March 29, 2024

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Health Care Reform Didn’t Work for Romney and Won’t Work For Obama – Here’s What Will Work

If you want an idea of how well Obama’s Health Care Plan will succeed for all American’s, look no further than the Health Care Plan installed in Massachusetts by former Governor Mitt Romney called “MassCare.”

While reading below, keep in mind that Romney’s Health Care Plan isn’t working in Massachusetts and neither will Obama’s Health Care Plan work for America, but there are solutions.

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3/21/2010 UPDATE NYTimes: “Massachusetts, which has made a series of painful cuts over the past two years, is gearing up for more. Michael Widmer, president of the Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation, told The Boston Globe: “There’s no end to the bad news here. The state fiscal situation is already so dire that any additional bad news is magnified.”

Even with the cuts that Massachusetts has been making the last couple years, “the situation is dire.”  This will be the future for America if the Health Care bill is passed and if it is passed, who knows what the Senate will do with the reconciliation bill if they get the 51 votes to pass…  All Republicans in the House are voting against it, but just enough (by a count of “1”) Democrats are voting for it that it looks like the bill will pass.

Be careful what you wish for Americans, because government has proven they can’t do anything right and who pays for their mistakes?  You and I.  Look how Congress through the advice of the governments great Harvard and Yale economists ruined the economy.  This health care plan is a guaranteed failure and most in America know it. But those you elected aren’t listening to you.  The good news though is that 16,000 jobs will be created with the passing of this bill.  The bad news, those jobs will to expand the IRS.  Next step: State Nullification. To be continued…

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Romney’s Intent; Health Care For All

Romney’s original intent to provide health care for all citizens of Massachusetts was to make sure “the costs of health care will be reduced.” In accomplishing this goal he stated; “And we will need no new taxes, no employer mandate and no government takeover to make this happen.”

Read My Lips “No New Taxes!”

Has anyone heard this line before; “we will need no new taxes?”  Of course Romney had to say this as the alternative, “we will raise your taxes to cover all citizens of Massachusetts” would have been suicide for his goal from the beginning (think Walter Mondale here).  No politician will get something passed by telling people they will raise taxes to pay for it, unless of course the smokers pay for it.

Unfortunately, people believe that what comes out of a politicians mouth is the Gospel truth.

So How Did Romney’s Health Care Mandate Pan Out?

Inquiring minds are interested in learning what effect Romney’s MassCare has had on the citizens of Massachusetts.  According to Irwin Stelzer, director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute;

Overall health insurance costs in Massachusetts are almost a third higher than the national average, with a basic plan costing almost $17,000 for a typical family of four. Nearly 30 percent of Massachusetts residents report that their medical costs have increased since MassCare’s implementation.

It’s a similar story for government health care spending. Public health insurance expenditures are expected to be up 42 percent, to roughly $595 million, this year compared to 2006.

Have Taxes Increased for the Citizens of Massachusetts Since Romney’s MassCare Was Implemented?

According to Jennifer Nassour, chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party, “Democrats in the [Massachusetts] House and Senate decided that right now is a great time to increase our sales tax by 25 percent during a recession.” Trudy Lieberman of the Columbia Journalism Review adds, “the state needed the money to pay for health reform.  Massachusetts has no dedicated funding source for the subsidies it pays people to buy insurance, and the cost of those subsidies goes up because medical costs keep going up.”

Remember folks, states can’t just print money to pay for things like the government does via the Federal Reserve.  States have to raise taxes which means you pay more.

Are Citizens of Massachusetts Even Getting Promised Health Care Coverage?

While the citizens of Massachusetts are realizing their taxes are going higher, are they even getting the promised health care coverage?  Trudy Lieberman states;

In 2008, some 352,000 Massachusetts residents did not have coverage, even though the law requires that they do. That’s about 5.5 percent of the state’s population; up from the 2.6 percent who were uninsured in the years after reform took effect.

The state still uses the 2.6% figure to hide the truth.

Christians Won’t Go for This On a National Level; Romney’s Health Plan Subsidizes Abortions

Christians won’t like the fact that Romney’s 2006 universal health-care law subsidizes abortions.  This makes me wonder how many Republicans would vote with Romney on National Health Care if he was elected President in 2008.  Naturally, Romney doesn’t make for a good Presidential candidate choice come 2012.  He did come in second to Ron Paul in the recent CPAC straw poll so there are people out there that actually think Romney would be good for our country.  Seeing how good he was for the state of Massachusetts, clearly he is not.

Are There Solutions for Health Care in America?

Of course there are.

For Individuals

For those that have the means, the first thing to do before any real “change” occurs is to self insure yourself.

How do you do that?

For starters, you establish an emergency fund that is kept separate from all other funds.  How much this amount will be will depend on the next step, but it will be at least $5,000.

Once this fund is established, you instruct your current health care provider or new provider if your existing one doesn’t have this option (like with HMO’s) that you wish to increase the deductible to the highest amount available.  Here in California, that amount is around $5,000.

The first thing that will come to people’s mind here is that “I have to come up with $5,000 before I get any medical coverage?”  The answer is, yes, for most.  But as Paul Harvey used to always say….and now…for the rest of the story.

If you are currently undergoing treatment where you use your health coverage often, then by no means change to a different plan.  But for most, we don’t go and see the doctor between the ages of about 14 to age 55, and possibly age 65 if you take care of yourself.  It’s only later in life that your health deteriorates from natural causes.  Knowing your family history can also play into one’s thinking.

In the meantime, odds are you don’t need health coverage except for routine physical exams and normal preventive measures like mammograms.  You know…the things that for the most part aren’t even covered under the Obama Health Care plan.  Remember, the government is not in the business of keeping you healthy.

Your emergency fund will pay for the routine exams and should also be large enough to pay for the coinsurance amount you will be liable for should there be a catastrophic illness.  The total amount out of pocket that you would have to come up with if you were to become sick or injured and need your coverage to pay for your bills is the total of the deductible you would have to pay plus the coinsurance amount.  Any competent insurance agent can give you these amounts.

If one didn’t have the deductible or coinsurance emergency fund available, they can go in with some family members, friends or neighbors and sign a contract where each side provides a stated amount to the fund until that time where the emergency fund can be established individually.

Remember, the odds are you won’t need to use your health coverage until later years in life and you’ll be able to take control of your preventive costs by negotiating with your health care provider on a cash basis.  These routine checkups are always negotiable.  Just ask!

The money you save from moving to a higher deductible will eventually equate your emergency fund and from that point forward you are ahead of the game.  You win, not the insurance company!

For Employees (and Employers)

Many of us work for employers that provide some sort of health coverage.  They provide this coverage because it is the law to do so if the company is over a certain amount of employees.  Employers thus pay for this coverage for you in lieu of paying you more in income.

Wouldn’t it be nice for you to have a higher income and take control of your health insurance costs by doing the planning yourself as outlined above?  For some the answer will be no because their employer is footing the entire bill for their health coverage.  Believe me, these folks are in fact paying for this one way or another.

For most of us, we have to pay something each month out of our paycheck.  First, the fact that your employer gets to deduct the premiums for your health care and you don’t needs to change.  While some self employed individuals can write off some of their premiums, it isn’t a fair system when employers can write off all of their premiums and individuals can’t.

What one company, that should be a model for all employers in the United States, is doing, is giving their employees more control of their health coverage.  John Mackey from Whole Foods has set up his employees with a high deductible plan like I mentioned above for the individual.  He then pays the employee an amount that can be set aside in a Medical Savings Account (similar to the emergency fund above) that can go to pay for preventive care, massages, dental work, chiropractor work, many of the things that are NOT covered under today’s insurance plans.

The employees in turn take control of their health care expenses by negotiating for services in advance of paying for them.  Why?  Because it is THEIR money that is paying for the services, not the health insurance companies.

Why Health Insurance Companies Keep Raising Their Rates

You want to know why health insurance companies keep raising your rates?  It’s because there is no incentive to the insured to negotiate with the Doctors and hospitals.  The Doctors and Hospitals can keep raising their rates because they know the insurance company is going to pay them.  It’s a racket that is on par with organized crime.

We need to get government out of the health care business, not give them more of us to provide health care for!  Medicare is going broke and Congress is trying to push through some sort of legislation that claims they will provide health care coverage for us in the future, years down the road, but will have us start paying for it today!  Why?  Because they’re broke!  They know the system can’t go on as is, so who better to turn to under the guise of “health care for all” in getting money to pay for Medicare (a government program mind you).

It’s time to wake up people.  It’s time to take control of your own destiny and not leave it in the hands of the greedy politicians.

For Uninsured

But what about the uninsured some of you may ask?  Think of it from the Health Insurance providers point of view for a moment.

How nice is it for Health Insurance Companies to have a built in business mandated by government where employees have to be covered?  How nice is it for Health Insurance Companies that when an unhealthy person loses their job or decides to go work on their own, they can’t continue their same plan but for 18 months under COBRA law?  As long as someone pays premiums on a health insurance plan, they should be able to carry that plan with them for life.  This means across state lines too.  Health insurance should be portable.

A 5 Step Plan Is All That Is Needed To Reform Health Care Reform

You don’t need 2,400 pages to reform Health Care!  Just do these 5 things…

  1. Allow health insurance companies to compete across state lines – competition hasn’t hurt the computer, cell phone or Lasik surgery industries has it?
  2. Utilize high deductibles and establish an emergency fund (From an insurance company provider perspective, they will rake in premiums from the majority that won’t even use their health coverage any longer.  People don’t use their auto or home owners coverage often either, providing more than enough income to pay for the unhealthy minority and still provide profit for shareholders – From an insured perspective, competition for your preventive care needs will drive Doctor’s and hospital costs down making it more affordable for all ).
  3. Make premiums for health insurance tax deductible just as they are for employers (this utilizes the incentive for people to buy health insurance, similar as to the incentive to save for retirement via an IRA – unfortunately many people won’t do it without an incentive.  Also, more income would be available to individuals to pay for health insurance as Employers would no longer be paying for it.  One way or another, the employee is paying for it.  Free health coverage from your employer is in lieu of higher income/salary to the employee.).
  4. Make health coverage portable (including across state lines) – solves most of the problems related to the uninsured.
  5. Keep the government out of health care.

It may not be a perfect plan, but it’s better than anything the government will force us to do.  It’s either We take control or Government takes control.  The Constitution states; “We the People” not “We the Government.” Do nothing and the Constitution will soon have to be changed to, “We the Serfs.”

What You Can Do Now To Stop Government Health Care

Write your congressman and let them know what you think.  For those that need information on who their congressman is and how to contact them, please go here.  Do it now or you more than likely won’t do it at all.  If you don’t know what to write, then copy and paste this article.  If there’s not enough space to copy and paste the entire article, then copy the 5 step plan.

Any replies from your congressman, please post here for all to read, and thank you for making a difference…

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  1. […] “MassCare” has put the tax payers of Massachusetts in “dire” straits as cuts in spending over the last two years haven’t worked in resolving their budget crisis […]