Comments on: Lake Elmo Fire: Bachmann draws overflow crowd for health care scrum

By: Curt

Curt — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:12:05 +0000

@jonerik

Bachmann admits to the monopoly problem of the health insurance industry and offers sound solutions. I’m not sure what ‘safety net’ she mentioned so I cannot honestly comment on that.

But, Medicare and the VA are successful at only one thing – bankrupt programs that represent massive liabilities to be paid by our grandkids through higher taxes and inflation for generations to come. That is historical evidence that proves government healthcare will never reduce costs.

Also, there are plenty of other options for reducing costs that have been discarded by the powers that be. Here is a video clip of some much better solutions that have been proposed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHbwdZXeUFo

By: St. Obdurate

St. Obdurate — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:54:53 +0000

Alan, just as soon as I receive refunds for the money the US government forceably removed from my paychecks for the past 35 years, I am ready and more than willing to be struck from the SSI and Medicare rolls.

By: jonerik

jonerik — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 04:25:22 +0000

Actually Curt, there is plenty of evidence for government run programs lowering costs. You did’t anser my question where in Bachmann’s proposal would her idea address the monopoly problems which she admits exist and where is this “safety net” she says should or maybe is there? Why should Obama take her advice when she offers no real solutions? The Republicans are, as they, bankrupt of any ideas. The extreme rightwing, of which Bachmann is a leader, has nothing but obstructionism and fear to offer.

We already have Medicare and the VA as two examples of government run health care. And if you want to consider other examples, take the government involvement in the electricity. The REA, the TVA and other programs of “public power” established “yardstick competition” against private utilities. Public power made electricity available and affordable for millions of people in the 1930′s-1950′s and into the 1960′s. If not for public power, most of the country would still be unable to access electricity.

By: TSG

TSG — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 04:39:57 +0000

I used to work as a contract programmer and I was once hired to rewrite an application for a large Minnesota HMO. The manager of the department sat me down on my first day and explained he wanted the application to be more complicated so he could justify a higher headcount for his department.
The health insurance industry has nothing to do with health, like any other industry it is all about making money.

By: Mill

Mill — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 23:56:19 +0000

The flaw in Mrs Bachmann’s market-based health care reform thoughts is that the market can’t work well when consumers don’t have the information they need to shop intelligently.

How many people understand medical procedures well enough … drug effects well enough … to comparison shop among providers IF they could even get the information they need?

Do we shop procedure-by-procedure? That means you’ll be shopping when afflicted with something …. how many people shop smartly when they’re sick? What’s your upper price on something that relieves your suffering?

It is impossible for consumers to know what we should for a market approach to health care reform to work. And the profit motive distorts provider allegiance – it’s about the money, not helping a patient.

We need a strong comprehensive public insurance option for any heath care reform to work – extending coverage while saving on costs

By: darkmark

darkmark — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:53:05 +0000

i often wonder if most of the people of any nation are just sheep. if all i wanted is to have power then maybe i would work on the premise that bachmann and her kind are right to use the methods they do to get and retain power. or is that just to shallow and dehumanizing.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:22:18 +0000

The worst of Rep. Bachmann is that she doesn’t represent her constituents she manipulates them to an extreme. I am a constituent in her district and have had the misfortune of having her represent me for nearly 10 years. I have attended her “town hall meetings” in the past. When someone posed a reasonable opposing argument to her ideas she would ignore it. Then move into “propaganda” mode. Since she was last elected this is the first “town hall meeting” she has had that wasn’t held via telephone. I can guarantee you that no one in this entire district can name one piece of pertinent legislation that was adopted. Let alone a piece of legislation that positively affected a majority of her constituents.

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 01:11:21 +0000

Curt, thank you for your post. You have answered your own question. The healthcare industry is a problem. Escalating CEO pay, skyrocketing premiums, out of control drug costs are the very reason we can’t trust industry. Industry has continually raised costs and delivered less. Minnesota’s United Healthcare was cited for CEO pay issues and a board of directors that was colluding with the CEO to cheat the customers and shareholders. Their CEO and board of directors has since been replaced by the state of Minnesota appointees.

By: jonerik

jonerik — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:41 +0000

Curt: Here is a link to Bachmann’s Health Care Freedom of Choice Act, which she previously introduced as HR 636 in Jan. 2007. Show us where in this bill anything “would force insurance companies to compete with each other and reduce the role of government regulation, which would reduce costs” as you say.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?c111:1:./temp/~c111B0SOdq::

I actually agree this would be a useful thing to do. I wonder why someone didn’t suggest this 20 years ago or why some Republican didn’t introduce this from 2000-2006 because I’ve had/have a medical expense saving account and probably will be forced to do this again next year when my COBRA coverage expires. But let’s not kid ourselves that this is any solution to insurance company regulation or enforcing competition. Right now the McCarran Ferguson Act immunizes insurance companies from antitrust liability. Bachmann’s bill doesn’t change that. It doesn’t force any breakup of the monopolies which I heard Bachmann admit yesterday was a problem.

And what about the “safety net.” Bachmann referred to that several times yesterday almost in passing and she said it fast. Are you under the assumption that people who cannot afford to be insured or are uninsurable because of “pre-existing conditions” are going to get this without comprehensive health care reform as proposed in HR 3200?

By: Soundboy_Jeff

Soundboy_Jeff — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:18:53 +0000

interesting that she brings up the UK in her discussion of what we don’t want.

the UK is government run AND operated healthcare. defined as, if you’re a doctor you’re also a government employee working for a government operated hospital/practice. that isn’t what is being proposed.

your doctors won’t change, your choices for HEALTH INSURANCE will.

THAT is what the public option is about, and THAT is why all these people who are getting huge amounts of money from insurance lobbyists want it to fail. Insurance companies don’t want to have to lower prices to COMPETE with a government offered insurance option.

I love the way she starts off saying it needs to change, but doesn’t seem to know why or how or give any plans that would mean any real change.

why would she? she’s got the perfect healthcare plan, and insurance companies are paying her to make sure they can raise the rates on the rest of us whenever they want.

one question for anyone who disagrees… have your premiums gone up in the last five years? And if so, has your coverage increased with that premium increase?

as for the insane ‘death board’ chatter you hear… you mean insurance companies don’t already have the option of dropping you like a hot potato or refusing to pay and citing fine print in your policy? they aren’t ‘death boards’?