"With the stroke of a pen...President Obama accomplished two of his administration's major goals."

[ProSense]

Obama Ties A Ribbon Around Health Care Reform

Brian Beutler

With the stroke of a pen this morning, President Obama accomplished two of his administration's major goals. First, he put the finishing touches on health care reform--stripping the law he signed last week of some of its most controversial elements, while strengthening several others. Second, he enacted one of the major goals he set forth during the presidential campaign: student loan reform.

"This week we can rightly say, the foundation on which America's future will be built is stronger than it was one year ago," Obama said moments ago before a crowd at Northern Virginia Community College.

The bill he just signed nullifies the controversial Nebraska Medicaid deal, bolsters insurance subsidies to working- and middle-class consumers, and closes the Medicare prescription-drug donut hole.

But, less-noticed, is that the legislation contains a completely separate section, creating sweeping reforms to the student loan industry, removing for-profit lenders as middlemen between students and federal assistance, and saving the government billions of dollars a year.

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[BrklynLiberal]

1. keep going....just keep going.

[vaberella]

2. Thanks Mr. President--DADT and Financial regulation next please. n/t

[FirstLight]

9. +100

agreed...I want MORE of this kickass liberalism, please.

It may not be perfect, since we are working against a huge establishment of crooks and crap...but making progress is never easy. I think we are going to be a very differnt country by 2012, thank god.

Maybe Pres Obama really CAN undo the 8 Bush years in one term...then he could float a second term and REALLY make tweeks to his changes and refine the job..? hmmm...not a bad idea... hehe I am sure HE has thought of that already! :rofl:

[unblock]

3. and a 3rd goal -- strengthening the democratic party while making the republicans a laughingstock.

[no limit]

4. If this is called accomplishment I would hate to see what failure looks like

[Zynx]

5. Even if you are unwilling to see any benefit to the healthcare bill, how can you be

opposed to the student loan reform measure? I really don't see how you can be unless you think that banks should get that subsidy for taking on no risk.

[no limit]

10. I'm not opposed to the loan reform measure nor do I ignore the good things in this bill

I don't have a lot of beef with the loan measure, I am a bit upset that some of the grants were cut at the last minute but government control of this funding is a great thing.

My beef is with this healthcare bill. Yes, it does do a lot of good. But it also does a lot of bad. I'm not willing to accept that it's okay to hurt the poorer middle class to help others. Someone making around $10 an hour that doesn't have coverage from their employer will be hurt by this bill. I posted about this extensively as have others, and it has not been refuted. People making around $12 an hour will see a 8% drop in their income as a result of this bill. Try raising the taxes of the richest 1% by 8% and see what happens. But when its done to the middle class that becomes ok.

[WI_DEM]

18. So in other words you were using hyperbole in your orginal response?

Where you pretty much stated that if this is accomplishment you'd hate to see what failure is. Now you say you don't have a lot of beef with the loan measure and government control of funding is a great thing. And you also admit that the HCR bill does "do a lot of good."

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

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[no limit]

11. Yup, call someone a troll because they don't agree with you that this corporate bailout is good

must be nice living in that bubble.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[no limit]

13. And you're in denial. But I guess calling someone a troll is easier than caring

caring about those that will be hurt by this bill. Come back and talk to me in 2014 when your average $10/hr worker will now be forced to come up with $150 they don't have. Have a nice day buddy.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[no limit]

16. You are being very rude, and very wrong too. I''m guessing you really didn't read the bill

or you chose to ignore what $10 /hr really is. Here is a calculator you can use:

http://healthreform.kff.org/SubsidyCalculator.aspx

Put in 25 year old single adult making $20800 a year ($10/hr) and select Final Bill. This person will have to pay $100 a month AFTER subsidies. So do you think that $100 a month for a person living alone on $10 /hr is affordable? Increase that income by $2 /hr and the subsidies get much smaller to the point where a person making that would have to come up with $200 a month.

I'm sorry that you didn't pay attention to any of the threads that pointed this out, I posted a number of them as have others. But you not paying attention is no excuse for you to be as rude and insulting as you are being. Also try not to ignore this reply, it drives me crazy when people call someone a liar then when they get called on it they just disappear as if they have no shame.

[mkultra]

17. Thats the cost of universal

And its really not that bad. A single person making $12 an hour is doing just fine and can survive without any trouble. There are adjustments included for those who live in high cost areas. I also increased the dollar amount on your calculator to $12 and hour and the cost went up slightly but it no where near doubled.


Yes, its universal and yes you have to pay for it.

[no limit]

19. The cost went to $153 for a $12 employee

fair enough, thats not double and my apologies for saying its $200; I was going off memory ($219 is for a $15 /hr adult). But $150 on that income is still unaffordable. Amounts to about a 7% income decrease.

You really think someone making $12 /hr has no trouble surviving and has $150 a month to spare at the end of the month? How about someone making $10 /hr? Do they have $100 to spare at the end of the month.

Keep in mind this is for a plan that will continue to have high copays and deductibles. So even if this $10 /hr person can scrape enough money to pay the monthly premium they won't be able to scrape up $200-$300 to visit the doctor for a simple visit with a simple lab test.

No, this is not universal converage, that's simply not true. Universal care means everyone gets care no matter what, you know as well as I do that's not the case with this bill. So do you simply not understand what universal health care means or are you misrepresenting this bill on purpose?

[mkultra]

20. Then they choose not to buy insurance and pay NO penalty

as the total cost of the cheapest insurance(according to your preferred calculator) is GREATER than 8% of their income in both cases.

SO, the net effect is that either they suddenly have very cheap medical coverage available OR
they are right back where they started before.



Not as good as SP but certainly not a regressive measure.

[no limit]

21. It's not greater than 8%. Where did you get that from? So they will pay a penalty

[mkultra]

22. total cost was $2600 according to your calculator so NO PENALTY

and its the total cost that matters(not cost after subsidy) which is actually greater than 10% of his income. Additionally, Your cute scenario is ONLY valid if employer insurance isn't offered which is mandated for employers employing more than 50 people. It would be cheaper for him if the employer must offer it.


Now troll, either go read the bill or go back to free republic.

[no limit]

24. Umm...you are supposed to count that after subsidies. So it's not $2600, its $1,400 from my memory

therefore you are lying or you simply don't have an understanding of this bill. Calling me a troll wont make up for that fact.

And it really took you a day to come up with this bullshit? I would still like to know why you called this universal health care when you knew that wasn't true.

[mkultra]

26. sorry, thats not what the bill says.

It says that if the cost of the cheapest medial plan available is greater than.

responding to people like you is not at the top of my priorities list and now its dropped completely off so go read the bill for yourself. Stop tapping the cognitive powers of those around you.

[no limit]

27. You're absolutely sure about that now?

Because I'm pretty sure that's not the case, and I can look around to find out. I just wanna make sure you're not pulling stuff out of your ass like you did when you called this universal health care. So you are absolutely sure of this?

[amborin]

23. subsidies don't help with huge co-pays and premiums have you read about 'bronze' coverage?

[CBR]

7. ...

[FirstLight]

8. Nice lead on this story...

and HOORAY! we DID it! :bounce:

[mcollins]

14. We have so much more to do!

Let's keep going!

[greencharlie]

25. well...

now if we're lucky they'll tack on a public option by the time the plan becomes effective.

[Ignis]

28. With the stroke of a pen, he reneged on our 2008 Party platform.

Covering All Americans and Providing Real Choices of Affordable Health Insurance Options.

Families and individuals should have the option of keeping the coverage they have or choosing from a wide array of health insurance plans, including many private health insurance options and a public plan. Coverage should be made affordable for all Americans with subsidies provided through tax credits and other means.

-- http://www.democrats.org/a/party/platform.html

Promises, promises, eh? :shrug: