Posted: 22 March 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged | 7
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Well, Jeff, here's where I hold the GOP accountable. I'm all for fiscal responsibility* but I think only an idiot would say we don't have a broken system for the payment of healtcare.** And I think the main culprit in that is the unregulated insurance industry. The GOP's idea of a national marketplace for insurance would be a helluva lot more appealing if there were national standards of what insurers can and cannot do. But allowing citizens to purchase policies sold in other states, regulated by those states, would make any of the inevitable disputes that much more difficult to resolve, if not impossible. Did the financial crisis teach us nothing? One of the root causes of that crisis was not the absence of regulation (separate and apart from deregulation which eased restrictions) it was not enforcing the existing restrictions on the books. The House, to their credit, had a bill which removed the anti-trust exemption of insurers. The Senate did not go for that so it was struck from the bill.*** My concern is this legislation will be seen a victory and the tools necessary to accomplish real victory -- forcing insurers to pay -- will not come to pass. I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I doubt it. *I know the CBO says the bill will reduce the defecit but I am suspicious of any bill that puts the burden of implementation of taxation on future congresses. **And its the payment system thats broken. The delivery is, for the most part, pretty good. We have awesome Doctors and Nurses in this country. ***The senate also killed a provision of the House bill that mandated equal treatment for domestic partners when offered employer provided health benefits. In other words, a gay committed couple would have to be treated the same way a straight committed couple would be.
Edited by Geoff Gibson on 22 March 2010 at 8:40am
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