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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: bentway who wrote (504474)	8/13/2009 11:59:52 AM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1578177

I've had my doctor CALL an insurance company clerk while I sat there to determine whether a drug he wanted to prescribe for me was in their formulary. So, what?

To: bentway who wrote (504474)	8/13/2009 12:01:14 PM
From: longnshort	Respond to of 1578177

4. Will the PLAN destroy private health insurance? Here is what it requires, for businesses with payrolls greater than $400,000 per year. (The bill uses “contribution” to refer to mandatory payments to the government plan.) Pages 149-150, SEC. 313, EMPLOYER CONTRIBUTIONS IN LIEU OF COVERAGE (a) IN GENERAL.—A contribution is made in accordance with this section with respect to an employee if such contribution is equal to an amount equal to 8 percent of the average wages paid by the employer during the period of enrollment (determined by taking into account all employees of the employer and in such manner as the Commissioner provides, including rules providing for the appropriate aggregation of related employers). Any such contribution— (1) shall be paid to the Health Choices Commissioner for deposit into the Health Insurance Exchange Trust Fund, and (2) shall not be applied against the premium of the employee under the Exchange-participating health benefits plan in which the employee is enrolled. (The bill then includes a sliding scale of payments for business with less than $400,000 in annual payroll.) The Bill also reserves, for the government, the power to determine an acceptable benefits plan: page 24, SEC. 115. ENSURING ADEQUACY OF PROVIDER NETWORKS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—A qualified health benefits plan that uses a provider network for items and services shall meet such standards respecting provider networks as the Commissioner may establish to assure the adequacy of such networks in ensuring enrollee access to such items and services and transparency in the cost-sharing differentials between in-network coverage and out-of-network coverage. EVALUATION OF THE PASSAGES: 1. The bill does not prohibit a person from buying private insurance. 2. Small businesses—with say 8-10 employees—will either have to provide insurance to federal standards, or pay an 8% payroll tax. Business costs for health care are higher than this, especially considering administrative costs. Any competitive business that tries to stay with a private plan will face a payroll disadvantage against competitors who go with the government “option.” 3. The pressure for business owners to terminate the private plans will be enormous. 4. With employers ending plans, millions of Americans will lose their private coverage, and fewer companies will offer it. 5. The Commissioner (meaning, always, the bureaucrats) will determine whether a particular network of physicians, hospitals and insurance is acceptable. 6. With private insurance starved, many people enrolled in the government “option” will have no place else to go. 5. Does the plan TAX successful Americans more THAN OTHERS? Here is what the bill says, pages 197-198, SEC. 441. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS ‘‘SEC. 59C. SURCHARGE ON HIGH INCOME INDIVIDUALS. ‘‘(a) GENERAL RULE.—In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to— ‘‘(1) 1 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $350,000 but does not exceed $500,000, ‘‘(2) 1.5 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $500,000 but does not exceed $1,000,000, and ‘‘(3) 5.4 percent of so much of the modified adjusted gross income of the taxpayer as exceeds $1,000,000. classicalideals.com