Why not PAY FOR HEALTH CARE instead of paying for HEALTH CARE INSURANCE PREMIUMS?

I retired early and pay for individual health insurance.  The way I see it, I pay my premium so that I have a negotiator for what I pay for services.  Those without health insurance are charged far more than those with health insurance.  That part of health care needs to be addressed.  A broken arm should cost the same for insured and uninsured to be fixed.  I think we must pay something for services to be appreciative; no one should be given free  .  We all need to be responsible for ourselves and our health.  If the government provided a pool from which a person could buy insurance coverage that could work to our benefit so that insurance companies could not take advantage of us as they are now.

JW

The key to all of this is very simple. Open interstate commerce for health insurance. This is not recreating the wheel I know, but if you look at life insurance the debate would be over. When we are able to search the country or  for the lowest costs, Insurance companies are forced to compete with each other for our business. Not to mention we could truely have collective bargaining. Groups like AARP could provide a very valuable service for their members. They boast 40 million members, dont you think they would be able to negotiate a great deal with any number of  the Insurance providers. Every Insurance provider would be drooling to have a chance at that contract.  Any group with a large membership would be able to do the same. Collective bargaining is where its at. Any intrusion by the government would only hurt the already injured health care system. Furthermore, if this is truely about the people, and what we want then why aren't they putting it on the 2010 ballot?? Not a single Legislator has even suggested such a thing. I do realize that they would have to agree (at least in principle) on some form of a bill first. But no one is even talking about that possibility. Bottom line is they dont want our input they just want our tax dollars to pay for it. That's why I wont support a single version of this bill without a public vote. They have gotten the cart before the horse in my opinion and we should all be fighting to stop them from deciding whats best for us. Agree or disagree, this should not be a political tool used to by either side for advancement.

interesting ideal so you would give people a check to help pay fro care, how would your plan work  nation wide?

would that be more expensive to pay for each visit each test?

and you understand in the health care bills both sides agree on

no more preconditions

no more being dropped by insurance company cause you get sick

The following is a sure fire way to reduce health insurance costs to the public.

Health insurance costs started rising in 1976 when the legal profession here in the United States was allowed to start advertising. Attorneys will only file a law suit against parties who have the ability to pay, or against those who have an insurance company that's most likely to settle out of court. Because of this the Medical profession is a prime target for lawsuits, primarily because of the money to be gained by the legal profession from the medical facilities malpractice insurance company. After a law suit has been filed against a medical facility, the attorney for the plaintiff will seek an out of court settlement from the facilities malpractice insurance company, regardless of the strength of the case. The malpractice insurance company has two options: (1) Settle out of court or: (2) Go to court and face the cost of a very expensive jury trial. Why a jury trial? As per the 7th Amendment of the US Constitution that reads:

“In Suits at Common Law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried to a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the Common Law”.

Due to the 7th Amendment, either party to a CIVIL law suit can request a jury trial, the other party to the law suit has NO LEGAL right to object, this is where the Medical profession gets had! Here's a hypothetical example: The dollar amount stated in the law suit could be for any amount of money, the cost of a jury trial could be in the area of perhaps $250,000. The plaintiffs attorney would then offer to settle out of court for perhaps $100,000, an amount far less than the cost of a jury trial, the insurance company would most likely take the offer without the case going to trial because of this being the less expensive of the two. This is why as much as 50% of the medical facilities gross income is paid out for malpractice insurance, because of these “SO CALLED” out of court settlements! This added cost is then passed on to the public in the form of higher medical insurance premiums. On the other hand, if the case were tried by a judge the case would either be thrown out or a REASONABLE judgment entered.

A way to avoid this legalized EXTORSION and reduce the cost of medical coverage is to modify the 7th amendment to the US Constitution. The modification would state that BOTH the plaintiff(s) and the defendant(s) in a CIVIL law suit to MUTUALLY consent to a jury trial before a jury trial would take place, otherwise the case would tried by a judge. Most attorneys won't bother filing a law suit if the consent of the defendant and plaintiff is a prerequisite for a JURY TRIAL because they wouldn't be able to use the threat of a JURY TRIAL to obtain an out of court settlement. This example applies ONLY to CIVIL law suits and WOULD NOT be applicable in criminal cases. In criminal cases the defendant would still be entitled to a criminal trial upon request.

With this modification to the 7th amendment in place lawsuits across the nation would drop off drastically, especially when it comes to the medical profession, and because of this the cost of malpractice insurance will drop accordingly, thus reducing the cost of health insurance to the public! The only real problem with getting this modification to the 7th amendment passed is a good percentage of our congressional leaders are attorneys (including President Barrack Obama) who will fight this change to the very end, because it would make it far more difficult for them to EXTORT the public once they leave office and resume their primary profession as attorneys. It's time for TORT reform by chasing the FOX out of the hen house once and for all, and give the American public back affordable health coverage that they once had prior to 1976.

Please forward this message to everyone you know, including your congressman.

The major reason for the expensive Health Care costs is the cost of the information technology that supports it.  Even when there is no technology, the cost and time to perform the manual information processing is prohibitive.

We need some very creative new applications like the ones being developed here:

Clinical Decision Support

They ought to be incentivisng technology companies to build inexpensive information technology for the community hospitals and the small doctors offices.  Check out what this small company is doing:

Clinical Decision Support

 

Why not tell your people in Congress that you don’t really agree!!!!!
"AMERICA WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED FROM T HE OUTSIDE. IF WE FALTER AND LOSE OUR FREEDOMS, IT WILL BE BECAUSE WE DESTROYED OURSELVES"
ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 
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Little gems from the Health Care Bill

Posted on Friday, July 24, 2009 4:12:23 PM by CMS
• Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan.. If that is not available, you will be required to take the gov option!
• Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!
• Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!
• Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)
• Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.
• Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.
• Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.
• Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.
• Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)
• Page 72: All private healthcare plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Healthcare Exchange.
• Page 84: All private healthcare plans must participate in the Healthcare Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
• Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens
• Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.
• Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.
• Page 124: No company c an sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.
• Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.
• Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.
• Page 126: Employers MUST pay healthcare bills for part-time employees AND their families.
• Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll <>BR • Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll
• Page 167: Any individual who doesnt' have acceptable healthcare (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.
• Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).
• Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Healthcare Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.
• Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax.." Yes, it really says that.
• Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected."
âA C¢ Page 241: Doctors: no matter what speciality you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)
• Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.
• Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private healthcare industries.
• Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.
• Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!
• Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.
• Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.
• Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited for owning and investing in healthcare companies!
• Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.
• Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.
• Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.
• Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.
• Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.
• Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (healthcare by phone).
• Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?
• Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.
• Page 425: Goverment provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.
• Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.
• Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates.. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.
• Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.
• Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.
• Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.
• Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

 

On page 425 it says in black and white that EVERYONE on Social Security, (will include all Senior Citizens and SSI people) will go to MANDATORY counseling every 5 years to learn and to choose from ways to end your suffering (and your life).  Health care will be denied based on age.  500 Billion will be cut from Seniors healthcare.   The only way for that to happen is to drastically cut health care, the oldest and the sickest will be cut first.   Paying for your own care will not be an option. 
Now, CALL YOUR PEOPLE IN WASHINGTON !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!! 2 Tell them to read page 425 if they don't read anything else.  Surely  some of them have parents.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR TIME, Tanya

 

Obama's job approval rating falls to new low The president slips to 50% in the Gallup Poll, reaching that point more quickly than most of his predecessors did.