On Firedoglake, the news about Rep. Dennis Kuincinich: "Flips to 'Yes' on Health Care Bill, Appears to Get Nothing in Return."
Maybe so, but a rah-rah report out today from the House energy and commerce committee suggests Kucinich's constituents stand to gain quite a bit. His district logged 1,600 bankruptcies related to health costs in 2008. With health reform, Kucinich, a Democrat who'd been opposing the bill from the left, stands to deliver the following in his Ohio district. The report calculates that health reform would:
- "Improve coverage for 362,000 residents with health insurance.
- "Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 163,000 families and 14,000 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
- "Improve Medicare for 106,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.
- "Extend coverage to 30,500 uninsured residents.
- "Guarantee that 8,400 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
- "Protect 1,600 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
- "Allow 38,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents' insurance plans.
- "Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $101 million annually."
After the jump, the estimated gain in Rep. Bart Stupak's Michigan district.
Stupak, a Democrat and abortion opponent, opposes health reform from the right. His constituents logged 1,100 bankruptcies related to health costs in 2008. The Congressional report estimates that in his district, reform would:
- "Improve coverage for 364,000 residents with health insurance.
- "Give tax credits and other assistance to up to 197,000 families and 17,900 small businesses to help them afford coverage.
- "Improve Medicare for 141,000 beneficiaries, including closing the donut hole.
- "Extend coverage to 44,000 uninsured residents.
- "Guarantee that 10,000 residents with pre-existing conditions can obtain coverage.
- "Protect 1,100 families from bankruptcy due to unaffordable health care costs.
- "Allow 50,000 young adults to obtain coverage on their parents' insurance plans.
- "Provide millions of dollars in new funding for 41 community health centers.
- "Reduce the cost of uncompensated care for hospitals and other health care providers by $102 million annually."
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This isn't the reform I wanted, but it is reform and it does need to get passed!!
My biggest gripe with this bill is the personal mandate forcing people to buy insurance! Especially without a public option!
I believe: NO Public Option=NO Personal Mandate to Buy...! :)
Absolutely. I do believe in a personal mandate, but only if the cost of insurance is reasonable. And it will only be reasonable if there is a public option/single payer system. With only private insurance and pharmaceutical companies determining costs, we the people are screwed.
A personal mandate with no public option is nothing but a subsidy for these private insurance companies. Corporate welfare indeed.
From Idaho: According to a Northwest Area Foundation Survey:
33% of Idahoans are having problems paying for medical care.
64% of Idahoans sya that having affordable health care makes a "big difference" in making ends meet.
In general, Idahoans attribute problems of families struggling economically to circumstances out of their control (65%) rather than people's poor choices (29%).
Thanks for all you do to give us here in Idaho a progressive world view from the media!
Wow
It wasn't what we wanted. Everything has to to start somewhere. Most of the politicians that are voting NO is to see the President Fail or they think they are going to lose their job. Could you imagine a Republic in November being elected when once the bill is passed and their constituents finally get some kind of healthcare and they want to take it away. I DON'T THINK SO!!!! Not a great bill but at least now my Husband who lost his job, started his own business, couldn't afford insurance, or go on mine because is was $600.00 for me to add my spouse and he would have been rejected anyway because of a preexisting condition. (I guess my husband could have been the poster child for the all campaign) lol
This is the beginning.
What I want, Public Option and then a move to Single Payer will happen.
And we can only hope every one of them votes!
It is not a perfect reform. Does not go far enough but definitely far better than status quo. Get is passed.
The Emancipation Proclamation was a useless bill at the time it was passed too. In that it affected only slaves in the Confederacy not one slave was freed at its passing in 1863. It was an exercise of jumping through political hoops to appease those who would vote for it (gee, glad that doesn't happen anymore 8-/~ ) at first but was eventually effective.
The Emancipation Proclaimation was NOT a bill...
All of you are acting like this is a tiny step in reform. You say it's a good start. This is a huge bill that nobody really knows how its going to work. They should have taken it slower and implemented ideas one at a time to see if it actually works. I think its absurd.
Mark, would this have been like not implementing the Constitution all at once? After all, no one really knew how it was going to work, either. Maybe the Founders should have taken it more slowly and implemented their ideas one at a time to see if they worked.
This is a start; not a great start, but something. It definitely needs tweaking (public option, single payer, Medicare for all - whatever it takes), but the longest journey begins with a single step. We lost an opportunity for reform during the Nixon years and Ted Kennedy died regretful that Congress had "sacrificed the good on the altar of the perfect."
Let us begin.
I always love the "take it slow" approach...as if this is about two people interested in having a relationship.
The "take it slow" approach = George doing nothing about health care reform for 8 years. Enough is enough, let's get 'er done!
It's easy to want slow reform when you're not the one suffering or without health insurance. Personally, I'm more in favor of taking big steps and just correcting as we go if needed. There are a lot of projections out for this bill and the CBO seems to think it would be good in the long run.
If "nobody really knows how its going to work" were actually true then no one would vote for it. It's ok though Mark. While politicians drag their feet, my wife stays uninsured because of the bull**** rules put in place about "pre-existing conditions" that weren't even her fault.
Never mind the standard bull@!$%# pre-existing conditions that insurers have filled their policies with, in some states insurers get to claim domestic violence victimization as a bull@!$%# pre-existing condition...
I just spent the day making phone calls to my mother's doctors because she is being threatened with a collection notice. She is a 75 year old UAW retiree, not with full benefits, and receives SS and Medicare, and lives on a fixed income. She has a serious medical condition that requires monthly infusions. The cost of infusions has gone up, the cost of office visits has increased and the coverage from her "cadillac plan" has gone done. She is paying out of pocket more now than she did a year ago, yet she has not had any increase in her income. I can only imagine what my life will be like at 75. I never worked for any employer that offered a pension, and my 401K has gone bust. It's damn scary!
I have 3 stints in my heart, I'm 56, no insurance and can't afford any at this time, This takes effect in four years, maybe I'll still be around? All I know is next chest pain I'll have to sit it out at home, cause I don't have the money for the hospital
What Theguy1 said.
A couple of days ago, I asked a nurse practitioner at a clinic that serves poor uninsured people like me whether, if this bill passes, the expanded Medicaid would at least take effect right away. I am in dire need of health care that the clinic can't provide, and the ER WON'T provide. The state of Ga turned me down for Medicaid last year. Apparently my husband's unemployment benefits - which is all the money we have to live on - is too much income to qualify for Medicaid, in Ga.
She said it would, as she understands it, but that our state legislature (the God-forsaken state of Georgia, governed by Darth Perdue - or perhaps Osama Bin Perdue?) could - and will - vote to keep Medicaid inaccessible to people like me anyway.
Guess I'll have to hitch a ride to Ohio, and find some way of establishing residency there.
The COMPLETE List of every single U.S. Congressional district in the *entire nation* and how Health Care Reform will benefit each district can be found here:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1924:benefits-of-health-care-reform-district-by-district-impact&catid=169:legislation&Itemid=55