Let's Finish Health Care Reform Right

[filkertom]

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[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Sorry, can't- because I don't think employers should be obliged to pay for employee health care. Neither, to the best of my knowledge, does pretty much any nation on earth other than the USA.

I agree with the rest of it, but I know for a fact nobody in Congress will pay any attention more than necessary to use it (if applicable) as a crutch for their re-election.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

I admit that I agree with you on that point. It's another step forward. Right now, lots of places (although not enough) provide "minimal health care that costs too much". If we can get it to "decent health care that's reasonably priced", especially with a public option in place, we might be able to wean the country off employer-provided care.

[redneckgaijin.livejournal.com]

Personally I think you've got it the wrong way around: we can't get proper, meaningful health care reform until employer health plans die.

Right now there's just too many people for whom* the cost of healthcare is invisible, because it's covered as part of their employment. Those same people, by and large, tended to be against the current healthcare reform efforts, because the Republicans succeeded in scaring them that they would lose what they currently have and end up with nothing.

Great change can only happen during times of true crisis- when nothing is left to lose, and the only options are reform or the utter collapse of the system. We're not there yet.

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with redneckgaijin with the added comment that the invisibility of health-care costs in employer-provided coverage is one of the reasons hospitals and clinics are charging three times what there services are worth. If folks actually knew what those "needed to cover the last ten-percent of possibilities" cost, they wouldn't use them.

Now, I still question whether a government that's broke now should be taking on new responsibilities, especially when the other half (the long one) of the Second Great Depression is going to hit this year. It could mean the Californication (and Illinois-ification, since we're number two) of the entire country.

There are quite a number of possible things worse than our present situation in health care, trust me. One involves what's happening in at least one state, which is refusal by providers to treat Medicare and Medicaid patients, period.

Tom T.

[juglore.livejournal.com]

Which state's providers have refused to treat Medicare and Medicaid?

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

As of last Friday, the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, which treats about 3,000 patients, is no longer taking Medicare at all.

Arizona is an interesting case, since it was the last state in the Union to get into the Medicaid program. Currently, 20% of its population is on Medicaid. Because of the Depression, they've gone from 60,000 last year to a projected 300,000 this coming year. State officials have said that they cannot afford to expand their current program any further and if forced to do so, will opt out instead, dropping coverage.

All over the headlines last week, google is your friend.

Tom Trumpinski

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

<croak>The USA is different</croak>.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

The whole "mandatory" thing is the big sticking point for me. If I'm to be forced to buy something from somebody I hate with a passion already *at gunpoint* (and that's what using the law is, is sanctioning the use of force), I'm more than liable to *shoot back*. And I'm not the only one; The Keith has already come out and said he won't either.

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Actually I trust Universal will sign 'Teh Keith' up for it and take premiums out of his paycheck whether he wants to or not. If you're employed, it's up to the employer to fulfill the "mandatory" part.

[philady.livejournal.com]

I tried entering the zip code of where I live, and then the zip of where I work, and both times it gave me a message that said, "We don't know where this zip code is." O RLY? Bummer.

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

Tried five times to sign; website kept saying it didn't knpw where my zip code was located. It was simply too difficult tp bavigate the site further to search for alternate options.

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

I've signed it, but honestly, I have little hope we are going to see a good result.

[services-seo.livejournal.com]

signed

[jblaque.livejournal.com]

Done and will Twitter. Thanks!

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

I'm absolutely convinced that comprehensive tort reform is one leg of this three-legged stool. What comes out of the conference committee will likely be better than what we have now, but I don't see it holding up until even 2016 without a major revamp that includes tort reform.

Using the phrase "tort reform" gives you away as a right-winger, y'know...

[thatcrazycajun.livejournal.com]

So we're supposed to give up any right of recourse when we get malpractice committed on us, just because of the handful of egregious cases of abusive litigation and/or jury awards? I don't think so! The vast majority of malpractice cases are NOT frivolous and are filed by litigants only after all other attempts at redress have failed. I don't like to see the system gamed and providers intimidated any more than you, but limiting or eliminating the right to sue is NOT the answer.

Re: Using the phrase "tort reform" gives you away as a right-winger, y'know...

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

You don't have a bloody clue what my politics are. You probably don't care, either. And I resent having words put in my mouth as to what I mean by tort reform. Broad limits on the right to sue is a Bad Idea... but *SOMETHING* must be done to stop the gaming of the system or we're going to be back in this morass in under seven years.

Re: Using the phrase "tort reform" gives you away as a right-winger, y'know...

[tcgtrf.livejournal.com]

Yeah, torts amount to only about ten percent of the problem, anyway.

There's overcharging due to insured patients not realizing the real cost and medical education costing three times what it's worth (so the doctors are in debt for years) inflating the charges on the front end. Added to this are the high costs of end-of-life (26% of total) and emergency care (17%) diverting the use of infrastructure and employees.

Change from the top down's not going to do much for most except make the situation worse. We'd be much better off having the government subsidize med school tuition than applying the money in any other way. If you combine that with a ten-year phase-out of employer plans (with the employees gaining the *real* value of their plans on their paychecks), we'll start making some headway in solving the problem.

It's taken us thirty years to get into this mess, it'll take at least as long to get us out. Sorry to rain on anyone's parade, but I cannot see any simple solutions. Single-payer is much less likely to work in America than in other countries because of the average American's penchant for gaming the system (we're even worse than Russians in that respect).

It's quite likely that the whole thing now in Congress will end up in some kind of muddle long enough for either the second economic dip or some kind of WMD attack to hit. Once that happens, reform'll be forgotten for a generation or two.

Tom

[emiofbrie.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I don't think the bill as currently crafted will last if made law. The first time someone challenges his or her jail term for not being able to pay their "you're still alive" tax, the ACLU will be all over it and it will be ruled unconstitutional.

[tsu-doshaman.livejournal.com]

It's not a bad idea, and I clicked on thru, just-in-case. I sincerely doubt that there will be any meaningful, positive changes to health care, as long as the lawmakers don't "have any skin in the game". Cancel Congress' health coverage. When they have to dig into their own pockets for health coverage, then we will see some improvements.

[kanemaker.livejournal.com]

Without Tort Refoem and the ability to sell health insurance across state lines the health care reform bill is a sham.Tort reform works to lower health care costs as witness the state of Oregon.