What I heard about what P-Bo said today

Grey Colson

Grey Colson

Administrator
Staff member
On the radio it was reported that P-Bo offered to allow states to come up with their own version of Obamacare....not that it would be any better, but it does tell me something....

What it tells me is that there are a few little birds whispering in his ear that his un-constitutional plan will not pass muster in the Supreme Court. He must be hearing that or he would NEVER offer and alternative plan.

Of course, I don't even want the states playing with my healtcare either. I just think there's more up his sleeve than his nasty arm pits on this one. :'(
 
We don't need a government run health care plan. We need to figure out some way to get costs under control. That's what we need. An aspirin does not cost $10. I don't care who you are or where you are.

I think one area that we started in the wrong direction ... when did health insurance and health care become one and the same? They aren't and they shouldn't be. Your oil changes and tire rotations aren't covered by your State Farm policy, are they? Nothing wrong with discounted health care groups/plans but that is absolutely not the same thing as insurance. Insurance is to protect against a major loss.

That, in addition to greed and abuses, has done so much to contribute to the insane cost of health care in this country. A lot of families should be able to afford basic medical care without insurance because the basics should not cost what they do.

And yes, we can thank frivolous lawsuits and ambulance chasing personal injury lawyers for it as well.
 
My brother used to be the VP of finance for a hospital. I asked him the aspirin issue. He said most hospitals are not making money because of all the people who aren't insured and have no real means to pay. The cost of health care would go down if more people were insured, but he said a national health care plan is not the answer.

Health care was a lot more affordable before Carter was president. Business of any size received a 50% tax credit for the costs of providing health care to their employees and employee dependents. When Carter was in office, he and his Democrat controlled Congress eliminated a lot of tax credits for businesses, to include the tax credit for health care. This had a tidal wave effect. It caused many small to medium size businesses to eliminate providing health care insurance to their employees and/or employee dependents. Large businesses i.e. the auto industry started co-pays with reduced benefits. It didn't take long to go from 75% of working families having employer provided coverage to less than half.

My brother agrees with the Republican health care reform proposals. Bring back the tax credits to employers and self-employed and allow coverage to be purchased across state lines. Once more people are insured, the costs of care will decrease because hospitals won't have to worry about the large numbers of indigent care.
 
It is a chicken/egg argument. The forcing of more and more people into "insurance" forced costs up which forced more and more uninsured people into the position of being unable to pay for their own care. Then when "insurance" coverage was being dropped, prices had risen out of reach of the average family.
 
There's no doubt in my mind, the more people who are covered, the less expensive premiums and health care will cost. The problem is, how to get more people covered to begin with? If the Democrats are serious about this, they would see the only fiscally responsible thing to do would be providing tax incentives that lower the costs for businesses, the self-employed and those who are self-insured.

Like the mentality of so many union leaders and members to screw management any way you can; the Democrats have the mentality to screw business over any way they can. It's that type of tunnel vision mentality that keeps such a large percentage of our people from being insured. The unions don't look at what's good for the company to keep everyone employed, it's what can they keep to keep those with the seniority happy. The Democrats don't look at what is good for the country and its people; they look at how they can have more government control over the people and businesses. For unions and Democrats, it's all about power.

The Democrats didn't learn a thing what the voters in this country were saying with their votes during the previous election. They continue to refuse to listen to what the majority in this country are saying because they believe we are stupid as hell and only they know what's best for us. They want to create a government that will decisions for us.
 
Foxmeister said:
There's no doubt in my mind, the more people who are covered, the less expensive premiums and health care will cost...
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This is the kind of conversation for a coffee get together though. I have too much to get to today to be able to get into this in the detail I'd like to. When is the next planned coffee? I would love to have a decent conversation with folks about stuff like this sometime.
 
Right now, it's difficult for me to determine when I could make another coffee meeting. It would most likely have to be a Monday or a Friday.
 
I think insurance companies have way too much control over our health care decisions. In addition, when a hospital issues a bill for $20k, it's reduced to $5k for the insurance company to pay. HOWEVER, if you are a cash payer you would pay $20k. But, since most can't afford $20k, they pay nothing. I guess hospital attempted to charge insurance companies $10 for the aspirin to make up for those who weren't paying for their aspirin. Insurance companies caught on quickly.

If folks would also realize an ER is NOT the place to go for general medical conditions, health care would begin to improve. I literally sat in the ER one night with a woman who was there for pain meds for her chronic back pain. Then had the audacity to ask me if the reason I brought my daughter to the ER for the gash over her eye is because she competed in beauty pageants. NO! It's not a vanity issue, my daughter has a huge gash over her eye, WHACK JOB!
 
One thing my brother told me is, the $10 charge for the aspirin is not just to cover the cost of it, but also to dispense it and billing it. Compare it to a factory building widgets. The factory just doesn't include the costs of materials to build it. They also have to cover the costs of labor to bill it, the administrative costs in running the company, the costs to ship it, the costs associated to get people to want the widget. In other words, there are a lot more costs associated to the widget than just the costs to build it.

One thing to take into consideration when the Carter administration did away with the tax credits for the costs of health care is the economic tsunami it caused for the health care industry. Since many companies reduced or eliminated coverage, the numbers for the uninsured and under-insured rose drastically. The health care providers knew they weren't going to get the money they used to, so they started billing insurance companies higher charges to make up for the loss. This was costing the insurance companies more money. They in turn started telling the health care providers they weren't going to pay that and if the health care providers didn't want to accept what they were willing to pay, they would not make their facilities eligible for those they were providing coverage for.
 
Here's the loophole you could drive an economy killing Democratic entitlement bill through:

Any state plan must prove that it can provide equal services for less money than Obama and the Progs CLAIM OBAMACARE CAN DO, not what Obamacare actually delivers. We all know that the claims of Obamacare are wildly inflated using government math, and laying expenses off book, so it instantly becomes a false choice. No healthcare plan can do what Obamacare claims it can do, that is lower the debt, lower the cost of healthcare, eliminate pre-existing clauses, drastically increase system usage, and not in the same breath revise Medicaid and Medicare, which are Federal Plans. Obamacare itself fails this test miserably.
 
The Republican's plan was much more effective and less costly.
 
Madea said:
I think insurance companies have way too much control over our health care decisions. In addition, when a hospital issues a bill for $20k, it's reduced to $5k for the insurance company to pay. HOWEVER, if you are a cash payer you would pay $20k. But, since most can't afford $20k, they pay nothing. I guess hospital attempted to charge insurance companies $10 for the aspirin to make up for those who weren't paying for their aspirin. Insurance companies caught on quickly.
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saw what was billed on my CT scan, $6, 675.00 Plus the dye at $175. and right at $900.00 for another Dr. to read the thing. I've had three of these over the past year.....that's a lot of money. Now, that's what was billed, not what they were paid, havent seen that part.
 
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