I don't understand why people are upset about the health care bill.

@bonbon664 (3466)
Canada
March 22, 2010 8:58am CST
I don't really understand why some people are upset about the health care bill. Won't it end up being cheaper? A government run health care plan might have an administrative cost of 2 percent of it's overall operating expense, and such a public plan would not need to make a profit. Private insurance companies have administrative costs that are as much as 10 to 40 percent of their operating budget. Why give private insurance companies so much money to boost their bottom line?
2 responses
@xfahctor (14118)
• Lancaster, New Hampshire
22 Mar 10
From your post, you seem to not understand what this bill really is and isn't. You also don't seem to understand how our system of governmt works, hence you cannot understand why so many were popsed to this bill. Now, I write not to insult you , so please don't take it that way, I meant no malice, only to inform. Lets take the bill first. It did not create a public health care provider, or a "universal" healtcare system such as what you have up there. In fact, all private health insurers are intact and there is no government run health insurance company. Private health insurace typicly runs at a 2% profit, it's still a lot of money, but as a profit margin, it's pretty minimal. What this bill does, is put regulations on health insurance companies. It removes the ability to refuse people for coverage over pre existing conditions. It also allows people to keep their children on policies untill age 26. There are a number of other things included, most of them involve shifting people around to expanded coverage such as medicaid. I wont go in to the rest because it's pretty complex. Now, what are my objections? they are based on two things. First is that this bill does nothing to address the problems people have in getting healthcare. It also makes the assumption that there are 35 million people who dont have healthcare. This is not nessesarily true....it is a majorly fudged number, 12 million of that number are not even U.S. citizens, they are illegal aliens. Another few million are people who are wealthy enough to just pay out of pocket and they prefer to do so. The rest is an assort ment of people who didnt care about having insurance and those who were not aware they awere already eligable for government healthcare help. My BIGGEST issue though is constitutionality. Our federal government was designed to be minimal in power and scope, with only a certain number of powers enumerated to it, the rest being in the hands of the states. We are a staunch republic. Thoough the constitution does give the federal government power to regulate interstate commerce (commerce between the the states), the federal government cannot regulate anything that is considered INTRASTATE commerce. Right now, health insurance cannot be sold out of state, it is not INTERSTATE commerce and the federal government has no authority to regulate it. They also do not have the authority to mandate that every american carry health insurance. These are blatent violations of not only the commerce clause, but of the `10th amnenment which explicitly states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" . This bill also greatly expands the power of the IRS (internal revenue service) an agency that already had more power than a free republic should give a government agency. And over all, it simply puts far too much power in the hands of our federal government. THIS is the concern most of us have with this. It flies in the face of our founding principals, libertarian ideals and our constitution.
@stealthy (8181)
• United States
22 Mar 10
Well put. Obama's main reason for wanting to do this was to do something historic, he even said so in a speech recently. He doesn't care about the American people, he just cares about his legacy and socialist views. His plans for paying for the measures are naive at best and possible just plain lies.
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
22 Mar 10
I expect my taxes to go up and I expect my health insurance premiums to go up, no it won't be cheaper. In addition, I expect the quality of my health care to go down as more people are put on the roles and doctors leave the profession because of the bill. This government has never ever estimated the costs of its programs correctly. What makes us think they got it right this time? This bill will cost way more than a trillion dollars before it's all said and done. (And add that to the trillions we're already in the hole and you have a nightmare ahead...) The government has NEVER had an administrative cost of 2 percent for anything it's ever managed/operated. The vast majority of the government's programs run in the red, constantly seeking increases in their budgets. I don't care for the current private insurance industry, but there were other ways of overseeing the industry without this bill.