so they are taxing the bath tubs you need for Cialis to work.

by Sock Puppet Fred on 11/07/2009 02:08:13 PM EST

I asked my Representative to vote ''No'' on the bill.  I've also asked my Senators to vote no on any bills that come before them, too, for these reasons:  The current proposals all

1) Assure that insurance companies will raise their rates by at least 125% over the next four years.

2) Assure that taxpayer dollars will continue to be funneled to the insurance companies.

3) Assure that insurance companies will continue to be the primary administrators of our health care system.

4) Assure that we, the people, will have very little voice in that administration, contrary to the voice we could have if it was government administered.

5) Assure that there are so many loopholes in the regulations that insurance companies' death panels will continue to deny care to many people who need it and who have paid their premiums.

6) Assure that millions of people will continue to be without health care coverage.

7) Assure that Medicare cannot lower its expenses by negotiating with pharmaceutical companies.

8) Assure that the pharmaceutical industry will make $1 trillion in profit over the next ten years (the savings of $82 billion that Obama is so proud of means nothing).

9) Assure that insurance companies can continue to con people into switching from Medicare to the privately-run, more expensive, and less functional "Medicare Advantage" rip-off.

10) Assure that the United States will continue to be the object of ridicule from the rest of the world because we cannot provide inexepensive and effective health care for all of our citizens because we have let the corporations gain almost complete control of our government.

These are not the only good reasons for  voting against this bill.  The arguments that "It's a start" simply don't hold water.  There are so many holes in the proposed system that it will take forever to patch them, and when Republicans make electoral gains in next year's elections, they'll work to gut what few assets there are in this legislation -- and they'll have until 2013 to finish the job.

And does anyone doubt that if a Republican wins in 2012, as is very likely given Obama's weak performance on the economy and expected continued economic decline, they won't completely eliminate any health care reform that is enacted now?

Strong health insurance reform must be enacted immediately.  The current proposals before Congress don't do the job.  They should scrap these weak, ineffective proposals and start over, doing the job that we sent them to Washington to do.

by EveningStarNM on 11/07/2009 02:27:29 PM EST

Is this still in there in HR3962 which passed yesterday?

by publius on 11/08/2009 12:01:52 PM EST