What to do if the health care bill fails

[louis c]

Here's what I'd like to see.

(1). Repeal all anti-trust exemptions on the Insurance industry.

(2). Cap profits at 15% per year.

(3). Repeal the Pharmaceutical industry exemption on medicare bargaining.

(4). Cap the amount plaintiff's can sue for in malpractice cases. (I know, this one is more right-wing, but it still saves money and cuts costs).

(5). Double the tax exemption or give additional tax credits to any employer that offers health care to it's employees. (i.e. If an employer is paying 50% of an employee's premium and that amounts to $60 a week he can write off $120. If he increases that to 75% and he now pays $90 a week, he can write off $180). This would encourage businesses, large and small, to pick up the tab for health care. It can not be effective without passing 1 and 2 above. In addition, how could Republicans be against tax cuts for business.

That's a start. we can't waste this opportunity and end up with nothing.

What do you think?

[peacebird]

1. have to add enforcement to verify the cap of 15% is adhered to - they are

very likely to cook the books....

[louis c]

2. Those are the details Bernie Sanders can handle

He's getting to be one of the few Senators I can trust.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Vote For Democrats In The Next Primaries

Instead of the current poseurs.

If the vote hasn't been taken from us by that time.

[spanone]

4. if it fails, the thugs, along with the media, will use it's failure to destroy the President.

nothing will get done.

the 'opportunity' WILL be wasted

it will be heralded as a huge success for the right.

[Warpy]

5. (4) is DEAD WRONG

and you should know that by now.

It will save less than one percent of all medical costs.

It will deprive people of a very basic civil right, to petition the court for redress of grievances. No lawyer is going to be able to afford to put in a great amount of time and money fighting a platoon of high priced lawyers if there is no way he'll get paid out of a decent settlement at the end.

Most of all, it will deny people the means by which to pay a lifetime of medical costs incurred as a result of a medical injury, costs they will need to cover in the absence of universal health insurance.

This is a right wing idea, all right, and that should have been your first clue that it's a BAD idea. The only beneficiary of tort "reform" would be the insurance industry and I think they're benefiting enough, thank you very much, especially if they defeat meaningful health insurance reform.

I'm just astonished by the number of people here on DU who don't see through this shitty idea.

[laughingliberal]

9. Thank you. You saved me having to say it.

There has been no real reduction in malpractice insurance premiums or unnecessary medical testing ordered for 'defensive medicine' in the states which have passed tort reform.

I never forget what Molly Ivins said, "...tort reform which is a nice little euphemism for 'the people lose their rights.'"

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. +1000!!!!

[Cleita]

6. How about bringing a revamped Medicare bill for all to the floor?

Works for me.

As a matter of fact with one stroke of the pen President Obama can extend Medicare to everyone from cradle to grave and then throw it back to Congress to figure out how to pay for it and put it into action.

[valerief]

7. If we don't get healthcare, why would we get these? nt

[louis c]

14. Well, it's the Republican argument that sells these ideas

They want "competition" in the market place. How can we have competition without the repeal of the anti-trust laws and open bidding on drugs?

They are on the side of small business and tax breaks. If that's the case, why not give breaks to the responsible employers and encourage them to do more.

I could be wrong on tort reform. Maybe that has to be reworked so as to protect the patient. Maybe some government bureau, like the NLRB, that would take worthy cases and adjudicate them for the plaintiff. I don't know all the answers, but something has to be done to arrest these rising costs of premiums in the private sector.

[3waygeek]

8. What not to do if the health care bill fails

1. Get sick
   

[TicketyBoo]

10. Do you know what "tort reform"

has done in some states? It has capped the judgement at what the insurance company WOULD HAVE HAD TO PAY ANYWAY.

You're dead from cancer if you don't get treatment; the insurance company denies your care. You sue. The only thing they have to pay is what they would have had to pay for your care. Your attorney's fees come out of that settlement. By the time the case is settled, you're dead. Your heirs may get a pittance.

You know that "death panel" the freepers keep talking about? Tort reform is it.

[Swamp Rat]

12. Tort reform ---------> Death Panel

[RedCloud]

13. Imprison lobbyists for bribing public officials.