Comments on: Key Senator Says Tax Health Care Benefits

As The White House Works With The Senate On Health Care Reform, A New Report Says Costs Will Soar And Ruin The Economy

[hungry1968-15]

"because they provide workers free or low-cost access to too many health care services."
............................................

Ummmmmm

The Dems think this is a bad thing???

So what the Dems are saying is that if you currently enjoy a good benefits plan and are able to see your doctor and get services, we want to take that from you because some out there do not have it. So they are admitting that their goal is to ration healthcare.

The reason we have a bad infant mortality rate is not because of the healthcare system. It is that we have 75%+ of all minority babies in this country born to teenagers with no ability to take care of themselves much less a child.
Posted by jonesjep at 11:48 AM : Jun 2, 2009





How did you interpret ALL of this wild speculation, out of the back half of ONE SENTENCE?

[pollroller1]

If they are going to tax my health benefits Then I will cancel mine and go on welfare. This is the most ridiculous thing I have EVER heard of.

[cdegolier]

NO, you just are having a hard time understanding, since it's the CHANGE you despise. Posted by cydygitt1 at 12:02 PM : Jun 2, 2009

No, I understand, another worthless, waste of money government run plan, that is only going to hurt the people who already pay for health insurance. Look at Social Security, Medicare, government run and running out of money. Do you really think the government can handle running health care, the portion they do is ridiculous.

Look at auto insurance, you have to have it. You can pick and chose from numerous insurance companies with plans to suit your budget and needs. Health insurance is not mandatory, which lessens competition and raises costs. The government already pays for the low income and in many states children who don't quality are covered for small monthly dues. So basically if you can afford health insurance, you pay for it. I would rather keep the government, which has failed at so many levels out of my health coverage, which in the end like every other program run by the government will only hurt me.

[cydygitt1]

The reason we have a bad infant mortality rate is not because of the healthcare system. It is that we have 75%+ of all minority babies in this country born to teenagers with no ability to take care of themselves much less a child.
Posted by jonesjep
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PROOF???

I'm tired of people like you posting garbage expecting the rest of us to swallow the propaganda you've swallowed from your talking heads, without any PROOF.

I was called on the 37th in the world ranking for America's poor health care system, and did indeed do the homework for the lazy, and provided that PROOF.

Now it's your turn to provide the PROOF, since I know for a fact that unwed teenage pregnancies is DOWN, unless you listen to those advocating something that doesn't work, like bristol palin and abstinence!

Go ahead.....I dare you to provide the PROOF of your absurd statement!

[cydygitt1]

Those that continue to support the for-profit insurance companies acting merely as middlemen to skim their high profits off the system without adding a thing to it, are the true morons here.

Why would you want to pay their GREEDY profits that just add to the cost of health care?

[cydygitt1]

So tax the responsible employers who offer health benefits to their employees and tax the responsible people who opt to pay for health insurance.

Once again punish the responsible to pay for the irresponsible.

Posted by cdegolier
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NO, you just are having a hard time understanding, since it's the CHANGE you despise.

What we need is an efficient SP-UHC system, where those "responsible" employers are taxed just like everyone else, but the taxes are LESS than what they are currently paying for LESS COVERAGE, and will receive FULL COVERAGE without co-pays, deductibles, or dropped coverage by the for-profit insurance companies.

For instance, as one poster previously stated, his yearly bill for his family's health care is $12K, but that only covers 80% with deductibles and other costs like doctor's visits. That poster would be estatic if his taxes were only $10K higher, but he had FULL COVERAGE for all his family's health care, since he wouldn't be paying the other $12K for partial coverage.

Understand? For $2K less, the family is fully covered (not 80%) for all medical needs, and cannot be turned away for any procedure or diagnosis, or coverage dropped at the whim of the for-profit insurance company.

Likewise for those "responsible" employers, they'd be paying less through taxes than the entire health care portfolio covering all their employees.

Same physicians and same hospitals, yet the GREEDY for-profit insurance companies that cost Americans 30% in overhead and profits would be the American's savings.

[cydygitt1]

Unless government stops the raping of Americans by all the insurance companies & drug companies nothing will ever change.
Posted by diamruby
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This is very true, and now America is under the gun, since currently health care with 50 million UN-insured and tens of millions UNDER-insured is costing 18% of GDP, and when the 80 million baby boomers retire over the next 2 decades, health care costs are estimated to be 34% of GDP -- THAT IS UNSUSTAINABLE!

We must act now, and make a hybrid SP-UHC system with all the best qualities of all the developed countries in the world that rank higher than America in health care!

[cdegolier]

So tax the responsible employers who offer health benefits to their employees and tax the responsible people who opt to pay for health insurance. If your employer offers health insurance there is no reason why you should not have it. Democrats are stupid. Once again punish the responsible to pay for the irresponsible. I have paid for my own health insurance since I was eighteen, of course when I was young only making $7.00 an hour I thought I didn't need insurance and it was a waste of money, I was talked out of canceling and glad I did. This administration is only going to cause employers not to be able to offer health benefits and employees, already taxed to death from being able to afford it. I am not sure I can afford 4 years of this crap, I would probably be better off sitting on my butt collecting welfare.

[naj1953]

You talk about only making 7.00 an hour back then..Maybe the problem why most people can't afford to buy Health insurance is because the wages that employers pay doesn't allow them to buy their insurance. Some people are still making 7-9 an hour in 2009. Pretty sad. Also not every company offers insurance. If you think you can get on welfare I hope you make less than 800.00 to a 1000.00 a month. If you make 1100 you might not get it. lol.

[diamruby]

Over most of my adult working life I know that most welfare & uninsured people go to the doctor alot more than people who have insurance. Alot of the people can afford the reduced premium at work but still would rather not pay it so their family is not insured and are on their 3rd bankruptcy due to medical bills. My insurance charges extra per month (100.00) for the spouse in addition to the regular premium, we must go to a provider etc to get most things covered, there are alot of unknown conditions that are not payable but you will not know that untill they do not pay on the bill. I found that out after a overnight stay for gall bladder surgery & the uncovered amount was $25,000.00. Our insurance premiums are $8,000.00 per year for 2 people. Medical premiums, hospital & doctor bills have always been the down fall of many people. Until the government provides us with the same insurance that they enjoy, the working class people paying for medical insurace will bear the burden for full cost medical insurance & care for everyone else. Many people do not want social security etc & feel it is a welfare program but the truth is that most people would not put any money away for their future & will still be under government welfare, alot of people work hard all their lives but do not make enough to put away any. We need to stop giving illegals & healthy people welfare for any reason. The only people getting any help should be those that work & then only enough to get them back on their feet. Unless government stops the raping of Americans by all the insurance companies & drug companies nothing will ever change.

[cydygitt1]

U.S. Healthcare Paradox: The Best and Worst in the World

In an editorial in May in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Ezekiel Emanuel, a bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health, compared the president's lofty assessment of the U.S. healthcare system to Papa Bush's surprise in the early 1990s about the existence of supermarket checkout scanners?"a sign that [the president] fails to appreciate the experiences of the average American who interacts with the health care system," he wrote.

Nearly 50 million Americans, or more than 15 percent of the population, don't have health insurance, and millions more are under-insured. In nearly every other industrialized nation, close to 100 percent of the population is insured. This lack of coverage is a main reason why the U.S. healthcare system ranked 37th out of 191 nations in an analysis by the World Health Organization.

Where we fail ... and succeed

Two of the most important health measures for any country are the infant mortality rate and life expectancy. The infant mortality rate speaks of the health of mothers. Life expectancy is a sign of the health of the health system.

On both measures, the United States fails miserably. We rank at the bottom among industrialized nations and 27th among all nations for infant mortality. The rate of 6.37 deaths per 1,000 live births is indeed higher than Cuba's; and even among U.S. whites only, the rate of 5.7 deaths is double that of Singapore, Sweden and Japan, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

As for life expectancy, we only recently overtook Cuba by a fraction. Our life expectancy of 78 years places us 45th on the world list, behind Bosnia but still edging out Albania.

The United States does excel on high-tech procedures, which is why the wealthy from other countries come to the United States for complicated surgery. The nation also excels in curing late-stage cancers and in emergency room care for violent injury, because practice makes perfect.

www.livescience.com/health/070822_bad_health_care.html