Obamacare’s Hefty Price Tag
Already breaking the backs of American families and small businesses, health insurance rates would soar even higher under a “comprehensive” “compromise” “reform” plan proposed by Senate Democrats.
Whew … that’s a lot of words in “baby quotes.”
Anyway, according to a study released Monday by an industry trade group, the typical American family of four would see their annual health care costs jump by $4,000 over the life of the 10-year, $829 billion proposal, which we’re calling “socialized medicine light.”
The group that published the report, America’s Health Insurance Plans, projects an 111% health insurance cost increase under the Senate plan crafted by Max Baucus (D-Montana), compared to a 79% increase under the current system.
Obviously, neither of those numbers is acceptable.
Last week, a Congressional Budget Office report that claimed the massive boondoggle would lower deficit spending.
The administration of President Barack Obama – which like the U.S. House of Representatives has pushed for a much bigger, government-driven plan – blasted the report, saying it was “a self-serving analysis from the insurance industry, one of the major opponents of health insurance reform.”
Previously, Obama had praised the health care industry for its role in the ongoing negotiations over his socialized medicine plan.
UPDATE: Senate Finance Committee passes the Baucus plan on a 14-9 vote.
Comments
By liz shepherd on October 12th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
well let me give ya’ll an example.
I am on disability for a lifetime chronic illness. I went back to work with my illness for the duration which was 11 years. I worked as an RN scrubbing angioplasties , saving lives.
When I got sick again, I found my privatized Social Security account and things have been downhill for me ever since.
I do not get any medical care because of the privatized SSA account and my complaints about having two accounts. My income was stopped due to ” error”. I won’t have a cent again until June 2010. Not a politican cares either.
My money obviously was coming out of a campaign fund that needs to have an audit now.
At any rate, I have two Part D accounts. I can’t get any meds approved. One prescription costs $800.00 a month, another $300.00 then there is the IV antibiotics that no one will pay for. There are countless other prescriptions I do without.
I watch people with AIDS get their expensive medications. I watch Cancer patients get expensive care. But because I have a political illness, Lyme Disease, I get nothing. NOTTA not anything.
It’s the cruelest thing I could have ever dreamed up to hurt a human being.
So I lost my home that I worked so hard for , for those eleven years, saving lives. I used to get up out of my bed and come save the life of people you guys know. None for me though. I tried. I get nothing now you see.
I can’t even get a legit audit to prove that SSA is wrong about the ” overpayment”. You see, in April we finally got this straightened out. In July, after Sanford’s trip, the April letter was retracted.
For people who don’t believe in death panels, we got one in the Statehouse right here. I’m the first. I never got the option of the red or blue pill either.
So day after day, I sit here dying from neglect.
Like Alan Grayson said…. don’t get sick and if you do, die quickly.
By Fabian on October 12th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Mark my words…by years end, RINO Senator Graham will have made deals that insure the passage of both Cap and Trade and Health Care Reform.
I wonder if they have pictures of him with a male, in a compromising position. How else can you explain a Republican from SC becoming a liberal Senator?
Where is Karen Floyd and the GOP? Do they stand for ANYTHING?
By Pat Hendrix on October 12th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Hmmm, the CBO, which as an excellent record on these matters, says it will lower the deficit, and an “industry trade group” * read paid to create bogus numbers like our buddy Al Parish used to* says it will costs a fortune. Guess who has nothing to lose and then guess who is desperate to say anything to keep their monopoly alive and kicking?
Here’s another take on those dodgy numbers:
http://www.tnr.com/blog/expert-ahip-claim-benefits-tax-implausible
By Mark on October 12th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
The difference between liberal California Sen Barbara Boxer and Lindsey Graham is that Boxer has never had a homosexual bone in her body.
By rick on October 12th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Pat, every ox in this battle has an ax to grind. The CBO also said that congress would have to do exactly as its spelled out in the plan….think the congress has the balls to remove 500 billion from medicare? Care to bet? AARP is doing everything in its power to convince granny that Obama has their back….granny ain’t buying it. Even obamas buddies are starting to call him out….To paraphrase the Beatle’s….It’s getting better all the time….Dancing with the stars….nope, Obama watching…he’s a winner!
By No Way! on October 12th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
Patty,
I am sure that you recognize that the government run healthcare is about broke with the coverage it provides those on it. How the hell do you expect it to run better and more efficiently with Obamacare? I bet you were an investor with Al Parish!
By Make it up as you go. on October 12th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
It’s easy to get the CBO to craft a report saying this “bill” will lower the deficit when the numbers provided to the CBO are absolute bullshit to start with.
Just sayin, just sayin.
By BLBarBob on October 12th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
Good gracious me. YOu Fits reading knuckle dragging, mouth
breathing dumbasses will believe just about anything the insurance
lobby says (Like you believe your wives and/or girl friends when
they tell you how great you are in the sack). Face it, you’re
congenital palmetto state shit eaters who will swallow any lie
you’re told so long as it fits within your insane ideology (which
credulity is a product of our suckass education bureaucracy).
Johnny Cash for president, damn it. BTW Will, now that hate
crimes against homos are a federal offense does that mean that
criticizing you is off-limits?
By Dismayed on October 12th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Industry trade groups, always a great source of unbiased information that has nothing to do with maximizing the profits of the trade group in question. Right.
By McFailure on October 13th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Who cares? They are just going to tax the hell out of you no matter what….and dumb down the already shady care you recieve.
Sometime leaving well enough alone is the best thing Congress could do.
By Red Bank Bar on October 13th, 2009 at 8:16 am
The Repugnant Party and fitz, wholly-owned subsidiaries of the insurance industry. Res ipsa loquitur.
By you gotta be kidding on October 13th, 2009 at 8:55 am
What no one is reporting about of the newest CBO analysis is that, of course the healthcare reform won’t add to the national deficit.
When you have 10 years of revenues but only 7 years of expenses, because tax increases and cuts will take place immediatly, however “public coverage” will not occur until 2013.
This is not about healthcare, this is about the democraps taking over and nationalizing 1/6th of the total economy.
By TotalWench on October 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Liz – get another doctor – yours is milking you dry for no reason! Lyme is curable – you have something else.
As for the price increase of health insurance over the next ten years….did you really think that the price WASN’T going to go up over the next ten years???? When did the price of anything health-related go down??? Jackasses.
By weighing in on October 13th, 2009 at 10:39 am
Let me get this straight, the non partisan CBO says it will lower deficit spending and an inside trade group says the cost will rise…..hmmm, are we really debating this?
By Pat Hendrix on October 13th, 2009 at 10:54 am
“Nationalizing 1/6 of the economy”? Really, will be the hospitals be nationalized? Doctors paid by the feds? Will this even be a single payer system? Answer on all questions – Negative.
You guys could care less about healthcare, like your sweetheart, Jimmy Demint, you simply want to see a failure tagged to the president. Sorry, ladies, isn’t going to happen. Like the New Deal, the passage of Medicare and social security and even Clinton’s Zero Budget Deficit package, you people will scream “socialism” and say the sky is falling only to see you were wrong. Maybe you can make some short-term gains in 2012, but the unwillingness to partcipate in this process will bite you in the ass in the long run.
By geekmom on October 13th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
people, come on. you think socialized medicine will help you? you already see how the government mishandles things. do you REALLY want the government in your pocket book AND in your healthcare? what happened to the liberal cry of keep your hands off my body? Hello?
look at the neglect cases in the national health care systems in other countries. do you actually think it will be any better here? once they run out of money because they’ve run out of people to tax they’re not going to have anymore money to spend on you or me. you will be left behind and denied care just like the others in other countries. you’re not a healthy tax making body so why would they want you?
By Pat Hendrix on October 13th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Geekmom,
We already have the government providing healthcare to 1/3 of all Americans. It’s overwhelmingly popular, less expensive and doesn’t have “death panels.” So where’s your evidence? A hunch? Glenn Beck?
By curious on October 13th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
Here’s praying for you, Liz. Don’t understand it all, but it’s curious nonetheless.
By James the Foot Soldier on October 13th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Rick –
Thank the democrats for pushing senior citizens to the Republican Party!
Republican Party – meet your new base – America’s senior citizens!
By Rick on October 14th, 2009 at 7:48 am
James, and that base has money and power to spare. They know the truth of government provided care since many of them use the VA or Medicare etc. and aren’t really happy with the care, just unable to effect change. And I could not ask for better company than granny. They have something missing from much of America today….wisdom. Watch what these old folks are saying and how their saying it. They have a lifetime of experience with the government and know it for what it is.
By Skidmarks on October 14th, 2009 at 8:04 am
From 1999 to 2009, health care costs and premiums doubled (that’s before Obamacare, ya’ll).
With reforms looming, the insurance companies will be upping premiums and denying coverage and claims at record rates. And health providers are already upping charges.
That’s awful for the near term, but for the long term their avarice will convince Americans that we must have a public option and cost controls.
By Red Bank Bar on October 14th, 2009 at 8:05 am
They won’t answer you Pat Hendrix. They can’t. Price Waterhouse admitted their figures are bogus.
Angry bubbas, marching towards the ash heap of history. Good riddance.
By dirtbogger on October 14th, 2009 at 10:20 am
We will have socialized health care because the coming hyperinflation will leave us all broke. The reason is because the buying power of the dollar is no more. When the Fed prints more money it dilutes the economy. It’s like every thing the government does it puts it on a high interest credit card. We have let the government lie in bed with the privately owned Federal Reserve. They print the money to fund the wars, bail out everyone but the people, and line complicit politicians pockets, then we the tax payer are left to pay it back with interest. Now we will let them bribe us with our own money in the form of socialized health care. The role of government is not to take care of us from cradle to grave!
By Crooner on October 14th, 2009 at 11:25 am
The system is broke and needs fixing. The status quo is unsustainable, as rising insurance costs are going to result in decreased coverage. we spend over $11,000 per employee, which is up over 7% from last year despite a reduction in benefits. That’s payroll costs going direct to insurers as opposed to employees.
I don’t care for the proposal in its present form. But it’s interesting to me that the insurance industry is against it. Think about it: the insurance companies don’t deliver babies, perform operations, diagnose diseases, or prescribe medications. They don’t add anything to health care: they are just a middle man that profits off the transaction.
You would think they would view a mandate that everyone buy insurance with government subsidies for the “poor” to do so as a windfall. Which means to me that their current ability to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions must be a key part of their profitability.
We need a public option. Freedom from disease shouldn’t be based on anyone’s profit.
By No Way! on October 14th, 2009 at 7:38 pm
The government does provide medicaid that covers all prescriptions and doctors visits. So why then do all of their receipents seek care in the damn ER? They can go to the office for free. They send me (the taxpayer) a bill for the ER when they could have been seen in an office.
By Martha Washington on October 17th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
“Already breaking the backs of American families and small businesses, health insurance rates would soar even higher under a … plan proposed by Senate Democrats.” THAT’S THE GOAL! IT ISN’T ABOUT HEALTH CARE. IT’S ABOUT STEALING THE MOENY. THE GOVERNMENT IS BROKE. THEY WILL TAKE EVERY DIME, INCREMENTALLY, FROM ALL SOURCES.
“I wonder if they have pictures of him with a male, in a compromising position. How else can you explain a Republican from SC becoming a liberal Senator?” YES THERE ARE PICTURES. THE REAL Q IS WHY WON’T THE PEOPLE THAT HAVE THEM-USE THEM?
“You guys could care less about healthcare, like your sweetheart, Jimmy Demint, you simply want to see a failure tagged to the president.” YOU, PAT HENDRIX ARE AN IDIOT AND A PUPPET.YOU BOUGHT THE COMMUNISTS PLAN HOOK LINE AND SINKER. YOU ARE A SHEEPLE OF THE WORST KIND.
AND RED BANK, YOU TOO. OBAMA WAS PICKED AT THIS TIME AND PLACE TO USHER IN THE NAILS ON AMERICA’S COFFIN THRU THIS CORPORTISM AND STATISM. THEY USED HIS ‘BLACKISM’ AND ARE PLAYING ‘RACISM’ TO THE MAX. WAKE UP.