This is (Literally) Why We Can't Afford Nice Things

[Grumblenuts]

Perfect. You've just described Medicare-For-All. Told you you wanted it.

 

[dblack]

Perfect. You've just described Medicare-For-All. Told you you wanted it.

You talking to me?

 

[Rigby5]

Ahhh yes, let the people have complete control over our healthcare, with a law written by either corporatists, or people that have ZERO clues about healthcare. The same people that caused the price of healthcare to sky rocket in the first fucking place.
Why do all the leftists policies require zero thought, and all emotion?
Its like taxation. You want to raise rates when that wont do a damn thing. "you have to rewrite the tax code, Karen"

When it is a choice between letting greedy insurance companies or elected politicians control my health care, I will go with elected politicians every time.

Sure the government screwed it up in the first place, but that was by letting employers provide tax exempt benefits like health insurance.
If that would have remained taxed, as all benefits should be, then employers would never have been involved in our health care and never screwed it all up.

 

[Rigby5]

They'll be called the same thing under Medicare For All. And it will be the same people, the same companies.

People who think forcing everyone into Medicare will remove insurance company profits from the equation are seriously deluded. They'll make even more.

Shouldn't.
What Medicare should be doing is hiring their own doctors/nurses, so there is no billing involved at all.

 

[Rigby5]

Medicare (the core program, not Medicare Advantage) was a corporatist collaboration from the beginning. The numbskulls clamoring for Medicare For All are just herding us into their pens.

No, Medicare for all is well known for having only about a 10% administration overhead cost, while private insurance is from 30 to 50% administrative overhead cost.

Clearly every other country in the world does it like Medicare for all, and they spend half as much on better quality health care.

 

[Rigby5]

You're a bad guesser.

The first thing we need to do is get rid of all the laws promoting and propping up employer provided health care. That means tax any such "benefits" as we would any other compensation. It also means eliminating all mandates and incentives goading employers into providing health care benefits.

Then we need to break up the fiefdoms that insurance companies have created for themselves at the state level. State regulation of insurance companies is, essentially, controlled by the insurance companies and regulates insurance consumers far more than it regulates insurance companies.

Those two changes together would begin the climb out of the hole we've been digging. But neither would have an immediate impact, and in the meantime we should expand the safety net for people who currently can't afford health care, with a solid plan for phasing it out once the health care market returns to some semblance of sanity.

Although I believe Medicare for all would work, I have to agree with everything you posted here.
First get the employer out of it.
Then allow national companies to compete for health care instead of the current state control.

The only thing I do not see is how you can ever phase out the safety net for the poor?

 

[dblack]

No, Medicare for all is well known for having only about a 10% administration overhead cost, while private insurance is from 30 to 50% administrative overhead cost.

Clearly every other country in the world does it like Medicare for all, and they spend half as much on better quality health care.

Do they? I doubt it. Medicare was a "compromise" with the insurance industry. They were offered up contracts to manage Medicare as compensation for losing market share to a state program.

 

[dblack]

Although I believe Medicare for all would work, I have to agree with everything you posted here.
First get the employer out of it.
Then allow national companies to compete for health care instead of the current state control.

The only thing I do not see is how you can ever phase out the safety net for the poor?

Maybe not. I was merely talking about phasing out whatever additional benefits we might offer up while the market is re-balancing.

 

[TNHarley]

No, Medicare for all is well known for having only about a 10% administration overhead cost, while private insurance is from 30 to 50% administrative overhead cost.

Clearly every other country in the world does it like Medicare for all, and they spend half as much on better quality health care.

Indias healthcare sucks. Do you know why? Population.
What do successful(i use that word lightly) govt controlled healthcare systems all have in common? Low population.
You good at basic math? 2+2= ?

 

[TNHarley]

When it is a choice between letting greedy insurance companies or elected politicians control my health care, I will go with elected politicians every time.

Sure the government screwed it up in the first place, but that was by letting employers provide tax exempt benefits like health insurance.
If that would have remained taxed, as all benefits should be, then employers would never have been involved in our health care and never screwed it all up.

No, that was by them getting involved in it. Prices shot up like an 18 year old pecker at a strip club.
Ever hear of supply and demand?
If the govt never got involved in our healthcare, wonder if birthing a child would still cost 10K? The answer is probably "fuck no"
But go ahead and give corrupt, ignorant politicians, that dont give 2 shits about your health, control over it.
Federal Supremacists are the stupidest mother fuckers on the planet.

 

[marvin martian]

This is a good explanation of the healthcare insurance nightmare that looms one accident away for every American. While my provider is pretty good with my insurance (such as Max. Out Of Pocket capped at $2500) what happens if I'm traveling and need care in a dreaded "out of network" hospital?

This is what Republicans continue to DEFEND, this is what they are fighting FOR. It's mind boggling these rubes have been convinced this is what works best, when countries all around the world have something far BETTER.


The patient: Phil Gaimon, 35, a former professional cyclist, a YouTuber and blogger who earns most of his income through sponsorships. He paid about $500 a month for his insurance policy with Health Net through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange. He also had a secondary health insurance policy with USA Cycling.

Total bills: $151,804 from Lehigh Valley Health Network and $49,526 from the Hospital for Special Surgery. He had additional bills from various physicians. Health Net has paid approximately $27,000 to Lehigh Valley, according to Gaimon. His secondary insurance, with USA Cycling, paid $25,000 to the Hospital for Special Surgery and his surgeon there.

Service providers: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., part of the nonprofit Lehigh Valley Health Network; and the Hospital for Special Surgery, an academic medical center, in Manhattan, New York.

Medical procedure: surgery for a fractured collarbone at Lehigh Valley Hospital and surgery for a broken scapula at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

What gives: Gaimon collided with three health system dangers in this physically and financially painful crash: an out-of-state emergency, out-of-network care and gold-plated prices from both hospitals that treated him. Gaimon said he could sell his house and pay these bills, "but I shouldn't have to. I have insurance."

His situation is a scenario that many patients have encountered when they need emergency care outside their provider's network. It's known in medical jargon as "balance billing." Hospitals and insurance companies without mutual contracts often don't agree on the price of services, and the patient is left to pay the difference.

Cyclist's Olympic Dream Becomes $200,000 Medical Bill Nightmare

Cyclist Phil Gaimon was competing in a race that could have won him a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. Instead, a crash landed him in two hospitals where his out-of-network surgeries garnered huge bills.

www.npr.org

I can't believe an insurance company let someone like this, with incredibly high-risk behavior, have a policy for $500/month.

 

[Grumblenuts]

The first thing we need to do is get rid of all the laws promoting and propping up employer provided health care. That means tax any such "benefits" as we would any other compensation. It also means eliminating all mandates and incentives goading employers into providing health care benefits.

Again:
https://jayapal.house.gov/wp-conten...ll-Act-of-2019-Section-by-Section-Summary.pdf

 Prohibits the sale of health insurance coverage that duplicates the benefits available under the Program.
 Prohibits employers from providing benefits that duplicate the benefits under the Medicare for All Program.
 Allows the sale of insurance and employer-sponsored benefits that provide supplemental coverage.

For those able to read and think, the first two virtually eliminate so-called employer provided healthcare. Employees are no longer stuck in sucky jobs for fear of losing their HC coverage. The third just allows employers to offer extra coverage.

Then we need to break up the fiefdoms that insurance companies have created for themselves at the state level. State regulation of insurance companies is, essentially, controlled by the insurance companies and regulates insurance consumers far more than it regulates insurance companies.

Duh, that's what practically everyone wants. The first eliminates all that. But, I know, you just can't be bothered to read or think about anything.

Those two changes together would begin the climb out of the hole we've been digging. But neither would have an immediate impact, and in the meantime we should expand the safety net for people who currently can't afford health care, with a solid plan for phasing it out once the health care market returns to some semblance of sanity.

It will happen just as soon as everyone gets angry enough and demands it. Otherwise, forget about it. Nothing will change.

 

[dblack]

Again:
https://jayapal.house.gov/wp-conten...ll-Act-of-2019-Section-by-Section-Summary.pdf

For those able to read and think ...

Fuck off. If you buy what they're selling, go for it. Wallow in it. You jackasses are going to sink this country anyway. Face it, the US has jumped the shark.

 

[Grumblenuts]

Touchy touchy!

 

[NewsVine_Mariyam]

$500/month for health insurance? Is that normal? WTF?

Believe it or not, that's not too bad

 

[Gabe Lackmann]

Believe it or not, that's not too bad

I'm retired military and I pay $95 for full medical, and dental for me and my spouse. If I wanted vision it would have been another...$25? I can't remember, but not too much.

$500! WTF!?

 

[Stann]

This is a good explanation of the healthcare insurance nightmare that looms one accident away for every American. While my provider is pretty good with my insurance (such as Max. Out Of Pocket capped at $2500) what happens if I'm traveling and need care in a dreaded "out of network" hospital?

This is what Republicans continue to DEFEND, this is what they are fighting FOR. It's mind boggling these rubes have been convinced this is what works best, when countries all around the world have something far BETTER.


The patient: Phil Gaimon, 35, a former professional cyclist, a YouTuber and blogger who earns most of his income through sponsorships. He paid about $500 a month for his insurance policy with Health Net through Covered California, the state's health insurance exchange. He also had a secondary health insurance policy with USA Cycling.

Total bills: $151,804 from Lehigh Valley Health Network and $49,526 from the Hospital for Special Surgery. He had additional bills from various physicians. Health Net has paid approximately $27,000 to Lehigh Valley, according to Gaimon. His secondary insurance, with USA Cycling, paid $25,000 to the Hospital for Special Surgery and his surgeon there.

Service providers: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., part of the nonprofit Lehigh Valley Health Network; and the Hospital for Special Surgery, an academic medical center, in Manhattan, New York.

Medical procedure: surgery for a fractured collarbone at Lehigh Valley Hospital and surgery for a broken scapula at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

What gives: Gaimon collided with three health system dangers in this physically and financially painful crash: an out-of-state emergency, out-of-network care and gold-plated prices from both hospitals that treated him. Gaimon said he could sell his house and pay these bills, "but I shouldn't have to. I have insurance."

His situation is a scenario that many patients have encountered when they need emergency care outside their provider's network. It's known in medical jargon as "balance billing." Hospitals and insurance companies without mutual contracts often don't agree on the price of services, and the patient is left to pay the difference.

Cyclist's Olympic Dream Becomes $200,000 Medical Bill Nightmare

Cyclist Phil Gaimon was competing in a race that could have won him a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. Instead, a crash landed him in two hospitals where his out-of-network surgeries garnered huge bills.

www.npr.org

United States is one of the few countries in the world where you can work your whole life then when you get older medical bills pile up and you can lose everything. Insurance companies are there only ones who benefit from this system.

 

[MisterBeale]

As the government got more and more into the business of funding health care, the costs necessarily rose. . .

. . . and THAT, is why no one can now afford it, w/o government getting involved.

SO? If folks want government to cover all costs, then you have to take private insurers and private providers completely out of the picture, like they do in Britain, or it will bankrupt all of society.

It is simple economics.


. . . and of course, this will mean, quality of care, the amount of care, and research will all suffer.

 

[Donald H]

Well! What an eye opener for a Canadian to read about these horror stories associated with the US insurance companies!
A little honesty for a change as opposed to the lying and slobbering over how great the US health care system is supposed to be.

Yet still, American rubes still cannot wrap their heads around the concept of government run universal health care for all the people at an affordable cost! Duhhhhhhh!

Could it have something to do with black people benefitting the most, and that becomes intolerable? What else could it be other than heads filled with confetti jammed in there by big insurance?

 

[Donald H]

Trump has a plan! For 'obvious' reasons his plan needs to remain a secret and that's mostly because if the commies find out there's a better plan that government run universal HC, they will immediately come out from under beds and bite off all toes!
Trust Trump to limit profits of big insurance companies, doctors, and hospitals that gouge big profit off of the backs of his supporters.
Trump's plan is to pay their bills himself!