The Link More and more companies will follow suit which is what many predicted and Howard Dean even applauded. Another deception to the American public about keeping their current insurance plan by Obama. Note the message from the lady who is scared because she is having a baby on $7.69 an hour and is not sure what she will do or how she will afford the baby. How about doing a little family planning and not expect others to cover it? The Link
That was said to be BO's goal all along. To hasten single payer anyone who actually believed his lies about keeping your insurance, keeping your Dr saving you money and obamacare being cost neutral just believe OR pretend to believe anything BO says.
Completely agree w/Dean. There will be some growing pains for sure. and there are surely going to be some unfortunate consequences effecting the low income folks but in the long run this is the only mechanism that is going to get the rising healthcare costs under control. Putting individuals back as the final arbiters of how much insurance they need and how much they are willing to pay for it.
Are you serious, the low income folks might have some problems? What about the non-low income folks, that are going to have to pay all this money to the government to cover all the low income folks? We are already paying for them when they don't pay their medical bills, why should we pay more?
What the proponents do not understand is that Medicaid pays less than the cost of service. Pushing all of those patients into that plan will bankrupt smaller hospitals, pushing out physicians and crushing medical care in rural communities.
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/best-hospitals/articles/2010/07/21/health-reform-takes-aim-at-hospital-readmission-rates healthcare reform is also aimimg to improve quality of care which in turn will lead to lower costs. in this case it will lead to less hospital readmissions. the current system is allowing this to get worse and is not addressing it. this is where our dialogue should be.
Good lord pharmacy do you really believe what you just typed. The gov in charge of anything will not be cheaper and I believe we have evidence to back that up. Fannie and Freddie .....post office...military...bridge to nowhere....I could go on but
The law penalizes hospitals for preventable readmissions for certain disease states with further cuts in reimbursements. If you cut reimbursements and force hospitals to cut staff further than what they currently are already at - plus add significantly more workload from the hospitals forced to close, you will not see a rise in quality. In your area, medication non- compliance leads to more than 10% of those preventable re-admissions. Will pharmacy be giving away free medications, calling patients at home or providing electronic checks to keep patients compliant?
There are lots of cost savings with better management of care. I'm with those who don't necessarily see the government as the ultimate authority on that, but sadly enough no one else seems to have any leverage at all on escalating costs. Some of that is folks feeling a personal pinch from unneccessary medical costs and procedures -- HSAs and High deductible plans are a step in the right direction. Sadly enough saying "No" to the medicaid patient who costs half a million dollars to live comatose in an intensive care unit for the last two months of her life would have one party screaming "death panels" so that is off the table.
This. I want to go on record saying I"m totally in favor of death panels. It's a ridiculous fantasy to pretend we can afford any kind of care no matter how expensive and how little the return in quality/length of life.
Ditto. Unless it is I who am put before the death panel. But then I can probably pay privately for some extra care. Which will create a further divide between the 2% and everyone else. The wealthy people can pay for more care. But wait!! This wouldn't be fair!! Just because they have more money they shouldn't be able to get better healthcare! Just ask the wealthy Canadians who come here for treatment rather that be on waiting lists.
Austin Bat: Curiously it's not usually the wealthy and super wealthy who drive up the expense of extra life care. They typically on their own do a cost-benefit analysis since they and their hiers are paying for a lot of it. Most are sophisticated enough to see that death is the right way out when their bodies will no longer afford meaningful interaction with the outside world. They plan, give DNR instructions and make intelligent decisions about life-prolonging procedures that won't necessarily bring outcomes worth the pain and expense.
Maybe she is Catholic. Maybe she could shut her legs up and go get an education and skills to make more money before having sex which could produce a baby. And why should her employee provide her with a .99 cent condom to prevent her stupidity. Do they need to also help her put it on her husband/boyfriend/one night stand?
We've got to get people out of the "use it up" mentality. Many think/feel that they've already paid for it so why not use it up. Go to the doc for every little thing, opt in for the joint therapy, bariatric etc. Sure these are real maladies and may be worth it for some people but that's the point, it should be the individual that decides "is it worth 26K for bariatric surgery or should I try a little harder with my diet? Should I get on a regimen of daily heart disease and diabetes pills or should I get off my butt and exercise?" And the medical insurance that individuals buy should be priced according to their personal choice on lifestyle. if you're a bloated couch potato, you should pay more. These are things that are better managed (and paid for) on an individual level, not the corporate, and certainly not the goverment. I would support the goverment doing the 'grading' of insurance policies much like the grading of bonds is done now.
Not my religion, so none of my business. Very good point though. Just do not make me pay for your religion or your personal choices.
"And why should her employee provide her with a .99 cent condom to prevent her stupidity" The're 99 cents now? Last time I had to use one, they were a quarter.
Believe me, I fully understand hospitals, ACA and hospital pharmacy - but thanks for the patronizing education.
Premiums for the past 3 years. 2011..Went up 25% from previous year. 2012..Up another 10%. Went on Medicare in June of 2012.. 2013 premiums for Medicare up 5%. Prescription drug plan up 40%. Medicare supplement up 30%. Sweet deal.
