind of insurance) - the medical community want it to - as long as we are not 'shopping' this service and we just give em' the insurance card they can continue to charge whatever they would like. The cost to provide medical care is out of line... it starts with the doctor (who is typically the greediest of them all), then trickles to the nurses, then the administrators of the practices and of course the insurance company wants to be paid as well as the doctors. We need healthcare spending accounts (like the GOP plan) so WE, the consumer can ultimately control our costs/spending in this area. We should be allowed to self insure. It's a HUGE HUGE cartel, and they are all BEGGING us to be REQUIERED to buy from them. Socialism as it's finest.

Remember what Mic told Rockhead about turtles: "eh, they make good soup!"

Men will suffer from this new plan. There will no longer be different premiums for women, who go to doctors at a drop of a hat, and men, who generally tough it out before finally seeking medical help.

I think too that insurance companies are a racket. I do not have insurance and cannot afford to pay the premiums.

Obama does not realize that he is on the right track, but he needs to finish out the bill properly so it will work. Nothing should change for those with insurance but 46 million more people should be covered. How do you do that? #1 Stop the denial of coverage circus. The insurance companies spend a huge amount on lawyers and analysts to deny coverage and not pay for treatments. All of those positions will be eliminated. It won't help unemployment, but it will remove between 10 and 20 percent of the cost of healthcare right off the top. #2 Prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage due to age, health, or pre-existing conditions. This will give everyone a chance to get care. #3 Tort reform for malpractice. This is another 10-15% of the cost of healthcare. #4 Subsidies for employers as an incentive to offer health insurance and subsidies to lower income folks to HELP pay for those premiums. The money from the subsidies would come from the savings in #1 and #3. #5 Illegals. Simple. You care for them, but as soon as they are better, they are arrested and prepared for deportation. They got the care they needed, but they are not going to be around for a second trip to the hospital. Its humane, but supports our immigration laws, a win win for us. What does this all add up to? My premiums might not go down, but I expected that anyway. Those low income folks will have coverage that they can afford. To top it all off, you also solve some of the illegal immigration problems. It might not be perfect, and perhaps some tax money will be needed to help pay for it, but 900 billion over 10 years, I doubt it. It also will leave the insurance companies in place with no government option to put them out of business. To take it one step further, you no longer need medicade or the state run CHIP programs, more savings to help pay for the subsidies and less government envolvement in our lives. This just gets better and better.