There will always be HMO's that, by law, must accept all applicants during “open enrollment” periods, but whose pricing may be unaffordable. Health insurance premiums will not be subsidized until 2014 and under the Senate plan, these subsidies won't kick in until the family has spent somewhere between 4% and 10% of its income on medical insurance. For a family of 4 with an income of $80.000, the subsidy doesn't even begin until $8,000 has been spent. That's a LOT of money the family will have to come up with first before the government offers any help.

Also, some 14 Million children without health coverage currently are eligible for SCHIP or Medicaid, but their parents haven't applied.

'12 is three years off, and by then hussein's policies will have taken their natural effect. See jimmy carter.

I'm not an advocate of a sort but can see through the right wing propoganda — simply saying, the article is a bunch of garbage without a single tread of substance. — And I didn't even bother to read because that is how much confidence I have in FPM's job.

Why don't you give me your SS# or tax i.d # so that I can report you to the IRS along with the rest of the Republican criminals you hang out with?

Also, your fine will equall the administrative cost of dealing with you along with your share of the cost for us to maintain such a plan.

Who do you suppose pays for that nice Honda motorcycle that cops rides on when he pulls you over for not paying attention while listening to fat Limbaugh?

O that is right— any sort of govt. is a violation of the constitution.

Our health system isn't perfect, but it is certainly not the nightmare that is planned for us. Read the following article by John Whitehead and the medical treatment Congress receives.

Why Your Representatives Should Make You Mad as Hell
John W. Whitehead
10/29/2009

Imagine a world exempt from parking tickets, where gym membership is free and health care is second-to-none. In order to receive these benefits, you also only have to work two, maybe three days a week—a time period during which you will be shuttled around in a nice car. The other days of the week you can spend at home with your family. Luckily, every weekend is a long weekend and you won’t have to be back at work until Tuesday evening.

This job description might seem too good to be true, but for our so-called “representatives” in Congress who enjoy incredible job perks ranging from free meals to membership in swank health clubs, all at taxpayer expense, it seems that there is such a thing as a free lunch—literally and figuratively!

Congressional salaries are certainly generous enough, with members of Congress receiving $174,000 a year on average, and people in leadership positions making more. However, for many Congressmen who belong to the so-called “Millionaire’s Club,” this is negligible in comparison to their net worth. (Senator John Kerry (D-MA), who heads up the club, has a net worth of $167.8 million, while Senator Herb Kohl (D-WI), at the lower end of the spectrum, boasts a net worth of $5.6 million dollars.)

Incredibly, American taxpayers are underwriting lavish perks for these very same millionaires, as well as their congressional cohorts. The perks being enjoyed by those in Congress have provided comic relief for many a talk-show host, but contrast these perks with the plight of the average taxpayer struggling just to make ends meet, and you’ll find this is no laughing matter.

For example, while veterans were being forced to suffer poor service and deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital, politicians were being whisked up to Ward 72 at the very same hospital via a “golden elevator,” where they can enjoy medical treatment surrounded by chandeliers, fine china and original artwork. Should members of Congress or their staff not be able to make the trip to Ward 72, a private, on-call doctor is also on hand at the Capitol. Furthermore, while 47 million Americans struggle without any kind of health insurance, those in Congress receive superb, discounted health coverage which cannot be denied them because of their age or a preexisting condition.

On top of their six-figure salaries and the millions in taxpayer dollars spent to maintain offices in their home state and in the nation’s capital, Congress also enjoys other benefits such as free life insurance, a generous retirement plan for life, 32 fully reimbursed road trips home a year, and travel to foreign lands. Then there are the “extras,” including discounts in Capitol Hill tax-free shops and restaurants, free reserved parking at Washington National Airport, use of the House gym or Senate baths for $100 a year, free fresh-cut flowers from the Botanic Gardens, and free assistance in the preparation of income taxes.

Unfortunately, there’s more. While more than 15 million Americans are currently out of work and the rest of the nation is laboring longer hours for less pay, Congress enjoys a three-day, Tuesday-to-Thursday work week. Believe it or not, since returning to session, the only time the House of Representatives has actually voted on a Friday was when they approved a 5.8 percent increase in their own budget.

Then there’s the way Congress manages the nation’s checkbook, running up deficits and spending outlandish sums of money on pork barrel projects. If you or I were to manage our finances this way, we’d quickly find ourselves out on the streets.

As for abuses of office, they run the gamut from neglecting their constituencies to engaging in self-serving practices, including the misuse of eminent domain, earmarking hundreds of millions of dollars in federal contracting in return for personal gain and campaign contributions, having inappropriate ties to lobbyist groups and incorrectly or incompletely disclosing financial information.

Pork barrel spending, hastily passed legislation, partisan bickering, a skewed work ethic, graft and moral turpitude have all contributed to the public’s increasing dissatisfaction with congressional leadership. Thus, it is little wonder that a recent CNN poll shows Congress with a 29 percent approval rating. You’d be hard-pressed to find employees with such dismal performance evaluations getting a pay raise of any kind. Conveniently, Congress doesn’t have to worry about that since they voted in 1989 to give themselves an automatic raise every year.

Congress should be America’s representative body, yet too many of its members bear little resemblance to those they have been elected to represent. Many of our politicians live like kings. Chauffeured around in limousines, flying in private jets and eating gourmet meals, all paid for by the American taxpayer, they are far removed from those they represent. Such a luxurious lifestyle makes it difficult to identify with the “little guy”—the roofers, plumbers and blue-collar workers who live from paycheck to paycheck and keep the country running with their hard-earned dollars and the sweat of their brows.

Does this make you mad as hell? It should. There is no reason why the American people should be taking this kind of abuse from people who supposedly are representing them.

The average American understandably feels helpless and disconnected, yet whose fault is it really? As the old maxim goes, people get the government they deserve. For too long, Americans have failed to hold their elected representatives accountable. Thus, the onus is on us, “we the people.”

Let this be the starting point for you to turn the television sets off and do something about these problems. Whether or not you agree with their politics, the Tea Party Protesters have set a good example for what needs to be done. Get involved. Get organized. Find out who your representatives are. Contact their offices. Review their records. Keep track of what they’re doing and how they’re voting. Make your voices heard to the representatives who are doing a poor job of representing you, and if they don’t listen, take action and remove them from office.
http://www.rutherford.org/articles_db/commentar…

There is one thing that is a little different. It may not be much consolation, if we suffer under this thing, but this was strictly a partisan effort. That is just a fact. Now, in the past, at least some Rethuglicans would get in on the act as well, so we had bipartisan civil rights violators. The “current” crop of Democrats own this one if it passes. When it goes south, and it already has started to do so, they will try to deflect the blame, but they will own the damage done. They will own it in fee simple

The American people have, for a long time, forfeited their right to a government which has powers limited by the constitution. This is not surprising. After years and years of the government exercising powers it does not have, we now have the “mother” of all civil rights violations.

So get use to the fact that the average citizen will probably have affordable medical now.

As soon as it becomes law, children with pre-existing conditions can not be refused insurance.

So start working on some other crap till the presidential election starts picking up some steam

It is time we do something in this country to stop this nonsense.

Maybe we should give up our legal status and become an illegal?

Concerned American