Private Insurers Claim Baucus Bill Will Cause the Premiums to Go Up Instead of Down

[Just-a-Writer]

Insurance companies hoped that this would derail the bill since they weren't guaranteed more money coming in mandated coverage, but instead I think they gave Washington a good reason to put the public option back in. These are the same insurers that promised they would work with Washington for reform seven months ago. I think they finally out-maneuvered themselves!

[Mark F Lamb]

True the insurance companies are trying to derail Obama's NHC. They are trying to stop him from losing thousands of jobs and the right of people to have choice. They know that if NHC goes through they will no longer be able to provide choices to the people because they will not be able to stay in business. We the sheep will have to accept what Obama says we must and it won't matter whether it is right or wrong. Tell me where one man has the right to tell the whole nation of America what is right for them. My God, does he think he is Jesus? He has a solution for everything and he doesn't want anyone to think they have the right to think for themselves. He wants no discussion. Just pass his bills and do as he says. What is so hard in seeing that. Listen to him. He says, You will - not - lets work out a solution together. He built a platform of Hope on a platform of Lies. I do not doubt the man wants what is best for Americans but HE is not the only person in the nation that has the answer. There is no ONE person that has the answer to all of our problems. Running a nation such as ours, or for that matter, any nation is the job of many people working together to find those solutions. We do not need a dictator. If we let him go unchecked that is exactly what he will end up being. Basically what I am saying we need to let him know that if he is to be our leader, our President, he needs to be honest, upfront, and work with the people. He has got to stop talking down to us as if we were his children. He is not our saviour. He is our president. He needs to understand that.

[Mark F Lamb]

Jaquin, The responsibility lies on both sides of the fence. You state it in such a way that only the right are responsible for the ills of the world. It is both sides. Really. And as long as we keep allowing the same liars to be voted in time after time after time it is not going to get better.

The dictator remark is not a soundbite. When he believes he is the only one who knows what is best for all the people and he is going to fix it right now with out any help, well that sounds very dictatorial to me.

I have a friend that has traveled around the world. She had the world on a string. Until she was poisoned by an ex-boyfriend. Now she needs constant care and therapy. She has nothing including insurance. She can't enjoy walking on the beach. She can barely walk. We talk weekly on the telephone and sometimes through email. Unfortunately with all the pain she can't get a decent nights sleep and it is hard for her to sit at her computer to write very long. She wants to give up her pain meds because of the cost and the difficulty getting it. She has tried giving it up but can't for the excruciating pain.

A distant relative has a son that will never get out of debt because of the surgical and hospital charges and he didn't have insurance. She has Crohn's Disease.

I lost five blood relatives and about as many in-law relatives to Cancer. Came close to losing three friends to the disease. Lost two blood relatives to emphysema.

A friend in GB has Arthritis of the worst kind and has had it since she was young. She can hardly use her hands.

In Denmark a friend's mother has Alzheimer's and understands what I am going through as well as I understand her problems.

I think a lot of us know someone, a friend, a relative, or ourselves, that are dying and in some cases not getting the help they need.

I guess I am luckier than most. I have a seven year old grandson that doesn't know the depression I feel and why nothing hardly gets cleaned up around the house. So most weekends he comes over and sweeps, vacuums, dusts and cuts my lawn with a non-motorized lawnmower and cleans up my backyard. As far as I can tell he believes he is the parent and we are the children. Isn't ADH wonderful? And no I do not ask him to do these things. He has two things he likes to do. Ride his bicycle and use tools. Tools are brooms, mops, shovels, lawnmowers, ladders, etc. Oh, I forgot, he loves to climb. I have pictures of him climbing brick and stone walls, doorways, and interior house walls, a ten foot ear of corn, and a rocking chair where the seat appears to be around 12 feet off the ground.

[John Turberville]

"They are trying to stop him from losing thousands of jobs and the right of people to have choice."

Of course losing their fat profits and being able to "select" whom they will insure has NOTHING to do with it!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/01/lobbyists-millions-obam...

Can you say "corruption"?

[Mark F Lamb]

JAcquin, This is what is wrong with the way things are now. All I am saying is the Government has never, ever, done anything right when they take over private business. As bad as things are now if the Government takes over health care it is going to be worse. We need Government involvement and/or monitoring but we need real people running the business of health care. From what little I could glean from the original bill NHC will be run by a "Secretary" and political beings. Why would we believe that these people will have any more concern than the insurance companies. Now if they were to assure us that the program would be run by Doctors and medical professionals ---- well it might help. After all isn't it part of the Doctor's oath to save lives? Just a thought!

[Mark F Lamb]

Sorry about the wording. By real people I mean people that are not politicians in so far as NHC. In the capitalistic insurance business any monitoring or auditing should not necessarily be government by itself. What I would like to see no matter what system is in use is advisory boards of at least 50% Doctors and nurses. My classifying politicians as un-real is based upon that they do not work an 8 hr day 5 days a week job. They come and go as they please and as individuals make three times the amount of the average household. They are not governed by the same laws of the land as you and I. They are supposed to be but they get away with more corruption, theft and even worse with hardly more than a slap on the wrist. These people who are supposed to be working for us are fleecing us. What really bothers me is they can raise their salaries/benefits any time and in any amount, we have no say in the matter. Man, wouldn't I love having that kind of setup where I worked.

[Mark F Lamb]

no argument. We need reform. but not by government and the people who run government - politicians.

Except one part ... Why do you say Republicans are over paid? I really don't see too many starving Democrats in the political ring. If anything is going to fix the situation it is not corrupt Republicans or Democrats. It will have to be people who really care and if they really cared they would give up their extravagant salaries and benefits and start living in the manner of the people they were hired to serve. In other words we need real people running the government, not politicians. We need citizens to start voting for change - just as they did when they voted for Obama and to keep voting for change until we get people in government that care about change more than they care about being rich power brokers.

[Daniel Blattenbauer]

You know why the insurance companies have turned against this. The reform may cut into their huge profits. Very simple. And if they make less profit, they will have less money to "buy" politicians in the future! They obviously care little about "health care". They care about "money". And even if their claim is true that premiums might go up, I suspect they will not go up as much if things are left as they are.

[Vernon Windsor]

Private insurers have loaded the gun. I say we pull the trigger and push for a real public option.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/22887392#33301176

[Madhatterat60]

So...blackmail...or an admission that they plan to punish the public if Health Care Reform passes? Geeeeee....There's a surprise!!!

[Mark F Lamb]

I see some kind of progress has been made. But I haven;t had a chance to find out whether it sounds to be good for us or not. But I haven't heard anything about fixing the Pre-existing clause in private insurance nor making health insurance available across state lines for a more competitive situation. But did find this brief remark at CBS news: And members of Congress earn $174,000 a year - triple the income of the average working-age household. Yet their premiums are about the same.
It is so good that the government cares about our health.

[Mark F Lamb]

I understand the role of the president and the system of separation of powers. But from what I have seen and read during the last 40 years I see where the government is doing things that are not in our Constitution. They have taken over our schools, they tell us how to live, how to raise our children, they have their nose in our personal lives and want to have chips in us, They lie to us about what they are doing, and they have created a system of welfare. All these and more are not constitutionally right but have gradually crept into our system of government. Mostly we have learn to accept these changes but almost all of them were done without consulting the citizens of the United States of America. It is based upon this where I can see the President eventually will become so powerful that the other Branches could be taken over or eliminated. Maybe not this round but If you look at the history of the changes created by Presidents and by Congress it is not implausible that within the next 30 - 100 years our whole system of government will not begin to resemble what we have now just as what we have now doesn't resemble what our government was like 100 years ago.

[Daniel Blattenbauer]

The Republicans have always been the champions of big business and against the unions. So it is no surprise that they want no reform since it will hurt their friends who are benefiting from the huge profits. They are for breaking unions, having no or a very low minimum wage, no controls on big business whatsoever, and no limit on CEO pay or bonuses, even if their corporations are propped up by taxpayers. Their stand on things hardly explains their claim to be "compassionate conservatives", or having "family values". Working at the poverty level, having little or no health care, and not being able to unionize hardly contributes to a good family life in most cases. Their "trickle down" theory is a joke, in my opinion. Now I see Senator Snowe is dealing with the wrath of her party since she actually had backbone enough to vote for what people in this country need, affordable health care. However, they have no trouble voting money for senseless wars or voting in a drug program for seniors under which the government could not negotiate for lower prices as the VA does. Of course, their friends in "big pharma" loved the deal and the taxpayers are picking up the tab.