Healthcare Costs Could Double

[sfc_oliver]

I thought I put the whole "Help! My energy costs are going to double!" myth to rest.
Perhaps you need to review.

http://mahoningvalley.info/forum/index.php?topic=5691.msg15141#msg15141

And I thought everyone understood this quote from mr Obama.

    "I was the first to call for a 100 percent auction on the cap and trade system, which means that every unit of carbon or greenhouse gases emitted would be charged to the polluter," Obama continued. "That will create a market in which whatever technologies are out there that are being presented, whatever power plants that are being built, that they would have to meet the rigors of that market and the ratcheted down caps that are being placed, imposed every year.

    "So if somebody wants to build a coal-powered plant, they can; it's just that it will bankrupt them because they're going to be charged a huge sum for all that greenhouse gas that's being emitted."

No doubt Green is going to cost plenty of Green.

[irishbobcat]

That's ok. Sarge, the GOP and conservatives lost credibility with me YEARS AGO..........

[sfc_oliver]

Thanks for confirming my post, sarge.....

never, ever, believe a conservative......

So it seems as though everything that every conservative has ever said has been either wrong or a Lie. You just lost any credibility that you and your minuscule Green party ever had.

[irishbobcat]

Thanks for confirming my post, sarge.....

never, ever, believe a conservative......

[sfc_oliver]

I believe that this conservative can see that Green is the color of my money going into your green world. And that 90% of it is total BS. Now lay off the Conservative vs you BS.

[irishbobcat]

Never, ever believe a conservative....

[ytowner]

Why are you worried about healthcare prices doubling?  You advocate environmental policies that will cause our energy prices to double yet there's no outcry on your part about that.   This is a "double" standard we don't need. 

I think Reagan said it best, "It isn't that Liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so."

[Rick Rowlands]

Why are you worried about healthcare prices doubling?  You advocate environmental policies that will cause our energy prices to double yet there's no outcry on your part about that.   This is a "double" standard we don't need. 

[irishbobcat]

Healthcare Costs Could Double


·   Unless President Obama and Congress act, the yearly cost of a health care policy is projected to more than double by 2016, according to a new Ohio PIRG report. The report, "Health Care In Crisis," found that, even after adjusting for inflation, the average employer-paid family health policy is expected to rise from $11,381 in 2006 to $24,291 by 2016.

"The facts tell us that, left unchecked, health care costs will financially cripple American businesses and families," said Ohio PIRG Federal Health Care Advocate Larry McNeeley. "We need to act now before the problem escalates further."
·   ========================================================

Green Party leaders and health care activists called for new federal studies on the economic feasibility and impact of a Single-Payer (Medicare For All, HR 676) national health care program. The study should cover overall and ongoing costs and savings, not just government spending.

Greens cited past studies from the General Accounting Office (GAO) and the Congressional Budget Office in the 1990s showing that Single-Payer would reduce the cost of health care while covering every American. The Green Party will make health care reform and the demand for Single-Payer a major focus of the party's 2009 Annual National Meeting in Durham, North Carolina, July 23-26 (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=222).

According to a 1991 GAO report, "If the US were to shift to a system of universal coverage and a single payer, as in Canada, the savings in administrative costs [10 percent of health spending] would be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage." ("Canadian Health Insurance: Lessons for the United States," http://archive.gao.gov/d20t9/144039.pdf). More reports are archived at pnhp.org (http://www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_system_cost.php?page=all).

"The overall savings we'd gain from Single-Payer will boost the ailing economy and will cut bankruptcies by nearly two thirds," said Jody Grage, treasurer of the Green Party of the United States, who noted a recent Harvard study showing that "Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007" (Physicians for a National Health Program press release, June 4, 2009, http://www.pnhp.org/news/2009/june/illness_medical_bil.php).

"The 'public health care option' supported by Sen. Kennedy and many other Democrats will leave the private insurance industry intact and lead to increased health care spending, especially if mandates lead to big taxpayer-funded subsidies for insurance and HMO companies and the high overhead they add to health care spending. We challenge Congress and President Obama to consult the GAO and Congressional Budget Office on the costs and benefits of Single-Payer," said Ms. Grage.

The Green Party has challenged Sen. Max Baucus and other Single-Payer opponents to hold a public debate, broadcast nationally, with Single-Payer advocates (http://www.gp.org/press/pr-national.php?ID=221). Sen. Baucus has received more campaign money from the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries over the last four years than any other Democrat in Congress -- $413,000 since 2005, with only Republicans John McCain and Mitch McConnell receiving more (http://www.Consumer Watchdog.org).

Greens said that such a debate is urgently necessary because of the lies and distortions about Single-Payer and health care reform coming from the Wall Street Journal (http://mediamatters.org/blog/200906160005), Conservatives for Patients' Rights, and other opponents of health care reform. See also "Debunking Canadian Health Care Myths" by Rhonda Hackett, The Denver Post, June 7 (http://www.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_12523427).

"Apologists for profit-making insurance companies are dishonestly trying to paint Single-Payer as expensive and radical. In fact, Single-Payer is more fiscally conservative, because it'll eliminate the high overhead of private insurance. Secondly, Single-Payer allows full choice of physician, which will restore the American tradition of family doctors who get to know their patients' health care needs. Instead of an insurance company or HMO bureaucracy restricting treatment and referrals, Single-Payer will bring back the days when patients and physicians made decisions about medical care," said Justine McCabe, Connecticut Green, clinical psychologist, and co-author of statewide Single-Payer bill, 1999-2000 (http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=35).

"And finally, under a Single-Payer plan, no one will suffer financial ruin because of medical expenses," said Dr. McCabe.

"Unfortunately, President Obama and congressional leaders insist that we all spend more money on health care, with taxes on health-care benefits, to pay for 'reform' that would still leave tens of millions uninsured and underinsured. At the same time, they don't want Americans to hear about the benefits of Single-Payer -- even though they admit it would save money, cover everyone, and give us the right to choose our doctors," said Angel Torres, co-chair of the Maricopa Greens (http://maricopagreens.org), which held a Single-Payer rally in front of the office of Arizona Rep. Harry Mitchell on May 30 to persuade him to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 676.
Dennis Spisak-Mahoning Valley Green Party
Ohio Green Party
www.ohiogreens.org
www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/