OT: Health Care Bill ** Insurance Companies and Employment

[Guest guest]

Howdy Dash,

 

> The outcry about the HC bill is because there is so much propaganda, mis

and dis information spread by the Insurance Companies because they do not

want HC INSURANCE reform, which this

> is..... the new bill is NOT universal HC which we should have, but it is a

step in the right direction.

 

As for Insurance Companies being against the Bill .. I am not sure they

really are against it .. for sure the Pharmaceutical companies are not

against it. If I was the CEO of an Insurance Company I would have already

figured out how to make it work in my company's best interests ..

generally, corporations do not hire dummies in top management so this would

be expected. A lower profit margin on a higher volume of sales normally

results in higher overall profit .. you just gotta work harder to get

there. The AARP supported the bill not because they believed it was in

the best interest of retirees .. they did so because they were recipients of

some things in the back room deals .. and they sell health insurance.

 

Mandatory employer-provided coverage:* * Small businesses – with fewer than

50 employees – are exempt from mandatory requirements. Businesses with more

than 50 employees will be required to provide employee coverage in 2014 or

pay a large fine. It remains to be seen how this bill will affect

employment. A logical person would surmise that the provision that

penalizes companies with 50 or more employees will result in a number of

companies who operate in that range downsizing to 49 employees. Seems

logical.

 

Opposition to anything will be portrayed by the other side as being

propaganda .. and in some cases they might be a tad right but generally

opposition is voiced because someone believes its not in their best

interests .. and propaganda does not necessarily mean the opposition is

false.

 

One thing is for sure .. the administration never adequately explained the

bill .. they could not do so because they didn't really understand it

themselves and in many areas they dealt with unknowns by making assumptions

that supported their desires. If those assumptions had been admitted then

the opposition would have put them to the reality test. My personal lack

of support of this plan is not due to me being a victim of propaganda. I do

support Health Care Reform and I know we will see it happen some day .. but

I don't believe it is going to happen with this bill .. as currently

written. The fact that we believe something does not mean we are correct

... especially if we allow emotions to overcome cool calculations. However,

odds of a well informed person with no agenda getting closer to being right

than a less informed person who is angry seems pretty obvious. One person

characterized folks who watch Fox News (the leader in the Lame Stream

industry today) as Junkies and suggested we write Rachel Maddow on MSNBC ..

who has ratings a tad behind Saturday Night Bowling. Fox is larger than

Glenn Beck .. and MSNBC is larger than Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow ..

thank the Great Spirit. ;-)

 

Corporations don't generally operate or make decisions based on propaganda

or emotion. Voters do respond to propaganda and emotion .. that is what

campaigning is .. its all propaganda .. and happy I am that we have such

freedoms in the U.S.A. If McCain had been a better speaker than Obama he

might have won. But then .. if the dawg had not stopped to crap he woulda

caught the rabbit. One of the courses I taught at the JFK Center was

Media: A Tool of Propaganda .. damn interesting it was. When we flip on

the boob tube or read a newspaper or on line article .. we are watching and

absorbing propaganda .. in advertising, news, documentaries, etc., etc.,

... and even in children's programs. I'm an Old Fart with a young son so I

do pay close attention to the Monkey Shine programming .. rarely is there

not a clear message amongst the entertainment. Its not Bugs Bunny, Tom &

Jerry and the Coyote & Roadrunner any more .. its far more sophisticated

antics.

 

Its convenient to portray corporations and companies as being the enemy ..

especially if one leans toward more government control. This has been the

case since the late 1800s. But as we all know, its production and profit

that provides jobs .. the ones we criticize pay for our daily bread.

Government can also provide jobs but for only so long because the government

is not a producer of wealth .. its a consumer of wealth .. and soon they

will have to take back a major portion of what they pay their employees in

order to stay in business .. we see this in the EU today. Government can

not give to us what they do not take from us .. or from our neighbor. We

also should know that corporations and companies and Wall Street and Unions

OWN the politicians in the U.S.A. Our system of government is one of

legalized prostitution .. and from time to time one of our elected whores

must throw one of their Johns under the bus in order to accommodate another

one .. or to fulfill their Rendezvous With Destiny.

 

Democrats threaten companies hit hard by health care bill

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/Democrats-threaten-companies-hit-hard\

-by-health-care-bill-89347127.html

 

As it stands now, Americans are beneficiaries of one of the lowest tax rates

in the world .. but our corporations are the second highest taxed in the

world. Corporations don't pay tax .. they pass it along to shareholders or

to consumers as higher prices .. so higher taxes on corporations is simply a

higher tax on the citizens. Likewise, the more government control we have

... the higher we will be taxed. Americans would probably not complain too

much about paying a tad more taxes if they agreed on how the money would be

spent .. and if the government stopped wasting money. The joke about the

government spending like a drunken sailor didn't stand for long .. folks

countered that drunken sailors stopped spending when they ran out of money.

 

As it stands now the government claims that they will not raise taxes

on the middle class .. but I believe this is propaganda (actually, Bovine

Excrement but I'm trying to be nice) .. we will be taxed at a higher rate

... it is inevitable .. it MUST be. And if health care reform proves to be

too costly .. when they look into their coffers and realize that all they

have there is Change .. we can count on even more changes to be made,

including taxing those very medical insurance benefits the government is

going to " give " us.

 

> Propaganda says it is NOT socialism to subsidize big Insurance companies

like the Advantage plans do, but it IS socialism to help the common

person. Hogwash. dash

 

Socialism comes about through Revolution or Evolution. Create a Crisis and

you can implement Change. Americans would not tolerate a Socialist

Revolution but there has been some Evolution and we have become accustomed

to some Socialist practices since the New Deal.

 

Again, there are too many variables and unknowns to accurately predict the

success of the bill. Most of the provisions don't come into play for years

to come and we might be broke then and have to go back to the drawing board

by the time they kick in. Also .. it is possible that a future court

decision might put down the insurance mandate .. or .. control of one

or both houses of Congress might switch. Its sorta like a baseball game ..

you win this one and lose the next one .. or maybe like playing King of the

Hill .. you can stand on top till someone replaces you there.

 

All Americans do not identify themselves as Progressive or Conservative and

of those who do .. the two groups together are not large enough to elect

anyone .. the Independents are the King Makers. Most of us are Independents

who lean a tad left or right of center .. and who are eclectic voters. It

is not only wrong but it is dumb to portray those who call themselves

Democrats (or Progressives) as a beady eyed group of Closet Commies who

dream of a Socialist State .. likewise it is wrong and dumb to portray those

who call themselves Republicans (or Conservatives) as knuckle dragging, beer

guzzling, wife beating Neanderthals who have no concern for their fellow

man. However, as a retired military man who both dislikes and distrusts

government regardless of who is in charge .. I am by nature an Independent

who leans more to the right of center .. and I believe that the portrayal of

the first group as described might be a tad more accurate than that of the

second group .. but then .. that's propaganda. ;-)

 

Y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch ... http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>