I will spike the ball HEALTH CARE UPHELD!

[Autumnlicious]

I find it interesting how you're trying to get a public health care system, whereas here in the UK the NHS is predicted to be on the verge of bankruptcy in the next decade where several hospitals are already on the brink of going bust and face being dissolved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18584968

How cheery you left out of your bleak analysis this gem:

Work has already started to rectify their problems and therefore wholesale dissolving is considered unlikely.

However, the move over South London Healthcare does act as a warning that the government is prepared to use the measure, which was made possible by legislation Labour introduced in 2009.

Sounds like not paying for hospitals from the public funds and relying on private sources wasn't the best of ideas.

Typical UK shenanigans -- always trying to be cheap.

[Anomalocaris]

It's a mistake to regard this as a victory for the lower classes. It is a victory for the health insurance companies.

Yes, the law has some good features but primarily it failed to set up a national health care plan like more modern and evolved nations have done.

It's okay to swallow the bait so long as you remember to spit out the hook.

[Jackalope]

I'm going to wait and see how all this pans out in the end before I pass personal judgement, however...

I have felt that the health care reform bill was a turd of a bill, at least in part. Getting needy people healthcare is good, of course. Expanding coverage and the subscriber base is good as well.

The personal mandate leaves a bad taste in my mouth, however. I fully recognize that there are myriad reasons why people choose to go uninsured (leaving aside for the moment those who simply cannot afford it at all). I suspect that a great many of them choose to do so because a) they are healthy, and b) the cost of premiums is too burdensome. Mandating that they purchase coverage doesn't alter the economics of b), and yet, it is on the backs of these same people that is to finance this reform.

I look at my own out-of-pocket premiums and can fully understand how many who cannot qualify for subsidized care cannot afford insurance. I wonder how many will opt to pay the tax instead? Note that premiums are only going to come down by having more relatively healthy people paying more in premiums than they take in benefits - those opting out aren't going to help (this of course assumes that overall costs remain about the same).

This bill may have been the best that could be accomplished at the time, but it's still a turd.

From my own personal perspective - I work for a fairly small company with a few hundred employees, a large percentage of whom work in our customer service call center, are young and healthy, and don't make much in wages. As a result, the majority do not participate in our health care plan. This I can understand, it's a high-deductible plan (HDP) backed by a employee Health Savings Account (HSA). When you consider the cost of the premiums and HSA contributions to cover the deductible, it's not something a low wage earner would be interested in. (Compared to the traditional PPO plan that used to be offered, it's a hell of a deal - the worst case scenario under the HDP/HSA plan is less expensive than just the premiums on the PPO plan.)

It will be interesting to see what happens to our premiums when those that opted out are on the plan. We've had huge premium increases for the last 4-5 years - that's one of the bad things about being in a small group plan, a couple of huge claims can blow the profitability of the plan to hell. In this case, it's not because the insurer is greedy - I have access to the numbers, and our plan has lost money most years. They probably would have declined to offer a renewal if the law did not require them to do so.

So on the one hand, I'm glad that something is being done - and on the other, I'm very disappointed that more hasn't been done. As I said at the beginning, time will tell whether or not we can polish this turd.

[Epimethean]

This has trappings of a Pyrrhic victory, and may actually promote the conservatives in the long run.

[Anomalocaris]

No, I don't think so. Insurance industry will not allow government subsidized premiums from 30 million new subscribers to evaporate just to humor their conservative talking head minions' notion of "principle".

[Welsh cake]

How cheery you left out of your bleak analysis this gem:

There's always something bleak going on with the NHS:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18639088

Don't shoot the messenger.

[JohnDG]

I never had doubt it would go through without a problem. Our polotics are no more real than a pro wrestling match and you will all lose your freedoms little by little. Meanwhile you will be like " I never saw that coming". It's just another way to gain control over your life. I am prepped, armed and ready to do what I have to do to survive anything. So don't ask what im ready for, just know I am, but are you?

[Epimethean]

No, I don't think so. Insurance industry will not allow government subsidized premiums from 30 million new subscribers to evaporate just to humor their conservative talking head minions' notion of "principle".

That's not what I mean, or at least not entirely. I mean that this victory now has even more conservatives up in arms and willing to go to the polls. It may not be enough. In fact, we know that it is very unlikely to be enough, but this is a case of damned if you do, damned if you don't for Obama.

[Minimalist]

I mean that this victory now has even more conservatives up in arms and willing to go to the polls.

They were up in arms as soon as a black guy won the last election. And they have no one to blame except one of their own for upholding it.

Fuck 'em.

[Epimethean]

Tell me about it, Min. It is just another rallying point for the knuckledraggers. The witch-hunt that went on with Holder is another.