December 2009

I figured I would plug in some real world numbers as they would be today if the new health care legislation was fully intact. This is something I haven’t seen during the whole debate and I want to take it from the angle of a single person earning 150% of the FPL.

Currently the FPL for a single person is $10,830. 150% of that would be $16,254 per year. Going by the table I published earlier, which is taken directly from the CBO estimates, a person earning a 150% of the FPL would end up paying about 9% of their income in health care when the new legislation comes into play. To refresh, here is the chart with the lines I am using highlighted:

Since every line goes off the “middle of income range”, I decided the 7% would be at 125% and 12% would be at 175%. I added those together and came up with 19% then divided by two, which gave me 9.5%. For simplicity I went ahead and rounded down.

So you are earning $16,254 a year, but 9% of your income is now going to health care. Time for another calculation:

$16,254
X .091
--------------
$14,791 (rounded down)

So much contention over the past several days has occurred within the progressive blogosphere. It’s time to do another post calling it out.

First on the agenda is the issue of President Obama saying that he never campaigned on the public option. This was a false claim, no matter how some want to spin it. It may have just been a “gaffe”, but it is something he needs called on none the less.

A lot of us are rightfully pissed over this comment, but being pissed doesn’t mean we don’t want President Obama removed from office, as some in the progressive blogosphere are claiming. To say that holding President Obama accountable to his promises is somehow calling for his impeachment is highly dishonest, and I am putting that very nicely.

The very fact that I supported President Obama means I will fight to hold him to a higher standard than someone like Bush. I have spent the last 8 years watching George Bush go against every thing conservative, yet conservatives backed him to the end. Once that end came they turned to flat out insulting him. It’s because of that damn Reagan “11th commandment” that goes “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican”. That is a horrible mantle to hold in a democracy. Our country was built upon questioning our leaders and holding them accountable, and I sure as hell don’t want to see my party start following that highly flawed logic. If we do then we are no better than the other side.

Right along party lines as expected, with Jim Bunning not voting. What’s interesting is that since the GOP started praying for Democratic members of the Senate to not show up, a Republican has missed every vote. Irony or sweet revenge?

This ends the 2009 legislative year and now we are on to reconciliation to fix the health care bill. I actually have a little bit of hope of some good coming out of there, given statements some House members are starting to make. This bill is far from perfect, but we now have a real chance to make it better. It’s a much more real chance than the “fix it later” mentality. We won’t get things like a public option out of conference, but if a few things could happen like dropping/greatly reducing the mandate for lower income people, then it’s a bill I could stomach. I’ve said all along that the mandates was the deal breaker for me because of the adverse affect they actually will have on lower income people, namely those who make just enough to not get Medicaid.

I will admit that the bill does a lot to reduce costs for families, but most are focusing on the more median income families. In our uncertain economic times with a very weak job market, forcing people below 175% of the federal poverty level to buy insurance is adding to an already disastrous situation. It also shows the disconnect between Washington and the lower income people. They don’t know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck. They are operating on the assumption that people in this situation don’t get insurance out of greed. For most it is out of a very, very tough decision on what expenses can be cut in order to survive. Health insurance means nothing if you are homeless or can’t afford to eat, and the extra $1,100-$5,000 a year these people will now be forced to pay is going to be felt hard.

To keep it in context, here is the chart from the CBO that many have been using to calculate health care costs under the new legislation:

"We are tired of watching as year after year candidates offer up detailed health care plans with great fanfare and promise only to see them crushed under the weight of Washington politics and drug and insurance lobbying once the campaign is over." Candidate Obama

Here is the video of candidate Obama saying this, with big thanks to Lee Stranahan for finding it

I may have voted for the man and even supported him during the campaign, but his actions throughout this health care debate have been inexcusable and I never pledged undying allegiance to the man. As matter of fact since I did support candidate Obama I have worked harder to hold him to a higher standard than someone people I never did support. To me that is what it means to be a Democrat, a liberal and an American. As I said the other day, some of the Obama supporters out there are starting to remind me of the right wingers who supported Bush at every twist and turn as he broke his campaign promises, only to turn around and blast him the day he left office.