10 Reasons to Kill the Senate Bill

[t0dd]

Source: Firedoglake

So, I asked them to help make it simple: how do we let people know what’s going to happen to them if the Senate bill passes. Everyone put their heads together and came up with a list:

Top 10 Reasons to Kill Senate Health Care Bill

1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations — whether you want to or not

2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you’ll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS.

3. Many will be forced to buy poor-quality insurance they can’t afford to use, with $11,900 in annual out-of-pocket expenses over and above their annual premiums

4. Massive restriction on a woman’s right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court

5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-pays

6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won’t see any benefits — like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions — until 2014 when the program begins.

7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others

8. Grants monopolies to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.

9. No re-importation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years

10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of four will rise an average of $1,000 a year — meaning in 10 years, your family’s insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.

...

The Senate bill isn’t a “starter home,” it’s a sink hole. It needs to die so something else can take its place. It doesn’t matter whether people are on the right or the left — once they understand the con job that’s about to be foist upon them, they agree. That’s why Harry Reid and President Obama are trying to jam it through as fast as they can, before people find out.

More here: http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/12/21/10-reasons-to-kill-the-senate-bill/

SIGN THE PETITION.. KILL THE SENATE BILL http://action.firedoglake.com/page/s/killthisbill?source=email&subsource=122109

[ixion]

1. Kill the Bill

it is garbage.

[cali]

2. it is a done deal.

it's really that simple.

[Richardo]

3. This dies, nothing takes its place

Then you can have all the lifetime caps, denied coverage and bankruptcy you can handle. Utopia.

[t0dd]

5. Better than giving forced customers to the insurance cartel

So they can be rewarded for their murderous rampages and abusive practices. Or do you really believe us giving them billions will change their behavior? Even with these new "regulations", they'll find ways to jury rig the system, all in the interest of profit. Don't be delusional.

[Richardo]

12. Your breathless hysterical adjectives obscure your point

...and the mandate is the quid pro quo for broader coverage with no lifetime caps or denials for pre-existing conditions. You want one, you get the other. It would be the same under single payor, but we'd call it 'taxes'.

[t0dd]

13. And your blind defense of the for-profit industry obscures yours

How do you expect people to afford the shitty insurance they'll be forced to buy? I guess they'll have fines and jailtime to give them the incentive now. They must have just been too lazy before. :sarcasm:

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. Not necessarily--the status quo is unsustainable

When it collapses, we will get a complete overhaul.

Most of the people who are suffering now will still suffer under the proposed bill, because it mandates the purchase of useless insurance.

Maybe you're affluent enough that you can pay 8% of your income for insurance that still requires you to pay extra above and beyond that.

Most people can't.

As for the much vaunted subsidies...

They don't kick in for years and the income levels are unrealistically low.

If my tax money is going for health care, I'd like it to actually go to health care, not the pockets of insurance company executives and shareholders. I'd be delighted to see my tax money going for public health clinics in every neighborhood or for single payer reimbursements.

[Echo In Light]

Profit$ Over People = Pure Religion of Empire

[SIMPLYB1980]

4. .

:popcorn:

[jonnyblitz]

6. thanks for this list, todd.

:hi:

[Goldstein1984]

7. Yes, let's not let lousy be the enemy of crappy

In the Senate/House version, there's still a chance to force a public option and get rid of the insurance industry stimulus part of this bad compromise.

Along with other mistake (Afghanistan, Honduras, climate change, continuing USA Patriot provisions, not releasing torture photos, not investigating Bush/Cheney war crimes), this has become my final straw.

The party lost my membership ten years ago when Clinton signed the repeal of Glass-Steagall, but it retained my votes. That may be about to change.

[chelsea0011]

8. 1 & 2 is what I don't understand about the bill. people don't have

insurance because they don't have the money to pay for it. So, how do they assume they have the money now.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

10. This is totally a Republican Lite bill

Back in the 1980s, the Republicans were already saying, "The solution for lack of medical care for the working poor is to require all of them to buy health insurance."

At that time, I remarked, "Yeah, and the solution to homelessness is to require everyone to buy a house."

The two ideas seemed equally absurd at the time, but now the idea of forcing people to buy private health insurance is mainstream Democratic.

:grr:

[Dragonfli]

11. Because now it will be against the law NOT to have the money silly - next Homelessness will be cured

by mandate!

Just make it illegal not to own a home, again PROBLEM SOLVED.
This is easy, how many other things can we fix this way?
Why didn't we think of this before?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

14. 1 Reason To Pass The Bill

You're not going to get a better one.

Unless you have some magic plan that will replace a dozen Conservative Democratic Senators with genuine Progressives in the next election. And if I remember correctly, Blanche Lincoln is the only one up for re-election in 2010, so good luck with that.

Given the rules of the Senate and the number of votes we have, this is as good as it gets.