The Republican plan got trashed by the CBO. Cost more yearly and covered about no one over ten years, when factoring in population growth.

I also had no trouble finding the full text of HR 3962 at govtrack.us. While the bill is not perfect to me (I'd prefer a single payer system...), the bill does drop the uninsured rate from 17% to 4%, not that expensive, and has been endorsed by the ARRP and AMA. I put more stock into those endorsements than I do tea partiers who don't understand the bill.

What about cuts to medicare? What are we suppose to do? We already know there will be no cost of living raise. But I bet you dollars to donuts the premium will go up.

Well, the AARP doesn't think any of the cuts in Medicare will affect their members or other senior citizens. Congress states the proposed cuts will be from wasted spending, Whether that's totally true and rather any congress will actually manage to cut spending, I couldn't judge.

DavidD,

The final edition of the bill has not been posted on the web as of yet. Speaker Pelosi is breaking her promise to put the final edition on the web for 72 hours prior to final House voting.

What you have read has probably changed...and will change.

The AARP was for the bill this past summer -- against the wishes of its membership. They are for the bill today too -- against the wishes of its membership.

The AMA - only 17 percent of doctors are members. Big support group there I would say.

Whether the GOP bill was good or not - remains to be seen. Let it be debated on the House floor and let others decide if its good or bad. President Obama accussed the GOP of not writing bills - they have, but the Speaker refuses to let the American people have a say on the House floor about them.

I guess Walkie has been drinking the diluted cool-aid for too long.

The CBO already stated the GOP bill will keep the uninsured rate at 17%. It's not really worth discussing on the house floor. Though that's not to say there aren't a few good ideas from the Republicans, tort reform the most obvious.

And I'd say it's more accurate to say that "some AARP members are against the bill", not a majority.

Oh, and the bill posted was introduced on Oct 29, 2009, was the one endorsed yesterday by AARP and AMA and the one supposed to be voted on tomorrow. Doesn't seem like there have been any changes of it.

http://docs.house.gov/rules/health/11...

Obviously, if this passes and one of the Senate version passes, they'll spend plenty of more time merging the two into a new bill.

It is all in the interpretation. They can twist it anyway they want to.

Thanks for the link to the bill, David. I'm off to do some reading!

Just tell me how many times the phrase, "...such sums as may be necessary..." pops up.

It is all in the way they want to interpret it, that moment. It may be different on the next paragraph.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery...

The cuts to medicare that everyone is concerned about is actually the $177 billion dollars that is paid to insurance companies. A something that they should not of been getting in the begining.

I had no idea Medicare was paying insurance companies. What it the world for? I thought medicare was for medical care.

Isn't it more important that we take our time with something so important as health care so that we get it as close to perfect as possible?

It is very scary when there is such a rush to shove something like this down people's throats. Why is it that the one's doing this don't even want to explore all of the options?

Medicare premium is not free. I wonder if I can opt out of medicare and go on the free govt. option?

The government option isn't free either. There is a premium like with every other kind of insurance.

What was the point in overhauling the entire health care system? Why not just make the uninsured get insurance. I'm sure it all sounds good on paper but I'm still reserving my thoughts until it kicks in. Auto insurance is required to but a whole lot of folks are finding a way around it. If I'm not mistaken the insured drivers have to pay a premium just in case.

Requiring all Americans to get health insurance is a part of the overhaul. However, there are people out there who don't have insurance through their job, and don't qualify for private insurance because of pre-existing health problems. Private insurers right now can turn a person down for pre-existing conditions, or they can exclude the pre-existing conditions from being covered. The overhaul does away with that and allows, for the first time, ALL Americans the ability to purchase insurance.

There are stringent requirements for anyone who wants the public option. If you get employer-provided insurance, you are not eligible for the public option.

Employer provided insurance is not free, nor is it mandatory. Suppose they drop their employer provided insurance? Would they, then, be eligible for govt. provided insurance. If not, then that is another uninsured person. It is a cycle. At no time will every entire person in US be insured. Statistics change daily.

If their employer dropped insurance, they would then be eligible. Employer provided insurance is exempt from pre-existing condition exclusions and they cannot turn anyone down. No, it's not free, but it is far more affordable than private insurance because the employer pays for a large portion of the monthly costs.

I encourage you to read the bill. I did, and now that I have read it for myself I don't have to trust anyone else to tell me what is or is not in it.

How long did it take you to read it?
And did it make sense to you?

It took me quite a while to read it. Yes, it did make sense to me. And, it PASSED the House!!!

Did you read the part about 95% of small business's being exempt from having to either provide health care for the employee's or having to pay the fee for not doing it? That will cause all of those business owners to drop their insurance, because it will be cheaper for them to just tell their employee's to get on the public option. That will immediately swell the numbers too more than people are expecting.

Bullochguy,
I'm not sure I follow what you have written. Can you tell me the page and line number that you are referring to?

Most small businesses don't offer insurance to their employees already. The large businesses that do offer insurance won't stop because it is part of the package to entice and retain good employees.

I am referring to the words the President used in his joint address to Congress. He said if a business didn't offer insurance to it's employee's they would be penalized, but that 95% of small business's would be exempt.

I know many business's that are considered small business's, that do offer insurance, actually have worked for some myself. Now all those people will be joining the public option.

This thing just hasn't been thought through thoroughly. You can't do something this complicated, this fast, and expect it to be good.

Bullochguy,
Exempting small businesses from being required to provide health insurance keeps them from going under. They aren't required to provide insurance now, what makes you think those that do will stop just because they still aren't required?

They will stop because it will be cheaper, and their employee's can get coverage. Why spend money for insurance for your employee's when you can save money by telling them to go on the public option.

This isn't aimed at helping anyone stay in buisness.

What I am understanding is small businesses will have to pay fine and or penalty for not providing insurance. Those businesses more than likely will close down causing more unemployment. A lot of the cuts to medicare and medicaid will fall back on states causing property taxes to increase. My property taxes already doubled because we no longer get homestead exemption. Most states are already hurting for money and eventually BOE will suffer. They have already made cuts.

No, Burke. The small businesses are exempt from the fine for not providing insurance. It is only the large businesses that have to pay a fine for not providing insurance.

Bullochguy,
Insurance reform is aimed at getting people insured. They are trying to prevent small businesses from going out of business in the process.

Large companies have always provided insurance. Every job I ever had other that the food industry provided insurance for a premium. I always had my own insurance even though I did not need it, as I was covered under CHAMPUS automatically..