By Fareed Zakaria
Many liberals believe that the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — is unpopular only because most Americans don’t understand it. There is some truth to this: Studies show that the core provisions of the bill are more popular than the bill itself. But there’s also a reason, rooted in reality, why many Americans worry about Obamacare — its cost.
Most Americans have health care. What they worry about is the cost of insuring 20 million to 30 million more people. Unless the meteoric rise of health-care costs is slowed, a big expansion of coverage might well remain unpopular, no matter how it is explained, Zakaria writes in the Washington Post.
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And I ask the question, are the courts in all those efficient countries clogged with civil litigants and "ambulance chasing lawyers"??? I haven't been to all those countries but I know people from all of them and the report back suggest, not really. If that's true why isn't the cost of defensive medicine and mal practice insurance at least talked about as if it might be part of the mix? Might there be a better way to compensate for actual loss?
It has been in some States – some with disastrous consequences. I was the victim of a botched surgery and inadequate follow up care. While one doctor (the one causing the damage) said it was fine, another plainly stated that some inadequate doctors need to be stopped with legal action. The State was Michigan. The bar for expert testimony (required to be the EXACT same education and experience as any defendant) was so high and the time limits too small to provide any relief. The result – the bad doctor is still doing his thing and essentially cannot be stopped under current Michigan law. My private health insurance covered 80% of the damages and I got stuck with the rest. Is this proper tort reform? NO.
In a democratic society one follows the principle : laissez-vivre – live and let live. Yet each individual should be responsible for his own actions. Teachers and parents do have the duty to tell children from early age what's right and wrong, so they have the common sense to judge whether it îs good for the health, to drink two or three pints of coca-cola, or smoke two packages of cigarettes a day. The wellbeing of a country's population requires gruelling attempts of different forces to get the act together.
Tort reform will never happen. As long as lawyers occupy 96% of the elected offices they will not change the law to short change themselves or their brethren. They are the biggest hidden leach on the economy.
Did you know that by law that in Tort Reform that lawyers can only charge 5%.
What are you talking about muzzie?
You're not from Texas, are you? Our torts were reformed in 2003: $250k caps on damages. Result: recent study finds no more doctors have come to practice in Texas, and costs have not gone down: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2047433
A doctor I know said that without the torte reform, it will make it harder to work. He pays 3 times the insurance a doctor pays in , I think he said Idaho.
Makes sense. Also my biggest question is how can you force working poor and people who are on unemployment to pay for medical insurance when they have to use the emergency room as primary care because they are broke.
And how can an illegals get medical insurance in a state-it is not like car insurance-states have insurance commissioners that set rules. You have to buy medical insurance in the state you live in. Obamacare states all have to have insurance and all pay something.
Tort reform in Texas is working. For example, medical malpractice premiums paid by doctors the state have fallen. But the mistake everyone made was assuming the doctors would pass those savings on to patients. Instead, they've pretty much pocketed the difference and used it to offset other changes like decreases in what medicare/medicaid will pay. You have to remember that doctors and such have been seeing reimbursements for service get cut year after year by bueracrats, while premiums went up over and over and over. They kept cutting into their own profit margins over time, rather than pass everything on to the consumer. So when Tort Reform cut their costs, they pretty much felt justified to keep all the savings as they've given up to much over the last twenty years to others.
I believe that this Government run Health Care System will be bad for the Majority. I envision large waiting rooms, less doctors, a traffic director in scrubs, who is a member of the SEIU and red, blue, yellow and green lines painted on the floors directing Patients (waiters) to various rooms for consultation. You won't see a Doctor and at each step of the process you will have at least a 2 hour wait to see someone else. most of the money will go to "new, more efficient programs", expanded waiting rooms and larger parking lots and reams of paperwork. The care will be minimal, generic and shoddy. By the time your scheduled appointmet arrives your records will be misplaced or you will dead.
This will not be good for the Middle Class people who have worked and contributed most of their lives. Now we get to sit with the truly "Great Unwashed" least productive members of our Great Society.
Really?
Then why is it very successful in Europe, Canada, Iceland?
Some would question if it is "successful" in Europe and Canada. In Canada for instance, many come to the US to actually get surgery. My neighbor's father actually came here for cataract surgery after waiting for 3 yrs in Canada. Also, did you know Canada will send some mothers that are expected to have "difficult births" to the US (at least over in the NW corner of the US) because they don't have the facilities. How is that going to work out when we do the same?
Lastly, Canada, and those European countries you mentioned, generally have healthier and less litigious societies.
The point I was making is that in Europe et al. noone is turned away for the lack of medical insurance- as in the US.
Granted some health related problems can be low on the totem pole and, consequently, those with money go elsewhere to get help.
To my knowledge, there is no perfect system.
In response to Sheikha Bhavana Bint Deepa.
European countries have goverment provided health care, not mandatory health insurance plans.
Harry
Health care from the government is mandatory. Citizens are not allowed to drop out or choose another insurance program. What you can do is purchase extra services that will enable you to jump the queue or go elsewhere for services.
You do not know you are paying for it because it is embedded in your tax.
WHAT government run healthcare? There is no such thing in America.
This "Obamacare" is not a health plan. It requires you to buy health insurance (just like you might get at work) from a company. The government is not running it.
Oh yes Canada is SO great. No money for MRI's and such so if you get a head injury you may have to be transported a hundred+ miles to get to the nearest machine (unlike the US where there are 6 times as many per citizen compared to anywhere else in the world). In the US we complain on emergency room wait tims which average 4 hours fromm entry to discharge or getting moved to a room. In Canada they consider 8 hours or less as a "A" grade, with some hospitals having 20+ hours wait time to get people into rooms (for example in Alberta only 59% of all cases were processed in under 8 hours). Wonderful Canada where any type of surgery can put you into a wait list where you coudl easily wait 6 months to a year for things like knee replacements or discectomies or other ailments. Canada in my opinion is a FAILED medical system as you wait to long for everything, which is how they keep costs lower (less equipment, less specialists, less of all the things the US has ... so it takes time for everything to happen).
Sounds just like a Army Hospital.. Been there done that.
@Ken
You making stuff up. Please stop.
I do business with small businesse in Canada and my contacts are very satisified with their medical care.Check out snopes or fast check about all the rumors of Canadians crossing for care .All of the stories are friends relitives but never the actual Canadians.Boy does sound strange ? I have talked to one of my suppliers of Tartan items and She had a knee or hip replacement done a year or so ago.She did not get it done in the US and she can afford the trip. The Canadians are laughing at us
Although the US spends four times more than a lot of socialised medicine countries it is strange
that the US is bottom of the advanced nations in how long you live, has the highest of any western nation of babies dying at birth...wonder why that is?
Could always do what France does, private companies run the hospitals but your local city has the bill, it is calculated that because of the cost of treating 45 million uninsured in ER the cost of your insurance is some 30% higher than it should be. Also if a five minute consultation in hospital costs $500 tell me they are being paid fair?
Well, where to begin. First, so what that no more lawyers have come to Texas to practice, a nation wide law would give them nowhere to hide their sorry-–. The unwashed masses? I will gladly wait longer in waiting rooms for healthcare and all this is talk about fearmongering, nothing more. The system will adjust to this new reality. I am not a one percenter, but fairly close, and already have great health insurance, and I believe all Americans should have basic care.
Indeed, right wing conservatives are scared to death that when this bill is fully implemented it will be much more popular as the retoric will be replace by a realization of it's positive importance.
Wake up! Conservatives want the same as everyone, but we think about the cost. 60% of what is in BO Care can be fixed with simple law and will not cost a trillion dollars. This thing is just socialized med to cover the cost for everyone that is lazy or doesn't want to give up money on insurance. People in general hate spending money on ANY kind of insurance. You pay big money and get nothing for it. It just a gamble if you will need it or not. The only way this will ever big fixed is to SHOW what the costs really are. Ask yourself a question. Why does it cost more to spend a night in a smelly hospital an a five start hotel? Why do things cost so much? GREED!
There is. The new schedule of benefits becomes a kind of norm, but in all cases the doctor is free to recommend any prudent addiitonal tests and treatments that the patient would have to pay for themselves. I believe negligence is avoided provided the information and recommendations are made.
That's what I have been saying for years! What needs to be addressed first of all is malpractice. A doctor comes out of med school sometimes several hundred thousand in debt with student loans, and before they can see patyirents they must have, what, a million in malpractice insurance? They have to charge insane amounts just to catch up. Then they order every expensive test in the book to help prevent being sued. I think the biggest problem is UNFOUNDED medical malpractice claims. I say make arbitration mandatory before any malpractice suit is allowed to go forward.
Next: reign in big pharm. Reduce the time a company can have market exclusivity, because generics are so much cheaper.
That should say patients, not patyirents. Sorry. I get a little hot headed on this topic!
I want to get tickets to Richard III , 2 pm maintee. It seems like that ought to be possible on July 9, 16,17, 30 & Aug. 6. But some of these dates appear to conflict with As You Like It dates. Please clarify. Thanks, FB
But we take care of people in emergency situations already, and that costs a lot of money and is grossly inefficient. Having doctors care for patients instead of scrounging around for "free samples" of medication to treat those without insurance is a much better use of the doctors time. Hospitals still have to cover their bills, whether or not the patient can pay. If everyone is insured, then at least there will be payment for covered services.
We are already paying a lot for not having everyone insured. And that's not counting lost productivity, etc.
If you could read, you would note that all your concerns are ignorant because we will have universal health care.
Get your facts straight – ObamaCare is NOT universal health care. Spend some time in Canada and you'd know.
I dont have to go to Canada silly.
I have a computer and I know how to use a search engine.
Do you want me to teach a thing or two?
We don't have universal health care in the U.S. – maybe you should put those Internet skills you claim to have to good use.
This is the best commentary from a doctor? Where are the 600,000 jobs this bill was to produce immediately after signing. The people that passed the bill still do not know what the bill contains. How can Americans support not only the largest tax increase in U.S. history, but a healthcare program that DOES contain a panel to decide on YOUR healthcare. YES, the dreaded "death panel" that the Government is trying to say does not exist. WAKE UP!
First of all it is not the largest tax increase in American history. And please point me to the source for your claim of "death panels".
Cracks me up when people cry about "death panels" and the "govt getting between me and my doctor". What do you think insurance companies have been doing all these years? Denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, denying payment for visits/meds/therapies that the physician ordered, looking to maximize their profits at the expense of patients (I know. I'm a physician who has had to fight insurance companies to cover things for my patients). Insurance companies have been the death panels getting between patients and doctors.
Thanks Doc. You put the blame squarely where it belongs, with insurance companies. You also should include the tort lawyers following any health problem, for their own gain.
maybe no death panel but nor real way to control cost. Costs need to start at the manufacturing side not at the profit side. Obama lost my vote with this tax bill. Congress should have done the right thing and raised medicare tax and put everyone on that system instead of leaving our healthcare in the hands of private for profit companies.
Oh crabs. I have no idea what I am talking about.
I just want people to be scared and then we have American spring.
ahahahaha....
old golfer is an idiot who has no idea how to do research.
When old golfer needs to harass, demean, lie, cheat ad infinitum, he just reaches arround to his backside and pulls something out.
The Phase "death panel" was dropped mostly by the opposition to health care reform, Why? Because "death panel" was a phrase used by some of the larger health insurance companies employees. I was one of those employees who worked in the office next to the meeting room where the "death panel" would meet to discuss what care to provide a 10 year old with leukemia etc. It consisted of 3 lawyers a medical billing specialist one or two doctors(who would normally be providing health care with your health care dollar but instead work for insurance companied denying health care) and some other insurance company people(no representatives for the patient at these meetings) there job was to determine what procedures they HAD to cover under the policy and what procedures they could deny. If a potentially life saving procedure was deemed "unnecessary" or "cost ineffective" or the lawyers though the terms of their insurance contract could allow them to deny coverage well, the child would die. One day during the health care debate going on in the media a memo went on stating employees were no longer to use the phase "death panel".
pzanga wants to know "passittoknow"s source for the claim of "death panels". Easy... Sarah Palin and Fox News... ObamaCare is a poor excuse for a proper national health care system... Anyone who's really interested should compare the current (meaning pre-ObamaCare) percentage of GDP that the U.S. spends on healthcare and and how much civilized countries like Canada, France, Germany, the Scandinavians, etc. spend...
These kinds of silly comments are absurd on their face. The 'dreaded death panels' do exist right now – in private health care insurers. How can any educated person not know this. Private health insurance has denied life saving procedures and medications more times than most people want to admit. It is a constant reality.. Now when a government panel decides whether or not someone should have a face lift or liposuction it is quickly labeled a death panel by propagandists. Wake up. Stop the lies.
I AM AWAKE. I am trying to stop the lies from dt.
Other than Fox News or Limbaugh, can you produce any sort of evidence that these death panels exist? You can't! It's how the masses are controlled: through fear. Oh, he is a muslim, he is black, he will take your guns, he will implement death panels. Wow, how pathetic of grown-ups to buy all the propaganda crap without knowing the facts!
Except the fear of muslim, the rest is crap.
DD is just trying to take away the fear of muslims because he does not want you to fear him while he lies and lies ...
Fear the muslim. The muslim is not afraid to do allah's work. So fear the muslim!
You claiming it is the largest tax increase in American history shows that you're nothing but a shill for Rush Limbaugh and other out of their mind conservative talking heads because they were the *ONLY* ones talking about it. The truth of the matter is if you already have health insurance it won't cost you a penny! The only people affected by this are the ones who work and who CAN afford health insurance but CHOOSE not to. They are the ONLY ones who will have to pay this penalty.
Old golfer you are not correct in your statements around if you already have insurance it won't affect you. These increase will affect all of us in low and middle class or retired people the most.
1. The ObamaCare Medical Device Manufacturing Tax
This 2.3 percent tax on medical device makers will raise the price of (for example) every pacemaker, prosthetic limb, stent, and operating table. Can you remind us, Mr. President, how taxing medical devices will reduce the cost of health care? The tax is particularly destructive because it is levied on gross sales and even targets companies who haven’t turned a profit yet.
These are often small, scrappy companies with less than 20 employees who pioneer the next generation of life-prolonging devices. In addition to raising the cost of health care, this $20 billion tax over the next ten years will not help the country’s jobs outlook, as the industry employs nearly 400,000 Americans. Several companies have already responded to the looming tax by cutting research and development budgets and laying off workers.
2. The ObamaCare High Medical Bills Tax
This onerous tax provision will hit Americans facing the highest out-of-pocket medical bills. Currently, Americans are allowed to deduct medical expenses on their 1040 form to the extent the costs exceed 7.5 percent of one’s adjusted gross income.
The new ObamaCare provision will raise that threshold to 10 percent, subjecting patients to a higher tax bill. This tax will hit pre-retirement seniors the hardest. Over the next ten years, affected Americans will pony up a minimum total of $15 billion in taxes thanks to this provision.
3. The ObamaCare Flexible Spending Account Cap
The 24 million Americans who have Flexible Spending Accounts will face a new federally imposed $2,500 annual cap. These pre-tax accounts, which currently have no federal limit, are used to purchase everything from contact lenses to children’s braces. With the cost of braces being as high as $7,200, this tax provision will play an unwelcome role in everyday kitchen-table health care decisions.
The cap will also affect families with special-needs children, whose tuition can be covered using FSA funds. Special-needs tuition can cost up to $14,000 per child per year. This cruel tax provision will limit the options available to such families, all so that the federal government can squeeze an additional $13 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years.
The targeting of FSAs by President Obama and congressional Democrats is no accident. The progressive left has never been fond of the consumer-driven accounts, which serve as a small roadblock in their long-term drive for a one-size-fits-all government health care bureaucracy.
For further proof, note the ObamaCare “medicine cabinet tax” which since 2011 has barred the 13.5 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts from purchasing over-the-counter medicines with pre-tax funds.
4. The ObamaCare Surtax on Investment Income
Under current law, the capital gains tax rate for all Americans rises from 15 to 20 percent in 2013, while the top dividend rate rises from 15 to 39.6 percent. The new ObamaCare surtax takes the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and top dividend rate to 43.4 percent. The tax will take a minimum of $123 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years.
And, last but not least...
5. The ObamaCare Medicare Payroll Tax increase
This tax soaks employers to the tune of $86 billion over the next ten years.
As you can understand, there is a reason why the authors of ObamaCare wrote the law in such a way that the most brutal tax increases take effect conveniently after the 2012 election. It’s the same reason President Obama, congressional Democrats, and the mainstream media conveniently neglect to mention these taxes and prefer that you simply “move on” after the Supreme Court ruling.
I checked each one the lies you posted and, surprise, they were lies.
Read a book, take night school to increase your comprehension level in English and come back then.
Uh, ObamaCare has ALREADY cost me money. As soon as it was passed, my health insurance premium jumped 20%, and the company (Blue Cross) stated that it was in response to the new requirements of the OC law. FACT. I can guarantee that everyone in this country is paying for ObamaCare in some way, even those who already have insurance.
Please pull your head out of your butt. The president, congress, FBI,CIA,TSA, Postal workers, Military, prisons etc.. use gov't run health care. Miedicare and Medicaid are gov't run health care. NONE of these groups or individuals are worried about death panels. Stop listening to Sarah Palin please. It's killing your brain cells.
Ken? I'm a federal worker, and I have a private insurance company for my healthcare. Not government run healthcare. Facts are a beautiful thing. Now, the military DOES have government run healthcare, and it's abysmal. Some of that is because of the way the military is structured, and some of that is because it's run by government. Either way, it is not an optimal system by any stretch of the imagination. I know from experience. You?
Who do you think makes those choices for you now?A stupid person making minimum wage at places like united health care that can only say "not covered " and will only reconsider when you tell them that you are calling the State Atty. general or the State Insurance commissoner.The Insurance Companiers are raping the public , and the doctors.
The cost issue has a number of components and the one most ignored in the discussion is that we are already paying for all the uninsured through social programs and policy premiums and it's critical indirect costs be incuded.
First of all the Health coverage in Canada is not great. Allot of people were coming to the US to get better health care, now where will the go!. Allot of private doctors are barley hanging on now, because of the Government not paying decent payments for medicaid and medicare. We already have a Health system that is Government run that is severely lacking to say the least. They can't even balance the budget or Social security but were gonna have them Handle Medical for all of us.
What about the people that can't afford Medical now because they make to much, but don't make enough to buy insurance. Were gonna penalize them for being poor workers. But the people that sat on there asses and do nothing still get a free ride. Its the working poor and working lower middle class that are barley making it now that are gonna have a hard time with this. But its ok if the Union's that already make more money than the average working poor get exempt until 2018. It's ok that the congress, house, President and there family's are exempt. This is not even close to being good or being fair.
Health care is aready rationed though price and access. Having some legal grounds for allocating what is of necessity a limted service ia a great beginning to control costs and improve inclusion.
Len, habibi, give some examples.
If you dont post examples, that means THAT LEN HAS LIED AGAIN.
Upward spiraling cost of healthcare is not so hard to understand .. Here are the reasons: (1) Uncapped tort cases against physicians & hospitals yield crushing malpractice insurance costs [which Dumboocrats have supported via Amer Bar Assn + Insur Underwriters' lobbying to assure their future profitability] .. (2) Malpractice Insurance costs have limited how many doctors can stay in business themselves - plus GPs and Specialists will order many, many diagnostic tests not only to cover their fannies - but because malpractice insur policies also demand following certain protocols which is actually very, very wa$teful .. (3) Then there's immigration reform which BOTH Repugnicans + Dumbocrats have tiptoed around because they want the Latino votes .. In the USA illegal immigrants + extended (illegal) family members of legal immigrants flood Emergency Rooms for every sort of healthcare without paying as they KNOW they will NOT be turned away, so everyone else pays through the nose for those people.
Prez Obozo appeals to the underbelly of society who want some things for nothing .. Middle Class get creamed because the rich don't worry. Federal employment has skyrocketed and that's why WashDC has the BEST real estate market in the USA. Obozo is a socialist. Make no mistake about that. However, does Romney REALLY have a plan ??? No. He flops, he flips, he struts .. offering nothing. Here's something few people really know nothing about. Congress voted through to increase the tax on social security so disabled & retired folks will be paying more in 2013 on their Soc.Security proceeds. If that's all you're living on, you better know that ALL WashDC is sending us to the poor house !!!
The name calling really detracts from your argument. You sound like you are ten years old.
10 years old? I didn't think that level of maturity was displayed... I'd say more like the intellectual output of a 7 year old...
Obamacare is only a tax if companies do not provide Healthcare is this too hard to understand for all Americans?
If you owned a company that currenty could not afford to offer health insurance and pay the government minimums, what would you call it?
Slave labor.
its also a tax if your companies decided to pay the small penalty to drop coverage. Which by the way will not be used to subsidies your insurance. Also a very important point is the money your paying for mandatory insurance is paid to a for profit company not a non profit insurance company. That is what upsets a lot of people.
Hey habibji, here is the real story.
Starting in 2014, people who are not offered affordable health insurance coverage by their employers will receive income-indexed premium and out-of-pocket cost-sharing subsidies. The highest subsidies will be offered to the lowest-income workers. That reduces the social-equity advantage of employer-sponsored insurance, by enabling these workers to obtain coverage they could not afford on today’s individual market.
When has the Government ever made anything less expensive? The real cost of this plan will not be known for a number of years...it was designed that way. If you want to cover everyone with health care....you have to stop catering to the insurance companies and start to provide free clinics...It would be less costly and more efficeint to have only catastrophic insurance coverage and make office visits and checkups free to everyone. Cap the malpractice penalties. No insurance should ever have to pay for a cold checkup...sinus infection...eye tests etc...Lets get real and make some good of this health care law...take the good things and make something that is not lining the pockets of the politicians....
old man health care plan
1. states buy all the clinics and hire the doctors and nurses...pay them a fair wage....staes regulate this not the feds
2. no cost for basic office visit....free meds...sliding scale for more severe consults...100.00 cap
3. insurance kicks in when you have to be hospitalized
4. malpractice capped at 250,000 1 million for loss of limbs
5. have to have an ID to get health care
everyone gets covered from the first day you are born n this country....
need to be a US citizen for free coverage...we cannot afford to cover the whole world!!
everyone has to have catastrophic coverage...costs 150.00 a month per person...insurance companies don't like it ...to bad...they will put pressure on hospitals and physicain to lower costs so they will be profitable..
Just an example
Socialist bologna.
1) States are broke
2) No such thing as No Cost. $100 cap-magnanimous of you-wouldn't cover the operating cost of the building.
3) Insurance appears out of thin air in your world-see item 1
4) Cap Malpractice at $250k or $1M. Person disabled from malpractice wouldn't be able to cover even the minimal costs of living over a lifetime. Congratulations you've sentenced the victim to poverty.
5) Someone dies at the door of the hospital because they didn't have their ID. Congratulations on asking doctors to violate their Hippocratic oath
Get some sleep you need it.
Mr reaper....may be socailist but what the h$)) is Obamacare? the bigest socailist grab in our history...whats your plan meathead? Or are you just a great namecaller that has air in his head!
Reform also offers options for workers to obtain affordable insurance outside the workplace. Individuals who are unemployed or whose employers do not offer affordable health coverage, and whose household incomes are less than 400 percent of the federal poverty level,2 are eligible for subsidies toward policies they will be able to purchase on newly created state insurance exchanges. These will offer individual and family policies of set benefit levels (bronze, silver, gold, and platinum) from a variety of payers.
The subsidies will cap the amount lower- and middle-income individuals and families will have to spend on health coverage, to 9.5 percent of household income for those at 400 percent of the federal poverty level and less for those at lower income levels. The subsidies will keep the cost of insurance coverage from the exchanges below what many employees now pay toward employer-sponsored coverage, especially for those whose earnings are less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
oldman
Tthe biggest socialist program in history is the US military. Are you against having a standing paid military? I guess we should privatize it to halliburton and blackwater. Other big "Socialist" projects. The US highways, roads and bridges. Sewers and sewage treatment, flood control, police, fire, EMT. The republicans are all for Socialist programs like the Oil Pipeline, new and expanded ports to help import Chinese made goods. Oh and the H1-B American worker replacement program and wage adjustment visa that's socialist manipulation of the labor market. We have a LOT of socialism, making a law that requires PRIVATE medical insurance isn't one of them.
Remember Socialism is where the government owns the businesses,
National socialism(fascism) is where the businesses own the government.
Ask yourself which way we have been headed the past 20 years
Health care reform imposes several new requirements on employer health benefits. Some changes will be incremental; for example, annual and lifetime limits on care must be eliminated, and coverage must be offered to dependents through age 26. Plans with premiums above certain levels will be subject to a so-called Cadillac tax.1
Other requirements are game changing and could prompt employers to completely reconsider what benefits they offer to employees. Reform requires all employers with more than 50 employees to offer health benefits to every full-timer or to pay a penalty of $2,000 per worker (less the first 30). The benefits must provide a reasonable level of health coverage, and (except for grandfathered plans) employers will no longer be able to offer better benefits to their highly compensated executives than to their hourly employees. These requirements will increase medical costs for many companies. It’s important to note that the penalty for not offering coverage is set significantly below these costs.
removing limits costs pennies per person. even self insured employers buy coverage for large claims and the increased cost to cover no limits is extremely small because relatively few people reach these limits. Who should pay when this happens? not the sick person who does now. Except for certain medical specialties there is no crisis in Malpractice. There is in some notably obstetrics. The 250,000 limit is for things like pain and suffering. I have no problem with that. Other malpractice reform will increase the cost and provide more lawsuits. Loser pays is an example. It sounds good but it actually increases the cost and would encourage lawsuits in smaller cases. There is no perfect solution. Mass has gone a long way and cost of insurance has gone down...or at least has not increased as much.
FYI about 90% of the cases currently brought result in some payment to the plaintiff. Yes the lawyers do well but the alternative is what?
liberilism=mental disorder!
welfare
food stamps
99 weeks unemployment
socialism
bye bye obummer
ignorance + stupidity= db13
bye bye dummer
I want the health care plan that congressional leaders have...owe we pay for that!
AMEN to that.
You could go on welfare – free health care just like Congress members. How nice that I get to pick up the tab for the two extremes. Maybe I can ask for a tax refund like AIG?
ask any one on Medicaid what getting care is like. If you want that you should get it. Few doctors take medicaid those that do have medicaid mills or you wind out in some charity clinic somewhere.
Boo Hoo. I not only pay my own high health care premiums but high taxes for the ungrateful welfare trash. Don't like Medicaid – fine – get a job and pay for your OWN health insurance. It would be fine with me. Until then, I don't want to hear the whining.
At least he admitted the truth of the matter. Those with insurance are going to have to pay for those that don't. But, with medicaid, that is already happening. Just moving the in pile to another desk I think. But, no mistake, this is going to cost all more, a lot more. Well, except for the one's that presently aren't paying now.
It was never sold that way. But of course we'll all have to pay much more and lose some standard of care to support everyone else/ And the costs for it all (which will fall onto the backs of the middle class) will be triple what they estimate. Government costs ALWAYS go triple or more what they originally lie to you about...er...tell you about. When this goes bad (and it will), I hope it spurs a new revolution to cap government power.
those with insurance pay for uncompensated care NOW. about 1/3 of your health insurance costs go to pay for the care of others. providers(especially hospitals) just put that in their rates now. So when someone employed by someone with out insurance goes to the hospital and can't pay for it your employer who pays for insurance pays for that too.
These increase will affect all of us in low and middle class or retired people the most.
1. The ObamaCare Medical Device Manufacturing Tax
This 2.3 percent tax on medical device makers will raise the price of (for example) every pacemaker, prosthetic limb, stent, and operating table. Can you remind us, Mr. President, how taxing medical devices will reduce the cost of health care? The tax is particularly destructive because it is levied on gross sales and even targets companies who haven’t turned a profit yet.
These are often small, scrappy companies with less than 20 employees who pioneer the next generation of life-prolonging devices. In addition to raising the cost of health care, this $20 billion tax over the next ten years will not help the country’s jobs outlook, as the industry employs nearly 400,000 Americans. Several companies have already responded to the looming tax by cutting research and development budgets and laying off workers.
2. The ObamaCare High Medical Bills Tax
This onerous tax provision will hit Americans facing the highest out-of-pocket medical bills. Currently, Americans are allowed to deduct medical expenses on their 1040 form to the extent the costs exceed 7.5 percent of one’s adjusted gross income.
The new ObamaCare provision will raise that threshold to 10 percent, subjecting patients to a higher tax bill. This tax will hit pre-retirement seniors the hardest. Over the next ten years, affected Americans will pony up a minimum total of $15 billion in taxes thanks to this provision.
3. The ObamaCare Flexible Spending Account Cap
The 24 million Americans who have Flexible Spending Accounts will face a new federally imposed $2,500 annual cap. These pre-tax accounts, which currently have no federal limit, are used to purchase everything from contact lenses to children’s braces. With the cost of braces being as high as $7,200, this tax provision will play an unwelcome role in everyday kitchen-table health care decisions.
The cap will also affect families with special-needs children, whose tuition can be covered using FSA funds. Special-needs tuition can cost up to $14,000 per child per year. This cruel tax provision will limit the options available to such families, all so that the federal government can squeeze an additional $13 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years.
The targeting of FSAs by President Obama and congressional Democrats is no accident. The progressive left has never been fond of the consumer-driven accounts, which serve as a small roadblock in their long-term drive for a one-size-fits-all government health care bureaucracy.
For further proof, note the ObamaCare “medicine cabinet tax” which since 2011 has barred the 13.5 million Americans with Health Savings Accounts from purchasing over-the-counter medicines with pre-tax funds.
4. The ObamaCare Surtax on Investment Income
Under current law, the capital gains tax rate for all Americans rises from 15 to 20 percent in 2013, while the top dividend rate rises from 15 to 39.6 percent. The new ObamaCare surtax takes the top capital gains rate to 23.8 percent and top dividend rate to 43.4 percent. The tax will take a minimum of $123 billion out of taxpayer pockets over the next ten years.
And, last but not least...
5. The ObamaCare Medicare Payroll Tax increase
This tax soaks employers to the tune of $86 billion over the next ten years.
As you can understand, there is a reason why the authors of ObamaCare wrote the law in such a way that the most brutal tax increases take effect conveniently after the 2012 election. It’s the same reason President Obama, congressional Democrats, and the mainstream media conveniently neglect to mention these taxes and prefer that you simply “move on” after the Supreme Court ruling.
Why it's unpopular is because we middle Americans are tired of getting gamed by both sides – richer and poorer. This new law will no doubt increase costs, and this cost always falls on the back of the middle class, in higher costs and The rich can afford it. They don't care. The poor get it free, but then nothing is free, so guess where the dollars and standard of care come from? THE MIDDLE CLASS! The government always lies about the costs. It's a truism that you can take a government estimate of a program's cost, and then triple it to get to the what it will REALLY cost! Americans are tired of being lied to . We're tired of footing the bill for everyone else while our own standard of living shrinks and shrinks. The rich get richer, the poor get a free ride, and the rest of us are left holding the bag!
Cost is ultimately irrelevant to this issue. It's about something far more primal than that. A man cannot be free and also have despotic bureaucrats control his conscience by forcing his participation in business transactions in which he may not otherwise choose to freely engage. Either we are Americans or we are not, and this is NOT American.
Stop fooling around and come home for your pills.
It is still simple supply and demand. People in the united states are getting older and are not very healthy. Lets face the fact we live in a very fat and not in shape country. We don't work too much on preventive medication. People are willing to take a pill vs eating right.
Why do we give people tax breaks for medication but not to go the gym. Why not give people tax cuts that finish marathons?
The problem is we reward people for bad behavior and the heath care system profits from people that are sick not people that are well.
Until that changes the free market will never work.
Finishing a marathon does not mean you are healthy – ask Jim Fixx (never mind, he's dead.)
Unless it takes you days and days to do a marathon, it is a mark of health that you do it.
There are always other mitigating problems that lead even the healthiest person to die prematuraly.
It is absolutely hilarious that you would propose not exercising as a way to stay healthy.
Read a couple of books, put down the camel steak and go for a walk around the block. You will be amazed at how good you feel.
here's how I see it: employers will cut workforce to under 50 full time ee's if they can. This will exempt them from penalties. They may even drop insurance altogether since the exchanges will now step in.
Over 50 lives, employers will do the penalty math.
Carriers will have a once a year open enrollment for individuals. there will be waiting periods put in place so people don't just drop coverage and wait til they get sick assuming guarantee issue/no pre ex will save them.
lower income people will not face any penalties. only middle and upper incomes.
ObamaCare has done additional long-term damage to an already broken, failing health care system. Like welfare, it "pays" those tho refuse to work and support themselves – leaving taxpayers with even greater burdens, on top of the already hefty percentage out of their gross income and other livelihood. Those who are supporting this are either already getting their healthcare for free (Congress members or welfare recipients – funny how they have this in common) or who stand to reap huge benefits and pay little for it, due to conditions that are astronomical in cost to treat. Either way, it's just not fair, nor lawful, to expect decent people to always pick up the tab.
What "additional long-term damage " has obamacare done?
Why is TRICARE – the Military Healthcare Plan administered by Humana – exempt from the provisions of the new Healthcare Law? My 23 year old college student son was eliminated from the plan when he turned 23, yet the Healthcare Law states he can remain on his parent's plan until 26 years of age. When he was eliminated from the plan I questioned Humana and was told this did'nt apply to TRICARE. What's the truth???
I think I'm at odds with myself rather this right or wrong...People should have the right to choose what fits them but then again the average american has the mentality and drive of a child "wanting without knowing or the right thing to do". With that said and as a nation – one that boasts that we are the best – is it right to allow its citizens suffer and lose face become of the freedoms that have allowed willing ignorance? My contradiction is this in my thoughts are as Americans we have the right to choose if we have insurance or not but do we as a nation deserve it? We are proud and ignorant to a fault and if one us shows up to an emergency room without the ability to pay for the services we need...then we all pay anyway and or healthcare faulters regardless. We have gone from a nation of over-achievers to a nation of slackers who really "in general" need and want a parental figure to take care of all our short comings. With that said and the state of mind that says this is your right...but you have to earn it. We need to get out there, educate, employ ourselves and prove we have the ability to take care of ourselves and make real informed decisions that do not require this type of intervention. Until then I think I'll believe in the health care plan.
...'until then I think I'll believe in the health care plan...' – sure, let's just continue to accept that our country needs to provide handouts for a great number of people and let those who abide by the law be penalized with higher taxes – and that's exactly what Obamacare is.
You here again, still.
What in the name of God do you get out of all that crap you spew?
Voimitting poison again.
Spew?
It's fact, pure and simple. Would you like to take a look at my tax bills? Or, are you part of the welfare waste?
Dont freak out, we are in it together..
It is getting better, albeit very slowly, but it is heading in the right direction.
"Having us spend more of the money ourselves is unlikely to solve the cost crisis in health care."
BS! Why was it inexpensive in the past? Why is it inexpensive with Healthcare now where insurance doesn't play a big factor? Why is pet care 1/10th the cost?
Having a 3rd party person in charge of your minor medical care doesn't increase the brain factor. But being not tied down to insurance rules and being able to bypass your primary and see a specialist does. We save 20-30% in administrative costs alone if we switch our non-catastrophic healthcare over to cash out of pocket. That's savings we would see instantly.
Your doctor & other healthcare professionals are who educates you. But still you don't need to know anything about healthcare if the doc recommends an MRI or some other diagnostic test. If you pay cash you go to the cheapest & most convenient place that gets the job done as long as your doctor is fine with it. I could just go on & on with this.
For somebody that says he values the free market, Zakaria needs to put a little more thought into it.
Employers must understand, at the microsegment level, the eligibility of employees for subsidies under different scenarios—for example, when the employer provides no coverage at all, coverage defined as “unaffordable” (at a premium above 9.5 percent of the household income) for some employees, or coverage above the Cadillac-plan threshold. Companies must determine the cost of making employees whole, using market research tools to find out how much they value ESI, cash compensation for it, and a variety of other benefits. The importance for workers of a given benefit may not correlate directly with its tax-adjusted cost to the employer.
I've been a physician since 1987, and I practice Family Medicine. I wish that this bill was a reform of our broken healthcare system. There are some changes that are necessary such as eliminating pre-existing conditions and monetary caps for healthcare. As patients, who do you want to be in charge of your health care? Insurance companies, government, or your physician?
But, I believe, the fox was let loose in the chicken coop by the enactment of this bill. Before this bill was passed, I contacted my Senator and Congressman. They were not interested on an open, transparent discussion regarding health care. After the bill was passed, I observed the insurance companies raising rates, but our government did nothing. I also observed an increase in denials or prior authorizations of medications and treatment plans for my patients. This resulted in a decrease of timely delivery of health care. And it is getting worse and, I believe, will continue to worsen. Their are no savings in the delivery of health care. My costs are continually going up and revenues are decreasing. And it takes much longer to provide quality health care to my patients. But the insurance companies are making record profits as are the CEO salaries. And the cost of medications keep going up as well.
Where is the needed reform of the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, and congress. And where has the news media been? CNN finally wrote an article about "who is going to take care" of the additional 32,000,000 patients that will, supposedly, finally get health insurance. It is very late to ask that important question? My Senator and Congressman don't have that answer. And if they are placed in Medicaid, what physicians and hospitals will tale care of these patients. In Missouri, I am receiving 10 – 20 cents on the dollar that I bill to one of the managed care Medicaid programs.
Howany of the American population would work for a company who paid them 20 cents for every dollar that they earned. Not very many.
Dr. James Webb
|What is your doctorate in?
I have a Doctor of Osteopathy. I've completed pathology and family medicine residencies.
Almost every physician will tell people that the cost of medicine continues to increase yearly and reimbursements are not increasing. I'm not aware of any organization making an attempt to either measure or report the costs within the physician office.
I don't believe that there is anything in this so called reform bill that will control costs within the phamaceutical or health insurance industries.
A doctor saying "I have a Doctor of Osteopathy" needs to go back to school.
Canadian doctors originally settled for 95 cents on the dollar and this formula held for decades. Now they just negotiate a rate, but they also don't need to pay a full-time insurance clerk to fight insurance companies and can focus on medicine. Calls can be made to provincial insurers in very unusual situations to request additional service coverage. People can often jump any ques by agreeing to come in for cancelled surgeries. And let's not forget that many patients need to post-pone treatments to see if conditions will resolve themselves or do better than with surgery. Medical treatments are often very dramatic attacks on the body, often best avoided wherever possible. Single payors funded by citizens actually mean to provide people with the treatment they need. They are unlike insurance companies whose goal is to turn a profit by limiting care as much as possible.
You said "Medical treatments are often very dramatic attacks on the body, often best avoided wherever possible. "
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Hi Candace. Yes. Medical treatments are both deadly and dangerous. Hospital death rates have declined during doctors' strikes in many countries. Medical treatment is safer than death in every case though. But still, you don't want someone cutting up your body if you can avoid such a terrible, violent and dangerous assault on your body. Smart people turn down surgeries every day, but some can't be avoided. Sometimes, surgery is your best bet, no matter where your insurer stands. Sometimes it's not, no matter where your insurer stands.
Dr. Webb,
Pharmaceutical companies spent $150 million promoting Obamacare if that tells you something.
Obama cut a deal with Big Pharma to reduce costs to Gov. but which preserve some of their profits, in order bring the plan about. It's a political reality that one has to bring stakeholders on board.
No one with a lick of sense can possibly believe that Obamacare will not cost trillions of dollars more than our present system. Most of those increased costs will be for the 70+ new government departments and hundreds of thousands of new jobs – which will be on top of what we already have. How can anyone possibly believe that the cost of health care will go down? Oh sure, Obama and Pelosi will try real hard to claim that the salaries of these new Federal workers are not part of the cost of health care . And then they will brag that they created jobs. When will the people wake up and realize that a government job is not really a boost to the economy – because it has to be paid for by taxpayers (or more borrowing from China). A government job adds nothing to the GNP and only makes the situation in the economy worse. To quote an old sage, "There are lies and dammed lies." The false promises of Obamacare fall, unqestionably, into the latter cattegory!
I, personally speaking, have no sense whatsoever.
But I still post because my imam says to post.
Right off the bat, a single payor (which can be private or public!) saves 25% of costs that normally go to insurer profits and hiring insurance clerks for every single doctor to fight with them. Many say 30% of current premiums actually go to fund the uninsured. That amount would be saved as well. Then there are the social costs of having 46,000 people die prematurely, many for want of medical care, every single year, and their families, and welfare, and crime, and prisons and unpaid education loans, etc. The more one really looks at the costs of Obamacare, it is a true winner, a big money saver that will save lives, families, economies and put people back on their feet. Lovely really. And 350M taxpayers will be looking for ways the system can stop wasting money! It will reform under the citizen watch.
Archie you forgot to subtract out the 25% drop in medical costs that results when you have a single payor, which can be private or public. Single payor also means good user research becomes possible and waste can be spotted more easily, along with regional differences that beg the question of overprescribed treatments in various regions. You forgot to consider that every single doctor no longer has to hire an insurance clerk just to deal with a myriad of companies. Those are mighty big savings if you ask me. But that's with single payor.
Our research found that even with conservatively low assumptions about eligibility for employee subsidies, at least 30 percent of employers would benefit economically by dropping health coverage even if they make employees 100 percent whole. Employers could do so by paying sufficient additional compensation to help employees purchase coverage with no other out-of-pocket expense (less subsidies for employees with household incomes below 400 percent of the federal poverty level), the additional individual income and payroll taxes levied on the increased compensation, and the $2,000 government penalty.
I have 3 problems with the healthcare law: individual mandate, raising tax deductible medical expenses to 10% of income from 7.5% (what were they thinking with this one?), and STILL not allowing you to deduct personal health insurance for federal income tax purposes. What they are saying is, if you're in the middle class and healthy, not only are you going to be required to get insurance, but if you do get sick and pay out of pocket, you'll have to spend more before you get a tax benefit, and if you do decide to get your own insurance, you can't even deduct it, unless you get it through a company plan. Come on. How about we pass policies that help the middle class. Right now, we're paying for my wife's personal plan out of pocket and we get no tax benefit. If I put her on my company plan, it would have been twice the cost and the tax benefit wouldn't have been worth it. Seriously, if you're going to pass reform, pass something that's going to help the middle class!
I am glad that CBO estimated that health care law will cut the deficit by $ 124 billion, in period 2012 – 2021. ( WP on 10.15.11)...Health care reform was HISTORIC moment, making affordable health care accessible to more Americans … This reform is so important for us, our children, next generations… for USA future. A huge step forward for Pr. Obama re-election!
Do you really think that we will see a decrease in health insurance premiums. My premiums are soaring as are costs for for the medications that my wife and I take.
I really want an investigation into how much money the health insurance and pharmaceutical companies are contributing to reelection coffers of our elected representatives. I'm sure those figures would be enlightening.
Wordage and sentence structure of this "Doctor" is not conducive to being an educated person.
It troubles me that so many people believe the receipt of "insurance" is equivalent to the receipt of "health care." It isn't.
The current system will discourage physicians from providing meaningful health care and will encourage 2 minute office visits with frequent follow up appointments to increase volume and maintain profitability.
Health care access will decrease with this bill and emergency department visits (and waiting times) will skyrocket.
http://www.epmonthly.com/whitecoat/2012/07/the-supreme-curve-ball/
And Candice, I find your ad hominem attacks offensive.
WhiteCoat
Ad hominem tu quoque (literally: "You also") refers to a claim that the source making the argument has spoken or acted in a way inconsistent with the argument. In particular, if Source A criticizes the actions of Source B, a tu quoque response is that Source A has acted in the same way. This argument is fallacious because it does not disprove the argument; if the premise is true then Source A may be a hypocrite, but this does not make the statement less credible from a logical perspective. Indeed, Source A may be in a position to provide personal testimony to support the argument.
For example, a father may tell his son not to start smoking as he will regret it when he is older, and the son may point out that his father is or was a smoker. This does not alter the fact that his son may regret smoking when he is older.
Do check out Canada. Universal health care, run by the provinces (like states). Taxes pay. Almost everything is covered. You don't even see a bill for your surgery. People don't worry about losing benefits - or their homes and lives.
Let's dispel some myths:
1. Tort reform will have no impact on health care costs because despite the headlines that they generate payouts for malpractice suits are such a tiny percent of our overall healthcare costs that even if you eliminated all healthcare related lawsuits you would not even notice the difference.
2. Study after study after study show that in fact doctors do not practice "defensive medicine" to avoid lawsuits. Doctors may order extra tests but not to the degree that most people want to believe.
3. People from Canada come to America for surgery and other medical procedures not becasue the Canadian system is inadequate but because they imposed limitations on the age of patients for certain procedures as well as for other medically valid reasons. Canadian people with money come to the US for procedures that their own healthcare system won't allow them to have.
4. Malpractice costs are soaring not because of lawsuits but because state medical boards refuse to revoke the licenses of even the worst doctors. Malpractice costs go up to cover the damage that those bad doctors who continue to practice do.
You seem to want to replace "myths" with your own.
HOwever, single payor would expose pro-profit medicine dressed up as defensive medicine. Patients will refuse to waste their time with endless appointments when their taxes are on the line. Canadians come to the US for treatments that are not readily available in the much smaller (population wise) nation and their provincial insurers pay for it. Canadians are triaged for urgent surgeries and do not wait at all in urgent situations although elective surgeries do have witlists, ameliorated somewhat by internet postings of wait times at various hopsitals to enable patients to move to different hopsitals if they wish to have treatment right away or much sooner. The malpractice rate everywhere tends to be a steady rate of about 1 out of 132 surgeries, but fortunately most medically avoidable injuries are minor. Doctors lose about half of the time at trial but winnow out most claimants before trial. They might lower their defence costs considerably with a no fault mentality buttressed by re-training and regulation and where worthy cases are settled quickly through mediation at much lower amounts. Don't forget most astronomical jury awards are cut dramatically at appeal. Tort reform is lawyers' parlance for sticking it to plaintiffs. But good lawsuits make medicine safer for everyone.
Loved your report on Healthcare! We lived in Switzerland for 3 years and were required to have healthcare.
I recently completed treatment for Inflammatory Breast Cancer, a very aggressive and little known type of BC with no lump. The cost of my 10 months of treatment was over $275,000 and I am lucky, some of my new bc friends report over $600,000 for treatment.
Dr. VIncent Tuohy of the Cleveland Clinic has a breast cancer vaccine ready for clinical trials but in need of funding. The vaccine was 100% effective in trials on mice. What are we waiting for???? Prevention IS the cure!
At approximately $6 BILLION spend on breast cancer per year, is it possible that this cancer is such big business, it's too big to cure?
I would love to see a report on this.
I just watched Fareed's Health Care Commentary on CNN and found it to be one of the most informative and broad views. Great job! Thanks for the insight and comparison across different countries. Our country's healthcare needs improvement in terms of access (cost) and quality. It is so easy to get lost in all of the political twists on things. Thanks for the clarity.
Fareed said that a government board HAS to be the ones to select what services will be paid for and which will not. I agree that medical care has to be rationed by some means. I think most americans would like to choose for themselves.
If we had a robust community health care center system providing basic care, we could have a safety net. Go all private for everyone who wants more than the very basics. People could choose whether they were happy with the safety net system or valued paying for comprehensive healthcare insurance. That way, the government is not responsible for choosing who lives and dies, who gets the best care and who does not. We can take responsibility for ourselves and choose.
"We can take responsibility for ourselves and choose."
Some people cannot "take responsibility" as they do not make enough money.
Hence "OBAMA CARE".
Fareed sounds ignorant from a physician's perspective. He compares the U.S. system with countries with populations as large as our small cities and suburbs. Outcomes in the U.S. far exceed any other country by far. He fails to mention this small fact in any of his healthcare specials. Specialist increase medical outcomes. You do not want a primary care physician treating every problem; this is what Obamacare will do. A one month rotation compared to years of concentrated study.....which physician would you want?
This is not a concern in other countries with medicare. Systems do save money whem family docs act as gatekeepers and also as protectors of their own patients when they send them to specialists they have confidence in who then report back and eventually send the patient back. But specialists have organized lines of referrals of properly selected patients needing the care they can provide. Self-referring patients make costly mistakes and create havoc.
"You do not want a primary care physician treating every problem; this is what Obamacare will do."
Where, in Obamacare" does it state that?
The system proposed and accepted will provide the right kind of care at the appropriate time.
Is this not what a sick person, regardless of economics, would want and need?
Your assertion is clearly biased or you...
Texas had tort reform 7 years ago and recent studies have proven it had NO impact on raising health care costs. Find another scape goat – because Texas has proven all tort reform does it increase insurers profit. It done not reduce one penny health care costs!
Fareed's story was mostly recycled from every other Health Care show I have watched, nothing new there. Since we now have Obama care for the time being, it would have been nice to show the failings and lack of any cost control measures in the horrible bill.
Why not push the US along quickly with four weeksa' manadatory holldays for Americans to bring US labour standards into the modern era, which will cut unemployment by 4% and create a boom, paid for by employers, and moving healthcare to the tax base, to create fully private care with a single payor (public or private) to reduce costs by 25% right away. Next, only medical reform of massive waste is needed. And, employers can always offer cadillac health plans to execs, as they do in all other medicare nbations. Wouldn't everybody finally be working (if they could), covered, and paying less for healthcare?
the cost will be born by citizens, straight forward and obscure: the irs cannot fine you, or charge interest on the "tax", but they can withold your tax refund until you pay the tax, this applies to citizens and businesses. since 77% of Americans get a refund averaging circa $2,500, this will hit home with people. a tax? this is outright thievery – forced induction, other than military. a dicatatorship, a fleecing of the masses, kind of like lennin's russia.
What about military spending? That's thievery. Surely there 8s a way to bring it down.
the irs wil withold your tax refund if you do not pay the obamacare tax. since 77% of americans get a refund averaging circa $2,500, this is a "tax" to affect the masses, MOST OF WHICH WILL BE MIDDLE AND LOWER INCOME AMERICANS. do you really think obama loves ya? wait until the rest of that 2,500 page monstrosity unfolds.
You guys keep fighting over this like it was the goverment or the policy or the kind of insurance. It's really the corporate greed which is basically running the USA which is taking the people for a very very expensive ride. Meanwhile – medical tourism is increasing to Asian countries and multi-fold to India which has the latest of most medical techniques available in the US. Just google for surgery cost comparison between the US and India and you'll get the fraction at which the same surgeries performed. Besides, there are plans for building a multi-billion $ facility in the carribean bringing health-care right at the doorstep of the US. I love it when capitalism teaches gets a taste of its own medicine!
I think you have missed the point entirely. Corporate greed, as you like to call it, led to some of the greatest R&D the most advanced medical technology in the world. We have some of the greatest medicine around in terms of level of care as well. If you go to India or the Caribbean, you will get a cheap a** surgery. You get what you pay for, dude. Does this mean I think CEOs should make millions plus bonuses? No. But I don't think we should use our tax system to pay for "fairness" when not everyone has worked to achieve the same things. A company that created a product that helps millions of lives become safer or better deserves what they earn (notice how I said earn and not got), and those responsible for its development should be rewarded accordingly.
Honestly, we should have tackled education reform long before we considered health care reform. Make sure everyone gets the level of education they want (because not everyone wants to go to college, and some people want a PhD), a skill set or a trade, so they can provide for themselves and be able to afford their own health care. The people who don't have health insurance and run up huge ER bills because they don't get care until they HAVE to go to the hospital are a major factor in cost. When they don't pay (because some won't even bother trying to pay back their bill) this jacks up the price for those of us who are honest and DO pay. That's not corporate greed, AnniIN. You can't blame anything for that but a lack of education and resources.
The UN rated the quality of healthcare in the US is at 35. And it cost an arm and a leg to have healthcare in the US. This say a lot of things like, the cost of drugs outside of the US is cheaper this alone will tell that we spend the most per capita income in the US than any in the industrial world. It does not add up.
I did find the show soomwhat interesting except for one glaring fact. How is it that a show hosted by a medical doctor blames everyone else but his own profession for the continuued increase in costs??????
Dear Mr Zakaria, You stated on CNN tonight that "Americans freely make the choice to forgoe preventive care, thus contributing to poorer health and quality of life." You obviously have never had to choose between groceries and a dental cleaning or between your electric bill and a mammogram. When you are in the lower socioeconimic class, you do not "freely choose to forgoe preventive care!" You are mandated by dollars and cents to forgoe preventative care.
There is a preconceived crisis level for America's healthcare by 2050.
If the current campaign to cure the obesity disease entrenched in American society fails, it will be a monstrous headache for the nation and Americans may have to pay for this extraordinary healthcare burden..
2/3 of Americans are obese, fat, fatsos.
This is astonishing, and maybe abit too late to prevent about 60 million Americans having diabetes by 2050..
Health insurancevis useful if you are one of the 60 million diabetic sufferers.
@Ken, what you said about Canada isn't true and I suspect that you know that. Anyone who has ever lived in Canada (like I have) would call you a out and out liar. I am terrified every time I visit the states at the costs of your hospitals and doctors if I get sick while there. I have to take out insurance if I come to the states, for what is free at home. Ken, you do not speak the truth.
This obama crapo care is not about insurance or health care. It is about a massive transfer of wealth from the producers to the looters and takers. AARP, planned parenthood, catholic social services and other lobbyists wrote the bill to fatten their own wallets by taxing the rest of us. If it is not a tax, why is the enforcement agency the IRS. Lets add another layer of guvment to make something cheaper, right.
I kissed my way up to VP at a health insurance company. Now I take over $500,000 of your health care dollars for NO VALUE ADDED to your health care. And that’s just me. Now think about how many other VPs, Directors, Managers, etc. are at my company alone. Now multiply that by thousands of others at hundreds of other health insurance companies. From 10 to 25% of your health care dollars go towards administration that adds NO VALUE to your health care. But my company’s PAC dollars will continue to fool you little people into thinking that a single payer system will be bad. Little people like you are so easy to fool. Little people also don’t realize that a single payer system is the ONLY system that would allow little people (as an entire country) to negotiate better health care prices. Little people don’t realize that the Medical Cartels already know that. And that is the reason why the Medical Cartels spend so much PAC money from the hospitals and doctors lobbying against a single payer system. Some little people say that a single payer system would cost you little people more. But if that were true, then wouldn’t the hospitals and doctors WANT that extra money? Yes they would. So why do the Medical Cartels lobby against a single payer system? It’s because the Medical Cartels know it would allow little people to negotiate better health care prices. And that’s what the Medical Cartels are afraid of. Period.
But us big wigs at insurance companies, hospitals, and pharmacy companies don’t ever need to worry about health care no matter what it costs. We get our health care paid for one way or another by you little people. And we get the little people that work at our companies to contribute to our PACs. And us big wigs say it’s to protect the little peoples’ jobs. But in reality it would be in the little peoples’ best interest to NOT contribute to the PAC. Again, little people are so easy to be fooled. I won’t ever have to worry about losing my job with so many little people being brain washed by the Medical Cartels’ PAC money. Not only that, the Medical Cartels’ PAC money is used to elect so many republicans that will never allow a single payer system. Republicans have always fought against any meaningful health care reform. But that’s what our Medical Cartels’ PACs pay them for. Politicians can be bought so easily.
Pretty soon the only people that will be able to afford health care is us big wigs. And that’s the way it should be. We don’t want you little people using up the resources when we need them. And once again, I thank you little people for capping my SS tax at the $106,800 level. Now I only pay 1.3% SS tax and you little people pay 6.2%. Also, thank you for extending my tax breaks. I’m using the extra money on my vacation houses.
Fareed...Do you really believe that consumers "FREELY make the choice to eat junk food" knowing the consequences to their health? We have a powerful food industry that makes people sick...SERIOUSLY sick...just like tobacco did but way worse because not everyone smoked but everyone eats and unhealthy processed food is WAY CHEAPER than healthy food...THE FOOD INDUSTRY LOBBIES to keep it that way with no penalty to them for making people sick...On the contrary, they are heavily subsidized. The HEALTH, INSURANCE and PHARMACEUTICAL industries all financially benefit from unhealthy people. They are not incentivized to make people well. They're not evil. They're just doing their jobs...
We need to change the current system of misplaced incentives and talk about the facts, not this fallacy of a free market that does not exist!. The fact that you or any one that has commented here, believe that our current inefficient health care system with sky rocketing costs and inferior outcomes (all this before Obama Care) is the result of transparent free market policies is simply a falsehood. We do NOT have a free market economy in health care, nor in most industries for that matter... You might want to check out the JUNE 2012 "PLoS Medicine Series on Big Food: The Food Industry Is Ripe for Scrutiny" by highly independent scientists and MD's. This is a very important topic and one that is not studied nearly enough...You cannot talk about Health Care Insurance without talking about Big Food...They are intertwined...
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