Cradle-to-the-Grave Health Care
Sen. Kennedy is overreaching in an attempt to nationalize the US health care system:
- Everyone would have access to "essential health care benefits," with no annual or lifetime limits.
- Subsidies would be available for everyone earning up to $110,000 (family of four).
- Medicaid would be open to everyone with incomes up to $33,075 (family of four).
- Employers would have to pay premiums or a fine and so could every individual, unless paying premiums or fines would cause "exceptional financial hardship."
This last point is worth considering. Why should anyone have to pay taxes or obey regulations in cases of exceptional financial hardship?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14IRDDnEPR4
Kennedy sends up trial balloons; Obama and Baucus get rolled
Kennedy’s plan would extend Massachusettes so-called Connector to the remaining 49 states. The “Connector” has Blue Cross of MA and a few other local insurance companies. The cheapest plan from Blue Cross is 550% more than an individual’s cost in Lansing, MI and is an HMO with a Blue gatekeeper who must keep you in cities in Mass.
Blue Cross Blue Sheild Foundation of Mass. and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation have polling that suggests that employers enjoy being mandated to pay for employee health insurance.
Kennedy wants to eliminate competition to Blue Cross then pass a law that citizens must buy their coverage. Anybody can see through Kennedy’s Blue Cross scam.
Call the State’s insurance website the Connector or the Gateway it’s all the same thing. The States does the selling for Blue Cross so they don’t even need agents anymore.
You either sell the Blues or you will be selling with a high voice.
“99 Red Balloons” was originally recorded in German, and I thought about playing it that way for the benefit of Uwe Reinhardt. But then I remembered Uwe’s belief that individual preferences should be subordinated to majority will. (The German version is actually better.)
Here is an excellent summary of the Kennedy bill (minus the CLASS Act), by my former WH colleague, Keith Hennessey. http://keithhennessey.com/2009/06/08/kennedy-health-bill/
Let’s hope that Kennedy really has overreached. It will be easier to defeat the bill.
I always liked her voice. I think the music was actually composed by Uwe something.
Speaking of Professor Reinhardt, it’s hard to find fault with his recent descriptions of the employer tax exclusion…
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/should-health-benefits-be-taxed/
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/22/is-employer-based-health-insurance-worth-saving/
I guess I don’t disagree with every word he writes after all.
Overall, this is very worrisome.
[…] Cradle-to-the-Grave Health Care […]
Don’t dispare, managed care beware. If Kennedy was a regular employee on dangerous Blue Cross employer-based health insurance he would be half way through his COBRA extension and just months away from his COBRA termination notification.
The government option may be just an illusion. Kennedy wants to maintain and grow Blue Cross of MA and the other Blues market share.
Of course taxpayers would be paying $1,000 a month (65% of the cost) for Kennedy’s Blue Cross COBRA for the 1st 9 months because of the Stimulus. Without the Stimulus fired employees would leave Blue Cross for more affordable options in the free and open market.
So President Obama is addicted to keeping Blue Cross afloat too. Of course any employee who takes the COBRA and gets cancer in COBRA’s 18 months can also look forward to their COBRA termination notification as well.
Obama’s dangerous COBRA spending costs taxpayers billions and nobody says a word. Where can you find a good think tank when you need one?