Political News Not All Talk Today
The Senate healthcare reform bill passed by the House of Representatives yesterday is not much, but it's certainly not nothing:Here are ten benefits which come online within six months of the President's signature on the health care bill:
It's not a very liberal bill. It's less significant than the reforms Nixon tried to pass. It's about the same as a bill the Republicans tried to pass in 1993. On the other hand, it is a meaningful improvement, it's likely to last, it's probably a political win for Obama and a loss for conservatives, and it's amusing watching the teabag crowd freak out about how American medicine has been 100% socialized forever (also, the debate in the House before the measures paints a very evocative picture of Republican obstructionism).
(For an interesting discussion of the economics involved, I strongly recommend you watch this.)
Tennessee is trying to pass a bill saying "we can ignore that federal law". Didn't someone try that before?
In unrelated but still quite political news, Google closed Google China today, redirecting all traffic to Google Hong Kong. The Chinese government has yet to block Google entirely, but we'll see (current status). I'd say I agree this is not motivated by short-term business considerations. Rather, the cyber-attack provided the impetus for the "seriously, don't be evil" faction to defeat the "work with them for the greater overall good" faction within Google. I think it probable that Google realized that it would be easier to get out now with the attack as justification than to wait until they have more market share in China and the Chinese government decides that censoring search results was just the start of the conditions for doing business in China.
- Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents’ policy until their 27th birthday
- Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions
- No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage
- Free preventative care for all
- Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. While these will not be cheap, they’re still better than total exclusion and get some benefit from a wider pool of insureds.
- Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50% of what they pay for employees’ health insurance.
- The “donut hole” closes for Medicare patients, making prescription medications more affordable for seniors.
- Requirement that all insurers must post their balance sheets on the Internet and fully disclose administrative costs, executive compensation packages, and benefit payments.
- Authorizes early funding of community health centers in all 50 states (Bernie Sanders’ amendment). Community health centers provide primary, dental and vision services to people in the community, based on a sliding scale for payment according to ability to pay
- AND no more rescissions. Effective immediately, you can't lose your insurance because you get sick.
It's not a very liberal bill. It's less significant than the reforms Nixon tried to pass. It's about the same as a bill the Republicans tried to pass in 1993. On the other hand, it is a meaningful improvement, it's likely to last, it's probably a political win for Obama and a loss for conservatives, and it's amusing watching the teabag crowd freak out about how American medicine has been 100% socialized forever (also, the debate in the House before the measures paints a very evocative picture of Republican obstructionism).
(For an interesting discussion of the economics involved, I strongly recommend you watch this.)
Tennessee is trying to pass a bill saying "we can ignore that federal law". Didn't someone try that before?
In unrelated but still quite political news, Google closed Google China today, redirecting all traffic to Google Hong Kong. The Chinese government has yet to block Google entirely, but we'll see (current status). I'd say I agree this is not motivated by short-term business considerations. Rather, the cyber-attack provided the impetus for the "seriously, don't be evil" faction to defeat the "work with them for the greater overall good" faction within Google. I think it probable that Google realized that it would be easier to get out now with the attack as justification than to wait until they have more market share in China and the Chinese government decides that censoring search results was just the start of the conditions for doing business in China.