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Adorable Puppy Explains Health Care Bill

2009-12-29 · explainer · John · 3:54 · watch on YouTube

Topic: US politics & society · mode: News analysis · tags: timely hook

John answers questions put by his dog Willy about the US Senate health-care reform bill: what it does (insurance regulation, subsidized exchanges, about 30 million newly covered), pre-existing conditions, abortion, immigrants, taxes, the deficit, Ben Nelson's vote, and why the individual mandate is needed.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Willy's questions: what the bill is (House and Senate bills; insurance regulation and subsidized exchange), job-based insurance, 30 million covered, pre-existing conditions and gender, abortion funding

  • ★★ John says there are actually two health-care reform bills, one passed by the House of Representatives and one by the Senate; he mostly discusses the Senate bill. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ John says the Senate bill regulates insurers, e.g. barring refusal of people with pre-existing conditions, and creates a nonprofit insurance exchange, federally subsidized, for the jobless, self-employed and small-business workers. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says that for people insured through their jobs nothing would change, except arguably their premiums. — 00:00:29
  • ★★★ John says about 30 million Americans who are currently uninsured or underinsured would be covered under the bill. — 00:00:29 · United States
  • ★★★ John says that under the Senate bill, by 2014, insurers can no longer exclude people with pre-existing conditions or charge more by gender (women cost more to insure, he jokes, because childbirth is expensive). — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says premiums for healthy, relatively young men like him might go up, though that may be offset by an overall decrease in health-care costs from the subsidized insurance pool. (hedged) — 00:00:58
  • ★★★ John says no federal money will go to funding abortions; the mechanics are too complicated for the video and are explained in the sidebar. — 00:00:58

00:01:41 — Illegal immigrants and emergency rooms; kids and staying on parents' insurance to about 27; taxes: Medicare tax, Cadillac plans, indoor tanning

  • ★★★ John says illegal immigrants already get health care in America because, as a rule, emergency rooms don't turn people away. — 00:01:41 · United States
  • ★★ John says covering more uninsured adults will also cover more uninsured children, and the bill will likely let people stay on their parents' insurance until about 27. (hedged) — 00:01:41
  • ★★★ John says the bill raises the Medicare tax by 0.9% on income over $200,000 a year, so someone making $300,000 pays about $1,000 more. — 00:02:10
  • ★★ John says the bill sharply raises the tax rate on 'Cadillac' health plans, which most health-care analysts think is good because it lowers the share of GDP spent on health care. — 00:02:10
  • ★★ John calls the bill's tax on indoor tanning a really good idea, since indoor tanners have a much higher chance of expensive melanoma; it is the same reason cigarettes are taxed. — 00:02:10

00:02:40 — National deficit and debt (CBO), Ben Nelson's vote, the individual mandate and why it is needed (car-insurance analogy)

  • ★★★ Citing the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, John says the bill will cut the national deficit; whether that cuts the debt depends on whether the money is spent elsewhere. — 00:02:40
  • ★★ John says Nebraska Senator Ben Nelson sold his vote, shown wearing an 'asshat'. (playful) — 00:02:40
  • ★★★ John says anyone eligible for insurance under the bill must get it or pay a penalty that will eventually be $750 per person per year. — 00:02:40
  • ★★★ John defends the mandate: most experts think reform won't work otherwise; like mandatory car insurance, the uninsured skip preventive care and their unpaid costs pass to everyone else. — 00:03:09

00:03:38 — Wrap-up, offer to answer more questions in comments, sign-off

  • ★ John says he will try to answer further questions about the bill in the comments. (hedged) — 00:03:38

In the description and comments

  • ★★ John explains that under the Senate plan, policies covering abortion would be sold in the exchange (at least in some states) but must collect two separate premiums, one for abortion coverage; the subsidy, for families making under about $88,000 a year, applies only to the non-abortion policy. — video description
  • ★★★ John calls the two-premium distinction hilariously stupid and argues that saying the bill allows federal funding of abortions is disingenuous unless all government spending funds abortion, as with highways or food stamps. — video description

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Affordable Care Act · Individual mandate · universal health care

Also: People: Ben Nelson

Organizations: Congressional Budget Office · United States House of Representatives · United States Senate

Terms: in your pants

Concepts: abortion · Cadillac insurance plan · illegal immigration · melanoma · pre-existing condition · vehicle insurance

Places: United States

Policies: Affordable Health Care for America Act · Health insurance marketplace · Medicare

animal: Willy

Only in the description or credits: Alan Lastufka · Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Also centred on Affordable Care Act: Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform · The Lowdown on the Shutdown · Applying for Health Insurance: Then and Now · Is Obamacare Working? The Affordable Care Act Five Years Later · Understanding Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton's Health Care Reform Proposals · Why Can't America Have a Grown-Up Healthcare Conversation?

Also centred on universal health care: Ranting and Giving Stuff Away · Health Care Overhaul Summarized Via MASSIVE PIG · Health Care Reform Thought Bubble · Health Care Reform: The Hank Factor · I OWN WARNER CHILCOTT! · Bigger Pizzas: A Capitalist Case for Health Care Reform

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