Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Massive Tax That Is The Health Care Bill - The President And Democratic Congressional Leaders Are Caught In A 2,500 Page Health Care Lie

The new health care bill is a mandated tax. The United States federal government is now the enforcement authority for mandated for-profit private corporations. The argument used in court that the government has broad taxing authorities is indeed accurate. But then our leaders lied to us to push through a wealth-shifting mandated tax that does little to deal with the fundamental problems in our health care system. We are lining the pockets of for-profit corporations whether we wish to or not. Is that democracy? A tax which has the effect of making people rich? The last instance of this dynamic I can think of happened when the United States was a colony of the king.

I have no problem paying a tax to a nonprofit or even government-directed health care system such as Medicare. So then why didn't we get a 20 page bill outlining the options for Americans to opt-in to Medicare and what the costs would be instead of a 2,500 massive string of bureaucracy? Most Americans polled want this bill to be revised rather than repealed. That is because most Americans are still in the dark about what's in this bill. That is by no means a coincidence. There would need to be a lot of revision given the enormity of this bill. It would be easier to repeal this bill and add a twenty page bill offering an opt-in for Medicare at cost. Actually there are better solutions but at least this would offer affordable health care to those who don't have it. We don't need a 2,500 page bill to accomplish this.

Why should I have to pay a 38% increase in my health insurance so some corrupt executive at a for-profit insurance company can line his pockets with my money then attempt to deny my claims with a legion of attorneys? Because that is what just happened to me. And rates are likely going even higher this fall as provisions for this health care bill kick in. For-profit health insurers make their profits and massive compensation packages by denying claims, rigging the system and perpetuating the misery of innocent people. Our health care system was not always for-profit. We can thank the Republicans for that. Why does it remain for-profit? Obviously because our corporate masters wish it to be this way.

From the article:

While Congress was working on the health care legislation, Mr. Obama refused to accept the argument that a mandate to buy insurance, enforced by financial penalties, was equivalent to a tax.

“For us to say that you’ve got to take a responsibility to get health insurance is absolutely not a tax increase,” the president said last September, in a spirited exchange with George Stephanopoulos on the ABC News program “This Week.”

When Mr. Stephanopoulos said the penalty appeared to fit the dictionary definition of a tax, Mr. Obama replied, “I absolutely reject that notion.”

The law describes the levy on the uninsured as a “penalty” rather than a tax. The Justice Department brushes aside the distinction, saying “the statutory label” does not matter.

Now that the White House is using this defense in court, our President might want to come before the American people and admit his health care bill is a massive tax on society. Including on those who can ill-afford one at this time. And that he was either misinformed or outright lied to the American people to manipulate this bill's passage. It has to be one or the other. Given he is a constitutional scholar, I would suppose he knew what he was doing. And if he is comfortable with it being a tax, telling us that he has no problem taxing the tens of millions of Americans on food stamps so that the private for-profit insurance industry can line its pockets with our money.

I guess the President has been receiving advice from Bill Clinton. Most specifically, "It depends upon what the meaning of the word 'is' is.". In other words, how to parse words so that he isn't caught in a lie.

"History has tried hard to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians. Now, to go and stick one at the very head of the government couldn't be wise."
-- Mark Twain
posted by TimingLogic at 2:50 PM