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    The Storefront
    October 30, 2009

     
     

    Obama defends health care reform to small biz owners


    Posted at 3:08 pm by Amy Rolph

    Obama is striking back against critics who say his plan for health care reform will crush small businesses. He talked to entrepreneurs in a Thursday address at the White House, saying they're being misled.



    Obama said: "Now, there is no doubt that this legislation, and the legislation that's being drafted in the Senate, would benefit millions of small businesses. It's being written with the interests of Americans like you and your employees in mind.

    "And yet, there are those who have a vested interest in the status quo who are claiming otherwise, and they're using misleading figures and disingenuous arguments. So I want to try to explain as clearly as I can exactly what health reform would mean for small business owners like you and the workers you employ.

    "The first thing I want to make clear is that if you are happy with the insurance plan that you have right now, if the costs you're paying and the benefits you're getting are what you want them to be, then you can keep offering that same plan. Nobody will make you change it."

    Read the rest of his remarks at www.washingtonpost.com.
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    Obama defends health care reform to small biz
    Obama acuses critics to his health care reform plans as misleading, but his address to small busines is misleading and lacking facts.

    He says that health insurance premiums have risen 130% in the past decade, well of course they have, the cost of health care has risen that much and since insurance PAYS for health care, it has naturally risen also.

    He says reform will stop insurance from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions. Reform won't change anything here, group insurance ALREADY covers pre-existing conditions.

    He says reform will keep companies from dropping coverage when you get sick. Again no change here.

    He says reform will limit out of pocket expense, but yet he claims reform will reduce the cost of coverage and provide more choice. The cost of health insurance is based on how much out of pocket expense you are willing to bear. The higher out of pocket expense you choose, the lower the cost. So here is the reality, lowering the out of pocket expense will RAISE the cost of insurance and take away your right to choose higher out of pocket expenses if you want to lower your premiums.

    He says reform will require preventative coverage "at no extra charge"! Many plans now have preventative coverage as an option. I am by no means opposed to preventative coverage, I'm just pointing out some facts that by requiring it, the cost will have to increase, and once again those who would prefer to save money by not taking a preventative option will have that choice taken away.

    He says reform will make coverage more affordable, but gives no real explaination on HOW. He does go on to say that small business and self-employed don't have affordable group coverage available to them. Well, no, self-employed buy individual coverage usually at a fraction of the cost of group, and any smart small business will look at doing the same. If they can't afford much less expensive indvidual coverage, letting them buy much more expensive group coverage will not resolve their problem. He also says the exchange will allow small business to pool together for coverage. There are already many organizations that do this, without the added expense of the government setting up the exchange and none of them have resolved our health care problems. Then he goes on to say that the exchange "could" save small business 25% by 2016. Terrorists "could" deside they were wrong in attacking us and decide to pay for America's health care as retribution, but just like the presidents statement, there's nothing that would indicate it will ever happen.

    His final misleading claim is that reform will prevent small business from exorbitant rate hikes. HOW??? If the cost of health care increases 20% next year, so will the cost of paying for it! In case he thinks no one has noticed that there is nothing proposed to reform the many things that actually make health care expensive, many of us have!

    What was surprising, he never directly referred to the public option as an important part of reform, but since no one has given any details and evidence on how spending $1 Trillion, plus, to create more health insurance will improve anything, that's no huge surprise.
    Dan Ramthun | Nov 2, 2009 7:00 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal
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