The Health Care Bill is Back
So President Obama's Health Care Summitt is this Thursday. It has been touted by the President as a meeting to discuss ideas and bring forth new solutions. That's universally acknowledged to be a bunch of crap. If it were to give the Reps a chance to bring ideas to the table (or even Blue Dog Dems), then he wouldn't be hardlining on his old Senate bill. Which is what he's doing. Today he put forth new elements to the bill that barely passed either chamber, and the new additions are the same old song and dance.
They are taking advantage of Anthem Blue Cross in California's troubles. They raised rates by up to 38% in some cases, and the state of California demanded that they give reasons for why the rates went up so high in some cases. This opened the door for the President to include similar language in his bill, as Californian customers of Anthem are livid at the rate hikes.
But it's interesting, because by including this language, he's admitting that the bill has no hope of lowering the cost of insurance. He's admitting that rates will go up and then punishes the insurers when they do.
He raises the penalty on employers who do not offer insurance from $750 to $2000 and a bunch of other things are listed in the White House press release that are vague and make no sense. What the heck does "strengthen" mean, exactly? DETAILS, please.
This is meant to be the White House's offering for the summit. And the Reps are supposed to say ... what exactly? He's done it in such a way that the CBO can't even calculate how much this new bill will cost. They don't have enough information or enough time. For that alone this bill should be DOA and slammed by all common sense thinking people.
This bill started off as the skeleton of what the Republicans voted against in the House and Senate. So on Thursday, they will be forced to say "no" again. What the White House is hoping, is that this will make the Republicans look unreasonable and obstructionist, and therefore justify them in forcing it through both chambers via reconciliation.
What they are failing to note, is that the temperature of the country is not for health care reform of this magnitude. And not for a complete revamp that adds more dollars to the deficit that we do not have. When the Republicans say no, they may be playing well for the American populace that wants this bill defeated, and for Congress to focus more on job creation (HA!) and less on entitlement programs that increase our debt load.
Watch the news folks. Do not get complacent. Read what elements are in this bill.
They are taking advantage of Anthem Blue Cross in California's troubles. They raised rates by up to 38% in some cases, and the state of California demanded that they give reasons for why the rates went up so high in some cases. This opened the door for the President to include similar language in his bill, as Californian customers of Anthem are livid at the rate hikes.
But it's interesting, because by including this language, he's admitting that the bill has no hope of lowering the cost of insurance. He's admitting that rates will go up and then punishes the insurers when they do.
He raises the penalty on employers who do not offer insurance from $750 to $2000 and a bunch of other things are listed in the White House press release that are vague and make no sense. What the heck does "strengthen" mean, exactly? DETAILS, please.
This is meant to be the White House's offering for the summit. And the Reps are supposed to say ... what exactly? He's done it in such a way that the CBO can't even calculate how much this new bill will cost. They don't have enough information or enough time. For that alone this bill should be DOA and slammed by all common sense thinking people.
This bill started off as the skeleton of what the Republicans voted against in the House and Senate. So on Thursday, they will be forced to say "no" again. What the White House is hoping, is that this will make the Republicans look unreasonable and obstructionist, and therefore justify them in forcing it through both chambers via reconciliation.
What they are failing to note, is that the temperature of the country is not for health care reform of this magnitude. And not for a complete revamp that adds more dollars to the deficit that we do not have. When the Republicans say no, they may be playing well for the American populace that wants this bill defeated, and for Congress to focus more on job creation (HA!) and less on entitlement programs that increase our debt load.
Watch the news folks. Do not get complacent. Read what elements are in this bill.
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