Re: Health Insurance

Karen –

Don't confuse the McCain True Believers with reality. They're counting on faith-based health care policy.
And faith-based foreign policy.
And faith-based tax policy.
And… well, you get the idea.

Whatever did happen to that Romney? You know, the one who was an effective non-partisan governor and got lots of good things accomplished?

Oh right, he tried to make it through the Republican primary.

KT -- Good story. a interesting footnote. I recently worked for a health insurer in MA (Can't use the whole word). The costs are higher than imagined, because more people than estimated were uninsured.
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You can't market to young people the way you do to young/middle aged families.
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People used to going to the emergency room for regular care also need to unlearn that behavior and choose a primary care physician. Steep learning curve.
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The Connector and state programs charge monthly premiums to low income people, rather than allowing them to pay on a weekly or biweekly basis. Folks who live paycheck to paycheck have trouble putting aside money for a health insurance premium, because there is no payroll deduction by their employers.
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Lots of barriers, and challenges, but nothing insurmountable. you have file a special 1099 form at income tax time to demonstrate you have health insurance.

It's a royal pain in the posterior, KT. under my old name i kept be moved to "m" land.

Interesting, isn't it, how Kennedy - the politician most vilified by Republicans as a radical leftist - will work with anybody in any way if it advances the underlying cause (Romney here with health care, Bush with education, etc.). More radicals, please.

Karen –
I completely agree. It may not be long before commenters do a collective Swampland cover version of I Shot the (High) Sheriffs. White tux & top hat optional.

OK, that was a joke. A joke.

@FlownOver:
You left out faith-based science.

Great link, Karen, thanks.
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"It's funny how data opens up new insight."
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Sigh. In a perfect world, where the GOP was sane, someone with Romney's business and government background would push for a return to reality for that party.
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Instead, as khakipants points out, he tried to be "Mr. Crazy Social Conservative" for the primaries, and convinced nobody but gullible donors and the National Review. A Mitt Romney, plus integrity, would be a great thing for the GOP and the country.

KT,
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Great post. I wonder if anybody is going to call Mitt Romney a socialist. Ill not hold my breath

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You know what? We could actually get everybody insured!"

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The Romney plan of forcing everyone to buy insurance has big, glaring faults, one of which is funding...turns out that the state and federal governments subsidize the cost of the plan and that benefits and prices are negotiated with the insurers...and that premiums vary depending on who is being insured.
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As it is now, if you are young and healthy, what you are forced to pay is not that expensive. Elderly or have pre-existing conditions? Then you are looking at higher rates.
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Note: I'd provide links, but those cause the comments to get caught in the moderation filter, as do names of some states and fruits.

Finally, change we can believe in from some one in our media. Just curious why this comes now?:
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It is as outrageous now as it's been throughout the Bush years. It is a contemptible tactic that takes from the voters a very precious right, the right to know for whom we are voting and for what they stand.
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It must be noted that we media share a lot of the blame. We were pathetically pliant, willing to be timid so as not to offend the White House and be denied the crumbs of access that were granted to those of us who didn't make waves. When are we going to learn?
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How about now? The next time a candidate tries to obscure something important, we must raise such a disorderly ruckus that the political manipulators back down. If the campaign people don't like it, too damned bad.
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We are not here to suck up to those in power. We're reminded again that when we do, there are always many in power who are sleazy enough to do whatever it takes to keep their power., even as they secretly and deviously pursue disastrous policies.
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It's another form of suppression. Just a little less heavy-handed than the kind we find in obvious dictatorships. Because it's not as blatant it's more insidious. Whether it's armed forced or the outright lying we've gotten here, they both steal freedom from all of us.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-franken/hiding-the-embarrassment_b_103904.html

So each Swampland blogger gets to moderate his or her own threads? Makes sense, although I have to say I assumed that it was the job of a sole nameless High Sheriff to moderate the lot.
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It won't affect KT, who's just surrounded by love and adulation from the great unwashed anyway, but it would definitely take some of the spice out of the more inane threads by the lesser bloggers.
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The thicks plotten.
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I'm reminded of the bulworth rap these days....

"C'mon, say that dirty word! Socialism"

Or, to paraphrase a timeless interweb banner ad,

"Socialism? In my Romney? Its more likely than you think."

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KT: This is totally annoying.
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Not to mention that it really isn't your job.
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I'm sure that there is some journalism student that would jump at the chance of interning at Time, even if it was only to parse the arse from 'Marsechusettes'.

KT--
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Didn't expect that to be part of the 21st century job description, I imagine. This is an obvious problem with too heavy a moderatobot. Comments that need to be booted are rare.
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I've always believed that what would happen under a McCain style plan is insurance companies would offer high deductible plans that would cost no more than the credit. Young people who otherwise wouldn't sign up, would do so, and this would be a moneymaker for the insurance companies. This is the most positive argument for his scheme. These people don't get annual checkups, don't get flu shots, don't take mediciation, so it is no hardship to pay for that kind of thing out of pocket.
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But there will be more employees with employers who stop offering the benefit than there will be new signups among people who don't really need health care coverage except in catastrophic circumstances.
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The principles of what works is clear. Universal coverage. Minimize administrative costs. Create incentives for health care providers to encourage lifestyle changes. And, as Obama said in his interview with JK, stop subsidizing unhealthy diets. How we get there, over the interests of the health insurance industry, big pharma (who are perfectly happy with lots of people with chronic health problems brought on by unhealthy lifestyles) and agribusiness is the problem.

Please let my comment go.

If McCain had picked Romney, I think we would have a very different horserace today. That is if McCain had been willing to let Romney speak out and make sense instead of insisting on his own incoherence.
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Too bad this interesting info about the MA experience has been kept out of the wider discussion as opposed to the importance of OMG Obama's a Socialist.
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KT, wonder if you spelled out Andy's state in the comments if you would get kicked into moderation. I decided not to use a**ume above just in case.

My post 16, which is in limbo, noted that this wasn't really in KT's job description when she signed up.

Way down Moses. Let my comment go.

Messing with WordPress. John McCain is a great man. It's possible, people. Work for it!

I'm busting my comment out of this joint.

g_c,

I don't think any of this can be accomplished at the state level. Romney's attempt seems to have been sincere in the state that the sheriffs won't allow us to speak the name of (take THAT Uncle Barney), but it still has to exist in an environment of profitmaking insurance companies who make more money by providing less coverage.