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Aug. 31, 2010 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:43
August 31, 2010, Tuesday, Hour #1
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Welcome to today's edition of the Rush 24-7 podcast.
I have a special alert to start the program today for all of you in Wapaton, North Dakota.
I'm not telling you why, but you will be mentioned today on the Rush Limbaugh program, Wapatin, North Dakota.
That'll expand our audience.
Everybody in Wapaton will be listening to me now.
I'll throw out a few other random cities to get on the edge of your seats.
Here's what I want to start the program with.
There's a big deal about to hit the country.
And I don't think a lot of people are fully aware of it.
And it certainly hasn't been reflected yet in media coverage.
They're nowhere to be found on this because I don't think they know about it.
Group health plans are about to be presented to employees all over the country.
Not every company is set up the same, but a lot of them offer their group health insurance plans like this.
Since the coverage is generally a one-year plan, you're usually presented at your work, what your coverages are going to be, usually in the fall.
I know what my own company is right around October 1st.
A lot of companies are on the same timetable.
In some of them it's September 1st, others November 1st.
It's that September-October period, though, where they get the packet from the boss where they detail your coverage.
This is what's covered, this isn't, this is the copay that you have, this is what your deductible is, this is your cost, here's what a family plan costs, and so on.
That's about to start happening.
From what we've been able to tell, and this is just sort of trickling into mainstream media coverage right now.
Companies all over America are going to be changing their plans, or at least changing their coverages.
Here's why.
The cost that they're being assessed by their insurers is going up like crazy because of the need to comply with Obamacare.
Companies are getting these quotes from their insurers and they are freaking.
I can tell you, because I've talked to some of these employers in my home community of Milwaukee, that some of them are now trying to shop for new plans.
They're contacting other insurers than the ones that they've had, in some cases these HMOs, these managed care plans they've been with at their companies for 10 or 15 years.
They're seeing if they can't do better on price, usually they can't.
And they're faced with a couple of questions.
Do I eat this entire price increase?
Or more likely, do I eat some of it and pass the rest of it on to the employee?
What you are going to see in companies all over this country, and I I'll predict right now that it's at least half.
Take public employees out of this, they have negotiated benefits.
They generally get a free ride on health care.
Take the public sector out for a moment.
Private sector employees, I will predict that half of you will be paying more for your share of health insurance after this fall than you are now.
Half.
But that's only the start of it.
In an attempt to deal with this cost, these employers are going to the insurance companies and negotiating changes in the plans.
In order to lower the cost, at least some or lessen the amount of the increase.
They're saying, well, let's add a copay for this.
You're going to see the co-pays go up for virtually everything.
The routine office visit that you may have paid a $15 co-payment for is going to go to $25 or $30.
The co-pays for prescription drugs are likely to go up.
The description of what's on the drug formularies is likely to be narrowed.
The cost of seeing a specialist, a referral to a specialist is likely to go up.
The lab costs likely to go up.
Psychiatric coverage, any type of specialty coverage, the amount that you pay out of pocket is likely to go up.
The annual out-of-pocket maximum is probably going to be raised.
By doing all of this, you lessen the cost of your own plan, but it's still not going to be enough to prevent an increase in the cost being paid by the employer.
And I'm telling you, right now, no employer feels as though they can eat that cost.
We're in a dead economy.
If it's growing, it's growing only barely.
All of their competitors Are being faced with the same situation.
They know that their employees can't quit their jobs because of an increase in their amount of payment for the insurance.
They're going to be passing a big chunk of this along, and they're going to be eating the rest.
This is going to be happening everywhere, all over the country.
And it's all because of the changes that have occurred because of Obamacare.
There are several implications for this.
First of all, this is going to hit right in the heart of the election season.
I don't know about all of your employers, but I can tell you, there are a lot that have the sign up period sometime in late September or early October for the following year.
That's going to be within four to five weeks of the election.
This is going to happen all over America.
Politically, if you're looking for some good news in all of this, politically, this can't have any impact other than to hurt the Democrats.
Health insurance goes up every year, and a lot of your plans have gotten a little worse every year, but this is going to be significant.
What changed?
We did what they wanted to do.
We passed Obamacare.
Nancy Pelosi made that famous quote a few months ago.
We need to pass this so people find out what's really in it.
Brilliant.
We need to pass this so we know what's actually in the plan.
They were under the presumption that if they simply pass nationalized health care, if they socialize medicine in this country, once they did it, the public would fall in love with it, and the opposition would evaporate.
They presumed that this was going to be like every other social welfare program they've ever created.
And admit it, that's the way it has worked in the past.
Every time the government creates a giveaway, people are happy to get the giveaway.
We understand, perhaps, intellectually, that this is driving up the cost of government, that we're not getting anything for free, we're paying for it.
But we like those programs once they're there.
We become dependent upon them and we don't want them cut.
Social Security, Medicare, food stamps, housing assistance, all the stuff that the government has been handing out over the years.
The democratic policy strategy has always been create the benefit, let the conservatives squawk about the cost, but once the benefit is out there, the American public will become addicted to it.
And you'll never be able to cut it.
And in fact, we'll just expand it every year and will accuse the Republicans of trying to do away with it, just as they're doing with Social Security again this election season.
And they thought that's the way it would work with health care.
Wait till the American people get it.
They'll love it.
And they'll credit us for it.
This will turn from a negative to a positive for us.
Well, here's the problem.
Whatever benefits are associated with Obamacare don't take effect until 2012 or 2013.
But a lot of the increases in costs, a lot of the mandatory coverages, those things take effect now.
And the employers and the insurance companies are being forced to adjust to them.
There's nothing in this for anyone.
So let's see.
It's going to cost you more for your insurance policy, by the way, especially more if you have family coverage.
I'll tell you why in a minute.
It's going to cost you more for your insurance coverage, and the quality of your insurance is going to get worse.
You're going to be paying more out of pocket.
You're going to have a larger annual out-of-pocket limit.
You're going to have more co-pays, you're going to have more deductibles, it's going to cost you more for your insurance, and the amount that's taken out of your check, your employee share of paying for the insurance, that's going to go up.
Who's the winner in that?
Who's going to oh, I'm glad we have this.
Many of the people who supported Obamacare were under the impression that the government was going to give them health care.
Nobody ever talked about the cost other than we conservatives who were opposing it.
Oh, I'm going to get free health care.
Well, in fact, right after Obamacare was passed, insurers are reporting that they got telephone calls from people all over the country.
I want to sign up for the free health care.
There is no free health care.
There is eventually going to be a mandate that people go out and buy health insurance.
There's going to be a mandate on employers that they either provide health care coverage or pay a fine to the government, but there's nothing free in this in the meantime.
The insurance that most of us have that people were fairly ambivalent about, and particularly like the insurance companies.
They didn't like the cost that they were having to pay for it, but it was giving them health care that they were pretty much okay with.
The cost of all of that is going to go way, way, way up.
So what's the benefit?
Boy, I'm really glad I have this.
Thanks, Nancy Pelosi.
Thanks, Harry Reid.
Thanks, Democratic Party.
I really appreciate this.
This is going to be a disaster for them.
Now, as I said, that's the positive in terms of the politics of this.
But the impact on the country, this is a huge drag on the American economy.
First of all, corporations are going to be paying more for something that does nothing to add to their bottom line.
They're all going to be writing out larger checks to the insurance companies.
The insurance companies themselves can't take this to the bottom line.
They're having to raise their prices merely to comply with Obamacare.
So corporations are going to have an impact on their balance sheet because they have this expense that's just gone up.
As for the individual consumer, if you pay more, if more is deducted from your paycheck to pay for your health care policy, your take home pay has just gone down.
Boy, that's a great idea in an economy that is already struggling.
You have less money that you can spend and invest.
And then each time you go to the doctor, your co-pays are going to go up.
The copays for the prescription coverage likely to go up.
You're going to be nickel and dimed right and left.
And that nickel and dime, which is actually more like fives, tens, and twenties, those five tens and twenties are going to come out of money that you can spend elsewhere in the economy.
This is a huge hidden tax.
You may not want to call it a tax, but it's money that's going to be taken out of the private economy, taken away from employers, taken away from you to put into this huge massive bureaucracy that we're establishing to run nationalized health care.
It's going to be terrible for the economy.
It's going to make your coverage worse.
It's going to make insurance an even more difficult and problematic thing than it is currently.
With what improvement?
What do we get out of this?
So I'm going to pay more for my health insurance, and then I'll pay more every time I go to the doctor.
I'm going to pay more for each time I get a prescription.
What's the upside for me?
And we're going to vote for Democrats now because they've done this?
And I'm telling you, there are a lot of people who are aware that this is starting to hit.
On my own radio program in Milwaukee, I've talked about this issue a couple of times.
We hear from people that are in employee benefits, human resources for companies.
They generally don't want to say the names of their companies because it's on the hush hush so far.
Mark, you're right.
We're putting together our package right now.
It's going to be awful.
It's costing us a lot more, and we're having to pass some of it on to the employees.
At some companies, the booklets are already being prepared and people have taken a look at this.
I'm not saying every company is going to end up passing on higher cost to their employee.
And I'm not saying that everybody's coverage is going to get worse.
But I will predict that it's at least half.
That it's at least half.
Probably more so.
And I'm not talking about an extra dollar and a half per paycheck.
And I'm not talking about an extra 25 cents on the copay.
I'm talking about real increases in your out-of-pocket costs and the cost that you are paying for health care in this country.
Without a single reason to think that any aspect of health care is going to get better as a result.
If you'd like to comment on this, I'm going to throw out the telephone number.
1800-282-2882.
1-800-28.
It's not easy for me to say given the fact that there's only two numbers in the number.
1-800-282-2882.
Should I repeat that one more time or have I completely confused somebody?
I got to mention WAPAT in North Dakota.
That's really that's that's next also.
I'm Mark Belling sitting in for Rush on EIB.
I'm Mark Belling sitting in for Rush.
I know what you're all thinking.
I'm going to mention WAPAT in North Dakota because it's got to be right next to Milwaukee because the whole Midwest is stuck in there somewhere.
Now uh WAPA to North Dakota, here's your moment in the sun.
I'm gonna here to announce the final winner on the EIB iPad giveaway on Facebook.
It's Valerie H of No.
Whopping in North Dakota.
Valerie wins a tw 64 gigabyte three geek, no G 3G iPad, custom engraved with the EIB logo and Russia's signature.
I actually pronounced gigabyte wrong on yesterday's program and subject subjecting the entire EIB network to ridicule.
That's how we say it in Wisconsin.
You used to know that in there.
So we say though.
That's that's how we say uh he improved.
I'm still stuck in the morass.
The contest is now over.
Mark Stein has nothing to give away on the program tomorrow.
Congratulations to all nine of Russia's winner and thanks to all who participated uh iPad giveaway that uh Rush was doing on his Facebook site.
Rush does have a Facebook site, check it out.
We're talking about the changes in group health coverage that are going to be kicking in for workers all over the economy this fall.
Most employers have their health plans run January first to December 31st.
So they have the employees do the new sign up, and you have to sign up every year again in the fall.
Therefore, the new plans are going to be presented this fall, and I'm telling you across the board, you're gonna see the coverages get worse, more expensive for the employer, more expensive for the employee, and more out of pocket costs for you every time you try to go to the doctor.
Let's start in Bloomington, Illinois, and Dave.
Dave, you're on EIB with Mark Belling.
Good morning, Mark.
How are you?
I'm great, thanks.
Good.
Um one of the other things that's going on that nobody has really talked about yet is the fact that the companies themselves, the insurance carriers, are already adapting to the changes from Obamacare.
Since they have this increased liability, they're looking at their bottom line and already making changes.
They are dropping personnel, cutting white-collar jobs in their marketing support areas, cutting some of their field marketing force.
They are also going in and looking at their agency relationships and are designing and starting to make cuts in the compensation package that they're offering to agents.
It's the same thing that happened in the airline industry when they tr squeeze the travel agents.
What you're referring to is real.
In my home community of Milwaukee, we have a company that is very, very large in providing the uh niche type plans.
In other words, let's suppose I have a small business of seven employees.
A lot of the large health insurers don't go after me.
There are firms that set up to deal with the very, very small employer who's got the five, six, seven employees, sometimes it's two members of your family and a couple of employees that you have.
Those companies have in the past created customized plans for those small employers.
That small employer may not want to have coverage for A, B, and C. They want to specifically, okay, let's set it up so that we have very, very high deductibles, but low out-of-pocket costs for the cost of the plan, or just the opposite, or whatever.
Because Obamacare is mandating a one-size fits-all approach.
These smaller companies really have nothing special to offer anymore because they can't customize plans for smaller employers.
The company that I'm mentioning in Milwaukee is laying off employees right and left, and their ability to survive in the future is in real question.
So you're talking here at the insurance company level, and everybody hates the insurance companies.
Well, they're employers too, and they're being forced to slash because of the requirements under Obamacare.
This the impact of this is bigger than people think.
Well, the other thing, Mark, you're going to see, and this has already started.
Three named companies out there.
I won't I won't get it.
Don't name them, right?
But these companies have already called it quits.
Uh they have sold their books of business to other larger carriers.
They've gotten out of the markets completely.
We are also looking at carriers where they have already announced they're no longer selling as of the first of August or 15th of August.
Any more new individual health policies.
Some of your smaller carriers are they're just gone.
And you know, we need competition.
Every marketplace requires to survive to have competition.
Well, the Obamacare plan kills the incentive to compete by having all coverage is essentially being you have to cover this, this, that, and the other thing.
They don't want any kind of competition in there, so it's making it harder for those small and medium-sized insurers to be able to offer themselves as an alternative to the larger companies.
And you're right, the consolidation in the insurance industry isn't going to come at any cost savings for the consumer.
It's just going to result in these jobs being lost at these companies.
And you mentioned the incha the agency relationships.
They're going to be cutting commissions to the their their their independent reps and their company reps that are out there.
All of this is going to happen because we are from the outside through government action, driving up the cost of health care without doing anything to actually improve quality.
The insurance company that I was mentioning from Milwaukee is assurant health, it's part of a the larger assurant uh insurance corporation.
Their health division is based in Milwaukee.
They've just announced the second round of layoffs.
There are employees there that think the entire company's future is threatened because of Obamacare and their inability to go after what their business model was, which is to serve the small, the individual, the person who wants to buy a plan for him or herself, or the very small businesses, 15 employees or fewer.
They're being driven out of the market because their ability to tailor and create a unique product just for that one customer is gone because of the one size all fits approach mandate that's out there under Obamacare.
So at every level, from the insurers themselves to the corporations that have to pay for their health insurance, to the individual that's getting the policy and paying more.
This thing is going to make matters worse.
What's the upside?
What's the part that Nancy Pelosi uses to say?
See, isn't this a great thing?
Aren't you glad we did it?
To Catherine in Atlanta, it's your turn on the Rush Limbaugh program with Mark Belling.
Hello, Mark.
Thank you for taking my call.
I I do agree with you and your first caller about the fact that this is really uh in a lot of ways it's about consolidation, and that's the upside for the Democrats.
But I don't think it's going to hurt them, and that's what worries me.
Um I think they're very crafty about this sort of thing.
And what they they're going to do is they're going to say that they foresaw this incredible rise in prices and the cutting back of the benefits.
And what they did was to come up with this Obamacare plan so that there was a safety net.
They're there to help people.
They are the most important thing that they're going to be able to do.
Oh, that they'll say that.
You're right.
They'll say that.
Remember Lou Holtz, the old football coach at Notre Dame and a bunch of other places.
It didn't matter how terrible his opponent was each week.
He'd talk them up like they were spectacular.
They were outstanding.
There are nine Heisman Trophy winners on the roster.
I think sometimes we have that fear of the Democrats.
You said they're very crafty.
Come on now.
Is Nancy Nancy Pelosi that crafty?
You're we don't have the first string of Democrats anymore.
This isn't Clinton.
This isn't this strategizing and figure out how we can con everyone.
These people don't know what they're doing.
Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid don't have any master plan to sway anyone on this.
Here's the other part of this.
They've lost their benefit of the doubt.
There everything that they have done over the last 18 months has failed.
First of all, they said that the surge wasn't going to work in Iraq.
Now Obama tonight is going to declare victory.
They said that the stimulus plan was going to turn the economy around.
They've been crowing since March that this was going to be recovery summer.
It's not recovery summer.
It's flat summer.
Everybody's talking instead about a double dip recession.
I don't think they have that benefit of the doubt anymore, where people are going to be as open to their answers.
But you're right.
They'll offer that up, and some people will buy.
This is why we needed to step in and do this.
Let them offer that up.
We're doing this because the insurance companies are out to screw you.
And don't wait.
Next year or the year after or the year after you'll really like Obamacare.
But in the meantime, we admit it's really, really terrible.
Sure, they'll try it.
What else are they going to say?
They're not going to stand up and say, well, you know what?
I guess Obamacare is destroying the country.
Your health care costs more and you're getting poorer coverage.
They're not going to say that.
You're right.
They'll try to say that.
I just don't think it's selling right now.
You take a look at every poll that's out there.
Self-identification among Republicans is going up.
Republican insurgent candidates are taking on entrenched Democratic House members and senators that were thought to be invincible.
I I I don't I think you are overrating right now their craftiness.
I don't know.
I I really hope you're right, but I I fear that you're not um I just I've seen so many times when it seems that common sense is beginning to take root and then they find ways to spray it with something foolish and it dies.
I just I I am so concerned that we are too easily duped and too quick to believe the uh spin.
I I just get the impression that this year that's changing.
Whether it be Tea Party rallies or whatever.
I just think that this year that's changing.
We are getting for the first real time totally unfettered class control liberalism.
This is the Obama planred percent.
There was no Republican input on it at all.
They drew this up exactly the way they wanted to and they say you'll love it when you get it.
Well now the answer's gonna have to be changed.
Well you will eventually love it.
You're not gonna love it I guess when you get it it'll be maybe in twenty eleven or twenty twelve or twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen.
Let them bring on that argument.
You are right though it is the best one that they have to Wilton California and Chris.
Chris it's your turn on E IB with Mark Belling.
Good morning Mark um I just have to say I'm a new listener um well in the last two years um but now my day resolved revolved around um listening to Rush to get through the day.
Great.
So um I guess my point was that um I'm kind of the wave of reality of Obamacare because um you know my husband is self employed and our health insurance just went up um from five hundred dollars to a month to six hundred and fifty dollars a month um and that's for a very minimal plan.
So that's the quote that you got from your carrier.
Yes.
I just got it yesterday in the mail and says as of October first this will be your new rate.
Yeah and and that's the point that I was making before October first so many companies have their health plans structured so that October first is the key day which is right in the heart of the election season.
Now my guess is you've had increases each year for the past several years.
We all know that the cost of health insurance and the cost of health coverage in general has been going up.
This is going to be go ahead.
Although although um like we've had this same plan now I think this is our third year and we have not had an increase since we got the plan.
So you've been doing pretty well with regard to what you've been getting.
And now now all of a sudden this is going to smack you over the head and you mentioned you mentioned the the minimal coverage that you have chances are your plan does it has higher deductibles, higher co-pays, higher everything because you're trying to get the Spartan plan because you are a small business and you're paying for as little coverage as possible you just have to have it there in case people have major medical or something like that.
So you can imagine what the small business is facing that may have better coverage than you have.
Oh absolutely and I I think this is kind of just like um people who get their taxes taken out every month from their employer.
You know we don't we pay quarterly taxes plus get every year in April.
But I think it's like those people don't see the reality of how much taxes that we as self-employed people pay and I think that those people who just get their insurance covered by their employees they don't really have a sense of how much it really cost to have health insurance.
Well the only time they get it is when they get that booklet each year where it says this is what the cost is actually going to be and a lot of people are going to see the number go up.
Is your business just you and your husband or do you have employees?
No we have no employees it's just my so it's just the two so it's just the two of you so a hundred and fifty dollars a month we have two children that go with that but that's it.
So if it's a family plan.
So you're talking about at 150 dollars a month that's eighteen hundred dollars a year that you're going to be paying more for the same coverage you have.
That's eighteen hundred dollars that you can't take to your bottom line that's eighteen hundred dollars your family can't spend in this economy that's eighteen hundred dollars that just gone.
That's a real thing.
Now multiply you toward everybody out times everybody else is in the same situation that you're in.
This is a killer for the economy.
And what's the upside?
You said that they're not doing anything to improve your plan, right?
It's the same plan.
Yeah, it's the same plan.
And actually, I'm hearing that, you know, our plans are going to get worse because I mean, though the reason we pay for a PPO is so that we can take my daughter to any kind of doctor that she may need to go to.
And um, and so we end up paying more.
But I love the fact that I can go to any doctor that we need to take her to, and I don't have to wait for a referral, and I don't even know.
But my point is is that's the plan you've had all along.
So you're paying an extra $150 a month.
That's 30%, $150 off of $500, it's 30%.
You're paying a 30% increase in the cost of your coverage for health care, and there isn't a single thing that's better about that coverage.
But you know what?
Obamacare was for you.
This was the reason the government had to step in to make things better for you.
Now the early caller thinks that the Democrats are going to be able to spin this.
Well, this is the greedy insurance company's doing this, and we're doing this to stop it from getting worse.
I don't think that's going to wash for a lot of people because you're not talking about five and ten dollar increases.
In the case of this person buying on their own, that's a thirty percent increase in the cost of their premium.
That's a real cost, and it's straight out of the bottom line of America.
I'm Mark Belling sitting in for Rush on EIB.
I'm Mark Belling in for Rush.
The group health plans that people get across the country are going to be put out in the next really several weeks.
Some people have already gotten what the summaries are going to be.
The cost of the employer way up, the cost of the employee way up.
In many cases to try to minimize that cost, dramatic reductions in coverage.
Last week, and this speaks to a point made by the caller from Atlanta.
Last week political dot com reported that the Democrats are changing their election strategy in try and high trying to defend the health care vote.
The story was reported by Ben Smith.
Key White House allies are dramatically shifting their attempts to defend health care legislation, now abandoning claims that it will reduce costs and the deficit, and instead stressing a promise to improve it.
That's going to be their message.
Don't worry, send us back in.
We'll improve it.
Why do they need to improve it?
It's their plan.
The messaging shift was circulated this afternoon, and this is reported a week ago, on a conference call and PowerPoint presentation organized by Families USA, one of the central groups in the push for the initial legislation.
The call was led by a staffer for the Herndon Alliance, which includes leading labor groups and other health care allies.
It was based on polling from three top Democratic polls.
There's John Anselone, Selinda Lake, and Stan Greenberg, that's the A squad.
The confidential presentation provided to Politico by a source on the call suggests that Democrats are acknowledging the failure of their predictions that the health care legislation would grow more popular after its passage as its benefits became clear and rhetoric cooled.
Instead, the presentation is designed to win over a skeptical public and to defend the legislation from a push for for repeal.
The presentation concedes that groups typically supportive of democratic causes, people under 40, non-college educated women and Hispanic voters have not been won over by the plan.
The presentation also concedes that the fiscal and economic arguments that were the White House's first and most aggressive sales pitch have essentially failed.
Many don't believe health care reform will help the economy, says one slide.
They're urging Democratic candidates to keep their promises small, talk about this on an individual level.
In other words, change the message entirely.
This is why I think this is a disaster for the Democrats.
They sold the public this on the premise that there were deep problems in American health care dealing with access to coverage and the incredible cost of health care.
Well, now they're being forced to back off on the whole cost thing since they're making it more costly.
As for their argument that this would be good for the American economy, if insurance companies are going to lay off workers, if employers now realize that every single employee they have means a higher amount they're paying for for that employee's health insurance.
And if the employees themselves have less out-of-pocket money because their insurance costs have gone up and their co-pays and deductibles are higher, well, it's really hard to sell that as a positive for our sick economy.
Cincinnati and Amanda, it's your turn on the Rush Limbaugh program with Mark Belling.
Hi, Mark, it's nice to talk to you today.
Thank you.
Um, I'm calling because my husband is an employee.
Um, he's actually manager level at a large company here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
And uh last November we were informed that our insurance was going to be completely changed.
Um we went from paying simple copays and paying our deductibles out of his paycheck to now having to need a four thousand dollar um, you know, benefit coverage limit before they'll cover anything.
Um his his uh rates did go up, so he's paying more out of his out of his check every month.
And we're not even taking our kids to the doctor right now because we just can't afford it.
Too much money is going out and not enough is coming in, and I don't know how this is going to benefit American families.
I just don't understand.
If the copays and the deductibles are increased by employers in their attempts to lower the cost for the employee and lower the cost to themselves for this coverage, it's going to mean people are going to be less willing to go to the doctor.
Now that's not all terrible.
We certainly know with regard to Medicaid that individuals who get health care at a very, very low cost tend to overuse the system.
Every time they get a sniffle, they go to the doctor.
But if in particular it's specialist coverage and other types of treatments that are going to cost people more out of pocket, they're less likely to go to the doctor.
How is that improving the quality of health care?
Every way you look at Obamacare, things are getting worse.
And as for the stated benefits that come from this, well, there aren't going to be any for at least three years.
The taxes don't even fully kick in for several years.
This is just the first wave of it.
It's all going to get worse.
This does help.
Focus the election on this bill.
And I believe the credibility of the Democrats and now turning around and trying to sell and defend this thing is very, very limited.
They blew all their credibility on stimulus.
They don't even want to talk right now about health care.
And all of these increases coming in and being slapped in the pockets of the American public right before the election is a disaster for them.
I'm Mark Belling, and this is the IB.
I'm Mark Belling sitting in for Rush.
Here's another consequence of this.
While public employees in most communities pay very little for their health insurance, some pay some, while they tend to pay far less than those in the private sector, the local governments and state governments have to buy the policies.
And in many cases, those are Cadillac level coverages.
The impact of this on government is going to be significant.
And there's going to be pressure to raise state and local taxes as a result of this.
Let's go to Fort Pierce, Florida, and surely.
Surely it's your turn on EIB.
Hi, Mark, it's nice to talk to you.
Thanks.
I was wondering, my husband and I are wanting to drop our health care because it's so expensive.
Come um open enrollment.
And I was just wondering if we were actually going to be allowed to with um all the changes coming up.
I don't know what changes are going to be taking place.
Well, eventually you're going to lose the option.
Eventually, it's going to be a requirement that you have health insurance.
You're going to be you're going to be required to buy it.
This is one of the things that's resulting in the challenge to the whole bill that this is unconstitutional, that we actually have a requirement by the government of the United States that American citizens have to go out and buy something.
We've never really done that before.
A lot of states require you to have automobile insurance, but that's of course dependent on whether or not you have a car.
The Obamacare legislation is going to require people to have health insurance.
Now that part doesn't kick in immediately, but eventually it will.
So no, you don't have any way of escaping from from this.
If you decline the coverage at your employer, eventually you're going to be required then to go out and try to buy one on your own, and you know what?
Surely you're going to find out that that's worse.
And you're not going to have much cost savings because we've got this one size fits all mandate in which Obamacare spells out all of the things that have to be covered, what the terms of the cover coverage can be.
What this is is total State control.
It's taking away the ability of individuals to buy the product that they want.
It's taking away the ability of employers to negotiate plans for their employees that they want.
And what it is established is a massive level of government that Rick the insurance companies have to comply with.
They have to submit every group plan that they offer to the Obama health people to make sure that this is compliant.
This is an enormous government intervention into health care that is going to result starting in a month in significant cost increases for employers and the American public without doing a thing to make it more affordable or improve the quality of care.
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