Senate Health Care Bill – Winners and Losers
Here is your recap of the Senate Health Care Bill vote. The Associated Press has their version of the winners and losers of the health care legislation, but like so much of mainstream media, it fails to properly capture the essence of what kind of deals the public will pay for and who the real winners and losers are.
For starters, (and this is for all you aspiring politicians, don’t waste your time with ethics courses- they are not required in the U.S. Senate) it pays to be the Senate Finance Committee Chair, well, for the Senate Finance Chair and residents of Libby, Montanta anyway. Senator Max Baucus has assurances that the residents of this old mining town would be paid compensated for their asbestos related injuries thereby offering them medicare benefits. Congratulations Libby, Montana, all your political pressure paid off.
You don’t live in Libby Montanta and won’t get any of those benefits? Don’t worry, there is still alot more pork well deserved benefits to pass out courtesy of our younger generations (Thanks Kids!).
The next big winner is of course, the Cornhusker State, Nebraska. Erica Werner of the AP writes:
In the case of Nebraska — represented by Sen. Ben Nelson, who’s providing the critical 60th vote for the legislation to pass — the federal government is picking up 100 percent of the tab of a planned expansion of the program, in perpetuity(emphasis mine).
While perpetuity is a rather long time, there is some justification for such a monumental commitment of money from this generation and all future generations until the end of time. The justification is that Sen. Ben Nelson represents Nebraska and he was able spin the wheel and hit $45 million dollars! Nice negotiating there Ben, my hat’s off to you.
The competition at the event debate was not to be outdone though. The AP also reports that,
Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu negotiated $100 million for 2011 before announcing her support for the legislation.
It’s really unfortunate that the AP could get this so wrong. The Associated Press should issue a statement of clarification immediately. Sen. Mary Landrieu is a better person than that and resents the insinuation that she could be bought convinced for such a low figure. Sen. Mary Landrieu got 300 million dollars! Good job Mary! Louisiana really pulled it out this time. Great effort and teamwork! Word around the grapevine was that her staff pulled some long hours to get this. That should be a lesson to all you aspiring politicians. Taking money from other people to redistribute to your own chosen special interest is hard work and that’s what America is about.
Other notable mentions include the AARP, Community Health Centers (thanks Sen. Bernie Sanders for the 10 billion..:-), University of Connecticut, and the:
Doctors and hospitals in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming, who will get paid more than providers elsewhere under formulas in the bill.
Now while these Senators will get to take more of our money from us to give to their own interests they are the “Big Winners of The Health Care Debate.” Scoreboard! Don’t despair though, there are many more rounds of action and games to follow so if you didn’t see your state or special interest yet, there is still time.
The losers of this round included the people making over $200,000. Apparently:
A proposed 0.5 percent increase in the Medicare payroll tax was bumped up to 0.9 percent in the latest version, putting the tax at 2.35 percent on income over $200,000 a year for individuals, $250,000 for couples.
Obviously everyone’s a bit disappointed by “>200K Gang” effort’s here. Perhaps, this group should consider spending less time being productive and more time lobbying. We expect more people.
Another loser is of course the tanning salon industry.
Tanning salons, which are getting hit with a 10 percent tax on indoor tanning services, replacing the cosmetic surgery tax.
We all saw this coming since the odds of the tanning salons competing with the cosmetic surgery industry is a long shot and the cosmetic surgery tax was very unfair. Something had to be done and tanning isn’t healthy anyway. Most importantly, I don’t use tanning salons so I don’t care. Hmmmm. Since most people don’t use tanning salons and they are bad for you perhaps we should ban them. No, that would be crazy. Government would never do something like that.
And finally the taxpayer’s lost again. Despite millions of letter, phone calls, demonstrations, and pleas, the lobbyists won again. Congratulations lobbyists, the people voting for the same politicians saved your butt once again.
I am brand-new to blogging and actually enjoyed your blog. I am going to bookmark your site and keep checking you out. Thanks for sharing your website.