An $896 Billion Heath Care Bill is unveiled by House Democrats

Finally after many months of preparation and changes the House Democrats presented the finalized heath care bill, containing 2,000 pages which now represents a combination of three different versions of the legislation. Passed by the House committees, the $894 billion bill which should be on the books for the next 10 years, is intended to extend insurance coverage to at least 36 million uncovered Americans, which is the claim of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. That is the initial cost of the bill, but to include Medicare changes, the cost should exceed $1 trillion, according to a recent CNN discovery.
The majority of Americans will now have health insurance, approximately 96%. Subsidization would be provided for poorer Americans along with creating health insurance exchanges. These exchanges would provide an avenue for small groups of individuals to purchase health insurance coverage. Out of pocket expenses will now be capped and insurance companies would no longer be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions.
The initial $894 billion to $1 trillion price tag is supposed to save the Federal government at least $30 billion over the next 10 years. Again, this is the claim by the office of Nancy Pelosi.
As expected people with higher incomes, specifically with incomes over $500,000 annually, will have to accept a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge. As an example, a person who makes $750,000 annually would have an income tax surcharge of $33,750. A millionaire would pay a minimum of $45,000 tax surcharge.
Medicare expenses are to be cut by 1.3 percent each year.
As expected, the republicans tore into the bill, and claim that it will not create jobs, but destroy them. Another claim by the conservatives would be that the bill will do little to stop the cost of health care. The response by the republicans was expected, as the words "government takeover" now is spreading throughout the republican ranks, according to Republican representative from Indiana, Mike Pence.
In a worth while claim, the republicans are also concerned about the existing "donut hole" gap of prescription drug coverage. These are costs left uncovered by the Medicare program before coverage for catastrophic issues start. Still, the leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi has openly stated that there are plans to reduce or close this gap.
Also included in the final bill is the Public Option. where providers of health insurance would be able to work out reimbursement rates with the federal government. This is another claim by the Democratic majority, but it is still in debate within the Republican representatives and the conservative Democrats of the House. It is a watered down version of the public option, as to most liberal of Democrats originally wanted a 5% increase over reimbursement rates for providers and hospitals to Medicare rates. The original public option plan did not fly well even with Democrats representing rural areas, and believe that their districts would be shortchanged by such an option. So the proposed pubic option has been modified not to include the 5% increase.
Apparently excluded from the bill that is now created, does not consider a public option that would allow certain states to opt of of the plan if they wanted to. It appears that the hard nosed Democrats are laying it out on the line, as the creation of nonprofit heath care cooperatives is also not included in the bill, a modification that was supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada.
What are the chances of such a bill becoming law? If moderate House Democrats support it, and a few conservative Democrats tag along, it would be possible to pass such a bill in the House. This could happen with virtually no support from the Republicans. If it happens, it will be a very unpopular move according to many people, especially from the conservative side of the fence. For this bill to actually work favorably for President Obama, it should be voted on in a bi-partisan way. At the present time, it is very uncertain if any Republicans would vote for the health care reform bill presented by the Senate Democrats.
President Obama's approval ratings appear to be dropping partly because of the strong opposition to this bill, but he appears to be willing to sacrifice his popularity in exchange for this bill that he truly believes in. ting conditions.
The initial $894 billion to $1 trillion price tag is supposed to save the Federal government at least $30 billion over the next 10 years. Again, this is the claim by the office of Nancy Pelosi.
As expected people with higher incomes, specifically with incomes over $500,000 annually, will have to accept a 5.4 percent income tax surcharge. As an example, a person who makes $750,000 annually would have an income tax surcharge of $33,750. A millionaire would pay a minimum of $45,000 tax surcharge.
Medicare expenses are to be cut by 1.3 percent each year.
As expected, the republicans tore into the bill, and claim that it will not create jobs, but destroy them. Another claim by the conservatives would be that the bill will do little to stop the cost of health care. The response by the republicans was expected, as the words "government takeover" now is spreading throughout the republican ranks, according to Republican representative from Indiana, Mike Pence.
In a worth while claim, the republicans are also concerned about the existing "donut hole" gap of prescription drug coverage. These are costs left uncovered by the Medicare program before coverage for catastrophic issues start. Still, the leader of the House, Nancy Pelosi has openly stated that there are plans to reduce or close this gap.
Also included in the final bill is the Public Option. where providers of health insurance would be able to work out reimbursement rates with the federal government. This is another claim by the Democratic majority, but it is still in debate within the Republican representatives and the conservative Democrats of the House. It is a watered down version of the public option, as to most liberal of Democrats originally wanted a 5% increase over reimbursement rates for providers and hospitals to Medicare rates. The original public option plan did not fly well even with Democrats representing rural areas, and believe that their districts would be shortchanged by such an option. So the proposed pubic option has been modified not to include the 5% increase.
Apparently excluded from the bill that is now created, does not consider a public option that would allow certain states to opt of of the plan if they wanted to. It appears that the hard nosed Democrats are laying it out on the line, as the creation of nonprofit heath care cooperatives is also not included in the bill, a modification that was supported by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Democrat from Nevada.
What are the chances of such a bill becoming law? If moderate House Democrats support it, and a few conservative Democrats tag along, it would be possible to pass such a bill in the House. This could happen with virtually no support from the Republicans. If it happens, it will be a very unpopular move according to many people, especially from the conservative side of the fence.
President Obama's approval ratings appear to be dropping partly because of the strong opposition to this bill, but he appears to be willing to sacrifice his popularity in exchange for this bill that he truly believes in.

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Positives and Negatives of President Obama's Health Care Reform Package

Opinion of  'James', editor of  'Obama in the White House' blog

All you hear lately surrounding Barack Obama these days is 'Health Care Reform'. Actually, there are some main reasons for it. It represents Barack Obama's very first main political test as President. You may have thought that the economic stimulus plan would have been his first challenge. Actually, support for the economic stimulus plan was split down party lines, and a few of the right wing activist senators also voted for the bill. So actually it wasn't a very big challenge. But now, in the forefront is his first real test known as Health care reform. Results of Health Care reform whether it becomes law or not has become a major factor that will help determine President Obama's future as President of the United States. With less than 1 year in his presidency in a first term, people are already making predictions of his re-election, and most everyone believes that health care reform success or failure will take a major part in the next presidential election in 2012.
President Obama believes that the present system will not work much longer. He claims that with the present care of today, we now wait until people get sick, then provide them with care. Preventative medicine is almost not heard of these days. Presently, 164 million Americans have insurance through their work. Approximately 14 million people pay for their own insurance. It has been reported that 49 million people in the United States do not have any kind of insurance. It includes people who have elected not to have it, and people who simply cannot afford to pay for it. It includes people who cannot acquire insurance because of existing health conditions. For extreme right wing activists or so called "conservative republicans" support for the bill will never be supported, but President Obama is pretty much determined to get some bi-partisan support for his bill. Without the support, the bill will be almost certain not to pass.
If most everyone agree that health care reform is necessary, then why has this reform bill become President Obama's biggest challenge. It is a fact that insurance costs have more than doubled since 1999, as costs are now up more than 117%. Without a doubt, the main reason for people not supporting the bill is cost. President Obama has claimed time and time again that Nationalized health care can be provided without adding to the deficit in the next decade. This statement so far has almost been impossible to prove on paper. People are becoming skeptical on the Presidents decisions on Health Care reform, and has received less support for the reform bill as each day rolls along.
In a previous administration, namely President Clinton, he tried to get a health care reform bill passed in 1993, but was unsuccessful. People may not realize this fact, but President Clinton came up with the bill and provided it to Congress and it did not pass. This time around, President Obama had decided to let Congress create the bill in hopes that this bill would be better accepted for passage. So both the House and Senate created their own Health Reform bills that must be scrutinized by both sides. Still a bill in any form so far has received less and less support.

In a netshell, here are some of the benefits of the plan if passed.

1) Lower costs of insurance
2) People will be required to have it
3) No discrimination based on existing conditions.
4) Premiums will be drastically reduces so health insurance is affordable.
5) Health Insurance industry supports the bill if it contains 'no public option'
6) Illegal immigrants/aliens will not benefit from medical insurance.

In a nutshell, here are some of the negatives for having the plan if passed:

1) Very high cost, up to 1,000,0000,000,0000 = 1 trillion dollar cost.
2) Higher taxes for the wealthy to help pay for the plan.
3) Backups in medBackups in medical care due to overwhelmed emergency rooms, and the lack of at least 10,000 more doctors are needed now, even before this bill if passed would create a rush of doctor and hospital visits.
4) Premiums will be paid by the uninsured if the insurance is not accepted by the employee from the employer.                
5) Less choices provided by government insured health care.
6) Illegal immigrants/aliens still will drain money from health care as they will still have access to hospital emergency rooms.

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