The only reason this bill passed was Senate desire to get their Name in front of Voters for Christmas. No attempt to gain universal coverage with 23 million people still uninsured, subsidies to people making up to four times the Poverty Line (could potentially cover several classes of federal Civil Servants), no real balance between Benefits and Tax allocations, and knowledge that the Conference Committee will discard the Taxes, cut the expected expansion in half, and reinstate the payments to health care providers. The upshot will be subsidies to middle class to pay for their health premiums, a reduction of the un-Insured roles by around 10 million (almost All coming from the Working Poor), and continued pressure on Emergency rooms for long-term medical care. Health care Providers will get absolved, Employers will get a Pass from payments into any system, and only recently-uninsured will get reinstated into health coverage.
Paulo Krugman is far more optimistic than I. The first failure from his analysis I witness is no Statement as to the reliability of charting in calculating health care Costs; i.e., how many of his charts actually worked out in practice over the last three decades? The bill leaves the black hole of un-Insured, and sets no precise definition of How one can get caught in the vortex of the black hole; instant capacity to expand the black hole in the face of higher health care Costs. Upper Incomes protected themselves from higher taxation, and if you notice such things, will have demanded this protection extend through future legislation. The entire debate included wild Talk about increasing federal debt levels, but no serious consideration of a balanced budget. It remains the standard old Congressional argument: We will not solve Problem A, We will not solve Problem B, but We will spend more Money to ensure that there will be no solutions to Problems A&B advanced to embarrass Anyone.
Those Shut-Ins who know that Congress has given Directions to Santa will probably enjoy this Post, which expresses such Congressional ability to lead the nation on important Issues; remember that Obama was Senate-tutored before running for President. Remember the last Presidential Election, where We had a choice between a Stud black man, a middle-aged white woman, or a near-senile old White man–all coming from the Senate; the only alternative in reality was a Minister from Arkansas. Every Vision for the future was approved by the Senate, except for the Arkansas governor who makes a good Fox Channel News Commentator. Can Anyone remember a time when Special Interests and Politicians left Us an actual Choice in the great empowerment of Voting? Someday, Bloody Someday! lgl
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