Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Politics In General The fallout: Democrats rethinking health care bill

Not working well at all when I can afford normal insurance and even HAD it and now cannot afford it anymore AFTER I already paid the equivalent of a new Lexus to them.

Yes.
Thanks for your post, dock.

97.4% of the people in Massachusetts HAVE health insurance, since they passed a health care reform measure back in 2006. Obama's plan is actually modelled on the Massachusetts system.

So how were the voters in Massachusetts "rejecting health care reform"? They already have it!

Much more likely is the Democrats and Independents who voted for Brown specifically for his promise to vote against the US health care reform bill, did so because they objected to the lack of single-payer and government options.

I think that was ridiculously short-sighted. "Holding out" for a single-payer system means never ever getting any improvement at all. Politics is the art of the possible. The impossible is fine for children's stories and fantasy novels.

MA, if you would be so kind, would you please share with us the answer to this question. Do you have medical insurance and if so, how is it provided to you? Do you purchase coverage yourself or is it provided by your employer? If not, do you pay for your medical expenses out of pocket, if so, how much does it cost you per month?

Just trying to make sense of your position on this issue.

The people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts are "rejecting" health care for the entire nation. Somehow, some way, a message got to them that they are the ones to stop what is going on in Washington DC.

Apparently, the message worked.

I'm going to expand on CS's statement thatMa argues that they are not stupid, they know what they want. I'm not sure how one can discern that unless one is cynical enough to believe that "they got theirs, so they don't want to have to pay for anyone elses'" - since Mass has it already - not that they would pay, just that that is the perception that is being pedaled in opposition to Health Care Reform.

I don't like the current bill, but logic would not dictate amputating your foot because you have an infection in your toe. Logic, of course, is not in play here. It is pure emotion. Logic, as I have pointed out before, would drive us to a public option for the benefit of the economy. It is the only way to remove the burden from the private sector and eventually eliminate profit-driven health insurance from the field - since they can't compete. In this case, money talks, politicians obfuscate (Scott Brown most definitely included), and emotions listen. That, in my estimation, is stupid.

I have health insurance through my company, it costs me about $375 a month. The Massachusetts health care plan is in the process of breaking the back of state budgets. As costs have gone up, coverage has decreased. Hospitals are still being paid late and they are complaining about the level of payments.

I am, and have been, lucky. I have a good job that pays me enough to pay my bills. I own multiple properties and and even have a nice fairly new motorcycle. I get my coverage through my job, but I read the news. All one has to do is read a little local news to see that the Mass health plan is quickly becoming too expensive for the state to keep supplying. Our state had to increase the sales tax by 25%, in the middle of a rescession, to pay for it. There are rumblings of coverage reductions to save money. It won't be long before we will be screwed because of our naivete.

Take my word for it, voting for Brown was not a scheme to enact a single payer system, it was a reaction to the health plan, the terror trials in NY, immigration, $1.8T deficits. But it was mostly based on health care reform.

The Constitution does not contain an IQ requirement for citizenship, so smart or dumb, every American over the age 18 has the right to vote. My sons, 23 and 22, both voted for Obama last election and Brown on Tuesday. The 23 year old graduated from a very good school last year and workd a couple of part time jobs to pay his loans. He cannot find a job in his chosen profession. My youngest is looking at Grad school just in case he can't find a job. You don't have to be very smart to see the conclusion of that last statement, there are no jobs to be had, what the hell are we focused on HCR for?

The voters, in effect, took back congress last week. No more super majority, no more FU from the left to the right. Come Nov, if the economy is still tanking, the voters will be giving the FU to the majority. Politics are easy to understand, but hard to predict. Most people look at themselves for answers, if they are doing well they will vote for the status quo, if they are having a tough time, it becomes time for a change. Unemployment sits around 10.5% nationally. In MA it is at 9.8%, slightly better than the national but still 1 in 10 people are out of work. I knew Brown was had a chance in Sept when I went to a fund raiser and 300 people were there. I knew he was going to win when I saw 10 Brown signs for every Coakley sign.

It really is the economy! It is always the economy. When Bush was reelected, it was the economy! When Clinton was reelected it was the economy. When Bush was first elected it was the economy. When Reagan was elected and reelected it was the economy.

JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mr. Obama, focus on JOBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you do your party will stay the majority party, if you continue to push programs that are not directly related to fixing what is broken in the economy, you will lose your majority!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

People will accept sour if the rest of their life is sweet, but if life sucks, then sour is just more of the same. Fix the economy THEN try to pass HCR. As of this morning HRC was officially DOA.

Either this guy was talking to people I never heard, or he was making it up. As a matter of fact, given that it was on the Ed Schultz show I will say he was full of sh!t.

Thanks Ma. So if I understand you correctly you employer purchases the coverage but $375 is withheld each month from your paycheck to cover your portion? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me—depending of course on the details of your policy. And I am aware Massachusetts is having financial difficulty covering this mandate. Most states as we all know are experiencing fiscal problems for a variety of reasons.

Regarding my state of Oregon, here’s an interesting tidbit from Physicians for Reform, an organization that proposes “Patient Centered Healthcare” On their website they talk about this “heart rendering” story regarding a Barbara Wagner, former recipient of the Oregon Health Plan—essentially a state run Medicaid program.


Link 1

Then we go on to discover “the rest of the story”. Thank you Paul Harvey.


Link 2

With “information” such as this provided by the Physicians for Reform is it any wonder it is near impossible to separate fact from fiction and political ravings/half truths in trying to sort out this dilemma? And here again the word rationing raises its ugly head. Aside from the fact that everything on earth is rationed by the depths of the paying pocket or the supply of the item, why should medical coverage be any different? It isn’t, of course.