Bipartisan USMB Healthcare Reform Bill discussion

[xotoxi]

Okay. Enough of the bullshit bickering going on in Washington regarding healthcare. Fuck them!

Now it's OUR turn! Lets come up with a bill that WE, as members of USMB, can all agree on.

I propose that we chose TEN POINT as part of our bill...we can take them from ideas that were already proposed by the dems or the repubs. Or we can make up our own.

Of the TEN points, there may be some points that you don't agree with, and some that you like that others don't agree with. But we will compromise.

You can list general ideas or very specific ideas...and then we can all discuss.

I'LL START:

TORT REFORM

 

[xotoxi]

Another:

AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS HAPPY WITH THEIR HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN, SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO KEEP THEIR PLAN UNTIL THEY BECOME A MEDICARE BENEFICIARY, REGARDLESS OF THE HEALTH CARE OPTIONS OFFERED BY THEIR EMPLOYERS.

 

[California Girl]

If - and I say if because, as far as I am concerned, the debate is not about healthcare but whether an government involvement in healthcare is constitutional but.....

If we were to have some kind of government run healthcare system, follow France.

 

[xotoxi]

If - and I say if because, as far as I am concerned, the debate is not about healthcare but whether an government involvement in healthcare is constitutional but.....

If we were to have some kind of government run healthcare system, follow France.

Specifics, por favor...

 

[xotoxi]

If - and I say if because, as far as I am concerned, the debate is not about healthcare but whether an government involvement in healthcare is constitutional but.....

Other than the fact that the government makes the laws and regulations, this debate may include the option that there is no government funded healthcare.

However, the likelihood that insurance companies will suddenly put patient care above profit is slim to none without government prodding...and I doubt that not-for-profit insurance companies are going to be formed.

 

[California Girl]

If - and I say if because, as far as I am concerned, the debate is not about healthcare but whether an government involvement in healthcare is constitutional but.....

If we were to have some kind of government run healthcare system, follow France.

Specifics, por favor...

In the French system, the downside of which is cost.... everyone pays a contribution to cover basic care. They all also have private insurance that 'tops up' that care. Their system - albeit expensive - is excellent. Their hospitals are exceptional, they don't have the huge monstrous cumbersome crap that the Brits, Canadians and others do.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

End the favorable tax treatment for employee provided health care in exchange for Medical Saving Accounts

 

[xotoxi]

If - and I say if because, as far as I am concerned, the debate is not about healthcare but whether an government involvement in healthcare is constitutional but.....

If we were to have some kind of government run healthcare system, follow France.

Specifics, por favor...

In the French system, the downside of which is cost.... everyone pays a contribution to cover basic care. They all also have private insurance that 'tops up' that care. Their system - albeit expensive - is excellent. Their hospitals are exceptional, they don't have the huge monstrous cumbersome crap that the Brits, Canadians and others do.

So, the contribution to cover basic care, would be like our Medicare tax?

Are people mandated to get private insurance?

 

[xotoxi]

End the favorable tax treatment for employee provided health care in exchange for Medical Saving Accounts

Would this be mandatory? Voluntary? Matched?

Would the funds that you have earned be permanent and roll over each year?

Could they be inherited? And if not, where does the remaining money go upon your demise?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

End the favorable tax treatment for employee provided health care in exchange for Medical Saving Accounts

Would this be mandatory? Voluntary? Matched?

Would the funds that you have earned be permanent and roll over each year?

Could they be inherited? And if not, where does the remaining money go upon your demise?

It would be up to the companies to decide how they wanted to implement especially with respect to matching

Funds are permanently yours and roll over annually and they go to your estate when you croak.

 

[California Girl]

Specifics, por favor...

In the French system, the downside of which is cost.... everyone pays a contribution to cover basic care. They all also have private insurance that 'tops up' that care. Their system - albeit expensive - is excellent. Their hospitals are exceptional, they don't have the huge monstrous cumbersome crap that the Brits, Canadians and others do.

So, the contribution to cover basic care, would be like our Medicare tax?

Are people mandated to get private insurance?

Healthcare in France - An Introduction from FrenchEntrée.com

Despite being expensive to maintain - the deficit is currently round about 6 billion euros - and under constant funding pressure the French healthcare service is still one of the best in the world, offering a wide choice of general practitioners and healthcare specialists. For those who have experience of the health system in France and, for example, the UK, the contrast in standards can be startling.

The French healthcare system is funded by the working population. French employees pay about 20 per cent of their gross salary – the self-employed pay even more - deducted at source, to fund the social security system, known as Sécurité sociale. A significant proportion of this money goes towards public healthcare, to which every legal resident of France has access under the law of universal coverage called la Couverture maladie universelle.

*** In the past all EU expats arriving in France were eligible to join the French healthcare system. However, now those arriving in France after 23 November 2007, and who are not planning to work, are officially retired or in possession of documents which mean their healthcare costs are covered by the government of their original country, will not be allowed to join the system until they reach state retirement age or have lived here for five years. Until then, they have to hold private health insurance.

They are not mandated to have top up insurance but my understanding from French friends is that most people have it. The downside, it is HUGELY expensive but the system itself is certainly a world leader. On the downside, there is little innovation in the French medical system, they look to the US for innovative medical techniques. The French, like the rest of Europe, is far more socialist than we are so they don't have the same issues as we do with government interference. Generally, the French themselves pretty much ignore anything their government says. But.... their government also mandates that restaurants provide 'affordable' meals!!! I guess it depends on whether we want a government that tells us how to live or not.

Personally, I would rather we stay free than follow Europe. I've seen what it does to individuals. They aren't free.... and they don't even care.

 

[xotoxi]

End the favorable tax treatment for employee provided health care in exchange for Medical Saving Accounts

Would this be mandatory? Voluntary? Matched?

Would the funds that you have earned be permanent and roll over each year?

Could they be inherited? And if not, where does the remaining money go upon your demise?

It would be up to the companies to decide how they wanted to implement especially with respect to matching

Funds are permanently yours and roll over annually and they go to your estate when you croak.

I like that plan better that the HSAs that they had a while back...which disappeared if you didn't use it by the end of the year. I can't think of any reason to ever use that, unless you were planning an elective surgery.

 

[asaratis]

Allow insurance companies to sell on line and in any state.

 

[xotoxi]

Allow insurance companies to sell on line and in any state.

I don't see where that would be a problem...unless some states had more strict insurance regulation than others.

Would that mean that all states would have to have the same regulations? Or would some insurance companies not be able to sell in certain states?

And what if someone had a problem with their insurance. Would they file a complaint in their own state or in the state where the company is based?

 

[Xenophon]

No insurence companies.

Eliminate them, outlaw them.

 

[Modbert]

The major problem with allowing insurance companies to sell on line and in any state means they'll just go to the states with the lowest amount of regulation and make billions milking people dry.

 

[Toro]

No insurence companies.

Eliminate them, outlaw them.

I'd rather eliminate profits, like they did in Switzerland, and make insurance companies non-profit mutuals, like some insurance companies are now. That way, the insurance companies are still private, there is much less incentive to deny members care because of cost, and all "profits" go towards lowering health premiums.

 

[KissMy]

If you want to fix health care it would help if you knew what is causing the problems

Antitrust exemption for the insurance industry was established in the 1945 McCarran-Ferguson Act. The insurance industry has a special statutory exemption from the antitrust laws. Insurers should be subject to the same antitrust laws as everyone else.” Congress needs to pass S.1681 - Health Insurance Industry Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 This Act repeals the insurance industry exemption for the most egregious forms of antitrust violations - price fixing, bid rigging, and market allocations. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMN2AXyBsp0&feature=related"]Repeal Antitrust Exemption[/ame]

Want to know why there are too few general practitioners & soaring medical cost?

They told me I was too smart to go into primary care "Everyone told me it was the wrong thing to do," recalls Dr. Jennifer Weyler, explaining her decision two years ago as a medical student to become a family doctor. "My teachers discouraged me; administrators discouraged me. They told me I was too smart to go into primary care or that the job wouldn't be enough of a challenge." And sure enough, Weyler, now a resident in family medicine at the University of Massachusetts, is frustrated - but not by her job, which she loves. "It frustrates me," she explains, "to have to continually explain to people what a primary care practitioner is."

It was only 50 years ago, after all, that no one had to be told what a family doctor was, mainly because that's about all there was. Eighty-seven percent of all doctors in the thirties were general practitioner - namely internists, pediatricians, and family doctors. Today that figure has dropped to 30 percent.

A New England Medical Center's Health Institute study in 1992 found that specialists order more tests, perform more procedures, and hospitalize patients more often than primary care doctors treating similar symptoms. Family practitioners are less likely to hospitalize patients than specialists treating patients who had similar levels of illness, according to a recent Journal of the American Medical Association report. A 1990 study estimated that a 50-50 mix of primary care doctors to specialists would produce a 39 percent reduction in total expenditures for physician services. "Primary care protects people from unwanted procedures," explains Fitzhugh Mullan, an assistant U.S. surgeon general "General practitioners look at risks and benefits, both in terms of care and costs."

The American Medical Association is a trade union that limits the number of people who can enter medical school. Control over admission to medical school and later licensure enables the profession to limit entry in two ways. The obvious one is simply by turning down many applicants. The less obvious, but probably far more important one, is by establishing standards for admission and licensure that make entry so difficult as to discourage young people from ever trying to get admission.

Like the AMA, SEIU is largely a medical trade union who wrote Obamacare H.R.3200. Obama is the SEIU union boss negotiating their pay contract with the US citizens. These unions will pay lower premiums & get more benefits than the average citizen under Obamacare. "SEIU's Agenda is My Agenda!!!" said Obama "Together we had fought to raise wages for home care workers in Illinois." SEIU Employees are getting a Big Raise with Obamacare. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQ1NJaCtIkM"]Obama - SEIU's Agenda is My Agenda[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5alq_p7RaA&feature=related"]Takeover & Deception[/ame]

Do you really want more rationing & higher medical cost? Adding a 2,000 page bureaucracy congress did not read forcing everyone into that system will make prices even higher & care worse for us that pay for it. Unlike the H.R.3200 health care bill passed by the house that does away with private health care & forces me to pay more for less, there is no public option, only mandated government healthcare! Start reading at page 16 of H.R.3200

10 (1) LIMITATION ON NEW ENROLLMENT.—
11 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
12 this paragraph, the individual health insurance
13 issuer offering such coverage does not enroll
14 any individual in such coverage if the first
15 effective date of coverage is on or after the first
16 day of Y1.

This will cause private insurance pools to shrink until that company goes out of business forcing everyone onto the option-less government plan. I would at least like the option to provide my own health care. A 10 page health care bill would be enough. [ame="httphttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcBaSP31Be8&feature=player_embedded"]Whats in H.R.3200[/ame] Republicans are NOT the party of NO!