What questions should I ask my Congressman WRT healthcare?

[Glocksman]

Seriously.

In order to avoid the 'astroturf riots' that have made a shambles of 'town hall' meetings on the subject, my 'Blue Dog' Congressman (Brad Ellsworth, IN-08) has instead set aside a 12 hour block of time on Thursday for him and members of his staff to meet with individuals and small groups (groups of up to 4 permitted) on the subject of health care reform.

I got my email request in early enough to get a meeting with the Congressman himself at 12:45 on Thursday.

I'm not under any illusions that anything I say will provoke a 'Road to Damascus' moment, but if anyone has some good ideas WRT thought provoking questions or good suggestions to improve the legislation, I'd appreciate the input.

[Patrick Degan]

It would be tempting to ask him directly just how willing he is to sell his constituents down the road to insurance companies who'll keep making them take it up the ass, but I suppose that would not be conducive to fostering a dialogue.

[Knife]

Indeed. In an honest moment, to ask how much money he/she has received from the health sector for reelection, would be strong. How he/she plans to vote from those 'contributions' is left to be seen.

[Glocksman]

It would be tempting to ask him directly just how willing he is to sell his constituents down the road to insurance companies who'll keep making them take it up the ass, but I suppose that would not be conducive to fostering a dialogue.

Indeed.

That said, right now I'm only going to express my support for the 'public option' and any tax increases or refusal to renew the Bush cuts that are needed to pay for it.

[Count Chocula]

First off: Cong. Ellsworth's deliberate effort to meet with constituents on the health care issue is laudable; many other Congressmen are refusing to do any "Town Hall" meetings during the August recess.

Here are a couple of questions you could ask your Congressman, based on my skimming of the Reps' version of the bill:

1. Is the goal of this legislation to have everyone on a Federally administered health care plan, rather than the 30% who are currently covered via the VA, Medicaid and Medicare?

2. Will the 8% tax for employers who don't provide health care to ALL workers (temp, part time, full time) survive to the final bill? Will the 2.5% tax for individuals who eschew any health care coverage, imposing a tax over and above that they already pay for Medicare in their payroll for NO COVERAGE, survive to the final bill?

3. Will illegal aliens be covered? Emergency rooms in the US already provide medical treatment for all, including illegals. Will the health care bill also cover chronic diseases, such as diabetes, for illegal aliens?

4. Will this bill include the implementation of gatekeeper groups, like the hugely unpopular HMOs of the 1980s and 1990s? If so, who decides treatment protocols and permissible operations for the elderly (Obama, when asked directly about a pacemaker operation for an elderly woman, said that "maybe the (pain killer) pill would have been better than the expensive operation" [paraphrase])?

5. Will family members and family doctors have the final say in any surgical or "end of life" operations? IOW, will families be able to override national health care plan guidelines to keep a loved one alive? If not, will a private option be available so the family can choose to pay, out of their own pockets, for extended care of loved ones?

6. Here's the fun one: Will you, Mr. Congressman, be subject to the coverage definitions and limitations in this propsed bill, or will you continue to be enrolled in your top-tier Congressional plan?

Have fun, and make the Congressman sweat.

[Morilore]

I might ask him whether the public option will survive and whether it will have any bullshit restrictions designed to make it as uncompetitive as possible.

(Obama, when asked directly about a pacemaker operation for an elderly woman, said that "maybe the (pain killer) pill would have been better than the expensive operation" [paraphrase])?

[Citation needed]

[Count Chocula]

Reference for above-cited Obama statement:

[Darth Wong]

1. Is the goal of this legislation to have everyone on a Federally administered health care plan, rather than the 30% who are currently covered via the VA, Medicaid and Medicare?

Do you feel that would be a bad thing?

2. Will the 8% tax for employers who don't provide health care to ALL workers (temp, part time, full time) survive to the final bill? Will the 2.5% tax for individuals who eschew any health care coverage, imposing a tax over and above that they already pay for Medicare in their payroll for NO COVERAGE, survive to the final bill?

This is exactly why the American health-care system will always be an overcomplicated mess. Under a single-insurer system, we don't even ask bizarre questions like this. We don't need to have weird tax regimes and assessment for these extra rules.

3. Will illegal aliens be covered? Emergency rooms in the US already provide medical treatment for all, including illegals. Will the health care bill also cover chronic diseases, such as diabetes, for illegal aliens?

Trivia for you: the Canadian system does not cover illegal aliens.

4. Will this bill include the implementation of gatekeeper groups, like the hugely unpopular HMOs of the 1980s and 1990s? If so, who decides treatment protocols and permissible operations for the elderly (Obama, when asked directly about a pacemaker operation for an elderly woman, said that "maybe the (pain killer) pill would have been better than the expensive operation" [paraphrase])?

I take it you subscribe to the preposterous notion that insurance companies do not already decide what they will cover and what they won't, rather than leaving the decision entirely up to you?

5. Will family members and family doctors have the final say in any surgical or "end of life" operations? IOW, will families be able to override national health care plan guidelines to keep a loved one alive? If not, will a private option be available so the family can choose to pay, out of their own pockets, for extended care of loved ones?

Tell me, are you one of these imbeciles who believe that elderly Canadians are made to die by the government in order to save money? Just how much FOXNews cock do you suck?

6. Here's the fun one: Will you, Mr. Congressman, be subject to the coverage definitions and limitations in this propsed bill, or will you continue to be enrolled in your top-tier Congressional plan?

Why would that be a bad thing? Aren't you the person who keeps saying it would be horrible to keep people from using their money to get better care than what the government offers?

PS. "Town Hall" meetings are retarded. As if we really need sound-bite answers to complicated policy issues. Politicians should be forced to write long essays which are published in newspapers, instead of doing these utterly useless "Town Hall" charades.

[Fire Fly]

In light of your health history Glocksman, you could use yourself as an example of what many Americans face (financially and health wise) and ask if your Congressman would be willing to pursue a public option and if not, why is he opposed to it. If he says that it would drive down that price of private insurance and hurt them, as Ben Nelson told a constituent of his, then point out that that's exactly what competition is supposed to do.

[Glocksman]

In light of your health history Glocksman, you could use yourself as an example of what many Americans face (financially and health wise) and ask if your Congressman would be willing to pursue a public option and if not, why is he opposed to it. If he says that it would drive down that price of private insurance and hurt them, as Ben Nelson told a constituent of his, then point out that that's exactly what competition is supposed to do.

I could, but the counter to that is that I still have excellent insurance despite our change from a 100% inpatient benefit to a 90-10 plan with a $500 max 'out of pocket' cost.

Heck, the 4 days I spent in the hospital in May with a bleeding ulcer pushed me to the $500 yearly 'out of pocket' limit.
Though of course I could use it as an example of insurance tying someone to a job that they don't particularly like.

In all honesty my job isn't that bad except for the pay.
I make $12.80/hr with that damn good insurance costing me only $24/week.

The problem is that I'm a certified power equipment operator trained to safely operate forklifts, stand up counterbalance trucks, turret stockpickers, etc*.

I could have at one time (prior to the Bush Recession) easily switched jobs for several dollars more an hour as power equipment operators were in demand, but without the health insurance my large (1500+ employees) employer offers.

IOW, that insurance ties me to TJ Maxx's distribution center as surely as a collar and chain would.

My personal inclination is to support a 'Medicare for everyone' type plan where the private insurance companies would make money selling 'medigap' policies to cover what the Feds don't and covering the copays expected under such a scheme.

And if taxes have to go up to pay for it, then raise them.
Shit, just bringing taxation rates back to 1960's levels would help pay for any UHC plan.



*Yeah, it sounds easy and for most people here on this board I suspect it'd be easy to learn.
That said, you'd be surprised at the number of people who fail certification.
In my experience, the failures fall into two categories.

One is that the driver turns out to be scared of heights.
When you operate a TSP that goes 40 feet high and are expected to step out of the truck on occasion to reach merchandise at the back of the pallet in storage, it's not a job for those who are scared of heights.

Two are the people who apparently lack basic hand/eye coordination.
It's not rocket science to shove a pallet in the fourth level from the ground with a forklift, but it does require an ability to judge distance and height.

[Surlethe]

"Congressman Ellsworth, if you don't support major healthcare overhauls, what will distinguish you from Hostettler if he challenges you next year? Gun control? Legalizing drugs? Abortion issues?"