I Bet You Thought There Wouldn't Be Expenditure Caps On Health Insurance, Dincha?

Where COULD you have gotten that idea? I, myself, could have sworn Prez. Shamwiow and the Dims in Congress had solemnly sworn that there would be no caps--yearly OR lifetime--on private insurance provided under the terms of the Congressional Health Insurance Parasite Bail-out Act of 2010 (or whenever). I, myself--and you, too, had you failed to notice the changes inserted into the bill without ANY fan-fare back in December--would have been wrong.

They're fixin' to fuck us over again, big time, as usual. Even though Prez. Shamwow insists he and the Regime are trying to negotiate the closing of this "loophole," you'd have to be a lunatic to believe that even if he DOES, ther are plenty of other "loopholes" through which the Health Insurance Parasites (HIP) can insert the ass-fucking screws. How many people do YOU think the HIP now employs to scan the bill for any and every niche or crack or hole through which they can extract you life's-blood?

Upon the revelation of the loophole in December, the WhiteHouse issued statements claiming they were opposed to the loophole, according to CNN at the time:

"The president has made it clear that health insurance reform legislation should prevent insurance companies from placing annual limits on health expenditures that can force families into financial ruin," said White House spokesman Reid Cherlin. "We will continue to work with Congress on this policy."
The loophole in the Senate bill reversed a previous version of the plan that would have prevented insurance companies from establishing such limits, according to three Democratic aides who spoke to CNN earlier Friday.

A month later and the offending loophole is still in the bill. Here's the (rest of) story, via The Hill:

Lawmakers protest healthcare bill’s caps on benefits over policyholder's lifetime
By Jeffrey Young - 01/16/10 02:34 PM ET

A cadre of Democratic lawmakers and patient groups is urging congressional Democratic leaders to abandon plans to permit health insurance companies to set lifetime limits on their customers’ benefits. (WTF? Why do the "leaders" need to be "urged" to do what they had promised a year ago?--W)

In letters sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and the other senior Democratic lawmakers authoring the final version of healthcare reform legislation, 29 House Democrats and seven Senate Democrats press the leaders to adopt the House’s take on the bill, which would prohibit insurers from establishing a dollar cap on how much they will pay out during a policyholder’s lifetime. (I'll bet it was a VERY STERN LETTER, too, innit?--W)

"Individuals with chronic diseases and disorders must not be impeded in accessing necessary health care nor should they be impoverished with unreasonable lifetime limits on benefits,” Democratic Reps. Patrick Kennedy (R.I.), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.) and 27 colleagues wrote Friday. Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), Al Franken (Minn.) and five other senators wrote a separate letter Thursday.

Sixty-three groups, including the American Heart Association, National Kidney Foundation, Easter Seals and groups representing cancer, brain and spinal cord injury, and other patients penned a similar letter on Jan. 8.

Under the House-passed healthcare reform bill, insurance companies would be prohibited from establishing annual or lifetime limits on benefits. Although the Senate-passed bill also forbids annual limits, it would permit lifetime limits in existing insurance plans by “grandfathering” those policies while forbidding new plans from establishing them.

Throughout the debate on healthcare reform, Democrats have routinely promised their legislation would free people from the anxiety that high medical bills would lead to financial ruin, prompting some lawmakers and patient groups to protest when the lifetime caps were introduced into the bill this autumn. (WTF??? "Some" lawmakers complained? WASF (WeAreSoFucked)--W)

“By preserving lifetime limits, patients in grandfathered plans will be left behind as strong patient protections are extended to those who are newly insured,” the senators wrote.

The House letter is signed by the leaders of two prominent Democratic caucuses: Reps. Raúl Grijalva (Ariz.) and Lynn Woolsey (Calif.), the co-chairpeople of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; and Rep. Barbara Lee (Calif.), chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus. Other members of both caucuses are also represented.

In addition to Dorgan and Franken, Democratic Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Carl Levin (Mich.), Bob Casey Jr. (Pa.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.) signed the Senate letter.

Would you care to bet that existing "pre-existing condition" bans are "grandfathered in, too? Me neither...