The Cost of Health Care

I have been hearing many criticisms of health care reform (not just on this board, in the media as well) and the spending any true reform would necessitate. However, not doing anything continues to hurt our economy, and I see health care reform as a key piece of our economic recovery. The National Coalition on Health Care has put together this fact sheet, which I found interesting:

NCHC Fact Sheet

There is other information on their site about the issue. Whether you agree with the way Obama is going about it or not, it seems pretty obvious something needs to shift.

Message edited 7/20/2009 4:59:47 PM.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

this is actually the jist of what I wrote in response to the Obama thread... to do nothing is as bad or worse than trying something new.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

we need a new system

the one we have now is so broken- I don't see how anyone can fix it

anytime you have a need like health care becoming a business for profit- you have trouble

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

thanks for posting that link!

very informative

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Message edited 7/20/2009 5:09:03 PM.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Personally, I agree with the fact that people should never be denied health care because of pre-existing conditions. But bottom line is who is paying for this? Eventually, it will be the middle class. We are going to be taxed to death. I also have a concern about the government getting involved in my healthcare. I don't think the government should be telling my doctors what tests I need and what meds I should have. I also don't want a situation where I am told that I am not in enough pain so I don't need treatment as much as others. I said this in the other post, and look at Canada. A LOT of Canadians die earlier or come to America to be treated for conditions. A government run program is great to make sure no one has the sniffles, but what about heart attacks, kidney failure, cancer? Medical treatment will be reserved for the very wealthy, because the government is not going to pay for expensive medications and treatments.

I am not saying that our system is great-there are tons of problems and flaws. But I don't think that this is something that the administration should rush to get passed. Take the time to do it right if you are going to do it at all!

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

There is a big rush because he doesn't want the political machine that is our Congress (both parties) to take over, argue, waffle, argue some more, point fingers, call names, and in the end leave us with nothing.

I agree, more time should be given to this matter, and I would love to see members of both parties sitting down and hashing out a plan that will work, or work better than the broken system we have in place now. But when is the last time members of both parties actually sat down and discussed an important matter calmly?

I guess some of my frustration is really with certain vocal and prominent members of Congress.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

I just heard about this on Lou Dobbs... and it's more than a year old.

One In Four Uninsured Eligible For Public Insurance But Not Enrolled, Says New National Institution for Health Care Management Report

Just heard about this on Lou Dobbs

"out of the 47 million Americans who are not insured, about 12 million people (half of whom are children) are reachable by Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) but fail to enroll because they are not aware these programs exist."

so why not educate them??

furthermore...

"The report also quantifies uninsured undocumented immigrants. Of 10 million uninsured non-U.S. citizens, NIHCM estimates that 5.6 million are undocumented immigrants and 4.4 million are legal residents."

"Another challenge to consider is that more than 40 percent of the uninsured have moderate to higher incomes."

last excerpt:

"What this report shows us is that reaching universal coverage is a very complicated proposition, but that we can get a quarter of the way there by getting more people who are eligible for public programs enrolled and we can make a lot of headway too by looking for subsidies for low-income childless adults and parents," says Chockley.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Heathcare reform is needed but why create a whole new program. We have public plans, family health plus child health plus, which covers individuals, families etc but the $$ caps are so low that the middle class that Obama is so concerned about doesnt qualify.. Whats happens to these programs do we continue to fund and then fund another program which is going to cost us throught the nose...

Pushing a bill through with no clear explanation is costly. Would anyone purchase a car with out knowing how much tghe car costs and what the terms and conditions of contract are. NO.. So why should we as americans be forced to accept a bill that has no BOTTOM LINE on it.. What is this new plan going to cover, what will it cost employers? employees etc. In theory yes its a great thing, but in praticality whats it GOING TO COST US.. NO ONE KNOWS.. the govt cant figure out how to fix medicaid, or medicare...

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Medicare and Medicaid is a MESS to say the least...the money is so mismanaged it's sickening.

Our emergency waiting rooms are filled with people who use the ER as their dr. b/c they are either here illegally and dont have insurance. I can't even imagine how much money was wasted when we had the swine flu situation...the hopsital waiting rooms were filled daily. My MIL was ill and DH had to bring her to the hospital and there was an 8 hr. wait at 3 hospitals in our area.

Dr's are so expensive, some specialist dont even take insurance anymore, b/c their malpractice insurance, etc. is so high b/c people in this country are lawsuit happy. I went to the hospital once and a dr. came in and saw me for literally 2 min. and I got a bill for over $700. He was out of my network so I had to cover part of the bill

Everytime someone in my family goes to the dr. there is a $15 co-pay, if any testing or x-rays are done it is double. Hopsital stays is $300 a pop and out-patient surgical procedures are $200 a pop.

Sorry, I can't afford to pay for other people's healthcare anymore than I already do. Especially considering that if Obama has his way, 50% is going to be taken out of our checks in a few years for taxes opposed to the 30% that is now

Message edited 7/21/2009 9:43:13 AM.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

what I find laughable are the contracted prices the doctors get through insurance- honestly, if I could just pay THOSE prices without having to pay for the insurance, I'd be better off- and just carry a hospitalization plan. It's crazy that something the doctor charges a non-insurance person is $300 they get $50 for from insurance.

this makes NO sense to me- and I think if there really were no insurance companies and that if doctors just charged reasonable fees for everyone- and maybe even took money over time like my dentist does- we'd be in a better place.

I also agree with tort reform and administrative costs- they are completely out of hand.

Insurance is big big business and they need to be reformed.

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Posted by jellybean1420

Medicare and Medicaid is a MESS to say the least...the money is so mismanaged it's sickening.

Our emergency waiting rooms are filled with people who use the ER as their dr. b/c they are either here illegally and dont have insurance. I can't even imagine how much money was wasted when we had the swine flu situation...the hopsital waiting rooms were filled daily. My MIL was ill and DH had to bring her to the hospital and there was an 8 hr. wait at 3 hospitals in our area.

Dr's are so expensive, some specialist dont even take insurance anymore, b/c their malpractice insurance, etc. is so high b/c people in this country are lawsuit happy. I went to the hospital once and a dr. came in and saw me for literally 2 min. and I got a bill for over $700. He was out of my network so I had to cover part of the bill

Everytime someone goes to my family there is a $15 co-pay, if any testing or x-rays are done it is double. Hopsital stays is $300 a pop and out-patient surgical procedures are $200 a pop.

Sorry, I can't afford to pay for other people's healthcare anymore than I already do. Especially considering that if Obama has his way, 50% is going to be taken out of our checks in a few years for taxes opposed to the 30% that is now

Re: The Cost of Health Care

Re: The Cost of Health Care

America’s 6 million to 8 million uninsured need help with health care bills

Between 6 million and 8 million Americans are chornically uninsured and need help when it comes to paying their medical bills, not the 45.7 million that advocates of socialized medicine are fond of citing.

Sally C. Pipes, an expert on the American and Canadian health insurance markets, is president and CEO of Pacific Research Institute, and she writes in the San Francisco Chronicle (Link no longer works) that:
The Census Bureau doesn’t tell us that 45.7 million people are chronically uninsured for the entire year. The agency has stated elsewhere that “the CPS estimate of the number of people without health insurance more closely approximates the number of people who are uninsured at a specific point in time during the year than the number of people uninsured for the entire year.“
In other words, many of the survey respondents counted as “uninsured” may have experienced only a temporary interruption in their insurance. This circumstance is quite common. When workers quit or lose their job, they are technically uninsured. But they are usually in transition between one employer-provided insurance policy and another.
Despite the media’s tendency to depict the 45.7 million uninsured as a single, homogeneous group, the demographic character of these individuals cuts across age, ethnic, and socioeconomic categories. Many are uninsured for reasons unrelated to cost and don’t need to be “rescued” by mandatory socialized medicine.
We may be accustomed to thinking of the uninsured as low-income individuals and struggling families. But the Census Bureau data show that many are relatively affluent. Over 17.5 million—38 percent—of the uninsured make more than $50,000 a year. And 9.1 million have an annual income of over $75,000 a year.
How can this be? In part, it’s because a number of financially comfortable young Americans choose not to purchase health insurance. Known in the healthcare trade as the “invincibles”—because they’re so sure they won’t get sick—these young singles would rather keep their money than shell out for expensive monthly insurance premiums because of the many mandates and regulations place on insurers by the states.
This intentional avoidance of health insurance is quite common. According to the Commonwealth Fund, Americans age 19-29 comprise one of the largest and fastest-growing segments of the uninsured population.
If the fact that over a third of the uninsured are pulling down more than $50,000 a year isn’t shocking enough, how about this: Nearly 10 million uninsured aren’t even U.S. citizens!
It’s certainly unfortunate that these individuals don’t have health insurance, of course. But they can still get free treatment in emergency rooms. And even a fully nationalized healthcare system would be unlikely to provide them with health insurance.
Another 14 million of the uninsured are fully eligible for government assistance through programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP.
How does that break down? A 2008 study by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute showed that a whopping 70 percent of uninsured children are eligible for Medicaid, SCHIP, or both programs. And roughly 27 percent of non-elderly Americans who are eligible for Medicaid haven’t enrolled and simply live their lives without health insurance, according to the Urban Institute.
And, thus, she comes up with her estimate of 8 million uninsured Americans.
Over the years, I’ve blogged on other reports and Census Bureau data that shows there are about 6 million to 10 million uninsured.
The question remains: Do we want to give up our relative freedom to choose health care insurers and providers and to play important roles in making decisions about our health care just because only 6 million to 10 million are uninsured?
Do we want to create socialized medicine and hire Barack Obama or John McCain to determine our health care needs? Would that be better than having faceless bureaucrats at HMOs make such decisions? Most Americans have gotten out from under the HMO and PPO restrictions over the last dozen years or so.
Do we want to back slide to the days of HMOs times 100?
I don’t think so.

Re: The Cost of Health Care