Here's a good rundown of what the GOP House bill to mess up Obamacare would do, courtesy of the Washington Post's Darla Cameron and Leslie Shapiro. It's even got great pictures to go with it!
In addition to the blatant giveaways to insurance companies, here's a question I have. HOW ARE WE PAYING FOR ALL THIS? Especially when Paul Ryan and company took out the huge tax hike that would have been imposed on people who got insurance from their employer.
Of course, it is absurd that these people are even considering a vote on the bill before the CBO tells us the costs on it. Which proves yet again that Republicans don't give a damn about "fiscal responsibility"- they only care about grabbing more money and power for themselves and their donors.
Out to the sun. Click that link and ponder for me.
So - assuming my little family of three, we're looking at about an $8,000 tax credit for purchasing insurance. We make a pretty good buck and might be able to afford to cover the balance, but I think there needs to be a sliding scale involved for people on the lower end of the wage spectrum.
ReplyDeleteThey have a phase out on the top end - need a ramp up on the low end.
I see Americans being even more firmly locked into employer-based health coverage.
Yeah, if you're barely hanging on at $15 an hour, this plan really screws you. It also screws people who have to go out and get their own health care, so you have a good point there.
DeleteThe bigger question is if the employers are still going to try to screw over their employees by making them pay a higher share of their premiums, now that employees have fewer choices on where to go.
I don't get when this become such a problem. More than 30 years ago, working part time in a grocery store for minimum wage, I had health insurance at not cost to myself.
ReplyDeleteTwenty years ago, working as a CNA for about $6.50/hour (poverty wage for a family of three no matter how much OT you work) I paid $100/month for family insurance and got very good coverage.
When did this become a national crisis? Was it always problematic, and I just lucked into jobs with good insurance? If not, what the hell happened?
One thing I do think is there's a lot more people chewing on our health care dollars than there used to be.
I'm also thinking that, as we live longer, more people are having sometimes multiple cancer problems and needing long term care for dementia. We used to die young and cheap from things like heart attacks.
I read somewhere, not sure I believe it, that obese smokers actually had a lower total cost of ownership so to speak because they tended to die younger and faster than healthier people.