The House passes health care reform
In two historic votes in quick succession, the House of Representatives has voted to send the Senate health care reform bill to be signed into law by President Obama and to send a reconciliation bill of fixes for the Senate bill to the Senate for consideration. The vote tallies were 219-212 and 220-211. I must say, the members of the House have taken a great risk by doing this in the manner in which it was done. There is no guarantee of what the bill of fixes will look like after it emerges from the Senate, who could take up it’s debate as early as Tuesday.
One thing worthy of mentioning is how close the Republicans came to defeating the bill. Had it not been for Bart Stupak, D-MI, and the rest of the pro-life Democrats caving on the issue of abortion, it would not have passed. They were so adamant about the abortion language for so long and yet they agreed to vote for the bill, in exchange for the promise of an executive order that is supposed to cement the language that would prevent federal funding of abortion as standard policy. Keep in mind that an executive order does not carry weight over federal law and can be changed by a future President at his whim. Stupak and company are claiming this is a victory for life, but I am not so sure.
Just some quick observations about the debate and the vote. I would say
nearly 100% of the Democrats who spoke in favor of the legislation mentioned the evil insurance companies and how they discriminate against Americans who have pre-existing conditions, in one fashion or another. More than a few of the mentioned the greed of the insurance companies and the amount of profit they were making. As I pointed out last year, those profits are not nearly so great as the Democrats would have us believe. On the other side of the aisle, nearly every one of the Republicans who spoke against it mentioned how their constituents were against the federal government taking over the health care system.
I know some who read this are glad President Obama will be signing these reforms into law. They are convinced the federal government has a right to mandate that all Americans purchase health care insurance, no matter if they need it or not and to levy fines against them if they do not. They are convinced this legislation will lower the cost of health care for every American. From what I can understand, I am not so convinced. Let’s look at the mandate and the fines that can be levied.
I have been unable to find the exact amount of the fines, but the last I heard it was $750. What is to keep the young and health Americans, who have no need to purchase health care insurance, from choosing to pay the fine, instead of purchasing the government mandated health care insurance? It would be much cheaper for them to do so. Do you see where I am headed with this?
Another question is this. Does the Constitution allows the federal government to mandate that we all purchase health care insurance? If it does, then where does that authority stop? In other words, what else will they mandate we purchase? For our own good, of course. The Constitution was written and adopted to allow for a very limited federal government. Washington has strayed far from those founding principles and this legislation takes them even further down that path.
I am not so naive that I believe there is not room for improvement in our health care system. I fully understand that the insurance companies have been guilty of some very unsavory practices, but is this legislation the answer? I am afraid it isn’t, but rather opens the door to more and more control by the federal government. I can not see how that is a good thing.
At this time, there is really no way of knowing just where this legislation will take us and there is bound to be differing opinions on that direction. For myself, I am afraid we will see some consequences that were not foreseen, consequences that may be very difficult to recover from. Only time will tell.
I may say i do not need auto insurance, I don’t plan to have a wreck abd anyway the truck is 12 yrs old. But my state makes me buy it anyway. Perhaps if the states had of solved this problem individually, there would be no need for a federally mandated fix. Because the system was broken. It needed a fix. I hope this does fix it.
Yet only a handful of the states addressed this issue. Why?
Larry,
Procedural note: This thing isn’t done yet, and certainly the bill’s next stop is not Obama’s desk. Part of the reconcilliation process requires that the House bill, passed with fixes, go back to the Senate. Reconcilliation has some hard and fast rules, and one of those is that the House bill musst pass the Senate its exact form If any provisions are changed-if even one word is changed-in the bill and the Senate passes it, then it (again) must go back to the House for consideration and a vote.
The mandate will be an interesting issue to watch. From personal experience, I know that you cannot “plan” or “time” a major illness to coincide for a time when you decide to manage your own risk and buy health insurance. The people who decide to do this affect all of us with the rising costs due to their unpaid bills when they get sick.
I guess I would ask of you: Without a mandate, do you also think that the bankruptcy laws should be revisited with respect to health events? Basically, do you think somebody should be able to choose not to manage their own risks AND have the ability to stick medical providers with the bill through bankruptcy if they have a major illness? That’s a “choice” that affects mainly the providers who “front” medical care and those who pay for insurance (higher premiums through higher costs), but also affects (and already does) every single person who gets care as the providers continue to raise costs to pay for the unpaid care.
A person chooses not to get health insurance AND insists on their right to stick the rest of us with their bill, should they choose: Isn’t that the worst kind of welfare?
A given: Not everybody who has a health event blows out on the bill. But as of now, 70% of the personal bankruptcies in America are attributed to large medical bills, and a percentage of other people just simply let their bills go to judgement. That’s a lot of unpaid care, that isn’t “unpaid” at all. The bill is being passed down the line.
Laurie – I think you are making an ‘assumption’ when it comes to bankruptcies and how medical one’s come about. Most people I know (myself included) who have had to endure a bankruptcy for medical reasons found themselves in that position not because they had no insurance but because there out of pocket expenses were so huge AND hospitals were unwilling to set up payment plans for the difference.
I ended up with 25,000 in medical bills when I first got sick with the illnesses I have and I had insurance. I could not get anyone to work with me and was harassed, intimidated, and whatnot. I found myself in a situation that was so negative that my very life was at stake as a result of the extreme stress I was under on top of serious health conditions.
So…this argument doesn’t work because the number of people who actually do what you state is very small.
Dominique´s last blog ..Fragmented Days
Dominique:
No assumptions and certainly no judgements as to why this happens for people. I know more than one person who has faced the nasty consequence of trying and even succeeding to get physically well, only to find that they are financially destroyed because of it.
My issue with my last comment speaks to those who think it is reasonable to refuse to manage their risk (you know better than most-nobody can “plan” an illness) but at the same time want the ability to pass their costs down the line if they suffer an illness that, without insurance, they have no hope of paying for. That, to me, is an irresponsible choice that allows people to “manage” their risk with the knowledge that, if they go without insurance and end up with big medical bills, what the heck-they can just discharge them into the ether. And while not everybody does this, enough do (and enough will) that it makes an enormous impact on eventual costs of care.
It’s not the “ether” that absorbs these costs. It’s the providers, who, in response to unpaid care then jack up costs and pass them on to everybody else. A typical family insurance policy has $1000 built in simply to pay for these sorts of costs.
I frankly take issue with people who scream that they don’t want the government involved in their health care and give me my free market and let me make my own decisions, yet also want the freedom to not pay if it all becomes too much for them. I see this as just another way of saying “I want to be taken care of, no matter what,” without being honest about it.
Actually, the Senate bill that was passed by the House is on it’s way to Obama’s desk. and he has said he will sign it. The reconciliation bill that has the fixes for the Senate bill is the one that has to go to the Senate first. At least, that is my understanding of how this process works. (Are we all confused yet?)
You raise some very good questions about the bankruptcies and the medical bills. It is indeed a very complicated issue and that is one reason I believe this legislation will have consequences upon our country and the American people that can not be discerned at this time.
The president is going to sign the House passed Senate bill tomorrow but the Senate has never passed this bill. Unless I am mistaken, the Senate didn’t vote on this bill after Scott Brown was elected, how can the president sign it. Something is terribly wrong here.
This administration doesn’t care if people pay the fines or buys the insurance. Either way, they will get the money. This is not about giving everyone health cover or even about the insurance companies. This is about destroying the very fabric of America. This is an assault on the American people. This is about destroying the middle class which is what makes us different from all other countries. This is about punishing America for her ‘bad’ deeds.
I have a couple of questions of my own-
1. Is it legal to start taking payment for something we will not be able to use until 2014. In business, this is considered fraudulent.
2. If this is an undemocratic power grab, unconstitutional, and illegal, then don’t we as “we the people” have a constitutional responsibility to not comply.
3. Paying the fines – Don’t you think that is exactly what they want us to do. The more people who pay the fines, the less who are insured, thus, the less money that is spent.
4. By outright ignoring and stomping on the will of the majority of Americans, is not our government now guilty of impeachable acts by passing legislation in the manner that they did? Have they not drawn a line in the sand?
5. When is enough, enough? When do we the people say Hell No! This is my country, and I refuse to allow you to take anymore of my liberties, voice, and freedoms away from me?
This is not about healthcare. That is the sheep in wolves clothing. This is a despotic act. An act of war against what America stands for and has always stood for – FREEDOM AND LIBERTY.
Mark my words. We just opened the door for the legalization of all illegal immigrants, cap and trade, squelching of freedom of speech, you name it, they will do everything they can to take it away from us.
Yesterday our country fundamentally changed. Today, we need to move forward and fight back to fundamentally change our government.
Dominique´s last blog ..Fragmented Days
“This is about destroying the very fabric of America. This is an assault on the American people.”
-Dominique, exactly how is providing coverage to +30Million people destroying the “very fabric of America”? Your concerns sound scary yet ill defined. I just do not see the connection between this bill and “squelching of freedom of speech”. Perhaps you can elaborate some.
David W. Walters´s last blog ..Ward 9-B
LD, I thought that penalty was 2%? That would be more than a $750 fine for many people.
rjjrdq´s last blog ..Health Care Passage Paves The Way For Rest Of Agenda
rjjrdq,
You may be right. I was digging through the legislation and found the $750 number somewhere, but it could very well be the 2%.
You raise some great points Larry. How can someone who is supposed to be as pro-life as Stupak agree to cave in on the promise of an executive order that can be rescinded at any time? It makes no sense.
I also heard the fine was $750. Why wouldn’t everone drop their coverage, pay this fine, and then sign up for coverage only after the found out they had a serious disease? Why should the insurance companies be forced to cover someone who denied coverage until they were sick? If the left wants to use the auto insurance comparison, this would be like someone who chose not to have auto insurance until after they had a car accident, then signed up for insurance and the government forced the auto insurance to pay for the damages after the person chose not to be covered until it wa neccessary.
There are wuite a few questions yet to be answered, and it is going to be very interesting to see how this all plays out.