Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Exactly who are the people who support this HC bill?

We all know conservatives and Republicans hate this bill. But many think it's because we're listening to Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck, and we really don't know what's in the bill.
So I found an article that breaks down the bill pretty well. And for the record, it's the very liberal Jane Hamsher from the very liberal Huffington Post. I hope that's enough of a qualifier for people to listen. Here are some points from her article (click title to link to Huffington and read for yourself):

"Real health care reform is the thing we've fought for from the start. It is desperately needed. But this bill falls short on many levels, and hurts many people more than it helps them."

Myth 1: This is a universal health care bill.
Fact: The bill is neither universal health care nor universal health insurance. According to the Congressional Budget Office:

Total uninsured in 2019 with no bill: 54 million

Total uninsured in 2019 with Senate bill: 24 million

Myth 2: Insurance companies hate this bill.
Fact: This bill is almost identical to the plan written by AHIP, the insurance company trade association, in 2009.
The original Senate Finance Committee bill was authored by a former Wellpoint vice president. Since Congress released the first of its health care bills on October 30, 2009, health care stocks have risen 28.35%.

Myth 3: The bill will significantly bring down insurance premiums for most Americans.

Fact: The bill will not bring down premiums significantly, and certainly not the $2,500/year that President Obama promised during his campaign.

Myth 4: The bill will make health care affordable for middle class Americans.

Fact: The bill will impose a financial hardship on middle class Americans who will be forced to buy a product that they can't afford to use.

Myth 5: This plan is similar to the Massachusetts plan, which makes health care affordable.

Fact: Many Massachusetts residents forgo health care because they can't afford it. A 2009 study by the state of Massachusetts found that:

21% of residents forgo medical treatment because they can't afford it, including 12% of children

18% have health insurance but can't afford to use it

Myth 6: This bill provides health care to 31 million people who are currently uninsured.

Fact: This bill will mandate that millions of people who are currently uninsured purchase insurance from private companies, or the IRS will collect up to 2% of their annual income in penalties. Some will be assisted with government subsidies.

Feel free to click and read the article. Plenty more.

Intelligent conservatives hate this bill because they know what's in it. And intelligent liberals hate this bill because they know what's NOT in it. We of course don't agree on these things, but it's clear that we agree that this health care bill just signed into law is garbage.

So, who likes this bill? There are only two possible explanations:

1) The politically ignorant sheep who believe what Obama, Pelosi, and the rest of the politicians are telling them.

or

2) Democrats who are more interested in "winning" and pushing something Republicans don't want. This is a sad example of partisan politics that anyone would support something this bad just because you view your opponent as the enemy and since they hate it, you like it.

Both of these are examples of how sad U.S. politics are these days...