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Oh, no! Oh, please no! They want to make us pay for it ourselves, directly, out of what little margin the middle class has left.



I read the letter the CBO wrote about their analysis of the plan. The bill includes language to force companies to take the money they are currently spending on health insurance and add it to the employee's salary as part of the transition to the new system.

So, don't be so sure you'll be screwed in your retirement plan. If they're making 'em add the cash to salaries, it wouldn't surprise me at all if they made them include that cash in your retirement plan as well.

The example I quote basically has the government giving a big enough of a tax break that it covers 2/3rds of the cost of insurance. And, if you're making not enough for paying less taxes matters to you, they've got subsidizes which will pay what you would have gotten out of the tax breaks, and possibly more.

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And probably require us to pay the big insurance companies. I see nothing about reeling in the abuses the insurance companies are heaping on us, either.



I haven't looked into this specifically, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if policing insurance companies is just considered a separate bill.

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This does nothing to address the current huge problems. It just plays into the hands of the folks who fucked everything up to begin with, and profit from fucking the people over.



The huge problems are the people who fall out of the current system. Usually via pre-existing conditions and/or losing their job. Like most health care bills being debated, this bill precludes insurance companies from denying people because of pre-existing conditions. And, breaking the dependence upon company health insurance gets rid of the problem where if you lose your job, you lose your health insurance.

People not being able to afford it as part of their lifestyle isn't such an issue because there are already many programs designed to help the poor. When conservatives complain about people too cheap to buy health insurance, they're talking about people making over $75K. If you're making $40K with a family and don't have health insurance, in most situations even the conservatives have sympathy for you. Although, in an attempt to inflate the numbers, people who complain about how many are uninsured, they will include those people in the numbers.

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Which is why we need a public option. And legislation that causes consumers to be better informed and have a stake in the co-pay, making people shop for services.



While it's kind of crazy how scared you are of big businesses, this bill does include mandates as to what coverage the insurance companies must provide. The minimum is supposed to be the Blue Cross plan federal employees have access to.

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The rank and file, and I, will not become tax-aware when doing this. Tax breaks will not work for this.



It's not going to be any different than declaring the interest on your mortgage as a tax deduction. If you don't know how to do that, please show up at your local IRS office and they will explain it to you.

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Question - how does this become cost neutral to the Gov't with the massive tax write-offs? I don't understand it, but I don't dispute the CBO.



That's all the math that would take a lot of time to understand. The mandates involved in health insurance are a similar issue. The only mandate I've come to understand so far is the one where they require everyone to buy health insurance. That's because if they don't let insurance companies deny people because of pre-existing conditions, what's to stop people from waiting till they get sick to buy insurance? Go read about risk pools and how fees are rated if you wanna understand that stuff.