Thank you for a clear concise and factual essay on the health care issue. Watching the hypocrisy of the conservative rants on the individual mandate makes one realize how little the public is paying attention. Not to mention those that still refer to it as a "government takeover" of health insurance.

Thank you for calling this what it is, the Affordable Care Act. It is time that those who are opposed to progress in this country be told the true name. It is not Obamacare. You have given a thoughtful and true description of how everyone in this country will be able to sleep at night knowing their families are covered with health insurance once this law is fully enacted

Sue, you have a very interesting and positive opinion on the Affordable Care Act. I, however, have a different opinion which is based on the same facts you have stated. First and foremost, it is that the government is deciding what is best for all Americans based on the needs of very few and I am referring to conservative and liberal sides of legislation. This is the same government that signed in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to help the poor and needy. So, where are SS, Medicare and Medicaid today? In the toilet! Why? Because government got their hands on a lot of money (taxpayer money of which 50% of the population does not support) and decided that it is sitting there doing nothing so let's use it elsewhere. Thus, we now have major financial problems with systems that were already in place for the poor because of our government couldn't follow their own legislation to use the taxpayers money for the purpose for which they initially legislated it. And they fix it by legislating to get their hands on more taxpayer money!!?? I too am from the 60's and I was fooled once, not interested in getting fooled ever again. I just want to fire someone and not wait until November.

It does absolutely nothing to rein in medical costs. There is no "reform", no cost control, no effort at all to make healthcare more affordable for everybody.

There is NO WAY - given the above - that this will not cost more for those with insurance who already pay taxes. Even if we assume that health insurance rates will not climb due to the inclusion of higher risk individuals in the insurance pool, the added costs of the program per the Congressional Budget Office will be $1.76 trillion over the next decade ... and that esitmate assumes that Congress will follow through with a number of additional measures.

The added Government administrative costs of this program will end up on top of the current deficit and back to the working middle class in the form of higher taxes or a further drag on the economy.

There are still upwards of 10 million not covered by the ACA.

Employers will be incentivized to revoke health insurance benefits, especially in industries where hiring the "best and brightest" is not a priority. Pay $2000 penalty per employee and save the employer contribution and the administrative overhead. For the same reason, it's a disincentive for hiring and job creation.

It's a boon for insurance companies and hospitals.

The healthcare problem should have been approached piecemeal, reducing the COSTS of healthcare then expanding coverage with the savings.

If Obama-Care is so great, why is it that less people can afford health insurance now than before? Why is Obama taxing people who can't afford health insurance to begin with, but maybe have enough to pay a doctor for a visist, or get some antibiodics for their child. No, the evil one says...that money now belogs to the IRS. Why is the IRS running (ruining) healthcare??? Why does Obama always lie? "I'm against the mandate" "I won't raise your taxes" "you can keep your existing plan"

No other nation spends more than 12% of its economy on health care [12%=Netherlands, Germany, France. America spends 17%.

Despite spending almost 33% more than the NEXT highest countries, our life expectancy [69.5] is #28, behind Ireland, and ahead of Slovenia.

Our infant mortality rate of 6.5% ranks 30th behind Poland and Slovak Republic. It’s more than twice that of Sweden [#4 at 2.5% and #6 Japan at 2.6%].

The 2007 CRS Report to Congress reported that healthcare is a $2 trillion/ year market segment, of which $666,000,000 is spent on A&E: Administrative & Expense, the bulk of which goes for salaries, advertising, influencing, and profit; i.e., $1 out of every $3 spent by the consumer does not go to his medical care.

that's $666,000,000,000 for A & E

Brian our healthcare costs us 50% higher than the next highest country not 33%. Have any of you read T.R. Reed's book "The Healing of America"? How do other countries manage their healthcare? How much does it cost them? Ever hear of the Bismarck Model? How many countries use it? It's a very informative read. The Library probably has it.

Why does everyone blame Obama or Romney for everything? What about our other representatives. What is Bob Godshall, Stewart Greenleaf, or Allyson Schwartz doing for us. I haven't heard a peep out of them. Stewart Greenleaf is on the Pa. Insurance and Banking commission. That's where the money is. Hear anything from Stewart? Nothing. My wife and I went to talk to him about Single Payer for Pennsylvania. He wasn't impressed. When we went back a second time with more information his secretary kicked us out of his office.

Hi Everyone,

On Tuesday morning, July 24th at 8 a.m. I will be speaking at the Maple Glen Community Association meeting about the implementation of the healthcare law.
Please come to hear about the regulations, taxes, responsibilities and what the Supreme Court decision means. How will this law affect you, your family and your business. Our meetings are held at Brandywine Estates, Dresher, PA
http://mapleglenca.wordpress.com/

Sincerely,
Ross Schriftman, RHU, LUTCF, ACBC, MSAA
Ross Schriftman Insurance
Tel. 215-682-7075
rfs270@aol.com

Sue- you throw around alot of facts but do you have a backround in insurance, medicine or finance. Your article resembles a high school lib telling the uninformed, unwashed, imature classroom how smart she is. I personally enjoyed the get over it tone in the beginning of the article. After all why should I have an opinion?Bottom line is obama lied. He said I could keep my healthcare if I liked it. His work has destoyed that. He said he would not raise taxes on the middle class, but obamacare/obamatax is fine with scotus. I

So, who's paying for this boondogle? Obama is already borrowing over 1.2 trillion a year. The unAffordable Health Care Act will add another 1/2 trillion a year in borrowing and debt. The original < 1 trillion included revenues from the Y gen who were suppose to by into the Obama Long Term Care Insurance ponzi scheme where the premiums would be used imediately to keep Obama Care under 1 trillion. SoHHS testified she could not implement the plan. Then Obama and Pelozi took over the student loan program so they could syphen off 2% interest. But now Obama is running around blaming the other side for raising student loans. So it looks like the students won't be funding Obamacare either. Then tere is that ridiculous mandate, that NOne has to pay, and to impliment, it must be wrote into the tax code, and that ain't gonna happen either. So how long can we depend on China to fund Healthcare? Just who excactly is paying for this? clue....you!

Amazing number of uninformed, biased positions, fueled by the irrational ramblings of Rush Limbaugh.

Health insurance premiums are calculated by insurance actuaries. In order to become an actuary, you must pass a long series of mind bending exams. When everyone is insured, the cost of insurance is less. Why?? Because the risk pool is expanded, more healthy people are brought in (like your children up to age 26 years).

Everything else is ideological fluff. You believe that people with pre-existing conditions should be excluded? You believe that quality medical care is the privilege of the wealthy. You believe that Mitt Romney, Rush Limbaugh, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner care about you and your health needs?

Ignorance is troubling. Showing your ass with ignorance should be troubling to those who feel the best health coverage is that coverage available to the wealthy. Who pays for healh care for the indigent now? You do.

Please educate yourself with the fundamental issues before posting. It reflects poorly upon you.

Who says that's true? How about 3 out of 4 Americans and the majority of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice.

Who says that Obama or the late Ted Kennedy care about our health needs? Saying that they do by making everyone get health insurance is like claiming that the government making you shop at Whole Foods is because they care about your diet. Maybe they just have stock in Whole Foods.

BY the way, insulting people is not the way to win them over to your argument. Let's face it, no one here is going to change their mind and you might as move on over to Huffington Post with the like-minded people.

Excellent post once again Feodor. Even though every one of their silly and grumbling complaints can be proven wrong, it just doesn't matter to them - the aren't happy because the manipulators told them so! The grouchy old men routine of the aforementioned is getting tiresome. They've been asked repeatedly - what do you suggest in the alternative? Nothing. Silence. They have NO INTENTION of coming up with ANY solution, as evidenced by McConnell's plainly stating that 30 mil uninsured people is "not the issue'. I'd say that speaks for itself, wouldn't you?

It's a darn shame those complaining about it don't realize they've pulled your chain; you've been duped, they've validated your insecurities with the politics of resentment. This isn't about 'liberty' or 'freedom' - this about insurance company profits and the insurance industry's 'freedom' and 'liberty' - not yours.

This is as big as the Civil Rights Act. This is a new day for an old problem. How sad they can't see it for the enormous step forward that it is. It's easier to complain I suppose.

Now if you become unemployed, you still must buy insurance or pay the tax on it. Basically the bill adds one safety net and scuttles another. It has already bent the cost curve upward in the form of increased premiums in 2012. It adds thousands of new IRS workers paid to enforce the tax.

And the oddest impact of all, it is forcing top Democrats to contort their logic and call it a penalty for free riders (what a term) instead of a tax. Even though Justice Roberts called it a tax. All because, suddenly, 75% of the taxes collected will fall on those making under $125,000 per year - which breaks Obama's promises in a big way. What our essayist does not mention is the onerous burden that falls directly on the laps of small businesses. They must keep their employee count under 10 to avoid triggering IRS review.

This is what happens when you pass a bill this big using tricks, lies and deceit with no support from the other party. It means elections have consequences. So if you favor repeal and replace, then vote for the party that will do that.

Single Payer for Pennsylvania - Makes Sense.
http://healthcare4allpa.org/

If the small number of people in Washington running this country all want what is best for us why don't we have it. Remember to vote people.

Stephen Eickhoff, you are a dolt & brain washed! Hows that for name calling.
-Golden Cockroach

I have tried my BEST to refrain from commenting on here mostly because there is no one specific answer to any of the questions. I DO wish however to ask this of the general population." We're all being told health insurance will now " cost less" if everyone has it. "....What is " less" ? Am I now going to pay 40.00 a year less? Maybe 4,000.00 a year less? We all tend to agree if everyone has it, it will cost " less". If you get an estimate for work done at your house and I come along and say I'll do it for less, wouldn't you at least want to get a ballpark idea of what you'd be paying me? Lets face it, Hospitals,pharmaceutical companies, health insurance company's and the conglomerate doctor offices of today are business and as such are run by corporate leaders who's financial obligation to their shareholders is paramount. I fully understand that the new health bill is written to curb overcompensation for CEO's and their ilk but don't kid yourself into thinking they all haven't had company lawyers burning the midnight oil just to find a way around it. Health care for all Americans is a wonderful Idea but I am not foolish enough to think it will become any more affordable than it is right now.

Following up on an earlier comment about the size of the "tax increase" that will result from healthcare legislation (I do not agree it is a tax, but for the sake of argument and comparison, let's assume it is ...) The following is taken directly from a post on Politifact.org - the non-partisan fact checking website known for skewering people on both sides of the political fence. They were addressing the quote by Rush Linbaugh that this would be the biggest tax increase in the history of the world:
"Depending on your rounding, that would mean the tax increases resulting from the health care law would be about the size of tax increases proposed and passed in 1980 by President Jimmy Carter, in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush and in 1993 by President Bill Clinton.

"The health care-related tax increases are smaller than the tax increase signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and a temporary tax signed into law in 1968 by President Lyndon B. Johnson. And they are significantly smaller than two tax increases passed during World War II and a tax increase passed in 1961.

"The tax increases in the health care legislation do reverse a trend of federal tax cuts and represent the first significant tax increases since 1993. But they are NOT the largest in the history of the United States.

Rush's comments were rated "Pants on Fire."

A tax increase is a tax increase!!!!! Why are so many unions being excluded and some states are opting out. How good can it really be?

Tax, fine, penalty, toll - whatever. It doesn't matter unless you choose not to purchase health insurance either through the exchanges or from your provider. You have a choice.

Just like people who smoke and pay a $1.00 or more in taxes per pack. You don't care. You don't smoke. You're not paying that tax. Do you pay tolls when you drive? You're paying a tax to use those roads to support those roads. A toll is a tax. I don't care if you pay that toll - you're using it, you pay it. Most people I know pay additional uninsured motorist insurance - they don't care. They're actually paying insurance for someone who doesn't have insurance!

So, if you have insurance - why care? You're not paying anything. UNLIKE NOW - where $1000 a year of your insurance premiums go to pay for those who choose or cannot buy insurance because the 2 insurers in their area won't sell it to them. Now those who are refused insurance have a choice. They can buy insurance.

Still leaves those who choose not to buy insurance. Now, all you who do have insurance will no longer have to support them. The uninsured will pay an additional tax to cover their healthcare, and you are off the hook.

Does this mean insurers will rebate you? Probably not, they enjoy their $26M a year salaries as CEOs. However, the exchanges will provide competition for those shopping the best $ for their healthcare - combine the two and cost pressure should lower premiums.

Works for me.

http://news.yahoo.com/tax-man-cometh-police-health-care-115736849--finance.html

EVERYONE PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK SHOULD COME UP

whatever the govt gives you, it can take away. Once the govt goes to single payor and it will, you are at their mercy. They will decide who gets care and who doesn't. Grandma won't get anything but a pill and end of life counseling every 5 years with a push for physician assisted suicide which is being pushed. Oh and also, govt control over pharmaceuticals will cost many lives, they have been doing some dry runs with drug "shortages". Your private healthcare info won't be private. Now the govt can mandate/tax us to do whatever they believe to make healthcare more affordable - for them - not us. Affordable healthcare does not mean quality healthcare. Of course nothing is free - someone will be paying for all the freebies - us. Now according to the Georgia Stones - the human population needs to be reduced and kept at under 500,000,000. That is in line with UN Agenda 21 - go to the UN website - it's all there. So just think of the possibilities now that big brother will control healthcare. There is no private insurance - it's public-private Partnerships - i.e. govt control of private insurance companies. Now for all the useful idiots that are still under the delusion that the govt wants to "help" the people, take your heads out of your butts and smell the coffee - game over.

Sue, interesting way of starting a "thoughtful & thought provoking blog, using a lecturing tone. Anyone who has not read the bill and hired a law firm to interpret it, should not comment. Like reading 3 chapters of Moby Dick, and writing a blog on the whole book. Not even the people who wrote the bill, know what the outcome of this bill will be. This is what scares most of us. A bill this huge, written by a group considered to be the worst ever at their job. This topic does show what the biggest problem facing all Americans is. The idea that Dem and Rep officials are different. They are exactly the same. They have sold us on that idea. They will all do & say whatever is needed, to stay in office forever. How can any American be only liberal or only conservative? Tell me that, and I am thru listening. They are ALL the same. Self serving people playing a game at our expense. Anyone who says Rep are bad or Dem are bad, is a fool. Make them regular Americans. Term limits, no free healthcare (they don't participate in bill btw) and pensions for life. Every "opinion" on here, does not belong to the person who wrote it. It was given to you by a television program, newspaper article, or some other source. Discussing cost ramifications of the bill, what a joke. NO ONE can, or does know. A bill of this magnitude should not have been passed, even though there are some good ideas in it, that most of us agree on. The ideas are easy, the execution of the ideas is the problem.