GOP Needs Six Weeks To Debate Health Care Bill That All Republicans Will Oppose

Certainly they can "discuss" the bill thru Obama's eight years, and the eight years of Hillary or Biden that will follow. Perhaps then a republican president will be elected and they can drown the bill in the proverbial bathtub.

Mad,

Actually, the Senate version of the bill DOES require members of Congress to use the new plan or one provided through the exchange:

(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.—
(i) REQUIREMENT.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are—

(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or
(II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).

(Line numbers removed for legibility) Located on page 156 of the bill, PDF here. So, with this version, they ARE required to take this insurance, and therefore have the incentive to make it work well.

It sounds like you and your family are doing the right thing, which is great. A lot of us are. (Me, I hate the fact that my husband and I have to work full-time in order to meet the bills, it doesn't really leave me a lot of time to consider having children.) However, consider this. The way the system is set up, if (may whatever deity you pray to forbid) one of you becomes seriously ill, the insurance companies can then comb through not just one, but BOTH of your health histories, and can retroactively cancel your policy if they find anything in there which you didn't report.

An investigation by the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations showed that health insurers WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and Assurant Inc. canceled the coverage of more than 20,000 people, allowing the companies to avoid paying more than $300 million in medical claims over a five-year period.

It also found that policyholders with breast cancer, lymphoma and more than 1,000 other conditions were targeted for rescission and that employees were praised in performance reviews for terminating the policies of customers with expensive illnesses.

...

But they would not commit to limiting rescissions to only policyholders who intentionally lie or commit fraud to obtain coverage, a refusal that met with dismay from legislators on both sides of the political aisle.

http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/17/business/fi-rescind17

They cancel your insurance, retroactively, and you can find yourself footing the entire bill for care, which can easily result in losing everything. The health insurance industry says this practice, rescission, is "rare," affecting only one half of one percent of all insured... Good analysis of that claim here and here. Don't think it can happen? It can.

This woman desperately needed surgery for breast cancer, immediately. The health insurance cancelled her policy for (get this) acne, for "misstating" her weight, and for not disclosing medication she was taking (which she was NOT taking when she applied). By the time she finally had to have a politicians intervene for her, her cancer had more than doubled in size.

The system is broken. The attempt to remove control of insurance policies from the companies has been killed by Congressmen who take thousands of dollars in "campaign contributions" from those same health insurance companies. The bills on the table aren't perfect, but they're a definate improvement over the mess of a system we've got now.

Why is it that because we have sacrificed pay raises, cost of living increases, and increased premiums to have health insurance through my company that the government feels we must now have a health care plan that is equal to a plan that everyone, not themselves though (remember? voted themselves EXEMPT from the Health care option) else has without paying for it?

Guess what...you might very well benefit from this. First off, it's NOT free unless you are 300% above the poverty level or below ($30,000 for a family of four) then you would qualify for Medicaid. Do you think that, just maybe, you haven't had raises BECAUSE you insurance premiums have gone up and your employers are having to pay more right along with you? This one statement from you shows you are not looking with both eyes. Look harder, you MIGHT see this as a benefit to you and your family.

Good point, CCArm. I work in HR/Payroll, and you don't know the ways we had to bend this year to keep our benefits where they are without taking much more out of everyone's paychecks for it. The skyrocketing costs meant there were a lot of people who didn't get raises.

For 12 years I have provided myself,my wife and 13 employees as well as thier families with very good health insurance benefits..Last august I had the unfortunate task of having to inform my employees we were no longer able to afford the healthcare and it was either close down or give up healthcare.

This was put to a vote and unanimously everyone voted to give up the insurance to keep thier jobs.My insurance premiumes increased 65% in just over three years,yet we never had an injury or serious illness filed by anyone.

I am sometimes an emotional man and the day I had to put the ultimatum out I could barely talk through the teary eyes and lump in my throat.I was so sad to have to tell these wonderful people they and thier families would have to do without.

Today we still have a company and even though times are rough I have been able to give everyone a raise each year,I only wish there were a way to do more.This is my biggest reason for supporting Healthcare Reform and regulation of the insurance industry.The leeches of our society.

I hear ya, bigbugy.