Can someone who knows explain how health care reform will help the economy?

[Maraya1969]

In the simplest way that they can so we can all explain it to the ones who use the economy as a defense against health care reform.

[conscious evolution]

1. It won't

not in the short term,anyway.
What it is about is to serve as a distraction from the imploding economy.

[sandnsea]

2. Cheaper Health Care Premiums For Employers

Means they can be more competitive with overseas labor costs.

[AllentownJake]

4. What in this bill does that?

Honest question.

[Dreamer Tatum]

8. It takes the de facto conduit of health care provision from the employer to the government

Which might well have positive implications for cash flows, income statements, and, later, balance sheets.

Which could equate to more hiring.

[Oregone]

9. How?

In what section is that stated? Are you sure you are reading the same bill?

[AllentownJake]

11. I've heard a lot about this bill

and I'm an accountant and that is the first I've heard that.

[AllentownJake]

3. I don't think this bill will

However Single Payer would take the expense off of business and would result in lowered costs of American goods.

A real public option would allow for a compeititon where administrative costs would probably be lower.

This bill will do little to nothing about the cost of Health Care.

[mdmc]

22. The OP should read "meaningful health care reform"

The current bill is shit.. single payer would improve the economy in the short and long term..

Good catch Jake..

[berni_mccoy]

5. The premium caps in HR 3629 of 10k / family will save me about 10k / year.

Yes, I pay nearly 20k in insurance to cover my family.

I'm a small business owner and pay the premiums for my group insurance policies.

It's freakin expensive, especially for us since we have two children with type-1 and we max out our cost-sharing portion.

[Maraya1969]

6. Wow that is a great example. A lot of small business will gain because

there costs will go down. Also personal insurance costs will go down.

All this means there will be more money to pump into the economy.

[mullard12ax7]

17. It's HR 3962, not HR 3629 the Healthy Borderlands Act, BTW...

The only bill that would help me and millions of other Americans is HR 676 which, would save you $10,000 a year as well.

[berni_mccoy]

20. sorry, I keep mistyping that today.

And you are wrong. HR 676 isn't the only bill that will help us.

[dflprincess]

26. Premiums are capped at 11% of income

out of pocket expenses (which does not include premiums or items not covered by medical or dental) are capped at $10,000 per family; $5,000 per single.

Both the premium and out of pocket caps may be raised annually depeding on inflation whether your income goes up or not.

[Oregone]

7. If mandated participation in the insurance market place cause premiums to rise, as it may have in......

Massachusetts (most expensive state for insurance--12% higher than national average @ $13.7 K a year for a family)...

And if America continues to condone 1 out of every 3 dollars in health care getting burned on middle men...

This will solve nothing, but rather, change the problem. Rather than uninsured being the issue, the problem will morph its focus on the competitiveness of American industry, who will not be able to bear the costs and remain competitive. Costs will also saddle the individuals in the middle class as well, who find the unsubsidized portion of their health care costs beyond their comfortable reach. Yes, coverage may increase, but intergenerational mobility may in fact suffer.

Who knows. All guesses and conjecture. I don't think it is likely this reform will have a positive economical impact. It wasn't designed to help businesses compete or lower costs. It was designed to extend coverage.

[timeforpeace]

10. Be honest and tell them it won't help the economy.

[ipaint]

12. Wall street investors can't wait.

One more industry feeding off the dwindling wealth of taxpayers is great for stock prices. Throw in very meager price controls and it's party time.

The alternative, losing 80 million baby boomers, paying customers, in the next 15 years to medicare would have been disastrous. But in our generosity we took care of their problem by making up the difference ourselves.

We are all in this together, right.

[happy2bhere]

13. insurance costs will drop drastically

The reason insurance is so high is because hospital costs are so high. The absolutely ridiculous health care/hospital costs are caused by all of the freeloaders. Mandatory insurance will cause hospital costs to drop, insurance costs will naturally be lowered and the savings will be passed on to all Americans.

Car insurance will drop to almost nothing because now that everyone has health insurance, car insurance will only need to cover the cost of the car itself.

/:sarcasm:

well, that is what SHOULD happen right?

[Gman2]

14. It will make small business able to better compete with the big boys.

[AllentownJake]

15. How?

[Gman2]

18. As it is, the bene package is always better at the big boys..

With HCR, it will be easier to be a small business, and provide coverage, that will allow them to seem more legitimate. Leading to hiring and retaining better talent.

[librechik]

16. If it were Single Payer it would be easy to explain

all the small businesses would no longer have to pay to insure their workers (except a small tax increase perhaps) so that money could be used to hire more or plowed back into biz improvements, same with bigger biz, workers who have to pay cash and are losing their homes would be able to save them, lots of hospitals will need to hire workers for the new patients, workers for the products they will need etc. and the ripples would spread out from there.

Sadly, don't have a clue how this bill will help anyone except the very very poor and the very very rich insurance companies.

[mdmc]

23. yesyesyes

[Cleita]

19. Not tying it to employers would be a big boost for our economy.

Just a little hike in p/r tax to cover it will spread the liability out make it fairer for both Wall Street and Main Street. One of the reasons we have lost a lot of jobs in the movie and car industries to Canada is that they don't have to worry about health care coverage and worker's comp is only needed to cover lost wages. Also, doctors have less malpractice claims because it's them calling the shots for treatment, not the claims adjusters. It's only the big time gamblers on Wall Street who object to it because one of their cash cows would be killed. I say good riddance to them.

[mdmc]

24. yesyesyes

[mdmc]

21. I think I can

I have rheumatoid Arthritis.
I am currently in debt due to medical costs.
I could have gone on disability and gotten medicaid.
If I could have received preventive care early on I would not have terrible symptoms. I did get treatment, but it was delayed. Now I have some symptoms, but I am able to work.

Entrepreneurs take risks for economic gain. The greatest barrier to new business ventures seems to be health related risks. People are able to accept a certain level of risk when investing, but few are willing to risk the health of their family or themselves.

So a guy ( perhaps a guy with Rheumatoid arthritis, like myself) works for some corporation, and has an idea to start his own business. He decides not to open his own business because while he can manage the financial risk, there is no way to manage the health risk (the risk of losing employer paid health insurance).

Also, I would love to secure a higher paying job. But if I leave my agency, I would need to wait perhaps 90 days for my health insurance at my new job to kick in. I could never afford COBRA.

Also, our taxes pay for ER services for those in need. Single payer would reduce the need for ER services, and therefore reduce taxes.

Also - the rest of the industrial world subsidizes their private sectors by providing health coverage. Foreign car manufacturers have an unfair advantage over Detroit because America's corporations need to pay for employee health insurance and retiree benefits. An American Universal Health System would help us to compete on the global level.

[mdmc]

25. --

[dflprincess]

27. As long as employers are the main source of providing health insurance, it won't help the economy

The cost of health insurance will still be passed on in the price of the goods and services employers provide. They will continue to have an overhead expense that employers outside the U.S. do not have.

The only are of the economy that benefits from this are the insurance companies and maybe the credit card companies as people will still find themselves covering their out of pocket medical expenses with credit.