By GottaLaff
Good for them. They have a"real person" discussing her health issues, a cancer survivor. The signal keeps cutting out, so this won't be easy. The weather is the problem, says Tamron Hall.
Here's Prez O:
He's lauding Max Baucus. I cannot figure that one out, but okay.
Now he's lauding Montana and "it's moose, elk, but in DC... we have mostly bull... a nice change of pace." [applause]
He's referring to the cancer survivor, Katie. She's acting responsibly, but being penalized by those who aren't.
In New Hampshire, spoke of pre existing conditions. Now Katie had her policy revoked, even though she was paying premiums... This could be you [paraphrased]. Most of us have insurance, hope we stay healthy, but we're no different from Katie, held hostage by insurance companies.
It's wrong. We're going to fix it.
Tax cuts have already shown up, over 400,000 families. And we cut taxes on small businesses.
We've made health insurance 65% cheaper with COBRA. We saved 10s of 1000s of workers jobs.
The recovery plan is putting us on road to recovery, as we said it would. People on TV/cable shows have selective memory. We started with this mess, but now we're pulling out of it, but we're not out of the woods.
But this economy won't work without health care reform... [paraphrased] Every American needs security, peace of mind... This makes the debate an emotional one. A lot of attention paid to town halls, tempers flare.. TV loves a ruckus.
What you HAVEN'T seen on TV are the constructive meetings across the country... people having a civil, honest, often difficult convo... that's how democracy's supposed to work.
That reflects America a lot more than what's been covered the last few days.
#1: If you pay your premiums each month, and if a crisis comes, when you're most vulnerable, you can't be getting a call from insurance company saying your policy's been revoked! That can't be allowed to happen! [gives egregious examples of this happening]
#2: Can't deny coverage based on medical history/preexisting condition. We will hold insur. co's. accountable.
#3: We'll require co's to cover preventive care, colonoscopies, mammograms, because that saves lives.
If you don't have insur., you'll have affordable, quality options. If you do, you'll be secure, can keep what you have, keep your doctor. Gov't. won't meddle, but neither will insurance companies. [huge applause]
Under Max's proposals, tax credits for Montanans... a market place. Small businesses will be helped... without adding to deficit over next decade, by cutting waste and sweetheart deals by companies who don't want to help you.
We are closer than we've ever been in history to achieve reform. We have agreements from drug companies, AMA, AARP supports this policy agrees reform need to happen... but it's getting fierce because we're getting close. They try to scare the heck out of everybody. Happened before, it's happening now. We can't let them do it again, not this time. For all the scare tactics out there, what is truly scary, risky is if we do nothing.
Deficit will grow, Medicare will go into red in less than a decade. Insurance co's will still discriminate... change is never easy. And it never starts in Washington, it starts with you... knock on doors, fight against the fear, spread the facts. This isn't about politics, it's about the American people.
Question time... nobody's been preselected or prescreened:
Q: I've been laid off. 2 kids with Medicaid. Have you looked at Canada, England? Can you pick and choose from them?
A: Amer's spend $5-6000 more than any other advanced nation, per person. If you have insur. through your job, it comes out of salary. You don't get raises. So we need to be more efficient, we're not healthier than them. They have single payer systems... or a socialized system in that gov't. owns the hospitals, hires drs. Netherlands = govt pays bill, but it's private drs and facilities. We need to come up with a uniquely Amer. way... I'm not in favor of their systems. Because most get insurance on the job. To change that would be disruptive, you'd lose what you have, it would be an entirely new system. So, we need the following: You can buy private insur. We'd give you tax credit, and provide a health care exchange. We'd make sure if you DO have insurance, you'd be protected from bad policies. If we do that, we can preserve the best of what we do have, but also make sure you're not as vulnerable. That's essentially what we're talking about... NOT socialized medicine, govt. coming between you and dr... not true.
Q: Medicare is great... it works well. But money doesn't grow on trees. Will Medicare get more expensive, less effective?
A: Medicare IS a govt. program... so those who hate govt programs and say leave my Medicare alone, I want to clarify that. Medicare needs changes in how the delivery system works, eliminate waste, then srs. will be vulnerable. So, benefits would stay the same, no rationing... We want to eliminate practices that aren't helping: subsidies to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage can be cut. $177 billion dollars can be used elsewhere. Another example: Hospitals keep getting reimbursed over and over even if they don't fix the problem (compares to auto shops). So give hospitals incentive: Charge one fee for overall treatment, until health problems are fixed.
Q: Single mom of 2, a student. Son is disabled, 11 years old, autistic, epileptic, diabetic. I rely on his Medicaid. What would happen to this?
A: You're a heroic mom, your son's lucky. If you qualify for Medicaid, he'd still qualify. No impact on that. Some reforms, delivery system, ex: encourage drs. to have fewer tests, email to all the specialists... that would save $. Benefits, qualifiers stay the same. May even expand Medicaid, but whole system needs to be smarter, more bang for buck. This includes preventive and wellness care. We have a disease care system, not health care system.
Q: NRA member. I believe in our Constitution. I get my news from cable, because I don't like the spin from other places. Baucus has been locked up in dark room trying to find $ for programs. We get bull. You can't tell us how you'll pay for this. You have no $. Only if you raise our taxes, you said you wouldn't.
A: I can't cover more people for free, you're right. We need resources. Overall, maybe $8-900 billion over 10 years.. a lot of money. About 2/3 can be obtained by what I mentioned. That's real $. Goes to patients, not insurance companies. [applause] But, your point is well taken. We need 1/3 more. $30 billion a year or so. Numbers change 'cause there's 5 bills right now. I promised I wouldn't raised your taxes if you make less than $250K a year. But people like me can pay more to help those who make less.
I said that when I campaigned. My original solution was: We could lower itemized deductions on my tax returns... Some disagree... I can afford it better than those making less. If we just did that.. JUST that... that would pay for health care. So, 2/3 we can get from eliminating waste. CBO agrees with that. Repubs agree. Other 1/3 have to find revenue, but not from middle class.
Some say, I don't care, no more taxes. I respect that. But the truth is, we gotta get over that we can have something for nothing. That's how we got into debt in first place. [big applause] Bush passed prescrip. drug bill... price tag was 100s of billions. We didn't pay for it. It got added on to deficit/debt. It amuses me sometimes when I hear opponents yell about how we can't afford this, when we're proposing to pay for it, but Bush didn't. [he never said "Bush"]. I do appreciate the respectful way you asked your question and I believe in the Constitution too.
Q: I lost my job. But thank you for health clinics, because I have new job. But lost insurance. How to fix that gap, when unemployed?
A: Stimulus helps that. Tax credit will help pay, to continue coverage [sorry, got a phone call, missed some], help businesses. Create a marketplace, lets you choose different plans, options. One option: public. [applause] Here's where the myth comes from. Let me inform you. The idea is, a govt. run plan that still charges you premiums, but govt. option wouldn't have same profit motive... a non profit, lower overhead, better deal. It's ONE option. Opponents: You can't have a level playing field, govt. drives private insur. away. That's a fair concern, especially if the public option were being subsidized by taxpayers... So it has to pay for itself. It's not a govt. takeover... everyone with private insurance can stay on it.
Q: Medicare pays about 94% of hospital cost. Medicaid: 84% or so. Private insurers get about 135% of cost and that makes up the difference. Will public option be underfunded?
A: Complicated area... Short answer: Medicare/caid shouldn't be squeezing providers for savings. We should change delivery system, smarter care, treat the illness instead of a million tests. Cure the patient. But we need to save money... We each spend about $1000 or so per family paying for uncompensated care... people w/o health insurance. You just don't see it on your bill. If we can help provide coverage, no emergency room, we can save.
Q: COBRA: Bldg. materials business... a lumber yard owner. I was forced to cut work force in half... I want to provide health insurance... COBRA doesn't apply to me, not enough employees. True of most Montanans. How do we eliminate discrimination against small employers?
A: Small businesses are as vulnerable as anyone. Baucus working hard on giving a substantial subsidy to help small businesses, allow their employees to get insurance. Small margins, no leverage. So: Allow them to buy into the exchange... use purchasing power of everyone in exchange. Also, give you a tax break. Nobody's talking about this. Small businesses have fastest job growth, so this will be an important component in bill that we pass.
Q: I sell individual health insurance. I've paid attention to this debate. The co's are in favor of reform, want to work with govt'. to provide insurance. Why did you switch from health CARE reform to health INSURANCE reform?
A: You're right, co's have tried to work with us. But, in some cases, we've seen funding in opposition by other co's. So I don't want to vilify them. Let's work with existing private system, but make sure certain practices that are tough on people .. change. Some reforms are very hard to achieve unless we have everyone covered. This is why insurance companies are with us. Since they can't cherry pick healthy folks, they take on more, and they'll have more customers. So, they're willing to join us. Everyone has a stake in it, then companies willing to make changes with us.
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