Ron Paul Introduces Healthcare Reform

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Introducing Ron Paul's "Private Option"

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[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

    Statement of Congressman Ron Paul

    United States House of Representatives

    Statement Introducing the Private Option Health Care Act

    May 27, 2010

    Madam Speaker, I rise to introduce the Private Option Health Care Act. This bill places individuals back in control of health care by replacing the recently passed tax-spend-and-regulate health care law with reforms designed to restore a free market health care system.

    The major problems with American health care are rooted in government policies that encourage excessive reliance on third-party payers. The excessive reliance on third-party payers removes incentives for individual patients to concern themselves with health care costs. Laws and policies promoting Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) resulted from a desperate attempt to control spiraling costs. However, instead of promoting an efficient health care system, HMOs further took control over health care away from patients and physicians. Furthermore, the third-party payer system creates a two-tier health care system where people whose employers can afford to offer "Cadillac" plans have access to top quality health care, while people unable to obtain health insurance from their employers face obstacles in obtaining quality health care.

    The Private Option Health Care Act gives control of health care back into the hands of individuals through tax credits and tax deductions, improving Health Savings Accounts and Flexible Savings Accounts. Specifically, the bill:

    A. Provides all Americans with a tax credit for 100% of health care expenses. The tax credit is fully refundable against both income and payroll taxes;
    B. Allows individuals to roll over unused amounts in cafeteria plans and Flexible Savings Accounts (FSA);
    C. Provides a tax credit for premiums for high-deductible insurance policies connected with a Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and allows seniors to use funds in HSAs to pay for medigap policies;
    D. Repeals the 7.5% threshold for the deduction of medical expenses, thus making all medical expenses tax deductible.

    This bill also creates a competitive market in heath insurance. It achieves this goal by exercising Congress's authority under the Commerce Clause to allow individuals to purchase health insurance across state lines. The near-monopoly position many health insurers have in many states and the high prices and inefficiencies that result, is a direct result of state laws limiting people's ability to buy health insurance that meets their needs, instead of a health insurance plan that meets what state legislators, special interests, and health insurance lobbyists think they should have. Ending this ban will create a truly competitive marketplace in health insurance and give insurance companies more incentive to offer quality insurance at affordable prices.

    The Private Option Health Care Act also provides an effective means of ensuring that people harmed during medical treatment receive fair compensation while reducing the burden of costly malpractice litigation on the health care system. The bill achieves this goal by providing a tax credit for negative outcomes insurance purchased before medical treatment. The insurance will provide compensation for any negative outcomes of the medical treatment. Patients can receive this insurance without having to go through lengthy litigation and without having to give away a large portion of their awards to trial lawyers.

    Finally, the Private Option Health Care Act also lowers the prices of prescription drugs by reducing barriers to the importation of Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved pharmaceuticals. Under my bill, anyone wishing to import a drug simply submits an application to the FDA, which then must approve the drug unless the FDA finds the drug is either not approved for use in the United States or is adulterated or misbranded. This process will make safe and available imported medicines affordable to millions of Americans. Letting the free market work is the best means of lowering the cost of prescription drugs.

    Madam Speaker, the Private Option Health Care Act allows Congress to correct the mistake it made last month by replacing the new health care law with health care measures that give control to health care to individuals, instead of the federal government and politically-influential corporations. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Well this looks to be a complete non-starter, even for those who want to repeal Obamacare, altho I can't be certain as the text of the bill isn't yet on THOMAS, and likely won't be until Tuesday.

First off, if this doesn't increase the deficit, I'll be surprised.  It'll make many people's 1040 more complicated, adding to the workload of the IRS, and making tax accountants happier.  With the high levels of adulterated prescription drugs in some countries, the very last thing anything should want is the automatic import provision described here.  If Ron Paul thinks insurance companies will be any more forthcoming in paying claims on "negative outcomes insurance" without going to court  than they are on malpractice insurance, I'd like to know what he's smoking and whether its FDA approved.

Besides, wouldn't the true libertarian option be to end all subsides for health care currently contained in the tax code, and thereby end a significant portion of government intervention in health care?

[Vepres]

Sweet! At least a few congressmen are still sane.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

why does Ron Paul hate health care so much?

[King]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

[Lief 🗽]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

[Vepres]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax credits are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

[King]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

[Vepres]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

[Sbane]

Very interesting....but what if your healthcare expenses are more than the amount of tax you pay? You have to pay that difference out of pocket? Plus this would be devastating to the deficit, although Ron Paul won't care about that. He is just starving the beast he would say, as if that itself will stop spending. Except for allowing consumers to by across state lines and encouraging HSA's, I don't know if I like this bill.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

great point, but more importantly it made me laugh.

[Sbane]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

[King]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

[Vepres]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

And you, not the government, decided what you're insurance is. Since you decided what your insurance is, you can choose where you go.

[King]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

And you, not the government, decided what you're insurance is. Since you decided what your insurance is, you can choose where you go.

So... single payer.

Unless you choose to stumble into a Kaiser ER with your stab wound and you have Blue Cross, then you'll have to choose to wait for a cab.

[Vepres]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

Uh, no. Is the government mandating you have insurance? Is the government giving you other people's money, or your money? Is the government monopolizing health insurance policy? Are they telling doctors what they will or will not cover? No, they dole out the money, but they make no decisions or policies, the companies do and you choose the company.

[Vepres]

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

And you, not the government, decided what you're insurance is. Since you decided what your insurance is, you can choose where you go.

So... single payer.

Unless you choose to stumble into a Kaiser ER with your stab wound and you have Blue Cross, then you'll have to choose to wait for a cab.

I'm sorry, but that never happens for emergency care.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

It is, as Dr. Paul described it, a private option.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

Uh, no. Is the government mandating you have insurance? Is the government giving you other people's money, or your money? Is the government monopolizing health insurance policy? Are they telling doctors what they will or will not cover? No, they dole out the money, but they make no decisions or policies, the companies do and you choose the company.

its a tax credit and thus it is tax payer funded. Obviously you would know this if you looked at where the check from the obama tax cut came from....Unless you dont have a job.

[Vepres]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

Uh, no. Is the government mandating you have insurance? Is the government giving you other people's money, or your money? Is the government monopolizing health insurance policy? Are they telling doctors what they will or will not cover? No, they dole out the money, but they make no decisions or policies, the companies do and you choose the company.

its a tax credit and thus it is tax payer funded. Obviously you would know this if you looked at where the check from the obama tax cut came from....Unless you dont have a job.

It's refunding YOUR money, not doling out others' money.

[Obnoxiously Slutty Girly Girl]

Very interesting....but what if your healthcare expenses are more than the amount of tax you pay? You have to pay that difference out of pocket? Plus this would be devastating to the deficit, although Ron Paul won't care about that. He is just starving the beast he would say, as if that itself will stop spending. Except for allowing consumers to by across state lines and encouraging HSA's, I don't know if I like this bill.

People who support Obama are suddenly worried about the deficit?

Paul's overall economic programme of vastly reducing spending would eliminate the deficit, but it will of course go ignored.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

Uh, no. Is the government mandating you have insurance? Is the government giving you other people's money, or your money? Is the government monopolizing health insurance policy? Are they telling doctors what they will or will not cover? No, they dole out the money, but they make no decisions or policies, the companies do and you choose the company.

its a tax credit and thus it is tax payer funded. Obviously you would know this if you looked at where the check from the obama tax cut came from....Unless you dont have a job.

It's refunding YOUR money, not doling out others' money.

sorry,but tax credits are considered government spending.

[Sbane]

So is he advocating singlepayer or am I misunderstanding what a tax credit does?

That's what I'm thinking.  Maybe us health care liberals should just go along with it.

Might as well sell the left over chicken fried steak as dark meat, eh Lief?

THIS JUST IN: A tax credit is a form of big government spending.

I'm tired of this full-a-sh**t orgasm people get when the term tax credit is used.

It's just a buzz-word used so Joe Blows like Verpes over here won't feel like the government is giving him a handout when the Treasury cuts him his $1500 "refund check" to pay for his healthcare costs.  Yet if Health and Human Services sent him $1500 written out to Victory Memorial Hospital, he'd cry foul.

They give you the money, but you get to choose how it is spent on health, not the government. Besides, tax cuts are not really a handout, but an exemption from taxes. Thus government collects less money.

Except the government collects it and then you file for it.  So the government is writing a check to people to pay for costs.

And if you can only get the credit based on the costs, then you would have to already be billed to get it.  So you aren't choosing anything when you receive this money.  The choice has to already have been made.

Yeah, but YOU made the choice.

Unless you are paying your medical costs out of pocket (lol), no you did not. Some dude working for an insurance company did.

Yep.  Ron is selling socialized medicine with everything renamed to protect the innocent.

Uh, no. Is the government mandating you have insurance? Is the government giving you other people's money, or your money? Is the government monopolizing health insurance policy? Are they telling doctors what they will or will not cover? No, they dole out the money, but they make no decisions or policies, the companies do and you choose the company.

its a tax credit and thus it is tax payer funded. Obviously you would know this if you looked at where the check from the obama tax cut came from....Unless you dont have a job.

It's refunding YOUR money, not doling out others' money.

So if you don't pay income taxes, you're ed?

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

Very interesting....but what if your healthcare expenses are more than the amount of tax you pay? You have to pay that difference out of pocket? Plus this would be devastating to the deficit, although Ron Paul won't care about that. He is just starving the beast he would say, as if that itself will stop spending. Except for allowing consumers to by across state lines and encouraging HSA's, I don't know if I like this bill.

People who support Obama are suddenly worried about the deficit?

Paul's overall economic programme of vastly reducing spending would eliminate the deficit, but it will of course go ignored.

Ron Paul wants to get rid of central banking and thus he wants to ensure that we will never be able to pay off our debts.