This morning at just after 10 a.m. the Supreme Court health care ruling finally came down. It was the most anticipated ruling in recent times. The outcome, according to early media reports, is that the individual mandate was struck down as unconstitutional - however, the health care law survived with the individual mandate being ruled constitutional as a tax.
For months everybody has speculated. By Wednesday, dueling press conference had been scheduled, even though nobody was sure what they would be saying. Well, now we know.
So what do you think? Is the Supreme Court ruling the one you expected and is it one you agree with?
Greg, I don't have statistics to back up my opinion, however, I doubt this is the case. I think most of the people who "hit the hospital" really can't afford to pay. I think the people who are screaming are those who can afford to purchase insurance for a large number of people who cannot afford to purchase insurance. Check out an emergency room and see who's sitting there waiting for help and what their problem is. BTW, this is an aside. I was in the emergency room at the behest of my physician because I hate to go there. After many hours there and dinner time nearing I was quite hungry. I was asked if I wanted one of their stale sandwiches or something else less appealing. I was told that this particular ER no longer gave meals to people who were patients because people were coming in off the street complaining of illness so they could get a hot meal. SAD, very SAD!
Someone may have said this already, I can't remember; however, the reason one cannot opt out of certain parts of an insurance program that does not pertain to them at the moment is that once that particular need arises and coverage is needed, you have not paid into the "pool" which provides that coverage. Think of it as the cost of life insurance when you are 25 versus the cost when you are 65; HUGE difference. Someone mentioned insurance as being a "pool" and money is collected there to cover the needs of all who are enrolled in that "pool." The reason why one company's insurance plan may cost more than another.
The lag of charges incurred vs receiving payment for services after submitting more than one time is staggering. Charges are increased because of the sliding scale of reimbursement vs charged amounts, if you will only receive 50 percent of the charge listed, you double that service fee to get your payments. Simply put - blame finance charges that are built in to the current process... And then you have to generate cash-flow to pay for services that aren't paid for elsewhere. And the NEW program NOT being a "tax increase" on all Americans is simply the definition of what "is" is. You can't be lowering prices if you ADD a roughly 3 percent tax to all medical devices. You in fact just RAISED the cost of EVERYTHING, unless visit a doctor that uses NO tools in his/her practice.
But the taxes increased in this plan HIT EVERYONE who uses the services of any doctor at all, since there is a new roughly 3 percent tax on ALL Medical devices. I don't see how MEDICAL costs / prices drop when TAXES are added/increased? But I am open to be schooled on the matter.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-07-08/opinion/os-ed-guest-column-rubio-070812-20120706_1_obamacare-individual-mandate-new-taxes Here's an excerpt: He assured the American people that the individual mandate wasn't a tax. But when Obamacare was challenged in court for violating the Constitution, he changed his tune, arguing that it was permissible under Congress' taxing power. The court agreed and upheld Obamacare. The bait and switch proved to be a brilliant legal strategy, but a disastrous economic policy. For millions of Americans, including job creators, Obama's political win is now an IRS problem for them in the real world. Obamacare is bad policy that adds around $800 billion of taxes on the American people. It does not discriminate between rich and poor. It hurts everyone.
It's possible to find Rubio's webpage and ask him where he got his figures. He may be quoting from the projected through 2016. I'll do that when I get a minute tonight.
http://www.atr.org/full-l...e-tax-hikes-listed-a7010
If you add the projected tax revenues from "Table 1" at the end of the report you actually come up with $315 billion over 10 years. I'm looking forward to the new numbers although I don't know of any changes that should drastically impact the revenue side.
If you add the projected tax revenues from "Table 1" at the end of the report you actually come up with $315 billion over 10 years. I'm looking forward to the new numbers although I don't know of any changes that should drastically impact the revenue side.
The cost of Healthcare as well as reform is an immense issue looming over us as a nation. It is an issue that is not going away and up till now not much has been done to address it. No it isn't perfect. Yes, there are as of yet unknown consequences coming down the road that will need attention, adaptation and further changes. My hope is the necessary tweaks will be allowed to happen rather than be caught in a political stranglehold where we all lose. What I find most strange is the number of people who would have embraced this entire plan without so much of a flinch had it been made law by "the other side" of the political coin but because it is Obama or Democrats it is essentially evil and our world is coming to an end. A big Thank you to the folks who provided the links to Kaiser and "howstuffworks". I appreciate having access to the information. I am enjoying the discussion here and appreciate the calmness with which it is being presented.
Unions are shocked that obamacare has unintended consequences http://www.caintv.com/unions-shocked-to-discover-oba