We’re all entitled to our opinions. But can you explain what you mean by wanting to maintain your “free agency” and what it is about the new law that prevents you from maintaining it?

I believe there are still some enormous unknown cost from this bill that not even those who passed it could have ever imagined. I believe the passing of this bill was unconstitutional, just as was the GOP prescription drug program. These bills chip away at our freedoms and erode them to the point where it is practically impossible to get them back. No matter what my situation is, every time we accept federal aid, we almost invariably surrender a degree of freedom or control.

I respect your opinion for accepting this bill as a possible solution to our problematic health care system. As for me, I would have preferred to have maintained my free agency and thus don’t believe the bill will be the answer to the problems we seek.

See #9

McNerney, for one, did read it. The eventual cost of this law doesn’t even come close to the cost of either Medicare or the annual tax subsidy for employer-sponsored coverage. The cost is in roughly the same ballpark as the prescription drug program that was passed by the GOP without even attempting to pay for it. RomneyCare may have some kinks, but only 3% of citizens in MA are now uninsured, compared to 17% nationwide and more than 20% in states like California and Texas. I don’t know your circumstances, but most people who oppose this law (including members of Congress) have not walked in the shoes of people who are at the mercy of the individual health insurance industry. This law is not the approach I would have preferred, and maybe it will get overturned by either the Court or by Congress and a new president in 2013 (ironically, maybe even Romney). But the problems will only get worse.

This bill was passed without Congress even reading it. The health care act will create the largest growth in government in our history. I don’t see how it is sustainable and thus will cripple us, rather than help us. Romney Care in MA is experiencing these problems now. See the following link for more information:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPpe4dALsJ8

“It will kill the free market.” BS. Whether it’s a good bill or not, the health care law is primarily about reforms in the individual insurance market (for people who don’t have the protections and huge tax subsidies of health insurance obtained through employers) and setting up exchanges to facilitate the purchase of PRIVATE insurance. Not sure how that will “kill the free market.” We already “ration” health care and will, of necessity, always ration it through one mechanism or another. When private insurers and Medicare started reducing payments to doctors, the docs were forced to see more patients for shorter appointments, and it took longer to get an appointment. That’s rationing. When insurers refuse to pay for certain claims, that’s rationing. When it takes longer to get an MRI or a hip replacement in Canada, that’s rationing. On the other hand, you get in to see a primary care doc much more quickly in Canada. As for Social Security facing bankruptcy, it can never “go broke” as long there are payroll taxes coming in. When the trust fund IOU’s have been used up by 2035 or so, payroll taxes are projected to cover 75% of scheduled benefits. By current law, if no changes are made, Social Security is required to reduce benefits to match revenues. But the benefits would still be higher than what they are today. That’s not the same as going bankrupt, where the system collapses and wouldn’t be able to pay any benefits. If you want to talk about something going bankrupt, that would be Medicare. If no changes are made, the Part A Hospital Trust fund will be used up in about 12 years, with payroll taxes then being sufficient to cover only 80% of costs. The health care bill actually pushes out that day of reckoning by several years by gradually reducing the inflated subsidies for Medicare Advantage and by reducing payments to hospitals — since hospitals will have fewer uncompensated care patients due to more people being insured. Medicare Part B (doctor fees) and Part D (prescriptions) are paid for mostly out of the general fund rather than by dedicated payroll taxes. That’s a problem that will have to be solved by having people on Medicare pay a significantly bigger share.