Obama Proposes $634 Billion Fund For Health Care

This is just damn scary!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/25/AR2009022502587_pf.html

President Obama is proposing to begin a vast expansion of the U.S. health-care system by creating a $634 billion reserve fund over the next decade, launching an overhaul that most experts project will ultimately cost at least $1 trillion.

Since all we're doing now is printing more money, why not.

Embedded in the budget figures are key policy changes that the administration argues would improve the quality of care and bring much-needed efficiency to a health system that costs $2.3 trillion a year.

Efficiency? Medical care is not an efficient process, especially for the elderly.

The proposal, which administration officials characterize as a "shared-responsibility issue," would reduce the value of tax deductions for families earning more than $250,000 by about 20 percent, according to administration documents.

They want you to think that this is a tax on the rich. That threshold isn't very high. Remember, it says FAMILIES! A guy working a decent regular job, with some overtime and maybe a part-time job, whose wife is a nurse, trying to pay a morgage and pay off two cars, hoping to save money to put their children through college, can end up exceeding that.

"This is the first step towards getting health-care reform done this year," White House domestic policy adviser Melody C. Barnes told allies in one call. "We can't underestimate the importance of rallying around this budget. It serves as a footprint for something bigger."

Of course another crisis. We need to push this through this year, before anyone figures out what we're really doing. They're even being honest, this will end up growing bigger than you can ever imagine!

We know that this is not enough to achieve our overall goal of getting health care for every American, but it is a significant down payment," Neera Tanden, a top Obama health adviser, said during a conference call.

Again honesty. What are down payments usually? 5%, maybe 10% of the total cost?

For example, experts have identified hospital readmissions -- especially for elderly patients -- as a sign of poor care and unnecessary expense. About 18 percent of Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of an original visit. The new approach would establish flat fees for the first hospitalization and 30 days of follow-up, sometimes done by separate facilities. Hospitals or clinics with high readmission rates could be paid less.

So what will that do for hospitals that specialize in, let's say, cardiac care? Multiple Sclerosis? Burn care? Any of the diseases
of the elderly? Many illnesses are not once and done things, chronic diseases, by definition are long drawn-out affairs with repeated hospitalisations.

Health-care costs are "one of the major reasons why small businesses close their doors and corporations ship jobs overseas," Obama said in a speech to Congress on Tuesday night.

"This is a cost that now causes a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. By the end of the year, it could cause 1.5 million Americans to lose their homes," he said. ". . . Given these facts, we can no longer afford to put health-care reform on hold."

Show me the study or report that says states this!
Not the number of bankruptcies, but that they are because of health care costs?