Rep Louise Slaughter: If the Teeth Don’t Fit, You CANNOT Acquit!!

“I even have one constituent — you will not believe this, and I know you won’t, but it’s true — her sister died. This poor woman had no denture. She wore her dead sister’s teeth, which of course were uncomfortable and did not fit.“

uuhhhh, Ms Slaughter, the health care bill does not cover dental…..and dentures are covered under Medicaid.

Rep Louise Slaughter says the HCB will help someone she knows who wears their dead sisters teeth. Ah Ha! The rumor about Dem zombies IS true!

What the Senate Measure Might Mandate:

Some of this could change after the Senate compares notes with the House, but at this point, these are some of the major changes.

Required coverage (the “individual mandate”): Citizens and legal residents would be required to have health insurance, or pay a fine. For an individual, the fine would be $750 per year or 2 percent of household income, whichever is greater; for a family, the maximum fine would be $2,250 per year or 2 percent of household income. The fines would go into effect gradually, starting in 2014. The House bill is similar, with exemptions for certain low-income people.

Employer obligation: Companies with more than 200 employees would be required to enroll their workers in a health insurance plan, with no ability for employees to opt out. Companies with more than 50 but fewer than 200 workers would not be required to offer insurance, but if they didn’t, they’d have to pay a fee of $750 per employee each year (with some variations). Companies with fewer than 50 workers would not have to offer insurance or pay any fees. Those rules would go into effect in 2014. The House bill would place similar requirements on employers, but with a different way of determining which companies are required to offer insurance.

Government-run health insurance (the “public option”): There is no public option in the Senate bill. The House bill would establish a government-run insurer that would compete with private insurers offering coverage to those not covered by their employers. The public option is one of the biggest differences between the House and Senate bills, and is likely to be one of the biggest battles as healthcare reform hits the home stretch.

Insurance exchanges: This is how people would buy insurance if they don’t have an employer that provides it. The structure is complicated, but these exchanges would basically be run by each state in conjunction with the federal government, and states would be allowed to create additional mechanisms for offering insurance to their residents. Traditional insurance companies would be allowed to compete for customers through the exchanges, provided they met a set of requirements set by the federal government. The least expensive plans would offer catastrophic coverage only, and not be available to everyone. There would be several other levels of coverage, priced more for each bump-up in benefits. The exchanges would go into effect in 2014. The House bill includes similar reforms, although there would be an additional health-insurance exchange at the national level. And the public health-insurance plan (not included in the Senate bill) would compete with private plans on each of the exchanges.

Subsidies to help pay for coverage: Government subsidies would help cover the cost of insurance for individuals earning as much as 400 percent of the poverty level. (In 2009, the poverty level for an individual in most states was $10,830; for a family of 4, it was $22,050. So an individual earning less than $43,320 or a family of 4 earning less than $88,200 would qualify for some aid.) The House bill has a similar income threshold for subsidies.

Medicaid expansion: Eligibility for Medicaid would be expanded to people or families earning 133 percent of the poverty level (with exceptions), effective in 2014. The House bill would broaden Medicaid eligibility to those earning 150 percent of the poverty level, and do so by 2013.

Insurance for high-risk patients: People who can’t get traditional coverage on account of a pre-existing medical condition would be eligible for insurance under a new “national high-risk pool,” with rates comparable to those for the general population. The pool would go into effect quickly–within 90 days of a bill becoming law. The House bill has a similar provision, with different ceilings for allowed premiums and deductibles.

Lifetime limits: Insurance companies would no longer be allowed to cap the amount of lifetime benefits or cancel coverage, unless the patient defrauded the insurer. Those rules would go into effect in 2010. By 2014, there would be tougher limits prohibiting annual caps on benefits, in addition to lifetime caps. The House bill has similar provisions and would go a step further by severely restricting insurance companies’ ability to deny coverage on account of pre-existing conditions.

New taxes: To help pay for increased coverage, a number of long-standing tax credits and deductions would decline, while taxes on some other benefits would increase. One of the most prominent changes would be a tax on “gold-plated” health insurance plans that provide lavish benefits but are expensive; the threshold at which the surtax would kick in would be $8,500 for an individual’s annual premium and $23,000 for a family’s. There’s a lot of fine print, however, and some people with gold-plated plans would probably end up exempted from the tax. The House bill doesn’t tax gold-plated plans, but raises funds through an additional 5.4 percent income tax on individuals earning $500,000 or more per year, and families earning $1,000,000 or more. All of these new taxes are controversial, creating more flash points for negotiators.

Abortion coverage: Federal subsidies cannot be used to fund abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk or there’s a case of rape or incest. The House bill has a similar provision, with an additional stipulation that prohibits federal money from being spent on any insurer that provides abortions, even if it’s with private funds.

Indoor tanning: Beginning in 2010, there would be an additional 10 percent tax on the cost of indoor tanning services, to help pay for health reform. No kidding. The House bill contains no such provision.

Obama & Health Care

Rep Paul Broun: This is about a government takeover of the whole health care system

The vote may not be over quite yet, but it is appearing that the Democrats–cheered on by the likes of Obama, Reid, and Pelosi, are about to, again, change the face of America. When the US was attacked on 9-11, Americans across the country joined hands and united with an “in-your-face” attitude against terrorists who would try and change the American way of living. Cheered on by then President Bush, we went on living. A war raged over seas but did not touch American soil. The freedoms that we held so closely on that day have been somewhat abridged in the wake of a new administration which seems to be quite hell bent on making government the almighty savior of a capitalist structure which, of course, can only survive with the promise that government will not undermine a free market and, as socialistic countries embrace, the ownership of American businesses.

The Obama regime is now about to own health care. They own banks. They own credit unions. GM is now more realistically Government Motors, as they are now in the car business. And lets be very clear to realize that when the government owns something that they also have all rights to creates its rules, which, if history is any teacher, the end results of that is not good.

And the Dems have their support and their support is quite clear and even seems to model itself after “good old Chicago-gangster” politics: Moveon.org has reportedly raised $3,578,117 in contributions to fund primary challenges against ‘any Democratic senator who blocks an up-or-down vote on health care reform with a public option,’ according to an e-mail sent to group members on Thursday. The e-mail warned that any Democratic House member who joins Republicans to filibuster the health care reform measure will “face an enormous backlash from the grassroots.”

After months of struggle capped by a final wrenching compromise over abortion, Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted, “we will pass health care reform,” and likened the events to the creation of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later. The president said Democrats have a 70-year history of creating and defending programs like Social Security and Medicare. New Jersey, Democrat, Robert Andrews, said afterward, adding Obama had said the day’s vote “is going to define the difference between the Republican and Democratic parties for decades.”

Minority Republicans cataloged their criticism of the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion measure. “The American people need to understand this is about a government takeover of the whole health care system,” said Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga.