Showing posts with label Health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health care. Show all posts

Thursday, June 10, 2010

You Go Girl!

Let's face it, when it comes to taking a whiz, guys have an advantage over the ladies.  If we are driving down the road and have to stop to pee, we can just stop some place, discretely whip it out and pee to our heart's content.  Women on the other hand, have always had to find a toilet to take care of those needs.

That is, until now.  Now women can pee standing up just like the fellas with the Go Girl urinary device. Yes, ladies, you no longer have to search for a bathroom, only to get there to discover it is disgustingly filthy. The Go Girl website advises women not to take life sitting down.  They say that the Go Girl device is perfect for active women, women who like the great outdoors, world travelers, and many others. 

I immediately thought of the 1970's and 1980's when I used to go to a lot of concerts at the old Capital Center.  It was built to be a sports arena, and had more mens rest rooms than ladies rooms.  Consequently, the lines at the ladies rooms were much longer than the mens rooms.  It was not unusual to have the women join our lines.  The Go Girl would have been perfect then.  Fortunately, Congress is working towards potty parity to make sure there are enough ladies rooms out there.

In all seriousness, I have some questions for the ladies out there.  Have you ever had the desire to pee standing up?  Is this something you could ever see yourself using?  The Go Girl website says you can keep it in your purse or pocket.  If you were to use the Go Girl, would you want to put it back in your purse or pocket?
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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Henry Waxman Summons Executives

Once again the Democrat party is out to silence dissent.  A few days after the passage of Obamacare, several major US corporations released statements that tax provisions in the new law would make it difficult for companies to continue to provide prescription coverage to retirees.  Under former President George W. Bush's passage of Medicare Prescription Drug coverage, the government gave tax breaks to companies that continued to provide coverage for retirees.  Those tax breaks have been eliminated under the new bill.

So far, AT&T, Verizon, Caterpillar, Deere, Valero Energy, AK Steel and 3M have announced that the new tax provision will make it far more expensive to continue providing prescription benefits to retirees.  They have said that in the future they may have to reduce or even cancel the benefit.  AT&T announced that they will be taking a charge of $1 billion (that is billion with a b) against earnings because of the provision.  That does not sit well with House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry "Bat Boy" Waxman.

Waxman has sent letters to company executives calling them to Washington to defend their assessment that the legislation will cost them millions.  He is also demanding any internal documents related to health care finances, including their analysis of the new legislation.  The letter states, “The new law is designed to expand coverage and bring down costs, so your assertions are a matter of concern...They also appear to conflict with independent analyses.”

So let this be a lesson to you, America.  Release any news that in any way contradicts legislation passed by the politburo and you will be summoned to appear before them. 
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010

November is Coming

SAN FRANCISCO - AUGUST 14:  A protestor holds ...Image by Getty Images via Daylife
This morning, like most mornings, I was headed into work listening to the radio during my commute. The Grandy and Andy show on WMAL630 here in DC featured a guest from Americans for Prosperity. The guest was speaking about the passage of the health care reform bill on Sunday. His group, has a website, November is Coming.

The original purpose of the site was to be a petition to inform Congress that if they voted for the bill, then the intention of those that signed the petition would be to vote those members out of Congress.  Now that the bill has passed, their goal is to keep reminding folks of those who voted and that our goal is to vote them out of office.

I decided at that time to sign up at the site.  Then I sent a tweet from my Twitter account: "November is Coming.  I signed up. Join Me." and posted a link to the site.  Recently, my mother got a Twitter account set up that she monitors through her FIOS TV.  She replied to my tweet.  The conversation went like this:
  • Mom- What did you sign up for?
  • Me-To vote against anybody that voted for the health bill
  • Mom-Why don't you want health care?
  • Me-Not enough space in Twitter to explain
Thank goodness for 140 character limits.  It is not that I and others did not want health care reform.  It is just that we did not want the bill that was forced down our throats on Sunday and signed by Barack Obama today.  I am sure there are a few things in there that are worthwhile, but so much of it is bad.  I will be brief in listing some of them here, in no particular order.
  1. The majority of Americans were opposed to the legislation.  They overwhelmingly wanted the Democrats to start over and work with Republicans on a bipartisan bill in those areas where there was agreement.  They refused to listen to the American people.
  2. The New England Journal of Medicine released a study showing that nearly half of doctor's would consider leaving the medical field if the bill passed.  
  3. The strong arm tactics and out and out bribery used by the White House, and the Congressional leaders to get the bill passed, including the Cornhusker Kickback and the Louisiana Purchase.
  4. Immediate tax increases, but benefits don't start for four years.
  5. $1 trillion cost.
  6. Fine and possible jail time for anybody who does not purchase the kind and amount of health insurance approved by the government and enforced by the IRS.
I suppose I could go on, but that is enough for now.  Except for one a couple words regarding Bart Stupak.  Though I primarily disagree with most of his politics, I was glad to see him standing up for his principles in regards to the abortion language of the bill.  Except he caved.  Sure Obama said he would sign an executive order prohibiting federal funding of abortion. But he hasn't yet.  And really, what good would that executive order be?  After all, Obama signed an executive order on January 22, 2009 ordering that GITMO be closed in no less than a year.  We are two months pass the anniversary of that order, and it is still open.

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Wednesday, March 3, 2010

More Dirty Obamacare Deals?

{{w|Jim Matheson}}, Congressman from Utah (D-U...Image via Wikipedia
So, I am driving home from work this evening listening to talk radio.  I caught the last half hour of the Sean Hannity show, and the first half hour of the Mark Levin show.  Levin started his program off by announcing that Barack Obama would be meeting tonight with ten Democrat members of Congress who had previously voted against the health care bill.  Levin was announcing that he would have the names and numbers of those ten members of Congress posted on his website. 

He encouraged listeners to participate in a "Levin Surge" and to call those members to encourage them to vote against health care.  During his announcement of the "Levin Surge," he interrupted his opening statements by discussing an article on the WeeklyStandard.com website announcing that the White House had nominated Scott Matheson of Utah to be a judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit Court.

So, who is Scott Matheson and what does he have to do with Obama meeting with ten Democrat members of Congress to try to persuade them to change their vote on Obamacare?  It just so happens that one of those ten members of Congress is Jim Matheson (D-UT.)  Matheson previously voted against the bill in committee and against the bill when it came to a vote before the entire House.  Now, Matheson is reportedly undecided.
 
It would appear that Scott Matheson is well qualified to be a judge.  It could just be a coincidence, however, given the nature of all of the special deals that have been made to procure votes to get passage of the bill thus far, the timing of his nomination is curious.  In politics, I don't believe in coincidences.  The majority of people oppose this bill because of all the shady deals, but the powers that be just don't care what we think.

Oh, and speaking of the health care bill.  Obama announced today that he was going to incorporate a couple ideas that the Republicans had put forth in the health care summit last week.  I don't know if he actually thinks that will help it any or not.  I mean, if you serve somebody a bowl of shit, and then sprinkle some sugar on it, you are still pretty much left with a bowl of shit.

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Friday, February 26, 2010

Dickster's Random Thoughts Cafe Press Store

I was driving to work this morning thinking about the President Obama's health care summit.  It comes as no surprise that the Democrats would decide to try to go ahead and ram the current bills through without any bipartisan support.

Originally, I was going to send a tweet on Twitter saying "if they think they can shove Obamacare down our throats, then they can shove it up their ass."  Instead, I decided to design the picture below and open my own CafePress.com store.  The design is currently available on shirts, mugs, buttons & magnets. I hope you will check out my first effort at Cafe Press.

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Thursday, February 25, 2010

Health Care Summit

Just a short little comment on the Barack Obama's farcical health care summit.  According to Webster's Dictionary, the word bipartisan is defined as "of, relating to, or involving members of two parties ; specifically : marked by or involving cooperation, agreement, and compromise between two major political parties."  Seems pretty straightforward to me.

Before, during, and after the summit, the Republicans asked that the current bills on the table be scrapped and that both sides begin working on a new bill.  They want to find the areas of agreement and work on crafting a bill that incorporates those ideas.  Sounds pretty close to the definition of bipartisan to me.

Apparently the Democrats have a different definition of bipartisan. The Democrats on the other hand, feel that bipartisanship involves taking their ideas and accepting those ideas.  Since the GOP would not agree with Obama's plan, the Democrats plan to push forward their ideas and use reconciliation.

Every major poll shows that most Americans do not want the current Democratic bills being considered.  Nearly everyone agrees we need some reform.   It was interesting to watch a focus group on the Sean Hannity show tonight.  The group was half Republican and half Democrat.  They were nearly unanimous in agreement that the folks in DC are not listening to the public.  They were also nearly unanimous in agreement that they did not want the Senate to use reconciliation to pass a bill most do not want.
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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Pork Better Than Viagra

New York, NY - BBQ pulled pork over white riceImage via Wikipedia
I don't really had a whole lot to say about Obama and his State of the Union address last night.  He showed that he hasn't gotten the message from the gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey and the election of Scott Brown to the Senate in Massachusetts.  He also showed what he really thinks about the American people.  We are obviously not inteligent enough to understand all of the good things he is trying to do for us.

The speech consisted of all of the tried and true Obama tactics.  There was the blaming of Bush for everything that was wrong with the country when he took over.  In spite of the Brown victory and his promise to vote against the current health care bill, he wants everyone to look at the bill again rather than come up with a bipartisan plan.  He still wants to push cap and trade.  There were a few bones tossed the Republicans way, but not a whole lot.

Instead, I want to talk about news from another president from South America.  President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina recently was addressing the pig farming industry.  Fernandez said, "I've just been told something I didn't know; that eating pork improves your sex life.  I'd say it's a lot nicer to eat a bit of grilled pork than take Viagra."  She also added had recently eaten BBQ pork and "things went very well that weekend, so it could well be true."

Can you imagine a POTUS talking about how satisfying their sexual activities had been?  I mean besides Bill Clinton.  I may have to load up on pork chops, ribs, and BBQ sandwiches to see if this theory holds true.  If it does, maybe we can finally be rid of those annoying erectile dysfunction commercials during every sporting event on television.  And maybe, just maybe, we have a bit more insight into why Mark Sanford had to go to Argentine for his soul mate.  It's all about the BBQ.

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Monday, November 9, 2009

Music Monday-Lynyrd Skynyrd "That Ain't My America"

Twenty years ago, the Berlin wall fell.  Germany, one of our allies, asked our president to join in their celebration of freedom.  He could not find the time in his schedule to be there.  That Ain't My America.

The House of Representatives passed a $1.4 trillion health care reform bill that will force you to buy health insurance or face the possibility of 5 years in jail and/or a $250,000 fine.  That Ain't My America.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a duly elected law enforcement officer, is told by the federal government that he can no longer enforce the laws of this country when it comes to people have entered our country illegally.  That Ain't My America.

We have businesses that tell employees not to say "Merry Christmas" but to say "Happy Holidays."  That Ain't My America.

Apartment complexes and work places have told people they can't display the US flag because some people might be offended.  That (sure as HELL) Ain't My America.

Everyday it seems that more and more of our freedoms are being taken from us.  The very things that this country was founded on are now an anathema.  In honor of freedom and what our country used to stand for, my choice for Music Monday is Lynyrd Skynyrd's "That Ain't My America" from their God & Guns CD.





Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. One simple rule, leave ONLY the actual post link here. You can grab this code at LJL Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice.





PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!


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Saturday, November 7, 2009

Pelosi's Health Care Bill and Vending Machines

A typical American snack vending machineImage via Wikipedia
Seriously.  Is there any end to the nanny state mentality of idiots like Nancy Pelosi?  I don't think there is anybody who does not think some reform of the health care system is needed.  You keep hearing how premiums are too high, people turned down for pre-existing conditions, and such.  Those are the types of things that one would expect to see addressed in any type of reform.  However, would you expect to see regulation of an industry not associated with health insurance or health care?

Pelosi's monstrosity of a bill (HR 3962) has a provision in it that will regulate the vending machine industry.  Section 2572 of the bill states:
“In the case of an article of food sold from a vending machine that – (I) does not permit a prospective purchaser to examine the Nutritional Facts Panel before purchasing the article or does not otherwise provide visible nutrition information at the point of purchase; and (II) is operated by a person who is engaged in the business of owning or operating 20 or more vending machines, “the vending machine operator shall provide a sign in close proximity to each article of food or the selection button that includes a clear and conspicuous statement disclosing the number of calories contained in the article.” (See page 1,515 of H.R. 3962 Section 2572 (H) (viii).
The Congressional Budget Office has yet to determine what this provision of the health care bill will cost the vending machine industry, but the National Automatic Merchandising Association (NAMA) has provided the CBO with an estimate of the cost for their members.  NAMA estimates that in the first year, the regulation will cost over $56 million.

The industry itself has seen their same store sales drop 17% in the past year, so the business is already suffering.  These provisions will negatively impact the industry even further.  Most vending machine operators are small businessman who own their individual sales routes.  Pelosi and company stand to drive more small businesses out of business, adding to our current 10.2% unemployment rate.  Not to mention what the other provisions in the bill will do to small business in this country.

Why is this regulation needed, and more importantly, why does it need to be in a health care bill?  Show of hands everybody, how many people when standing at a vending machine are concerned with the nutritional value of that Snickers bar they are about to buy?  Don't most people buying a snack from a vending machine already have an idea of how nutritious an item is?  I already know that the candy bar or bag of chips I am buying out of that machine isn't the most healthy choice I can make. 

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Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Baucus Bill Passes First Hurdle

Max Baucus, U.S. Senator from Montana.Image via Wikipedia
Do you remember George Carlin and his seven words you can never say on television?  It starts off, "There are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are 7 you can't say on television. What a ratio that is! 399,993...to 7. They must really be baaaad."

For some reason those last five words came to mind when I heard the news that the Max Baucus's health care passed the Senate Finance Committee vote, 14-9.  The vote went by party lines with the lone Republican voting for passage of the bill being known RINO Olympia Snowe of Maine.

I'll explain the George Carlin reference.  Immediately after the bill passed the committee, it drew criticism from the Republican Party and the leaders of 30 labor unions, obviously for different reasons.  For a piece of legislation to bring together in opposition two groups as diverse as the Republicans and the Unions, it must really be baaaad.
 

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Thursday, September 10, 2009

Barack Obama's Health Care Speech

I debated about whether or not to post anything regarding President Obama’s health care speech last night. In fact, I actually had another posting scheduled for this morning, but I have rescheduled it for another day.

There were a few things he spoke about that I could find some agreement. Some of the horror stories he told of people losing their insurance are disgraceful. To think that a man could lose insurance because he did not report gallstones that he did not know he had is absurd. I also like the idea of doing something about deductibles and out of pocket expenses. Right now, I am looking at going to a better plan when open enrollment rolls around next month because of deductibles. Currently, I am putting off visits to the doctor because I can not afford the deductible if the doctor decides to order tests.

There are a couple of things he said, though, that bother me. He stated that if you have health care through your employer that there is nothing in the plan to require you to change what you have. While technically that is true, I wonder about the practicality. I had mentioned before that they were talking about an 8% payroll tax for employers that do not offer health insurance. Studies have shown that employers, on average, are spending 10-12% of payroll on health insurance. If the cost of the tax is less than the cost of the benefit, I can see businesses opting to pay the tax.

Another issue is the president’s attack on the partisanship that exists in this debate. You get the feeling, that it is the Republicans he is singling out on this issue. He claims he wants the best ideas from both sides of the debate. His Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate continue to block and vote down any suggestions brought forth by the Republicans. My question is who is being partisan? The left is being just as partisan as those on the right.

On a side note, I have to wonder what thoughts immediately went through the mind of Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina after he yelled out, “You lie” when the president talked about illegal immigrants during the speech. I can’t help but think it went something like this. “Oh shit! Did I really say that out loud? I guess I forgot to turn on that little filter that keeps me from blurting things out. I really fucked up this time.”

Note: I may edit or add to this post later today.
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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Obama To Address Joint Session of Congress

President Obama has decided to address a joint session of Congress next week to lay out what he wants to see in a health care bill. I can hardly wait. During the State of the Union Speech in January during the last address to both houses of Congress, we were treated to this display from Speaker Pelosi.



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Monday, August 24, 2009

Democrats, The Media, and The Health Care Debate

DENVER: OBAMA SIGNS DEMOCRAT$ STIMULUS BILLImage by genetew via Flickr

President Obama and his fellow Democrat leaders, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, et al are quick to declare that the Republican Party are absent in the health care reform debate. According to them, they are the "party of no" or they bring no ideas to the table. The mainstream news media, which can no longer be referred to as "journalists," continue to sound forth the propaganda.

This morning, on my commute into the office, RNC Chairman Michael Steele was on the Grandy and Andy show on WMAL radio. Chairman Steele pointed out that Republicans had proposed some 800 amendments to the various bills working their way through the House and Senate. Not one has come close to being approved, including my personal favorite proposal that would require any member of the House or Senate to go on the government run health plan if it was part of the bill.

In addition to the proposed ammendments, there have been at least three Republican bills that have been presented. In May, a group of House and Senate Republicans presented the "Patients Choice Act of 2009. Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina presented the Health Care Freedom Plan in June. Lastly, Representative Tom Price of Georgia proposed the Empowering Patients First Act in July. Price just happens to also be a practicing physician, so he actually has some experience in the arena.

Among the various provisions in these proposals are investing in preventative care, reducing fraud in Medicare and Medicaid, tax credits for purchasing private insurance, and tort reform. Yet the Democrats say there are no ideas on the Republican side. The problem isn't a lack of ideas from the GOP, but the fact that they aren't the ideas the Democrats want. The other problem is that the media no longer reports the facts, but pushes the liberal agenda.


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Saturday, August 22, 2009

Nate Beeler: How Liberals Can Break The Blue Dogs

OK. This cartoon is wrong on a lot of levels, but it made me laugh. Is this the "Chicago Way" I keep hearing about?

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Candy or Food?

Candy Swap!Image by clevercupcakes via Flickr

I got my first job when I was 15 years old. It was for a local convenience store. For all but 4 or 5 of the 33 years since that first job, I have been involved in some way, shape, or form in the retail food industry. For many of those years, I worked first hand in the candy category. Plus before I ever started working, I ate a lot of candy. So, I thought I knew what would be considered "candy" and what was not.

One of the subjects discussed in the health care debate, is the issue of obesity in this country. Several states are passing taxes on those foods that are major contributors to the obesity problem. Foods that are under consideration are things like soft drinks, candy, and other high sugar products. For years here in Maryland there has been sales taxes on "non-essential" foods like candy, so this is nothing new for me. However, the state of Illinois has a new tax on candy and other products that goes into effect next month that is going to cause a lot of confusion for consumers.

The new law taxes candy at a sales tax at 6.25%, and food items have a sales tax of 1%. The potential confusion comes in how the new law defines defines candy, or more importantly, what isn't considered candy. Several items that logic or common sense would lead you to think that an item is candy can now be thrown out the window thanks to the logic of our government in action.

All my life, I have always thought that Twizzlers licorice was candy. Not so. Twizzlers contain flour and therefore, under Illinois law is considered a food product and not a candy item. Similarly, a Hershey's Cookies & Cream bar is considered food, but a Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar is candy. A chocolate covered raisin or nut is considered a candy, but a chocolate covered pretzel is considered food. Peanuts would normally be food, but if they are honey roasted they are candy. Very confusing, but what else would you expect from the government.
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Sunday, August 16, 2009

Health Care Thoughts

Blood testing in a medical facility in Ethiopia.Image via Wikipedia

Like a lot of Americans, I have been thinking a lot about health care. Without a doubt, there are aspects of the current system that need to be fixed. The question is how to go about fixing things. Polls show that the majority of Americans are satisfied with their current health care. The question is do you overhaul the entire system for the minority and possibly alienating the majority, or do you make adjustments to help the minority without negatively impacting the majority.

I have insurance through my employer, and for the most part I have been happy with it. There are a couple of things that have happened this year that have made me a little perturbed with what I have. Recently, I called to see if some lab tests would be covered or if I would have to pay and have the cost applied to my deductible. The answer left me somewhat bewildered, "It depends." Insurance would cover the tests if they were part of a preventative care visit but would not be covered if the doctor sent me because he suspected there might be a problem. Even though it might be the same test, it could be covered under one scenario but not the other. That doesn't seem to make sense to me.

The second one concerns a medication that my son's doctor has prescribed for him. The particular pill comes in either a 10mg or 20mg tablet. His doctor wants him on 30mg per day. The insurance company will only cover 30 tablets per month of either the 10mg or the 20mg tablet. So the insurance company, and not his doctor, is better able to determine the amount of medication my son should be taking? Again, that doesn't make much sense to me. His doctor, actually said we should vote for a single payer system because of this kind of denial by my insurance.

To be honest, I am not sure what the answer is. Daniel Hannan of Great Britain fiercely recommends that we do not go down the road that Britain has gone down. I know for sure that we need a change in the current system. I do not, however, trust the government to run our health care efficiently. They have yet to show, in my opinion, that they can run anything efficiently. Also, there are all the horror stories that you hear regarding the British and Canadian health care systems. All I want is for my doctors to decide what care needs to be taken and for my insurance to be consistent in covering the different options.
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Sunday, August 9, 2009

Nate Beeler: In Defense of Dissent on Health Care

I saw this on the Washington Examiner website this morning. I think Nate Beeler hit the nail on the head. You can put me in the camp of Thomas Jefferson.

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Health Care Again

I wish I would have seen this prior to my post yesterday on my thoughts that the proposed payroll tax on employers that did not offer health insurance was a possible ploy to get businesses to drop health insurance coverage because it was cheaper to pay the tax. So I have to ask again. When Barack Obama says you can keep your employer provided health insurance, do you believe him?



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Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Health Care Reform Payroll Tax

Let’s talk a little bit about the health care debate. For now, I want to focus on one aspect of the proposals going through the House and Senate, and that is the proposed payroll tax on businesses that do not provide health insurance to their employees.

Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats keep telling us that the goal is to insure those people who are currently uninsured. They tell us that their desired “government option” is only to provide an inexpensive alternative for those who can’t afford their own private policy or those whose employers do not provide health insurance. The Republicans, on the other hand, tell us that the “government option” is strictly an attempt to force everyone into government controlled health care, or socialized medicine.

Obama and his cohorts accuse the Republicans of fear mongering. They insist that if you already have health insurance that you like, then you can keep it. They also say that if your employer provides health insurance then you will be able to keep it. Their plan is to implement a payroll tax of up to 8% for companies that do not provide health insurance benefits for their employees.

This proposed 8% tax on payrolls got me thinking. I keep hearing how much health care is costing employers, and how much it continues to rise each year. I know for myself, it seems my portion of the health care premiums seems to go up each year as well. The question I had in my mind was, “How much are employers paying to provide health insurance as a percentage of payroll?”

I found a very interesting report from The Kaiser Family Foundation website that covered statistics from 1999-2005. The data they used was based on the National Compensation Survey which looks at labor costs on a quarterly basis. They looked at a number different scenarios including number of employees and types of occupations.

Here are a few of the things they discovered. Keep in mind that the last data they used was from 2005, so we can probably safely assume that the numbers are probably higher today. First, in 1999, 38% of workers with health insurance had costs greater than 10% of payroll expenses. By 2005, that number had grown to 56%.
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Next, when looking at companies of varying sizes there is a wide spread in the percentage of payroll that is spent towards health insurance. In 2005, the lowest percentage was 10.6% of payroll expenses was spent towards health insurance. The highest percentage was 14.2%.
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So what do these figures mean in relation to the proposed 8% payroll tax? From a strictly business point of view, I can see a couple different scenarios playing out. For companies that are currently not offering health insurance to their employees, they would be subject to the tax. Since adding health insurance would increase expenses by greater than the 8% tax, I would expect that they would not add health insurance. Also, now that their expenses would be going up, it would be reasonable to expect that they would cut expenses, most likely payroll expenses. To reduce their payroll expense by the 8% tax, the easiest way is to cut jobs. That would work out on average to losing 1 of 12 positions within a business.

The next scenario would be for companies that are currently offering health insurance. If I am a business owner who is offering health insurance, that expense is currently running 10-14% of my payroll. I could cut my expenses from 10-14% of my payroll to only 8% of my payroll by eliminating employer provided health insurance and paying the new tax. A pretty tempting proposition.

It took me less than half an hour to find this information on how much businesses are paying for health insurance for their employees. Barack Obama and his fellow Democrats are not stupid people. I would be fairly confident that they know these numbers. What better way to force businesses to stop providing health insurance to their employees, thus forcing them to the government plan, than to give business a financial incentive to do so. So I have to ask the question. Now when Barack Obama says that you can keep your employer provided health insurance, do you believe him? I don't.

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