Days before Christmas Santa is reading President Obama’s statement about the Senate health care bill. He is checking it twice to find out if the President is naughty or nice. Is he telling the true or is he spinning it to the point that we cannot recognize what is true what is false. Quote by quote. Check. Check. Check. President Obama said today:
…Insurance companies will be prevented from denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing conditions once the exchange is open …
TRUE. Only the exchange is set up to be open in the year 2013. Until 2014 the companies will continue to deny coverage to adults.
… Insurance companies will now be prohibited from denying coverage to children immediately after this bill passes…
True. We already have big safety nets for kids coverage. Children’s Health Insurance Program and Medicaid take care of low-income family kids and kids with disabilities. So the change is minimal, good and easy to implement immediately.
…small businesses will get additional assistance as well…
True. Small employers may get tax credits. Employers (of 50+ people) are not being required to provide mandatory insurance but will be penalized if they do not provide coverage. Isn’t it a perfect example of government arrogance? We do not require but if you don’t do it we will penalize you. Do it voluntary or else we will punish you!
In most cases the insurance will be more expensive then the option to pay a fine to the Government and send the employees to buy their own coverage at the state exchange. Obama health care will give employers perfect excuse not to provide coverage to their people.
…No longer will insurance companies be able to drop your coverage if you become sick and no longer will you have to pay unlimited amounts out of your own pocket for treatments that you need…
True in 2014 but not immediately.
…families will save on their premiums…
False according to CBO report:
Average premiums per policy in the nongroup market in 2016 would be roughly $5,800 for single policies and $15,200 for family policies under the proposal, compared with roughly $5,500 for single policies and $13,100 for family policies under current law.
By CBO and JCT’s estimate, the average premium per policy in the small group market would be in the vicinity of $7,800 for single policies and $19,200 for family policies under the proposal, compared with about $7,800 and $19,300 under current law.
In the large group market, average premiums would be roughly $7,300 for single policies and $20,100 for family policies under the proposal, compared with about $7,400 and $20,300 under current law
According to the CBO estimates premium for some groups will stay the same and for some groups will be higher.
…This bill will strengthen Medicare…
False. The bill will cut 498 billion dollars from Medicare. The bill will also tax medical devices which mean that new hips and wheelchairs will be more expensive. The bill will cut the Medicare Advantage, so the AARP can get extra customers for their supplemental insurance.
If you were hoping to get cheap meds from Canada – kill your hope. Democrats cut a deal with big pharmaceutical companies and the cheap foreign meds dream is not happening. Government will grant 12 years of market protection to high-tech drugs used to combat cancer, Parkinson’s and other deadly diseases. Those life-saving drugs will be still expensive.
…and extend the life of the program…
True. The new taxes and penalties will make the Medicare Ponzi scheme to collapse not in two years but in 10 years .
…it’s paid for…
True. It will be paid by you. The bill will be paid with avalanche of taxes and cuts in Medicare services. The bill raises federal revenue $498 cuts Medicare $438 billion
It will require you to provide proof of health insurance for each member of the family when you file your taxes – if you are not able to produce proof of insurance – the penalties will be withdrawn automatically from your IRS tax-returns.
……Finally, this reform will make coverage affordable for over 30 million Americans who don’t have it — over 30 million Americans…
True. The bill will make it mandatory for those 30 million Americans to buy insurance or pay the government penalty. They will be forced into the system whether they want it or not. This includes 6 million Americans living abroad and not even using the US health care system. The number may rise to 45 million if the illegal immigrants receive amnesty.
December 21st, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Wow, that’s some biased fact-”checking,” ain’t it now? More opinion that fact, in fact. How about actually contributing to your readers’ knowledge by being HONEST about why things don’t kick in immediately but revenues are raised (through taxes) immediately, hmmmm? Or is that just too complicated for you to handle? OK, let me help. You can’t pay for something until you have the money, right? So, the immediate taxes are saved up over three years so that when the programs are implemented, the money is actually there to pay for them (unlike Bush’s wars and prescription drug program). See, THIS administration is HONEST about its budget. Meanwhile, besides having to wait for the money to pay for them, programs don’t kick in immediately because it will take a while for both the government and the insurance companies to organize under the new policies. Would YOU want a complex issue instituted immediately–before it was tested, for example? Before the forms were typed up, employees trained, the public educated on how to use them, etc., etc? See the problem, folks? Sites like this treat people like they are too simple to understand reality–and take advantage of that simplicity, too. Good job, “fact-checker”!
December 21st, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Philip Avon St. Cyr, let us know next time you actually see the government saving our tax dollars for years instead of borrowing from the Chinese. Obama’s shell game should offend everyone’s sensibilities, but you are too simple minded to understand it.
By the way, if you want a health insurance policy go buy it just like your foie gras and goat cheese. When liberals try working for a living instead of living off the public dole, they will understand the enormous burdens their foolishness places on responsible people.
Nice fact checking, Ellie. This is a fair presentation of a bad program.
December 21st, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Philip, we already pay enough taxes (federal income, medicare, SS and state personal taxes). If the government can not fit itself in those taxes – we need a new government that can.
No 1 cent in new taxes – until our government learn how to live on our dime without wasting it.
December 21st, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Philip said:…complex issue instituted immediately–before it was tested, for example? Before the forms were typed up, employees trained, the public educated on how to use them, etc., etc? See the problem, folks?
Philip, this is the problem. Imagine the size of the new bureaucracy if we need 4 years to establish. Makes me throw up – forms, stamps, bureaucrats to be trained.
Take a look at Medicare site – they have 736 FAQ ?!? Our money will go to create bureaucratic monstrosity and then we will waste our life dealing with those bureaucrats. 4 years to establish that nonsense.
December 21st, 2009 at 8:47 pm
” Would YOU want a complex issue instituted immediately–before it was tested, for example? Before the forms were typed up, employees trained, the public educated on how to use them, etc., etc?”
And thats going to be your BS excuse for taxing me for 4 years before I get my service that I dont want ?
An entire fledgling country could get its sht together faster than that !
Come to think of it, how much is it going to cost to train these people that will no doubt be a massive addition to government ? And how much to train the ones that train them ?
Whats going to happen when the guys who drew up this disaster get booted out of office in 3 years ?
Yeah, I get it. Its all a scam to commit us to voting dem so the bottom doesnt fall out of everything. After this freaking fiasco I figure theres no way the country is going to ever want to see any kind of “change” again, never mind a new administration.
Man, it never ends. I could go on and on coming up with everything thats wrong with this but it always ends with me telling myself that if this gets done the same way medicare and medicaid did coming 49 years later at hundreds of times over budget its going to be the single largest most damaging piece of legislation this country will ever see.
I say “ever” because it could well be the end of America as we know it. It goes to everything.
Maybe its a good thing. Might be a blessing in disguise.
Maybe after this it will be decades before we ever see another democratic administration.
“Wow, that’s some biased fact-”checking,” ain’t it now? More opinion that fact, in fact. How about actually contributing to your readers’ knowledge by being HONEST about why things don’t kick in immediately but revenues are raised (through taxes) immediately, hmmmm? Or is that just too complicated for you to handle? OK, let me help. You can’t pay for something until you have the money, right? ”
Uh, “things dont kick in immediately but revenues are raised immediately”?
I usually dont pay for anything until I can have it, I dont know about you but if you’re dumb enough to pay 4 years into something you dont know what will look like in 4 years you probably think you own a bridge somewhere right about now.
Thats like a dealership telling me that I’ve got to make 4 years of payments before I can start driving my car because they dont really know how to build it yet. And then if I dont like it after 4 years of you keeping my money your going to charge me for not giving you more money for the rest of my life ?
Whooo, I can hardly wait ! Where do I sign ?
December 21st, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Micky, in the former USSR folks had to make a down payment and wait for a few years until it is their turn to buy a car. Communists like to make people wait for the bright future to fall upon them. Keep them hoping, you know.
December 22nd, 2009 at 4:35 am
Top Twenty Five Features of ObamaCare
1. Medical degrees from Devry.
6. Tap water is a plasma substitute.
12. Tongue depressors taste like Popsicles.
20. Anesthesia comes in a bong.
23. Hospital TVs are all turned to MSNBC.
December 22nd, 2009 at 6:28 am
Yeah Ellie, same thing in Iraq.
You’d pay for your car and not see it for 5 years. Even in Denmark where some of my relatives live I hear stories of services and product sales being offset,staggered or prorated like this. Especially on things that the government deems “luxuries”.
In 1970 if you wanted to buy a Camaro in Denmark or have it shipped there the taxes on what was known as a “luxury” drove the price to twice what the car was worth.
Hmmm that made me think about these “Cadillac” policies they’re going to tax. Why ? Dont they want us all to have the best healthcare possible ? Isnt that what weve heard them saying ?
Compared to every other bill I’ve ever seen that came to the forefront grabbing attention this process looks like a riot of thousands compared to just two guys dooking it out.
All you can do is just sit back and let it burn itself out in hopes that you’ll be able to pick up the pieces when its all over.
Everyone needs to just stop, sht can everything and start over. But they wont. We all know this was designed to razzle dazzle and disorient everyone to the point they feel that resitance is futile