"One trillion dollars over ten years"

[PSPS]

That's what I hear the corporate media saying over and over again as the reason we can never have decent health care. Apparently we "can't afford it."

But that's "only" $100 billion per year. That's paltry compared to the ten trillion obama has shoveled to his bankster cronies. Plus we squander more than that on our continued illegal occupation of Iraq. Plus people spend far more than that on their private insurance premiums every year, much of which only goes to fund CEO extravagant lifestyles and pay the salaries of people whose job description is to weasel out of paying claims and otherwise deny coverage.

I guess big pharma and the rest of the criminal cabal is getting what they pay for with all the advertising they buy on corporate media (including NPR.)

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. It's an arbitrary round number...

...which has no independent significance.

It's a magic number. It's like the stimulus bill, which President Collins and President Nelson decreed could not, would not, must not exceed $800 billion.

[Turbineguy]

2. Repubs seem to think

if they don't have to pay, there is no cost. Health stocks went up yesterday. Why? This Obama plan is a moneymaker.

[NorthCarolina]

3. Does anyone have a link detailing the costs associated with H.R. 676? nt

[slipslidingaway]

6. No recent estimates have been done, some are pushing Congress

to do so.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5875929&mesg_id=5875929

"...What we really need is a complete, honest, side-side comparison of all proposals, including single payer.

That comparison must NOT bee limited to just the costs to the Federal government, but also the total costs (e.g., currently about 2.5 trillion and 17% of GNP) as well as the costs to State government, employers, and individuals and household of different income levels...

Now that the various plans are getting more specific, the CBO and/or GAO and/or OMB could do such an analyses:

"There must be a complete, honest, side-by-side comparison of all proposals, including HR-676, by the Congressional Budget Office.

The side-by-side comparison should include projected costs to state governments, employers and to households of different income levels. For 2010 and beyond."



Email from health justice...

"On Monday, Rep. Rangel, chair of Ways & Means, will meet with single payer advocates in New York. Send a fax to Rangel asking him to hold hearings on HR 676 and send it to CBO for scoring. Click here to give him plenty of faxes before Monday."

[RandomThoughts]

4. I keep hearing how banks are paying back the Tarp

the Tarp was 700 Billion, so that means that money could pay for 7 years of full coverage, and considering it will have deductibles and cost on the program, by the end of that 7 years, the program would be up and running without cost.

but of coarse when the media says they are paying back tarp, they don't mention how much is not payed back, billions to AIG, billions to overseas interests, billions to Asian tourist in Italy.

It is not about 'afford', it is about power and who wants to claim they control the country.

And I keep having a thought on bias media, it has been in my head for awhile now, I keep thinking that if they only allow one opinion, or a controlled message about topics, then one day they will be in front of a judge, and only one opinion will be allowed to be given about them. Don't know why I keep thinking that.

[msongs]

5. iraq war cost estimate so far = $1 trillion. money for nothing nt

[sinkingfeeling]

7. And we spent approximately $one trillion a year on the military and have spent that much in

6 years of occupying Iraq.

[rurallib]

8. Easily less than the premiums not paid to insurance companies

If we pay out that kind of money, I'd rather it not go to some insurance company that is not trying to screw me over.

[Bill McBlueState]

9. $333.33 per American per year

For my family of three, our contribution would then be $1000/yr. Our current health insurance premium is $1700/yr, so this looks to be a bargain.

[kentuck]

10. Cut the Defense budget and the Bush tax cuts.

Voila! There's is the money for health-care coverage.

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. +1

:thumbsup:

[Javaman]

12. Imagine what we would have had instead of a war that is going to cost us

in the are of $4 trillion dollars. I weep. I weep. I weep.