Posted on 02/04/2009 5:14:30 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
As expected, the House today gave final approval to the S-CHIP government health care expansion funded with a massive tax hike on smokers. President Obama is set to sign the bill amid great progressive fanfare. The kiddie human shield strategy strikes again.
The roll call vote is up here. The vote was 290-135.
Ive broken down the list of Republicans who supported this universal health care Trojan Horse. Take note:
Austria
Bono Mack
Buchanan
Cao
Capito
Castle
Dent
Diaz-Balart, L.
Diaz-Balart, M.
Ehlers
Emerson
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
King (NY)
Kirk
Lance
LaTourette
Lee (NY)
LoBiondo
McCotter
McHugh
Miller (MI)
Moran (KS)
Murphy, Tim
Paulsen
Petri
Platts
Rehberg
Reichert
Rogers (AL)
Ros-Lehtinen
Simpson
Smith (NJ)
Thompson (PA)
Tiberi
Turner
Upton
Wolf
Young (AK)
Young (FL)
***
Take heed: President Obama said at the signing that this is just the first step.
For once, a moment of pure ideological candor.
Socialized medicine on the installment plan...
YES, WE CAN run this country into the ground!
What do you propose to make sure children get health care?
3 packs a day, that’s all he asks!
I would proposed a deregulated atmosphere in which medical providers would be forced to compete for families’ health care money, yielding cheaper and much-improved health care. The problem with our system, in part, is all the incentives to buy health insurance. When everything is ensured, the medical providers, always able to bill the deep pockets of insurance companies, have no incentive to provide superior health care at lower prices. The poor, who cannot afford health insurance, end up losing big-time. The predatory lawsuit industry and the current socialized areas of medicine (Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP) do not help any, either.
IIRC, health insurance in the country used to be simply for such things as major operations, similar to auto insurance covering only accidents and acts of god. Routine health care and minor incidents, similar to regular maintenance on an automobile, were paid for out of pocket.
Look at it this way: if you buy a box of band-aids in a store, you might pay a couple bucks or so. If you require a band-aid while staying at the hospital, you might pay much more for the one band-aid, when the factors of health insurance deep pockets, medical malpractice costs, default on medical bills by the uninsured, nurses union salaries, and whatever else are taken into account.
I don’t want children going without health care (and as far as I know, they usually don’t, either, since medical bills can be paid in installments). I suspect that such horrors as that poor kid who died from a tooth infection are a rarity. Health INSURANCE, on the other hand, can be quite expensive once you factor in all the Federal and State mandates that make it impossible to lower prices. Not to mention, there is a prohibition on purchasing insurance across state lines, so instead of having a national health insurance market, you have 50 statewide markets, lessening competition. Once again, the poor lose out.
These liberals who impose all these mandates and restrictions should take a long look in the mirror before accusing us of wanting to deny health care to children and young adults.
My husband was on Medicaid after a horrible accident. He had just recently changed jobs and didn’t have health insurance yet. His med pay from his insurance company was $1000. His medical bills were nearly $300,000. There was no way we could pay that. He got excellent medical care from some of the best doctors in town. He still goes through the local health department for follow-up care. Medicaid was so easy. I never really knew anything about it before his accident.
As for health care providers accepting payments, none that I know of will. That is why so many people end up using the ER for everything. I think more low-cost clinics would help. And as for nurses salaries, they deserve every penny they make.
When I was growing up, most parents could afford regular doctor visits for their children. These days a check-up can cost half a week’s salary. Health insurance is very expensive and lots of working people just can’t afford it.
I’m not sure what the answer is, but with our congressman seemingly willing to give away $900 billion dollars, I don’t begrude children getting health care. Better to spend money on them than Wall Street executives and abortions in foreign countries, IMHO.
I see Republican names on there that we shouldn’t be seeing.
You are right. China has no socialized medicine. If you want medical care, you must pay. Same in Mexico. The illegals coming here know the difference. They say “In Mexico, we have to pay. Here it is free.”
I propose married parents.
It is nice that the taxpayer provided free health care for you. I am not sure why you could not buy insurance, at least for catastrophic care. Why do you think that someone else should pay for your health care? What else do you think that someone else should pay for?
Unfortunately, many people agree with you. They want someone else to pay for their health care. We are headed for a system of price controls and rationing. With free health care, demand will increase substantially. Price controls will limit supply. Free health care will mean that you do not need to worry about payment but you will not obtain much health care, especially high quality health care.
There are lots of married parents who aren’t well off financially for many reasons. The economy isn’t getting any better and there will be many more layoffs. Many employers don’t offer health insurance and it is often prohibitively expense to buy private insurance now, not to mention pre-existing conditions.
Your suggestion is nice, but doesn’t really solve the problems.
Really? Everyone insists on a co-pay upfront, but if I've owed more, my doctors and dentists have always allowed us to make payments. A periodontist just offered to let us make payments. I made payments to the orthodontist.
Health insurance is very expensive and lots of working people just cant afford it.
And now more people who can afford it will choose not to, in favor of letting the rest of us handle it.
Taxpayers pay for a lot of things, including abortions. No one asked me how I felt about it before funding it.
And would have preferred my husband be turned away from the hospital and died because idiot cops chased a guy for a ficticious tag at speeds over 125 mph and the guy being chased hit my husband’s truck head on? The taxpayers will pay one way or another. How about we all get the same health insurance congress gets? Who pays for that?
He would have had health insurance in a few weeks at the new job. The accident happened too soon, that’s all.
Of all the doctors I’ve gone to, they require insurance or entire payment up front. I guess you just have more understanding doctors where you live.
Several years ago I took out a loan to pay for dental work I needed because it had to be paid up front.
You don't have to be well-off to buy health insurance. If your employer doesn't offer health insurance, then find another employer.
Thousands of people manage to cover this. Hundreds of thousands of them! It's not an impossible task. Getting government to pay more will only exacerbate the problem. Which is their goal. Thanks for playing along with them!
I hope you smoke.
That was really uncalled for. I was having a civil discussion. You wished I would die soon. Nice.
Ah, I understand. My doctors allow me to make payments because I have insurance. I'm never on the hook to them for very much.
Gosh, awful important to have insurance, isn't it? That's something worth working for, planning for, sacrificing for! Well, for some of us.
I do not begrudge your husband being covered for his accident. I certainly understand that crap happens and sometimes the ends don't quite meet. The problem I have with this is that there will be many, many people who will drop their health insurance for their children because now they meet the income limits for someone else to pay it for them. More government dependence, it increases the cost of medical care and therefore makes the problem worse instead of better.
Sorry, that was easily misunderstood! My fault. I am a smoker. As a supporter of this bill, I hope you will purchase cigarettes (even if you don't smoke them) in order to fund it. I'd hate to have to carry the cost all by myself.
The income limits are pretty low - $500 per week, I believe. Most working couples make much more than that. I much rather see American children covered than funding abortions, but then the abortions would reduce the need for kids’ health care, I suppose.
I just heard that the income limit is $69,000 and the age limit is 28.
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