Here It Comes: Governement Health Plan

[Guest]

OK, all you right-wing conservative health agents, it is time to circle the wagons, resurrect Harry and Louise, and "Gentlemen, start your engines." You better kill this one so that you can preserve your six-figure incomes and make sure that the entire population can't get proper coverage. Hey, let 'em die, right? They are all fat boozing smokers and probably illegal as well. And lord knows you don't want to pay any increased taxes for "these" people. Yup, your battle is at hand. I hope you can wage a better campaign than your last presidential candidate did. It may be time to unite the *** Palin with the *** Limbaugh and holly-roller Huckabee. My guys have the WH and the House and the Senate, so you have an up-hill battle. But you can do it. You've seen to it that greed and selfishness has triumphed before... you can (and better) do it again!

From: Sources: Senators weigh 3 government health plans

Sources: Senators weigh 3 government health plans
By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press Writer Ricardo Alonso-zaldivar, Associated Press Writer 2 hrs 58 mins ago

WASHINGTON – Senators are considering three different designs for a new government health insurance plan that middle-income Americans could buy into for the first time, congressional officials said Friday. Officials familiar with the proposals said senators plan to debate them in a closed meeting next week. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the controversial plans have not been released.

Creating a public plan is one of the most contentious ideas in the debate over how to overhaul the nation's health care system to cover the uninsured and try to restrain costs.

President Barack Obama and many Democrats say a government option would serve as a check to keep the private insurance industry honest.

Insurers fear the government would use its power to drive them out of business. And Republicans call a public plan in the legislation a dealbreaker, dashing hopes for bipartisan legislation for overhauling the health insurance system. Employer groups are also opposed.

The three approaches being discussed are:

_Create a plan that resembles Medicare, administered by the Health and Human Services department.

_Adopt a Medicare-like plan, but pick an outside party to run it. That way government officials would not directly control the day-to-day operations.

_Leave it up to individual states to set up a public insurance plan for their residents.

But many key details would still have to be fleshed out.

Among them is whether the public plan would be open to everyone, or be limited to small businesses and individuals purchasing coverage on their own.

Also, would the plan reimburse medical providers at discounted Medicare rates or the higher fees that private insurers pay? And would it be financed by tax dollars, or entirely from premiums?

Senators on the Finance Committee will consider the proposals during a closed-door session scheduled for late next week. Committee leaders want to bring a bill to the Senate floor this summer. It's unclear whether a public plan in any form will emerge from Congress.

Citing surveys that show most seniors are happy with Medicare, Democrats say they believe that a public plan would be a political winner. But Republicans counter that it would be a step toward a government-run system in which medical services sooner or later would be rationed.

The majority of Americans now get health insurance through private insurers, about 170 million people in all. Most of them are enrolled in employer-sponsored plans.

A recent report by the Lewin Group, a numbers-crunching firm that serves government and private clients, found that a new government plan could radically alter that landscape — or maybe not.

It depends on the design.

If the public plan were open to all employers and individuals — and if it paid doctors and hospitals the same as Medicare — it would quickly grow to 131 million members, while enrollment in private insurance plans would plummet, the study found.

By paying Medicare rates the government plan would be able to set premiums well below what private plans charge. Employers and individuals would rush to sign up.

But the results would be far different if the government plan was limited to small employers, individuals and the self-employed.

In that smaller-scale scenario, the public plan would get from 17 million to 43 million members, the study said. It found that a government plan could be effective in reducing number of uninsured.

Lewin is a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare, the nation's largest health insurer. The consulting firm says it makes its own judgments, however. Its work is used by groups on all sides of the health care debate, including supporters of a public plan.

 

[LGilmore]

"By paying Medicare rates the government plan would "

But has anyone asked the doctors and hospitals if that's what they'll accept as payment?

If private insurance could reimburse at medicare rates, their premiums would be lower also.

The question becomes if you need a doctor to save your life and he'll take "x" amount of dollars to do so, and you offer him "y" who has a better bargining position?

The gas passers in my state long ago said FO to insurers as to what they would take for payment. They basically formed a union and would withhold services unless paid at the price they set. Insurers paid, just raised premiums. When doctors refuse to treat for low pay (go on strike) do we jail em?

You can't really reduce the cost of the system if you don't lower payments to the participants within the system. Let's see what happens then...



Insurance companies are only one piece of the jigsaw puzzel.

 

[Winter_123]

My guys have the WH and the House and the Senate, so you have an up-hill battle. But you can do it. You've seen to it that greed and selfishness has triumphed before... you can (and better) do it again!

All of your guys (which includes Arnold, Pelosi, Boxer, Jerry Brown, etc) are in charge in California too. How is that working out for ya?

It all works out fine as long as you can send the bill to the Federal government and then the feds can send the bill to the Chinese. Other than that, "your guys" are real leaders. And you are correct. It is an uphill battle to turn that type of thing around as the Cubans found out.

 

[midwestbroker]

President Barack Obama and many Democrats say a government option would serve as a check to keep the private insurance industry honest.

But who is going to watch the government to keep them honest...because that would be a first.

 

[briko3]

I know one thing...we are going to need a lot more doctors. Can you imagine how many more people will be going to the doctor's offices if they had insurance all of a sudden. In all honesty, I do think that it's necessary to have everyone with access to healthcare. I just don't know the best way to do it. (and I don't think anyone else does either at this point.)

 

[Justin Bilyj]

I cant wait till these "officials" wake up the worst of the sleeping giants (americans). Viva La Revolution!

 

[Guest]

I know one thing...we are going to need a lot more doctors. Can you imagine how many more people will be going to the doctor's offices

This is easy? How do we get 3,000 military officers each year? Simple, we have basically a "contest" to select those who want a full, excellent, FREE, 4 year college education in exchange for six or seven years of service... It's called West Point, Annapolis, etc.

Some areas do the same for teachers.

We could easily do the same for doctors... and at the same time we could modernize the curriculum and train them in about half the time... at least for general practice.

How much training does a navy corpsman or army medic get? Double that and I'll bet you would have a doctor with enough skills to diagnose most ailments (i.e. read the test results, as well as dress wounds, set limbs, give shots, etc.)

Of course you will have to get around the greed and conservative-reactionary policies of the AMA, but I know a guy who really speaks well and whom the country currently loves and who might be very persuasive.

Let me ask those of you who have kids graduating from college this June. If one of your kids had an opportunity to go to a medical "academy" for grad school and come out with a MD degree recognized by all states (we'd legislate that too) FOR FREE in exchange for them serving where sent (or volunteered) for seven years... at a salary of $60k a year TAX FREE...would they be interested? Ask your kids and see. The ones I've spoken with told me they would jump at the chance to compete in such a selection process.

What would it cost to train a doctor for 4 years? $50K a year? $200K for 4 years. Do the math. I can have 5,000 brand new docs on the street for about $1B. If we cut the training down to two years, we can have 10,000.

I'm part of the generation that watched all aspects of our economy "mobilize" to get to the moon in 10 years. I watched how people in my generation flocked to the Peace Corp and VISTA. (I was a VISTA worker in Kentucky in 1969...until Nixon cut the budget. It was a great way to escape the draft and not go to Vietnam! And yeah, I'm PROUD that I didn't go to the Nam... but that's another story for another time.)

Don't tell me we can't "fix" the health care problem in this country because we can... if (like in the 60s) we have the will.

Of course conservatives in this venue don't HAVE a will. They are happy the way things WERE, not how they might be. Winter and his cohorts would love to bring back Alabama of 1958.

What they don't understand is that most people want to look forward to a better life which is why more of them voted for Obama than candidate McCain and the *** Palin (as well as Bush twice). No one on this forum offers any solutions... it's just "lets keep the same old, same old because we're making a nice fat living off of it.")

All Winter offers is what we had before... and to him it was glamorous, but to those who were not white, anglo, Christians... it wasn't.

Folks, if the free market could "fix" the healthcare situation, don't you think it would have happened by now?

The truth is that only the government has the size, strength, and power to do it. The private sector has tried for twenty years with HMOs, PPOs, HSAs, and all sorts of managed care options. How has that worked? Ask the 47 million people who have no protection (and don't insult my intelligence by saying they are all fat, smoking, drinking, illegal aliens... because they are not... but even if they were... they are human beings and should not die in the streets no matter how irresponsible they have been.

Compassionate conservatism? My ass. I got sucked into that twice with Bush. You folks had eight years to fix this... now it is our turn. STFU and let us do our work :-) If it fails you get the last laugh and will be swept back into power so you can practice the selfishness, greed, and ego-centric avarice you are so known for... and which you and your Wall Street banker pals do so well.

Al

 

[djs]

So now the way to make medical coverage more affordable is to cut down on training for doctors. By the way, most doctors go to school for 8 years, not 4, so start by redoing your math.

Paying tuition and offering a reduced salary doesn't actually lower the bill to the taxpayer. You simply move money around.

Then go ask 'mom' if she wants her child treated by someone who just got out of a full '16 weeks' of medical training. Most would pass. Ironically, I do agree with you that it doesn't take much training to deal with the typical cough/cold/flu symptoms or the normal ear infection.

Let's add to your savings though. Lets cut down the time it takes to get a drug out on the street. Less testing would reduce the cost significantly. Start getting drugs out in 3 years instead of 20. Make it easier to deal with off-label uses of drugs. Would this be good?

Okay, a lot of ideas can have short term savings. The 'medic' treating a child works until a drug interaction is missed because of lack of training. A drug that wasn't tested fully ends up with a long term side effect, etc.

Also, you need to check on military doctors. Yes, they get training, an officers salary, and leave the military. Some are given incentives to stay. Most don't.

Many doctors, even at todays pay, leave practicing medicine altogether and go into research. The stress is less, and the pay is as good, if not better.

There are a lot of things that can be done to lower the cost of health care, but ironically, it's the liberals who won't allow them. (Think unions, malpractice, lawyers, mandates, etc).

Dan

 

[Insurance Man]

By the way, who is going to pay for this one? They are printing money so fast now they can't keep up. Short term fix with unbelievable long range consequences. We will find out very shortly how your INEXPERIENCED commander and chief is going to lead this country into the biggest disaster we have ever seen!!

 

[Winter_123]

but I know a guy who really speaks well and whom the country currently loves and who might be very persuasive.

Al

Newt Gingrich?