Republicans in the state legislature have proposed LD 1333, which would completely rewrite the state’s health care laws. Despite the complexity of the bill only a few hours were allowed for debate in the committee. They felt debate just wasn’t necessary.
Some are questioning whether this new law would allow insurance companies to deny coverage due to pre-existing conditions.
LD 1333 bill does nothing to Maine’s pre-existing exclusion clause and Maine will continue to have guaranteed renewability.
Here is what the amended bill does. It takes the Maine law that currently says:
“Coverage must be guaranteed to all residents of this state other than those eligible without paying a premium for Medicare Part A.”
And changes it to read:
“Coverage issued through the Maine Guaranteed Access Plan Association established pursuant to Chapter 54-A must be guaranteed to all residents of this state other than those eligible without paying a premium for Medicare Part A.”
See the change? Under current law coverage is guaranteed. Period. But under the new law, the only thing guaranteed is something called the “Maine Guaranteed Access Plan.”
This means that you are not guaranteed to qualify for a health care plan other than a special new plan being set up by Republicans known as the “Maine Guaranteed Access Plan.” Under the proposed new law you CAN be denied coverage to any other plan in the state!
There will be a new board set up by this law to create and manage the “Maine Guaranteed Access Plan.” Republicans would usually call such a board a “death panel,” but for some reason that name didn’t make it into a bill. Do you think the “Maine Guaranteed Access Plan” will cover as much as the private insurance plan you were denied? Somehow, I doubt it.
So everyone in Maine will be guaranteed access to some sort of health care plan, but it won’t be the same one the healthy people get. There will first-class health citizens and second-class health citizens. People will go from first class to second class if, for some reason, a health insurance company doesn’t want to offer you new coverage.
Oh, and the government-run plan for all those sick people who are no longer guaranteed eligibility will be financed by a maximum 4% tax on everyone else’s private premiums. So Republicans are raising taxes. But probably not enough, because if an extra 4% was all that was required to take care of the high-risk folks I doubt our premiums would be going up 15-20% each year. So the government-run plan Republicans are inventing could run out of money pretty quickly.
Sounds like a mess.
But that is what happens when you only get a few hours to debate a 29-page bill completely rewriting the state’s insurance law. Way to go!
There is a group called the Tenth Amendment Center, who specialize in rewriting constitutional history and appearing on crank radio shows, that has recently thrown down the gauntlet against it’s sworn enemies. It called out several commentators known for their skill at communication, knowledge of policy, and, of course, liberal views.
Who got named? Try Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. Christopher Weaver at NPR.
And me!
Okay, I’ve never heard of the Christopher Weaver guy either. But Ezra Klein! I’m as much a threat to ultra-conservative orthodoxy as the really smart guy at the Washington Post! Sweet. And I don’t even have to get out of my pajamas!
The basic premise is this: all the parties named by the Tenth Amendment Center are actively subverting the Constitution by espousing a view of the tenth amendment not in line with the crackpot views of the Tenth Amendment Center.
To be clear, I’ve heard the Tenth Amendment Center on a certain radio program and they really pack some intellectual firepower. Check out this audio from a recent interview with Chris at the 10th Amendment Center who, frankly, sounds like he just got a wedgie:
HOST: Chris, what do you see the difference between the nullification process and the tenth amendment push?
(silence)
CHRIS: What do you mean?
(more silence)
HOST: The Tenth Amendment Center is trying to show people how to get the states to reenact, reutilize, reinvigorate the idea of the tenth amendment, the sovereignty of the states. The other process is that people, individual citizens, and legislators, and states, nullify by ignoring bad law. What do you see, how do you see that working together?
CHRIS: They pretty much go hand in hand. I mean….
(dead air)
HOST: What does the Tenth Amendment Center want Maine to do?
(awkward, long silence on live radio)
CHRIS: I mean, uh…. Heh….I guess I’m not getting the question there. Heh heh.
Wow. The guy from the Tenth Amendment Center, a group formed to push for a certain policy, hadn’t prepared for a question that was basically, “Um, so, what do you guys want people to do?” Gee, he seems to say, I hadn’t thought about that. Let me think for a second. What subject am I here to talk about? The ninth amendment? Oh golly, I always forget.
It is easier to put your thoughts together in writing rather than be expected to avoid awkward silence and chuckles on live radio, so the Tenth Amendment Center went on its website and criticized me for criticizing Representative Cebra’s bill to criminalize enforcement of the Affordable Care Act:
AsMaineGoesLolz.com, a site that portrays itself as being the opposite of popular Maine website As Maine Goes, which it accuses of being conservative, has also gone after LD 58. The staunchly-partisan website takes a couple shots in this article[.]
Did you notice how I “accuse” As Maine Goes of being conservative? What the hell! What does the Tenth Amendment Center think AMG is? Let me tell you, it ain’t no accusation, Mister person-who-accuses-himself-of-being-named-Chris.
So weird.
I also must admit I enjoy seeing the asmainegoeslolz.com name in print, not because I want the attention, but because it is so awkward to write out. It is a really stupid name. It is purposely a stupid name that rhymes, sort of. So it gives me a laugh when I see someone say “according to asmainegoeslolz.com” or something like that. Sometimes it even gets capital letters (AsMaineGoesLOLZ), I think to try and make it look slightly less dumb. And yet, somehow, I find the name more accurate than “The Tenth Amendment Center,” which implies some sort of academic endeavor beyond Chris having a few Heritage Foundation brochures stashed behind his xbox.
Anyways, the Tenth Amendment Center closes the piece with what they probably thought was a profound and thoughtful piece of oratory:
But the title of the article, “These Maine Legislators Don’t Understand How America Works,” is all wrong. For as shown in the previous paragraph, the Maine Legislators, just as Jefferson and Madison did, have it all right. It’s Kapur, Klein, Weaver, and AsMaineGoesLolz, who don’t understand how America was designed to work.
So the critics of Mr. Cebra and the co-sponsors of LD 58 and of other States: on behalf of every educated Tenther, please open up a Constitution and read it.
Unbeknownst to Chris, I have in fact read the constitution. I have it available in several written formats and even as an app right here on my phone. The problem is that I don’t just read it, but I learn about it, and the fact is that your interpretation of the tenth amendment simply isn’t correct. Besides being wrong, it would lead to chaos and breakdown of the country as we know it.
What Chris needs to do is try learning about the Constitution from a source other than a right-wing website and the heavily selective sources and quotes therein. If he did, he would know that courts rejected nullification as early as 1809. And while a couple states did pass nullification resolutions in this early days of the Republic, ten states rejected them. Which seems strange, unless maybe nullification wasn’t the predominant understanding at the time? Just maybe?
Tenthers basically want to go back to the Articles of Confederation, when each state was “sovereign” and everything was a real mess. The constitution created a stronger Federal government with supremacy over the states. There were limits, but a Constitution granting states the right to pick and choose which Federal laws to follow is no Constitution at all.
If there is a solution to Mr. Cebra’s perceived problem it must be found in the court system like any other civilized person. And hey, the Supreme Court said just that in 1809. And then said it again each and every time it has come up. Weird how it all fits together!
This isn’t rocket science. It is the way America has actually been running for centuries. Either 10 generations of Americans were wrong and the Tenth Amendment Center is right, or everyone else is right and the Tenth Amendment Center is a bunch of crackpots.
So in this thread AMGers rejoice because some podunk town in Maine passed a law declaring, in all seriousness, that they are not and never were bound by Federal and State laws requiring that stuff squeezed out of cows be sanitized before being sold to the public.
Now, I know that cows are known for their cleanliness- they never poop where they sleep and they ALWAYS take a shower in the morning before their daily milking. Being called a cow in my family was never an insult. It just meant you were a super neat-freak. But is raw milk really safe?
It doesn’t matter. Let us commend these brave patriots who insist on their god-given right to experience food poisoning much like their great grandparents in the 1930′s who, seeing that milk-borne illnesses were the cause of 25% of all food poisoning, unreasonably decided that pasteurization might be a good thing. Those old fogies, in between winning two world wars, solved the milk poisoning problem so well that their descendants can’t even remember that the problem exists! Go USA!
Sure, some science types can can give you a run down of all the diseases that can be passed along in raw milk. They can even tell you that raw milk is like playing “russian roulette” with your health. But what do they know? They’re just scientific elites. They probably don’t even drink milk, but prefer liquified caviar served in mugs emblazoned with “World’s #1 Socialist Dad.”
Did you know you can get tuberculosis from raw milk? Come on, how cool is that? Tuberculosis was actually a sign of prestige in the Victorian Era. A Gentleman’s Disease.
All of Maine should rise up and support these dropouts- err, I mean patriots, who are really putting the scare into the FDA. Imagine the conversation at FDA headquarters:
“Sir! Fearless leader! I have terrible news! Sedgwick, Maine, has figured out that we, the tyrannical Food and Drug Administration, cannot regulate Food and Drugs! Our paper castle is collapsing!”
“Dammit! It’s over. It is all over. Oh well, I guess it was a good 80 year run.”
“Here, have some socialist liquified caviar.”
“Mmm. Delicious.”
So what next? Will Sedgwick, Maine declare that its residents no longer have to pay income taxes? Order a return of prayer to schools? The possibilities abound. Sedgwick, Maine: I beg you, lead us down the road to glory.
Michelle Anderson does not understand why everyone but her is still proceeding with implementing the ACA, also known as health care reform, despite a court in Florida finding it unconstitutional.
Here is a simple answer: Because no court, not even the Florida court (one of four to have ruled on the law, mind you), granted plaintiffs’ request to put the law on hold pending appeal. It is right there in the decision.
You could *read* the decision. That is what all the people actually responsible for implementing the ACA have done and why they are taking this “baffling” action. Exhibiting an ability to read things more complicated than a Glenn Beck conspiracy theory is probably how they *got* their jobs implementing laws and stuff.
Okay, so here is the depth of analysis of the health care law on AMG.
Someone pointed out that if the government can’t mandate people buy things, then the government can’t mandate everyone purchase a gun. Which, obviously, is a noble and worthy cause. We wouldn’t want to paint ourselves into a corner on that one.
Enter Woodcanoe, who has been on fire lately. He’s rapidly progressing towards his own profile page. Here is his contribution:
I agree that, if the proposed state law was rewritten to require everybody to “have” a gun as opposed to “buy” a gun, it would be perfectly proper. Might even pass in some states, not Maine for sure.
I didn’t make that up. Forcing people to “buy” things is wrong- but just requiring people have it, eh, not so much.
If requiring people to buy the private insurance of their choice is unconstitutional and The End Of The Republic, but the government could very clearly just tax you, take your money and give it to a private insurer without any input from you… doesn’t that mean the Republic has been dead for decades?
I really don’t understand this. The government CAN force you to give them money. It CAN give your money to anyone it wants. It CAN provide health care to persons.
But if the government dares try to cut itself out of that chain all hell breaks loose. The health care mandate is actually more “market based” than the very constitutional alternative. It gives people more choice than a simple tax and spend healthcare program, but somehow is still evil.
Naran is turning out to be one of the most blindly critical antiObamatrons on As Maine Goes, which frankly I did not expect. In the last year she has taken a real turn downhill in my eyes, whether it is threatening to close threads down for little nitpicky things or, as in this case, just passing off rumor as fact.
Now I doubt Naran would take kindly to being called a liar, but she has no trouble accusing people of the Democratic persuasion of lying based on hearsay, random emails, and gut feelings. And nothing has seen more lies and hearsay than the Affordable Health Act.
The latest untruth starts in this thread, which gives a version of the law that is barely connected to reality:
DID you know that if you sell your house after 2012 you will pay a 3.8% sales tax on it? That’s $3,800 on a $100,000 home etc. When did this happen? It’s in the healthcare bill. Just thought you should know.
SALES TAX TO GO INTO EFFECT 2013 (Part of HC Bill)
REAL ESTATE SALES TAX
So, this is “change you can believe in”?
Under the new health care bill – did you know that all real estate transactions will be subject to a 3.8% Sales Tax? The bulk of these new taxes don’t kick in until 2013 If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax. This bill is set to screw the retiring generation who often downsize their homes. Does this stuff make your November 2012 vote more important?
A good rule of thumb is this: If it is about the Affordable Care Act, and it is on As Maine Goes, it is not even close to true.
Here is the real situation: There is a tax on capital gains (gasp!), which may include the sale of a home (omg!) but only if the following conditions are true:
1) The couple makes $250,000 per year ($200,000 for individuals), and
2) Only gains above $500,000 are taxed.
So, while the AMGer who posted this wrote.
If you sell your $400,000 home, there will be a $15,200 tax.
… might be right if you bought your house at a price better than negative $100,000, in all other cases he or she is full of shit.
As is Naran, when she cites Obama’s pledge not to raise taxes on people earning below a certain income and comments:
From the site linked above:
“I can make a firm pledge. Under my plan, no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes,”
- President Obama, September 12, 2008
************
Really? How does he now explain that new Obamacare capital gains tax?
Well, she’s wrong. As usual.
In this case it gets worse. Someone gave her a link to snopes.com, which laid out what the law actually says.
So did Naran say, whoops, I was wrong? Or hey, I’m the moderator, could you please correct the first post to make it accurate?
Hahahahaha. No.
Nope, she just blithely writes:
Snopes says the 3.8% tax would be on capital gains over the ‘threshold.” (whatever that amount may be).
Still in direct opposition to the promises from President Obama.
Which is really frustratingly dumb, given that the snopes webpage specifically lays out the threshold. And it isn’t like it was lost in some long explanation; the whole page was just a few paragraphs.
I’m not great at math, but someone who has capital gains over $500,000 might just have income over $250,000. I’m pretty sure. So sorry Naran, but the facts are in direct opposition to what you said.
A correction would be nice, but don’t expect one. That just isn’t her style.
Representative O’CONNOR of Berwick (a regular on As Maine Goes).
Representative SIROCKI of Scarborough.
Representative WINDSOR of Norway.
Look at that list. If you see any of them giving your 1st grader a civic lesson, pull your child away IMMEDIATELY. These people don’t understand how our country works.
They are the sponsors of LD 58, a completely unconstitutional and immoral bill that would make it a crime for government officials to follow the law.
This bill, quite simply, would make it a felony for Federal or State officials to enforce Obama’s Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), punishable by up to five years in prison. So not only would they brand government officials criminals just for doing their job, but they would like to see them separated from their families for five years.
“Obamacare” as it is known, is already giving small businesses tax credits for providing healthcare to employees. Presumably the letter of law in this bill would require someone to arrest the IRS agents at our local offices who assist in giving these tax credits to business by processing their paperwork. Who would carry out this arrest? Who knows! I would hope that no police officer would be nutty enough to try.
Another requirement of the ACA is that insurers must allow children as old as 26 to remain on a parent’s policy. This is already in effect. Presumably anyone who tried to enforce this in Maine would also be subject to arrest.
Look: Whether or not the ACA is constitutional isn’t even important when considering this law. This law is illegal even IF the ACA is later found to be unconstitutional. Why? Because the court system is the final arbiter. States can’t just decide which Federal laws to follow and which they won’t.
They tried that in the South in regards to desegregation; they ended up with soldiers escorting people to school.
Is Maine going down that path? Will LePage be the Governor Wallace of health reform? I hope not. I hope this disastrous, illegal, and just plain stupid bill is voted down as soon as possible.