HEALTH Link to GOP Health Care Town Hall Meetings

[FarmerJohn]

I'm looking for a link that would allow me (and others) to find out about the GOP's town hall meetings where we might hear what their alternative is to what is being proposed by the democrats.

Clearly, what we have now is not working well for many; 'get a disease while you're not covered' and you will never be able to get insurance coverage. 'Get a disease while you're covered by your employer's plan' and you can never again change jobs.

I know that the current "system" has its proponents but many Americans crave the type of socialized medical system that our 'greatest generation' enjoy today: Medicare. I'm not saying that Medicare is perfect but that nobody gets denied coverage for preexisting conditions or gets denied coverage for their breast cancer because they failed to disclose a dermatology appointment that they had years ago.

I'm not seeing a groundswell for the abolition of Medicare.... Except perhaps in Texas.

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=338872

FJ

 

[Yours Truly]

I can't help on town hall locations, but I just wanted to say that nobody knows what's being proposed. There is so much political rhetoric and outbursts that the chance of actually knowing what's up is impossible. I'd like to know what is actually being proposed. Really.

 

[Bubba Zanetti]

Actually, we do know what is being proposed. You can read the proposed house bill, that is yet to be voted on.

There are outbursts because, after asking questions, the politicians either change the topic / answer a different question or they attack the questioner.

The people, for good reason, get really pissed at that point.

Watch the unedited videos from these 'town hall' meetings. They almost always start mostly civil. They go down hill when the politico tries to pull their crap, that works when a liberal media is there to back them up. With out that filter, with direct contact with the voters, is when the dog and pony show breaks down.

You can see video's of Barney Frank and Barack Obama stating, very clearly and in context, that any health care bill that is proposed is intended to bring about a 'single payer' system... ie, if you don't pay your new $2500 tax, you will go to jail.

 

[Yours Truly]

Actually, we do know what is being proposed. You can read the proposed house bill, that is yet to be voted on.

There are outbursts because, after asking questions, the politicians either change the topic / answer a different question or they attack the questioner.

The people, for good reason, get really pissed at that point.

Watch the unedited videos from these 'town hall' meetings. They almost always start mostly civil. They go down hill when the politico tries to pull their crap, that works when a liberal media is there to back them up. With out that filter, with direct contact with the voters, is when the dog and pony show breaks down.

You can see video's of Barney Frank and Barack Obama stating, very clearly and in context, that any health care bill that is proposed is intended to bring about a 'single payer' system... ie, if you don't pay your new $2500 tax, you will go to jail.

IIRC, there are two bills right now - one from the House (HR3200) and one from the Senate. Are they both the same?? That's what I'd like to know. That's the first time I've heard of a $2500 tax. Where did you find that? The only thing I've heard is that if business does not offer coverage, they will pay a penalty. In other words, they'll pay for coverage one way or another.

FarmerJohn: Sorry for getting

 

[kozanne]

Congressman Jeff Flake [R-AZ] will be holding a meeting on Monday, August 10 in Chandler Arizona at the Basha High School Auditorium at 5990 S. Val Vista Drive in Chandler. It begins at 6 pm.

There was a Town Hall in Scottsdale AZ today with Congressman John Shadegg, along with protests scheduled at the offices of Harry Mitchell, but I could not make them due to another commitment. I plan on attending the one on Monday evening and will report back after I get home.

 

[SassyinAZ]

...deleted, don't want to re-hash another thread in this one, my apologies

 

[SassyinAZ]

Here's another, only GOP:

http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/goptownhall.pdf

 

[Grantbo]

Where does it say in the constitution that everyone must have health insurance? I thought the people of this country were supposed to take care of themselves and not suck on others like a parasite?

 

[FarmerJohn]

Insurance is not parasitical.

In typical cases, the individual assumes that they have a small risk of contracting an expensive condition, one for which they'd either suffer financial devastation or forgo care entirely. They pay a modest insurance premium to the covering entity, through taxes if it's a government entity like Medicare or to Cigna or Blue Cross as an example of a private entity. Private entities have to be watched carefully for the constant tendency to try to wriggle out of their commitments. Lately insurance companies have been practicing "recision" in which the carefully go over the cases in which someone has suddenly been diagnosed with a dangerous and expensive condition to look for something that was omitted when the insurance was applied for, like a dermatology treatment or something like that.

Not having health insurance is fine as you are healthy but once you're sick it's not a bet that the insurance companies want to make. Unless there is a huge pool of covered individuals, (such like only a government could create) those who get sick without insurance are screwed. If you are one of the fortunate and die inexpensively after a short illness after a lifetime of modest insurance payments then those funds are available to pay for the care of those who (like you) paid into the system but were not so fortunate

Even having coverage through ones employment is chancy. Cigna recently put all of it's employees on a high-deductible plan and now many employees are having to forgo medical treatment and preventive care.

It can be tough to raise $100,000 or so from your friends for your leukemia treatment if you're one of the unlucky ones.

FJ

 

[Thunderbird]

I saw a clip of Manzullo's meeting in Oregon, Il. Mr Manzullo has opposed "O"s plans from the git go but many in the crowd were expressing total frustration with Congress. Manzullo is almost beside himself with personal frustration. He is one of the very few good guys.

 

[Bubba Zanetti]

Thunder: Could you post a link to that video please?

Thanks!


Yours: I could go and cite page number and paragraph, but if you do a google on your question, you will find the info you need.

Or, you can do what I did and try to read the house bill.

Perhaps they could get terrorists to talk by forcing them to read these bills. It would be inhumane, though.

 

[Yours Truly]

Thunder: Could you post a link to that video please?

Thanks!


Yours: I could go and cite page number and paragraph, but if you do a google on your question, you will find the info you need.

Or, you can do what I did and try to read the house bill.

Perhaps they could get terrorists to talk by forcing them to read these bills. It would be inhumane, though.

I got part of my question answered today - the newz reported that there are FIVE bills outstanding. Three in the House and two in the Senate. Apparently the only one most folks are aware of is HR3200. We need to know what the others say.

Forcing terrorists to read the bills? What a great idea.

 

[Yours Truly]

Insurance is not parasitical.

In typical cases, the individual assumes that they have a small risk of contracting an expensive condition, one for which they'd either suffer financial devastation or forgo care entirely. They pay a modest insurance premium to the covering entity, through taxes if it's a government entity like Medicare or to Cigna or Blue Cross as an example of a private entity. Private entities have to be watched carefully for the constant tendency to try to wriggle out of their commitments. Lately insurance companies have been practicing "recision" in which the carefully go over the cases in which someone has suddenly been diagnosed with a dangerous and expensive condition to look for something that was omitted when the insurance was applied for, like a dermatology treatment or something like that.

Not having health insurance is fine as you are healthy but once you're sick it's not a bet that the insurance companies want to make. Unless there is a huge pool of covered individuals, (such like only a government could create) those who get sick without insurance are screwed. If you are one of the fortunate and die inexpensively after a short illness after a lifetime of modest insurance payments then those funds are available to pay for the care of those who (like you) paid into the system but were not so fortunate

Even having coverage through ones employment is chancy. Cigna recently put all of it's employees on a high-deductible plan and now many employees are having to forgo medical treatment and preventive care.

It can be tough to raise $100,000 or so from your friends for your leukemia treatment if you're one of the unlucky ones.

FJ

You've cited some very important points. This is the type of information that needs to be discussed.

 

[FarmerJohn]

So there is no Republican-sponsored or endorsed plan at this point? One that Republicans favor that will allow somebody who gets sick while they're uncovered or have a pre-existing condition that precludes them from ever getting coverage (until they reach Medicare-age)?

If not, I think this old maxim applies:

LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!

FJ

 

[BigBadBossyDog]

I'm not seeing a groundswell for the abolition of Medicare.... Except perhaps in Texas.

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?t=338872

FJ

I guess you're never going to catch on to the simple fact that Medicare is PAID FOR BY THE INSURED. You seem to be laboring under the misassumption that it's somehow free.

You would be wrong. Again.

 

[BigBadBossyDog]

Oh, and you want a better alternative?

Here is comes.............

Abolish the giant ponzi scheme known as insurance. Find a doctor who takes cash. You will pay much less, have much better care, you won't be paying every cent you have for endless paperwork.

That's your alternative. Happy now?

 

[nharrold]

I saw a clip of Manzullo's meeting in Oregon, Il. Mr Manzullo has opposed "O"s plans from the git go but many in the crowd were expressing total frustration with Congress. Manzullo is almost beside himself with personal frustration. He is one of the very few good guys.

Pete DeFazio (D, OR) will have a "town hall" at the Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville at 14:00 - 15:00 on next Wednesday, 19 Aug. I plan to go and to ask Pete, "If ObamaCare is so great, why are you politicians exempting yourselves from it?" Hope to have my camera so I can record his response.

 

[FarmerJohn]

Oh, and you want a better alternative?

Here is comes.............

Abolish the giant ponzi scheme known as insurance. Find a doctor who takes cash. You will pay much less, have much better care, you won't be paying every cent you have for endless paperwork.

That's your alternative. Happy now?

No, please see # 9 above.

The issue is how to get nearly everyone into a/the system so that they are covered and you (and me) don't get stuck with the bill for the care of the uncovered when they can't/won't pay for the care that they do get when they're finally so sick that they show up in some emergency room somewhere.

It seems much smarter to enroll them in some insurance system that even the illegals can't avoid paying into. That way they'll stop jacking up the cost of care for all the rest of us.

By the way, have you ever compared the price that you get quoted when you pay cash for medical services vs. the price that your insurance co. pays? When I've done so I've been astounded at the deal that the insurance co. has been able to cut. (strength in numbers/bargaining power, I guess.)

I still don't see that you've addressed my previous point that the slim chance is still there that you (or anybody) could contract an illness that would wipe out all your savings, all your salable assets (and those of your spouse and children, your parents, if they were so inclined to help you out). Is that the kind of health care rationing that you advocate? Do you have more than $1,000,000 in liquid assets available for such care should it become necessary?

I'm glad that you've been fortunate enough to have avoided expensive medical bills so far. I grumbled about my expensive premiums and switched to a higher deductible policy. Within a year my family physician diagnosed me with a form of Leukemia that requires regular checks and one very expensive round of treatment (chemo/immunotherapy so far. I'm already up to nearly $100,000 worth of expenses and I continue to work and pay the insurance premiums. My doctor is talking about having my spleen removed. If the treatments (it's typical for folks with my type of leukemia to have multiple treatments) loose their effectiveness (a likely eventuality in that case is a stem cell transplant at about $250,000 (which has it's own set of risks and the expenses don't stop there. I'm only 56 years old.

F

 

[SassyinAZ]

So there is no Republican-sponsored or endorsed plan at this point? One that Republicans favor that will allow somebody who gets sick while they're uncovered or have a pre-existing condition that precludes them from ever getting coverage (until they reach Medicare-age)?

If not, I think this old maxim applies:

LEAD, FOLLOW OR GET OUT OF THE WAY!

FJ

Can you not do some homework, especially since you will be directly impacted?

Google "GOP health care plan"

And, just in case you think I'm a hard-ass, I'm 40-something with a different diagnosis but the same issues.

 

[Yours Truly]

I guess you're never going to catch on to the simple fact that Medicare is PAID FOR BY THE INSURED. You seem to be laboring under the misassumption that it's somehow free.

You would be wrong. Again.

Really?

Snip from link below:

Medicare is financed by a portion of the payroll taxes paid by workers and their employers. It also is financed in part by monthly premiums deducted from Social Security checks.

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10043.html

 

[FarmerJohn]

Can you not do some homework, especially since you will be directly impacted?

Google "GOP health care plan"

And, just in case you think I'm a hard-ass, I'm 40-something with a different diagnosis but the same issues.

Here is what I've found. It seems that not even the GOP is talking about it anymore.

GOP Health Care Plan Lets Patients Choose To Spend Own Money

05-20-09

The Republican Party has a deal for you: Under the health care proposal the GOP released Wednesday, you are fully entitled to spend your own money in the free market to purchase health insurance, a chief backer of the plan, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), said Wednesday.

Under the rubric of choice, the plan treats employer-based health insurance as income and taxes a worker's benefits. If it costs an employer $12,000 to cover your health care, for instance, you'd be responsible to pay taxes on that $12,000 as if it were paid out to you.

To offset the tax, the plan provides a $5,700 tax credit. If a family doesn't have insurance, that money can be used to buy it. But Burr acknowledged that the credit would be far less than the roughly $12,000 cost of health insurance.

"If a family doesn't have health care coverage, has no employer-based health care, they get a $5,700 refundable credit to go out and construct their health care. That probably won't meet the equivalent of an FEHBP plan," Burr told reporters, referring to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan.

Patients then have a choice, said Burr. They can either choose a plan that doesn't cover much and has high deductibles, or they can buy a better one.

"It may be that those individuals who didn't have coverage before now construct a high-risk plan that they can access for $5,700, or construct a higher deductible or a higher co-pay than what they may have wanted to fit within the $5,700 window. Or they can put their own dollars in to raise the benefit level," said Burr.

The plan is called The Patients' Choice Act of 2009.

"This puts Republican ideas in the middle of the fight," said Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.). The employer-based system of health care, he said, is a "relic of the 20th Century." Notably, though, the bill's backers insisted that their package does not encourage in any way the dismantling of that system.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) dubbed it "a health care plan worthy of the party of Abraham Lincoln" and stressed that "not one dime" of federal money would be spent on the GOP plan.

That'll be true regardless, because the backers of the bill don't think it has a realistic chance of getting through a Democratic Congress. "We're not interested in engaging the committee process with this bill," said Burr, calling it "sort of useless" and suggesting that Democrats may be so impressed with the ideas in the plan that they adopt it themselves.

The plan is being pushed by Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Burr, and Reps. Ryan and Devin Nunes (R-Calif.).

 

[SassyinAZ]

FarmerJohn,

Today I read my post from yesterday and it reads so, well, snarky, my apologies for that.

Here's the outline they released, pdf:

http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/GOPHealthPlan_061709.pdf

And this article goes with it:

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/06/17/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5093897.shtml

June 17, 2009 12:45 PM

House Republicans Offer Health Care Plan
Posted by Jill Jackson

House Republicans unveiled a plan today that they say would solve the nation's health care crisis.

Rather than the complete health care overhaul that five different congressional committees are writing, Minority Leader John Boehner, left, said they would take the current system and improve it by reforming Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

How much the Republican plan would cost and how many uninsured Americans would gain coverage remains unclear. Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said "we believe we can come up with a plan where every person in the uninsured has access to insurance."

Blunt made clear, however, that there would not be a mandate that individuals purchase insurance or that employers offer it. He also claimed that the overall price tag would be significantly lower than Democrat's proposals.

The four-page Republican health care outline lays out a plan that would allow states, associations and small businesses to pool together to offer health insurance. It would give tax credits to low and modest income Americans to help them buy health insurance. It would also let dependents under twenty-five stay on their parent's health insurance.

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), the top Republican on the House tax-writing committee, said that provision alone would "cover seven million people in America."

Given the large Democratic majority in the House, it will be difficult for Republicans to get their proposals into the bill that ultimately comes to the floor. Members, however, hope that by offering alternatives and publicly criticizing provisions proposed by Democrats, they might be able to get the public on their side.

House Democrats plan to unveil a draft of their health care proposal later this week. It is expected to center around a public health insurance option that House Republicans say would put private insurers out of business.

Boehner said "middle-class families and small businesses simply don’t support a government takeover of health care, and neither should Congress."

Additionally, there was something attached to the stimulus package that sort-of procedurally fast-tracked whatever plan the Democrats were to eventually put forth. IIRC, passage bypassed bi-partisian input (or didn't depend on their votes and it wasn't just the Demos having the majority, it was procedural), it will take some back-tracking to refresh my memory, but I'll try to do that this evening.

 

[Ironhand]

I guess you're never going to catch on to the simple fact that Medicare is PAID FOR BY THE INSURED. You seem to be laboring under the misassumption that it's somehow free.

You would be wrong. Again.

Fine then, I will gladly pay $98.00 per month for my health insurance. Where do I sign up? You don't really believe that that little premium is all that it costs do you?

 

[SassyinAZ]

FarmerJohn,

Here's an article on the portions contained in the previously pass Stimulus bill, Koz has a current thread on it, so cross-linking:

http://www.timebomb2000.com/vb/showthread.php?p=3499813

 

[SassyinAZ]

FarmerJohn,

Here's a reference to what I was remembering. Can't get TB2K search to do anythng but white screen. This is from a summary of BO's first 100 days:

http://money.cnn.com/news/storysupplement/economy/obama_100_days/index.html

Aims to reform health care, education, energy
Health care

Proposes $634 billion health care reform reserve fund. Democrats may move healthcare reform under a fast-track process called budget reconciliation.

That means the Senate can pass it with a simple majority rather than the 60 needed to avoid filibuster.

In essence, it could pass without Republican support.