Agreement Reportedly Near on Health Bill
Submitted by seachange on Sat, 2009-06-27 16:12.
Senators Report Reducing Overall Cost but Not Resolving Issue of 'Public Option'. Shailagh Murray & Lori Montgomery, Washington Post, June 26, 2009 Senate health-care negotiators said yesterday they were closing in on a $1 trillion health-care bill that would be fully funded by tax increases, Medicare cuts and new penalties for employers who do not offer health insurance. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said members of the panel would consider a menu of policy and financing options over the Fourth of July recess, with the goal of producing a deficit-neutral 10-year bill shortly after Congress returns July 6. ... Agreement
Don't Get It
I don't get it. They are expanding Medicaid to cover more poor people but cutting its funding; they are trying to help low-income people pay for insurance but decreasing the subsidies, our MA hosptials are laying off due to MA health insurance law (and the economy), community health care centers are closing or having financial problems, our biggest hosptial that takes low-income residents including seniors took a $114 mil hit in fall 2008 which affected other hospitals in the greater Boston area, and Congress wants to cut payments to hospitals and providers. What planet do these people live on? Do they have any touch with reality? Millionaires deciding all of this and calling it health care reform is the height of hypocrisy. btw, Joe Barton (R-TX) sits opposite Waxman on the House Energy whatever committee says that estate recovery is fine with him per one of his aides. Democrats aren’t saying anything about this, just ignoring it as though it doesn't exist. - Dianne
Hard to Believe
I find it hard to believe when I hear hospitals laying off staff. Health costs are going up and revenues going down? If they are for-profit hospitals, I think they are simply trying to increase the profit spread by reducing the staff-to-patient ratio. It would be interesting to see how the shareholders profits are going, as well as CEO salaries and bonuses. Are the nonprofit hospitals cutting too, and if so, are they simply subsidiaries of for-profit entities? In that case you look at salaries but also "management fees" paid by the nonprofit to the for-profit parent, so the for-profit CEO can take a big salary. This is going to take a someone smart in finance to figure out. - Jack