Most U.S. doctorsfavor it.
Government run health care for everybody seems like too much, but the existing alternative ain't working. Obama's plan seems to make sense — create a national pool to lower costs and help small businesses with tax breaks/subsidies when catastrophic events drive up their costs. This basic strategy doesn't force anybody to have insurance but is suppose to lower costs so that people could afford it.
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13 comments:
You have to be kidding
If you have ever dealt with Medicare for seniors you will understand that we need to be very careful about what we wish for.
Yes, you will have lower costs but they will control much of what treatment you get and for how long. They decide if you are making progress and if THEY deem you are not "progressing" you are done with therapy or if you need to stay one day longer than the allowed days in a hospital...tough.
I seriously doubt that most doctors are for it. Unless they get paid a set amount to see a set number of patients and if you are next in line over the set amount you come back the next day. (i.e. if they are paid to see 50 they won't stay for number 51)
Canadians come to America for treatment and people in other countries would argue that their system is not working. Any fix is not necessarily a fix but could create a bigger issues.
I hate my insurance company and navigating through it but I hate the government decisions on Medicare for my senior parent even more.
@ 6:02 AM
thanks for bringing some real life experience to the discussion.
Here's a bit more real life. OI have private insurance through my employer. Most of the maladies you describe about medicare and in another company sound strikingly similar to our options.
And yes, we have dealt with issues of senior parents from both sides of our marriage. They dictate quite a bit. And, if you are not careful, you wind up signing over any real property in exchange for care.
With the latter as a significant exception, many preventive procedures are not covered with our insurer. Then, in the event one does succumb to one of those ailments that might have prevented or more treatable with early detection, it rapidly pushes you into plan limits and could leave one at their lowest point, in health, without coverage and uninsurable by any other carrier.
Today's private insurers are not here to provide coverage for illness or injury so much as they exist to provide return on investment to shareholders. Collecting premiums is desirable. Paying claims is not.
Insurance as a profitable investment is the problem and not how the doctors respond. It's the millions who pay for insurance that they rarely use or who pay for it for 30yrs before need ing it that make insurance profitable. It's the folks who want some return on their 30 yrs of paying premiums, in the form of health care when they most need it, who are burned.
I agree that insurance companies are not perfect and I too have paid as a small business owner for over 30 years. We have been very fortunate in our medical needs but I can also say that my senior parents have needed only minimal items as well. The hassles with medicare far exceed the hassles with insurance. Have you ever really tried to communicate with the government? The IRS and the Medicare people are trained in the same fashion and are non-responsive and generally impossible to reach. Yes, I have stayed on hold with Blue Cross/Blue Shield for lo-o-ong periods of time but I have finally gotten responses. The difference is that they need my business and the government can treat me as it wishes. They don't really care what I think....my parents are mere numbers and not consumers. If the universal health care coverage can treat me as a human with real needs and be responsive that would be awesome BUT it is the government and I have yet to get any level of government to be very responsive.
We'll the insurance rep came today to explain coverage and costs. Basically, our employees are too old and are costing too much, so BBBS needs to increase their rates (22 percent) so they can turn (more) of a profit on our group. (We actually paid a few thousand dollars more in premiums than they paid in claims on our group).
"Hire younger people" it was suggested .... Ah, the comforts of for-profit health insurance.
At least a rep showed up. Try other companies. You can look for alternatives and you do have choice. Government will give you what they want and not what you want.
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I really think we are in a catch-22 of sorts. Private healthcare/insurance is better, but doesn't cover everyone. Universal healthcare, in theory, would cover everyone, but is crap, because now you will have a large government agency dictating what is/is not covered. No one really wins. You are right; the older you get, the less you get for the amount of money you pay for private insurance. That is because insurance are taking the risk. Some "older" people are healthy than young people, but the majority of older people do use insurance more. But I do see a trend that younger people are using insurance for stupid things, like going to the emergency room for things that can be dealt with at a doctors clinic. ER bills are outrageous. A office visit is $30.
I also have a couple of doctor friends in Ark City, and a couple in Winfield, and they say Universal Health care/Insurance would a disaster, because they will be limited on what care they will be able to provide.
We've tried to shop. BCBS is always the best deal, despite their heavy increases. There are health savings accounts, but that appears to heavily increase out of pocket expenses for employees, add more work on our end, while saving only small amount on premiums.
Would love to see more competition to drive down prices, or allow small biz to join the state workers pool, as has been proposed in Topeka.
I don't know that we need government run health care for all. But we need some changes to the system that drive down costs, and only the government can drive that policy
Competition drives down prices (normally). But, being in a state w/ a low population won't bring in the companies required for competitive rates. I use to work for another company that had offices in Kansas and another, more populus state. When they tried to revise the insurance, the rates for the bigger state was lower. Great news, until we found out that the insurance company wasn't covered by doctors in our area. Seems that Doctors, clinics, hospitals need to be "certified" by the insurance company (or visa versa), otherwise the ins. company will not pay. It was a pain in the butt. Eventually, the company ditched the new ins comapny (with the lower rates) to go back to BCBS, and the 200-some employees agreed to pay more, just to get rid of the hassle of dealing w/ an out of state Ins company.
I shop our health insurance every year. Blue Cross is never the cheapest. They are about in the middle. BUT they are the best with the richest plan and the best service and worth the extra cost imho. Check out Coventry Dave.
I agree with both of you on this. Insurance has turned into a racket, and neither the doctors or the companies want to loose money at it. Insurance is only going to pay so much and then it's up to you to pay the rest. Speaking from a person who holds a "job", this is left up to me to pay the difference.
Ask the people on Medicade how well the system is working for them. Not a huge difference in what the government wants to do with everyone in my opinion. I sit in the waiting room waiting and hour or better to see a doctor for 5 mins. A person on medicade whose NOT going to pay their bill sits in there and gets basically the same treatment cause they can't turn them away.
The way I see it, is that everyone will be able to go to the doctor for whatever whenever, and I'll still have to wait.
I worked in the ER for a few years, and I couldn't believe what people bring their kids in for, and things "they" come in for. A total waste of time and money, and most probably didn't and still haven't paid their bills. A snotty nose isn't something you go to the ER for. Neither is "foot" pain.! But I feel they were coming there casue they call the office and they tell you it'll be 2-3 weeks when you can be seen. WHY? Cause they are experiencing the same thing!! It's a loop!
They don't want to spend time with you cause insurance pays them better to get you out the door so they can see another. It's like factory work. They HAVE to meet a budget and the budget dictates they see ?# of pts a day or they go under! Most of em like government money cause it's guarenteed funds as is insurance. They go above and beyond that though, they're left to try and sqeeze those dollars out of you.
I SAY NO to government funded insurance. If you need insurance, have some ambition and better yourself and go find a job with some benefits. (outside of Medicare of course) If ya wanta live in the gutter, then except those benefits too!
As a society, we simply can't fix everything! Not the world, not the hunger problem, nor the insurance!
And remember, nothing the government meddles in ever turns out good!
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