Guest Column: Health Reform Ruling is Good for TX
Thursday's court ruling, is, to paraphrase the vice president, a really big deal for the country and for Texas.
For the very first time, the U.S. will create a system to guarantee a decent standard of health care will be affordable for every lawfully present American. The sliding-scale system is not perfect, but it is a huge step to be finally starting down that road.
The second fundamental shift will change the ground rules for the health insurance marketplace, so that insurers can no longer profit by avoiding people with health care needs; instead, they will have to ...
Comments (13)
Stella Fitzgibbons
I still haven't seen any comment from healthcare workers who have been taking care of the uninsured. Those who insist that expanding insurance coverage is too expensive should come see my patients with massive strokes and extended rehab--all of which could have been avoided by controlling their blood pressure. Or untreated cancers that people couldn't afford to treat in the early stages. Or family members who are taking care of relatives disabled by preventable diseases, thereby removing themselves from the workforce and tax rolls. Anybody who thinks that providing healthcare is too expensive should come with me on hospital rounds and see what the public is already paying for by not insuring people.
visule
" And the new coverage will be financed overwhelmingly by the federal government"
The health care system is broken and needs to be re-invented; but not this Obamacare. It does nothing to control costs and the expansion of Medicaid to cover the uninsured will be financed by all the currently employed taxpayers. Illegals should be excluded but they will be covered. Obamacare will pile more debt unto our currently unsustainable national debt. Young people should be rioting in the streets because they are the future taxpayers that will have to pay for all this and it won’t be possible even if they confiscate all their earnings. Part of controlling costs that is not addressed by Obamacare is Americas large population of drug users. At what point does providing for the sick turn to providing damage control for life style of drugs. I am worried.
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V Marshall
I wonder where Texas will find that extra $6 billion or so when it is already expected that Medicaid is underfunded by $10 billion per budget cycle. How much are sales taxes going up to put an additional $16 billion in the general fund? How much will be cut from Texas' ever expanding need for education dollars? You already have a student population that is 60% "economically disadvantaged". That percentage is expected to grow to nearly 70% in just a few short years. With so many earning so little, it leaves a tiny portion of the population to pay ALL the bills. Do you really think middle class families will continue to move here just to be the bill payers???
I saw this movie in CA. In fact it is the reason my husband's employer moved us to Texas in the first place. Believe me we are already looking to get out of our house in Texas before it is too late to sell. Like I said, I've seen this dynamic before.
T D
@V Marshall: "Believe me we are already looking to get out of our house in Texas before it is too late to sell."
It's hard to know how to respond to this. Where do you think you can finally be free of responsibility? And why would you want that? The way of life you currently have was subsidized by countless people who invested in a future they knew they'd never live to see. You want to pull up the drawbridge and say "I've got mine"?
tex justice
"And advocates are ready for that challenge."
Really? I've never seen any real evidence of that. There is no real leadership or effective coordination from the left. If there was Texas would not rank 45th or below in almost all social service measures.
I hope that I'm proven wrong but I seriously doubt it. And how very, very sad.
Adele Roberson
Kicking and screeching , insane Republicans in the State of Texas will be dragged out of the darkness into the light.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Rick Perry, idiot supreme and his whoremasters have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours fighting what the people of Texas desperately need and want. Hundreds of stupid judges in probably thirty states sued the governrment because they did not know that in fact the Affordeable Care Act was constitutenal... so much for passing the bar, folks. Apparently lots of idiots can pass the bar. Especially in Texas .A lesson in Constitutional law from a Constitutional Law Professor. I think that is so fine. Funny as hell. Everything Republicans touch, everything they try to do and everything they do ends up turning into one large manure pile. Everytime. But even the demented taxpayers are starting to catch on.
Adele Roberson
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/06/29/508749/obamacare-middle-class-taxes/
Why Obamacare Is A Tax Cut For Millions Of Americans
Please stop listening to the doomsday naysayers. They have not read the bill and they do not have the faintest idea what they are talking about. These fools have probably not finished the sixth grade. They are always the ones that babble the most.
Amy Eldred
Does this moron understand exactly where the Federal Govt gets its money? I don't think so. Govt produces nothing. It only takes. In the next five years 21, I repeat 21 new taxes will be implemented at the federal level to pay for pars of this. Medicare will be gutted, Tricare coverage for vets will be so expensive they won't be able to afford it, insurance premiums will continue to increase and employers nationwide are already planning to drop health plans because the fines will be cheaper. Millions more will lose coverage as a result and be forced in to govt health exchanges operated like Medicaid which will not be FREE. Most doctors don't take Medicaid because reimbursements are so low making finding care more difficult. Federal tax dollars for additional Medicaid costs to states will last 5 years after which states pick up 100% of the cost. Most states are struggling now to pay their bills and some are near bankruptcy.
Healthcare services and the method by which payment is made do need reform, but the only way we don't break the bank is through true free market principles and competition. We cannot continue to burden businesses with this kind of expense and expect our economy to ever get better. All of you who think obamacare is so great need to study the European systems and reevaluate. This will be bad for America and proponents won't see it til it's too late. Better to do away with it now and find real solutions. No matter how much people want to believe obamacare is to reform the system, clearly it is not. It is designed to take more control of individuals' lives and control them. Get ready for restrictions on what you eat, what you do for leisure, hobbies you may enjoy and anything else that could possibly injure you or adversely affect your health. The govt will restrict you in the name of healthcare cost control.
Adele Roberson
Saying that the United States, the most powerful country in the world cannot afford a health care program for its citizens is a lie. Plain and simple. A lie. It has always been a lie.
Adele Roberson
Harken back to 1993 - 94. Do you still believe Republicans give one hot damn about you and your health concerns? What Orrin Hatch called a "holy war" to block health care reform didn't start when Barack Obama took the oath of office in January 2009, but instead when Bill Clinton was inaugurated in 1993. It was then that former Quayle chief of staff and Republican strategist William Kristol warned his GOP allies that a Clinton victory on health care could guarantee Democratic majorities for the foreseeable future. "The Clinton proposal is also a serious political threat to the Republican Party," Kristol wrote in his infamous December 3, 1993 memo titled "Defeating President Clinton's Health Care Proposal," adding:
"Its passage in the short run will do nothing to hurt (and everything to help) Democratic electoral prospects in 1996. But the long-term political effects of a successful Clinton health care bill will be even worse--much worse. It will relegitimize middle-class dependence for 'security' on government spending and regulation. It will revive the reputation of the party that spends and regulates, the Democrats, as the generous protector of middle-class interests. And it will at the same time strike a punishing blow against Republican claims to defend the middle class by restraining government."
(the readere will note that no where.. I repeat nowhere in these notes and advice is there any concern here about the cost of any proposed health plan). It was what the ReThugs wanted and needed... that was the important thing.
And that, for Kristol, meant it had to be stopped at all costs:
To hell with what the citizens wanted and needed.
"The first step in that process must be the unqualified political defeat of the Clinton health care proposal. Its rejection by Congress and the public would be a monumental setback for the Bill Clinton and an incontestable piece of evidence that Democratic welfare-state liberalism remains firmly in retreat."
"As the American Prospect recalled, Kristol's war plan:
Darkly warned that a Democratic victory would save Clinton's political career, revive the politics of the welfare state, and ensure Democratic majorities far into the future. "Any Republican urge to negotiate a 'least bad' compromise with the Democrats, and thereby gain momentary public credit for helping the president 'do something' about health care, should be resisted," wrote Kristol. Republican pollster Bill McInturff advised Congressional Republicans that success in the 1994 midterm elections required "not having health care pass."
Today Republicans are shocked,screeching their loss. We all need to remember this is not so much about our health care. Republicans do not give a damn about our health
plan. They just do not want Democrats doing something the people need and want and will appreciate and remember for a long time.
I don't expect the ordinary Republican with the giant R branded on their forehead to heed my letter.
That is too much to expect. For others... There is information out there... do not be bamboozled.
David Spratt
Do not worry ,,, The gubermint will pay for it,,,, it will not cost you anything. Social Security , Medicaid and Medicare have worked out so well they have decided to go into the healthcare business.
Supposedly before Obamycare millions could not afford ins,,, now that it is mandatory you buy it ,,, it is instantly affordable.. They should mandate everyone eat shrimp, lobster and prime rib.. This will make all of those instantly affordable as well. Mandate everyone own a hummer, a triton and a harley while you are at it and you can have my vote.
Adele Roberson
Houston Chronicle reported Friday 7/6/12 Texas health care ranks state worst in the nation for services provided. Dead last in the federal governments latest report card, falling short in areas ranging from acute hospital care to home treatment of the chronically ill. Texas scored 31.61 - less than half of top ranked Minnesota's 67.31, out of a possible 100 point in the agency of Healthcare Research and Quality annual rankings. Rated "weak" or "very weak " in nine of 12 health delivery categories. Texas joins W. Virginia and Arkansas at the bottom of the federal rankings. Texas was reported worse now than it was reported in 2007 and that was reported in 2005. At that time Texas was "near the bottom" not dead last. Dr. Ernest Moy, lead doctor in the scorecard project said they were not camparing Texas to some fantasy world, they were comparing Texas to all other states in this country. One of "very weak" scores resulted in diabetes care. Texas is worst of all states in caring for breast cancer patients. Other very weak services extended to respiratory diseases, urinary incontinence and pain relief. The report continued to say that insured or not Texans generally are not getting the quality of care they should
Sarah Morris
In response to Stella's request for comment from healthcare workers who have been taking care of the uninsured in Texas. My husband manages a federally quallified health center in one of the most poorest counties in Texas. The doctor, new to the area and the field of indigient care, was supprised at the lack of 'priority setting' by her patients. The doctor would get an urgent plea from patients for a 'house call' because they 'didn't have gas' to get to the clinic. The doctor would make a house call. She would find that the house had a 'plasma TV', computers, cell phones, etc, etc, There is a terrible problem with obesity -- resulting in high blood pressure and stokes. There is a high rate if STDs. These are all lifestyle decisions. With the Obamacare making contraceptives free (no sliding fee-scale), the encouragement to make more poor decisions will be present. The federally qualified health clinics are available. You just can't make people be responsible when they are determined not to be. Stella, you often see the fallout from a long line of poor decisions.