Monday, December 21, 2009

FDL: "Kill the Senate Health Care Bill. Sign the Petition." (with video)


firedoglake:
The Senate's health care bill must be killed. Sign our petition to Congress and President Obama: We must do better for health care than this bill.

The Senate health care bill is an ungodly mess of errors, loopholes, and massive giveaways. When the American people find out what's actually in this bill, they will revolt. Here's why:

  1. Forces you to pay up to 8% of your income to private insurance corporations -- whether you want to or not
  2. If you refuse to buy the insurance, you'll have to pay penalties of up to 2% of your annual income to the IRS
  3. After being forced to pay thousands in premiums for junk insurance, you can still be on the hook for up to $11,900 a year in out-of-pocket medical expenses.
  4. Massive restriction on a woman's right to choose, designed to trigger a challenge to Roe v. Wade in the Supreme Court
  5. Paid for by taxes on the middle class insurance plan you have right now through your employer, causing them to cut back benefits and increase co-ays
  6. Many of the taxes to pay for the bill start now, but most Americans won't see any benefits -- like an end to discrimination against those with preexisting conditions -- until 2014 when the program begins.
  7. Allows insurance companies to charge people who are older 300% more than others
  8. Grants monopolies to to drug companies that will keep generic versions of expensive biotech drugs from ever coming to market.
  9. No reimportation of prescription drugs, which would save consumers $100 billion over 10 years
  10. The cost of medical care will continue to rise, and insurance premiums for a family of 4 will rise an average of $1000 a year -- meaning in 10 years, you family's insurance premium will be $10,000 more annually than it is right now.

We desperately need health care reform. But we can't pass the Senate's bill.

Howie P.S.: It's going to be difficult to get rid of many of these provisions in the conference committee and still get it passed again in the Senate. From GRITtv, with video (22:00):
Is it time to oppose the health care bill? Is the public option well and truly dead? And how the heck did Joe Lieberman, party of one, wind up in charge? Jacob Hacker, the “father of the public option,” and Stanley Resor Professor, Department of Political Science at Yale University, Maggie Mahar, editor of HealthBeatBlog and author of Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much, and Luke Mitchell, senior editor at Harper’s magazine, join us to try to explain what’s left in the bill and what’s likely to happen next.
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