Posted on 01/28/2017 9:15:41 AM PST by Auntie Mame
Freepers, let’s put our heads together and figure out how to fix healthcare in the US.
I’ll never forget watching Bill Bradley give a speech many years ago where he spoke with great outrage, saying something like this:
“I was at the doctor’s office the other day and there was a woman who brought in her young child. And the child had to have a shot of penicillin. And I watched that poor mother as she was leaving have to pull out her checkbook and write the doctor a check for $60!” he said with trembling voice.
I believe that until we remove this mind set, that healthcare should be “free” (and we all know that nothing is free), the “health care” problem will only get bigger and bigger.
One day I was driving down the freeway and saw a billboard adorned with the faces of three adorable little boys and underneath it said: “If you’re not going to _______ (insert generic name of medical clinic), you don’t have a healthy family.”
Until we remove the brainwashing that we’re subjected to every day, that you’re not healthy unless you’re going to the doctor, the problem will get bigger and bigger.
And of course, we all know about the incessant commercials on TV advertising disgusting diseases and symptoms. I believe these should be banished from the face of the earth, just like they banished cigarette advertising. It’s revolting, disgusting, and definitely not healthy (another form of brainwashing by the medical complex in this country).
There are large swaths of people who will not or can not pay for their own health care. Let’s start by listing these people because until we consider all the relevant segments of society that use large amounts of medical care or cannot afford it or choose not to pay for it, we cannot come up with solutions. At this point, let’s not judge them, this is not the point of this post.
Please add to this list from your own life experiences. Here’s a start:
1. People who have serious health conditions that, unless they’re millionaires or dependents of millionaires, cannot pay the exorbitant prices charged by the medical complex for their serious debilitating conditions.
2. People who are basically bums, who, by whatever reason, choose not to work to earn money that could be used for their health care (I have a brother in this category).
3. People who work but do not make enough money to pay the exorbitant prices charged by the medical complex.
4. People, such as hypochondriacs, who use inordinate amounts of medical services, and, if given free access to all medical services available, would spend their entire lives doing nothing but going doctor to doctor.
5. People who want others to pay for medical procedures that rational people believe are not necessary for a healthy life, like sex change operations, etc. They believe the medical procedures are necessary but “normal” people do not.
6. The mentally ill.
7. The disabled.
I believe the best way to solve what we’re brainwashed to believe is America’s health care crisis is to let the free market take care of it. But here in America we can’t have people dying in the gutter. It offends our sensibilities. So we need to figure out what we’re going to do about the people listed above.
We all tend to sit back and believe the politicians are going to fix it, but if you were one of those politicians, what would you do?
by taxing the hell out of liberals only- They are the ones who love taxes- let them reap what they sow- they are the ones who believe in income redistribution- let them foot the bill for pre-existing conditions and cover illegals like they want to do- Let’s take their m oney, and give it to people who can’t pay for healthcare- after all- this is the mantra liberals want to live by- let’s oblige them but exempt hte republicans from it altogether- Let the liberals put thei r own m oney where their m outh is-
The standard was lowered by the whole Obamacare mess and people are too foolish to realize this. Yes, Obamacare destroyed our healthcare system.
bmp
Limit malpractice awards.
Remember when we had JUST “hospitalization insurance” ...... everything else was pay as ya go for minor illness like colds and flu or cuts, scrapes, bumps and broken bones....
How did that seem to work so well for generations ?
.
1. Transparency
2. Portability of plans
3. No state lines, plans valid everywhere
4. No preconditions, if you want to sell insurance, you must take everyone.
5. No required coverages, we should not have to pay for birth control, sex changes, etc.
6. Some ability to pick our docs, maybe plans with or without
7. Let free market set plans and rates
1. Allow interstate commerce in health insurance. (That it’s banned is staggeringly absurd.)
2. Mitigate the preexisting condition / continuous coverage problem. Not easy, but solvable.
3. Normalize catastrophic coverage.
No, a doc or hospital screws up, they pay. And must show transparency on lawsuits, bad docs, etc. Let patients know. That will force hospitals to sanction bad docs. Limiting malpractice gives them freedom to be bad.
Current problem has too many holes. 12 million(give or take) who could afford their current insurance, lost insurance because employers dropped it.
How to make them whole prior to Obamacare ?
Anecdotal - I went to a “free” consultation at a physical rehab place. They took xrays and I spoke with an ortho.
They proceeded to tell me about their program and it was going to cost $135 bucks a pop - three times a week for 6 weeks.
The price really was reasonable for a 90 minute session.
Physical therapy, occupational therapy, chiro adjustment and consult with a medical person.
I told them about my insurance and how it wouldn’t cover until I met the high deductible and I explained I couldn’t afford their services.
They came back with an offer to charge me 35 bucks a pop.
off the top of my head.
- back to basics - adios the individual mandate.
- reduce the 26 year old dependent coverage back to 19 year old plus full time college until they turn 23.
- stop cost shifting
- medical providers charge for what is provided. Don’t charge me for the whole bottle when you give me 2 aspirin.
Reinstall pre-existing ?
If we were replacing a muffler on our car, we'd shop around and probably find the best deal in town because we are paying for it. However, if every repair to our car was free to us, we wouldn't care how much it costs and if offered the platinum plated muffler, we'd happily take it... because we are not paying for it; someone else is.
My doctors still respond with surprise when I ask how much a medication will cost me. My plan is not the best and so I have to chip in a bit. Not so for most insurance plans although that may be changing with the massive deductibles. I hope.
US health care is still the best in the world.
Health insurance was destroyed with this government takeover:
In July 1965, under the leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, Congress enacted Medicare under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide health insurance to people age 65 and older, regardless of income or medical history.
Physicians and hospitals had to accept the mandatory reduced fees set by government bureaucrats - misnamed ‘Reasonable & Customary’.
Commercial Insurance companies were service oriented, actuarially sound and limited or excluded coverage for elective surgery, pre-existing conditions and certainly abortions. Employer plans were comprehensive and inexpensive. Young, healthy working people paying for each other and catastrophic illnesses and injuries.
Great days for a great product which government meddling has ruined.
I’m an employee benefits attorney. Here is my four-part solution:
1. Portability of coverage from employer plans;
2. Pre-existing coverage (managed pools and subsidize if necessary);
3. Allow private insurance to sell across state lines (opens up the entire concept of free market competition - better product/lower prices);
4. Subsidize coverage for the poor and disabled.
Fighting market forces is like fighting gravity.
****Easy.........view it the same as Car Repair.*****
Do you have auto insurance?
Preexisting conditions:
1. They should be able to be priced into the policy for immediate coverage.
2. They should be excludable for a period of, say, six months if the policy is regular priced.
3. A 1% surcharge could be proposed and debated on all policies to establish a fund to cover shortfalls from the insuring of preexisting conditions. (Note - this is a suggestion to DEBATE, not simply impose).
4. Continuous insurance coverage should count, even with a new policy, toward coverage of a preexisting condition.
Full disclosure: I have a 20 year preexisting condition (diabetes) that I have taken care of continuously. I understand that life’s circumstances have given me an opportunity to pay more for basic insurance. But, having taken care of the condition for 20 years, I do not see that I deserve to be completely shafted.
Yes. I think “regressive” to counter the Progressive agenda.
Of course, until after my second heart attack I only went to the doctor when an ambulance took me there, which was often enough with a work accident, a traffic accident and the first heart attack. Mrs. BCC took me to the ER on the second cardiac event. Now it seems I have appointments all the time.
Thankfully we have very good, albeit extremely expensive($1250 mo), insurance.
Require sterilization as a prerequisite to voluntarily receiving long-term welfare.
This will reduce crime and generational poverty and boost the general welfare, including health.
I also think “catastrophic-only” policies are a vital part of the equation.
Letting / wanting the government to manage your health care is patently absurd.
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