How many people realize that Health Care Providers have NON-PROFIT status???? They don't pay any taxes and yet have BILLIONS of dollars in profit. Just make them pay taxes on their profits and we could easily fund any healthcare reform that's needed to provide healthcare everyone can afford.
Healthcare is big business and should not be. We need to simplify the payor system regardless of how "upset" insureres and providers may become. It's our right as humans to have access to healthcare...good healthcare at reasonable rates. We need to enforce the idea that health care providers CANNOT profit without paying taxes at the expense of every premium-paying person.
It's bribery...health insurance companies fearing a cut in their huge profitability when health care reform happens are sending millions of dollars to politicians and their party committees. WHOA...are there other Americans out their against this as much as me?
I pay a hefty health insurance premium every month ($1,100 with a deductible over $5,000) and instead of worrying about my care, the $ go to buy off the politicians so I can continue to pay higher premiums for less coverage. There's something criminal about this situation. Both in the fact the insurance companies are using my money to lobby politicians against me and that my representatives don't find it unethical to accept such bribes.
Our best hope is for a public option which follows Medicare rates so that the self-employed and uninsured can have health insurance. Every month I debate giving up my coverage because of the high cost, and only when I look at the possible impact on my 2 teenage sons do I reconsider and pay the monthly bill for their sake. For our infrequent use of healthcare, it would be cheaper for me to pay out-of-pocket for our healthcare because I have to meet my $5,000 deductible first (so I also have thousands of dollars of doctor bills that are difficult for me to pay just from simple testing done at routine physicals or from a sports injury of my sons). I tried to find a Major Medical policy to cover us in emergencies to lower our costs, but there were none to be found.
So where's our choice, our coverage, our desire to have healthy Americans...don't ask the politicians and health insurance companies because they don't care about US!!!
Today irritation: Congress approves military projects and government spending NOT requested by the users of the end product. Presidential helicopters not wanted, planes not needed, unsuccessful projects allowed to continue running over both their budget and time estimates - not by small amounts, but by years and millions of dollars.
My experience with both personal and business budgeting - Being the expert in my field, I create the wish list of expenses, my possible sources of income and reconcile the 2 by removing expenses that cannot be paid for. Congress has taken the wish list of government that was created by experts, added projects Congress wants without regard to the experts' wishes and removed/denied $ for budget items that truly help individuals, and Congress created expenses that have no intrinsic value or result for the American people. Since when did Congress develop knowledge and planning abilities beyond those of the experts we have running our very specialized areas of our government?? Who does Congress represent? Certainly not me or any Americans I know.
The result of Congress wanting these things:
- MY tax dollars are spent on products that when complete will go into some unused equipment storage facility
- MY tax dollars cannot pay for direct help to individual Americans like healthcare and infrastructure
- THEY receive huge lobbyist money for choosing with the side of businesses instead of individuals (it would be cheaper to pay the salaries of those you fear might lose their jobs than to also pay business profit and use materials to create products no one wants!)
-THEY continue to have a job, get paid well, have their healthcare provided and line their pockets with money from businesses
Government support and bailout should be to the individuals of our country. When they are directly given the $ to save their mortgage, pay for their healthcare and put their lives in the best order possible, then businesses will receive that money through normal operational channels, as they should. Businesses and government should always be at the mercy of the desires and needs of individual Americans - let people speak their mind with their money, how they spend it, save it, and get the best return for it in both services and goods.
Obama, please be stronger and believe in your ability to fight through the confrontation to disallow these unethical and immoral practices that have moved individual Americans to the back burner so that businesses, politicians, and the wealthy can reap many benefits at the expense of the true fiber of America - individual people who work hard, have a generous heart within their community, struggle to make financial ends meet, experience constant stress about their jobs and the ability of their families to survive, and foresee a future as gloomy as today. REAL CHANGE PLEASE!!!!!
