By scoobydo

January 24, 2011 5:16 PM | Link to this

” the GOP and pay for his own health care. The Republicans in Ohio pay for their own health care as do the GOP in Washington” You get that from Fixed entertainment fake news? You can not be that stupid. Just Google it for yourself once, 8 Republican Congressmen have gone with out their hypocritical government issued insurance, and a few of them only because they are already on SS and Medicare, which is government run health-care. The gop is so full of hate and lies, its amazing they get anyone gullible enough to listen to their crap besides vote for a party that wants YOU to not have any health-care while you pay for theirs. Come on people WAKE UP. Do some research on your own, turn off Fixed lying news for a while and get back to this universe.

By shawn redmond

January 24, 2011 3:38 PM | Link to this

just friday you stated the jobless rate has declined ,now today you stated jobless enemployment has increased ,come on make up your mind mr william ,see u dont know either do yaaa !!! ,dont lie to the people !!!!

By Mike R

January 24, 2011 1:11 PM | Link to this

You contradict yourself. As you pointed out, businesses that offer h.c. now do it to attract and retain quality individuals. The current “fine” is they won’t be able to “lure” quality people to work for them. Obviously, they don’t have to offer that “perk” but the free market won’t let them do that if they want to hang on to those valued employees. Those people will go to work for a firm that offers h.c. insurance. The single payer system still has to be funded and it will be funded thru taxes—just as h.c. insurance is now—there will be costs associated to the business and individuals.

By @Mike R

January 23, 2011 6:40 PM | Link to this

Mike, you state that the average employer pays $9000 per employee for health insurance and the maximum penalty for not providing it is only $3000 so naturally, companies will drop employee coverage because it is cheaper to pay the fine… However, since the beginning of health insurance being offered in the country companies paid no fine to not offer insurance… Companies offer health insurance to lure employees to work for them. If the “they will drop employees because the fine is cheaper than the cost” then no one would be offered insurance by an employer no because its free to drop employer subsidized insurance! We are the only industrialized country in the world that puts the health insurance burden on businesses! Single payer is the only solution, unless you are anti-business and think business should be burdened with health care costs!

By @Mike R

January 23, 2011 6:39 PM | Link to this

Mike, you state that the average employer pays $9000 per employee for health insurance and the maximum penalty for not providing it is only $3000 so naturally, companies will drop employee coverage because it is cheaper to pay the fine… However, since the beginning of health insurance being offered in the country companies paid no fine to not offer insurance… Companies offer health insurance to lure employees to work for them. If the “they will drop employees because the fine is cheaper than the cost” then no one would be offered insurance by an employer no because its free to drop employer subsidized insurance! We are the only industrialized country in the world that puts the health insurance burden on businesses! Single payer is the only solution, unless you are anti-business and think business should be burdened with health care costs!

By earl

January 23, 2011 11:56 AM | Link to this

Everyone one of us who have health care insurance have paid for it. So you ask, “What about employer provided insurance?” The cost of your employer to provide you with insurance is money spent on you that would otherwise be on your pay check. Sure there is a discount involve with group contracts out pricing what you could purchase on your own, but ultimately, whether directly of indirectly, you pay every penny. The more regulations, restrictions and third party involvement placed between the patient and physician,the higher costs go. By stifling choice and competition, the natural checks and balances of the free market to establish economy and efficiency are absent. We have a choice of two directions: the socialist model of higher costs and slower and poorer care(except for the politically connected), or the free market model which is the engine of innovation providing new drugs, methods and machinery. We can live (and die)with care our government decides to provide us, or we can choose for ourselves what is best for us and for our families. The answers are simple; the politics of enacting them is what’s difficult.

By gng

January 23, 2011 7:27 AM | Link to this

So, I guess Brown is taking from us once again..previously he couldn’t afford his own Dental plan…phooey. He’s been on the dole for how many years now? Time to throw him out. He needs a total attitude adjustment. Everyone wants coverage for this, for that, for everything. People, we just don[‘t have the money. Lower taxes, Sherrod Brown, create private sector jobs here in OHIO, and maybe more people could afford their own insurance. As it is Ohio and the nation is going bankrupt with this plan. We will be making huge entitlement cuts in the future. Perhaps that’s why Mr. Brown wants to get his teeth fixed while the gettin’s good…maybe he sees that with Obamacare, there WILL be rationing…not just for dentistry, but for cancer treatments as well… Lots of cuts are coming…unless we have huge tax hikes to pay for everyone’s treatments. Think about this, people, before you salute Mr. Brown. He’s part of the problem, not part of the solution.

By tiredofit!

January 23, 2011 6:00 AM | Link to this

the republicans have lied about this healthcare bill so much they forget what they have made up about it.as far as i know the u.s. is the only industrailezed country in the world that does not have unerverersal healthcareits time the us caught up.

By Mike R

January 22, 2011 11:26 AM | Link to this

mr. reality, ObamaCare does NOT strengthen private insurance. You show a true lack of understanding human behavior. The avg premium paid last year for a single worker was just under $4,000. The penalty to NOT have insurance starts out in year 2014 at 1% of income or $95/year which ever is greater and is raised eventually to $695/year or 2% of income, which ever is greater. The average employer makes insurance contributions around $9,000/year. The MAXIUM penalty a company will be assessed for not providing health insurance is $3,000. You do the math! More people will be on the public dole, resulting in a weaker private insurance industry that charges out the butt to make up for those losses. @Larry, the private insurance profits last year were 4.4%., up from 3.3% in 2009. Hardly “outrageous.”

By Mark

January 21, 2011 11:52 PM | Link to this

Well said. I couldn’t have proven my point without you.

By davidss2

January 21, 2011 8:54 PM | Link to this

The Dems lied about the true cost of the healthcare takeover in Obamacare. They took 500Million $$$$ from Medicare, from those retired already. They double counted that to make obamacare seem to be less costly. Then the Dems lie as the Republicans start putting forth plans to replace parts of ObamaCare with less costly and more effective altearnatives that aren’t there to give healthcare to aliens. The Republicans had alternatives for ObamaCare but the dems were so busy being the party of “US” and “ME” and “BO” that they wouldn’t even allow the bills to be heard on the floor. The worm has turned. Please, Dems, quit lying about the real costs.

By Mark

January 21, 2011 5:21 PM | Link to this

It’s pretty obvious who has an opinion and no fact to back it up here. For all the noise Republicans have made about the deficit, the Democrats supposedly abusing the taxpayers’ money, and how the government should stay out of healthcare, a grand total of 8 Republican Congressmen, out of 289, have opted out of federal coverage. Say what you will about Senator Brown - as blatantly uniformed and borderline slanderous as it usually is - but he made a promise, stuck to it, and never engaged in the hypocrisy of relying on federal healthcare while claiming to be morally against it.

By Larry

January 21, 2011 4:36 PM | Link to this

Thank you Senator Brown for all you have done to improve access to health care. It is disappointing to see that there are still folks out there who do not understand how vulnerable each of us is of losing our insurance. My wife was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2005. Without the provisions in Health Reform she could be denied coverage for ongoing treatment or for treatment of any recurrence. Imagine a woman with breast cancer recurrence with no insurance? Unfortunately the Affordable Care Act plan was the best we could get now,largely because of those who continue to protect the interests of the insurance companies. However, it should not be lost that taking the outrageous insurance company profits out of the mix, just might assure access to care for all of us without the threat of financial devastation and at minimal risk for tax increases. It is curious that there are so many who continue to argue that we have the best health care in the world when the facts clearly state otherwise. Curious that there are those who ould brag about not having health insurance while the rest of us pay for their care through our premiums. What has happened to “love thy neighbor” and the moral fiber of this country. Thank you Senator Brown for putting yourself at risk all these years by not taking the Congressional insurance and for being such a staunch advocate for better health in America.

By Gus Hall

January 21, 2011 12:58 PM | Link to this

I yearn for the past administration of Comrade Strickland. He was a staunch supporter of the Socialistic principles of Marx, Lenin and Stalin. He could deliver us from the evils of insurance companies. We should model our health care plan after Russia’s state plan…the FINEST in the world.

By Lori

January 21, 2011 11:16 AM | Link to this

Brown needs to be like the GOP and pay for his own healh care. The Republicans in Ohio pay for their own health care as do the GOP in Washington. Brown and the Dems are the only ones that we have to pay for healh care.

By Leslie

January 21, 2011 10:26 AM | Link to this

Mr. Wealthy Brown, born with a silver spoon has now decided that we the taxpayers should pay for his insurance, now that the country is broke. Mr. Wealthy can afford to pay for his own health insurance as well as his own medical care, but now he wants you to believe he has done something for you. And since he has done something for you, you must pay for his health insurance. Yes we the taxpayers are his employers therefore we pay the larger portion of his health insurance. In other words Brown has just added to the deficit.

By Out_2_There

January 21, 2011 9:06 AM | Link to this

Well the fact of the matter is that health care for government employees is through private insurance companies (not just Blue Cross, there are well over 2 dozen companies, depending on where in the country you live) and it’s not free for them either. They pay monthly premiums just like everyone else who is not employed by the government. Not only that, but their rates have also gone up in double digit percentages since the Dems shoved all this program on all of us. If the republicans would like to save “the people” a ton of money, all they need to do is cut all the “pork” out of the health care program that was used by Obama to actually get all of his loyal Dems to vote for this program in the first place. A large number of the Dems didn’t like the program either, but what the heck, if they were going to get their little kickbacks…. The program hurts everyone, but at least the illegals can get free care without breaking any further laws.

By JS

January 21, 2011 9:02 AM | Link to this

Man, you’ve all been snowed. On both sides. I promise you, no GOP plan would be any better and would be just as many pages. Why? Two reasons: nobodyin D.C. is going to take on the source of the cost problems, and that’s the employer control of what health insurance you have, and the anti-trust exemptions that health insurance companies have. Neither party will attack those issues because, obviously, they get too much money to be silent. Wake up, neither party represents us.

By ck

January 21, 2011 8:49 AM | Link to this

Brown went on Federal coverage because the private plan he was paying for went up in cost considerably like all the rest of ours did. How else are we going to pay for those that aren’t insured or not taking insurance? It’s economics Brown! I contacted is office to urge him to vote for the repeal when it hits the Senate. It’s obvious he’s voting his own heart/needs and not that of his constituents. Time to vote our hearts and vote him right out of office!

By REB

January 21, 2011 8:42 AM | Link to this

REMOVE HIM FROM OFFICE. He already got to much money from the GOV.

By James Mark

January 21, 2011 6:32 AM | Link to this

Brown may enjoy his Fed healthcare coverage. The Dems on the House floor were nuts trying to tell what would be lost at the repeal of Obamacare. They were telling so many non-truth stories. The healthcare bill has built in taxes, shifts control of doctors, insurance companies, hospitals, clinics, pharmacies from private companies to the control of government. Much greater regulation telling doctors what they can and cannot do for the patient. I am proud of the House voting to repeal the healthcare bill! The libs trying to scare the elderly if the Obamagate Healthcare Bill is repealed. Repeal and put in file 13.

By Mr Reality

January 20, 2011 6:46 PM | Link to this

@ohiodale: There is no government health care plan. They couldn’t get it through congress. The Obama plan continues the private health insurance system and in fact strengthens it by not allowing us to opt out (without fines).

By ohiodale

January 20, 2011 3:43 PM | Link to this

Raiel - Obama care is not the same as the federal healthcare provided to federal workers. I hate to tell you this, but the federal healthcare coverage is provided by Bluecross which is a PRIVATE insurer. Lets see Brown go on the government HC passed by Obama.

By WHO CARES

January 20, 2011 3:40 PM | Link to this

He didn’t pay for it, the lobby did!!

By jimmie

January 20, 2011 3:34 PM | Link to this

And Obamacare is supposedly going to save the taxpayers money? This does just the opposite. Just stick it to the taxpayer one more time. And we have to put up with this clown for two more years. Yuch.

By null

January 20, 2011 3:29 PM | Link to this

How nice for him. When may taxpayers expect the thank you note.

By Raiel

January 20, 2011 3:17 PM | Link to this

Brown is much more principled than the 97% of Republicans who used the federal health plans while voting to make it tougher for citizens to get care.

By Brown Streak

January 20, 2011 3:11 PM | Link to this

so what!!! A rich man who clearly can afford his own coverage, opts for Federal insurance based on so-called principal. What a crock. We are in a world of financial hurt, the depths of which will not be realized until we are are beyond the point of being able to do something about it, and this clown adds himself to the rolls. Can anyone out there find any proof that Brown actually made this problem? Sounds like more self-serving BS to me