Dean on KO. Insurance Companies Will Take, On Average, 27% of Your Money for Premiums

[laughingliberal]

Will make the situation worse than it is now...
This is no longer health care reform...

Wyden...asked by O'Donnell if there was any line that could be crossed which would prevent him from supporting the bill. Waffled. Essentially, he'll pass anything. We've been mugged.

[Dinger]

1. He Knows

That is all.

[laughingliberal]

2. So, we're all good with this? The equivalent of a buying a second home for the premium

on a policy which may still have $5000-10,000 in out of pocket expenses allowed. Okay, guess we'll call it reform and have a party in the Rose Garden.

[Shagbark Hickory]

3. Not me. They can kiss my ass before I pay a private company for health insurance.

[laughingliberal]

13. Lol! Don't hold back, now.

Sorry, I know it's not funny but it's so beyond incredible that they could have so utterly blown this opportunity I'm still not sure it's real.

[AllentownJake]

4. Kill the Bill!

[leftstreet]

5. Throw us in jail!

Total healthcare coverage!

:bounce:

[laughingliberal]

7. Trust me. The thought has occured to me. nt

[laughingliberal]

6. O'Donnell interviewing Fineman

O'Donnell shocked Dean who has encouraged reform and been on board with the bill all the way through has now been pushed to the point that he sees the bill without enough redeeming qualities to vote for it.

Fineman...Dems need to pass a bill, any bill

[Laelth]

8. "We've been mugged."

That, sadly, says it all.

:dem:

-Laelth

[galileoreloaded]

9. Nobody is gonna pay that, and TPTB know it.....

you would see denial of service protests in waiting rooms around the country. As it is we are moving toward a HUGE black market in medical care, supplies and everything else.

[guitar man]

10. :(

To hell with that they are already taking 17 to 18% of my income as it is. if they want to take 27% there's no way I'll let that happen. I'll quit working, I mean, what's the point of busting my ass just to turn around and give it to an insurance company.

[laughingliberal]

12. There certainly is a lot of incentive to stay poor in this one.

Moving up the economic ladder incrementally will put you worse off in the middle ranges.

[guitar man]

14. Word

It sure seems like it. For the last three years I have busted my ass to earn a raise. And every year my insurance premium increase wind up being more than my raise so my pay check is less and less. I don't need any more of that kind of incentive. If it is true that this bill is going to make it worse than what the hell are we doing?

I really hope they are not going to pass a piece of shit like that.

[laughingliberal]

15. A perfect description of the plight of the American worker for the past 3 decades

Wages stagnant. Health care costs increasing at 4 times the rate of wages. Some years we ran faster just to stay in the same place. Then we ran faster just to fall slightly behind. Meanwhile, real wages on a downward trajectory. I believe this bill could be the final nail in the coffin of the working class. It is nothing less than the transfer of the last pennies in the pockets of middle and working class Americans to the for profit insurance industry. I see nothing in there which will stop the escalating premiums. If you have insurance at work it will not hit you quite as hard. Will just be like it has been. Raises will be meager and your premium costs will eat most of them up.

Eventually, the premiums will rise to the point where most employers will find it more economical to pay the fine for not covering their employees. Then, you're on the hook for the full nut. If your income is less than 400% of the federal poverty level, the government will subsidize you and your part of the premium will not exceed 10% of your income. Problem there is the day you go to a couple of dollars over that 400%, the full bill is yours.

I really think they are going to pass it. It's like a bad dream from which I can not awake.

[laughingliberal]

11. Oh, spare me! Harkin now on Rachael (I'm watching the rebroadcast)

Just trotted out that crap about, "if you lose your job, you can keep your health insurance." Yeah? We have that now. It's called COBRA. And it cost me $1200 per month. Try paying that without an income.

[dysfunctional press]

16. i don't suppose that rachel pointed that out...?

that is- how much cobra costs and how is an unemployed person supposed to pay for it exactly...?

[laughingliberal]

18. uh, no nt

[pissedoff01]

17. It's a freakin' scam

with Obama's name on it.

[progressoid]

19. Mugged is an understatement.