The deed is done. Joe Lieberman has single-handedly killed any meaningful health care reform legislation.
Yes, there will be a bill. President Obama will sign it. But, it won’t be what we want or need, or what we’ve been fighting for all these years.
Now, we have two big jobs ahead of us.
The first is to send a message to Joe Lieberman. Hey, Joe, you’re outta here. We don’t want you in the Senate Democratic Caucus anymore. And we sure as hell are not going to let you continue as Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
Next priority: Make sure this tragedy doesn’t happen again. By getting rid of the filibuster. In a democracy, the majority should rule. Not two-thirds, the majority. And certainly not one man. But the majority.
The filibuster is undemocratic. Maybe you keep it for really big decisions, like going to war or raising taxes. But no way it should be employed to deny other Senators the right to do their job, the right to do what they were elected to do, and that is to vote.
So, two jobs to do. Let’s get to work.
Throw Joe Lieberman overboard.
And get rid of the filibuster.
That’s my parting shot for today.
You are too stupid to even bother a reply. Gee I guess the democrats NEVER used the filibuster.
We do not live in a Democracy but a Republic. This post makes you sound uneducated to our entire political system. I would also suggest to you that Joe Lieberman would not be an issue if the rest of the Democrats were in agreement. Joe Lieberman is an easy target but off the mark. This whole debate has been handled wrong from the very start. The Democrats are falling apart and for that Joe cannot be blamed. It is painfully obvious that there is a lack of political experience in the Whitehouse. Say what you want about George Bush but if he wanted this passed it would have been and the Democrats would have been involved. At some point the Republicans have to be engaged in this and all debates to have legislation passed, this much is obvious.
A Public Option that Doesn’t Directly Compete with Private Insurance
The cost of a government health insurance plan could be based on the average health care cost for people in each age group plus a certain percentage. For example the government insurance for a person born in 1950 could be the average health care cost of everyone born in 1950 plus a percentage, maybe somewhere between 5 to 15 percent, minus likely deductibles and co-pays. The average health care cost would be the cost of health care received, would not include insurance premimums.
Private insurance companies could pick their customers, but they could not cancel their customers, their rates would have to be the same for all people in each age group, and they would have to cover preexisting conditions.
People without private insurance would be required to take the government insurance. People would pay the government insurance though employer withholding and though sending the money to the government. The cost of the government insurance would be limited to a certain percentage of a person’s total income. The percentage of income that is limited could be higher for older people.
For example a 25 year old person’s government insurance cost could be limited to 3 percent of that person’s income, while a 60 year old person’s cost could be limited to 12 percent. A person’s total income could include income from work, capital gains, dividends, interest, gifts, and inheritances.
This type of government plan would not directly compete with private insurance, but still it would keep private insurance companies from charging extreme amounts. Insurance companies competing to insure the healthiest people could drive prices lower. Since everyone is insured, health care providers would not have to charge more to cover the uninsured and people won’t just get insurance when they are sick.
The government plan may need extra funds since the plan would be covering the less healthy people and people not paying the full amount. One possible way of getting extra funds would be to tax capital gains and dividends at the same rate as regular income for people with incomes over $250,000.
This type of plan would increase payroll payments on some people, however they would be covered. Raising the standard deduction amount and the exemption amount could somewhat offset this. People would have incentives to be healthy to find cheaper rates. Private insurance companies knowing they will be keeping their customers may encourage preventive care.
To get health care reform passed, different states could try different types of reforms as long as everyone is covered. One state could have a Republican plan, another state may want a single payer plan, and hopefully a plan as mentioned here could also be tried. By having many different plans, the best plans would become apparent in time.
Thank you
Doug Seger