Obama set to force through health bill

[jack404]

HERE IT COMES!!! bend over and have your vasalene at the ready folks


WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has thrown down the gauntlet to Republicans, revamping his proposed healthcare reform and jettisoning a public option among measures that would likely expand insurance coverage to an extra 30 million Americans.

He also left the door open to the possibility of forcing the reforms through Congress by drawing on a little-used legislative process called reconciliation.

The $US950 billion ($1.05 trillion) blueprint signals a last-ditch push by Mr Obama to win approval for his signature reform in a narrowed legislative agenda.

The blueprint revises subsidies and taxes that were included in separate bills passed late last year by the House of Representatives and the Senate

White House officials described the draft as a ''starting point'' for discussions at Thursday's televised healthcare summit between Democrats and key Republicans. It was called by Mr Obama to end a deadlock over reform that has triggered widespread debate in America about the inefficiencies of the political system.

Both major parties have accused each other of inflexibility, with both calling for bipartisanship on key issues such as health reform and the revival of America's sluggish economy. But with opinion polls pointing to a slump in the popularity of Mr Obama - and Democrats generally - there appears little incentive for Republicans to deliver the President a policy triumph in the lead-up to November's mid-term congressional elections.

The exception to the rule was the progress made on Monday on job creation, with several Republicans voting in favour of a Senate bill that will provide an extra $US15 billion for small business tax relief and other measures. Among those adding their support was the new senator, Scott Brown, whose recent shock victory in the Massachusetts seat held for almost five decades by the late Ted Kennedy had emboldened Republicans in their fight against Mr Obama's healthcare plans.

The President's new proposals, which are most closely aligned to the original Senate bill, softens the effects of the reforms on families and the middle class, as well as senior citizens reliant on subsidies for prescriptions.

But a government-run health plan to provide an alternative to Americans without employment-based coverage (contained in the House bill but not the Senate legislation), was dropped from the compromise.

Even so, as a bridging gesture to Republicans who have criticised the reforms as unaffordable and the public option as ''socialist'' in nature, the new blueprint failed miserably.

''The President has crippled the credibility of this week's summit by proposing the same massive government takeover of healthcare based on a partisan bill the American people have already rejected,'' railed the Republican leader in the House, John Boehner.

Any changes to the original bill would require a fresh vote by both chambers. The Democrats' big majority in the House would almost certainly guarantee clear passage despite leftist Democrats protesting the lack of a public insurance option.

In the Senate, the Democrats could draw on a process called reconciliation which would let them pass the legislation with a simple 51-vote majority instead of the ''super majority'' of 60 votes that would normally be required. The manoeuvre is contentious, but not without precedent.


http://www.smh.com.au/world/obama-se...0223-p0pu.html

[Terry_P]

The reconciliation process was developed so congress could pass a federal budget, period. Using it to pass a huge entitlement program like the healthcare fiasco is disingenious and shows how desperate these idiots are to lead us off a cliff.

You want to fix healthcare then take 3 simple steps:

Tort reform on a scale that will cut both drug and malpractice insurance dramatically.

Open up competition among insurers and allow people to buy insurance across state lines.

Ship the illegal aliens back where they came from and secure the borders so they can't sneak back in for their free medical care.

[millwright]

Oh ! You mean you want to "destroy the American economy !"....By killing off those "service jobs" the progs fund by runing downtown in upscale cars to hire "day labor" to keep their house/grouds, etc......BTSTGTTS !! >MW

[red14]

""Ship the illegal aliens back where they came from and secure the borders so they can't sneak back in for their free medical care.""

This gets my vote!
Been done before by presidents who cared for their country.

[Gun Geezer]

Most of the people I know who are against any type of govt. health-care base their reasoning on 2 main points:
1. They basically distrust the governments ability to manage anything in an affordable, efficient, or prudent manner.

2. They feel already overburdened by entitlement, welfare and give-aways that continually call for tax increases and larger and more intrusive government programs that never go away.

[red14]

You have smart, educated friends.

[keepitlow]

A lot of people cling to the dream of how forced insurance for the whole country would magically make insurance premiums ultra low. Mass has such a program where it is illegal not to have med insurance. Lets see how it affected their premiums...

http://www.boston.com/news/health/ar...st_in_country/

[jack404]

Most profitable Business , Area of income

1 Arms Dealers ( not manufacturers as most manufacturing is outsourced or contracted out and too widely spread)
2 Health Insurance
3 Banking
4 Pharmaciutical production
5 Oil Production
6 Electrical generation ( power stations)
7 Finance (lending, leasing)
8 Venture capital
9 Medical Infrastructure ( hospitals, clinics)
10 Political consulting

this is from a research document done buy Cambridge university UK

it is based on investment and return after taxes ( dollar in, dollar out)
i was surprised when i looked at it but reading it further banking and finance pay huge dividends and bonus that drop thier dollar out values significantly as do venture Capital and Consultancies

even with $4.7 Billion paid in bonus dividends etc health care insurance is still number 2

why the costs when they are so profitable?

because they can

Oil has fallen in profits and standing due to venesulala and Nigeria and the loss of infrastructure that needs to be replaced so they are not as profitable at the moment but will gain status again ones investment is recouped

the report does not specifically say it but hints that a similar sized investment into health insurance would be enough to offset most medical costs via the investment returns..

cheers

jack

[Lee C.]

Jack i agree with what you have said about obama and what the dems are trying to do with this health care BS. But lets talk a little about what is really going on here. Is there any one here that thinks your going to have better health care and it's going to be cheeper when there done with it ?

It's like you said Jack, ( because they can ) GREED and Gov. take over of are lives. When i was grown up our town of 350 people had a dr. in it and every other town had one as will. No one had insurance back then. And there wasn't alot of money around then. But most the time you could pay the bill right there at the time because it didn't cost that much. I had to have some work done on my heart not long ago. Just for the dr. was $600.00 an hr.,and there is only 2 dr. in or state that do what i needed done. Do ya here that because I can agine.

Right now they are bring in alot of people to do high teck jobs here. and letting people come across the border for the low paying jobs and doing nothing about it. It's more about getting or wages down so this country can compete with other countrys and make the people look to Gov. for a hand out to keep going and being thankfull for it.

Thats the way i see things go for this country.

This jobs bill is nothing but a joke, They tryed the same thing back in the 70and 80s when thing where bad and it didn't do any thing to help out this country. There already are people that owen a business comeing out and saying it's not going to work.

This is nothing more than a step closer to one world order in the end.

Sorry for the rant guys, Try and have a good day any ways.

[jack404]

no need Lee, it all fills in the picture of whats going on

we have nationalised health here now

i'll be back in a while and show you a example of it arrived today in the mail for me

I get top level due to my service (20+ years and some decorations that give me a few extras)

i need to get a $1400 procedure on a tooth busted in a fight a while back ( when the musso's attacked , i was slow in ducking , hey i'm old ... )

they sent me a voucher for $336.35

also its a Emergency care Voucher but it took almost 2 months to get it

and i have until the 18th of march to use it or its cancelled ( another out as appointments are hard to get as many doc's wont accept the vouchers as they take 3 months or more to get paid , s'ok a mates brother is a top dentist but a 2 hour flight away so i'm travelling all day and still have to pay the rest but he'll let me pay it off , and the only reason i can do this is the doc is the brither of a guy who i served with , not everyone has the army mafia working for them)

i'll scan the voucher and post it when i get back ( net cafe is a short walk away)

but Lee, not ranting, just helping fill in the picture mate

and thanks for doing so eh

cheers

jack