Trump releases 7 point healthcare plan

[Papageorgio]

Everyone is paying more. The reason we have obama care is because costs went up so high. I just don't see this plan fixing that. Car insurance doesn't have borders and I wouldnt call it cheap.

Car insurance does have borders, I had to change insurance companies when I moved to another state and I could not take it with me. The previous company did not have authority to cover us.

Obamacare has done nothing to help with the high cost of insurance. The policies I have now are worse than before Obamacare. Obamacare has forced the middle class to purchase high premium, high deductible insurance. We are paying for the poor and the part timers. How much more do we want to burden the middle class with? Obamacare is a disaster for me. I used to bargain with my doctors and we side stepped insurance and I paid lower cost. My Urologist would charge the insurance company $150 to see me, I paid $80, he would do x-rays for $50 instead of $125, I didn't need to be referred to see him.

Today, I go to my regular doctor, I pay full price, then he has to refer me to the Urologist, the Urologist can't discount because it has to run through the insurance and he charges full price on x-rays. Because I am below my deductible, I am now paying for two doctors and x-ray at full price. How the hell does this help anyone?

Not saying obamacare is great, but don't this plan as being better. And may cost more.

Who was your car insurer?

Can't see it being worse than Obama and all the rules.

The car insurer was licensed in Oregon and not Indiana, I don't remember the name of the company, that was a few years back.

What is the point if it is costly and not better?

Pretty sure you can buy Allstate or geico or progressive or many others in every state.

Because it allows rich people to get richer for doing no extra work....

How?

 

[candycorn]

I really like the idea of tax breaks for insurance. That'll be great. Of course, he's already said that couples making less than 50K will pay nothing in income taxes so now not only will a lot of folks be paying $0.00, they will get a refund like they normally get and a hefty enhancement of about $3,300 which I think is what it costs per year if you want to ensure your husband or wife at our Health System.

Makes you wonder how he's going to pay for kicking ISIS ass, the infrastructure, the strengthening of the military and the hundreds of millions to kick every Hispanic out of the nation. And the wall.

I'm sensing he's pulling the wool over your eyes.

If you take away all the bigotry and hatred that is Trump and just look at what he wants to do, you really should be able to understand that he is absolutely clueless. With everything he says he wants to do to make "American great again", the price tag would be pushing $1 trillion per year, on top of what we are already spending. Now if you think that sounds outrageous, top that off with his plan to cut taxes. SMH

I hear you and it's total crap; especially for the supposed party of "personal responsibility", the party of "family values", and the party that supposedly was the "grown ups in the room."

But hell just judging it in a vacuum, it doesn't sound all that bad.

 

[candycorn]

Not bad all things considered. Telling 20-30 million people that they will no longer have insurance is going to go over like a lead balloon politically. The HSAs are a joke.

But I like the idea of walking into Memorial Hospital and seeing a board like McDonalds has advertising the price of a quadruple by-pass at $4995.00 or if you have 3 arteries unblocked at the regular rate, they will do the 4th artery for free.

Seriously...As someone who works in the healthcare field the Jiffy Lube approach to medicine will be comical if nothing else.
"You told me it would be $1800 to have my tubes tied!!!! Why do I have a bill for $1855!!!!"
"Well yeah but you added on the 20 year warranty. If they come untied, we'll go back in and tie them free of charge. You also wanted the Gut stitches. That drove the costs upward."

I know as long as you get your check, fuck everyone else.

What is wrong with telling people up front what they are going to pay for a colonoscopy? What is wrong telling a patient that an MRI is going to cost $1000 or whatever it is? What is wrong with a patient knowing what it is going to cost going in? Hell, how much is a freakin doctors visit? Who the hell knows? I mean we are going to pay $150 to wait in a waiting room for an hour, go into a patient room sit there for 15 minutes, the doctor walks in, sees you for 5 minutes. What is wrong with telling the patient up front what they are paying for and what they are getting? Hell, are we still not customers, patients, clients? Or in the medical world are we all just numbers?

I actually like the idea. But it's a falsity that you can roll up to a hospital and know how much an appendectomy will cost without MRIs, blood work, etc... Hell, many times, you have to control your blood pressure before you can be operated on and once that is settled, there may be other complications such as side effects to the meds that controlled the hypertension.

Just FWIW, when I had my colonoscopy last year, I was told well before the procedure how much it will cost. It was my baseline so I'm not sure if that is the case or not for other folks--that they can be told ahead of time.

But seriously I like the idea. Just don't expect a lot of precision when you get cut open. What is probably going to happen is that when they open you up to do A, they find you have A and B. You're under anesthesia so you can't authorize them to do B...so they just perform procedure A and when you come to, you're hit with "Well, Mr. Jones, you have cracks in 3 other vertebrae the X-rays didn't pick up. I could have done them while I had you under but it would have added $7,000 to the procedure. So now the price of having to go back in is $11,000."

I understand emergencies and complications, just like someone fixing and automobile or constructing an add on to a building. Issues are going to come up, however it would be nice to at least know a baseline going in.

Well...now you're talking about something different. If you are talking about baselines, any patient can find that out if they ask today. The issue is the 3 parts of the system; healthcare providers (hospital, clinic, doctor, etc...), the patient, and the insurance companies (primary, GAP). Whom do you ask?

 

[candycorn]

1. Completely repeal Obamacare. Our elected representatives must eliminate the individual mandate. No person should be required to buy insurance unless he or she wants to.

So who pays when someone ends up in emergency?

Who pays for children who show up to the ER with the flu or something that would normally be treated with a Dr. visit?

In other words, we're back to the freeloader system of paying for people who don't have their own insurance even though some can afford it.

1. Modify existing law that inhibits the sale of health insurance across state lines. As long as the plan purchased complies with state requirements, any vendor ought to be able to offer insurance in any state. By allowing full competition in this market, insurance costs will go down and consumer satisfaction will go up.

Health insurance companies are not interested in this -- for reasons related to state laws and the need to establish new contacts with doctors, building a entire new network where one already exists. -- several states passed laws allowing companies in their state to offer across state lines--not one company took them up on it.

1. Allow individuals to fully deduct health insurance premium payments from their tax returns under the current tax system. Businesses are allowed to take these deductions so why wouldn’t Congress allow individuals the same exemptions? As we allow the free market to provide insurance coverage opportunities to companies and individuals, we must also make sure that no one slips through the cracks simply because they cannot afford insurance. We must review basic options for Medicaid and work with states to ensure that those who want healthcare coverage can have it.

Any time you say tax deduction, you have to explain how you pay for it. -- this is why we have a national debt.

Also, you can deduct medical expenses that exceed 10% of your adjusted gross income.

And just to be clear, Trump would continue Medicaid..? Wow, how socialist of him.

1. Allow individuals to use Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Contributions into HSAs should be tax-free and should be allowed to accumulate. These accounts would become part of the estate of the individual and could be passed on to heirs without fear of any death penalty. These plans should be particularly attractive to young people who are healthy and can afford high-deductible insurance plans. These funds can be used by any member of a family without penalty. The flexibility and security provided by HSAs will be of great benefit to all who participate.

These already exist. The same young people who didn't want to buy health insurance (w/o mandate) will not go out and start putting money in a savings account.

1. Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure.

The health care market doesn't function that way -- people don't wake up on Sunday and check the ads saying "let's see what's on sale down at the ER." People don't "shop around" when they are sick.

1. Block-grant Medicaid to the states. Nearly every state already offers benefits beyond what is required in the current Medicaid structure. The state governments know their people best and can manage the administration of Medicaid far better without federal overhead. States will have the incentives to seek out and eliminate fraud, waste and abuse to preserve our precious resources.

Everybody always thinks states have their citizens best interests at heart -- the level of corruption at the state level far exceeds that of the federal. States, like corperations, can not always be trusted to do the right thing-- look at Flynt MI.

1. Remove barriers to entry into free markets for drug providers that offer safe, reliable and cheaper products. Congress will need the courage to step away from the special interests and do what is right for America. Though the pharmaceutical industry is in the private sector, drug companies provide a public service. Allowing consumers access to imported, safe and dependable drugs from overseas will bring more options to consumers.

Drug companies won't go for it and they own too many congressmen. -- But it is a good idea that BERNIE SANDERS came up with.

Good stuff. I"m going to expand on it later on. Just want to take you to task a bit about "shopping around". If we were smart and didn't have right wing nut jobs killing the idea, we would have the SSN send you letters saying, "Ms. Jones, you're turning 40 this year. It is time to start getting mammograms according to the NIH." This would be government over-reach in their view.

Setting that aside...when you have a mammogram due at the age of 41, 42, 43.... you should be able to look online and see how much Memorial Hospital is charging for one; then go over to Humana and see what they are charging. True; you wouldn't do this in a lot of cases but in some you should be able to.

 

[rightwinger]

Not bad all things considered. Telling 20-30 million people that they will no longer have insurance is going to go over like a lead balloon politically. The HSAs are a joke.

But I like the idea of walking into Memorial Hospital and seeing a board like McDonalds has advertising the price of a quadruple by-pass at $4995.00 or if you have 3 arteries unblocked at the regular rate, they will do the 4th artery for free.

Seriously...As someone who works in the healthcare field the Jiffy Lube approach to medicine will be comical if nothing else.
"You told me it would be $1800 to have my tubes tied!!!! Why do I have a bill for $1855!!!!"
"Well yeah but you added on the 20 year warranty. If they come untied, we'll go back in and tie them free of charge. You also wanted the Gut stitches. That drove the costs upward."

I know as long as you get your check, fuck everyone else.

What is wrong with telling people up front what they are going to pay for a colonoscopy? What is wrong telling a patient that an MRI is going to cost $1000 or whatever it is? What is wrong with a patient knowing what it is going to cost going in? Hell, how much is a freakin doctors visit? Who the hell knows? I mean we are going to pay $150 to wait in a waiting room for an hour, go into a patient room sit there for 15 minutes, the doctor walks in, sees you for 5 minutes. What is wrong with telling the patient up front what they are paying for and what they are getting? Hell, are we still not customers, patients, clients? Or in the medical world are we all just numbers?

I actually like the idea. But it's a falsity that you can roll up to a hospital and know how much an appendectomy will cost without MRIs, blood work, etc... Hell, many times, you have to control your blood pressure before you can be operated on and once that is settled, there may be other complications such as side effects to the meds that controlled the hypertension.

Just FWIW, when I had my colonoscopy last year, I was told well before the procedure how much it will cost. It was my baseline so I'm not sure if that is the case or not for other folks--that they can be told ahead of time.

But seriously I like the idea. Just don't expect a lot of precision when you get cut open. What is probably going to happen is that when they open you up to do A, they find you have A and B. You're under anesthesia so you can't authorize them to do B...so they just perform procedure A and when you come to, you're hit with "Well, Mr. Jones, you have cracks in 3 other vertebrae the X-rays didn't pick up. I could have done them while I had you under but it would have added $7,000 to the procedure. So now the price of having to go back in is $11,000."

I understand emergencies and complications, just like someone fixing and automobile or constructing an add on to a building. Issues are going to come up, however it would be nice to at least know a baseline going in.

Well...now you're talking about something different. If you are talking about baselines, any patient can find that out if they ask today. The issue is the 3 parts of the system; healthcare providers (hospital, clinic, doctor, etc...), the patient, and the insurance companies (primary, GAP). Whom do you ask?

Shouldn't be the patient who has to shop around for the best price

If you go to Doctor A for a routine procedure and the insurance company authorizes it and tells you.....Your copay will be $7000 but if you are willing to go to Doctor B your copay will be $5000 and if you are willing to go out of state your copay will be $3000

 

[Brain357]

What is the point if it is costly and not better?

Pretty sure you can buy Allstate or geico or progressive or many others in every state.

Obamacare is worse than what we had before, that's the point. Going backwards would be going forwards, quit living off the middle class.

Then go back to nothing. Why move to a costly plan that doesn't really help the problem?

I am not legally allowed to go nothing. Do you know anything about Obamacare?

Before obamacare there was nothing.

Before Obamacare, I had insurance, so there was something. I didn't pay for insurance I didn't need, like birth control. Before Obamacare I could negotiate my prices with my doctors as I told you earlier.

Sorry that you are so young that you didn't know anything existed before Obamacare.

The government had no program before obamacare.

 

[Papageorgio]

Obamacare is worse than what we had before, that's the point. Going backwards would be going forwards, quit living off the middle class.

Then go back to nothing. Why move to a costly plan that doesn't really help the problem?

I am not legally allowed to go nothing. Do you know anything about Obamacare?

Before obamacare there was nothing.

Before Obamacare, I had insurance, so there was something. I didn't pay for insurance I didn't need, like birth control. Before Obamacare I could negotiate my prices with my doctors as I told you earlier.

Sorry that you are so young that you didn't know anything existed before Obamacare.

The government had no program before obamacare.

We had Medicaid and Medicare and we had state programs. We don't need government forcing us to buy insurance. It hurts the middle class the most.

 

[Brain357]

Then go back to nothing. Why move to a costly plan that doesn't really help the problem?

I am not legally allowed to go nothing. Do you know anything about Obamacare?

Before obamacare there was nothing.

Before Obamacare, I had insurance, so there was something. I didn't pay for insurance I didn't need, like birth control. Before Obamacare I could negotiate my prices with my doctors as I told you earlier.

Sorry that you are so young that you didn't know anything existed before Obamacare.

The government had no program before obamacare.

We had Medicaid and Medicare and we had state programs. We don't need government forcing us to buy insurance. It hurts the middle class the most.

Everyone should have insurance. Those who don't cost the middle class.