NEOAVATARA

UPDATE:  It looks like Nancy Pelosi will scam her way to 216 votes, and may even bring the Stupak bloc into the fold.

We may lose this battle, although the fight goes on…but make sure you voice your opinion in any manner possible.  Let them know that there are repercussions to voting against the will of the  American people.   Challenge them on the facts below, all have been verified by conservative and liberal sources.

Keep your spirits up.  We may lose on Sunday…but the war goes on.  Stand tall.

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1.  $940 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Yes, if you include the $500 billion Medicare cut, and don’t include the Medicare Doctor fix, which will cost around $250 billion more.  The CBO admits this.  If you include all of these parts of medical costs, you would add $59 billion to the deficit over 10 years (and remember, that is only 6 years of the full program intact).

And this includes about $250 billion in taxes, making it one of the biggest tax increases in history.  The Cadillac tax would be delayed until 2018, and the thresholds at which it is imposed would be $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families. To make up for the lost revenue, the bill applies an increased Medicare payroll tax to investment income as well as wages for individuals making more than $200,000, or married couples above $250,000. The tax on investment income would be 3.8 percent.

One caveat:  if you ever here anyone talk about the 2nd ten year projection, you immediately know they are spinning.  The CBO report clearly states that the second decade projections are a wild guess, with less than a 10% confidence.  In other words, a flip of the coin would be better.  Thus, the supposed $1 trillion savings in the second decade is all smoke and mirrors.

2.Premiums would rise.

I think this is obvious to most of us, but just to prove it, the AP reported as much on March 17th.

3. Subsidies

The proposal provides more generous tax credits for purchasing insurance than the original Senate bill did. The aid is available on a sliding scale for households making up to four times the federal poverty level, $88,200 for a family of four. Premiums for a family of four making $44,000 would be capped at around 6 percent of income.

But one point of note:  these subsidies go directly to the insurance companies, and not in the form of a refundable tax credit.  In other words, this is one of the biggest corporate welfare programs in history.

4.  Republican Ideas

None that I can see.  NO TORT REFORM.  Investigators to study fraud, gone.

5.  Abortion

Abortions, per se, are not covered in the bill.  However, there is a mandate that all people have the option of buying at least one policy with abortion coverage.  To me, this sounds like abortion coverage without clearly saying there is abortion coverage.  The Stupak language was much clearer than the current language.

6.  Illegal immigrants

Illegal immigrants are banned from purchasing through the exchange, but no one has explained who is responsible for health care costs in emergencies.  I assume the taxpayers are.

7.  Reducing business costs.

This is a joke.  No one with a brain believes this.

Caterpillar came out and said the health care package, as is, would cost them $100 million…in the first year alone.

At a time of huge manufacturing job losses, does this make any sense?

8.  Huge IRS Expansion

This ‘reconciliation’ bill, as is, mentions taxes 128 times in a few hundred pages.  It would look to hire 17,000 new IRS agents at a cost of $10 billion.  Why?  Because your friendly IRS will be responsible to verify if you have ‘acceptable’ level of coverage, otherwise you will have to pay an additional tax.

9.  Special state exemptions and payoff.

Well, Nebraska Cornhusker kickback and the Florida Gator-Aid are gone.

The Louisiana purchase, the Connecticut giveaway and the Montana payoff, among others remain.

On a side note, Obama stated that he supported the Louisiana Purchase because it was not specific to Louisiana.  That is nonsense, as the Senate language specifically targets the months of August and September 2005.  Additionally, at the same time it exempts Mississippi, who was also hit by Hurricane Katrina, but is not given any help.  Then, Obama mentions that this could help the damage from the Hawaii earthquake.  One problem:  as far as significant, damage causing earthquakes, there have been none since 1980.  They do have earthquakes all the time in Hawaii…but they don’t usually cause any damage.  So I have no idea what Obama was talking about.

Other exemptions seem to have been added in the House.  For example, special exemptions giving the ability of specific banks in South Dakota the ability to privately provide student loans.  This is still in the bill as of tonight.

10.  Doctors considering retiring/quitting?

In a new survey in the New England Journal of Medicine, 46% of primary care doctors said they would consider leaving the profession if Obamacare is passes.

As a doctor myself, I hear these complaints all the time.  I don’t believe there will be a mass exodus from the field…but I do believe anyone that is later in their career that can afford to retire may seriously consider it.  And because of the lack of dollars, training of new doctors will be limited.

In the end, with more patients entering the system, and decreased (or best case, stable) population of doctors, access to  health care will become more difficult.  One only has to look at Massachusetts to see a microcosm of what will happen nationwide.