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Will Rodgers was very well liked in this country--but I wouldn't consider him any kind of political genius of his time. IOW--I wouldn't set his statements in stone--and then vote by them or form a political ideology from them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zedleppelin
"When government is big enough to give you everything you want, it will also be big enough to take everything you have"--Thomas Jefferson
Allow me to rant before it gets deleted or something, but there are two crises with regards to our current healthcare 'system'. We're discussing nearly one fifth of our economy.Quote:
Originally Posted by rightwinger
The first crisis is of access. This affects about 10-15% of people in this country. It's a large problem and needs to be addressed. Recent legislation has done some positive things like the creation of additional 'high-risk' pools and programs for those who can't get covered under current rules, guarantee issue of policies to children, etc.
The second crisis is one of cost, and it affects nearly everyone, more than 90% in my opinion. This crisis reaches across many different parts of our economy, and it's going to be difficult to reform a problem that affects so many people. That's why it's difficult to pass a bill to solve all of our problems.
We're starting to see insurance companies play by the new rules, but they still will find their loopholes. After all, we had to pass the legislation before we can see what's in it, of course there will be loopholes.
Politicians suck.
Glad to hear you are an expert on this matter.Quote:
Originally Posted by rightwinger
Quote:
Originally Posted by cologrower420
We already had a law in Colorado passed in 2008 that added $3.00 to every premium in this state to help those with pre-exisiting conditions get coverage.
Back in the 1990's--in our small Sub-S business--we could group together to get the same kind of rates as large corporations. Our employees were covered and we could afford to pay for it. Then group for small business imploded leaving small business people out in the dark. We had to purchase private policies for ourselves just to keep it affordable--and then donate to our employees pay-checks additional so they could get a private personal policy. Right now my spouse and I alone--(very healthy--btw) avid exercises and eating habits pay $925.00 per month for a lousy high-deductible ($10K deductible policy.) And Athem/Blue Cross just raised it to over $1000 per month--because of Obamacare.
If you walk into our hospital emergency rooms--they are filled with people complaining about common colds and sore throats--because they do not want to pay for that doctors visit. In my opinion--I think there should be N.P's in every Walgreen's--or pharmacy across this country--where they can accept walk-in patients for a small fee--for these type of common symptons--which would bring everyone's medical cost down.
In the end we all end up paying for the uninsured in this country.
It seems like you are criticizing rightwinger, I would like you to clarify. I would consider myself an 'expert' in this field, and everything he has said about insurance is spot on.Quote:
Originally Posted by mustangwomyn
There are already programs in existence that help uninsured people get covered.
What's your beef? Cost? Access? Quality of coverage? Please elaborate.
I think you meant to quote mustangwoman instead of me, because this post seems more targeted at them.Quote:
Originally Posted by rightwinger
I've been in this industry for nine years, and my father has been in this industry for 35+ years, so what you posted is common knowledge for me.
Cliff Notes: We have serious issues and two major crises in our healthcare system, cost and access. Obamacare doesn't do much to address either. At least there will be more politicians employed by all of the growth in government. Our current two party system makes it nearly impossible to pass meaningful reform. At least there are two more elections before obamacare forces us onto the government roster.
My beef is the cost of medical insurance. Small business cannot afford group insurance. Today I would guess that the over 40 million Americans who aren't covered are working for small business in this country--and continually head to the emergency room for common symptoms that could easily be taken care of in clinics--and pharmacies. I don't think Obamacare addresse's this issue. This bill in no way reflects on how to reduce the cost of medical treatment--it just takes from one fund (Medicare) to pay for another program. Here we are taking 500 billion dollars out of Medicare--when the baby boomer population--which is the largest generation in history-is now entering Medicare and will continue to do so for the next 15 years.Quote:
Originally Posted by cologrower420
I am with you on this point--I can't think of any Federal Government program that has been operated efficiently. Social Security bankrupt--Medicare bankrupt and Medicade bankrupt. Even the senate cafeteria is in red ink--LOL.
In another note--last year I called Anthem--Blue Cross--Blue Shield to complain again about the yearly rate increase--and listened to a 10 minute recorded apology. Their stated reason for the continual rate increases was the pharmacutical industry that has been pushing all these new drugs on the market--for many things none of us have even heard of. Restless leg syndrom--all the erectile dysfunction pills--etc. etc. etc.--that we all end up paying for. I think some of these pills should be paid out of pocket by the patient for a lot of this.
In conclusion--my daughter is a nurse practitioner working out of a local hospital handeling all the mothers having babies that are on medicade. What she tells me is that more and more pediatricians are refusing to see babies that have Medicade coverage. They accept a few--then the rest go somewhere else. Medicade apparently pays around .87 cents on the dollar--so doctors are reluctant to accept new patients.
In my opinion people's health should never be a for profit business. I remember back in the dark ages when pharmaceutical companies could not advertise on TV. Unfortunately, as long as we have a system of health care where there is big money to be made premiums will go up.
There can be finger pointing to big pharmacy in regards to increased health care costs and the continuing prohibition of marijuana, two subjects near and dear to my heart.
The pharmacutical industry in this country is the largest lobbyist in Washington D.C--against the use of medical marijuana.Quote:
Originally Posted by Reenster
They're too busy in that chemical lab making up a new weekly pill for us to try--LOL Profits and politicians never mix well for the American public. We always get the sharp end of the stick.
If that!Quote:
Originally Posted by rightwinger
I don't know any other industry where when they are billed, they come back and say,"Sorry we're only going to pay X amount".
If I take my car to the mechanic and he bills me $500, I can't say "Well I'm only going to pay $250".
The whole industry/field/system is screwed up. From the medical education schools to billing practices of the medical offices to the insurance companies down to the patients who won't practice a bit of common sense and got see a general practitioner instead of going to the ED for a common cold!
Quote:
Originally Posted by ThaiBuddhaMan
Unfortunately they do end up in our very expensive hospital emergency rooms for "free" medical care. One hospital in Texas spent over 200K last year for one single homeless man that kept coming into the emergency room for a variety of tests. BTW--they never could find anything wrong with him. Overall this one hospital billed Medicade for over 500K on a total of 18 continual frequent visitors.
Until that stops--and there are other places for these type of people to go--we are not going to be able to stop the sky-rocketing costs of health care.