US/Obama Healthcare Plan Consolidated MEGA-THREAD

[Muravyets]

As far as I know, there are only three bills on the table: "Obamacare," the National Healthcare Act, and the Wyden-Bennett Act.

From what I have seen all three bills are called Obamacare.

Which is an insulting nickname being used by opponents of any kind of reform or change. That's why it is being applied to all the bills and provisions, even the Republican-supported ones -- Wyden-Bennett and Rep. Isaacs' end of life counseling provision.

[Redwulf]

Thank God that the public option might be removed. The so-called "public option" was just a trojan horse from the insurance companies that control the vast majority of the "healthcare debate."

Fool! Health insurance companies are simply a front for the Illuminati, which are themselves a front for the reptilian overlords!

The Reptilian Overlords are funded by the Boy Sprouts . . .

[Marcuslandia]

I read this and thought, "Hmm. Not a bad idea." But I realized that many great minds on NSG would/should/could point out any flaws in the proposal. So have at it!

Dear President Obama: A Modest Medicare Proposal

Dear President Obama,

I understand you're thinking of dumping your "public option" because of all the demagoguery by Sarah Palin and Dick Armey and Newt Gingrich and their crowd on right-wing radio and Fox. Fine. Good idea, in fact.

Instead, let's make it simple. Please let us buy into Medicare.

It would be so easy. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with this so-called "public option" that's a whole new program from the ground up. Medicare already exists. It works. Some people will like it, others won't - just like the Post Office versus FedEx analogy you're so comfortable with.

Just pass a simple bill - it could probably be just a few lines, like when Medicare was expanded to include disabled people - that says that any American citizen can buy into the program at a rate to be set by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) which reflects the actual cost for us to buy into it.

So it's revenue neutral!

To make it available to people of low income, raise the rates slightly for all currently non-eligible people (like me - under 65) to cover the cost of below-200%-of-poverty people. Revenue neutral again.

Most of us will do damn near anything to get out from under the thumbs of the multi-millionaire CEOs who are running our current insurance programs. Sign me up!

This lets you blow up all the rumors about death panels and grandma and everything else: everybody knows what Medicare is. Those who scorn it can go with Blue Cross. Those who like it can buy into it. Simplicity itself.

Of course, we'd like a few fixes, like letting Medicare negotiate drug prices and filling some of the holes Republicans and AARP and the big insurance lobbyists have drilled into Medicare so people have to buy "supplemental" insurance, but that can wait for the second round. Let's get this done first.

Simple stuff. Medicare for anybody who wants it. Private health insurance for those who don't. Easy message. Even Max Baucus and Chuck Grassley can understand it. Sarah Palin can buy into it, or ignore it. No death panels, no granny plugs, nothing. Just a few sentences.

Replace the "you must be disabled or 65" with "here's what it'll cost if you want to buy in, and here's the sliding scale of subsidies we'll give you if you're poor, paid for by everybody else who's buying in." (You could roll back the Reagan tax cuts and make it all free, but that's another rant.)

We elected you because we expected you to have the courage of your convictions. Here's how. Not the "single payer Medicare for all" that many of us would prefer, but a simple, "Medicare for anybody who wants to buy in."

Respectfully,

Thom Hartmann

[Nadkor]

FUCK. OFF.

[Braaainsss]

Seriously? Another health care thread?

[Buffett and Colbert]

*head asploads*

(Again)

[New Kereptica]

If you call it a Modest Medicare Proposal, then you have no choice but to include an Irish-baby-eating clause. Fix it.

[Marcuslandia]

So it's _another_ thread. If that bothers you, don't read it. In the meantime, how about contributing your "wisdom" and point out the flaws. If you can find any.

[Sarkhaan]

Really? I mean...fucking really. It's even stickied at the top. It's called the Obamacare Consolidated MEGA-THREAD.

Stop. Making. 50. Thousand. New. Threads. About. Obama. And. Health. Care. In. The. United. States. Or. I. Am. Going. To. Obamasplode.

[Nadkor]

How about you post it in the sticky specifically created for discussing US healthcare reform.

Christ. It's not even a difficult concept.

[New Kereptica]

So it's _another_ thread. If that bothers you, don't read it. In the meantime, how about contributing your "wisdom" and point out the flaws. If you can find any.

I did. I demand the consumption if Irish babies.

[Tubbsalot]

Well, I liked it.

Unfortunately, not being an American, I have very little idea what Medicare actually is.

[Dyakovo]

Well, I liked it.

Unfortunately, not being an American, I have very little idea what Medicare actually is.

Here ya go...

Basically NHS for the elderly only...

[Nadkor]

Actually, tell me this; even if there wasn't a mega-sticky at the top of the forum for discussing this topic, what makes you so self-important that you think your idea is so amazing that it simply must have its own thread? Even if there were several other threads discussing US healthcare reform (and not a sticky, for gods sake, specifically for the purpose), you would have next to no justification for spawning another one for no purpose other than the validation of your drivel.

[Jordaxia]

Good gods. Another? Really? Come on, this is getting ridiculous now.I know NSG tends to discuss topics following a trend, but this is a whole new level of absurd. you have a sticky. post in the thing.

[Psychotic Mongooses]

*cuts wrists*


*needs medical aid*

[Dyakovo]

*cuts wrists*


*needs medical aid*

*Checks PM's wallet*

*doesn't provide it*

[Milks Empire]

I read this and thought, "Hmm. Not a bad idea." But I realized that many great minds on NSG would/should/could point out any flaws in the proposal. So have at it!

*snip letter*

Send it to him. I like it.

[Marcuslandia]

I read this and thought, "Hmm. Not a bad idea." But I realized that many great minds on NSG would/should/could point out any flaws in the proposal. So have at it!

*snip letter*

Send it to him. I like it.

Had the other knee-jerk rejectionists actually read the letter, they might have seen the name at the end: Thom Hartmann. He's about 180-degrees from Rush Limbaugh. That is, a much more calm-spoken Progressive radio talking head: http://www.thomhartmann.com/2009/03/01/ ... o-program/

I missed that NHS had been consolidated into a single mega-thread. My bad; my apologies for having jumped straight into a separate thread. (Those of you whose immediate reaction was "Fuck off": considering your etiquette, you first.) I was opting for a separate thread because the proposal is NOT strictly part of the NHS debates; those all address the specific bills currently in the House and Senate. This proposal would bypass the whole reform and involve one and only one element: an option for any citizen to buy into Medicare. No one else would be affected in any way that I could see.

The foaming-at-the-mouth adversaries aside, I've seen some actual coherent, intelligent, thoughtful opponents that were adept at dissecting the NHS proposals. I wanted to get their feedback explaining why this was a Bad Idea. Since they would be pointedly looking for flaws that I might overlook, their critique would be beneficial. (Much more so than what the "Any Democratic/Liberal/Lefty ideas are automatically crap!" crowd might say.)

[The Orion Federation (Ancient)]

I am just wondering why people are hating so much on Obama? (Yeah, probably a pathetic attempt on my part to get this thread SOMEWHAT back on topic lol.)

I mean, all he has done is to PROPOSE SOLUTIONS to fixing what is wrong in this country. Health care being one of the biggest things wrong in this country, and has been so for a decade now. He has also announced the gradual pullout of troops from Iraq until the end of 2011. An 8 year-long recession is finally seeing signs of letting up, and coming out into prosperity. Afghanistan is holding free and open elections, and the majority of people are now resisting the terror tactics of the Taliban. We are building school, instead of bombing them.

Seriously! WTF is there to be hating on the president who has done nothing particularly bad yet? Yes, the healthcare plans needs major discussing, and the PROPER criticism it needs in order to be effective in the future. In fact, this huge discussion on the healthcare system is LOOONG overdue. Lord knows the last administration completely ignored it, and allowed it to get out of hand the way it is now. I mean, after 8 years of neglect, it is gonna take a while, and many discussions, speeches, and proposals to get where we need to be. This is a GOOD thing that, like I said, is LOOONG overdue.

Yeah, I am ready for the 90s-like prosperity to come again. And a time when the bombs and guns are relatively quiet, and other nations' people being our friends again.

[Buffett and Colbert]

I am just wondering why people are hating so much on Obama? (Yeah, probably a pathetic attempt on my part to get this thread SOMEWHAT back on topic lol.)

I mean, all he has done is to PROPOSE SOLUTIONS to fixing what is wrong in this country. Health care being one of the biggest things wrong in this country, and has been so for a decade now. He has also announced the gradual pullout of troops from Iraq until the end of 2011. An 8 year-long recession is finally seeing signs of letting up, and coming out into prosperity. Afghanistan is holding free and open elections, and the majority of people are now resisting the terror tactics of the Taliban. We are building school, instead of bombing them.

Seriously! WTF is there to be hating on the president who has done nothing particularly bad yet? Yes, the healthcare plans needs major discussing, and the PROPER criticism it needs in order to be effective in the future. In fact, this huge discussion on the healthcare system is LOOONG overdue. Lord knows the last administration completely ignored it, and allowed it to get out of hand the way it is now. I mean, after 8 years of neglect, it is gonna take a while, and many discussions, speeches, and proposals to get where we need to be. This is a GOOD thing that, like I said, is LOOONG overdue.

Yeah, I am ready for the 90s-like prosperity to come again. And a time when the bombs and guns are relatively quiet, and other nations' people being our friends again.

HES A EBIL COMMIE SOZIALEST ATHIAST MOZLEM!!!!

[The_pantless_hero]

Really? I mean...fucking really. It's even stickied at the top. It's called the Obamacare Consolidated MEGA-THREAD.

It's far harder to see pinned at the very top than floating around by itself.

[The Orion Federation (Ancient)]

HES A EBIL COMMIE SOZIALEST ATHIAST MOZLEM!!!!

lol....just...lol.

[Spectorland]

I think the closest we're going to see to nationalized health care was already enacted as the Social Security Act of 1965, featuring Kerr-Mills and Medicare.

[Berkshire-Hathaway]

I think the closest we're going to see to nationalized health care was already enacted as the Social Security Act of 1965, featuring Kerr-Mills and Medicare.

Medicare and Medicaid are very niche policies. They only cater to those that truly--I say very generously--cannot take care of themselves. However, Medicaid is too compassionate.