Comments (16) Jump to Comments Form

1. 

   Magnaut said, 2 months ago

   NOBODY LIKES IT BUT HE’S PRESIDENT

2. 

   oldlegodad said, 2 months ago

   “Oh Bother!”

3. 

   churchillwasright said, 2 months ago

   ^ Have you watched Winnie the Pooh lately, per chance?

4. 

   HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

   Pelosi has “Banned” 35 Republican plans from even getting to House floor. No partisanship here though.

5. 

   oldlegodad said, 2 months ago

   I wead Winnie every night when I way myself down to beddiebye.

6. 

   Tigger said, 2 months ago

   Obama is a fool! He refuses to listen to the masses, We do not want Government Run Health care!

7. 

   Ken Warren said, 2 months ago

   Tigger - ever heard of Medicare?

8. 

   believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

   howie, can you say “tax-payer gifts to big insurance tied with a red ribbon?” that just about describes the so-called 35 proposals. Flurry of bills doing one little thing at a time, but reform.

   Want another example? If an individual is lucky enough to have a private insurer sell them an individual policy, they can deduct UP TO $2,500 from taxes, although the policy will easily cost them from $4,000 to $12,000 a year. (My last individual health policy cost me $4,800/yr and that was five years ago. Premiums have doubled in the past six years.) And the only reason I could only get an individual policy because of the COBRA law guaranteeing the policy for 18 mos. Wow, what a lot of help that little bill would be.

   Once again, the GOPs reveal they have no idea what it means to be a working-class American, and they have no idea what the reality of healthcare delivery is today and they have no ideas offered about controlling costs.

9. 

   HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

   C’mon BCS–as McEnroe says “You cannot be serious”

10. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    about what? that little example of one of the 35 bills you say the Reps offered comes directly from the Republicans web site. They’re all listed. I looked at ‘em. No wonder it’s so hard to find them; looking at them shows exactly how “un-serious” the Reps about reform.

11. 

    nomad2112 said, 2 months ago

    BCS, maybe it’s the Dem’s “my or the highway” attitude …

12. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    nomad, except the Dems keep making all the compromises. It’s like having a goal line and moving it further away when one side moves toward it. You can’t cross the line if the one side moves it backward constantly. I really think the Reps want any reform to fail so it will help them pick up seats in 2010.

13. 

    HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

    Insurance companies–what about AARP? They are not in the help elderly business–profit is their game and millions is what is in store for them if Obamacare gets rammed through.

14. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    Uh, how, Howie?

15. 

    HOWGOZIT said, 2 months ago

    AARP has a vested interest in the form of private health insurance plans it endorses. Obama also wants to eliminate Medicare Alliance (about 10 million seniors chose this as it provides better managed care and at a lower cost than they get under traditional Medicare). You don’t hear AARP concerning this elimination nor hear they won’t stand fr Medicare cuts. Why–because they will make millions with the insurance plans they endorse.

16. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    Howie, WRONG! your facts are off here. The only thing you have correct is the 10 million Medicare Advantage subscribers, about 25 percent Medicare members.

    There has been bipartisan agreement (until the right picked this up as their latest prevarication) to reduce the subsidy to Medicare Advantage because it has turned into a windfall profit to private insurers funded by taxpayers. And the Medicare Advantage costs are much higher, not lower, than traditional medicare, at least 14 percent higher at this time. The number is from the CBO, the CMS and every other independent health policy organization.

    The private Medicare Advantage plans offer free dental, free gym memberships, lots of other nice goodies that traditional Medicare doesn’t include and it is ALL paid for by taxpayers. Humana is one of the largest MA insurers and they’re making money hand over fist since the MA payments were increased in 2003.

    The proposal is not to eliminate the Medicare Advantage program, but to reduce the 14% excess payments to a smaller percentage. (see lisa Benson 9/23 for links)

    The AARP doesn’t endorse insurance plans, they offer a supplement to traditional medicare which the subscriber pays for, not the taxpayer.