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James48843
05-13-2009, 09:17 PM
Got this today from the President of the United States:


6324




Good afternoon,

You are receiving this email because you signed up at WhiteHouse.gov. My staff and I plan to use these messages as a way to directly communicate about important issues and opportunities, and today I have some encouraging updates about health care reform.

The Vice President and I just met with leaders from the House of Representatives and received their commitment to pass a comprehensive health care reform bill by July 31.

We also have an unprecedented commitment from health care industry leaders, many of whom opposed health reform in the past. Monday, I met with some of these health care stakeholders, and they pledged to do their part to reduce the health care spending growth rate, saving more than two trillion dollars over the next ten years -- around $2,500 for each American family. Then on Tuesday, leaders from some of America's top companies came to the White House to showcase innovative ways to reduce health care costs by improving the health of their workers.

Now the House and Senate are beginning a critical debate that will determine the health of our nation's economy and its families. This process should be transparent and inclusive and its product must drive down costs, assure quality and affordable health care for everyone, and guarantee all of us a choice of doctors and plans.

Reforming health care should also involve you. Think of other people who may want to stay up to date on health care reform and other national issues and tell them to join us here:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/EmailUpdates

Health care reform can't come soon enough. We spend more on health care than any country, but families continue to struggle with skyrocketing premiums and nearly 46 million are without insurance entirely. It is a priority for the American people and a pillar of the new foundation we are seeking to build for our economy.

We'll continue to keep you posted about this and other important issues.

Thank you,
Barack Obama

P.S. If you'd like to get more in-depth information about health reform and how you can participate, be sure to visit http://www.HealthReform.gov (http://www.healthreform.gov/).

OBGibby
05-26-2009, 01:30 PM
Don't Doc American Health Care
05.25.09, 12:00 AM ET
Steve Forbes
Forbes.com
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2009/0525/013-opinions-steve-forbes-dont-doc-american-health-care_print.html

The U.S. medical system is hugely expensive and is not providing as good care to its citizens as socialized systems are in Canada and Europe--that will be a chief argument the Obama Administration employs to justify its new government health insurance plan for the 46 million Americans who are uninsured. The White House will further argue that competition from a public (i.e., government) company will force private insurers to cease underwriting the currently wasteful system. The Administration will also emphasize the alleged horrors of the status quo, claiming, for instance, that most personal bankruptcies in this country are caused by health care debts and that every year nearly 20,000 people die in the U.S. because they are uninsured.

Before swallowing these arguments, you should read a paper recently issued by the National Center for Policy Analysis: "Health Care Reform: Do Other Countries Have the Answers? (http://ncpa.org/pub/health-care-reform-do-other-countries-have-the-answers)''. This paper gives a quick rebuttal to the notion that the U.S. health care system fails because of rising costs, inadequate quality of care and incomplete access. For those who want more information, the paper's footnotes will provide plenty of sources with which to find it.

Does the U.S. spend too much on health care? When comparing apples with apples and stethoscopes with stethoscopes, the reality is that in most areas--other than diagnostic equipment and research on new medicines--the U.S. actually does not devote more resources per capita than do socialized nations. But "the U.S. compares favorably when real resources are measured rather than monetary accounts. ... Countries account for long-term care and out-of-pocket spending differently. The accounting treatment of overhead and capital costs also varies." Moreover, "the U.S. has been neither worse nor better than the rest of the developed world at controlling expenditure growth." Our outlays grow at the same pace as everyone else's.

In certain areas, such as medical diagnostic equipment, we do have greater spending. Britain has only a fraction of the number of CT and MRI scanners per patient population that the U.S. has.

Moreover, the way in which other countries save money is by cheating their patients of care: "International spending comparisons typically ignore costs generated by limits on supply." Dialysis patients in 2002--04, for instance, had to wait 62 days for access in Canada versus 16 days in the U.S. Waiting lists for elective surgery, such as hip replacement, are notoriously long in other countries. These delays don't show up in spending for health care, but "waiting for care has economic costs in terms of sick pay and lost productivity, as well as negative health consequences."

One big rap against the U.S. is its infant mortality rates. At first glance we look like a laggard: Our rates are notoriously higher than those of other major industrial countries. Amazingly, however, it turns out that the gap exists partly because of the way in which live births are defined. In some countries an infant who dies soon after birth is, incredibly, not considered a live birth for statistical purposes! Social scientist Nicholas Eberstadt "finds that U.S. infants, stratified by birth weight, have a high[er] likelihood of survival."

Life expectancy? The differences are not related to medical care but "to such lifestyle choices as diet, exercise and smoking." Longevity in a state such as Minnesota or Utah is more than a match for those in, say, Norway or Britain. When you figure in all of Europe--the prosperous and the poorer areas--and compare groups by income and ethnicity, life expectancy in the U.S. suddenly looks good.

Now consider effective treatment of major afflictions: The U.S. beats others hands down. Americans with diseases such as cancer, diabetes and hypertension all have better health care outcomes than do their counterparts in Europe. "U.S. women have a 63% chance of living at least five years after a cancer diagnosis, compared with 56% for European women. Men in the U.S. have a five-year survival rate of 66%, compared with 47% for European men."

Are medical bills causing bankruptcies? Only in a minority of cases: 17% versus the popularized number of 50%. If people were allowed to buy true catastrophic health insurance--with limits on out-of-pocket expenses--the policy would be very affordable and would take care of most of those folks who are now being hit with bankruptcy-causing bills. As for the myth that socialized medicine is free, patients in most other developed countries pay more out-of-pocket health care costs than do patients in the U.S.!

When it comes to health care for low-income families versus that of their better-off peers, the poor in the U.S. suffer no more than their counterparts do in Canada and Europe.

The problem with health care is that patients don't control the resources--third parties do. Thus, there is no marketplace pressure for productivity or innovative ways of improving delivery. In those areas in which patients write the checks for medical care, productivity proliferates. Cosmetic surgery is a prime example. Unless the need for a procedure is a result of a disease or an accident, such procedures are paid for by the patient, not an insurer. "The real price of cosmetic surgery has declined over the past 15 years, despite substantial technological progress and a sixfold increase in demand."

Health Savings Accounts, properly implemented, would go a long way toward bringing about an entrepreneurial revolution in health care, one in which Americans would get more and better medicines and treatments for less.
_____ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______

Half of me says we have a moral duty to see to it that our fellow man gets reasonable health care. But the other half of me can't reconcile that notion with the fact that many people want 2009 medicine at 1950's prices. I am also irritated by the hordes of people who lead unhealthy lifestyles and then want everyone else to subsidize their poor decisions. If you want to smoke cigarettes all day, drink booze, and eat vast amounts of artery clogging foods all day, while never exercising - go for it. Just don't expect me to provide you a healthcare bailout.

I would really like to see more and more private companies take the initiative to promote healthy living (it's in their best financial interest as a profit making company) amongst their employees. Individual responsibility, so often found lacking in our world these days, needs to make a fashionable comeback.

Silverbird
05-26-2009, 01:53 PM
[Actually, what I don't like about the U.S. healthcare system, it's the only system in the world where employers are expected to pony up for all their workers. More specifically I object to the health *insurance* system, it is really unfriendly to small business, and good luck getting insurance on your own!.]

More Small Firms Drop Health Care
WSJ, May 26
Accelerating health-care premiums and sharp revenue shortfalls due to the recession are forcing some small companies to choose between dropping health insurance or laying off workers -- or staying in business at all.

Sheryl Weldon, owner of Commerce Welding & Manufacturing Co., saw health-insurance payments increase to more than $800 monthly per employee from about $200 five years ago. With monthly revenue down 10% since December, Ms. Weldon stopped providing health coverage to employees, including one being treated for prostate cancer, for the first time in the 64-year-history of the Dallas sheet-metal company.....

....Health-insurance premiums for single workers rose 74% for small businesses from 2001 to 2008, the latest year data are available, according to nonprofit research group Kaiser Family Foundation.....
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329442612051953.html

Silverbird
05-26-2009, 04:00 PM
US Health System Traps Workers in Unwanted Jobs
By: By Reuters | 26 May 2009 | 09:56 AM ET
Countless workers in the United States are trapped in jobs they would like to leave because they cannot get health insurance elsewhere, calcifying innovation and mobility in the world's largest economy.

Daunted by health-care costs, a would-be technology entrepreneur in Texas decides not to start her own business. A communications expert in Washington decides not to strike out on his own. And a freelance magazine editor in Brooklyn decides to take a less satisfying corporate job....

Because health insurance is tied to employment in the United States, workers who leave their jobs can see health bills skyrocket if they strike out on their own or take a position with a company that offers fewer benefits. Workers who would like to retire early stay on, unable to qualify for the government's Medicare program until they turn 65....
http://www.cnbc.com/id/30940076

James48843
06-14-2009, 05:10 PM
NEW HEALTH CARE STUDY OUT-



For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health.

It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional studies.


1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beers and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.

CONCLUSION - Eat and drink what you like.

Speaking English is apparently what kills you.

Viva_La_Migra
06-15-2009, 03:09 PM
Speaking English is apparently what kills you.
That is rapidly changing in America! ¿Hablas Español?

OBGibby
06-18-2009, 11:12 AM
About 45 million Americans lack health care insurance. Or do they?


http://www.patriotpost.us/opinion/larry-elder/2009/06/18/45-million-americans-who-are-those-guys-.html

Spaf
06-18-2009, 11:48 AM
[as a member]

Health insurance should not just be "health care" but rather -- > high quality affordable health care. [Well yesterday...Thats what a republican senator said,... said,...sa]

IMHO, 45 M..?, a lot more than that! Even the 255 M..? (with health care) don't realize the serious peril that they are in.

The article quotes "And the insurance is lousy, right? Not according to a 2006 ABC News/Kaiser Family Foundation/USA Today survey. It found that 89 percent of Americans were satisfied with the quality of their own health care." I must be one of the 11% dis-satisfied. And, I challenge the 89% they quote. Maybe, the survey didn't have all the information? I suspect. The article is too far right for me!.......It just doesn't have all the facts!


About 45 million Americans lack health care insurance. Or do they?


http://www.patriotpost.us/opinion/larry-elder/2009/06/18/45-million-americans-who-are-those-guys-.html

wwwtractor
06-18-2009, 12:41 PM
I worked with a marketing department and surveys for years . A survey can say anything depending on who is asked and how the questions are worded.

Also, we had a medical doctor who would be the one to know about health care running for president and you saw what happened with that. We get what we ask for.

OBGibby
06-19-2009, 05:34 AM
[as a member]
The article quotes "And the insurance is lousy, right? Not according to a 2006 ABC News/Kaiser Family Foundation/USA Today survey. It found that 89 percent of Americans were satisfied with the quality of their own health care." I must be one of the 11% dis-satisfied. And, I challenge the 89% they quote. Maybe, the survey didn't have all the information? I suspect. The article is too far right for me!.......It just doesn't have all the facts!


It was commentary/opinion, not a news article. Count me in with the 89%.

CountryBoy
06-19-2009, 05:49 AM
Put me in the 89% also. As someone mentioned earlier, most people don't know how to develop an unbiased survey. You can get any answer you want, just by the way you word the question. So folks really need to see how the questions are worded, to determine the veracity of the results. I see alot of surveys saying that most folks think something needs to be done, but then the surveys also show that most folks are satisfied with what they have. Take it for what it's worth.

But again, I'm satisfied. For those who aren't, then they should be the ones effected by the socialized medicine program. Just give folks a choice, it's the Feds forcing people (and in this case it appears the majority) to do something they absolutely don't want to do.

CB

OBGibby
06-19-2009, 06:02 AM
FEHB program is good-to-go for me. Spouse would much rather be on the spouse's private company plan because it is a better plan in terms of cost and benefits. However, we've choosen to use the FEHB because my job is less likely to go the way of the pink slip and I can carry the FEHB into retirement (at least as of right now!).

Spaf
06-19-2009, 06:30 AM
[member]

IMHO, I have found the current private health care plans lacking affordable coverage in various areas. There are manly areas that allow loop holes which allow parties to create cost prohibitive care. Therefore, the majority of us are not aware of these road-blocks until they are upon us. If these were minor issues I probably wouldn't raise a fuss, but not the case, cost prohibitive care can strike any of us. You don't know when you are going to run up against one of these issues, until it's too late. This are the type of things that needs fixing.

By news reports 76% of americans agreed that it was important to have a public or a private plan.

What we need is high quality affordable health care, public or private whatever the folks need and agree on. We need oversight of the system so the system stays under control and folks have a way to voice any apparent problems. And, we need this system yesterday, today is too late for many.

2EASY
06-19-2009, 09:13 AM
SPAF - I totally agree!

Silverbird
06-19-2009, 09:14 AM
The question should have been, are you happy with your health INSURANCE policy? I like my Dr.s, nothing wrong with my health CARE. But I also know my Dr.s spend far too much time dealing with the paperwork and in-network is the biggest pain in the rear. Even in the hospital, health CARE is only an issue in...get this...the emergency room because of so many non-emergencies.

I have the silver handcuffs - the Government plan beats private sector hands down. Pity the 3 man shop! So far we've never taken any policy from my husband's jobs.

Are they including INSURANCE costs (both for the company and employee) in those health care cost numbers? If not, it's a useless number.

Silverbird
06-19-2009, 10:23 AM
Rescission = We don't like something in your medical record? We're cancelling your policy....

"...."Peggy Raddatz, whose brother Otto Raddatz lost his insurance coverage right before he was scheduled to receive an expensive stem-cell transplant to treat his lymphoma. Why? Because Fortis Insurance Company discovered his doctor had found gall stones and an aneurysm on a CT scan -- conditions that had nothing to do with his cancer (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Cancer), that never bothered him and that he wasn't even aware of. And Jennifer Wittney Horton of Los Angeles, California, whose coverage was canceled because she had been taking a drug for irregular menstruation. Now, she can't get coverage anywhere else. 'Since my rescission, I have had to take jobs that I do not want, and put my career goals on hold to ensure that I can find health insurance,' she told the subcommittee."..."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/19/begala.health.care/index.html?iref=topnews

XL-entLady
06-19-2009, 10:50 AM
SPAF - I totally agree!
+1! :D

Lady

XL-entLady
06-19-2009, 10:54 AM
Rescission = We don't like something in your medical record? We're cancelling your policy....

"...."Peggy Raddatz, whose brother Otto Raddatz lost his insurance coverage right before he was scheduled to receive an expensive stem-cell transplant to treat his lymphoma. Why? Because Fortis Insurance Company discovered his doctor had found gall stones and an aneurysm on a CT scan -- conditions that had nothing to do with his cancer (http://topics.cnn.com/topics/Cancer), that never bothered him and that he wasn't even aware of. And Jennifer Wittney Horton of Los Angeles, California, whose coverage was canceled because she had been taking a drug for irregular menstruation. Now, she can't get coverage anywhere else. 'Since my rescission, I have had to take jobs that I do not want, and put my career goals on hold to ensure that I can find health insurance,' she told the subcommittee."..."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/19/begala.health.care/index.html?iref=topnews
Because of my medical condition I would be uninsurable for both life and health insurance anywhere in private industry. Another reason to be thankful for our federal government jobs!

Lady

Spaf
06-19-2009, 11:00 AM
Well well silver little bird,


The question should have been, are you happy with your health INSURANCE policy? I like my Dr.s, nothing wrong with my health CARE..............

Yes, a lot of people are happy with their health INSURANCE policy.... I admit I was....:embarrest:

The problem that WE ALL ARE IN (except the rich) is that not all of the other folks play by the rules. There are bad players in health care. AND there is a sufficient number of bad players that makes an affordable system impossable.

Why are we looking at a TRILLION or more $ to reform health care.....:sick:

Why? IMHO, it's the bad players. Some of which is nothing more than greed gone wild.

Spaf

OBGibby
06-19-2009, 11:52 AM
Interesting points...

Obama's Doctor Knocks ObamaCare... (http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/obama-doctor-knocks-obamacare-business-healthcare-obamas-doctor.html)

Steadygain
06-19-2009, 12:20 PM
Because of my medical condition I would be uninsurable for both life and health insurance anywhere in private industry. Another reason to be thankful for our federal government jobs!

Lady

That is undoubtedly an 'understatement' - the biggest Truth.

I am so grateful you became who you are and have what you do.

There are others on the MB this equally applies to - and one of the greatest also got damaged in a car accident. It's amazing how much you have in common.

Spaf
06-19-2009, 12:31 PM
[member]

Sorry OB I don't by it.

Cut The Health Care Red Tape
Jim DeMint, 06.16.09, 04:25 PM EDT
We need less government involvement, not more.

I only got to item 1 and that was enough....:sick:


Interesting points...

Obama's Doctor Knocks ObamaCare... (http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/18/obama-doctor-knocks-obamacare-business-healthcare-obamas-doctor.html)

OBGibby
06-20-2009, 02:15 AM
[member]

Sorry OB I don't by it.




You should read the entire article about President Obama's former doctor. Notwithstanding the somewhat misleading title of the article, the doctor seems to be criticizing the President's health care plans as not going far enough.

eccougar
06-20-2009, 04:46 AM
1.6 Trillion would only cover about 1/3 of uninsured, CBO.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061804109_pf.html

OBGibby
06-20-2009, 04:53 AM
1.6 Trillion would only cover about 1/3 of uninsured, CBO.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061804109_pf.html


To paraphrase Senator Everett Dirkson (R-IL) from some years back: "A [trillion] here, a [trillion] there, pretty soon you're talking real money..."

(Dirkson originally used 'billion.')

Spaf
06-20-2009, 10:06 AM
[member]


You should read the entire article about President Obama's former doctor. Notwithstanding the somewhat misleading title of the article, the doctor seems to be criticizing the President's health care plans as not going far enough.

Ain't got time to waste!


1.6 Trillion would only cover about 1/3 of uninsured, CBO.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/18/AR2009061804109_pf.html

Health care is cost excessive/prohibitive. Lets bring the cost down to reason.

nnuut
06-20-2009, 10:19 AM
[member]





Health care is cost excessive/prohibitive. Lets bring the cost down to reason.

That's where they need to start, lower costs and TORT reform! Costs are really out of hand, when it costs someone more than $500,000 for cancer treatment or $150,000 for a back surgery, let's not even talk about a HEART TRANSPLANT!!:sick:

XL-entLady
06-20-2009, 10:38 AM
[member]



Ain't got time to waste!



Health care is cost excessive/prohibitive. Lets bring the cost down to reason.


That's where they need to start, lower costs and TORT reform! Costs are really out of hand, when it costs someone more than $500,000 for cancer treatment or $150,000 for a back surgery, let's not even talk about a HEART TRANSPLANT!!:sick:
I totally agree. I take six maintenance meds. One of them, just as an example, costs $3 a capsule and I take it 3 times a day. I get MRIs a couple of times a year and each time my bills before insurance payments are about $5,000 each. My sister-in-law takes a medication that has a $2,000 co-pay.

I know it's expensive to develop and bring medications to market. I know that an MRI machine is expensive. I know that there aren't any easy answers. But I also know that if we don't get health care costs under control we're going to break the government programs that deal with our health. And if you think we've got fiscal problems now, just wait until that happens. :sick:

Lady

XL-entLady
06-20-2009, 01:21 PM
http://extras.sltrib.com/bagley/content/06212009.jpg


Tried to do a cut & paste but Vista is saving me from myself again.

Lady

Spaf
06-20-2009, 05:55 PM
I totally agree. I take six maintenance meds. One of them, just as an example, costs $3 a capsule and I take it 3 times a day. I get MRIs a couple of times a year and each time my bills before insurance payments are about $5,000 each. My sister-in-law takes a medication that has a $2,000 co-pay.

I know it's expensive to develop and bring medications to market. I know that an MRI machine is expensive. I know that there aren't any easy answers. But I also know that if we don't get health care costs under control we're going to break the government programs that deal with our health. And if you think we've got fiscal problems now, just wait until that happens. :sick:

Lady

Finally, one of the most serious problems.

Oh yess! I have health insurance too, but can't afford some critical prescriptions becouse of the cost, even with a co-pay, one pill a day cost $30.00 and thats only one of about 8 prescriptions. Now go figure, thats more than my retirement, well I could cash in the TSP. But, the prescriptions give no guarantees.

You know some of the medication information on the internet is not quite the whole truth.

The same is with physicians!

So, in my world good health care is prohibitive.

Thanks Lady, now we are getting to the issues of reality and not a bunch of yak (BS) by the rich.

Spaf
06-22-2009, 08:49 AM
[member]


News!


Obama to announce agreement with drug companies

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Obama will make a formal announcement Monday welcoming the weekend agreement by the pharmaceutical industry to help close a gap in prescription drug coverage under Medicare.


Link --> http://tinyurl.com/kn8wat

Frixxxx
03-17-2010, 04:47 PM
Nice to see that you prefer "Gov't health Care" over your spouses plan provided by the private sector.:toung:

Maybe now you should stop bashing "Gov't Health Care" now that, given the choice between private vs public, you ran to Uncle Sam.

I feel cheated having a leech like you sucking tax dollars, while complaining about being taxed. Maybe you should go get a law enforcement job in the private sector.

Go work Mall Security.

Stop FWM, if you are in TSP at all,you access government dollars. You insult those who you also represent. Please refrain from this type of lashing out at individuals.

Mod's please review my report!

XL-entLady
03-17-2010, 05:01 PM
FireWeatherMet has been asked to take a ChillPill and to read the MB rules again. That might not be a bad idea for everyone to do:

http://www.tsptalk.com/mb/showpost.php?p=56257&postcount=1

Lady

Frixxxx
03-17-2010, 05:02 PM
Thank you, ma'am!

Minnow
03-17-2010, 05:04 PM
Maybe you could also suggest moving from the Cabernet down to a Sauvignon Blanc or a Riesling... might take some of the venom out. :D

Buster
03-17-2010, 08:09 PM
http://leftwingconspiracy.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/motivator4699699.jpg

CountryBoy
03-18-2010, 05:23 AM
Good one Buster,:D

This clown is nothing but a pompous a$$ who has an overblown ego.

XL-entLady
03-18-2010, 08:13 AM
Aw, c'mon, you guys! Behave! :mad: