"Hatch was one of a handful of Republicans involved in negotiations with Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) before dropping out two weeks ago.....
"The Democrats want a public option and they're going to have a public option in the final bill," Hatch said in reference to a proposal to create a broad government-run insurance program. He predicted that even if Baucus manages to pass a healthcare reform package with a membership-run co-op insurance plan instead of a government-run program, he would lose out to liberals in negotiations between the Senate and House.
"He'll be crushed in the middle," Hatch said of prospective Senate-House negotiations, adding that Democrats are intent on creating a system of "socialized medicine" in the United States.
Hatch pointed to what he considered major problems with Democratic healthcare reform proposals:
· They make no effort to curtail medical malpractice lawsuits, which Republicans claim cost $ 100 billion a year.
· Pending legislation could result in drastic cuts in Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals. Hatch said that doctors could see their reimbursements go down 25 percent and hospitals could see a 35 percent drop.
"The real problem is their ideas are out of this world," he said of the Democrats' healthcare proposals. "They're saying they're going to get $ 400-plus billion out of Medicare and Medicare is in debt right now.
"They're going to pay doctors 25 percent less and going to pay hospitals 35 percent less and they think that system is going to work."
A reform plan put together by House Democrats calls for $ 500 billion in Medicare cuts over the next decade to help pay for the cost of covering about 45 million Americans currently without healthcare insurance.
But this does not sit well with Republicans and conservative Democrats given Medicare's projected insolvency within the next decade.
In May the Obama administration announced that Medicare is running out of funding faster than projected. Obama administration officials predict that Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will become exhausted by 2017.
Defenders of the House healthcare bill say the legislation would reinvest nearly $ 300 billion back into Medicare to increase payments to doctors. But that would still result in a net reduction of about $ 200 billion, which would be used to pay for expanded insurance coverage.
Hatch's strong opposition is a troubling sign for Democrats because he has been party to some of the biggest healthcare bills to pass Congress in recent year.
He joined with Sen. Edward Kennedy in 1997 to create the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover the kids of working-class parents who did not qualify for Medicaid.
Hatch also teamed up with Democrats to pass legislation expanding stem cell research in 2007, one of the first priorities of Democrats after they regained control of Congress.
Before the Democratic take-over, Hatch sided with Democrats in pressing former President George W. Bush to accept legislation that would have expanded SCHIP by $ 35 million over five years. Bush vetoed the legislation.
Hatch voted against an expansion of SCHIP when it came up for another vote earlier this year because Democrats rewrote the bill and excluded him from having input. Hatch said the version that passed in January made "a mockery of the original intent by expanding CHIP to cover people for whom the program was never intended." The bill expanded health coverage in some parts of the country to the children of families earning up to $ 88,000.
What do you think?
Stonecold, the problem with the insurance industry is that the govt gave them preferences creating monopolies. I agree we need reform and I will look at that one. I like Ron Paul's too. I just can't stand what the Dems are pushing.
But I don't think the govt has the right to mess with ins for those of us who don't want their plan, now or after we lose our current plans Why don't they just address preexisting conditions?
StoneCold
Well I don't like what most of the democrats are doing anyway. But I do approve of the H.R. 1583 bill that was introduced by Oregons Congressman Peter Defazio. It's the Insurance Industry Competition Act, which will repeal the anti-trust exemption, and stop anti-competitive behavior by insurance companies.
I am also reading from his report, that the reason they want a public insurance option, is because of the many insurance comapnies that hold virtual monopolies in thousands of communities across the country. They say that adding the plan would increase competition, resulting in better health care at an affordable price.
Congress also wants to make sure the priority for the health care system is patients, and not shareholders. In the past decade, the profits of the health care industry has risen over 400%, while the average consumer's premium has doubled, and their health care benefits have diminished.
In 2004, the Republican-led Congress and the Bush administration passed the Medicare Part D perscription drug plan, which Defazio voted against. That trillion dollar giveaway was designed to subsidize private insurance, and left seniors with the dreaded "donut hole." (The first $ 2,000 of prescriptions are covered, but the next $ 2,800 is not) The House health care reform is suppose to eliminate the donut hole, making prescriptions drugs more affordable.
The U.S. Senate has proposed taxing employer health benefits to pay for health reform. Defazio disagrees with that proposal. He believes that they should not tax people with health care to provide health care to those who do not have coverage.
The public option is to compete with private insurers, eliminates the donut hole, stops insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and guarantees access to quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
His House Bill is a critical reform that would force insurance companies to play by the same rules as every other industry in this country. As it is, the insurance industry are currently exempt from federal anti-trust laws. That exemption allows companies to collude, fix prices, and exclude people considered high-risk or who have pre-existing conditions.
R J
Go Utah! If he said they are "crazy" you know they are. It is interesting why Barney franks would come out and say that they were going to have a government takeover and he didn't seem excited about it. I saw Demitt and Rangal on Fox today and Demitt asked if they would give em time enough to go over the thing. Charley seemed distraught and asked him if he would even give the bill a chance. Feel the investigations going on are a big distraction as Rangel seemed in another world. that could have been because of the Gates/crowley thing, but he doesn't play that game, so must be n the investigation.
It is also really out of character for Hatch to pull away from anything unless it is real bad. Although they could be treating bad and thinking they have itinthe bag. i have not checked the committee yet but will now.
I would say we need something and yo know there are two insurance companies on the tube that have rates as low as $ 160 a person and $ 300 for a family, will check and see what the catch is.
by the way glad to see they will be including those Poor families making $ 80,000.
serenely, soMEone
He's spot on.
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By the way, I've not been negligent lately. Y!A has chosen not to alert me when you and my other contacts ask questions. It's like I'm living in the no-zone lair.
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Orignal From: Hatch usually works with Dems on health care, did you see why he pulled out of negotiations?
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