League of Women Voters of Missouri opposes Proposition C

[usregimechange]

League of Women Voters of Missouri opposes Proposition C, the health care proposal on the Aug. 3 ballot that weakens the new federal health care law. The Cole County Circuit Court has recently ruled against a constitutional challenge to the proposal, and it will remain on the ballot, pending any appeal.

The new federal law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, provides universal coverage with access to affordable, quality care for all Americans. League supports this law. Proposition C undermines a key component of the law by allowing Missourians to opt out of buying health insurance without having to pay a penalty. League opposes this proposal.

On August 3, vote NO on Proposition C.

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2010/07/24/letter-league-women-voters-missouri-oppose-proposition-c/

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Are you seeing any yard signs in your area?

Hardly any here. No one doing much to educate voters on this either.

[logosoco]

2. I have seen a few pro C

I am about 20 miles outside of St. Louis. I was not aware what the issue was. I just started hearing about what it is about this morning.
It does seem like a big enough issue that there should be information (easy to see) out there.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Vote NO

It's an attempt to exempt Missouri from 'Obamacare'.

[Cleobulus]

4. Why? I live in Missouri, I sure as hell don't want to be forced to buy into a private insurance...

company. Give me single payer or a public option, don't let me get fucking fleeced.

[proud2BlibKansan]

5. I worked hard for the public option

But this Prop C would be a victory for the republicans. Let's keep what we have, which does provide health care for children who had none before. Matt Blunt did a number on the poor when he cut back Medicaid.

[Cleobulus]

6. Matt Blunt is an asshole, and you can have kids covered without mandating that people...

get scammed by private insurance companies.

[proud2BlibKansan]

7. How?

[Cleobulus]

8. Well, first things first, requiring health insurance companies to...

cover kids is great, doesn't guarantee the kids get health care, particularly for lower income people. Expanding Medicaid helps more kids get medical care than relying on private coverage. Second, mandates don't help if the insurance isn't affordable, either to pay the premiums or to use.

The best, and most cost effective way to make sure everyone is covered is through single payer, never going to happen in this country, hell, we can't even get the public option, so we are up shit's creek without a paddle.

Of course, we could try an even more radical course, such as doing what multi-payer countries do, and put hard caps on individual costs, premiums based on solely income, and copays and out of pocket expenses being restricted to 2 digits, not 4 or more.

[proud2BlibKansan]

10. And as long as there is a republican majority in Jeff City,

Medicaid will never be expanded. They relished taking health care from the poor. It was a decades long goal and they will NEVER restore the cuts.

I completely agree about Single Payer. But when is it ever going to happen? How many more deaths until we get it?

With the program passed in March, we at least have something. It's not perfect but it's better than what we had for the poor before. And their numbers are growing.

[Cleobulus]

11. I have yet to see any evidence that the reform passed in March will do anything...

to prevent even one death or one bankruptcy.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Health care to college aged children was mandated this month.

There are no more pre-existing clauses for children in health care policies.

There's death prevention there.

As for bankruptcy, I agree. I don't see that prevented. Maybe delayed though.

[Cleobulus]

14. I still see kids getting kicked off the rolls before the age of 26...

Its easy, the plans change to no longer cover dependents unless the primary pays extra. They no longer ask for FTS(S). Oh, and this started soon after the health care reform passed.

In case you are wondering, I work for a PBM.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. What's a PBM?

[Cleobulus]

16. Prescription Benefits Manager...

Basically, if you have a prescription card, chances are it has a name on it for your PBM, a PBM isn't an insurance company, it contracts with insurance companies to process your prescriptions for you. As such, I see how many different plans deal with this issue, and we at the PBM have no control over it, but we see the results in the system(and we take the complaints too).

[nickinSTL]

20. I've seen one or 2 pro C

in West St. Louis County.

[MadHound]

9. Nice to see that Missouri is doing something to at least mitigate the damage of a mandated monopoly

The fact of the matter is that under the mandated monopoly provision in HCR is going to be the ruin of the middle and working class. Nice to see the folks here in Missouri will (hopefully) have some protection.

[proud2BlibKansan]

12. I believe this is the first time I have ever disagreed with you, my friend

First of all, this does affect me personally because I am employed in MO and my health insurer is in MO. I understand the consequences to me personally because of HCR. They aren't pretty.

But my concerns are with the kids I teach. Blunt devastated Medicaid and those cuts will never be restored. Not in our lifetime. The number of kids with no access to health care in the state has doubled or tripled.

25% of our kids in MO are living at the poverty level. And their numbers are growing.

I support what HCR we got from the feds because of how it is helping the poor. Money for school based health clinics is once again available. We are busy applying for grants and anticipate those will dry up if Prop C passes.

The state has refused to help its children gain access to health care. Their only hope is the feds.

I have lobbied on this issue in Jeff City and have yet to find one republican rep who wants to help our low income kids. Their attitude, IMO, is quite pathetic and completely selfish.

Yes HCR is not what we wanted. Yes it needs to be reformed. I am hoping selfishly it will be reformed before it hits my wallet. But I'd like to keep what we have and fix it rather than go back to what we didn't have before. And I don't expect the elected officials in Jeff City to do what's right by our kids. Not as long as the republicans control the state house.

[Cleobulus]

17. Medicaid expansion will help those kids, not mandates...

you said they live at poverty level, no way their parents or guardians can afford any private insurance, so again, this proposition shouldn't affect them negatively.

[proud2BlibKansan]

18. The proposition allows the state to opt out of 'Obamacare'

Without it, they have nothing.

HCR allows for aid to help states implement expansions to Medicaid. And the cost is lower than it was before. Like I said, even with the limitations of this bill, the poor are better off with 'Obamacare' than without it.

But the key for me is the money for school based clinics. I've been watching that legislation for over a decade. It would be devastating to take this away from our kids.

[Cleobulus]

19. Did you read the OP?

"Proposition C undermines a key component of the law by allowing Missourians to opt out of buying health insurance without having to pay a penalty."

This seems to be a bill that affects ONLY the individual mandate, I have no problem with that, hell, I support it wholeheartedly.

[MadHound]

21. I understand your POV and your concerns,

But frankly I think that HCR is worse than doing nothing. Handing over the middle and working class to the tender mercies of the insurance industry, an industry whose premiums were not regulated by HCR, is simply asking for more and more children to be sucked into poverty as their parents try to juggle rent, bills, food, and now a new, unregulated set of premiums whose price will continue to rise.

I would love it if the glass was half full on HCR, and if it was, I wouldn't complain about it and would work for more reform. But given this unregulated mandate that was handed to the insurance industry, I see absolutely nothing of redeeming value in HCR that counterbalances the immense amount of harm that the mandated monopoly is going to do.