Maybe we don't deserve a Lexus, or need one, but we we certainly deserve better than the Yugo we are saddled with today!

IMAGINE

Imagine if syndicated columnists weren't allowed to publish their drug-induced fantasies... 

"That is why one of the simplest strategies for making health insurance more affordable is to reduce the minimum number of benefits that insurers are required to cover."

OK  Let's begin with all Federal, State, County, and City employees. Since they already have free Lexus coverage from the taxpayer, it's the best place to begin.

The tax savings would go a long way to help pay for our wonderful private health care.

Lexus  coverage does not mean that the insurers are paying Lexus prices for your care.
As said in many posts Corporate insurers negotiate prices well below MediCal and MediCare contract prices. Well below prices charged to the uninsured.  

This article points out the real problem.  Because Doctors are able to maintain High reimbursement from Government care, they compete with other providers by contracting lower price  bids with insurers. They need the volume of the Corporate customer to maintain the cash flow to pay operating expenses.

So unfortunately America’s health care system isn’t a competition to provide better care.

This  contract savings by the Insurers is not being  relayed down to those that are paying the premiums. Or those that have a hand in actually saving peoples lives.

The savings is instead paid out as bonuses to salesmen. And CEO’s

So far This year I have had a complete spinal MRI. An Angio gram, a colonoscopy and a picture taken of the inside of my bladder. Plus a number of visits to my primary doctor. I am on MediCare.

Without a doubt I would have been dropped by corporate insurers years ago.

Lexus  coverage does not mean that the insurers are paying Lexus prices for your care.
 

It means they're *DRIVING* Lexi on the profits from our premiums. 

"That is why one of the simplest strategies for making health insurance more affordable profitable is to reduce the minimum number of benefits that insurers are required to cover."

There, fixed that for him.

Funny how all of people's complaints about a possible government plan are exactly what we have to deal with now. Rationed care, high prices, paying for the uninsured, etc.

Funny how all of people's complaints about a possible government plan are exactly what we have to deal with now.

And how Jacoby's "fix" for the sitution is to let the insurance companies treat their customers *WORSE*.  Now *THAT* is a true market-based solution.   Wonder if he had to get prior approval from Blue Cross for the proctoscopic exam which produced that concept.

I think we need to do something just don't be in a hurry and get it right look what is happening in MA. with there state funded program

http://www.therealitycheck....

krc
Just making health care available to all isn’t fixing the system.
There has to be  a full makeover of the system.
I feel this can only be done in a single payer system. But I am willing to listen.
I would  consider the option for all to enter into Medicare regardless of age, a possible option .

In a system where hospitals are going bankrupt because of empty beds. Yet prices continue to climb. Change is the only solution.

And people must understand that the cost of health care is a given. The need for health care will come to all. So no matter if it is corporate or government the costs will be incurred.  

Do we need a corporate system that sees 40% overhead costs. When all government programs, MediCal, MediCare or the VA system run at under 3% overhead.

There just is no comparison. The government systems are leaps and bounds above the Corporate system The efficiency of the government programs overwhelm any other excuse to continue as we are.

I was disabled when I was 39 years old. I never was given a specific diagnoses. Just neuropathy . It was only after I became qualified for MediCare that I was finally diagnosed with syringomyelia. It was only then that the progression of my disease was stopped. Because with the proper diagnosis I was able to have the surgery needed to control it.

It was corporate doctors that failed to diagnose my problem They were doctors assigned to me by State workers compensation company.   My medical care was being controlled by doctors with a vested interest with the corporation and lawyers that had a vested interest in reducing claims.

I have no way to prove anything. But there is no doubt that the failure to diagnose syringomyelia early on. Has caused me to be permanently disable. Unable to work for the rest of my life. The ¼ inch hole inside my spinal cord that runs 2/3’s the length of my spinal cord . Would most certainly not have affected so many nerves if the shunt had been placed early on.

I have also had Bladder cancer, Polyps, heart problems due to complications caused by medication, Hepatitis A, Chondromalcia patellae Sever osteo arthritis in all vertebrae. Spondylothesis. 2 herniated discs..
These things can happen to all. And most would be driven to bankruptcy with just a few.
Would You insure me?

It's amazing how the corporate health care insurance industry fears any kind of government managed health care pool.

Since they claim a government run insurance plan would be a disaster for those participating, why all the fear? The customers would come flocking back to corporate insurers in droves.

I've noticed over the last few months that Blue Shield has called and sent many mailers claiming they want to "help" me with the increasing cost of health insurance, right after they raised my premiums by 30%.

Amazing how "nice" they've gotten all of a sudden.

If we're going to use the car analogy to its fullest, I think all citizens should have a nice dependable Honda Civic health care plan. Great value for their money, little depreciation and it's not going to die on you randomly as you drive down the freeway. Now, who's going to write the "If health care plans were automobiles" list?

Blue Shield = Yugo Hatchback    lol

Has anybody considered the shortage of doctors there is going to be?  Has anyone questioned where enough qualified doctors can be produced to meet the needs of newly-insured "millions" of people?  If there are not more doctors, it is a very sad fact that a lot of people are going to be very unhappy with future health care.  And, here, I'm not saying anything good or bad about public options or private options or any options at all.  I'm simply asking the question about the source of sufficient numbers of doctors. 

Shortage of doctors? Do you think all doctors' offices are going to start resembling ER waiting rooms if everyone is insured? The reason ERs are overrun has less to do with the staffing level and has more to do with capacity. There's a finite number of people they can fit into an ER at any given time. Call your doctor now and if you can get in within the week, that means he or she has got plenty of room in the schedule to fit in additional patients. And it's not as if all the suddenly insured masses would descend like locust upon the doctors offices of the land.... They'd just now have the option of calling for an appointment when they got ill or injured instead of filling up the ER, which would actually free up the ER for its intended purpose: to treat those urgently ill or injured.

Ali,
If there are not enough doctors there just aren’t enough doctors. No matter who or how the health care is provided.

Following your train of thought. The business owner suffering  the high rent of the landlord does not deserve  medical care because he can’t afford insurance due to  obnoxious rent by the landlord.

But the landlord deserves the best medical care, because all he has to do to afford  it, is increase the rent. Increasing the rent every  time it seems that the manager is getting a bit ahead.

Not a very Christian way to run a business or country Ali.

RF, are you insinuating Jacoby is on drugs?

Maybe Jacoby just has a gas leak.

 If there are not enough doctors there just aren’t enough doctors. No matter who or how the health care is provided.

Did you know that there are such a surplus of doctors in Cuba that they send them around the world to provide health care to impoverished nations and during humanitarian crises?  Even American doctors have been trained in Cuba's medical program.

http://www.pubmedcentral.ni...

http://www.commondreams.org...

Did you know that there are such a surplus of doctors in Cuba that they send them around the world to provide health care to impoverished nations and during humanitarian crises?

Cuba ranks right alongside the US in medical measurements--except cost, of course.  Nobody surpasses the US in the cost of care.

If there are too few doctors, doesn't it make sense to allocate them to the sickest patients instead of the richest?

RF, I don't know what's more remarkable:  How the US does so little with so much or how Cuba does so much with so little.

 "If there are too few doctors, doesn't it make sense to allocate them to the sickest patients instead of the richest?"

Not to the for-profit insurance industry it doesn't.

Maybe Jacoby just has a gas leak.

From both ends.

.

Nancy, this is about the most inane column I've *EVER* seen from Jacoby.  His list (at insure.com, an unbiased source I'm sure) is presented in alphabetical order, but I'll bet "emergency services" is at the top in state mandates.   Why would anyone allow insurers to drop that?    Is he insinuating that mandatory minimum maternity stays in *ANY* way compares to a GPS system in a Lexus?  Mammograms are a luxury?

The whole *CONCEPT* of insurance is that lots of people pay (partially) for services they actually *HOPE* they will never use.  That's *WHY* things are mandated.  Without such rules, insurers would skip out on stuff that only a few might use--but that would save those peoples' lives.

Whatever Jacoby's on, it ain't the generic stuff--it's brand-name potent.

 how Cuba does so much with so little.

Government planning.   They've got us beat in emergency preparedness too.

In WWII Britain had horrendous food shortages.  With rational scientific planning they raised an extremely healthy generation of kids--and came out of it with national health care too.

They've got us beat in emergency preparedness too.

They've lived under emergency for almost 50 years now.

So many medical advances have come out of Cuba in the last 50 years.  We should all aspire to live in such a paradise...

They've lived under emergency for almost 50 years now

Largely caused by the US.

http://www.cubanet.org/CNew...

http://www.scidev.net/en/ne...

Well, among other things, Cuba has one of the highest life expectancy rates in the world. Here's some more

http://www.cubanet.org/CNew...

Random, that's just too damn funny. You'd almost think we googled it.

I had one of my minions do it for me.

Please note that's a BBC piece and actually mentions some of the downside as well.

For whatever it's worth, here's a little bit about advances over the past 10 years or so...

http://www.cubanet.org/CNew...

http://www.cubaplus.ca/heal...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-b...

http://www.politicalaffairs...

http://www.workers.org/2009...

http://www.scidev.net/News/...

http://www.commondreams.org...

I think it's extremely important to see the downsides of the more successful healthcare programs in various countries. Then we can take the best ideas and scrap what doesn't work. That's the American Way!!!

If the insurance companies are so worried about losing subscribers, perhaps they ought to open up coverage to those who desperately want it, and can afford it, but are being rejected by them every single day.

There are downsides to every system.  We have to ask ourselves what's important.  We could really fix the health care problem if we had the will but there is fear over putting the private option out of business.

I don't have a problem with that if people are able to access adequte health care.  The profits should be merely a byproduct and not the "bottom line".

If the insurance companies are so worried about losing subscribers,

You misspelled "obscene profits." 

"how Cuba does so much with so little.

Government planning.   They've got us beat in emergency preparedness too."

They can also keep a 1952 Chevy going for over 55 years, and looking good too.

If only we could find a cure for :

The inability to understand the word, ‘option’.

It’s a horrible disease and is spreading at epidemic rates.

You don't understand the horror, tkozy.  They're going to *FORCE* us to have options.

Spam code MD AUK.  Hope they're not equivalently extinct.

Random,

You mean options like:

1. Continuing to hold your breath while under water.

2. Coming up to breathe.

 Pardon me all to hades for saying anything about a possible doctor shortage.  Forgive my audacity in bringing up the possibility of a doctor shortage.  How can anyone forgive such STUPID comments?  I'm ALWAYS commenting so STUPIDLY!  (I'm so glad someone used that word recently.  I never would have used it if the most IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD hadn't used it.  It shows such maturity and grasp of communication skills.  STUPIDLY.  STUPIDLY.  Such sophistication.  UNBELIEVABLE!)   

You guys can probably call up your doctor right now and get a regular appointment in about a month or so -- or much earlier in the event of something possibly serious.  When the rolls begin filling up with all these millions of people who are uninsured, surely they will not go to the ER but will do the sensible thing, which is make an appointment with a doctor.  Who knows?  It may even be YOUR doctor.  That means that when you call YOUR doctor for an appointment, you possibly won't get to see him for six to eight weeks.  If you're lucky.  Later on, it's likely to be eight to ten weeks, and so on.

If you need a test, it may be pushed back four to six weeks.  But that's okay, right?  You all are willing to share your doctor, right?  The doctor who has always given you the impression there's not another patient in the world but YOU?  Foget about it.  You'll be lucky if he comes in and asks if you need another prescription for something. 

Does this "waiting" business sound familiar?  Maybe like Canada?  England?  You like it?  Go for it.  That is, go for England.  Go for Canada.  You'd like it much better there now anyway.  They already have waiting lines.  You won't have to WAIT for a waiting line.  It'll already have been created for you.  There.  Doesn't that make you feel better?

Ali,
If you continue to make statements that can not be supported with facts. Your statements will be questioned.

I have no problem getting in to see a doctor immediately if I need to. Then there is always the urgent care service open late at night and on weekends.

If all else fails there is the emergency room.

Millions of Americans use Medicare and the VA. Millions of Americans are alive today because of the services provided at a affordable cost.

The VA and Medicare are government single payer systems. The VA’s record storage system is the model for all health care professionals in  America.  

 

tickoozy:  Just wait a while.  

Alicen, are you saying that we should not offer health care to all because the people that currently have it will have a longer wait for regular health services?  Or are you saying that the current health care system can baely support the needs of the American people now(i.e. shortage of health professionals)?  I don't understand.

jf:  If you will read my original comment, you would see that I am simply commenting on the fact that there will be a shortage of doctors when everybody signs up.  Nowhere -- nowhere -- have I said that people were not entitled to receive health care.  I am simply saying there will be a SHORTAGE OF DOCTORS.  And I wonder if anybody had thought that far ahead.  By "anybody" I mean our revered Congress and administration.  We can't just manufacture doctors out of thin air. 

When there are doctor shortages, the quallify of health care will be diminished.  A precedes B.  That's all. 

Ali,

How do you come to the conclusion that there will be a shortage of Dr's.? For every case that you point to in other plans in other countries. I  will find 10 posts that totally support their single payer plans.

The health care systems have been studied to death. America ranks very poorly in cost. In fact the worst.

And using modern day comparisons the U.S. does not provided better care.

According to the U.N life expectancy report.

The U.S. lands in 38th place just behind Cuba.

Japan is #1 at 82.5 years

http://www.slideshare.net/t...

.

Nancy, I have another question.  If Cuba is so grand, why don't a lot of these commenters pack a bag, get on a boat, and see if they can sneak into the country.  In addition to that, why is it that Cubans risk life and limb to reach Florida's shores, with just ONE FOOT on land?  WHY?  Will somebody tell me why it is that if Cuba is so wonderful, people are risking their lives to leave?  And come HERE, of all places.  Where everybody knows the health care is so poor. 

ick-oozy: 

I can call up my doctor and get an appointment in 1-2 days or the same day for illness or minor injuries. About the only time I can't is if my doctor has gone on vacation, and then I'm given the option of waiting until she returns or seeing someone else in the medical group. And I know I'm not alone in this. This fear of having to wait months to see a doctor is rather unfounded, but commonly mentioned among certain political entertainers.

Shwaine:  How fortunate for you. 

Ali,

Will you tell me why anybody would think that Florida's little Cuba is anything but a slum.

A great deal of criminality in Little Cuba.

You know what they say. Birds of the same feather, flock together.

Cuba has manged to rid itself of a great deal of trouble makers.

And save their superior heath care for their good guys.