Montana governor sees big savings with new state health clinic

Reuters ^ | Sat Sep 29, 2012 | By Dan Boyce

[Brad from Tennessee]

* State to save $20 million over five years - governor

* Aim is to reduce duplicate testing for patients

* Doctors paid by the hour rather than by procedure

* Employees pay neither a co-pay nor a deductible

HELENA, Mont., Sept 29 (Reuters) - Montana, looking to cut down on state healthcare costs, has opened the nation's first government-run clinic for state employees in a program the Rocky Mountain state's governor says could ultimately cover a much broader range of people.

Democratic Governor Brian Schweitzer says the primary care clinic in the state capital Helena will keep the area's 11,000 state workers and their dependents healthier while saving the state $20 million over five years. . .

[heye2monn]

“”The only people who want government health care are those who have never had to have it.””

Sorry, the English people will never give up their dreadful government-run system. They know it’s bad, they complain about it all the time. But they fight vociferously any effort to streamline or cut the budget of the National Health Service.

The English people will never give up socialized medicine they are terrified of being self-reliant and having to find their own doctors and insurance companies.

Medicine is the last great prize for socialists. Once you give up control of your health care — the most intimate, private part of your life — you have nothing left. Nothing.

You are now the property of the U.S. government.

[montanajoe]

Sorry to hear about your dad. I've been happy with the care I get at Fort Harrison but most of what I have gotten has been out of Salt Lake and Denver. I have noticed in the past few years that more and more of the younger guys coming out of Iraq and Afghanistan are in the system. I have been using the VA less for procedures I can just pay for, as I figure the younger guys need the care more than me. I certainly never found insurance based systems were any better than the VA if you had a serious illness or accident. Frankly, the best care I have ever received is in hospitals in SE Asia at about 1/20th of the cost in the United States.

[blueunicorn6]

Thank-you for your service.

[jonefab]

Well, that’s where obamacare is taking us, health care personal will be “government employees”.

[Pining_4_TX]

Judging from the comments, nobody picked up on a major problem with this plan. No co-pay? No deductible? What happens when you make something “free”? People go for all they can get. Every time somebody gets a sniffle, he will go to the clinic. As with all government giveaways, quality and supply will decline and costs will soar. I hope folks are prepared to wait for hours to see a doctor.