It's a TRAP!

[bushwacked]

Socialism!

[Riffraff]

I stay out of the political foodfights here, but that clip is a keeper.

[polksalet]

HA HA commented | 3 hours ago

 

I like Jon Stewart, but this is a clip for show more than anything. They imply that Hawaii has "universal" health care and phrase the questions as such. Sorry, its not "universal" or govt. run. It's private co's being forced to offer private Ins. for care at private hospitals. There is nothing "govt. run" at all. Hence the reason the Hawaiians and Rush LImbaugh were raving about it. This is actually a good clip against govt. run healthcare. sorry left wingers, your leaders sometimes have to take things out of context or outright lie to you. Whatever makes you feel better.

[bushwacked]

HA HA commented | 3 hours ago

 

I like Jon Stewart, but this is a clip for show more than anything. They imply that Hawaii has "universal" health care and phrase the questions as such.

 

 

http://americanaffairs.suite101.com/articl..._hawaiian_style

 

The Hawaiian State government has been requiring employers to provide health insurance to their employees for nearly 35 years. Since 1975, the state of Hawaii has required that employers cover all employees that work 20 hours a week or more. As a result, almost 90 percent of Hawaiian have health insurance.

 

The clip says the exact same thing and states "nearly universal health care." What is misleading exactly? That lady at the Repub convention had no clue it was govt. mandated health care and I'd bet dollars to donuts Rush didn't either when he was clamoring over the quality of the care he got. Looks like the poster just isn't all that keen on Hawaiians liking their model way more than what the rest of us deal with.

 

In fact, the bill that almost passed in Congress before the MA senatorial race would have resulted in quite similar results nation wide, except employers wouldn't have been directly on the hook like in Hawaii.

Edited February 13, 2010 by bushwacked

[untateve]

from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii#Health

 

Hawaii's health care system insures over 95% of residents. Under the state's plan, businesses are required to provide insurance to employees who work more than twenty hours per week. Heavy regulation of insurance companies helps keep the cost to employers down. Due in part to heavy emphasis on preventive care, Hawaiians require hospital treatment less frequently than the rest of the United States, while total health care expenses (measured as a percentage of state GDP) are substantially lower. Given these achievements, proponents of universal health care elsewhere in the U.S. sometimes use Hawaii as a model for proposed federal and state health care plans. Critics, however, claim that Hawaii's success is due at least in part to its mild climate and to its isolated status and an economy based on tourism: businesses unhappy with paying the plan's premiums find it difficult to relocate elsewhere.[62]

 

Also from wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawaii_Prepaid_Health_Care_Act

 

Hawaii Prepaid Health Care (PHC) Act (PHCA) was a state law enacted January 1, 1975 in the State of Hawaii to improve health care coverage by employer mandate. Under the law, businesses are required to offer health insurance to employees who work more than twenty hours per week in the State of Hawaii. Before the law Hawaii had an uninsured rate of 30% presently Hawaii has an uninsured rate of 5%.

 

But Hawaii is not perfect:

 

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles...ninsured_lower/

 

Despite employer-paid healthcare, Hawaii has its coverage gaps, too

By Mark Niesse

Associated Press / July 27, 2009

 

HONOLULU - Hawaii’s decades-old law aimed at increasing health coverage by requiring companies to provide insurance to their workers has brought something less than universal healthcare to the 50th state.

 

The experience in President Obama’s home state poses some cautionary realities as Congress considers a similar federal requirement that businesses provide health insurance to their employees in any sweeping overhaul of the nation’s healthcare system.

 

Since its passage 35 years ago, the percent of uninsured in Hawaii has fallen to lower levels than nearly every other state, but the system left coverage gaps. And cost-conscious business owners have found an easy way to avoid the law by hiring more part-time workers who aren’t required to be covered.

 

“If it weren’t for that law, medical benefits are one area we would look to cut because of this recession,’’ said Debi Halcro, president of Valenti Print Group, publisher of brochures to coffee table books.

 

“It hurts the business. You can’t pass it on to customers in this economy.’’

 

Like many Hawaii bosses, Halcro is careful to limit the hours of her three part-time employees so she doesn’t have to pay for their health insurance. In all, the company has 43 workers.

 

Similar loopholes could be exploited under vague language in legislation pending before Congress. The House bill doesn’t clarify who is a full-time employee, and the Senate measure fully covers only employees working at least 35 hours a week.

 

“An employer mandate is not an effective means for achieving universal coverage,’’ according to an analysis published by the Federal Reserve Bank last month. “Although overall insurance coverage rates are unusually high in Hawaii, a substantial number of people remain uninsured, suggesting a need for alternative approaches if universal coverage is the ultimate goal.’’

 

Since Democrat-controlled Hawaii passed its employer health insurance mandate, it has consistently had one of the lowest rates of uninsured in the nation, at about 8 percent in 2007, according to the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation. A federal survey showed Massachusetts had even fewer uninsured, at about 3 percent. The national average is 15 percent.

 

Massachusetts approved a broad healthcare reform measure in 2006 that requires near-universal coverage and penalizes individuals who refuse to get coverage. Massachusetts is also different from Hawaii in that it has had some of the highest health costs in the country, while Hawaii has the lowest.

 

Because Hawaii’s law covers only those who work more than 20 hours per week, some companies have changed their hiring practices so they can save money.

 

“Naturally, everybody tries to keep their workers as part time,’’ said Jack Schneider, president of J.S. Services, which handles human resources and mandated benefits for about 200 Hawaii companies.

 

“If you create a law, people find ways to get around it.’’

 

Hawaii has the highest percentage of private-sector part-time employees without employer-sponsored insurance in the country, according to a University of Hawaii study of the law’s impacts.

 

But the study also shows that Hawaii ranks in the middle nationally in the percentage of employees working 19 hours or fewer per week, which negates the idea that businesses have significantly switched to part-time workers to dodge health insurance costs, said Gerard Russo, an economics professor and the report’s researcher and coauthor.

 

Low-hour employees make up only about 3 percent to 6 percent of the overall workforce in Hawaii, according to the Federal Reserve Bank report.

 

About 17 percent of Hawaii residents lacked insurance that would cover both doctor visits and hospital bills when the law was passed in 1974, and that figure dropped to around 5 percent in the early 1980s, according to the Hawaii Uninsured Project.

 

Russo said the climb to 8 percent uninsured by 2007 was caused by a combination of factors: The number of uninsured grew as the unemployment rate rose, healthcare costs increased across the country, and some businesses hired more part-time workers to avoid the law’s reach.

 

While not immune to skyrocketing health costs, Hawaii residents have the most affordable health insurance in the nation, with average family coverage costing $9,426 annually for employer-based health insurance in 2006. Nationwide, the average was $11,381.

[bushwacked]

But Hawaii is not perfect:

 

Agreed, I don't think there is such a thing as a perfect health care system. There is, however, better and cheaper ways of just leaving health care to the unadulterated whims of the free market.

[SheikYerbuti]