I am in charge of business operations in the Mid Atlantic region for a large contractor and have to deal across state lines with benefit issues all the time. The example I gave about negotiating pre-paid deductibles is just one bargaining point I have used as an example in direct negotiations with our local crop of insurance providers. It works, and I have the reduction in health care costs and happy employees to prove it.

You may insult those of “us” who don’t have a clue from your position on top of whatever tower of ignorance you are looking down from, but you had better start looking over your shoulder if this thing gets passed because the ax is going to start swinging when the Feds get their teeth into this.

Before you start using your new favorite term “clueless” to call us names, go read the contents of these bills and if you don’t come back with a scared look and some more informed comments, then we will know who’s really clueless.

I have spent the time to read the corporate and individual mandates under these bills and they are in one of your favorite words, “draconian”. As an example, today you have the option as a CEO in Virginia to negotiate with insurance companies to significantly reduce costs by paying up front for deductibles, which can significantly lower both the business and employee rates. Under the Federal Health Care Law, you are forced as an employer to pay increased coverage for your employees, employees are forced to pay more of their costs with an additional tax for any “Cadillac” coverage (drug abuse counseling, vision, dentistry, orthodontia, alternative medicine, psychiatric and many others) above the minimum Federal level. There is no negotiation with the Federal Government under any of these plans. Unless your employees are unionized under one of the preferred unions, both you and your employees are hammered. There are additional corporate taxes related to “wellness” programs and the list goes on and on.

The indirect costs for maintaining compliance with this new program are going to require you to hire and train new health care specialists in your company who are certified to report and communicate the HHS and the subsidiary regulatory agencies which this bill is going to create. It remains to be defined if these costs are deductable, and they probably will not be according to two of the bills I have read. You will also need to have several lawyers who specialize in the different aspects of health care law on retainer because there are severe penalties for not complying with all provisions of the law.

After the Feds implement this brave new world of health care, you can take comfort in the fact that you and your employees are being forced to pay much more than you currently do for those 40 million souls who will be equal with you as one of the “haves” in health care, because as of right now in your words, they are “have nots”.

If your business survives a health care audit and isn’t liquidated for fines or back health care taxes, which are going to be turned over to the IRS for enforcement, then you will have passed a hurdle that many businesses will not survive.

Why are you repeating Van Jones with your statement “disparity between the haves and have nots will widen” and why are you parroting and stringing together the health care talking points from the Center for American Progress?

All of us currently have rights to our opinions, but you are aligning yourself with those who are seeking to suppress or restrict them.

I ask this legitimately as a question. What in this bill suggests to you that this is going to slow growing healthcare costs for small businesses?

In a similar light, Massachusetts essentially has this system now and they have the highest insurance costs in the country. The current Democrat State treasurer has come out against this plan because the MA version failed to keep costs down. So in what manner does this plan differ from the MA system in its relevance to costs?

There are other ways to approach this than to blast Republicans. Can you find another way?

Instead of pushing this bill through like an angry child having to get it’s way no matter who it hurts or inconveniences, it has to be good for all the American people.