Bush’s Health Care Scheme Would Create 600K More Uninsured Americans

[RedEarth]

Last week, the President unveiled his new budget proposals – including $12 billion per year in tax breaks to promote health savings accounts (HSAs) linked to high-deductible health plans – a fatally-flawed approach to health care coverage that will leave Americans out in the cold.

This week, noted Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist Jonathan Gruber released an analysis that confirms the worst fears about HSAs. The key points:

1. The number of uninsured people would rise by 600,000 people. Because some employers will stop offering health coverage in response to these new subsidies, 8.9 million workers will lose their group health insurance and approximately 4.4 million of these individuals will lose health insurance altogether. Only 3.8 million previously uninsured people will obtain coverage as a result of the new program.

2. The vast majority of people who would benefit already have health insurance. Roughly 16.6 million people will benefit from the new tax breaks, but less than 23 percent will have been previously uninsured. The other 12.8 million will move from some other type of coverage – such as employer coverage, other individual coverage or Medicaid – to an HSA and a high-deductible plan purchased through the individual market.

The President’s proposals will do nothing beyond making our nation’s health insurance crisis even worse. With 45.8 million Americans lacking health insurance already, we can’t possibly fill this prescription.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/16/health-care-scheme

[SammyWinstonJack]

1. Does this asshole just sit around and think of ways he can screw

over working class Americans while enriching himself and the haves and have more, i.e. his base? Jesus! Everything he does is toward that end! :argh:

[MountainLaurel]

2. Nah, he's got staff to do it for him

I think he spends most of his days inside a bottle.

[SammyWinstonJack]

3. And sobered up in time to come out and campaign again. That's all he's

good for. Jesus, Thanks for nothing, Supreme Court a$$holes!

[ThomCat]

4. I think he does sit around and think about it.

I think he gets off on this. Screwing as many poor people as possible props up his ego and his sense of superiority.

[SoCalDem]

5. Nope,...A Dubby-Day probably resembles this

Watches Fox & Friends
has a snack, works out a little..
has lunch..
takes a nap,
plays a little Nintendo,
has dinner,
has few drinks,
and just before beddy-bye,
he signs a bunch of stuff his minders put in front of him..

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. You forgot trotting around the Country on the taxpayers' dime

pitching his evil agenda to those who will benefit from it.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. Ya know I think that as well. He thinks the poor are just lazy as per

one of his college professors. I think it was said that Pinhead** holds great disdain for the poor.