By Carey Fox, Segment Producer
Ah yes, the Fourth of July: Hot weather, good food, swimming, fireworks and yes, those fiesty conservative relatives.
Less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the health care act, you might find yourself facing a brother-in-law, uncle or cousin who want to tell you how the Obamacare is socialism.
So here's the top five benefits of the Affordable Care Act:
- coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions children right now, and everyone by 2014.
- insurance companies can't drop coverage when you get sick
- there's no lifetime cap on coverage
- children can stay on their parents plan until age 26
- you actually get a rebate if your insurance company doesn't spend at least 80 percent of it's premiums on actual care
It's hard to limit this to five, because the law does so much more, and it does not blow a hole in the deficit. And it saves money in the short term and in the long term. But hey, five is a good start!
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Only 1 way to talk to a conservative, stfu and and eat, if I wanted your opinion I would have watched Fox news.
I send all my republican email friend this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Ilc5xK2_E
Thankful Mom - This should be required watching by everyone....
Attach to email and send it out.
Obama to Soldiers: Pay Up
Threatens to veto bill unless it hikes health care fees for service members
The Obama administration on Friday threatened to veto a defense appropriations bill in part because it does not include higher health care fees for members of the military.
"The Administration is disappointed that the Congress did not incorporate the requested TRICARE fee initiatives into either the appropriation or authorization legislation," the White House wrote in an official policy statement expressing opposition to the bill, which the House approved in May.
Boehner also put in a rider to make the GWB tax cuts permanent. Also about the XL pipelines imediate approval with construction to start within 30 days.
sad that this is how the president and democrats treat soldiers in the time of war ... in the words on hillary clinton "shame on you Barack Hussein Obama"
Ed tell them all the truth sometimes not just cherry pick the few good parts. why don't you tell your listeners that under Obamcare insurance companies are require to lower their deductible and the co-pay of their policies, and if you know anything about health insurance plans the lower the deductible and co-pay the higher the cost of the plan
Most Insurance that employees provide for blue collar workers don't meet those new requirements so the cost for insurance for middle class will raise if the employee doesn't drop providing insurance, because it will probably come out cheaper to pay the fine then provide insurance
My Boss just had along talk with us yesterday to say be prepared to pay a higher price each week for insurance out of our checks
President Obama’s most recent budget proposal includes billions of dollars in higher fees for members of TRICARE, the military health care system, and is part of the administration’s plan to cut nearly $500 billion from the Pentagon’s budget.
Some fear the administration’s proposal is an effort to increase enrollment in the state-run insurance exchanges mandated under the president’s controversial health care law.
The administration urged the House to “reconsider” the fee increase, arguing they are “essential for DOD to successfully address rising personnel costs.”
The House bill has significant bipartisan support, and easily passed by a margin of 299 to 120.
Ed
Since you an advocate for the health care bill would you please run a story on the below article. Please ask the President why he wants to force the military to pay more for our insurance. The bill also makes us pay $178 per month to buy Tricare Young Adult for children that are 23 -26 years old when civilian health coverage must include it.
I give them a copy of this:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/06/obamacare-supreme-court-regular-americans
1) Insurance companies can no longer impose lifetime coverage limits on your insurance. Never again will you face the risk of getting really sick and then, a few months in, having your insurer tell you, "Sorry, you've 'run out' of coverage." Almost everyone I've met knows someone who had insurance but got really, really sick (or had a kid get really sick) and ran into a lifetime cap.
2) If you don't know someone who has run into a lifetime cap, you probably know someone who has run into an annual cap. The use of these will be sharply limited. (They'll be eliminated entirely in 2014.)
3) Insurers can no longer tell kids with preexisting conditions that they'll insure them "except for" the preexisting condition. That's called preexisting condition exclusion, and it's out the window.
4) A special, temporary program will help adults with preexisting conditions get coverage. It expires in 2014, when the health insurance exchanges—basically big "pools" of businesses and individuals—come on-line. That's when all insurers will have to cover everyone, preexisting condition or not.
5) Insurance companies can't drop you when you get sick, either—this plan means the end of "rescissions."
6) You can stay on your parents' insurance until you're 26.
7) Seniors get $250 towards closing the "doughnut hole" in their prescription drug coverage. Currently, prescription drug coverage ends once you've spent $2,700 on drugs and it doesn't kick in again until you've spent nearly $6,200. James Ridgeway wrote about the problems with the doughnut hole for Mother Jones in the September/October 2008 issue. Eventually, the health care reform bill will close the donut hole entirely. The AARP has more on immediate health care benefits for seniors. Next year (i.e., in nine months), 50 percent of the doughnut hole will be covered.
8) Medicare's preventive benefits now come with a free visit with your primary care doctor every year to plan out your prevention services. And there are no more co-pays for preventative services in Medicare.
9) This is a big one: Small businesses get big tax credits—up to 50 percent of premium costs—for offering health insurance to their workers.
10) Insurers with unusually high administrative costs have to offer rebates to their customers, and every insurance company has to reveal how much it spends on overhead.
UPDATE: Here's one more big benefit we've found out about since the ACA passed:
Independance Rap
The Star-Spangled Banner - by the Presidents
The Grand Old Flag - on Kazoo
The Star-Spangled Banner - Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock
Good job. Simple basic presentation of simplified Healthcare Reform benefits. Well done. Simp-licity is magic, like flippin' flapjacks. If major corporate media works some education in with the entertainment...magic will spread across the land. America will transform and reason may begin to take hold to a much greater degree. People are aching for education with their entertainment. People want to exercise their minds so they don't turn into husks. Teach them and entertain them. It can be so easy and fun, if you give it a chance. American corporate news media could regain respect. People are simple at heart and media wants to rev everything up and be manic and wave their arms and talk fast and laugh at things that aren't funny and talk over one another and generally behave like horse's hineys. People are basically simple, Carol Burnett knows that and so did Bob Hope and Sammy Davis, Jr. Andy Griffith knew it too.
Oh lets not forget the the 6th best thing about the law: watching republicans cry. Suck it GOP. It's constitutional you far right limbaugh loving neo-cons, deal with it.
What every American needs to experience is the joys of insurance companies on their home turf. If everyone did, no one would question WHY government regulation is needed.
Here's my story:
I started a company a few years ago. I have nothing wrong with me. I gleefully applied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield for insurance, expecting the bill to be anywhere from $300-$600/month based on what I selected. Imagine my surprise when they offered me insurance at the GOD FEARING RATE of ONLY about $10,800/month. I contacted them, thinking this was a joke/mistake. No, they said, I have not only a pre-existing condition, I have numerous pre-existing conditions. I asked them for details, NONE were forthcoming.
I then went to another insurance company (United Health Care) and essentially got the exact same thing. Their's wasn't that high...it wasn't $10,800/month, I think it was ONLY about $9,000 a month. WOW! What a steel!! only $108,000 per year for insurance.
I started looking into what was going wrong. Apparently the FINE people of one of my FORMER doctors offices decided that my first name and last name were not enough. NO, send the insurance companies the medical records of every male in about a 25 mile radius with my same last name. A review of the records indicated that I was:
1. An 18 year old with cancer
2. A 83 year old that just had heart valve replacement
3. A 40 something year old with extreme back problems
.... the list goes on.
Unfortunately, I had NONE of these problems. The insurance companies didn't check out anything. Seriously, how can I simultaneously be an 18 year old and an 83 year old. I presented them with data indicating the error and they STILL refused anything but the ridiculous coverages I just mentioned. Finally I was able to clean up my record, but ONLY after making serious threats to sue the crap out of the doctors office that made this mistake...their initial response was essentially "tough cookies." I then got insurance from Kaiser-Permante. Not exactly what I wanted as opposed to those from the "elite" insurance companies, but at least they would take me.
The reason we need government regulation is simple: The insurance companies and health care providers are INCOMPETENT. How stupid do you need to be to not recognize there's a problem with records that provide data showing one entry as me being 18, and another at 83, plus the myriad of other people who's records were tossed in my files.
One of the reasons I started my own company is that I'm all too familiar with the tactics used by the new "Wall Street Elite." There was a day, decades ago, when a corporation was an entity focussed on products, employees, and consumers. Enter the mentality of Smith at GM, who declared the company wasn't about anything but investors (failure phase 1). Then enter Eisner at Disney, and his claims that CEOs were "elites" that "needed" to be paid exorbitant salaries and bonuses just for the privilege of letting them make investors money (failure phase 2). The "billionaire elite" model has attracted CEOs likely suffering from narcissistic personality disorder - the world is about them, and there is no sacrifice others can make that can be too great for them. These are the people Fox News and the Republicans call the "job creators."
When dealing with the insurance companies, almost all of the people I talked to appeared to be providing "service" from India. These were outsourced American jobs, and it's likely none of them even had a clue what I was telling them. They just regurgitated what the "Wall Street Elites" told them to say. It's all about lining their own pockets, and nothing more.
Anyone that believes this industry will correct itself if the government doesn't step in is a complete fool. Greed is the biggest sickness, and the Republicans seem to think it's a God send.
Sorry for the rant. Been there, done that.
Exactly. These companies are not perfect, the system now and pre-ACA is way to expensive, there's unfair practices around women, cutting off money with caps...
The GOP knows this which is why the very smart individual mandate was a solution they have crafted and it is a pretty good thing to have. They were right which is why it's sad they won't show principle now. It seems this individual mandate option can be very effective. If anything obamacare...which frankly doesn't have an individual mandate anyway despite the fact that it was what they planned in the first place before letting bargained out of the bill.........
But I digress, point is we could use an individual mandate since that would actually force consumers to put money in the pockets of corporations whom republicans worship as holy job creators so the companies should be happy. Guess what folks they are happy with it.
The shear fact that your records were fumbled around behind your back I think may be something numerous others face but this is the first I've heard about a story like your own.. However I don't doubt it these companies are duplicitous, it is their nature to make profit no matter what and there is nothing wrong with that until they do it incompetently. You should have sued, last I checked if what you're saying is true that unless you in some way agree legally they committed a crime by releasing your private medical records without warrant or consent.
The GOP loves to say we have the best healthcare and insurance system in the world. They are indeed right about this but they just forgot to add on "if you're rich". If you're super wealthy, the people the republicans care about most, is it good.
On a previous post, Scully took great pains explaining how there actually was no individual mandate or tax. That liberals in Congress purposefully left out any enforcement or means of collecting this (fill in the blank, tax or penalty). She explained they did this so there would be no additional cost to the middle and lower economic classes. Would any confirm her statements. She was proclaiming them as brilliant- but they seemed to make liars out of the bills backers.
Ask Mr. Romney. He knows all about it. After all he though the original was ok. So did the people of Mass.
Oh yes the republican know it all "Brother in Law". God Bless Him.
Mom, I would rather know what the fact is behind the tax or penalty- and the topic is how to talk about it.
Team Obama has sold it as a mandate. Some liberals are saying it has no teeth in enforcement. At this point, I have Libs telling both sides. Both can't be right. But to your point, if you would rather allow Romney to define Obamacare to the country, he would be glad to do it. I would suspect that Obama would rather take the lead, though.
Rusty the Obama team has done nothing by in large to message anything about the ACA, most of it is by media. Very little is actually about the fine points of the bill.
As for this mandate, it does not exist in this bill. That was the plan, but it didn't make it through committee. That's what they wanted but it really didn't happen, they bargained it away.
This whole tax or penalty issue is pointless. You can it whatever you want but that doesn't actually change anything in reality. It's still there and still legal. So this is semantics. What I find is odd is that people aren't smart enough to understand the court's opinion on the justification. The court didn't say it was anything, that's not important from a legal perspective...it doesn't matter....what is said is that it is not legal through the commerce clause ut through the tax powers of congress. So it could be considered a tax if one considers everything in the powers of congress to be a tax although realistically that isn't exactly the case...but I digress
Now if you look at the law it doesn't appear to be so. Consider that when one says tax that implies something everyone will pay but this does not do that. This is only going to affect the tiny percentage of free riders. If you don't pay taxes you pay other things...so does that mean if you don't pay taxes you get taxed again? No that isn't really how one would look at it. If you don't pay you get a penalty.
If you are speeding and you get a ticket is that something you'd consider a tax or penalty?
Thanks for the clarification. If the mandate isn't enforceable, then having insurance becomes voluntary. If it is voluntary, and restrictions regarding pre-existing conditions is forbidden, then it is obviously doomed to failure.
The only thing I can imagine is that it is a back door plan for single payer. No insurance company will be able to survive if it can't reject or charge higher premiums for conditions that come with the newly insured, if the insured can sit without insurance until it is necessary.
Obviously not clear enough, there is no individual mandate in this law. People should stop throwing around that term as if it is interchangeable. You don't have to buy insurance you'll just pay a fine and of course realistically who out there would like to have zero health insurance?
Remember health insurance companies helped write the law in the first place and why wouldn't they.....all it does is force people to pay them money. It basically assures they'll have protected profits. Insurance is voluntary, paying for your own care is not hence the penalty. The influx of private and public money into the insurance sector will easily surpass any of their potential losses they might suffer covering people with pre-existing conditions.
According to many libs on thes blogs- there isn't even an enforceable fine. If you choose- you don't buy insurance and you don't have to pay a fine. That's what they are saying- that the progressives snuck that into the bill at the end so the middle and lower classes wouldn't have to pay.
If that's true- this bill is flawed beyond belief.
The logic is that people will want to participant in the ACA once it begins: Best Sale In Town!
Anyway by late 2015, non-participants will feel like they have a spotlight warming the air around them. The term "Freeloader" will take on a whol-e new meaning when this program hits.
Rusty, this snazzy video* helped me get caught up on the ACA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Ilc5xK2_E
*Courtesy of Thankful-Mom.
Oh yea, Rusty...your answer to the, "...middle and lower classes wouldn't have to pay." is in the video too. I challenge you to discover what the ACA does for these folks. :)
Have even listened to what's been going on. The fine is not an individual mandate it is a penalty which the supreme court affirmed congress can do because of it taxation and spending powers. No wear does it say you don't have to pay any fine if you don't want....have you been smoking a little to much fux noise?
The only argument you could make would be that if you could not buy insurance because you can't pay that the penalty might be cheaper for you. However don't forget the bill creates exchanges and credits specifically designed to help individuals and others who can not pay right now.
Most people in the middle class and lower classes have or want some kind of health insurance. Who exactly doesn't want health insurance in reality? Don't buy then you will have to pay all your own way if you get sick
there are certainly benefits to various people under the ACA- but who is going to pay for all of these benefits? What happens if the cost to buy a policy is greater than paying the fine,penalty, tax or whatever? As I understand it, but at a minimum the penalty/tax is $65 dollars- obviously an amount significantly less the cost of a an individual health insurance policy let alone a family policy- this may be a good start- but this in my view is also a system that will not succeed without on going legislative fixes- which if true- and if both parties can not agree- then the system will fail-
I have read the Penalty is $95 or 1% of Income, whichever is greater, The next year if the Person still has NOT bought Insurance the Penalty is Higher. AS I and other's have stated many times, The P T or F is only applicable to those who have NO INS. and DO NOT enroll. DOES not apply to those WHO HAVE INS. 2nd. Talking to My WIFES side of the family is INSANE, To the Point of ME saying I am not going with to wherever Because I am tired of Arguing!! I might not know of every single detail of every issue, I am not a CPA, But When fightin' with the Family, I NEVER get a Legit response, Just that suck's, or No good or Well that is Obama for yah?? BUT,when the the ACA was passed WW 111!!! The next day My M-in-law, asked me to explain my VIEW's, I asked Would YOU work at and put up with what 1.4 mil People at WAL-MART have to deal with? I asked Is it Fair and Justified that Wal-Mart should get more TAX break's When across the Country That Co lead's the way for having Worker's on Public Health Plan's, and the LABOR issues that go on there? I mentioned Paul Ryan's Plan with Medicare, I talked about Romney's Outsourcing and Offshoring, what he has done, That the SAME plan for Health Care is in affect in MASS, I explained what I said in the beginning of this Post, She stopped ME and said I get it, And I don't like that Crap either, nothing will Be Perfect, But I get it. I forgot to Mention that I belong to a Union in N. ILL BUT live in WI!!! She finished by saying that SHE doesn't want to see the 99% stomped and JUST LISTENING HELP'S!! HAPPY 4th EVERYONE
What can I tell you G.W. except you gotta know when to duck and cover and when to bale out! But since your a military man you probably already have had allot of practice. You can try pointing the remote control at them and pushing the mute button! I tried it but it had the opposite effect!
Ice up a cold one. And just letum spout!
http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=172
Petition/help get out the vote!