Healthcare Reform What Would You Do

[cotech50]

Well so far we have 2000+ pages of bLAH BLAH BLAH that is the same thing you see in the fine print of a contract of which you try to read but have to give up because you cannot understand it. I have tried to read it and I gave up. It is not clear and concise and keeps referring you to sec??? PARA??? SUB????? WTF. What do we expect written and crafted by lawyers. This was never written for anyone to fully understand and how did these politcians all of a sudden become Healthcare Experts to start crafting laws for you and I they have not even read. Hell you can bet this crap will never affect them or their families. Does Healthcare need to be reformed? Is what they have come up with satifactory to you? Will it make the system better or worse? How much do you hate the Tax Code we have. Same confusing language written so you cannot understand it. If reform is needed it will take much longer to do and do right than the amount of time these chuckleheads did it in. Maybe there is some good in it how would you know it was not written to be read and understood by the average Joe. OH IMHO

[DreamStalker]

Here is a link to a summary from the perspective of doctors -

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/715035

You may have to register to view but it is a good free registration to have anyway.

My view, the current bill is an expansion of the for profit-system we already have. It does little to address the issues that the reform was intended to resolve.

What I would do? ... Reform to me would be complete elimination of profit based health cost insurance. Insurance should be designed to help people who experience catastrophic events and not help investors profit from such risks (investments and risk profiting should be left for Las Vegas and the stock market).

Well now that you have started it ... let the bloodshed begin.

[LSAT]

They have been reporting that fraud in Medicare amounts to 63-65 BILLION per year.....If this were controlled the government would have 63-65 BILLION to spend on the uninsured. They could leave health care the way it is.........

[Slinky]

I would suggest:

1] Limit administrative costs of insurance companies
2] Limit administrative costs of hospitals (that does NOT include costs of wages, benefits of the hands-on care givers, lab techs, etc.)
2] Limit pharamaceutical, doctor, hospital and medical equipment advertising back to pre-1987 levels and restrictions.
3] Provide a special tax bracket for general and family practitioners to give them parody for their education investment w/specialists

[Autopapdude]

Single-payer health coverage for all. Universal. Don't say it doesn't work, as it does in many other countries.

[Linus]

Limit government intervention...let the market decide.

On the other side ... go after and enforce laws pertaining to fraud.

[Autopapdude]

Limit government intervention...let the market decide.

That is what we have now, and it isn't working. Deregulation of any industry is a menace to the public good.

[Muse-Inc]

...My view, the current bill is an expansion of the for profit-system we already have. It does little to address the issues that the reform was intended to resolve.

What I would do? ... Reform to me would be complete elimination of profit based health cost insurance. Insurance should be designed to help people who experience catastrophic events and not help investors profit from such risks (investments and risk profiting should be left for Las Vegas and the stock market).

Well now that you have started it ... let the bloodshed begin.

Ditto!

[roster]

The big problem with health insurance is that we have moved in the last three decades away from a free market. This has resulted in new insurance providers not being able to enter markets and little to no competition among existing insurance suppliers. As a result, insurance companies strive to make profits by making the regulators happy. In free markets the suppliers have to make the customers happy.

How we get out of this regulatory mess created by governments out of control will be very painful. But it has to be done. Here are the facts on how this regulation has killed the free market and killed competition:

-State
-Health insurer with
largest market share
-Market
share %
-Health Insurer with
second largest
-market share
-Market
share %
-Combined
market share
% of top two
insurers


Alabama Blue Cross Blue Shield AL 83% Health Choice 5% 88%
Alaska Premera Blue Cross 60% Aetna Inc. 35% 95%
Arizona Blue Cross Blue Shield AZ 43% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 22% 65%
Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield AR 75% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 6% 81%
California Kaiser Permanente 24% WellPoint Inc. (Blue Cross) 20% 44%
Colorado WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 29% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 24% 53%
Connecticut WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 55% Health Net Inc. 11% 66%
Delaware CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield 42% Coventry Health Care Inc. 23% 65%
District of Columbia Data Unavailable
Florida Blue Cross Blue Shield FL 30% Aetna Inc. 15% 45%
Georgia WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 61% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 8% 69%
Hawaii Blue Cross Blue Shield HI 78% Kaiser Permanente 20% 98%
Idaho Blue Cross of ID 46% Regence BS of Idaho 29% 75%
Illinois HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield) 47% WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 22% 69%
Indiana WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 60% M*Plan (HealthCare Group) 15% 75%
Iowa Wellmark BC and BS 71% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 9% 80%
Kansas WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 59% Health Partners 10% 69%
Kentucky Data Unavailable
Louisiana Blue Cross Blue Shield LA 61% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 13% 74%
Maine WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 78% Aetna Inc. 10% 88%
Maryland CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield 52% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 19% 71%
Massachusetts Blue Cross Blue Shield MA 50% Tufts Health Plan 17% 67%
Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield MI 65% Henry Ford Health System 8% 73%
Minnesota Blue Cross Blue Shield MN 50% Medica 26% 76%
Mississippi Data Unavailable
Missouri WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 68% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 11% 79%
Montana Blue Cross Blue Shield MT 75% New West Health Services 10% 85%
Nebraska Blue Cross Blue Shield NE 44% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 25% 69%
Nevada Sierra Health 29% WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 28% 57%
New Hampshire WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 51% CIGNA Corp. 24% 75%
New Jersey Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield 34% Aetna Inc. 25% 59%
New Mexico HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield) 35% Presbyterian Hlth 30% 65%
New York GHI 26% WellPoint Inc. (Empire BCBS) 21% 47%
North Carolina Blue Cross Blue Shield NC 53% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 20% 73%
North Dakota Data Unavailable
Ohio WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 41% Medical Mutual of Ohio 17% 58%
Oklahoma BCBS OK 45% CommunityCare 26% 71%
Oregon Providence Health & Services 25% Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield 23% 48%
Pennsylvania Data Unavailable
Rhode Island Blue Cross Blue Shield RI 79% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 16% 95%
South Carolina Blue Cross Blue Shield SC 66% CIGNA Corp. 9% 75%
South Dakota Data Unavailable
Tennessee Blue Cross Blue Shield TN 50% Total Choice 12% 62%
Texas HCSC (Blue Cross Blue Shield ) 39% Aetna Inc. 20% 59%
Utah Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield 47% Intermountain Healthcare 21% 68%
Vermont Blue Cross Blue Shield VT 77% CIGNA Corp. 13% 90%
Virginia WellPoint Inc. (BCBS) 50% Aetna Inc. 11% 61%
Washington Premera Blue Cross 38% Regence Blue Shield 23% 61%
West Virginia Data Unavailable
Wisconsin Data Unavailable
Wyoming Blue Cross Blue Shield WY 70% UnitedHealth Group Inc. 15% 85%

The table shows that in many states insurance
markets are dominated by only one or two insurance
carriers. In at least 21 states, one carrier
controls more than half the market. More than half
of the market is controlled by two carriers in at
least 39 states. In 2007, a survey conducted by the
American Medical Association found that in more
than 95 percent of insurance markets, a single
commercial carrier controlled at least 30 percent of
the insurance market.

We need to let the market work. The history of the 20th century clearly shows the poverty and oppression that comes with centrally controlled economies.

[Autopapdude]

The big problem with health insurance is that we have moved in the last three decades away from a free market. This has resulted in new insurance providers not being able to enter markets and little to no competition among existing insurance suppliers. As a result, insurance companies strive to make profits by making the regulators happy. In free markets the suppliers have to make the customers happy.

How we get out of this regulatory mess created by governments out of control will be very painful. But it has to be done. Here are the facts on how this regulation has killed the free market and killed competition:

No, the big problem with healthcare is people like you. Your attitude is the classic "I got mine, so f^(& YOU!" We have had 8 years of deregulation, and all it has done is make the insurance companies 438% richer during that period. The rich get richer, and the rest of us suffer, and self- indulgent conservative know- it -alls want even less regulation so as to keep the "free market" honest, and thereby increase gouging of the average Joe. Spare us the bullcrap, Rooster. You have the classic "Southern White Male screw the rest of the country" attitude, and it is mean spirited and selfish. It is the reason we don't have universal healthcare, so you've lost any credibility.

[Muse-Inc]

The big problem with health insurance is that we have moved in the last three decades away from a free market...

I disagree with you as to why this is a problem. Unrestrained free markets have proven time and time again that greed rules and then after 'they' quit informally colluding to control consumer price and deny service the most greedy buys up the others to completely control the marketplace. The healthcare marketplace today is dominated by a few insurance companies who control the who and what of service as well as what providers are paid...all of us have experienced this control & denial -- this is insane. Insurance sucks $ out of the healthcare system for profit...I believe this system is an inappropriate way to deal with healthcare which I see as a collective need as previous few of us go from birth to death without needing healthcare.

[DreamStalker]

The big problem with health insurance is that we have moved in the last three decades away from a free market...

I disagree with you as to why this is a problem. Unrestrained free markets have proven time and time again that greed rules and then after 'they' quit informally colluding to control consumer price and deny service the most greedy buys up the others to completely control the marketplace. The healthcare marketplace today is dominated by a few insurance companies who control the who and what of service as well as what providers are paid...all of have experienced this control & denial -- this is insane. Insurance sucks $ out of the healthcare system for profit...I believe this system is an inappropriate way to healthcare which I see this as a collective need because previous few of us go from birth to death without needing healthcare.

He is a sinner. Forgive him.

[Muse-Inc]

...

Go to your room and cool off

[Muse-Inc]

...He is a sinner. Forgive him.

[Autopapdude]

Muse- Inc. wrote
...

Go to your room and cool off

____

No, you have it wrong. You're supposed to say "You've been a bad boy. Go to MY room."