…and it is an insult to liberal democrats. By Scott Creighton
89.6 million People went without health insurance for all or part of the last two years. That is over 1/3rd of the entire population. Then you factor in that we have nearly 3 million in jails or prison and that they are not included in these numbers, because they have access to health care.
The numbers are dismal and reflect a crisis in America that goes beyond health care. From the Reuters News Service article on MSNBC; “The report found that more than 79 percent of those without insurance were in families in which at least one person had a job, 70.6 percent were themselves employed full-time, and 8.7 percent were employed part-time.”
The simple fact is that Americans can no longer afford health care. And that is by design.
In the National Jobs for All Coalition, a Bloomberg article is quoted as saying “American workers have rarely taken home a smaller share of the nation’s prosperity, a condition that is undermining bipartisan support for free trade and creating friction between President George W. Bush’s administration and the Federal Reserve.” “Such a disparity, partly the result of globalization of the labor market, helps explain why the Bush administration is struggling to muster support for lower trade barriers even with the jobless rate at a four-year low.”
Real money wages are the lowest since the Great Depression and with the dollar dropping in value across the world; it doesn’t look like it is going to get better anytime soon.
The Financial Times reported on Sept. 19th “The dollar fell to a 15-year low as the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut US interest rates more aggressively than expected continued to weigh on the currency.” “Hans Redeker, analyst at BNPParisbas, said the size of the Fed’s move might reflect a central bank belief that the US economy was in a worse condition than markets were assuming. “The dollar will come under more severe selling pressure.”
So in the midst of all this, we have Hillary announcing her “Universal HealthCare Plan” which calls for individually mandated heath care through the for-profit insurance companies managed by HMOs. “At this point, we don’t have anything punitive that we have proposed” for people who do not purchase health insurance as required by her plan.” Hillary said during an interview with the AP and she went on to say “..she could envision a day when ‘you have to show proof to your employer that you’re insured as a part of the job interview”
Her health plan is a boon to the insurance industry and a nightmare for the uninsured as well as the under insured. People with pre-existing conditions will be mandated by law to pay whatever the companies demand, and her moderate tax break of $500 won’t come close to covering the cost for many. After all that, we will still have to deal with problems like those highlighted in Michael Moore’s film “Sicko”; companies looking for unrelated problems from a claimant’s past to revoke the policy, just when the person needs it most. Or doctors having to ask accountants what type of treatments a patient can recieve.
The summery page of the newly released 3rd part of her plan, states that her plan will “Limit Premium Payments to a Percentage of Income: The refundable tax credit will be designed to prevent premiums from exceeding a percentage of family income, while maintaining consumer price consciousness in choosing health plans.” With no mention of what the percentage of your total income will be, her plan will give back up to a certain amount, in “tax credits” to keep the percentage reasonable.
Meaning the insurance companies will charge basically what they want and the federal government will ease our burden with tax credits when they charge too much. After being granted by law a customer base increase of over 33%, they will still achieve a kind of retroactive corporate welfare where the fed pays just enough back to the consumer, to keep them from going completely belly up.
All this mandated by law, with no penalties “at this point”, at a time when the real money wages in this country are nearing Depression levels and the dollar is weaker than it has been in nearly 2 decades. And this is the “Progressive” solution we have all been waiting for?
So when the problem is that many families are having to choose between paying their insurance premiums or buying food – apparently the progressive solution is simply to take away their choice. Maybe that’s why they called it the “American Health Choices Plan”.
Filed under: Campaign 2008 | Tagged: Hillary
OMG, she is horrible. She is a republican in (expensive) sheeps clothing. When can we get corporate personhood revoked already? Until there is true accountability in our corporate machine, the rich will continue to exploit the poor and middle classes. Are people just too tired to fight for thier rights? Or too stupid?
Revoke corporate personhood. Absolutely the right place to start. Thank you Blue!
So when the problem is that many families are having to choose between paying their insurance premiums or buying food – apparently the progressive solution is simply to take away their choice.
Great finish to a great article, willy. Hillary seems to be under the impression that Americans are clamoring for mandatory health insurance. What we actually want is mandatory health care.
What kind of weird concept is it that you must pay for health insurance? How are the unemployed to afford it, and how are they to get a job without it? This is just going to make it more difficult for the unemployed to find work.
And, if insurance is mandatory, does that mean you get thrown in jail if you don’t have it?
These people have it all backwards, and are in the pockets of private health insurance companies. We want health CARE, not health INSURANCE!
That’s a good point and a fine distiction, Egreggious.
This plan is worse than doing nothing — and seriously fucked up.