Health Insurance in the U.S.

Millions of children go uninsured as employee benefits erode

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https://teakdoor.com/images/smilies1/You_Rock_Emoticon.gifUpdated: 9:03 p.m. PT March 13, 2007

WASHINGTON - About 47 percent of parents in families earning less than $40,000 a year are offered health insurance through their employers — a 9 percent drop during the past decade.
The figure underscores concern that low-income parents are experiencing a dramatic erosion in employee benefits, said the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research.
The foundation says the research also shows the importance of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has been in effect for a decade. One of the biggest debates in Congress this year will be over how much funding to set aside for the program, which now covers about 6 million children.

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Entire & Link: Fewer low-income families offered insurance - Health Care - MSNBC.com



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This really should be America's shame....

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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Originally Posted by surasak

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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You'll think different when you are in your 70's & 80's...:rolleyes:

I don't think there is any free coverage for seniors.
At least I have never heard of any,, there is medicare after 65 with SSA pensions, but it is not free, you pay for it out of your SSA check every month, I quit paying $75 a month for mine after I had been here a couple of years cause it don't pay here and with the $200 deductable I never used it there either.
The only ones that I know about that are getting free health care are the illegals that always go to the ER anytime they need anything and never pay. Thats why some hospitals have shut down their ERs.

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

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Originally Posted by surasak

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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You'll think different when you are in your 70's & 80's...:rolleyes:

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Blackgang, thanks for the update on the SSA situation.

How do you feel about this Boon Mee?

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

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Originally Posted by surasak

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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You'll think different when you are in your 70's & 80's...:rolleyes:

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I don't have free coverage now, so, why should I expect you to pay for my medical bills when I reach 65+?

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Originally Posted by blackgang

The only ones that I know about that are getting free health care are the illegals that always go to the ER anytime they need anything and never pay. Thats why some hospitals have shut down their ERs.

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Uh, under the law no hospital that accepts Medicare payments may turn away anyone in the ER who has a life threatening issue (EMTALA, US CODE: Title 42,1395dd. Examination and treatment for emergency medical conditions and women in labor)

It is true that a large number of illegals take advantage of this (mostly due to childbirth). However, many people here legally abuse the system by phoning 911 when they literally have an infected toenail.

FOXNews.com - L.A. Emergency Rooms Full of Illegal Immigrants - Politics | Republican Party | Democratic Party | Political Spectrum
But some critics say the taxpayers can't be the HMO (search) to the world. Last year, Los Angeles County spent $340 million to treat the uninsured; that's roughly $1,000 for every taxpayer.
"We're citizens here. Why should somebody from another country that's here illegally get anything that we can't get? I mean that's dumb, that's not right," said Don Schenck, whose son, Bill, is mentally disabled.
Though the Schencks are uninsured, and considered poor by county standards, his father had to find a way to pay for his Bill's care while thousands of others, in the country illegally, get it for free.
"It makes you feel pretty bad when you're born in that country and you're handicapped and you've got a learning disability and you can't get medical," Schenck said.
Mike Antonovich, the Los Angeles County supervisor, said the system has been "basically bankrupted."
The Department of Health has a $1.2 billion deficit. Caring for illegals is siphoning money from other services and forcing clinics, trauma centers and emergency rooms to close, he said.
"We cannot afford to have a open-door policy to encourage illegals to continue to come here and receive all the medical care, because it's too expensive," he said

Anyone can walk in and get the same care. The fact that they claim that they cannot is BS. It is a Federal law; the one I quoted above.

What's really disgusting is how we are going to siphon off money from CHIPs to pay for the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I looked and I found nothing for free health care for seniors, I myself have never heard of it.
Also as I said that you ignored, you can get medicare ins. on SSA after 65, but you pay at least $75 a month with $200 deductable.
My mother lives in Roseville Ca. and she is 94 years old, has to hire a cab to take her to the doctor, has to pay for every bit of it and the US govt has finally set up a prescripton drug plan for seniors on medicare, but you pay to belong to the plan and the drugs still cost more than you could get em anywhere else.
I paid $190 for an inhaler that I have to use 2 times a day,,here it costs me $27,,other inhalers that cost me $48 I get here for 325 baht, and an antibiotic that I have to take daily for lung infection prevention was $10 for 500 mg. there and here I buy 10K mg. for 200 baht.
All these meds I have to use daily, and they are the same brand and mfg. both here and there.

They might give you the care alright but they will also bill you for it and then turn you over to a collection agency too.
besides even that, you still payed taxes so you deserve more than an illegal.

Universal health-care is one of Hillary's strong points, isn't it?
Including seniors and kids.

America is a broken toilet with all sorts of flotsam brimming around the edge.

Glad I left and do not miss it.

Just have to file my damm taxes very soon and that is a bummer.

She tried to get that thru last time SHE was pres. didnt work then and will not work now,, you know how they are,,promise em anything and fuck em.

She the senior senator from NY and have you heard about any bills she has sponsored for such health care??

Calif. got ins for kids, I had custody of my daughter and was a single parent, on pensions,, but they sent me some forms to fill out and they
gave me ins for the kid, full medical, dental and eye care. for $18 a month I think,, it was billed quarterly.

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Originally Posted by surasak

It is true that a large number of illegals take advantage of this (mostly due to childbirth). However, many people here legally abuse the system by phoning 911 when they literally have an infected toenail.

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Sura,

Please show some evidence for this.

(I disagree.)


Most don't go to the doctor. That's why the lack of preventative care leads to high medical costs.

Officials Say Funds Might Have Staved Off Cuts, Closures

(AP) LOS ANGELES The county spent about $350 million last year providing health care to illegal immigrants, the Department of Health Services said.

Massive health cuts, including the closure of 16 health clinics and possibly two hospitals, as well as slashes in services, could have been avoided if that money was available for other uses, officials said.

The Board of Supervisors votes Tuesday on a plan to create a work permit for Mexicans wanting to come to the county for a certain period of time for a certain job. The law would require would-be employers to put up an insurance bond for each worker to guarantee they would pay the cost of any needed health care services.

The proposal would also need congressional approval.

"Illegal immigrants have impacted our county taxpayers," Supervisor Michael Antonovich said. "We have a $350 million debt as a result of these people receiving medical treatment illegally."

Antonovich said there are also plans to eliminate all non-emergency services to people who don't live in the county.

Immigration attorney Margherita Underhill said she understands the county's concerns, but she's not convinced the work permit is the answer. It doesn't appear to address a large percentage who end up working for themselves, she said.

"We need to consider the self-employed, which are a majority of the illegals," Underhill said. "These are the people who are selling oranges on the street, that mow our lawns, that take clean our houses and take care of our elderly."

County health officials said they are not allowed to ask patients about their citizenship status. Rather, they estimated the amount of money spent on illegal immigrants last year using a formula based on how many illegals they believe live in the county and how many doctor and hospital visits were not reimbursed.

"We also looked at the number of people who have been denied medical benefits," health department spokesman John Wallace said. "We get them signed up for medical benefits, but a certain number got rejected because they had no proof of citizenship."

Canada's doing its part to treat (fraudulent) Americans who can't get healthcare in the U.S.:

From a very interesting transcript:
Health Care Canada O Canada, Health Care Myths from the Great White North


"Interestingly, Ontario recently went through the expense of making everyone get picture ID"s to stem the problem of Americans coming across the border and borrowing health care cards. A few years ago, there were more health care cards in existence in New Brunswick than there were legal residents of the province. It turns out that folks from Maine were going to Canada for care with fake health care cards."

tons more:

healthcare canada americans - Google Search

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Originally Posted by Milkman

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Originally Posted by surasak

It is true that a large number of illegals take advantage of this (mostly due to childbirth). However, many people here legally abuse the system by phoning 911 when they literally have an infected toenail.

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Sura,

Please show some evidence for this.

(I disagree.)


Most don't go to the doctor. That's why the lack of preventative care leads to high medical costs.

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At University, Debbie's rash and Turner's allergies are precisely the sort of cases that used to jam the emergency department. In the past six months, ambulances have delivered three hangnail cases to the ER; another person made 165 visits in one year, Paradis said.

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washingtonpost.com: Some Finding No Room at the ER

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Originally Posted by blackgang

I looked and I found nothing for free health care for seniors, I myself have never heard of it.
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I believe the category you are missing is called 'dual eligibles' in which a person/persons who fall under the Federal poverty level can get both Medicare and Medicaid for free (essentially Medicaid pays for the things Medicare won't or doesn't cover).

Why is the overriding issue "who will pay?" Whoever pays for medical care in the USA - employers, government or families - will go broke. The profits of the medical-industrial complex are apparently sacred to both Democrats and Republicans. Hillary's 1994 medical plan would have pumped billions into the pockets of medical insurance companies and probably even increased medical profits. When I was growing up in the 1960's, no one really cared about "who will pay' because costs were reasonable. The way the Democrats and Republicans skirt around the real problem of a medical corporate mafia shows how spineless, worthless and irrelevant these two parties are to solving real problems. If I had to pay my family's medical insurance premium in the USA, the cost would be higher than total monthly living expenses in Thailand. There may soon be a new class of American expatriates, 'medical insurance exiles'.

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Very good point, floorpotatoe!
Not wnting to distract, but raising medical costs, with the medical industry plundering public coffers, combined with a 'don't care' attitude by the public as long as they get 'free' services' has ruined the German insurance system.
They've re-introduced some responsibility to the 'consumer' to find cost effective treatment.

Hospitals cannot refuse medical care so they close down their ERs instead.

Mexico has hospice care and retirement care homes which are geared for Americans. Their services are offered at a much lower cost.

The problem with the U.S. healthcare system is that the drug companies and medical research companies expect us to pay high prices here so that they can offset their products' costs in other countries.

It's no secret that the American consumer gets raped by high drug prices simply to allow the same drugs to be sold cheaper in other countries.

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Originally Posted by surasak

It's no secret that the American consumer gets raped by high drug prices simply to allow the same drugs to be sold cheaper in other countries.

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big pharma is doing just fine....too fine.

it's a disgrace that so many americans are denied access to health care.

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Originally Posted by Milkman

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

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Originally Posted by surasak

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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You'll think different when you are in your 70's & 80's...:rolleyes:

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Blackgang, thanks for the update on the SSA situation.

How do you feel about this Boon Mee?

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I'll be living in Thailand full-time within the year and will have to pay for health coverage - no Medicare for me and the missus when we reach 65. Small price to pay for the privilige of living in LOS.:)

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

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Originally Posted by Milkman

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Originally Posted by Boon Mee

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Originally Posted by surasak

I think children should be entitled to free coverage from birth that terminates upon graduation from high school.

After that, I believe a person should be on their own. No more free universal coverage for seniors, etc.

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You'll think different when you are in your 70's & 80's...:rolleyes:

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Blackgang, thanks for the update on the SSA situation.

How do you feel about this Boon Mee?

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I'll be living in Thailand full-time within the year and will have to pay for health coverage - no Medicare for me and the missus when we reach 65. Small price to pay for the privilige of living in LOS.:)

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Thanks for the reply Boon, and best of luck.

But after 65 health ins. is tough to get, if that what you were talking about..

We tried and they wouldn't give it to me and I was over 65 tho, wife says they will sell it up to that age, not later.least at AIA anyway.


I be lucky tho, I got ins thru my wifes job..

If you want to know why healthcare is so expensive in the U.S. read further:

Freakonomics Blog » If Crack Dealers Took Lessons From Walgreens, They Really Would Be Rich

Millions of children go uninsured as employee benefits erode

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March 15, 2007

WASHINGTON - About 47 percent of parents in families earning less than $40,000 a year are offered health insurance through their employers — a 9 percent drop during the past decade.


The figure underscores concern that low-income parents are experiencing a dramatic erosion in employee benefits, said the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which funded the research.


The foundation says the research also shows the importance of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has been in effect for a decade. One of the biggest debates in Congress this year will be over how much funding to set aside for the program, which now covers about 6 million children.

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Entire & Link: Fewer low-income families insured - Health Care - MSNBC.com

People back home have been b*tching about this understanding. Because of the increases in monthly premiums taken out of people's check, their Net Pay is actually decreasing.

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Web ExclusiveBy Dean Ornish, M.D.
Newsweek

Updated:
April 10, 2007

April 10, 2007 - Health-care costs—really, disease-care costs—continue to rise faster than inflation and wage increases, and are b][reaching a tipping point.[/b] According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums have risen 87 percent in the past six years to an average of $11,480 annually for family coverage, which is almost what a minimum-wage worker earns. And over 47 million Americans don’t have health insurance at all, which is appalling. This issue is already playing an important role in the presidential campaign.

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Health Insurance Premiums Continue to Soar
By Daniel Yi (c) 2006, Los Angeles Times

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Entire & Link: Greater Northwest Medical Directory - Fall 2006

Health care is expensive because of the following:

1. Poor lifestyles of the average American.
2. Lack of prevention...thus treatment isn't performed until well too late to be done effectively and cheaply.
3. Trial lawyers.
4. Bureacracy.
5. People who tie up the ER for toothaches and hangnails.

Universal health care is not an option we should examine for anyone past the age of 18. How does Medicare/Medicaid survive on a 1.45% payroll tax when a single elderly recipient can collect $75,000 per year in treatment costs? If we had universal health care for all adults the taxes on our income would be even worse than they are now.

What are you bitching about SHIRTSAK you have said numerous times that you pay no income tax at all, and you only pay into SSA because they take it and you allow that only because that way you can keep your stepdaughter in the USA or you would not pay that either.
So why don't you keep quiet until a subject comes up that actually costs you something..

Please comment on the topic or posters' arguments and refrain from personal attacks, blackgang.

It's sad the the term "socialized medicine" is used negatively. A political buzzword and a misnomer that prejudices the public.

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Giuliani Assails Democrats' Health Plans
By MIKE BAKERRALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani on Friday accused his Democratic rivals of embracing health care plans that would amount to socialized medicine.


The former New York City mayor, responding to comments in the first Democratic primary debate Thursday night, claimed Democrats favor "mandatory" universal health care and the plans would only exacerbate the cost of care by putting the system in the hands of bureaucrats.
"They're moving toward socialized medicine so fast, it'll make your head spin," Giuliani said, adding that private solutions could help bring down the cost of care. "When we want to cover poor people, as we should, we give them vouchers."

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Entire: My Way News - Giuliani Assails Democrats' Health Plans

It doesn't get any lower than this.

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Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders

By Lisa Girion, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
One of the state's largest health insurers set goals and paid bonuses based in part on how many individual policyholders were dropped and how much money was saved.

Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc. avoided paying $35.5 million in medical expenses by rescinding about 1,600 policies between 2000 and 2006. During that period, it paid its senior analyst in charge of cancellations more than $20,000 in bonuses based in part on her meeting or exceeding annual targets for revoking policies, documents disclosed Thursday showed

That the health plan had cancellation goals and bonuses comes amid a storm of controversy over the industry-wide but long-hidden practice of rescinding coverage after expensive medical treatments have been authorized.

These cancellations have been the recent focus of intense scrutiny by lawmakers, state regulators and consumer advocates. Although these "rescissions" are only a small portion of the companies' overall business, they typically leave sick patients with crushing medical bills and no way to obtain needed treatment.

Most of the state's major insurers have cancellation departments or individuals assigned to review coverage applications. They typically pull a policyholder's records after major medical claims are made to ensure that the client qualified for coverage at the outset.

The companies' internal procedures for reviewing and canceling coverage have not been publicly disclosed. Health Net's disclosures Thursday provided an unprecedented peek at a company's internal operations and marked the first time an insurer had revealed how it linked cancellations to employee performance goals and to its bottom line.

The bonuses were disclosed at an arbitration hearing in a lawsuit brought by Patsy Bates, a Gardena hairdresser whose coverage was rescinded by Health Net in the middle of chemotherapy treatments for breast cancer. She is seeking $6 million in compensation, plus damages.

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Link & Entire: Health insurer tied bonuses to dropping sick policyholders - Los Angeles Times

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Originally Posted by Milkman

It doesn't get any lower than this.

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No, it doesn't. Yet apparently many in the US prefer this to socialised medicine (the very mention of which has them running for their bunkers to escape the 'Commie threat').

Weird, innit.

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Originally Posted by AntRobertson

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Originally Posted by Milkman

It doesn't get any lower than this.

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No, it doesn't. Yet apparently many in the US prefer this to socialised medicine (the very mention of which has them running for their bunkers to escape the 'Commie threat').

Weird, innit.

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Sad but true, Ant.

Universal health care is not 'socialized medicine' but the politicians, industry, and media use the term 'socialized medicine' a lot to distract the public and voters.

A recent example in Guliani's statement on a TV interview.

Americans are not only misinformed, but very passive.

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Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Weird, innit.

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the republican party, talk radio, and fox news have pulled off one of the greatest cons in american history....they've convinced the working class of the US not to support universal health care.....exactly the people who would benefit from it.