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OPINION

Coble deserves praise for opposing reform

Letter
Comments (15)

Friday, November 13, 2009

(Updated 3:00 am)

Rep. Howard Coble should be congratulated for having the courage to vote against the more than trillion-dollar House-passed health care reform bill.

The bill, HR 3962, is 2,000 pages of costly new federal requirements that clearly violate major campaign promises. The measure will not reduce health care costs and, instead, will add to our nation’s burgeoning deficit, severely impacting small businesses, and millions will lose their current coverage.

The Lewin Group found that the public option could cause nearly six of every 10 Americans with private coverage (roughly 118 million people) to switch to public insurance. Unlike health insurers, federal insurance programs don’t pay state taxes, which will cause a severe dip in state tax revenues. The recession has already left many deeply in the red, and a public option would make the states’ terrible fiscal situation even worse.

Congress has rightly set out to both expand insurance coverage and reduce health care costs for all Americans.

But without real and effective measures to reduce health care costs, neither goal is attainable.

Cheryl A. Dukes
High Point

The writer is president, Triad Association of Health Underwriters.

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J D R

November 13, 2009 - 5:41 am EST

"Unlike health insurers, federal insurance programs don’t pay state taxes, which will cause a severe dip in state tax revenues. "

Since employers gladly and already take a fat deduction for paying your private insurance, I'm not sure this is a totaly genuine conclusion. My health care insurance, for example, it totally free of taxes .. my employer (me) pays the full health care costs for all employees.

J.M.W.

November 13, 2009 - 8:07 am EST

So, how many squares of toilet paper are they using per hour sir?

miktay

November 13, 2009 - 8:09 am EST

This letter is patently absurd.

"The Lewin Group found the public option could cause nearly six in of every ten Americans with private insurance to switch to public insurance."

In the bill passed by the house the only people who are even eligible for the public option are folks who don't currently have insurance. Folks who are self-employed or folks who work for small businesses. The CBO estimates perhaps 6 or 8 million people will buy into the public option. Of course both The Lewin Group and Ms. Dukes both already know this. This letter is just insurance industry propaganda.

danagain

November 13, 2009 - 8:17 am EST

So employers cannot just dump their employees into the public option and pay the fine?

xeno10

November 13, 2009 - 10:02 am EST

danagain, you're not very bright, are you?

milkman

November 13, 2009 - 10:51 am EST

He's SO much smarter than you, Dr Seuss 80. And how's that mayor thing going for ya??

And have a great weekend!!

rightwingnemesis

November 14, 2009 - 6:12 pm EST

Mr. milkman,
I am not aware of what you are speaking about with the "mayor thing" but I do note that Mr./Ms xeno10 has pretty much summed up one of the regular bloggers here. Mr. danagain is .... well as Mr. Xeno10 says, "not very bright".

rightwingnemesis

November 13, 2009 - 9:03 am EST

Mr. Miktay,
What is absurd is that someone would pat Howard Coble on the back for being a puppet of John Boehner. Nothing more, nothing less.

lighthorse

November 13, 2009 - 9:04 am EST

'The Lewin Group found that....' This is rich. They may well be non-partisan, but don't think they don't have a horse in this race. The Lewin Group has been owned by Ingenix since 2007. Ingenix is owned by UnitedHealth Group, one of the largest health insurers in the country. UnitedHealth just settled a suit targeting its Ingenix unit for fraud (manipulating data) to the tune of $350 mil.

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssHealthcareNews/idUSN1531133620090115

What was the Lewin Group Report author's final comment on the ultimate effect of the reform plan on us, the consumers?

'Though the millions of people Lewin was describing would lose their employer-sponsored coverage, they wouldn't be forced into a government-run health plan, Sheils said in an interview. Rather, they would be able to choose between the government plan and other private options, and "they might very well be better off," he said.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/22/AR200907...

A little research now and then...

ghost from white oak

November 13, 2009 - 9:09 am EST

If a guvmint option comes to pass, do not delude yourselves, you will one day have guvmint insurance.

dcolin

November 13, 2009 - 2:16 pm EST

Good.

danagain

November 13, 2009 - 3:56 pm EST

Gotta remember ghost, there are some who want govt. to take care of our every need.

Yvonne

November 13, 2009 - 4:24 pm EST

Remember, some of us who have a job and insurance think it is a good idea for everyone to have insurance. Some of us are not content to simply say "I got mine, to hell with everyone else." Some of us believe if our government can find trillions of dollars to fight needless wars, they should be able to take care of our poor and disadvantaged. Remember, Christ said what we do for the lest of our brothers, we also do for Him.

danagain

November 13, 2009 - 5:31 pm EST

Remember, some of us who have a job, work our asses off, already pay lots of taxes and don't want even more of our hard earned money confiscated by govt. to be redistributed to those who live off of govt. in perpetuity. Not to mention adding even more spending when this country is up to it's eyeballs in debt to foreign countries who will be calling the shots when the bill comes due.

truth

November 13, 2009 - 9:11 am EST

The only folks who are eligible for the public option are those that currently don't have health insurance? That doesn't seem fair. Are these the same people who cannot afford health insurance? Are they already on Medicaid? Who will pay for it? I can only imagine. The same person who can't benefit from it is my guess.