‘Medicare for All’ would cover everyone, save billions in first year: new study

[dblack]

Due to Obamacare that is no longer the case. Good doctors are refusing medicare these days. What good is it if you cannot find a doctor who is competent?

Urban myth. I live in a retirement community of 31,000 people, all of whom are at least 55 years old, and an average age of 74. I can see my doctor within 5 working days. In addition, I have had no problem with getting in to a pain clinic, orthopedic specialist, podiatrist, Hospital, urgent care, as well as a surgeon for rotator cuff injury, x-rays, MRI, and gastrointestinal specialist. Everybody I know is over 65, and on Medicare, and every single one of them has all the medical support that they need. In fact, when one lives in a retirement community, the two main topics of conversation are grandchildren and medical issues. Nobody complains about not getting to see a doctor.

While I agree that is the way it used to be - it isn't that way now, Vandalshandle. You need to find out why many doctors are no longer accepting medicare. It's a nationwide problem these days. Again - what good is it if you cannot find a competent doctor that accepts medicare anymore?

I was being kind to call that an urban myth. It is actually Conservative propaganda that has been pulled out of thin air in an effort to discredit ACA and Medicare. In other words, it is pure bull shit, made up by people who aren't even insured under Medicare. Having had 50 years of health Insurance executive experience, and having been covered by Medicare for 6 years, I know RW bull shit about health insurance and provider contracts when I hear it. In fact, federal law does not even permit an insurance company to sell Medicare Advantage plans in any zip code which is not fully covered by contracted providers. If what you were saying is true, every Medicare Advantage plan that is not fully staffed by providers within 50 miles of a covered person's address, would have to be shut down...by law. In my zip code, which is a semi-rural area, there are three Medicare Advantage plans being sold by three HMO's. Caremore, Humana and United Health.

For those of you advocating single payer, I'm wondering how you would expect government to deal with unionized doctors, and the inevitable strikes that would result.

Should be a law outlawing state and federal employees from unionizing.
Problem solved.

Yep.

 

[dblack]

Due to Obamacare that is no longer the case. Good doctors are refusing medicare these days. What good is it if you cannot find a doctor who is competent?

Urban myth. I live in a retirement community of 31,000 people, all of whom are at least 55 years old, and an average age of 74. I can see my doctor within 5 working days. In addition, I have had no problem with getting in to a pain clinic, orthopedic specialist, podiatrist, Hospital, urgent care, as well as a surgeon for rotator cuff injury, x-rays, MRI, and gastrointestinal specialist. Everybody I know is over 65, and on Medicare, and every single one of them has all the medical support that they need. In fact, when one lives in a retirement community, the two main topics of conversation are grandchildren and medical issues. Nobody complains about not getting to see a doctor.

While I agree that is the way it used to be - it isn't that way now, Vandalshandle. You need to find out why many doctors are no longer accepting medicare. It's a nationwide problem these days. Again - what good is it if you cannot find a competent doctor that accepts medicare anymore?

I was being kind to call that an urban myth. It is actually Conservative propaganda that has been pulled out of thin air in an effort to discredit ACA and Medicare. In other words, it is pure bull shit, made up by people who aren't even insured under Medicare. Having had 50 years of health Insurance executive experience, and having been covered by Medicare for 6 years, I know RW bull shit about health insurance and provider contracts when I hear it. In fact, federal law does not even permit an insurance company to sell Medicare Advantage plans in any zip code which is not fully covered by contracted providers. If what you were saying is true, every Medicare Advantage plan that is not fully staffed by providers within 50 miles of a covered person's address, would have to be shut down...by law. In my zip code, which is a semi-rural area, there are three Medicare Advantage plans being sold by three HMO's. Caremore, Humana and United Health.

For those of you advocating single payer, I'm wondering how you would expect government to deal with unionized doctors, and the inevitable strikes that would result.

Should be a law outlawing state and federal employees from unionizing.
Problem solved.

But they wouldn't technically be federal employees. That's the net result of single payer, but ...

 

[Publius1787]

‘Medicare for All’ would cover everyone, save billions in first year: new study

Economist says Canadian-style, single-payer health plan would reap huge savings from reduced paperwork and from negotiated drug prices, enough to pay for quality coverage for all – at less cost to families and businesses



Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.


That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said.


Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and co-sponsored by 45 other lawmakers, would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else.


“No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said.


His findings were released this morning [Wednesday, July 31, 11 a.m. EDT] at a congressional briefing in the Cannon House Office Building hosted by Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program, followed by a 1 p.m. news conference with Rep. Conyers and others in observance of Medicare’s 48th anniversary at the House Triangle near the Capitol steps. A copy of Friedman’s full report, with tables and charts, is available here.


Friedman said the savings would come from slashing the administrative waste associated with today’s private health insurance industry ($476 billion) and using the new, public system’s bargaining muscle to negotiate pharmaceutical drug prices down to European levels ($116 billion).


“These savings would be more than enough to fund $343 billion in improvements to our health system, including the achievement of truly universal coverage, improved benefits, and the elimination of premiums, co-payments and deductibles, which are major barriers to people seeking care,” he said.




*snip*

Please direct whoever wrote that study to the VA.

 

[Katzndogz]

I was an executive in health insurance companies and HMO's for my entire career, but I have never had health insurance myself, that was as good as Medicare, except for the donut hole in prescriptions. That would go away instantly if Big Pharm. had not successfully lobbied for, and got, a law passed forbidding the government to negotiate drug prices.

Due to Obamacare that is no longer the case. Good doctors are refusing medicare these days. What good is it if you cannot find a doctor who is competent?

Urban myth. I live in a retirement community of 31,000 people, all of whom are at least 55 years old, and an average age of 74. I can see my doctor within 5 working days. In addition, I have had no problem with getting in to a pain clinic, orthopedic specialist, podiatrist, Hospital, urgent care, as well as a surgeon for rotator cuff injury, x-rays, MRI, and gastrointestinal specialist. Everybody I know is over 65, and on Medicare, and every single one of them has all the medical support that they need. In fact, when one lives in a retirement community, the two main topics of conversation are grandchildren and medical issues. Nobody complains about not getting to see a doctor.

Oh come on. I have Medicare and don't have a real doctor at all. It's an office staffed with an idiot physician's assistant and a rotating doctor that shows up once in a while. I got sick and the closest I got to the doctor was a diagnostic phone call. I needed a dermatologist, she looked at me and said sorry we can't help you. I would have better medical care from a witch doctor shaking chicken bones. Whatever honest medical care I get, I have to pay for, just like I always did.

 

[Katzndogz]

Oh, what they are good at, scheduled to the minute is the yearly end of life counseling. They have about a dozen different authorizations to die. I get a lot of enjoyment refusing to sign all but the one that says I want all measures, everything.

 

[Vandalshandle]

I was an executive in health insurance companies and HMO's for my entire career, but I have never had health insurance myself, that was as good as Medicare, except for the donut hole in prescriptions. That would go away instantly if Big Pharm. had not successfully lobbied for, and got, a law passed forbidding the government to negotiate drug prices.

Due to Obamacare that is no longer the case. Good doctors are refusing medicare these days. What good is it if you cannot find a doctor who is competent?

Urban myth. I live in a retirement community of 31,000 people, all of whom are at least 55 years old, and an average age of 74. I can see my doctor within 5 working days. In addition, I have had no problem with getting in to a pain clinic, orthopedic specialist, podiatrist, Hospital, urgent care, as well as a surgeon for rotator cuff injury, x-rays, MRI, and gastrointestinal specialist. Everybody I know is over 65, and on Medicare, and every single one of them has all the medical support that they need. In fact, when one lives in a retirement community, the two main topics of conversation are grandchildren and medical issues. Nobody complains about not getting to see a doctor.

Oh come on. I have Medicare and don't have a real doctor at all. It's an office staffed with an idiot physician's assistant and a rotating doctor that shows up once in a while. I got sick and the closest I got to the doctor was a diagnostic phone call. I needed a dermatologist, she looked at me and said sorry we can't help you. I would have better medical care from a witch doctor shaking chicken bones. Whatever honest medical care I get, I have to pay for, just like I always did.

You expect that your family physician should have a dermatologist on staff?

Well, gee wiz. Aren't you the victim!

If I had your zip code, I could find you a dermatologist within 15 minutes who treats Medicare patients without leaving my chair or this computer.

 

[Wry Catcher]

So why did everyone who was instrumental in passing Obamacare exempt themselves from it?

Non sequitur ^^^, a statement that does not logically follow from the previous argument or statement.

 

[Wry Catcher]

We will have single payer as soon as people decide they don't want any medical care at all.

Go back to witch doctors.

Idiot-Gram ^^^

 

[Wry Catcher]

‘Medicare for All’ would cover everyone, save billions in first year: new study

Someday, sooner, we can all hope, rather than later, America will find the sanity and courage to implement a single payer system.

Yes, that would be the sane course, if we ignore the reality that every single country that has a single payer system is moving away form it because of the ballooning costs and substandard care.

Please name the countries "moving away from it" and what they are doing to replace it.

 

[HenryBHough]

And forcibly nationalizing all makers of prescription drugs would save trillions more, especially since there soon would be no drugs. That's why we MUST elect Nutty Old Uncle Bernie!

 

[Flopper]

‘Medicare for All’ would cover everyone, save billions in first year: new study

Economist says Canadian-style, single-payer health plan would reap huge savings from reduced paperwork and from negotiated drug prices, enough to pay for quality coverage for all – at less cost to families and businesses



Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.


That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said.


Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and co-sponsored by 45 other lawmakers, would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else.


“No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said.


His findings were released this morning [Wednesday, July 31, 11 a.m. EDT] at a congressional briefing in the Cannon House Office Building hosted by Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program, followed by a 1 p.m. news conference with Rep. Conyers and others in observance of Medicare’s 48th anniversary at the House Triangle near the Capitol steps. A copy of Friedman’s full report, with tables and charts, is available here.


Friedman said the savings would come from slashing the administrative waste associated with today’s private health insurance industry ($476 billion) and using the new, public system’s bargaining muscle to negotiate pharmaceutical drug prices down to European levels ($116 billion).


“These savings would be more than enough to fund $343 billion in improvements to our health system, including the achievement of truly universal coverage, improved benefits, and the elimination of premiums, co-payments and deductibles, which are major barriers to people seeking care,” he said.




*snip*

And put the quality of care into the shitter

Tell me do you want the people responsible for the VA in charge of your health care

I sure as fuck don't

The VA is both a medical provider and an insurer. That's a lot different not than Medicare and private medical providers.

 

[Flopper]

I was an executive in health insurance companies and HMO's for my entire career, but I have never had health insurance myself, that was as good as Medicare, except for the donut hole in prescriptions. That would go away instantly if Big Pharm. had not successfully lobbied for, and got, a law passed forbidding the government to negotiate drug prices.

Due to Obamacare that is no longer the case. Good doctors are refusing medicare these days. What good is it if you cannot find a doctor who is competent?

Urban myth. I live in a retirement community of 31,000 people, all of whom are at least 55 years old, and an average age of 74. I can see my doctor within 5 working days. In addition, I have had no problem with getting in to a pain clinic, orthopedic specialist, podiatrist, Hospital, urgent care, as well as a surgeon for rotator cuff injury, x-rays, MRI, and gastrointestinal specialist. Everybody I know is over 65, and on Medicare, and every single one of them has all the medical support that they need. In fact, when one lives in a retirement community, the two main topics of conversation are grandchildren and medical issues. Nobody complains about not getting to see a doctor.

Oh come on. I have Medicare and don't have a real doctor at all. It's an office staffed with an idiot physician's assistant and a rotating doctor that shows up once in a while. I got sick and the closest I got to the doctor was a diagnostic phone call. I needed a dermatologist, she looked at me and said sorry we can't help you. I would have better medical care from a witch doctor shaking chicken bones. Whatever honest medical care I get, I have to pay for, just like I always did.

95.3% of all medical doctors accept Medicare and 83.7% are accepting new Medicare patients, Almost all general hospitals accept Medicare. The primary reason doctors don't accept Medicare is they provide services such as cosmetic surgery that Medicare does not cover.

If you can't find a good doctor that accepts Medicare, you are either not looking or you live in a remote area where there are few doctors.

Most doctors and hospitals can't afford not to accept Medicare because it's the largest payer of Medical services in the country and covers 48 million American, who generate nearly half of our healthcare expenses.

 

[HenryBHough]

Ya gotta love doctors who evaded all courses in basic economics. They firmly believe that, though they lose money on every Medicare patient, they make it up on the volume.

If they ever catch on look for a government ban on medical students enrolling in any course in economics, ever.

 

[Katzndogz]

‘Medicare for All’ would cover everyone, save billions in first year: new study

Economist says Canadian-style, single-payer health plan would reap huge savings from reduced paperwork and from negotiated drug prices, enough to pay for quality coverage for all – at less cost to families and businesses



Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.


That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said.


Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676, introduced by Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., and co-sponsored by 45 other lawmakers, would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else.


“No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said.


His findings were released this morning [Wednesday, July 31, 11 a.m. EDT] at a congressional briefing in the Cannon House Office Building hosted by Public Citizen and Physicians for a National Health Program, followed by a 1 p.m. news conference with Rep. Conyers and others in observance of Medicare’s 48th anniversary at the House Triangle near the Capitol steps. A copy of Friedman’s full report, with tables and charts, is available here.


Friedman said the savings would come from slashing the administrative waste associated with today’s private health insurance industry ($476 billion) and using the new, public system’s bargaining muscle to negotiate pharmaceutical drug prices down to European levels ($116 billion).


“These savings would be more than enough to fund $343 billion in improvements to our health system, including the achievement of truly universal coverage, improved benefits, and the elimination of premiums, co-payments and deductibles, which are major barriers to people seeking care,” he said.




*snip*

And put the quality of care into the shitter

Tell me do you want the people responsible for the VA in charge of your health care

I sure as fuck don't

The VA is both a medical provider and an insurer. That's a lot different not than Medicare and private medical providers.

So is Kaiser.

 

[dblack]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

 

[Arianrhod]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

Only to someone who doesn't understand how the current iteration of Medicare actually works.

 

[dblack]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

Only to someone who doesn't understand how the current iteration of Medicare actually works.

Wake up and smell the coffee. The oft cited advantage of single-payer is that government would be able to leverage its position as "the only game in town" to negotiate lower prices with health care providers. Are you denying that?

 

[Arianrhod]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

Only to someone who doesn't understand how the current iteration of Medicare actually works.

Wake up and smell the coffee. The oft cited advantage of single-payer is that government would be able to leverage its position as "the only game in town" to negotiate lower prices with health care providers. Are you denying that?

That's not "making doctors employees of the state." Stop waffling.

 

[dblack]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

Only to someone who doesn't understand how the current iteration of Medicare actually works.

Wake up and smell the coffee. The oft cited advantage of single-payer is that government would be able to leverage its position as "the only game in town" to negotiate lower prices with health care providers. Are you denying that?

That's not "making doctors employees of the state." Stop waffling.

Stop dodging. The primary 'selling point' of single payer is that the government will be able to dictate prices - because they are the only source of health care financing by design. Are you denying that? Or waffling?

 

[Arianrhod]

I'm just wondering if it's clear to everyone, doctors and patients alike, that the goal here is to change doctors from professional service providers into employees of the state.

Only to someone who doesn't understand how the current iteration of Medicare actually works.

Wake up and smell the coffee. The oft cited advantage of single-payer is that government would be able to leverage its position as "the only game in town" to negotiate lower prices with health care providers. Are you denying that?

That's not "making doctors employees of the state." Stop waffling.

Stop dodging. The primary 'selling point' of single payer is that the government will be able to dictate prices - because they are the only source of health care financing by design. Are you denying that? Or waffling?

Explain what you mean by "making doctors employees of the state."