Health Care Reform Idea...

[Big Black Dog]

I think everybody will agree that the majority of the American population wants to see some form of health care reform. Health insurance is either too expensive, or nearly so, for a great many people in the general population. Hospital cost, doctor's fees, and just about anything associated with medical practice here in America is through the roof in cost. People who don't have insurance are being treated and that cost is being pushed off to patients that do have insurance. For whatever reason, be it unemployed, or the company you work for doesn't provide health insurance, a large group of people don't have health insurance. Many don't have it out of personal choice. Health care in general is a problem in this country. It's been that way for probably 30 years or more.

Now, along comes the government and wants to change a 30 year old problem almost overnight by trying to push off onto America a bill that few of the Congressmen have even read and there are several versions of the bill being tossed around in Congress - all of which none of the Congressmen have read. We are told that members of their staff have read portions of it. The President is going around trying to sell a bill that hasn't even been completely written, yet alone read by anybody in it's entirety. Members of Congress are all up in arms saying that if you disagree with them you are somehow unAmerican or a Nazi. A bill to revise health care in America is trying to be rammed through Congress just as fast as it can be just so the politicians can say during the 2010 elections that they were responsible for making it happen for America.

Well, like the refs at a football game, the whistles have been blown and the yellow flags are flying. The support for this health care reform idea is loosing popularity more and more every day. People are leary and distrust Congressmen on this issue and rightfully so. What's the big rush? Health care in this country has been a chronic long-term problem that can't be fixed over night. If congress continues to try, any attempt will fail. Nothing will be solved.

My idea is simply this. Put this issue on the back burner for a month or so and let everybody take a deep breath and relax a little bit. Then throw everything that has been written to date in terms of HR 3200 into the trash can. Begin the process over but this time think about what you want to accomplish and do it in a reasonable and more acceptable way for the citizens of America. Everybody wants change. The thing that Washington is ignoring is that we want that change to be reasonable and something we can all afford. No secrets. No bait and switch sales tactics. Everything above board and out in the open. Have the Congressmen read the bill so they will know what they are talking about when they try to sell the idea to America. This is how you get reform. Not the way it is being handled now. All that is happening right now is the dividing of America on this issue.

 

[veritas]

Now, along comes the government and wants to change a 30 year old problem almost overnight

Ted Kennedy collapsed from his brain tumor in May, 2008. He was steadily working before that on health care reform, and has been since, along with many other people. How is this "overnight"?

 

[Big Black Dog]

Ted Kennedy collapsed from his brain tumor in May, 2008. He was steadily working before that on health care reform, and has been since, along with many other people. How is this "overnight"?

If they've been working on this for that long and this is the best they could come up with maybe they need a new line of work.

Maybe they could think about what they're doing and come up with something reasonable that can be paid for and something that the American public would like to have.

 

[veritas]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

 

[toomuchtime_]

I think everybody will agree that the majority of the American population wants to see some form of health care reform. Health insurance is either too expensive, or nearly so, for a great many people in the general population. Hospital cost, doctor's fees, and just about anything associated with medical practice here in America is through the roof in cost. People who don't have insurance are being treated and that cost is being pushed off to patients that do have insurance. For whatever reason, be it unemployed, or the company you work for doesn't provide health insurance, a large group of people don't have health insurance. Many don't have it out of personal choice. Health care in general is a problem in this country. It's been that way for probably 30 years or more.

Now, along comes the government and wants to change a 30 year old problem almost overnight by trying to push off onto America a bill that few of the Congressmen have even read and there are several versions of the bill being tossed around in Congress - all of which none of the Congressmen have read. We are told that members of their staff have read portions of it. The President is going around trying to sell a bill that hasn't even been completely written, yet alone read by anybody in it's entirety. Members of Congress are all up in arms saying that if you disagree with them you are somehow unAmerican or a Nazi. A bill to revise health care in America is trying to be rammed through Congress just as fast as it can be just so the politicians can say during the 2010 elections that they were responsible for making it happen for America.

Well, like the refs at a football game, the whistles have been blown and the yellow flags are flying. The support for this health care reform idea is loosing popularity more and more every day. People are leary and distrust Congressmen on this issue and rightfully so. What's the big rush? Health care in this country has been a chronic long-term problem that can't be fixed over night. If congress continues to try, any attempt will fail. Nothing will be solved.

My idea is simply this. Put this issue on the back burner for a month or so and let everybody take a deep breath and relax a little bit. Then throw everything that has been written to date in terms of HR 3200 into the trash can. Begin the process over but this time think about what you want to accomplish and do it in a reasonable and more acceptable way for the citizens of America. Everybody wants change. The thing that Washington is ignoring is that we want that change to be reasonable and something we can all afford. No secrets. No bait and switch sales tactics. Everything above board and out in the open. Have the Congressmen read the bill so they will know what they are talking about when they try to sell the idea to America. This is how you get reform. Not the way it is being handled now. All that is happening right now is the dividing of America on this issue.

I would just add that the way to get this process started again would be to appoint a bipartisan panel of respected ex politicians and medical, legal and insurance experts, much in the same spirit as Reagan and Tip O'Neill did in the 1980's to consider SS's problems, to define the problems with our present system we might want to address, affordable access, portability, cost containment, etc., explore all the ways in which we might address those problems, costing out each solution and suggesting how that money might be raised, and then write up suggested solutions and publish the report and only then have Congress begin to debate what to do so that we will all, voters, the WH and Congress, will be better informed and better able to make the right decisions.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

According to the most recent polls, less than 42% of the American public wants it. That's good enough for me.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

Both are excellent ideas. Mind running for Congress?

 

[Amanda]

Here's my idea...

Either give us the benefits they enjoy or make them use whatever system they push on us. I'd be fine with either 1.

 

[strollingbones]

this is all just crazy...we are not gonna push out the old people....the home visits are to help young mothers...do you realize how many children are born to unwed young mothers? they need all the health they can get with new babies...

it is time for deep reform....the american medical system is just a bad idea....why are bureaucrats (hmo's) telling doctors what they can do with their patients? i mean how fucked up is that? as long as you allow corportate interests to run the medical system...the patient is fucked with or without insurance...i am amused that people with insurance thinks that will save them...no it wont..cause the insurance companies arent gonna pay for any treatment they dont have to pay for...they dont care if someone dies from denial of treatment all they care about is the bottom line....profit or not? is that the way to run a system? most insurance will simply try to stall till the patient dies...nice people right.

 

[veritas]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

Both are covered in HR 3200.

Medicare would be streamlined to cut costs and find waste and effect better delivery. The CBO says it would extend Medicare's solvency from 2017 to 2022 for starters.

Insurance forms would be uniform and so would the laws in each state. I'm sure private insurers which have contracted [gobbled and merged and taken over] to the "big six" can figure this out. For instance in my state, 39% of private insurance is from one carrier.

 

[toomuchtime_]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

Absolutely. Allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines will increase competition and drive down insurance premiums. If we require employers to allow employees the choice of either accepting the company's plan or using the company contribution to buy an individual plan, the demand for individual health insurance will go up, increasing competition and driving premiums even lower, while at the same time making health insurance portable for those who choose the individual plan so that they can move from job to job and state to state without the fear of losing their health insurance because of pre existing conditions. Good for the people and good for our economy.

Add to this meaningful tort reform and most our the health care problems are solved. We spend between $100 billion and $200 billion a year on defensive medical tests and referrals because of doctors' fears of litigation. Take malpractice suits out of the courts and have them decided by panels of medical experts that will offer limited damages for emotional distress but no punitive damages; rather they will be empowered to suspend or revoke the licenses of physicians who are found to be careless or negligent. This could reduce health care costs by tens of billions of dollars a year; add to this the savings from the reduced need to purchase expensive diagnostic equipment and the lower rates for doctors' malpractice insurance, and we have dramatically reduced health care costs across all private and public plans.

Just these three items alone will lower health insurance premiums so that some who cannot now afford insurance will be able to buy it for themselves and if we decide to help others to buy it, it will cost us much less to do so.

Once you put ideology and politics aside, these problems are just not that hard to solve and it certainly doesn't take 1,000 pages to describe the solutions.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I would just add that the way to get this process started again would be to appoint a bipartisan panel of respected ex politicians and medical, legal and insurance experts, much in the same spirit as Reagan and Tip O'Neill did in the 1980's to consider SS's problems, to define the problems with our present system we might want to address, affordable access, portability, cost containment, etc., explore all the ways in which we might address those problems, costing out each solution and suggesting how that money might be raised, and then write up suggested solutions and publish the report and only then have Congress begin to debate what to do so that we will all, voters, the WH and Congress, will be better informed and better able to make the right decisions.

Not a bad idea at all. Thanks for the input.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Either give us the benefits they enjoy or make them use whatever system they push on us. I'd be fine with either 1.

Excellent idea. Thanks.

 

[midcan5]

Procrastination at its finest. Given that attitude, would anything ever get accomplished. This is eighty years of 'we can't.' Weird how the European nations are doing it and no one is running on a platform of repeal.

Sorry folks, if everyone had your attitude we'd still be in caves howling at the moon. Actually a few of town hall participants are still there.

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...241-answers-to-all-your-questions-on-uhc.html

"Teddy Roosevelt first called for (health care) reform nearly a century ago."


http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-m...goes-back-to-his-Republican-roots-on-health-/

 

[twogreen2c]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

Absolutely. Allowing insurance companies to sell across state lines will increase competition and drive down insurance premiums. If we require employers to allow employees the choice of either accepting the company's plan or using the company contribution to buy an individual plan, the demand for individual health insurance will go up, increasing competition and driving premiums even lower, while at the same time making health insurance portable for those who choose the individual plan so that they can move from job to job and state to state without the fear of losing their health insurance because of pre existing conditions. Good for the people and good for our economy.

Add to this meaningful tort reform and most our the health care problems are solved. We spend between $100 billion and $200 billion a year on defensive medical tests and referrals because of doctors' fears of litigation. Take malpractice suits out of the courts and have them decided by panels of medical experts that will offer limited damages for emotional distress but no punitive damages; rather they will be empowered to suspend or revoke the licenses of physicians who are found to be careless or negligent. This could reduce health care costs by tens of billions of dollars a year; add to this the savings from the reduced need to purchase expensive diagnostic equipment and the lower rates for doctors' malpractice insurance, and we have dramatically reduced health care costs across all private and public plans.

Just these three items alone will lower health insurance premiums so that some who cannot now afford insurance will be able to buy it for themselves and if we decide to help others to buy it, it will cost us much less to do so.

Once you put ideology and politics aside, these problems are just not that hard to solve and it certainly doesn't take 1,000 pages to describe the solutions.

They won't do these simply 3 things because there is a powerful force pushing a bigger agenda. Some of the clowns in Congress share this same agenda, others are just following the party line, and the rest may be just plain stupid to see what is happening. They know Americans are lazy so they go on passing whatever legislation they want without really giving consideration as to what's best for the country and its people. Well Obama and company aren't getting away with slipping this health care reform package thru. I don't think they expected such an extreme resistance. The Dems have the votes to pass some form of health care reform, but they are running scared now that they some angry folks got up in their faces. They aren't use to having to answer to the people. I hope we are seeing a permanent change in the tide.

 

[The T]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

According to the most recent polls, less than 42% of the American public wants it. That's good enough for me.

Same here, and the List grows daily, as people read the legislation, but Obama, continues to play the Joker, and LIE about it.

Obama will take the Democrats down with him, and Obama is correct. If he doesn't get this? His presidency is finished.

(And remember? This is All about HIM, and NOT the people he is sworn to serve)...

 

[Skull Pilot]

Maybe you should read the bill and make some suggestions rather than making blanket statements.

suggestion 1 Fix medicare first

suggestion 2 allow insurance companies to sell health insurance across state lines.

Both are covered in HR 3200.

Medicare would be streamlined to cut costs and find waste and effect better delivery. The CBO says it would extend Medicare's solvency from 2017 to 2022 for starters.

Insurance forms would be uniform and so would the laws in each state. I'm sure private insurers which have contracted [gobbled and merged and taken over] to the "big six" can figure this out. For instance in my state, 39% of private insurance is from one carrier.

what you don't mention is that medicare reimbursements to doctors will be cut. So in effect services will be cut. You'll have the government saying "Go ahead and do all the MRIs and surgery you want but we're going to pay you less for them"

tell me what do you think will happen? will seniors get the same medical care they did before?

And that insurance forms will be standardized is not the same as allowing insurance companies to sell their products across state lines.

If insurance companies in your neighboring states were allowed to sell in your state, you would see real competition and not what the government calls competition. Prices would drop like a stone.

 

[Diuretic]

Sometimes you just have to wipe the whiteboard and start again.

Is it - and please accept this as a question/suggestion/idea that isn't borne out of a partisan political view - the case that perhaps now is a good time to work out how health care should be paid for? I know that's a really simplistic question but sometimes simplistic questions have to be asked. Call it the curse of the naive if you wish.

If you were given the power to devise a model for health care for your citizens what sort of model would you favour?

 

[toomuchtime_]

Sometimes you just have to wipe the whiteboard and start again.

Is it - and please accept this as a question/suggestion/idea that isn't borne out of a partisan political view - the case that perhaps now is a good time to work out how health care should be paid for? I know that's a really simplistic question but sometimes simplistic questions have to be asked. Call it the curse of the naive if you wish.

If you were given the power to devise a model for health care for your citizens what sort of model would you favour?

That's a good question, and another good one is, what sort of model would your citizens favor?

This process began with broad bipartisan consensus that our health care system needed to be improved, but the WH and Congress squandered that consensus by putting politics ahead of policy. Instead of beginning the process by examining all the ways we might address the things we wanted to change and crunching the numbers to see what benefits each approach might bring us and what each would cost, the President and the Congress decided the important thing was to get the House and Senate bills finished before the summer recess so the law could be signed just before the 2010 campaign season began. Those in Congress who agreed this was the proper way to go about changing our health care system are receiving the treatment they deserve from their constituents at the town hall meetings.