Friday, January 15, 2010

The health care reform bill looks like it will just raise health care costs...





The proposed health care reform bill seems very strange to me, with no clear explanation from the government or the media how this bill will actually work. The bill that formed in Senate which seems to be the leading plan for reform has a tax on high cost health insurance plans to pay for things. Now who pays this tax, the worker or employer? I can't get a clear picture from the articles that I read, maybe I'm a little slow, but I think things are being left vague on purpose.

And what if these plans become unpopular and the health insurance companies stop offering them, then where does the money come from. I read an article that said the bill has no provision for inflation, what if all of our plans reach the $8,900 ceiling for individuals and $24,000 ceiling for families, then we all have to pay the tax?


This might make our health care plans worse in order to avoid that price cap. It would make much more sense to tax rich people. The House version of the bill had a tax on invidiuals making over $500,000 and families making over a million dollars. This makes more sense to me. Heck, I would even say we should be taxing individuals making over $150,000 and famlies making over $300,000. This would raise even more money. But somehow, maybe through heavy lobbying by the wealthy, the US government can't get away from supply-side economics, I guess Ronald Regan's hypnotic powers haven't worn off yet.


This looks like it will be fiasco, we really need to explore the one payer plan for this county, but it doesn't look like that will ever happen. And Ted Kennedy's seat now going to a Republican it looks like it is over for health care reform.

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