How can Hillary possibly be in a position to judge "a low percentage of your income?"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

This ought to play really, really well with people who are struggling to pay their rent, put food on the table, and heat their homes...the ones who have already given up health care because they couldn't afford the three survival items I just mentioned if they didn't.

What the fuck is "low," Hillary?

Clinton health plan may mean tapping pay

By CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 47 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton said Sunday she might be willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance to achieve coverage for all Americans.
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The New York senator has criticized presidential rival Barack Obama for pushing a health plan that would not require universal coverage. Clinton has not always specified the enforcement measures she would embrace, but when pressed during a television interview, she said: "I think there are a number of mechanisms" that are possible, including "going after people's wages, automatic enrollment."

Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it, which puts undue pressure on hospitals and emergency rooms. Under her plan, she said, health care "will be affordable for everyone" because she would limit premium payments "to a low percent of your income."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080203/ap_on_el_pr/campaign_rdp_33

[HughMoran]

1. That's why Congress writes legislation

She can ask, but that don't mean she's gonna get!


Edit - Oooops, typo!

[Mika]

3. Pointing that fact out will get you flamed..

.. as a Hillary shill (today, that is).

[rodeodance]

5. facts don't matter to the blind-faith folks--like the Obamababies.

[ingac70]

2. Some companies are already pulling this shit..

Why shouldn't the candidate supported by big business push it for us all?

[Crazy Dave]

4. People have no concept of what "good money" means

Sure, to some people $60k a year is good money and more than they would need to pay their current bills but in some areas of the country, if you have four kids, medical bills, etc. $60k don't mean shit.

[northzax]

6. wait, so one of the arguements for why

people couldn't afford insurance is medical bills? Doesn't that kind of prove the point?

[Crazy Dave]

15. Don't know what point your trying to make but...

I feel there should be a single payer government health care plan for every American, not a for profit system and not based on a family's income. We take care of an elderly relative yet their social security income counts as our household income. We'd be considered rich by some people.

Saying certain people in certain income groups can afford $1000 plus a month on insurance and prescriptions is an idiotic way to base a health care plan.

[northzax]

18. true, but someone's paying for it

I mean those prescriptions won't be made for free, right? the doctors, nurses, orderlies, receptionists and pharmacists aren't free, right? they have elderly aunts to take care of, too. (btw: you need a better accountant, if you aren't writing off every penny you spend on taking care of Aunt Ethel, especially if her SS is counting against your AGI)

so what if I raise your household taxes by $800/month to pay for it, is that better for you? that's single payer, it's not free, it's paid for by direct taxation.

[sandnsea]

7. The $1,000 Hope College Tax Credit

allowed everybody to pay for their first two years of school!!! :sarcasm:

[polpilot]

8. Hillary's been passionately working on this since 1992...

It's gotta be right...or close.

[MethuenProgressive]

9. "apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it,"

Yeah, lookit how evil she is!
:eyes:

[mrreowwr_kittty]

13. So we'll make those people buy it. All 5 of them.

What about the other 42 million 999 thousand 995?

You may choose to believe that the uninsured are a bunch of deadbeats but I don't.

[Evergreen Emerald]

10. CHANGE Remember? That word you all shout?

CHANGE. Healthcare change requires an overhaul of the system.

Do you think it is going to be free? Do you think there will be some medicare type deductions?

Obama said the same thing about his mandates.

No wonder our country is in such trouble.

[backwoodsbob]

12. so once this is enacted and every company drops their insurance

then what?What does it cost then?

I'm for universal insurance...anyone with a brain is...but simplistic mandates isnt going to get us there.

[northzax]

20. you mean when employers no longer offer subsidized insurance?

odds are, in a competitive labor market, when we have one, your pay will increase once they are no longer paying BlueCross a cut.

[northzax]

11. easily, axtually

seems like there is this form you submit to the government that tells your income, adjusted for various factors. There are also cola tables for regions. Boom, you look yourself up on a table and if your cola adjusted AGI is x, you pay y yp to the market level. And then, you can of course, write x off tor income tax.

The problem with an optout system is that it doesn't cover emergencies. Say I opt out (I am 33, healthy, no major risk factors except marginal high blood pressure) well, I am not getting my blood pressure pills anymore, which raises my eventual cost when I have a stroke or heart attack, even if I sign up in 5 years, still outwardly healthy. (so the obama penalty would not apply) that's the long term. Now the short term: what if, walking home from work tomorrow, I get stabbed, or hit by a hit and run driver? I now require emergency treatment that I will never be able to pay back, who eats that cost, or should I just be denied treatment entirely?

[suston96]

14. Where did she use the word "garnisheed"?

And how can you say such a dumb thing as people "struggling....." when she explicitly states in your quote that this refers to people who can afford healthcare but refuse to cover themselves?

[cooolandrew]

16. When wages for some people are so low to begin with this just won't work...

..Obama's optional plan is far more reasonable if the plan works and is affordable Americans will sign up

[MediaBabe]

17. Oh yeah, Obama's fines and school exclusion is the way to go

Obama stated that he would require parents to provide their children with health insurance and leave it to schools to enforce it the way they do with inoculations.

“I would sign them up in school in the same way they would get inoculated. I would fine parents if form some reason they refused. I am happy to be very clear on how we would enforce the mandate,” Obama said. http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/11/28/485042.aspx

Another unfunded federal mandate.

What this means is that schools will have to have personnel go through school records and keep track of the children's health coverage. Then what? My district excludes children from school who do not have inoculations. Another district excludes children and then takes parents to court under truancy laws. This is how Obama is proposing to deal with the health insurance issue.

[NashVegas]

19. Most People Already Have Their Pay Tapped Into for Employer-Sponsored Health Insurance

My employer pays 1/2 my monthly fee, I pay the other and it comes straight out of my check.

Clinton said such measures would apply only to workers who can afford health coverage but refuse to buy it.