Let's have our own unofficial poll.

[BJean 16]

Do you think that the healthcare reform bill is a good thing or a bad thing? Or do you intend to reserve judgement until you learn more?

[Cleo's Mom 257]

Social Security and Medicare are very popular plans, also the result of democrats. But remember that these plans, too, were demonized by the republicans. History will show that this healthcare plan is good for americans and good for this country.

[BJean 16]

Thanks for your responses so far. I hope we get even more input right away. The political climate in this country has many of us perplexed. Maybe this poll will explain some of that. I have no idea how it will wind up but right now it's 2-2-1.

[KartMan 58]

Short of Medicare for all or at least a Public Option, I am happy with what we got.

[BJean 16]

I understand that it is possible for the individual states to work out a way to get the public option as long as they stay within the framework of the recently passed legislation.

I have absolutely no hope of that here in bf Texas, but perhaps in Cali and other civilized states, you will have a chance at it.

[kimaly 57]

I have to say as a small business owner this could destroy us. We have had lay offs and also had to drop our insurance even for our selves so we could make it through these hard times but this is what we had to do to be able to keep as many guys working as possible if the Gov. forces us to pay for insurance we will lose more people. as stated above we are a small company and know each of our employees and their family and care about all of them. There is gonna be fall out from this and it's gonna be the little guy that gets it in the end. And for those who think it only applies to companies with 50 or more employees your wrong, They are saying it will apply to construction companies with as few as 5 employees not to mention the premiums will go up. I beleave all Americans deserve to have health care but also DO NOT beleave the hard working people should have to pay for those who don't. If we took a good look into disability and medicaid and got those off of it that really don't need to be on it then maybe the people that do need it could have it also cap insurance companies and the amount hospitals and doctors can charge you. Just think of the money we could save there. Also I get 1 script a month and it cost $152.00 for 30 pills. stop this. Cap what they can charge for scripts. And the Constitution states No laws will be forced on the people that do not apply to congress. So why are they exempt from this Health care program they are shoving down our throats?

Edited March 26, 2010 by kimaly

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I have to say as a small business owner this could destroy us. We have had lay offs and also had to drop our insurance even for our selves so we could make it through these hard times but this is what we had to do to be able to keep as many guys working as possible if the Gov. forces us to pay for insurance we will lose more people. as stated above we are a small company and know each of our employees and their family and care about all of them. There is gonna be fall out from this and it's gonna be the little guy that gets it in the end. And for those who think it only applies to companies with 50 or more employees your wrong, They are saying it will apply to construction companies with as few as 5 employees not to mention the premiums will go up. I believe it is 10, not 5 employees. Plus there will be tax breaks for small business that provide insurance. There will be help for small businesses to implement this. I beleave all Americans deserve to have health care but also DO NOT beleave the hard working people should have to pay for those who don't. If we took a good look into disability and medicaid and got those off of it that really don't need to be on it then maybe the people that do need it could have it Well, maybe they ought to start by looking at Sen. McCain who receives disability. How can you be both disabled from working and be a U.S. Senator? also cap insurance companies and the amount hospitals and doctors can charge you. Just think of the money we could save there. Also I get 1 script a month and it cost $152.00 for 30 pills. stop this. Cap what they can charge for scripts. And the Constitution states No laws will be forced on the people that do not apply to congress. So why are they exempt from this Health care program they are shoving down our throats?

Healthcare has been debated for decades and intensely for the past year. It passed by our elected representatives. That is not shoving it down our throats. It is what Pres. Obama ran on and was elected on.

The republicans who voted no were voting to NOT allow the american people access to the healthcare that congress has that we taxpayers pay for.

Edited March 26, 2010 by Cleo's Mom

[Cleo's Mom 257]

from USA today:

For employers

•By 2014, employers who have more than 50 employees must offer health insurance benefits or pay penalties. Companies with 25 or fewer employees who meet certain wage requirements will also be able to get credits toward health insurance purchases.

•By 2014, small-businesses owners, the self-employed and those who don't get work-provided coverage can get benefits through Small Business Health Options Programs (SHOPs). These state-run marketplace exchanges will work with carriers to pool insurance options, with the hope that costs will be lower for a larger, more powerful, group.

Firms will get a one-stop source to find out about insurance, says Shawn Nowicki, director of public policy at HealthPass, a commercial health insurance exchange.

•By 2018, high-end health plans with premiums of more than $10,200 for an individual policy per individual and $27,500 per family — not including vision and dental — would be subjected to a "Cadillac" tax. (The average cost of a family plan in 2009 was $13,375, with employees on average paying $3,515 and employers paying $9,860, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.)

The excise tax would be paid by employers that self-insure (most large firms do) and insurance companies, but small-business experts expect these costs to be passed along to smaller firms via premium increases.

[Humming Bird 275]

I get a few emails from friends about this stuff and when I hear details about the healthcare package it freaks me out sometimes. I do think something needs to be done with healthcare. I wish they could simplify and keep the government's nose out of my personal business. I got this link in an email. It quotes lines from the healthcare package. (I undersatnd there is some drama added, but real quotes)

[BJean 16]

kimaly: "If we took a good look into disability and medicaid and got those off of it that really don't need to be on it then maybe the people that do need it could have it also cap insurance companies and the amount hospitals and doctors can charge you. Just think of the money we could save there. Also I get 1 script a month and it cost $152.00 for 30 pills. stop this. Cap what they can charge for scripts. And the Constitution states No laws will be forced on the people that do not apply to congress. So why are they exempt from this Health care program they are shoving down our throats?"

We own a small business and I am not worried at all. We've been told that it is not going to bankrupt us or damage us in any way. Right now my husband and I cannot enroll ourselves in the good insurance that we provide our employees because of "pre-existing conditions" and our employees insurance is far better than what we can get through another company, for which we pay a lot more money. Our pre-existing conditions consist of both having surgical procedures that will probably never involve any subsequent related medical problems.

You've said that you think caps should be on meds, etc. Well how do you want to go about making that happen? It's not going to happen without congress and the president getting involved. They're doing as good a job of getting it done as they can without any help from the Republicans. I am positive that if Republicans had a better plan to put forth, one that was fair to most Americans, Democrats would have been receptive to it.

Everything they came up favored the insurance companies and pharmacutical corporations. Not what you're saying you need.

And I don't get why you say this has been "shoved down our throats." We elected the people in congress and we elected the president. We sent them to Washington to make things better and that's what they're doing. Saying it has been "shoved down our throats" is simply a propagandist slogan put forth by the party of "no you can't."

Did you vote for Republicans? Then you should be wondering why they aren't doing a better job for you. You should be complaining that they are simply being obstructionists instead of contributing to the improvement of this country for you and your small business. You should wonder why they refuse to work with Democrats to bring the best legislation forward that is possible. You should also be embarrassed by their part in inciting terroristic behavior toward those people who are trying to make things better for us.

This is how a democracy works... the majority rules. The Republicans ruled for 8 years and now it's the Democrats' turn. I can understand sincere differences of opinion, but militant obstructionism is unAmerican and inexcusable behavior. I can understand it if you feel threatened by this legislation, especially if you have bought the false information that the Republicans have repeated over and over. But arbitrarily deciding that legislation has been shoved down our throats is just not the truth.

[Cleo's Mom 257]

I get a few emails from friends about this stuff and when I hear details about the healthcare package it freaks me out sometimes. I do think something needs to be done with healthcare. I wish they could simplify and keep the government's nose out of my personal business. I got this link in an email. It quotes lines from the healthcare package. (I undersatnd there is some drama added, but real quotes)

[/url]

From Factcheck.org. Only a partial list of debunking the lies on this youtube video. You can go to fact check for the complete list:

Claim:

Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!

False: This section merely requires a study of “the large group insured and self-insured employer health care markets.” There’s no mention of auditing employers, only of studying “markets.” The purpose of the study is to produce “recommendations” to make sure the new law “does not provide incentives for small and mid-size employers to self-insure.”

Claim:

Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!

False: This section says nothing whatsoever about “rationing” or anything of the sort. Actually, it’s favorable to families and individuals, placing an annual cap on what they could pay out of pocket if covered by a basic, “essential benefits package.” The limits would be $5,000 for an individual, $10,000 for a family.

Claim:

Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)

False: Actually, the section starting on page 30 sets up a “private-public advisory committee” headed by the U.S. surgeon general and made up of mostly private sector “medical and other experts” selected by the president and the comptroller general. The advisory committee would have only the power “to recommend” what benefits are included in basic, enhanced and premium insurance plans. It would have no power to decide what treatments anybody will get. Its recommendations on benefits might or might not be adopted.

Claim:

Page 42: The “Health Choices Commissioner” will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.

False: The new Health Choices Commissioner will oversee a variety of choices to be offered through new insurance exchanges. The bill itself specifies the “minimum services to be covered” in a basic plan, including prescription drugs, mental health services, maternity and well-baby care and certain vaccines and preventive services (pages 27-28). We find nothing in the bill that prevents insurance companies from offering benefits that exceed the minimums. In fact, the legislation allows (page 84) any company that offers an approved basic plan to offer also an “enhanced” plan, a “premium” plan and even a “premium plus” plan that could include vision and dental benefits.

Claim:

Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.

False. That’s simply not what the bill says at all. This page includes "SEC. 152. PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATION IN HEALTH CARE," which says that "[e]xcept as otherwise explicitly permitted by this Act and by subsequent regulations consistent with this Act, all health care and related services (including insurance coverage and public health activities) covered by this Act shall be provided without regard to personal characteristics extraneous to the provision of high quality health care or related services." However, the bill does explicitly say that illegal immigrants can’t get any government money to pay for health care. Page 143 states: "Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States." And as we’ve said before, current law prohibits illegal immigrants from participating in government health care programs.

Claim:

Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.

False. There is no mention of any “National ID Healthcard” anywhere in the bill. Page 58 says that government standards for electronic medical transactions "may include utilization of a machine-readable health plan beneficiary identification card,” to show eligibility for services. Insurance companies typically issue such cards already, but if such a standard were issued the cards would need to be in a standard form readable by computers. The word “may” is used to permit such a standard, but it does not require one.

Claim:

Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.

False. This section aims to simplify electronic payments for health services, the same sort of electronic payments that already are common for such things as utility bills or mortgage payments. The bill calls for the secretary of Health and Human Services to set standards for electronic administrative transactions that would "enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation with the related health care payment and remittance advice." There is no mention of "individual bank accounts" nor of any new government authority over them. Also, the section does not say that electronic payments from consumers is required.

And the lies from those on the right, just like the beat, goes on....:tt1:

[KartMan 58]

I understand that it is possible for the individual states to work out a way to get the public option as long as they stay within the framework of the recently passed legislation.

I have absolutely no hope of that here in bf Texas, but perhaps in Cali and other civilized states, you will have a chance at it.

Don’t give us too much credit. We are still barbaric enough to discriminate against gays.

[kimaly 57]

Bjean, Do ya'll run a Construction Company? Because it is different for those that do.

[LeighaMason 19]

Does anyone know any details about this?

The president emphasized that this year, some 4 million small-business owners will be able to get tax credits to help cover the cost of providing health insurance to their employees.

I haven't heard any numbers, but I am assuming that if your business margin is small enough that providing health care would put you out of business, you would qualify. But I do not know specifics.

[LeighaMason 19]

- In a small business "bonus" move, small businesses offering coverage to employees will be able to collect tax credits of as much as 50% of premium costs.

So if you set up the plan as 50% employee paid and you get tax credits of 50% of premium cost the plan will be cost neutral.