Paying for New Healthcare Plan
Published by Bob Foster
I see that Senator Baucus is about to solve the issue of paying for healthcare reform—he wants to tax the insurance companies! Perhaps he is following the lead of Oregon Governor Kulongoski, who recently signed into law a new tax on health insurance companies operating in Oregon…in order to help pay for the “Oregon Plan.”
Needless to say, the Oregon health insurance companies immediately passed every penny of the new tax onto their insured through increases in premiums. What are these politicians thinking? Don’t they understand that taxing the insurance companies is simply taxing the insured through increased premiums?
This type of thinking is what is driving the small business person crazy—they don’t know what to think, or do, but many of those who have health insurance programs in place for their employees are certain that they will likely be dropping, or reducing, those plans. So, what is the government gaining if they price insurance premiums out of reach of small business?
Hopefully, there are enough people in Washington, who have some sense of reality, to overcome those who are totally out of touch. I know that is a lot to hope for, but maybe I’m just an optimist.
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12 Responses to “Paying for New Healthcare Plan”
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Thanks Bob for the validation! In all of the debates regarding government spending and tax increases I never hear anyone mentioning the obvious that the consumer ultimately pays the cost. All the programs in the world to assist the low and middle class working folk have the net effect of not increasing zip regarding purchasing power and improving the standard of living. Rising prices and stagnate wages…why not incentivize corporations with tax initatives to reward those who take of of the folks who make them profitable in the first place? A true living wage might be a great place to start. You can’t fix today’s problems with solutions that haven’t worked for decades…
Dave – Thanks for the comment. I think everyone agrees that we have a healthcare problem, and it needs to be fixed asap.
Also, many politicians think they have the answer for the fix, but unfortunately, very few bother with the details of how their fix is going to be paid for. Simply saying that increased efficiency and reduction in waste will do it just will not work. We need to see some real analysis of the costs when all these proposals are made.
Thanks again Dave.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Paying for New Healthcare Plan
Okay, esteemed gentlemen, what is the correct solution? What does Dave’s suggestion of incentivizing corporations with tax incentives look like? Does this sound like trickle down economics that has obviously not worked as well as desired? Just wondering.
Here in Michigan there is a lot of disgust with the current governor who is seen as one who has not made Michigan a right to work state due to the high tax assessed. I understand this. Many workers earned well above the minimum wage and health insurance was provided through the Big Three and their suppliers. Well, we all know what has happened there.
So, what is the interim solution? Who should bear the responsibility? Is there in such a situation a time where one bears the burden more than others with regards to taxes? Who has benefited most over the past eight years? Who were the big losers?
The only problem with incentivizing corporations is that namely it’s about profiting shareholders and executives and not workers. What would incentivize Walmart, for example, to offer health care insurance to its workers? Why should they change one iota when billions are received for its shareholders and millions for its executives annually? There will always be a demand for such work as McDonalds proves.
Of course, Bob. Small business owners get caught in such corporate/government mazes. I haven’t read Senator Baucus’ proposal. But would a public option of some sort, through the Exchange—the government system which includes Medicaid and Medicare, allow small businesses to purchase insurance at an affordable rate? With a public option of some sort, insurance companies will either have to be compete fairly and not dominate markets in a certain state or lose out big if they raise premiums.
It seems like this is the reason for the nearly $280 MILLION dollars spent lobbying Congress over these past few months, the highest ever in our history.
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Timothy Geithner II
Judith – Thanks for your comment. You presented quite a challenge, and being a person who often has more words than sense, I accepted your challenge. I then wrote up an 800-word first draft comment–not solutions per se, but areas that need to be addressed in whatever solution arises.
Then I made the mistake of watching the evening news. Something is happening to our American fabric. Civility is an old-fashioned, and meaningless, word; and the self-interest of individual citizens goes far beyond the tenets of the “me” generations.
Therefore, I have concluded that there is no form of healthcare reform that will sit well with the citizens of America. It has recently been speculated that the Senate may invoke a llittle-used partisan budget tool known as “reconciliation” to pass a health bill through the Senate by a simple majority, instead of the normally required 60 votes. This could happen as early as Oct. 15th.
If this is what in fact happens–the recent march on the Capitol may look like a walk in the park. I also realized that anything I had to say on this issue would be meaningless, so I deleted my draft comment.
Is our society coming unraveled? If so, why is it happening, and what can be done to stop it?
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Paying for New Healthcare Plan
“If this is what in fact happens–the recent march on the Capitol may look like a walk in the park.”
Before I even address the more substantive comments in your post, I must admit to laughing aloud at this statement–not, because the voice of tens of thousands of people may not be heard, there are undoubtedly hundreds of millions that will be heard–but because of the lunacy present in Washington last Saturday.
With regards to civility, I just wrote a post deriding Kayne West for his despicable behavior at the VMA. Not only was his behavior not civil, but essentially by his actions he was implying that only sexy girls and women that hump and grind in videos are only worthy of such an award. Taylor Swift’s video, “You Belong to Me,” is great and wholesome. I love it. You don’t need to have pouty lips, a bad attitude, and dress like a hoochie momma to belong or get a VMA. I have been appalled at many videos and even the clothes that some of my teenage nieces have worn.
My teenage nieces know that when I meet up with them that I will subtlety yank on their too short skirts and politely take them aside later and have a little talk. I am given to taking them on shopping sprees and they each know for certain that not one piece of crazy clothing item will be bought on my dime. Please tell me what’s going on with these parents? Do they think it’s cute? Well, it’s not!
Kayne can take his incivility and disappear as far as I’m concerned. But I must also say with regards to Serena Williams that I think there has been a perceived shift in the culture with regards to race relations and the disrespect given to President Obama by both white and black young people. I wonder if Serena has experienced the same disrespect first hand, while even being a darling—-well, not quite–of the tennis world.
Both sisters, for example, have endured not only bad calls like ALL other players, but I have been astonishingly appalled at many overtly racist comments by male and female commentators. By the way, Federer, the reigning king, was himself uncharacteristically uncivil during his match with del Porto. Something’s in the air here that’s for sure. In the culture, incivility breeds incivility. But the exact is also true. Civility breeds civility.
Your question about civility brought to mind how an Althea Gibson or Lewis Armstrong handled such things differently. This generation, even with the election of President Obama, has believed that they will be judged differently. I’m not sure that that is altogether true, even though we have made great strides. Thank God.
I was just on my 18 year-old nephews’ FB wall over the weekend and he and his high school friends were debating about the Wolverines and Fighting Irish game before it began. My nephew lives in majority white area and his high school was 5% black. He’s a freshman in college now. This is how the conversation went:
Friend: “Why don’t you get some white paint and paint yourself?”
Friend 2: “hahahahahaha”
Nephew: “Shut the f &*% up, guys.”
Michigan won and the conversation began again after the game.
Nephew: “Who’s laughing now?”
Friend: “But you’re still black.”
Friend 2: “hahahahahahah”
Aunt: Go Blue! (I’m a Michigan alumni!) Hey guys, what’s with all the body paint? You are beyond kindergarten, aren’t you?
Conversation closed.
I have been following both Williams sisters since they burst on the scene those many years ago and they have always been well-mannered even in the face of really bad calls and unbelievable comments. There is, however, no excuse whatsoever for Serena’s behavior the other day and she acknowledges this. But I do I wonder if McEnroe has ever acknowledged his foul behavior on the court? I don’t think so. Instead, he has even gotten endorsements which include his well-known line “you can’t be serious?” We think it’s cute and by the products he’s selling.
Please know that having said the above, I strongly believe in civility. I also believe in sometimes “answering a fool according to his folly.” But such was not warranted in the Kayne and Serena cases. They were both in these situations flatly uncivil and wrong. Serena was justly slapped with a $10,000 dollar fine. Kayne should just go away.
Sorry, Bob, for the long comment. If it’s not okay, just let me know please.
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Taylor Swift
The sentence above should read:
But I must also say with regards to Serena Williams that I think there has been a perceived shift in the culture with regards to race relations and the disrespect given to President Obama EXPRESSED BY both white and black young people.
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Taylor Swift
Judith – Thank you for your comment, and your comments could never be too long. There is such a dearth of well thought out comments on the blogosphere, that I appreciate any and all meaningful comments.
As I said in my previous comment, I believe that our society is coming unraveled, and that we are turning into a boorish mob. Yes, civility breeds civility, but it feels like those practicing civility are just “voices crying in the wilderness.” I too, have followed the Williams sisters since they broke onto the tennis scene, and have always cheered them on whenever I knew they were playing. I can understand getting angry at bad calls (and they likely received more than most), but there is a line in sports that is not crossed without dire consequences…and I could not believe how far Serena crossed over that line.
I was also nearly brought to tears watching the clip of young Taylor Swift standing on stage clutching her award, and listening to Kanye West berate her for winning that award. This was the most important moment of Taylor’s career to date, and this boor took her few seconds of glory away from her. As my Montana rancher friend would say; “This man is a pure waste of skin.”
Joe Wilson doesn’t even deserve a comment, other than he has brought the U.S. one small step closer to becoming a third world country. Town Hall meetings, Rallies, Tea Parties, celebrity blow-ups, vicious radio talk shows—and the list goes on. Where will it end, and what will end it? Or, will it not end, but just dissolve into a new society of incivility and “every person for themselves?”
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Small Business—Be Prepared
Skin is such a wonderful beautiful thing. It’s our largest useful protective organ. It breathes, absorbs, regenerates and dies. I like the rancher’s comment. Why waste it unnecessarily?
With such a great organ why disparage it for its color? Isn’t that so silly? I have devoted a whole post to Taylor Swift. She’s beautiful and talented.
Let’s hope that we all will swiftly forget the name of that apparent idiot who so dishonored the president. Even with his fundraising maybe he will not be re-elected, not that I have a vote down there.
From my research this Congressman’s positions on immigration and health care, as well as his dishonoring of the black child that Strom Thurmond hide, but secretly provided for for many years, are disagreeable. He wanted the lady to just go away. He called her open acknowledgment Thurmond’s death a “smear.”
Many of these guys appear morally bankrupt. But these things are often not easy to grapple with either. Isn’t it far better to live an honest life or at least try our very best to do so daily? I think so.
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Rational Reformers
Judith – At the threat of being labeled “an old geezer who lives in the past,” I have to say that I am concerned that our overall country is becoming morally bankrupt. With masses of our citizens ignoring the rules of civility, celebrities acting out their angst, our esteemed politicians behaving like idiots…I’m very concerned.
One of the advantages of living a long life is that it gives us the opportunity to make comparisons between generations, that may be too subtle for the mainstream media…but which form a measurement of societal behavior. In our youth-oriented society, I would not presume to make a recital of these comparisons, but that does not diminish their existence. Suffice it to say…things are much different than they were in the past, and the important things, such as honesty, civility, compassion, honor, empathy, and the like, are nowhere near as evident today as they were in the past.
Fortunately, there are notable cases of “old-fashioned” virtues being acted out every day, and this gives us hope that maybe someday, as a country, we will regain our moral standards of excellence.
Thank you for your comments Judith.
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Small Business—Be Prepared
Hmm, Bob? I may be a few years your junior and I guess I’m an old geezer too. Can women even be geezers? Who cares? I don’t!
It is always a pleasure to pass through here for a greater or lesser time. I learn a lot and appreciate your wisdom and perspective. Thank you.
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Funny VII
Judith – Thank you for your comment. Since the term geezer seems to be directed at attitude rather than age, I doubt that either of us will ever enter the state of “geezerhood.”
Bob Foster´s last blog ..Small Business—Be Prepared
LOL, Bob! “Geezerhood!”
Judith Ellis´s last blog ..Being Inspired by Others