This is really insane. I cannot believe that we have gotten this far with the propaganda in this country.
People, this bill provides no new insurer into the market place, yet forces people to buy insurance. How is this a good thing?
The original program was to create a public option that was supposed to negotiate for lower prices on behalf of people, but now that is gone. In fact, when Harry Reid tried to include a minuscule public option (the original public option was supposed to cover 130 million people. His would apparently cover 6) that still wouldn’t be able to negotiate for lower rates, Barack Obama, who had said he was for the public option (this was of course before he came under the sway of former GOP Congressman and Phrma lobbyist Billy Tauzin) “actively discourag[ed] Senate Democrats in their effort to include a public insurance option with a state opt-out clause as part of health care reform.”
This was because Obama now suddenly favored a “trigger option,” which basically meant that only if the insurance industry failed to meet certain standards would the public option come into place. Assuming this is ever enforced, apparently these new state-wide public options are supposed to spring up overnight and compete with the collective bargaining power of national insurance companies. These state-wide public options will in all likelihood have no collective bargaining power, and appear just to be a figment of protection while we actually give insurance agencies full reign over the marketplace.
None of this even accounts for the draconian measures in the bill. According to the Congressional Budget Office, in 2016 the lowest individual insurance policy will be $5,300, and the lowest family plan will be $15,000. Because this is “mandated,” it means that everyone in the country will have to have a policy. That means at the minimum $5,300 is going to have to come out of your pocket every year.
What happens if you “willfully” do not buy insurance?
• Section 7203 – misdemeanor willful failure to pay is punishable by a fine of up to $25,000 and/or imprisonment of up to one year.
• Section 7201 – felony willful evasion is punishable by a fine of up to $250,000 and/or imprisonment of up to five years.” [page 3]
That’s right. According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, if you “willfully evade” your new found duty of buying an insurance policy, you could be fined $250,000 and put in jail for up to five years.
This entire thing is ridiculous and a complete give away to the insurance industry, an insurance industry whose premiums have risen more than four times faster than the rate of inflation over the past ten years, an insurance industry that deliberately understates its profits by 200-1000%.
People need to make a stink about this. This bill isn’t good for anyone except for blood-sucking insurers. We need to vote everyone pushing for this bill ASAP.
You’re right on all points. This bill should serve as a wake up call to everyone who didn’t get the message when Tim Geithner was appointed Secretary of the Treasury — this administration is hostile toward the people and friendly to Wall Street and the rest of the financial elite. Bailouts supersede help for people losing their homes. Financial reform doesn’t include a cap on usurious credit card rates. We’re sending tens of thousands of troops to Afghanistan … for what?
There has been one major change. We no longer have a president who, on the face of it, embarrasses us. But we do have a president and administration that have contempt for us, in the most obvious ways on a non stop basis.
When the average person hears that the government is working on health care reform, does anyone think that will include the threat of fines and jail if they don’t’ buy insurance? How did the “news” media miss that one?
Also, which enumerated power gives the Federal government the power to require anyone to buy anything from any private entity? Look in Article 1, Section 8. There is none, and then read the 10th Amendment which is supposed to limit the power of the Federal government to those powers specifically conferred upon it by the Constitution.
I’m not saying that the Federal government doesn’t have the power to collect taxes for and spend money on Medicaid and Medicare, but I am saying that it does not have the power to require any citizen to buy anything. Yet, those who took millions in official contributions from the insurance, health care, and pharmaceutical cartels decided to “reform” health care by requiring everyone to buy it from a insurance cartel without any legal basis to do so and under threat of fines and imprisonment if anyone fails to do so. Does that seem like bribery and extortion to you?
As with the sales job done to require mandatory car insurance in most states, the authorities in the government and the “news” media claim that when everyone is insured, premiums will go down. Of course, premiums always go up when you increase demand for any product or service especially if it is turned into a crime if you dare go without it for some reason, like the factory that you worked in was moved to China or Mexico and you can’t pay for insurance unless you give up feeding your children.
If you have wondered why the government passes laws that virtually everyone opposes, like the bank bailout, and why the government refuses to investigate and prosecute obvious crimes, like torture and murder, check out Why Does the Government Ignore Our Wishes? at http://dailycensored.com/2009/09/11/why-does-the-government-ignore-our-wishes/ and don’t miss my 18 minute speech.
If you take a look, you’ll learn why they get away with violating our rights, abusing their power, and committing horrible crimes. My article on torture includes a link to the U.S. Supreme Court case which explains how one of our stolen rights makes the difference between justice and injustice, between freedom and slavery.
Thanks Mark, and Michael too. I agree with you guys too.
I always say, whenever people are talking about root causes of problems, fractional reserve banking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC720Cl3N-0
That is one of the two videos that really changed the way I viewed the world. (The other one is Masters of Money, which is about central banking.)
Josh
Here’s the link to see who voted for or against the health insurance revenue generator bill http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2009/roll887.xml
Here is a link to Congressman Dennis Kucinich’s position on the bill http://kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2806&Itemid=76
Here is a link to Congressman Ron Paul’s position on the bill http://www.house.gov/htbin/blog_inc?BLOG,tx14_paul,blog,999,All,Item not found,ID=091109_3598,TEMPLATE=postingdetail.shtml
Try this link for Ron Paul’s position http://www.house.gov/paul/
If somebodyproposed that you had to pay to have a for-profit fire company come to your house if it caught fire, most people would say that’s ridiculous. So why is health care any different? Clearly, the idea that you can only receive health care if somebody makes a profit off of it isn’t working.
The answer is to take the profit out of health care – nationalize the entire industry (including the drug companies), but not under the control of the same government bureaucrats but under the control of the workers and patients themselves.
In any case, we will never get any sort of real reform as long as we rely on the Republicrats. It’s just like tax “reform”: Every tax “reform” measure passed in the last 50 years has resulted in lower taxes for the rich and increased taxes for the middle income earners. (See: “America, Who Really Pays the Taxes?”)
What we need is a mass political party based on working class people, not the corporations and the rich.
I believe the first fire departments actually were private. Here’s an interesting example:
“Whatever happened to private firefighters? The answer is that they are alive and well, just not around here.
Much of Arizona and a growing number of cities in the South and West depend on private enterprise for fire protection. Private fire companies range in size from one-truck operations to Rural/Metro Corp., which serves more than 400 communities in 23 states. Many of them are owned by former public-sector firefighters who became convinced there was a better way to run a firehouse.
[...]And the quality? In terms of saving lives, private companies match or outperform public fire departments. Compare Scottsdale, which covers 183 square miles, to Detroit, 140 square miles in size. During a recent five-year period, Scottsdale suffered only a single fire-related death while 18 citizens of Detroit died due to failed fire equipment or closed fire stations alone.”
http://www.firefightingnews.com/article-US.cfm?articleID=51807
I think ultimately capitalism does work, but it’s just we live in a system that is so far from that, a system that is so systemically flawed that it’s hard to imagine.
It’s something that I went through too. I watched “Money as Debt,” and “Masters of Money,” and those really opened things up for me. I saw how fractional reserve banking and having private central banks are a major problem, and that our world would look very different without them.
As far as “relying on the Republicans,” well, they weren’t relied on. This was passed without them. This was all Democrats, and one Republican, I think.
Good information shared on your blog. It was able to answer some health questions I had.