Below is a commentary on the Affordable Care Act written by Connecticut Senator Rosa DeLauro published in the Hartford Courant on 11/25. We asked hocus pocus lady Sybill Trelawney wizard from Harry Potter to weigh in.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congresswoman Rosa Delauro (RD): Ever since we passed comprehensive health insurance reform three
years ago, there has been a lot of misinformation and partisan smoke
surrounding the Affordable Care Act.
Sybill Trelawney (ST): POOF! Keep your eye on right hand not my left...
RD: Seniors in my district have been told that the law will negatively impact them in all kinds of ways — that they will need to apply for an “Obamacare” card to obtain their Medicare, that their benefits will be cut, or that older people will no longer get cancer care. Because these and other falsehoods have become so prevalent, I want to clear the air and dispel the myths that surround this historic and transformative law.
ST: Death panels. Ok not quite death panels exactly.. my Inner Eye says... "Death Eaters"
RD: In fact, the Affordable Care Act includes significant benefits for Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries. Older and disabled people on Medicare enjoy these benefits without doing anything at all in the new state insurance marketplaces, such as Access Health CT, or the federal exchange at healthcare.gov. These important reforms and improvements to Medicare are already in place because of the Affordable Care Act.
First, because of the health reform law, people with Medicare can get cheaper prescription drugs, and the “donut hole” in drug coverage is closing. Already, more than 7.1 million seniors in the donut hole have saved $8.3 billion on prescription drugs. And by 2020, the donut hole will be closed for good, and older and disabled people will have saved an average of over $18,000 on prescription drugs.
ST: Hmmmm donuts....older disabled will save $18,000 a piece you say, but who pays this cost? Abra ca dabra... Young healthy blooded muggles! Ok, we all love our grandparents, but how is this gonna work and stay solvent... I'd rather put my money on quidditch being recognized as Olympic sport..
RD: Also, before the Affordable Care Act, key life-saving preventive services, like colonoscopies and mammograms, could have co-pays as high as $160. Now, thanks to the new law, Medicare provides these services free of charge. Last year, 34.1 million Medicare beneficiaries took advantage of these now free preventive services. Medicare also now provides Annual Wellness Visits without charge, and more than 4.4 million people on Medicare have already benefited from this.
ST: If you take the train from Meriden to New Haven you can get a colonoscopy for free! Right on the train! Some nice man last week he just.. well never mind. A co-pay of $160 for a procedure that costs thousands that I may only need once a year at most...
Sorry Rosa, but nothing is “free”. SOMEBODY has to pay for all this stuff. AND that somebody is US, the taxpayers...
RD: As a cancer survivor whose ovarian cancer was caught in Stage 1 during an unrelated medical visit, I can tell you firsthand: preventive and wellness care saves lives.
ST: Yes, duh preventitive services save lives.Lemme ask you, did this cancer get caught at a non-profit clinic crowded with folks waiting inline for the common cold, or a fancy upscale private doctors office where the doctor actually had time to sit down and talk with you?
RD: The Affordable Care Act is also providing additional savings for all people with Medicare, leading to stable and lower premiums and lower deductibles. Medicare Part B premiums have either stayed or decreased over the past three years.
ST: Here comes the spell !!!! Oooh wait you aren't going to tell us what the additional savings are?
RD: The average premium for Medicare Advantage enrollees this year is actually 10 percent lower than 2010. And the health care law works to strengthen Medicare in other ways.
It extends the solvency of the Trust Fund by nearly a decade. It improves subsidies for low-income Medicare beneficiaries. And it provides new tools to crack down on waste and fraud — to make Medicare more efficient without reducing benefits.
ST: No kidding! And DeLauro’s typical attempt to make it seem like “everybody is getting everything their hearts desire absolutely free” is one of the most egregious examples of this kind of partisan subterfuge. Here’s what Rosa doesn’t want YOU the taxpayer to know: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security currently soak up about 44 percent of the federal budget. All three programs are growing faster than inflation, and—when joined with $1.7 trillion in new Obamacare spending—will drain about 18.5 percent of the nation’s total economic output by mid-century. This means that all other government programs—national defense, veterans’ health care, transportation, federal law enforcement, etc.—ALL will have to be financed with borrowed money.
RD: So the Affordable Care Act is already making a difference, and once it is fully implemented it will be life-changing for millions of families.
ST: CAN WE STILL GET FREE DIAPERS ROSA? DIAPERS?! Its not even fully implemented and you claim it is making a difference!I wanna J.K Rolf-up my lunch Rosa!
RD: I also want you to know about one related problem that has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.Some Connecticut seniors have recently learned that their private Medicare plan, UnitedHealth Care, is dropping many doctors and other health providers from its network. This shameful decision has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. Rather, UnitedHealth Care is putting their profits ahead of the health interests of their enrollees.
ST: Shift that blame girl! Shift it! My crystal ball says a lot more are going to be dropping doctors...I love how Rosa tries to be all Oprah like, like she is sharing a secret just with us, share on Rosa...
RD: Our entire Congressional delegation has demanded answers from UnitedHealth on this arbitrary and reckless decision, and will continue to seek out answers until the company stops being evasive.
ST: They want to make money Rosa! Just like you you 1%er!! You are one of the richest in congress! Listen, we may both dress like we are woodland knomes riding the same broom, but we are NOT alike. Its not being evasive, its being about the bottom line.What about the and you can keep your doctor razzle dazzle?
RD: As we sort out the UnitedHealth Care situation, rest assured that the Affordable Care Act is helping to ensure that Medicare provides better and less expensive coverage for older and disabled people.
ST: Better AND Less expensive? All for $19.95 you say?! That's eye of newt and wing of bat-shi* impossible!
RD: This law builds on the bedrock achievements of Medicare and Social Security to provide more security for the middle-class and a better, healthier quality of life for our entire community.
ST: Oh yeah cause Social Security isn't the biggest ponzi scheme ever invented and its going to last forever! Now who is a work of fiction now? You are preoccupied, my dear. My Inner Eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas... most difficult... I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass... and perhaps sooner than you think...
RD: And it makes a number of important, long-overdue reforms that most people just take as common sense, like banning insurance companies from denying coverage or benefits to those with preexisting conditions, eliminating annual caps, mandating more transparency, and ensuring that women are not charged more than men for the same health coverage.
ST: Can I bundle with my car insurance? Oh '"transparency" now that is a catchy little phrase. No men and women are charged the same per age despite the fact that they do not give birth, they pay like they do. And so are women past menopause. And there are no incentives for not smoking or staying healthy. That's right everybody light up!
RD: The Affordable Care Act is good for Medicare and good for families. I am very proud to have fought to make it law, and I look forward to its full implementation.
DeLauro, a Democrat, represents Connecticut’s third congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
ST: Rosa DeLauro: burying the next generation in debt. But, hey muggles! If you don’t mind having a significantly lower standard of living andhigh unemployment for decades to come, just keep voting for Rosa and her cronycohorts. By the time the SHTF, Rosa will have long since retired on broom to a tropical paradise far from the land of the working stiffs, with her massive wealth—and it will be too late for YOU to undo the mess she’ll have left behind.Ok Rosa- if its so great, why don't you enroll?
OH WAIT, Congress is exempt! Gee, thanks.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 |
Wizardess Sybill Trelawney from Harry Potter andCongress woman Rosa DeLauro talk Affordable Health Care |
Sybill Trelawney (ST): POOF! Keep your eye on right hand not my left...
RD: Seniors in my district have been told that the law will negatively impact them in all kinds of ways — that they will need to apply for an “Obamacare” card to obtain their Medicare, that their benefits will be cut, or that older people will no longer get cancer care. Because these and other falsehoods have become so prevalent, I want to clear the air and dispel the myths that surround this historic and transformative law.
ST: Death panels. Ok not quite death panels exactly.. my Inner Eye says... "Death Eaters"
RD: In fact, the Affordable Care Act includes significant benefits for Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries. Older and disabled people on Medicare enjoy these benefits without doing anything at all in the new state insurance marketplaces, such as Access Health CT, or the federal exchange at healthcare.gov. These important reforms and improvements to Medicare are already in place because of the Affordable Care Act.
First, because of the health reform law, people with Medicare can get cheaper prescription drugs, and the “donut hole” in drug coverage is closing. Already, more than 7.1 million seniors in the donut hole have saved $8.3 billion on prescription drugs. And by 2020, the donut hole will be closed for good, and older and disabled people will have saved an average of over $18,000 on prescription drugs.
ST: Hmmmm donuts....older disabled will save $18,000 a piece you say, but who pays this cost? Abra ca dabra... Young healthy blooded muggles! Ok, we all love our grandparents, but how is this gonna work and stay solvent... I'd rather put my money on quidditch being recognized as Olympic sport..
RD: Also, before the Affordable Care Act, key life-saving preventive services, like colonoscopies and mammograms, could have co-pays as high as $160. Now, thanks to the new law, Medicare provides these services free of charge. Last year, 34.1 million Medicare beneficiaries took advantage of these now free preventive services. Medicare also now provides Annual Wellness Visits without charge, and more than 4.4 million people on Medicare have already benefited from this.
ST: If you take the train from Meriden to New Haven you can get a colonoscopy for free! Right on the train! Some nice man last week he just.. well never mind. A co-pay of $160 for a procedure that costs thousands that I may only need once a year at most...
Sorry Rosa, but nothing is “free”. SOMEBODY has to pay for all this stuff. AND that somebody is US, the taxpayers...
RD: As a cancer survivor whose ovarian cancer was caught in Stage 1 during an unrelated medical visit, I can tell you firsthand: preventive and wellness care saves lives.
ST: Yes, duh preventitive services save lives.Lemme ask you, did this cancer get caught at a non-profit clinic crowded with folks waiting inline for the common cold, or a fancy upscale private doctors office where the doctor actually had time to sit down and talk with you?
RD: The Affordable Care Act is also providing additional savings for all people with Medicare, leading to stable and lower premiums and lower deductibles. Medicare Part B premiums have either stayed or decreased over the past three years.
ST: Here comes the spell !!!! Oooh wait you aren't going to tell us what the additional savings are?
RD: The average premium for Medicare Advantage enrollees this year is actually 10 percent lower than 2010. And the health care law works to strengthen Medicare in other ways.
It extends the solvency of the Trust Fund by nearly a decade. It improves subsidies for low-income Medicare beneficiaries. And it provides new tools to crack down on waste and fraud — to make Medicare more efficient without reducing benefits.
ST: No kidding! And DeLauro’s typical attempt to make it seem like “everybody is getting everything their hearts desire absolutely free” is one of the most egregious examples of this kind of partisan subterfuge. Here’s what Rosa doesn’t want YOU the taxpayer to know: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security currently soak up about 44 percent of the federal budget. All three programs are growing faster than inflation, and—when joined with $1.7 trillion in new Obamacare spending—will drain about 18.5 percent of the nation’s total economic output by mid-century. This means that all other government programs—national defense, veterans’ health care, transportation, federal law enforcement, etc.—ALL will have to be financed with borrowed money.
RD: So the Affordable Care Act is already making a difference, and once it is fully implemented it will be life-changing for millions of families.
ST: CAN WE STILL GET FREE DIAPERS ROSA? DIAPERS?! Its not even fully implemented and you claim it is making a difference!I wanna J.K Rolf-up my lunch Rosa!
RD: I also want you to know about one related problem that has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act.Some Connecticut seniors have recently learned that their private Medicare plan, UnitedHealth Care, is dropping many doctors and other health providers from its network. This shameful decision has nothing to do with the Affordable Care Act. Rather, UnitedHealth Care is putting their profits ahead of the health interests of their enrollees.
ST: Shift that blame girl! Shift it! My crystal ball says a lot more are going to be dropping doctors...I love how Rosa tries to be all Oprah like, like she is sharing a secret just with us, share on Rosa...
RD: Our entire Congressional delegation has demanded answers from UnitedHealth on this arbitrary and reckless decision, and will continue to seek out answers until the company stops being evasive.
ST: They want to make money Rosa! Just like you you 1%er!! You are one of the richest in congress! Listen, we may both dress like we are woodland knomes riding the same broom, but we are NOT alike. Its not being evasive, its being about the bottom line.What about the and you can keep your doctor razzle dazzle?
RD: As we sort out the UnitedHealth Care situation, rest assured that the Affordable Care Act is helping to ensure that Medicare provides better and less expensive coverage for older and disabled people.
ST: Better AND Less expensive? All for $19.95 you say?! That's eye of newt and wing of bat-shi* impossible!
RD: This law builds on the bedrock achievements of Medicare and Social Security to provide more security for the middle-class and a better, healthier quality of life for our entire community.
ST: Oh yeah cause Social Security isn't the biggest ponzi scheme ever invented and its going to last forever! Now who is a work of fiction now? You are preoccupied, my dear. My Inner Eye sees past your brave face to the troubled soul within. And I regret to say that your worries are not baseless. I see difficult times ahead for you, alas... most difficult... I fear the thing you dread will indeed come to pass... and perhaps sooner than you think...
RD: And it makes a number of important, long-overdue reforms that most people just take as common sense, like banning insurance companies from denying coverage or benefits to those with preexisting conditions, eliminating annual caps, mandating more transparency, and ensuring that women are not charged more than men for the same health coverage.
ST: Can I bundle with my car insurance? Oh '"transparency" now that is a catchy little phrase. No men and women are charged the same per age despite the fact that they do not give birth, they pay like they do. And so are women past menopause. And there are no incentives for not smoking or staying healthy. That's right everybody light up!
RD: The Affordable Care Act is good for Medicare and good for families. I am very proud to have fought to make it law, and I look forward to its full implementation.
DeLauro, a Democrat, represents Connecticut’s third congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
ST: Rosa DeLauro: burying the next generation in debt. But, hey muggles! If you don’t mind having a significantly lower standard of living andhigh unemployment for decades to come, just keep voting for Rosa and her cronycohorts. By the time the SHTF, Rosa will have long since retired on broom to a tropical paradise far from the land of the working stiffs, with her massive wealth—and it will be too late for YOU to undo the mess she’ll have left behind.Ok Rosa- if its so great, why don't you enroll?
OH WAIT, Congress is exempt! Gee, thanks.
Funding healthcare is going to increase a lot of revenue in years to come. It will be values clarification time in the USA.
ReplyDeleteUNLESS those death squads get up and running. I tried to fill out the online application for death squad guide, but I got kicked out trying to access the salary range page. I feel like such a sucker.