Al Franken

U

Unk

Ignorance goes on ignore
I love him.

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September 6, 2012​

Dear xxx,
Thank you for contacting me about our nation's health reform law. I appreciate you sharing your views on this issue of critical importance.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama signed H.R. 3590, the Affordable Care Act, into law. This legislation will end insurance company abuses, rein in skyrocketing health care costs, and most importantly, ensure that Minnesota families and small businesses have access to affordable health coverage that will be there when they need it. In response to a legal challenge brought by the National Federation of Independent Businesses and 26 state attorneys general, on June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act as constitutional. I'm proud to have supported this legislation, and I'm pleased that many benefits are already in effect:
  • Insurance companies can no longer drop your coverage if you get sick, or impose a lifetime limit on your benefits. Additionally, all health plans covering dependents must cover kids until their 26th birthday. These apply to all new and existing health plans.
  • When small businesses file their taxes, those with 25 or fewer employees are now eligible for a tax credit worth up to 35 percent of the amount they pay toward their workers' premiums. This tax credit increases to 50 percent in 2014. More than 77,000 Minnesota small businesses employing more than 332,000 Minnesotans will be eligible for credits.
  • Medicare beneficiaries who previously received no help for drug costs between $2,840 and about $6,483 -- a coverage gap known as "the donut hole" -- are now eligible to receive subsidies for brand name and generic drugs, and by 2020, the donut hole will be eliminated.
  • Medicare beneficiaries can now receive a free annual check up and free preventive services.
Significant new benefits will continue to kick in over the coming years, including:
  • Starting January 1, 2014, Minnesotans purchasing insurance in the individual and small group markets will be able to purchase their coverage through an Exchange, a new user-friendly insurance marketplace similar to the system by which federal employees shop for their benefits. Minnesotans with annual incomes up to 400 percent of poverty (currently $89,400 for a family of four) will be eligible for subsidies to help make coverage affordable.
  • Starting January 1, 2014, insurance companies will be prohibited from charging higher premiums because of preexisting conditions or gender for any new individual and small group plans.
I'm especially proud that several reforms in the final law were inspired by how we do things in Minnesota. Based on our state law, I championed a provision requiring insurance companies to spend at least 80 to 85 percent of every premium dollar on actual health care, not wasteful administrative and marketing costs and profits. This year, 123,171 Minnesotans received a rebate on their health care premium averaging $160 as a result of this law. I also worked to include a "value index" in the final law so Minnesota doctors will be rewarded for providing high-quality care at a reasonable cost under Medicare. And finally, the Diabetes Prevention Act, a bipartisan bill I authored based on Minnesota's diabetes prevention program, will save lives and money across the nation. All three of these provisions will help to get costs under control.
These are vast improvements to our health care system, and I'm committed to fully implementing the law so Minnesotans can access the benefits they've been promised. I've already been working with insurance companies and employers in Minnesota to make sure they're following the law and doing right by Minnesotans. And as a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, I will continue this work in the years ahead.
For more information on how the health reform law affects you and your family, you can visit http://www.healthcare.gov/ and http://healthreform.kff.org/.
Thanks again for contacting me, and please don't hesitate to do so in the future regarding this or any other matter of concern to you.


Sincerely,
mail

Al Franken
United States Senator
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Well, she'd never let a little thing like THAT stop her!!!

My other favorite video. :)

 
LOL you folks who bought the rhetoric from the healthcare reform bill are insane. Exactly how is it you believe the insurance companies are going to bring the costs down when they have their consumers held captive by federal laws? They have 40 million reasons to justify price hikes.

Why do people see the same facts so differently? Please explain the logic behind the expectation of lower prices.
 
lol
even if I supposedly couldn't comprehend, you should be able to explain some economic principle that justifies your belief. I think you haven't a clue about it. LOL
 
tinfoil said:
LOL you folks who bought the rhetoric from the healthcare reform bill are insane. Exactly how is it you believe the insurance companies are going to bring the costs down when they have their consumers held captive by federal laws? They have 40 million reasons to justify price hikes.

Why do people see the same facts so differently? Please explain the logic behind the expectation of lower prices.
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Why don't you go ahead and explain why costs are dropping in Massachussetts, Foil Hat?
 
Well, except for the fact that healthcare costs in Massachusetts are out of control:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/massachusetts-takes-on-health-costs.html

"But when it comes to controlling health care costs, Massachusetts has no advantage, and in fact is starting behind most other states. Its costs are among the highest in the nation, and they have been growing in recent years at 6 percent to 7 percent while the economy has been growing at less than 4 percent. That bleak picture may be changing. The growth rate of health costs has slowed significantly over the past year or two, but nobody knows if this is a temporary or lasting change."

Why are the concept of "Liberalism" and "facts" so mutually exclusive?
 
The_Pilgrim said:
Well, except for the fact that healthcare costs in Massachusetts are out of control:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/opinion/sunday/massachusetts-takes-on-health-costs.html

"But when it comes to controlling health care costs, Massachusetts has no advantage, and in fact is starting behind most other states. Its costs are among the highest in the nation, and they have been growing in recent years at 6 percent to 7 percent while the economy has been growing at less than 4 percent. That bleak picture may be changing. The growth rate of health costs has slowed significantly over the past year or two, but nobody knows if this is a temporary or lasting change."

Why are the concept of "Liberalism" and "facts" so mutually exclusive?
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Hi, pleasure to meet you. Is your name Tin Foil? Didn't think so. Now kindly fuck off.
 
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