Tom Toles for February 09, 2015

If there is one thing the GOP knows, it’s death panels.

My company’s employee health care usually goes up about 5-8% each year.This year it went up 62% for health, 200% for vision and 250% for dental.Thanks Barry!

I wouldn’t complain about what the company charges for health care. They are all trying to dump that benefit so it won’t be long before most middle class workers will be on their own. The CEOs will still have Cadillac plans though. It is interesting to know that Obamacare is basically Romneycare. What a difference it’s political affiliation makes. I have given up hope that the Republicans will do anything useful in my lifetime.

“ConserveGov said, about 7 hours agoMy company’s employee health care usually goes up about 5-8% each year.This year it went up 62% for health, 200% for vision and 250% for dental.” Interesting, you bash Obama but hold your company blameless! Most companies are working hard to get out of the health care benefit business. Hang in there, it won’t be long before the middle class is on their own. CEOs of course will still have Cadillac plans.

So far, the GOP not only has no alternatives, but they are working to remove what is already there. Their clause on not being able to cancel insurance for pre-existing conditions says, contrary to their explicit statement, that cancellation due to pre-existing conditions IS possible — assuming it passes, of course.There are undoubtedly better approaches than Romneycare. That was proposed by the Heritage Foundation and promoted widely by the GOP (until Obama picked it up) for two reasons. First, it emphasized individual ownership; and second, it continued to throw money at the insurance industry, which is the unquestioned main cause of the high insurance rates in this country. And that’s in the view of medical providers.There are at least two cheaper approaches, one of which Obama didn’t even try to implement (single payer, or “Medicare for everyone”), and a nonprofit insurance company that is supported (not funded) by the government, which got shot down by the GOP and others being funded by the insurance industry. Strangely, their confidence in the free market being more efficient than the government failed utterly in this one case.There might well be more creative approaches, but I’m not hearing them. The Democrats are afraid of losing Obamacare (at this point) if they try to change it; the Republicans are simply trying to kill it outright instead of coming up with something worth having.

People tend to overlook that the ACA was the plan the Republicans were pushing since Nixon. Newt Gingrich and the Heritage Foundation were saying in the 90s that it was the only way reform would ever get done.

Hi Harley, have i told you how much I enjoy your comments? You are a card, a cut up, a real wit. Wa, wa, I LOVE it. So clever, so insightful. So, down to the nitty gritty. You are such an insurance wiz, I need to better understand risk pools. Can you explain them to me? Of course you’re right about corporations not paying taxes. So the insurance companies DON’T make profits or pay taxes, raising healthcare insurance prices? Insurance companies treat everyone fairly, though, right? Because healthcare is all about profit, right? Proft making enterprises are ALWAYS the best form of organization, right? The government could NEVER play any useful role in this, right? Nope I’m sticking with Saint Ronnie’s (PBUH) trope that “government is the problem.” Seriously,though, Harley, you know I love to see how your subtle and clever intelligence can penetrate the mysteries of the world, and I’m waiting with bated breath for the right wing explanation of how to fix our healthcare financing system. Unpack it for me. Go beyond the Gruber LIES, and tell me the truth. I can handle it, big guy. Lay it out in some detail. I may not be smart enough to grasp all the intricacies of your explanation, but at least give me a chance to understand. I await your revelations, please don’t deny me your insightful and brilliant solutions.

motivemagus: Of course there are better methods. Starting with the one Tommy Douglas started in 1938 in Saskatchewan and ultimately swept Canada.

“They had many plans. Plans that would work without mandates. But the lamestream media would not play them.”You have my attention. Name some of them.

What are you smoking? What does your comment have to do with my comment. United Health Care had to reimburse a part of the premiums in 2014 to all of the employees because they collected more than 20% over and above their medical expense outlay.Nothing came out of your or anyone else’s taxes to cover that.

“What about the female co-worker?”oh no war on women, someone call Fluke, she needs to cry more that a University will not pay for her right to get laid and not get knocked up just like a guy. It so unfair. I am sure just like with Fluke the Lamestream will set up a press conference when denied to be seen, to cry, in front of congress."====Mr. Word Salad is not a Fox “news” viewer. He listens to Rush Limbaugh ever day, though.

Right, Mr. Word Salad?

After years of my insurance premiums going up 15% annually, this year they only went up by 1%, that’s an improvement.

On “single payer” systems; my daughter is in New Zealand and pregnant, total “out of pocket” for prenatal, and delivery et al, $40. Their national insurance covers almost all costs. In the U.S., the cost out of pocket for same without insurance is now $30,000 for vaginal delivery, more for ceasarian. Single payer simply works. (There are other factors in NZ, like “vanity” treatments like facelifts are NOT covered, requiring additional insurance or pay your own way, but all medically necessary events ARE covered.)

I must admit that my “sample” is small—-a Father in law, Father, Brother in law, and 2 cousins.A small sample, but the same result in each…the COLA is just about even with the Medicare increase. I suppose they should be happy that it is even—-it could go in the other direction, and their checks would decrease. NOT whining, just observing.

No alternative offered?How about just keep it the way it was??Most Americans were happy with their insurance before Barry and the Dems rammed through a very unpopular Obammy-Care.Poor people were already covered under Medicaid and seniors had good coverage under Medicare until Barry and the Dems cut Medicare funding by over 700 BILLION.

“No alternative offered?How about just keep it the way it was??”

^^ And there, in all its glory, is the Republican/Fox “news” viewers alternative to Obamacare.