Monday, December 21, 2009

Howard Dean on MTP: Health Care Reform Rips Off Seniors (Video)

Howard Dean, on Meet the Press, lays out some of the most serious problems with the senate health care reform bill. DEAN: "The Senate bill says you can charge three times as much for somebody who is older than who's younger, now, the House says twice as much. In Vermont, it's 20% more."


Dean: "It's 1.2 times what an 'ordinary' person pays. That's clearly not... there is going to be insurance that's unaffordable. Suppose you make $70,000-80,000 a year, you could end up paying $20,000 for your insurance under the Senate bill. So, there are some big, big problems.

It is not a coincidence, David Gregory, that insurance company stocks, health insurance company stocks hit a 52-year high on Friday, so they must know something that the rest of us don't.

I think it's gotta have a public option, at least allow some of the states... now, there are two countries that have done this without a public option - Switzerland and The Netherlands - but they treat insurance companies as public utilities. . . We are nowhere near where Switzerland and The Netherlands are, in terms of the regulatory apparatus on the private insurance industry..."

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