Those who oppose a public option say they do not want the government making their health care decisions. Do they not understand that currently a worker at an insurance company is making those decisions?
Doctors and patients do not control health care. When you need a drug, procedure, or test, your insurance company must first give an authorization. In many cases, insurance companies will contact doctors to change from one drug to another.
Workers are forced to stay in jobs to keep insurance. A new company may not provide insurance or the person could be excluded because of a pre-existing condition.
Insurance executives have testified they will not stop the practice of dropping patients who become ill and will continue denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions.
Health care deals with people and their lives. Insurance companies are in business to make a profit. The more they pay in claims, the less profit they make. They have every incentive to deny care.
Administrative costs under Medicare are 3 percent. Under traditional insurance plans, the cost is 16-18 percent. Many people could have health care with that extra 13-15 percent.
Every insurance company uses a different format for their cards and claim forms. This wastes money in increased costs to doctors, hospitals, and other providers.
Those who oppose a public option should present well-reasoned alternatives and not disrupt public discussions by not allowing others to speak. Many of the disruptions are because they have nothing constructive to add to the discussion.
Sten Tetenman, Poland
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Not really, Doc. I think
Not really, Doc. I think it's you who reminds us often that it is better to presume than to assume. In any case, I wouldn't make a judgement about the European or Canadien systems without having experienced them first hand or studied them extensively. I do know that private clinics in Canada do a decent business meeting the needs of those who don't want to wait 3 months for an MRI; that is, for those who can afford to pay out of pocket or who can afford a private plan to go with their public plan. There's that two-tier issue I mentioned earlier. Incidentally, Francois Fillion has just declared France bankrupt.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.I just knew we'd get another
I just knew we'd get another dumb-ass response from Tron. I'm not shouting this question at some town hall meeting. But you answered it just like a sniveling politician at a town hall meeting. I suppose you can tell everyone how employers will be able to afford the plans their employees prefer as the risk pool in conventional plans shrinks. Employers will have to drop private plans for a public one that quickly eliminates any competition. Sure, Michael Moore will be able to afford it, but what about the rest of the people who depend on employer provided health insurance. We all get the state plan; some "choice". Quality of care will suffer for those who can't afford the private option, or have it paid for them by the public. Oh, I forgot. Before you were a ward of the state you were a single mother, a doctor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, a poor, oppressed, handicapped, gay member of a marginalized racial minority group and an actuary. How bout just answering the original question. If it's good enough for me, how come it isn't good enough for everyone, including Barney and Nancy?
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Again, I will ask. If this is such a wonderful thing, why aren't the people pushing this reform taking part in it themselves? If it's good enough for me, then it should be good enough for school teachers (college professors too), police, firefighters, legislators, in fact, any public employee. Any claim that those on the public plan are going to get care equal to those who can pay for whatever free market option is left if this sham passes, doesn't pass the straight face test. Part of the reason that people at these town halls get so angry, is that when they ask that question of their representatives, they get a non-answer; talking points mailed to them from Rham Emanuel that give them more reason to be suspicious. They don't trust government; and with good reason. The politicians aren't even good liars anymore.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Another rabid dog question.
Another rabid dog question. Here we go again. IF you like your current insurance plan, you can keep your insurance plan. IF you are dissatisfied with your current plan OR cannot get insurance because of the many excuses insurance companies use to deny you, you will be able to go in the public plan. GUARANTEED!. Like the rest of life, IT IS YOUR CHOICE! This plan gives you a choice. We like choice. Right now some people don't have a choice. Now that you've received an answer, can we lose this rabid dog question, as well as the rest of them.
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.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.OK, because they don't
OK, because they don't choose to. And you would not have to choose it, either.
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Kudos AwardedDisagree (1)
Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.They don't have to worry
They don't have to worry about it. It's really easy to take the "Platinum Plan" when it's free, instead of the free public option. The Platinum Plan is going to be paid for them no matter what the cost. If I had my choice, I'd take their benefits. I see more than just inequity in the quality of care if there is a 2-tier system of health insurance. There will be longer waiting times for treatment as healthcare providers forgo capital investment because of lower reimbursement rates. That's not just some scary myth being perpetrated by the right. That's simple business economics. Expand medicaid, force states to allow interstate competition, enact tort reform, and give/expand tax credits to businesses who offer HI to their employees and to those who buy their own. If that doesn't fix things then Rham can twist all the arms he wants. And I'll bring along Bill Hardy's baseball bat and help him crack skulls.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Once again, expert analysis
Once again, expert analysis by Mr. Tetenman. Another question to ask about the current effort to stymie reform of our health care system is this--"Who is paying to get people to the Town Hall meetings and disrupt them so that sane discussion by opponents and proponents can be heard?" Let me speculate, probably the lobbyists for the insurance companies.
Is there anyother way to convice people like Gil that the "Death Panel" issue is a phony one? that was invented by the obstuctionists in order to play the scare card.
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If we do nothing insurance premiums will double to almost $30,000/yr in the next decade.
Gil, the private insurers have the numbers you want. Guess what. They aren't telling. If they were telling, its because they only release numbers that make their case like last weeks AHIP report on out-of-network costs.
Yes, in theory the government could run at below cost and drive private insurers out-of-business. Why would they or should they. Most government managed health care systems run quite nicely with a private system in the same country. One of those countries is the US. 50% of Health care is insured through government programs - Medicare, Medicaid, VA, and Federal employees system. Medicare reimburses providers at 80% of what the private insurers do. That will not drive and has not driven private insurers out.
Jon Albrecht Dixfield
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You are correct jalbrecht1, the insurance for Federal employees is government managed. As a Federal employee, I pay $330 a month for premiums for family and I have one of the best plans available, which by the way is the same plan as Congress. Every December I can choose whether to stay with my current insurer or choose from thirty other plans.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Clearly, you people lack the
Clearly, you people lack the knowledge to understand anything about insurance. Premiums keep rising. What would happen if insurance companies paid for every little test or investigational procedure your doctor ordered? You think nobody can afford coverage now - nobody WOULD have coverage then. Insurance isn't there to pay for EVERYTHING. It's about time people realize that. I pay a lot in premium for my car/homeowners and never have filed a claim. It's the same way, but nobody's beating up those insurance companies!
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Another group of useful idiots heard from. A public, or more correctly, a government option will cause more harm than good. It's easy to sit back and regurgitate the talking points of the left, but how about some actual proof. What is the ratio of denied claims to permitted claims? How many times have you gone to the doctor or hospital and been denied treatment? What is the ratio of those who are accepted by new insurance compared to those denied coverage? What will be the end result of private insurers being forced out by the government option? What do you do with the thousands of displaced workers when the private insurers close their doors? How exactly do Insurance companies make their money? If you don't know the answers to these questions then perhaps you shouldn't be commenting on a plan when you have no idea of what you are talking about. Government can run indefinitely at a loss, as is evident by the other financial fiasco's they run now, ie, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Amtrak, etc. How can a private company compete with that? And most important, have you actually read and understood the entire bill?
"In the history of the nation, there has never been a political party so ridiculous as today's Democrats. It's as if all the brain-damaged people in America got together and formed a voting bloc." Ann Coulter
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Of course Gil had to join the Nazi party with a little diatribe from Ann Coulter always on his quotes. Wait a minute half of that is lifted from Rush what college did you go to Gil? Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security do work my Great-Grandfather was a loyal Republican and veteran of the Buffalo Police Department when he retired the pension just barely paid the bills, and when social security came about that helped him greatly. As well Medicare and Medicaid have helped care for the elderly and helped them into retirement homes. You are just quite the little screw up and that must be at home if anyone holds a view different from yours you shout them under the table quite a man Gil quite a man.
Joe Ziehm
Lewiston ME
There are two kinds of Republicans in this world moderate and conservative for so long I've picked the moderate that now it is time to consider the path less traveled.
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Looks like you got nothing, again. How about answering some of your own questions - enlighten us. You can even use Faux News and World Nut Daily, if you'd like.
______________________
Winston Churchill
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.With a government run,
With a government run, "public option", as a citizen who exercises his right to vote, I'd have a voice in what happens with my health insurance, therefore my health care.
With private insurance, I have NO voice at all. My private insurance company DICTATES to me what my health care will be. It's in complete control. Private insurance is like having health care in a socialistic or communistic system.
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Would you like to respond? Login or create a new account. You'll need to verify your account before you can respond.Back in the early 90's the
Back in the early 90's the health insurers paid out 95% of the premiums collected in claims. That's down to about 80% now, and the biggest insurers have set a target of 65% to keep the stockholders happy. They are in the business of collecting premiums and denying claims. Makes you wonder, other than making the management fat and happy, just what exactly do private insurers add to the whole health care system?
______________________
Winston Churchill
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The insurance companies bank on the healthy to fund their profits and work to remove the ill from their pool (or hope they die) to reduce their costs.
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Finally a letter that most people know is true ,straight to the point and no political bias,great article thank you.
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