Using better-than-expected jobs numbers to press his top domestic priority, President Barack Obama is arguing that overhauling the health care system is essential to the country's economic well-being.
Republicans countered that the high unemployment rate 鈥?9.4 percent in July 鈥?shows how families and businesses are struggling and that Obama's reliance on a large government role in expanding health coverage is the wrong approach.|||B/c his teleprompter hides the true Obama|||Quite simple (not that the opponents of the plans like simple).
Currently, we have an employer based health care system. Health care costs are increasing each year raising expenses on American Business.
Most of our competitors have national health insurance. Furthermore, most of our competitors (instead of a corporate income tax) have a sales tax that does not apply to exports. That means that foreign corporations who export products to this country don't pay a dime for their workers to get better health care than we get while our corporations have health care costs equivalent to about 25% of payroll (a percent that goes up every year.)
Yes, health care reform is essential to the ability of our companies to compete which is why Associated Industries (the lobbying group for industrial companies) want some form of health care reform to pass.|||Although the government is presenting this plan as a option, they are forseeing the majority of working Americans to switch or businesses to drop Health Care. Thus force the private sector out of business and government believe they can run an effective health care cheaper.
But business will freed from the health cost on there books and be able to compete with foriegn companies who don't have health care on the books .
Those are the theory we are to believe. Even though government can't run social security with out going bankrupt, nor medicare nor run the VA well.|||Very simply. Despite a campaign of misinformation by some, well-respected people from both parties have spoken about the pressing need for major health care reform due to increasing costs. In fact, a bipartisan health care plan has been prepared (link below) by 3 former US Senators:
1) Howard Baker (R-TN)- Pres.Reagan's Chief of Staff and former Senate Majority Leader
2) Bob Dole (R-KS)- former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican nominee for President
3) Tom Daschle (D-SD)- former Senate Majority Leader
In the meantime, here are 2 simple facts about our current health care system worth pondering:
1) Total cost of all health care in 2008 was $2.4 trillion
2) This cost is expected to increase to $4.3 trillion by 2016, based on current growth rates, if nothing changes.|||What is more essential is to limit the capital gains tax for an extended time. Nobody is saying there shouldn't be health care reform. Why isn't there tort reform. Malpractice suit that end with exorbitant cash awards have the most to do with health care costs. Anyone with a genuine interest in controlling health care cost would start there but you notice Obama and the Democrats start somewhere else. When you have an anti business attitude you shouldn't be surprised when you have no business. That s what is wrong with the economy.|||If he passes this bill it will destroy our economy. How many Mexican nationals will cross our border if they are included in this coverage. That's what this administration wants, and they will get it if they can. This bill should be posted for everyone to see before it gets to the desk to be signed. At least a week. Put it on the television for all to see just like The Obama channel they had during the elections.|||[obamawtf.blogspot.com] he has so much practice lying and keeping a straight face, that it is natural for him now. go to that site and read. it is frightening. there is 158+ lies that he's been caught in and the lies debunked with who caught him %26amp; sources. many of them were busted by his own people. hillary was huge in busting him on a lot of them. [freeourhealthcarenow.com]|||Look at what these people say, then you will see for your self.
http://perotcharts.com/2008/05/healthcar鈥?/a>
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2鈥?/a>
http://www.forbes.com/2009/07/31/oecd-go鈥?/a>|||he indeed was counting on a government ran industry of health care providers. The hand of government in health care woo hoo. so more doctors nurses, porters, food preparers, bed pan cleaners etc.
more government control of your life. yay.|||Since medical expenses are the largest drain on the treasury and many corporation's coffers, the quicker we can get them under control, the better off it will be for the government in particular and the economy as a whole.|||How can any of you "Christian Conservatives" NOT argue for Health Care Reform? Because unless you are an Armageddonite who wants the Christians hated by all so they will be persecuted you are supposed to care for others.|||Unless this country can rein in health care cost, most will find themselves with out insurance and in bankruptcy court. This is how it is necessary for economic growth and well-being.|||He Always does that, before it was the stimulus that was essential for economic recovery. It's his lawyer talk.|||Because it shows that he truly doesn't have a clue as to what to do or how to do it.|||That dweeb I just read that phony baloney.
Obama says many ridicules things with a straight face.
Many Obots parrot him.|||What you and the republicans argue don't make sense, The president is correct.|||the puppet just reads the q cards he has no idea what he is saying|||He is trying to threaten the folks. I don't think it is working not when we all know so many elections/house and Senate seats coming up for vote|||He is a liar. He has a lot of practice.|||BLARG|||Because it's true?|||People who rely on the government to solve every problem are sheep wo cannot work and venture for themselves. Rather, they want to be spoon-fed everything, from the moment they are born, till the moment they die- "Cradle to Grave."
Having the government jump-in whenever there is a crisis sets a bad precedent. America was founded on freedom and liberty. People fled England at the time because the government, at the time headed by a king, was too powerful and was infringing upon the people's civil liberties. If we summon the government to help us for everything, it will become almost as powerful as a monarchy. Do we want that? Is that what the founding fathers wanted? I think not.
It is time we as Americans take responsibility. Stop blaming corporate America, in matter of fact, the government is lying when it says corporate America is to blame; the blame should be on the government.
50% of the reason, according to The Washington Post, for high insurance rates in America is because of medical technology. I don't know about you, but I enjoy knowing that healthcare in America is the most sophisticated in the world. I sure as hell would not enjoy medicine practices performed today like they did in the 1960's. IF you want low healthcare costs, go down to Africa or somewhere. There, if you are gravely ill, they put you on a bed and give you water. That costs very little. But if you want a well-educated, renowned doctor to perform thoruough tests and treat you to the best of his/her ability, the costs will be high. You don't go shopping for Mercedes expecting to pay $5,000, just like you don't pay little for high-end treatment in America.
Another reason for the high costs of healthcare in America is because of personal diet. America is one of the unhealthiest countries on the planet. The reason being poor dieting. With the busy lifestyles Americans live, people resort to eating fast-food because it's cheap and easy, as opposed to making a healthy meal, which takes time to prepare. Americans also take up bad habits, such as smoking, which negatively affect one's health. Poor treatment of one's body result in higher health insurance costs. More demand of healthcare equates to higher costs. It's simple Economics 101.
Americans need to take responsibility. Don't scapegoat insurance companies because the talking heads told you to do so on the news. Do some self-evaluation. Look inward, rather than outward for someone to blame. By doing so, you will be made aware that the government is not the solution. Sometimes, it's even the problem.|||Out-of-control health care costs negatively impact the labor market. Recent research from the University of California and Harvard University found that higher health care costs have a direct effect on employment prospects through a trickle-down effect in which employers save money by hiring fewer workers and offering more part-time positions. In fact, researchers found that a 20 percent increase in health insurance premiums reduces a given worker's probability of being employed by 3.2 percent and increases the likelihood that a worker is employed only in a part-time position--where health benefits are very uncommon--by 1.9 percent. With the official unemployment rate expected to hit double-digits when new jobs numbers are released tomorrow, we can't afford to have any additional deterioration of the labor market.
The more that people have to pay-out-of-pocket for health insurance, the less money they have to spend elsewhere. Traditionally, the economy emerges from recessions on the back of a boost in consumer spending. But such a bump is unlikely in this recession for a variety of reasons, including the fact that out-of-pocket health care costs have been rising inexorably for workers and families (see chart below for an overview of how different income brackets have seen more and more of their income go to health care costs and premiums).
The point here is that it's a lot more difficult to stimulate consumer spending when the cost of necessities like health insurance eat away at more and more of household incomes.
Inefficient, over-expensive health care makes it more difficult for employers to provide generous compensation packages to employed workers. Health benefits make up the largest share of employee compensation besides wages and salaries, and when times get tough they become one of the most burdensome aspects of employee compensation. For example, in the 2008 Kaiser Survey of Health Benefits, a large share of firms reported that they planned to offload more health care costs onto employees (see below). This is a dangerous course of action given the fact that--as showed above--people are already spending more and more for their insurance.
Further, the cost of employer health care plans are likely to rise, on average, to 45.5 percent of income and wages for families and 21.7 percent for individuals by 2016. The costs of health care also rises faster for smaller firms that pay their workers less: according to the Employment Cost Index, health insurance costs relative to payroll increased 34 percent between 1996 and 2005 and that the increase was largest for businesses paying low wages. That's not good news for economically vulnerable Americans.
For all of these reasons, health care reform is just as much an issue of freeing up economic resources to help stimulate recovery as it is about medical issues or health policy.
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