Blair House Summit
9:55 AM - I heard about 2 minutes of Harry Reid and already my blood pressure rose and I'm a little afraid I'm be hurting my health. So we'll see how much of this I can stand to listen to.
The President is talking about how they need to stay on time and that we need to add new people to a system but not a broken system. Complaining that premiums went up last year on small businesses and how they dropped coverages all together.
These are the same small businesses that he's going to tax $2k if they don't offer insurance to employees?
9:57AM - talking about setting up pools of buyers. These are exchanges, "menu of private insurance options." This is good. Can it cross state lines? What are the particulars on this.
Lamar just interrupted him. - Said CBO said that premiums will raise. President is irritated. "Costs for families for the same - uh - for the type of coverage that they are currently receiving would go down 14%. But CBO says that because they have cheaper coverage, they might decide to buy new coverage that is more expensive."
WHAT? I didn't read that in any CBO report and I've read them.
Lamar tries to interrupt again, but President says no. President changes the subject (bad form) so that if Lamar is given a chance to speak he can't rebutt the previous point. Irritating. Standoffish (and effective) debate tactic.
Lamar tries to speak again - President goes over him. He's fillibustering him!
From the CBO:
I'm going to listen and try and do my billing. If my blood pressure can take it and I don't cause myself to go into pre-term labor!
Oh, and politico just put this out: Exclusive: What happens next in health care
So what's the point of this summit again?
10:21AM - this is going to take forever if Obama is going to talk after ever single speaker. Why is he dropping his "g's?" I'm confused. Who's whispering? Stop whispering.
10:30AM - The Dems obviously got the message to repeat the following line: "We really are close."
No, we really aren't. And they keep lying. They do not allow for buying insurance across state lines. They do allow for small businesses to buy insurance in groups, but they also tax them if they don't provide insurance coverage for all employees.
11:37AM - Sebellius - "It's a lot cheaper to ensure a person who promises to never get sick." Yes, that's why the Dem plan mandates that men ages 18 - 40 be covered, even though this group of individuals rarely, if ever, uses health coverage. This is a way to cover the cost of the others. Even though these folks don't need or want health care in many cases.
Also - Sebellius says that in Kansas people were kicking out mothers out of hospitals 18 hours after the baby was born in some cases. This I find interesting since in 1996 a law was past that insurance had to cover 48 hours of hospital care. So is she talking about those that are not covered? Because I thought she was talking about those that were covered in her high risk pool insurance thingie. I'm confused.
Also - Obama said that people who change coverage because the other options would be cheaper for them. This is so misleading. What the CBO said, is that because cheaper options would be available to businesses, they would drop their current coverage, and force people into the government exchanges, because it would save them money. This is a choice for the business, not for me. I want it to be beneficial for my company to offer the coverage that I currently have, not cost prohibitive.
1:10PM - So, so, so, so tired of the anecodtal evidence that the Dems keep spouting. We all have stories. Here's mine - I LOVE MY INSURANCE. LOVE it. It doesn't cover everything, it does cost me money, but the coverages are easy to understand and I know what I"m getting into when I go to the doctor. With our prior insurance, this was not the case. I liked that insurance, but this is so much better. I would not be having a baby if it were not for this insurance.
How's THAT for anecodtal evidence?
Stick to the bill please. And quit saying, "we agree on a lot." You might, but there's a lot of crap in that stupid bill. Cut the crap, leave the stuff you agree on, and let's try that. How about THAT? QUIT SAYING "I think we're close on this." They keep saying that. I know some flak told you to repeat the party line. It's driving me crazy.
Also - I think President Obama looked classless when he said to John McCain, "the campaign's over." And, I also think he told people to start laughing at his jokes, because he told the joke, "I think we're doing good on time considering we have a bunch of elected officials in the room," at the start of the morning session. No one laughed. He said the exact same line at the start of the afternoon and half the room laughed.
1:24PM - MORE anecodtal evidence from Rockafeller. PLEASE. Knock it off. I know there are individual stories. I want you guys to talk about the bill and the laws you're trying to implement. Geez.
1:29PM - "You make everybody participate." This scares the crap out of me. I don't know this guys name. But he's with the government and he wants to "make" people do things. Running. Scared. Now.
OMG - Kathleen Sebelius is an unelected official. That's fact. "Sometimes decisions have to come from Washington. ... We're trying to protect consumers. ...You've gotta have a way that they really get protection."
Who elected this man?!
3:06PM - Waxman, another anecodtal story about woman who's scared of using her health insurance. She's scared because she's uninformed about her coverages. Thats' not my problem. She needs to sit down and call her insurance and go through her policy. Getting her informed is not my problem.
The next thing - why do they keep saying you ahve to be making a lot of open a health savings account? This is the worst lie. You don't have to make a lot. You can put $500 or less in an HSA and it'll be tax free money you can use to buy aspirin. At least until the Dem plan passes and changes what you can buy with it, which they are going to do.
The supposition, I think, is that poor people are too stupid to take advantage of tax savings, cost savings things like HSA's.
And I don't know how many letters the President has gotten from people with insurance horror stories, but the mass consensus in this country does not want passage of this bill because they think it's bad for the country, right now. So quit chicken littling me. This is not mandatory right now. This is all about his legacy and Democrats taking advantage of their majority (while they have it)
"The private sector always adopts what Medicare does because they want to hold down the costs." - Waxman. THAT is a biggest bunch of crap. The private sector hates Medicare and more and more doctors are refusing to take Medicare because they get paid NOTHING when they have actual costs. Those costs are passed on to people like ME, in the private sector.
Nancy Pelosi - "No, no. Yes." hahaha.
The President is talking about how they need to stay on time and that we need to add new people to a system but not a broken system. Complaining that premiums went up last year on small businesses and how they dropped coverages all together.
These are the same small businesses that he's going to tax $2k if they don't offer insurance to employees?
9:57AM - talking about setting up pools of buyers. These are exchanges, "menu of private insurance options." This is good. Can it cross state lines? What are the particulars on this.
Lamar just interrupted him. - Said CBO said that premiums will raise. President is irritated. "Costs for families for the same - uh - for the type of coverage that they are currently receiving would go down 14%. But CBO says that because they have cheaper coverage, they might decide to buy new coverage that is more expensive."
WHAT? I didn't read that in any CBO report and I've read them.
Lamar tries to interrupt again, but President says no. President changes the subject (bad form) so that if Lamar is given a chance to speak he can't rebutt the previous point. Irritating. Standoffish (and effective) debate tactic.
Lamar tries to speak again - President goes over him. He's fillibustering him!
From the CBO:
The CBO report said the average premium will be higher, subsidies aside, because the bill will require insurers to cover a "substantially larger share of enrollees' cost for health care (on average) and a slightly wider range of benefits."The Reps sound nervous. The entire outlay is geared to make the Dems look in charge. Which, well they are.
I'm going to listen and try and do my billing. If my blood pressure can take it and I don't cause myself to go into pre-term labor!
Oh, and politico just put this out: Exclusive: What happens next in health care
After a brief period of consultation following the White House health-reform summit, Congressional Democrats plan to begin making the case next week for a massive, Democrats-only health-care, party strategists told POLITICO.
A Democratic official said the six-hour summit was expected to “give a face to gridlock, in the form of House and Senate Republicans.”
Democrats plan to begin rhetorical, and perhaps legislative, steps toward the Democrats-only, or reconciliation, process early next week, the strategists said.
So what's the point of this summit again?
10:21AM - this is going to take forever if Obama is going to talk after ever single speaker. Why is he dropping his "g's?" I'm confused. Who's whispering? Stop whispering.
10:30AM - The Dems obviously got the message to repeat the following line: "We really are close."
No, we really aren't. And they keep lying. They do not allow for buying insurance across state lines. They do allow for small businesses to buy insurance in groups, but they also tax them if they don't provide insurance coverage for all employees.
11:37AM - Sebellius - "It's a lot cheaper to ensure a person who promises to never get sick." Yes, that's why the Dem plan mandates that men ages 18 - 40 be covered, even though this group of individuals rarely, if ever, uses health coverage. This is a way to cover the cost of the others. Even though these folks don't need or want health care in many cases.
Also - Sebellius says that in Kansas people were kicking out mothers out of hospitals 18 hours after the baby was born in some cases. This I find interesting since in 1996 a law was past that insurance had to cover 48 hours of hospital care. So is she talking about those that are not covered? Because I thought she was talking about those that were covered in her high risk pool insurance thingie. I'm confused.
Also - Obama said that people who change coverage because the other options would be cheaper for them. This is so misleading. What the CBO said, is that because cheaper options would be available to businesses, they would drop their current coverage, and force people into the government exchanges, because it would save them money. This is a choice for the business, not for me. I want it to be beneficial for my company to offer the coverage that I currently have, not cost prohibitive.
1:10PM - So, so, so, so tired of the anecodtal evidence that the Dems keep spouting. We all have stories. Here's mine - I LOVE MY INSURANCE. LOVE it. It doesn't cover everything, it does cost me money, but the coverages are easy to understand and I know what I"m getting into when I go to the doctor. With our prior insurance, this was not the case. I liked that insurance, but this is so much better. I would not be having a baby if it were not for this insurance.
How's THAT for anecodtal evidence?
Stick to the bill please. And quit saying, "we agree on a lot." You might, but there's a lot of crap in that stupid bill. Cut the crap, leave the stuff you agree on, and let's try that. How about THAT? QUIT SAYING "I think we're close on this." They keep saying that. I know some flak told you to repeat the party line. It's driving me crazy.
Also - I think President Obama looked classless when he said to John McCain, "the campaign's over." And, I also think he told people to start laughing at his jokes, because he told the joke, "I think we're doing good on time considering we have a bunch of elected officials in the room," at the start of the morning session. No one laughed. He said the exact same line at the start of the afternoon and half the room laughed.
1:24PM - MORE anecodtal evidence from Rockafeller. PLEASE. Knock it off. I know there are individual stories. I want you guys to talk about the bill and the laws you're trying to implement. Geez.
1:29PM - "You make everybody participate." This scares the crap out of me. I don't know this guys name. But he's with the government and he wants to "make" people do things. Running. Scared. Now.
OMG - Kathleen Sebelius is an unelected official. That's fact. "Sometimes decisions have to come from Washington. ... We're trying to protect consumers. ...You've gotta have a way that they really get protection."
Who elected this man?!
3:06PM - Waxman, another anecodtal story about woman who's scared of using her health insurance. She's scared because she's uninformed about her coverages. Thats' not my problem. She needs to sit down and call her insurance and go through her policy. Getting her informed is not my problem.
The next thing - why do they keep saying you ahve to be making a lot of open a health savings account? This is the worst lie. You don't have to make a lot. You can put $500 or less in an HSA and it'll be tax free money you can use to buy aspirin. At least until the Dem plan passes and changes what you can buy with it, which they are going to do.
The supposition, I think, is that poor people are too stupid to take advantage of tax savings, cost savings things like HSA's.
And I don't know how many letters the President has gotten from people with insurance horror stories, but the mass consensus in this country does not want passage of this bill because they think it's bad for the country, right now. So quit chicken littling me. This is not mandatory right now. This is all about his legacy and Democrats taking advantage of their majority (while they have it)
"The private sector always adopts what Medicare does because they want to hold down the costs." - Waxman. THAT is a biggest bunch of crap. The private sector hates Medicare and more and more doctors are refusing to take Medicare because they get paid NOTHING when they have actual costs. Those costs are passed on to people like ME, in the private sector.
Nancy Pelosi - "No, no. Yes." hahaha.
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