Flaws in the Democrats' reform plan

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Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Comment

By Mark Hohmann

Dear Honorable Mike Thompson: I just received your letter describing the congressional Democrats’ proposal for health care reform.

You stated that Americans will not be forced into a government insurance plan. Why then is our president on record as telling union members that he wants a single-payer plan (government), though it might take years to enact? Also, at least one version of the plan states that members of Congress will be exempt from this plan. As to illegal aliens participating — in committee, Democrats voted against requiring an ID — Joe Wilson was entitled to call the president a liar based on this. The Democrats and some Republicans would like amnesty for those who break our laws by crossing the border illegally. Isn’t it handy that they would then not be illegal? What about those on the president’s health policy group — Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm’s brother), for instance — who have made statements showing they have a low view of human life, especially of those not financially contributing to society?

Even though the American Medical Association backs this plan, it represents only a small percentage of doctors so that is a deceptive endorsement. Many doctors oppose this plan and state they will retire from practice if it’s enacted. Where will the doctors come from to treat millions of new clients?

As to paying for the plan through Medicare reform, Congress should have dealt with reforming this already. It appears your only plan to save money is to reduce services. In case you hadn’t noticed, our country has gone deeply in debt since Barack Hussein Obama became president. To say we’ll tax the rich is ridiculous, as the top 5 percent of earners already pay 56.47 percent of all taxes, plus Congress has already proposed new taxes for top earners. Whom do you think creates new jobs? It’s not anyone on welfare! Nor is it the government, unless you count hiring more officials.

What about some of the services promised, i.e. abortion? What about Canada and Britain, which lack a sufficient bumber of doctors and must ration health care and are the source of tens of thousands who come here for specialized health care? There are other possibilities besides what the Democrats are proposing.

1) Tort reform: fear of lawsuits forces high medical liability insurance and the ordering of extra medical tests by five out of six doctors.

2) Sever the link between health insurance and employer that Congress requires now and causes the loss of insurance with the end of a job.

3) Allow purchasing of health plans across state lines to increase competition and bring down costs.

4) Allow tax exemptions for those who don’t get their insurance through an employer.

I await your responses to these concerns about H.R. 3200.

(Hohmann lives in Napa.)

33 comment(s)

littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 12:33 AM:

" Can the NVR ever print something good about the President? "

kevin wrote on Oct 21, 2009 4:44 AM:

" It's going to be a long wait, Mark, if you are waiting for a rational response from our Congressman Thompson. Despite his self promotion as a fiscally conservative "Blue Dog Democrat", he votes in lockstep with radical liberal Nancy Pelosi and he is not going to go against her this time, regardless of the financial hole this $2 Trillion plan puts America into... "

Enlightened Coelacanth wrote on Oct 21, 2009 5:40 AM:

" All good points. I'm sure they won't be addressed, as a result. "

freeport56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 7:35 AM:

" Careful Mr. Hohmann you are besmerching the left's religious beliefs.

National health reform is the sugar to draw the people in. once forced into the system private insurance will be over regulated to the point it will not be able to compete and shut down. the system will evolve into single payer for 300 million people.

Couple that with Cap & Trade, the President's threat to sign the Copenhagen Climate Treaty, and you can can pretty much kiss America good-bye. Our industry and our great wealth will be gone. We will be then living a 19th Century lifestyle. "

Raven wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:09 AM:

" 1) tort refoirm is a state issue and we have had that rteform here in california since the 70s...how has that affected our health care premiums..

2) show us the federal legislation that requires an employer to provide health benefits....there isn't any that I know of..
3) You can...I have my plan from Blue Shield...of Minnesota...

4) you can already deduct health plan premiums. "

nightwatchman wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:15 AM:

" Mark-- you sent your letter to the Congressman to the Napa Valley Register by mistake! How is he going to respond to you now?

Seriously though, does anyone believe this stuff any more? I hope this is an old letter. "

glenroy wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:28 AM:

" well raven if you bothered to check our healthcare cost are a fraction of New England.... "

steph wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:58 AM:

" Force big tobacco to pay for all services rendered (drugs, office visits, hospitalizations) secondary to smoking-related illness.
Your $350 per month inhaler? Paid for by the same company that sold you the cigarettes. Ditto the $15,000 hospitalization and the $80 office visits several times per month.
Just one idea of many I have. "

duke2149 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 10:02 AM:

" I can post the same entry for every topic because it all leads to the same destination. The complete destruction of the United States.

Pay for Health Care - or you mean have the Chineese Government finance and take over.

Mike Thompson wants to pay doctors for "results". Huh?

I say we pay Mike Thompson for results - lets start with saving the constitution and saving freedom & save the USA.

Mike Thompson step back from the minutiae and look whats happening to this government - they all love Mao. Do you want to be associated with that?

Draw a line in the sand now and say "not one step further towards tyranny. "

duke2149 the housewife in slippers will be out on the front line defending our nation for the generations to come so they will know freedom. "

alucawanza wrote on Oct 21, 2009 10:41 AM:

" No one is "entitled" to call the president a liar during his speech to a joint session of Congress. That opinion, in your letter, negates everything you wrote. It shows the origin of your comments. It's all parrotted right-wing rhetoric. Blah blah blah "

nightwatchman wrote on Oct 21, 2009 10:51 AM:

" Raven, what they mean when they say "across state lines" is that they want to be able to skirt state laws. You can sell insurance across state lines now if you conform to the regulations of the state in which the insurance is sold. In your case, Blue Cross of Minnesota conforms to CA's standards for an insurer, so they can sell to you.

By "across state lines," they mean all health insurers would move to the state with the most lax regulations and only have to conform to the laws of that state while selling nationwide. Besides being a total job loss for states who bother to hold health insurers accountable, it would make the consumer waaaaaay more vulnerable to shenanigans.

You know, I'm not certain that the people making this argument understand what they mean when they say it...they're just repeating what they hear. "

freeport56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 10:58 AM:

" raven-

but there 1600 suppliers to choose from if the states open up competition.

Employer based health coverage is usually a "Pre-tax" deduction and cannot be written off your taxes until you cross a dollar threshold in health costs.

Can you imagine where your premiums would be without it?

Obviously, you believe that the government will cure all. if the Health care Bill passes, it will not be long before Blue Shield on MN will go under and you will be given National health care. Since the Bills being pushed the House and Senate only allow for the coverage of 45 million Americans, what will they do when everyone is forced to be covered by single payer.

A simple extrapolation of the numbers looks like this:

308 million/million=6.844

6.844 X 871 billion=$59,915,110,000,000.00 in health care costs.

Where do you think that money could come from. Granted the math is simple, but paints a terrible picture. Once Copenhagen is signed all our industrial based will be moved to the third world, our energy supply will be reduced by 80%, and we will be the third world nation. so say the tenants of the treaty. "

cab e-girl wrote on Oct 21, 2009 11:39 AM:

" When someone lies, no matter who is telling a lie, I find it appropriate to call a lie a lie. Exposing a lie is never a bad thing.

Why should the NVR print "Something good" about someone who is trying to destroy the liberties that our forefathers and ancestors paid for with their blood? Look to the mainstream media to print glowing reports on a false leader. Simply admire the recipient of the Noble Peace Prize for the false accolades you are seeking.

Good letter Mark, when REP. Mike Thompson and ALL those in Congress voting for HR3200 give up their LIFETIME benefits paid for by you and I to sign up for the public option they are trying to cram down our throats, I will look at supporting this bill. When congress cleans up medicare, so that our elderly are well cared for then I can look to government for excellence. Until then........ "

cab e-girl wrote on Oct 21, 2009 11:41 AM:

" Maybe Harry needs to retire or voted out

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/64117-reid-tells-colleagues-he-was-led-astray-by-the-ama "

littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 12:32 PM:

" I am a natural born American citizen. I have every right to send my comments to the NVR as you do. You do not own the NVR.
I did not see you exposing Bush for telling lies about weapons of mass distruction, or objectiong to our tax paying dollars being spent on that illegal war.
You are indicating the NVR is no longer a part of the main stream media any more!! Well How about it Mr. Editor does Cab-e-girl speak for the NVR or herself??? "

freeport56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 12:56 PM:

" HEALTH COSTS AND HISTORY
Washington has just run a $1.4 trillion budget deficit for fiscal 2009, even as we are told a new health care entitlement will reduce red ink by $81 billion over 10 years. To believe that fantastic claim, you have to ignore everything we know about Washington and the history of government health care programs, says the Wall Street Journal.
Next let's examine the record of Congressional forecasters in predicting costs. Start with Medicaid, the joint state-federal program for the poor:

The House Ways and Means Committee estimated that its first-year costs would be $238 million. Instead it hit more than $1 billion, and costs have kept climbing.
Thanks in part to expansions promoted by California's Henry Waxman, a principal author of the current House bill, Medicaid now costs 37 times more than it did when it was launched -- after adjusting for inflation.
Its current cost is $251 billion, up 24.7 percent or $50 billion in fiscal 2009 alone, and that's before the health care bill covers millions of new beneficiaries.
Medicare has a similar record:

In 1965, Congressional budgeters said that it would cost $12 billion in 1990.
Its actual cost that year was $90 billion.
The hospitalization program alone was supposed to cost $9 billion but wound up costing $67 billion. These aren't small forecasting errors -- the rate of increase in Medicare spending has outpaced overall inflation in nearly every year (up 9.8 percent in 2009), so a program that began at $4 billion now costs $428 billion.

-WSJ
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703746604574461610985243066.html "

a teacher wrote on Oct 21, 2009 4:48 PM:

" I like stephs idea of making big tobacco pay for some of the damage they caused. Maybe we can also talk to "big alchohol" and McDonald's.

Ok, that's a little tounge in cheek, but there is a point to Americans taking a look at how we live and at the corporations who sell us every thing we want whether it's good or bad for us(and who spend an enormous amount telling us what we want). "

alucawanza wrote on Oct 21, 2009 4:57 PM:

" cab-e-girl
Count me as a person happy with medicare coverage...I am well-cared for, thank you. "

alucawanza wrote on Oct 21, 2009 5:04 PM:

" cab-e-girl:
Here's the law:

A House Rules Committee summary of guidelines for members states that while it is permissible to challenge the president on matters of policy during debate, personal attacks are off limits. House rules note that a member could refer to a presidential message as a "disgrace to the nation" but it would be impermissible to call the president a "liar," a "hypocrite" or say he was "giving aid and comfort to the enemy."

More on this at:

http://cbs5.com/national/joe.wilson.obama.2.1184332.html

BTW: He was reprimanded formally in the House and seven Republicans voted yes on the reprimand. They are the good-mannered ones.... "

glenroy wrote on Oct 21, 2009 5:27 PM:

" Hey Teach....what about sexual behavior....having those who keep getting, or spreading STD's pay for their mistakes?

Those who keep using abortion instead of...?

We have save billions.... "

littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 6:16 PM:

" Several of the law suites against tobacco companies were joind by health insurance companies. I know BC/BS was one of them. In the settlement award of many millions ,the insurance ccompany was suppose to use their money to pay for cost of treating illness caused by smoking. To date I have not heard of any one actually getting that bennifet. I do know many people with smoke related illness who have bs/bc and they get no freebies. I know that settlement money was all tax free to the insurance companies and that when specific drugs are prescribed for smoke related illness. . . .guess who gets to take $$ from the settlement trust??
Now my friends I submit to you after Obama said today he is going after Insurance companies anti-trust protection I am betting all of a sudden the insurance companies are going to play ball with the new health plan.
Laugh all you want..we are talking about trillions of dollars lost if the Insurance cooperate industry looses their anti-trust protection.
I can not remember all the case history about the law suites I do recall one of the companies was Rj Reynolds I am sure it is available on the net some placeI think one suite was in Florida and one Skip Humphries did in Minnesota. "

littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 6:21 PM:

" Hey Teach,
How about castration for any man who wants un-protected sex, or sex with out marriage!
Sure would solve a lot of problems! "

Sickothis wrote on Oct 21, 2009 6:36 PM:

" littlered56 you got that right about the anti-trust thing. No idle threat, either... "

Sandra wrote on Oct 21, 2009 7:15 PM:

" littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 12:33 AM:

" Can the NVR ever print something good about the President? "

I am often confused by some of the posts....and this one is right there with the most confusing. There is nothing about President Obama in this letter, and the last time I looked Mr. Thompson was a representative. "

littlered56 wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:16 PM:

" The article has every thing to do with Presidents Obams changes to health care as he promised.
I never suggested Congressman Tompson was not a rpresentive, in fact I feel he is an excellant representive.
Now, Sandra dear if you will read the entire article you will note paragraph 4 does infact make reference to President Obama.
Now I am the one who is about your post. Did you just not read the whole article before you made you comments about what I said?? Or did you read it all and just made up some silly false accusation for the sake of being confused.
In the past 7 months There has been nothing positive printed here on NVR online, about the president. Its like fox news if it is negetive it will get printed.I just wonder why? "

kevin wrote on Oct 21, 2009 9:55 PM:

" Now that's just not true littered, just recently the NVR printed an article about B.O.'s admistration activily fighting against a court challenge to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.

Now that was positively a good thing! "

steph wrote on Oct 22, 2009 8:12 AM:

" littlered, the insurance companies pay for the care provided to smokers whether you have read about it or not, and so I support their gain in the lawsuits against the tobacco companies.
I don't support individuals' lawsuits against tobacco companies.
What I object to is tobacco companies profiting handsomely from smoking, at the expense of the rest of us who have to subsidize, via the insurance companies or through welfare, the cost to care for people who choose to smoke. And those costs are VERY high. "

littlered56 wrote on Oct 22, 2009 10:32 AM:

" Your health insurance is rated(priced) according to smoker, non smoker and you are not suppose to be charged for smoker rates. The insurance companies who got the million dollar settlement do not use the money to pay for treating smokers.I just meant I think they should be held accountable for what they did with all that tax free money.
The cost for treating people for abusing alcohol and prescription and illegal drugs also run up the cost of our Insurance.

Kevin you just proved my point, thanks! "

glenroy wrote on Oct 22, 2009 2:54 PM:

" shareathought wrote on Oct 21, 2009 6:35 PM:
" glenroy (10/21, 9:26AM) wrote:
"...it’s not hard to tell when Democrat leadership is lying, whenever their lips move..."

It would be appreciated if you could avoiding name-calling and stay on topic.

OK….though I not sure who I called a name….

“you can always tell when the Democrat leadership is lying…they send it out in their junk mail too”…. "

glenroy wrote on Oct 22, 2009 3:07 PM:

" I don’t think obama promised to nationalize healthcare….if he had he’d never been elected and he knew it, that’s why he and the Democrat leadership euphemistically call it healthcare ‘reform’…

If you look up the definition of ‘reform’ you might find…reorganization, restructuring, modification, transformation, alteration, change, development, amendment…..but you won’t find government option, socialization, massive tax increases, end of life counseling…etc. "

kevin wrote on Oct 24, 2009 12:25 PM:

" Actually glenroy, he DID say that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-bY92mcOdk&feature=fvw "

glenroy wrote on Oct 27, 2009 5:06 PM:

" Joe Lieberman ought to be given a medal…..

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1009/28788.html

Teach....how many times did he deny it? "

Madison Jay Hamilton wrote on Oct 30, 2009 6:40 AM:

" Why haven't the Republicans put their version of a health reform bill online for the American people to read?

There isn't one. "

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