Thread: Health Care Passes

I would like to know what you would do to make healthcare more afforable and accessible to all americans?

any suggestions?

Fella's, it's simple. You pay over double as much as 'us' for incomplete coverage. That is a significant drag on the competitiveness of your nation. And year on year, it has been getting worse.
That sucks- and you really can not have much confidence in your own nation if you don't believe that can be improved upon significantly, it seems to me.
Beyond that, the social or 'libbie' angle of 'all those uninsured people' may be critically important to some, not the least to others. Up to you- because the critical importance of HC reform does not rest upon a 'social' argument- it rests upon a hard nosed business case.

Idaho GOP Gov. Otter Signs Executive Order Banning ObamaCare in His State

With more States following his lead, this socialist piece of crap legislation will soon be history.

Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter signed an executive order on Wednesday that prohibits receiving federal funding for or otherwise implementing the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.The governor vetoed a bill to block portions of the federal health insurance overhaul in the state.
Otter said Wednesday that while he is among the strongest opponents of the insurance reform, the bill passed by state lawmakers in the 2011 session would require Idaho to forego the creation of an insurance exchange.
Otter said that would open the door for the federal government to step in and develop the system. The executive order allows the state to develop its own “health care solutions.”
Otter was the first governor to sign a law requiring his state to sue over the federal health overhaul, branding it a government overreach.


Otter Signs Order Banning Health Care Reform - Local News Story - KIFI Idaho Falls

Originally Posted by Pound Hound

what do we do?

Copy the many other countries that are getting it right.

Originally Posted by Pound Hound

I would like to know what you would do to make healthcare more afforable and accessible to all americans?

any suggestions?

Most countries which have nationalized health care operate a dual system with a private option running along side the public one. It just depends how far you want to go in either direction I guess.

Private usually (but not in all circumstances) means quicker medical attention, but far more expensive than the public system. With "private" you get to choose your own doctor and dont have to wait in line for non-emergency treatment. A couple of the reasons why it is so expensive is due to over servicing with unnecessary tests and/or opperations in some cases, the higher fees demanded by private doctors/hospitals and of course the profit margin private health insurers require to stay in business. All this adds up to much more expensive health care for the individual as we see when comparing the US system to that of other developed countries.

The public system has its pitfalls too. It can be hindered in efficiency by government bureaucracy at times. You have to wait your turn for non-emergency elective surgery. You get the doctor/surgeon they assign to you, rather then the one you want. But overall it is far more efficient in financial terms than the private system.
Many studies over the years have well proven that.

Here in Australia we have taken the middle ground. There is a compulsory Medicare levy on ALL taxpayers (about 1.5% of taxable income I think). So EVERYONE is entitled to access the public system which is much larger than the private system, and is pretty good by world standards. Those who can afford it are encouraged to take out private health insurance and are given a rebate on their Medicare contributions. So the wealthy get to access the best of both worlds while the middle class and poor who cant afford private health insurance still get a world class medical service.
If you are unemployed and have a heart attack and need a triple bypass urgently, --- you get it. If you are wealthy and wealthy and want your hemorrhoids fixed now without having to wait months through the public system, then, -- you can have it.

Everyone is pretty happy with the system overall and it costs a hell of a lot less and is far more efficient in both financial and opperational terms than the US system based on private insurers.

Over a 55 day wait to see a doctor in Mass. Now go ahead and tell us (usual suspects) how great socialized medicine is, eh?

Doc holiday - NYPOST.com

well Boon Me.. I see you can point out problems easy enough... but what should we do? I am interested in ideas!

or should we assume you have no ideas and its just fucking dandy the way it is?

Originally Posted by Pound Hound

well Boon Me.. I see you can point out problems easy enough... but what should we do? I am interested in ideas!

or should we assume you have no ideas and its just fucking dandy the way it is?

As been mentioned ad naseum, get a job and get on your employer's health plan. Even industries like Wal Mar which isn't unionized has an employer health plan. For sure, the final solution isn't to take mine and yours hard earned scraps and give free health care to lazy layabouts and illegal aliens etc. Remember that socialism is great up until you run out of other folks' money...

dude... walmart only gives health insurance to its "full time" employees... They encourage the majority of thier workers (who work less than 29 hours a week) to go on government dole! They set it up so most workers don't work enough hours to get it... you may want a better example than walmart!

The employer health care will be gone real soon... so get a job is not always the solution...

I have no answers... I have questions... but the one thing I do know is our rate of GDP to heathcare is unsubstainable just like our debt and foriegn wars...

so real debate and solutions would be helpful....

and I work for a Canadian company... they give us top shelf health insurance becuase our canadian co-workers have it good... or so I am told...

the thing that bothers me is that even with health insurance if I get really sick, I will lose every penny of my life savings before I could qualify for help from the government... every damn penny... sell your house.... everything... I liveed in a retirement community in florida and watched old folk lose thier life savings... even with medicare and supplimental insurance... is that right?

Health care reform has already been passed, and towards the end of the decade you'll start to see costs as a % of GDP start to come down. Social/ coverage benefits a few years before that. But thats not the end of it- the legislation and overall system still needs to be simplified and become more competitive to draw it in line with the rest of the civilised world. I expect future Democrat administrations will address that. You would do well to send a study team to Australia- the quasi private/ quasi public system there works pretty well, and offers complete coverage at less than half the % of GDP it costs in the US. But for some strange reason, if you do that the right wingers in the US will accuse you of being "unAmerican".

^^
I don't have any answers either for what you are asking but death panels and waiting lists to see a doctor certainly is not the answer. But, in the end, if you Like Long Medical Wait Times, Crowded Emergency Rooms? You’ll Love ObamaCare.

Just in - ObamaCare Backer AARP Gets Exemption From ObamaCare. How 'bout them apples folks? Supporting ObamaCare earned the AARP an exemption from it:

The Daily Caller has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rate review rules, which it finalized on Thursday, exempt "Medigap" policy providers, like the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), from oversight when such providers increase payment rates for their supplemental insurance plans.

Insurance providers who aren't exempt from Obamacare's rate review rules are required to publicly release and explain some health care payment rate increases.

The AARP is the nation's biggest seller of Medigap policies, or supplemental healthcare plans that add onto what Medicare won't cover for seniors. The senior citizens interest group advocated for Obamacare to include an attack on Medigap policies' biggest competitor, Medicare Advantage.

So much for the vaunted UK Health Care, eh? Death Panels, shoddy care etc. Just what to expect if Obama Care is implemented in the US:

The National Health Service is facing a £20 billion-a-year funding black hole that will threaten its founding principles unless the Coalition’s controversial reforms are brought in to prevent it, the Health Secretary has warned.

Health Secretary: funding crisis threatens the NHS - Telegraph

So all you "Progressives" are still enamored with socialized medicine, eh? Check out the following:



Background on the photo:

Nurses casually stepped over a patient as he lay dying on a hospital floor.

Peter Thompson, 41, was left in a corridor for ten hours before someone noticed he had passed away.

In a final act of indignity, hospital auxiliaries pulled his lifeless body across the floor in a manner his family described as like 'dragging a dead animal'.

Thompson's death was determined by a coroner to be "wholly preventable."

An inquest heard that the father-of-one, who had consumed a cocktail of drink and drugs, could have been saved had he received emergency treatment.

The hospital's accident and emergency department was just 200 yards away.

Not to worry. The State has agreed to compensation for Thompson's family, courtesy of British taxpayers. All better now.


No one in their right mind would want their health in the hands of government bureaucrats.


Material from here

Washington (CNN) -- A federal appeals court in Cincinnati has ruled in favor of the Obama administration and Congress, ruling a key provision in the sweeping health care reform bill passed last year was constitutional.

The "individual mandate" requiring nearly all Americans purchase health insurance by 2014 or face financial penalties -- was challenged in federal courts by a large number of individuals and groups, saying people should not be forced to purchase a product like health insurance. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit panel disagreed.

"We find that the minimum coverage provision is a valid exercise of legislative power by Congress under the Commerce Clause," said the three-judge panel on Wednesday, in a 64-page opinion.

more: Federal appeals court rules health care reform bill is constitutional - CNN.com

More fuel for the fire, since a lot of non-Americans seem enamored with the Kenyon village idiot that got elected to the top job, they are suspect in my humble opinion. I offer this excerpt from the WONDERFUL socialized medicine package rammed through Congress by the "progressive" Democrats. To wit:


Please read reference to pages 57 & 58 of the Obama Health Care Bill

Obama Care Highlighted by Page Number


THE CARE BILL HB 3200

(the most egregious pages of HB3200)


** Page 50/section 152: The bill will provide insurance to all non-U.S. residents, even if they are here illegally.

** Page 58 and 59: The government will have real-time access to an individual's bank account and will have the authority to make electronic fund transfers from those accounts.

** Page 65/section 164: The plan will be subsidized (by the government) for all union members, union retirees and for community organizations (such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - ACORN).

** Page 203/line 14-15: The tax imposed under this section will not be treated as a tax. (How could anybody in their right mind come up with that?)

** Page 241 and 253: Doctors will all be paid the same regardless of specialty, and the government will set all doctors' fees.

** Page 272. section 1145: Cancer hospital will ration care according to the patient's age.

** Page 317 and 321: The government will impose a prohibition on hospital expansion; however, communities may petition for an exception.

** Page 425, line 4-12: The government mandates advance-care planning consultations. Those on Social Security will be required to attend an "end-of-life planning" seminar every five years. (Death counseling..)

** Page 429, line 13-25: The government will specify which doctors can write an end-of-life order.


"Finally, it is specifically stated that this bill will not apply to members of Congress. Members of Congress are already exempt from the Social Security system, and have a well-funded private plan that covers their retirement needs. If they were on our Social Security plan, I believe they would find a very quick 'fix' to make the plan financially sound for their future."

Jim

^ Jim, you need to supply a Link or reference to that article- 'Issue's rules'.

Sabang, I'll get back to you PDQ with the address.

Jim
p.s. I don't make this shit up.

Originally Posted by sabang

^ Jim, you need to supply a Link or reference to that article- 'Issue's rules'.

better yet,...save everyone some time with this BS

http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/kithil.asp

fuckin' e-mails they will send to one another

Well, anyone who relies on Snopes to validate liberal thinking is being misled.

Try going to this web site and read the bill yourself. Congressional Bills: Browse

Americans are not against revising health care, we simply don't want to provide health care for people who live their entire lives feeding at the government trough or for illegal aliens. Those two classes of people are currently costing the taxpayer millions of dollars a year by using emergency rooms as their health care providers.

Jim

Quick question:

Will offering socialised health care benefit enough people for him to win another election?

It will if he can ram the amnesty of the millions of illegal aliens now in country. They are a direct beneficiary of the Obama Health Care Plan. BTW, that plan has very little to do with health care it's more about Government control.

Jim