posted
Obama's plan is not final yet and taxing is just one of the options on the table and in a recent interview he said it was one of the last.
Personally I don't like the idea of employers providing insurance. I think it takes away from their competitiveness. Look at the car companies, one of the big reasons they were having trouble competing is because other companies are not footing the insurance bills. Toyota was going to open a plant in the US and then changed their mind and opened it in Canada to stay away from paying insurance.
I am not saying I think a government run health plan will work the best but I do believe
1) all should have healthcare. US is only industrial country in the world that doesn't provide it. 2) it needs be reformed so that the costs are reasonable. When I had menegitis last year and got my bill I was charged $18 for a bandage. Also despite working for a large company and what is considered great insurance I have to fight them all the time. We all know about getting covered for Lyme. Again I work for a large company and have insurance and still am in serious debt that stresses me out each day. 3) To pay for it I believe one thing to do is tax food and drink that cause health issues. (cigarettes, alcohol, soda, junk food, etc.
I understand your frustrations and your points. I don't know what the answers are but hope people will get behind Obama and give it a chance.
Posts: 27 | From Boulder, CO | Registered: Sep 2008
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I think if prices were set for services....and not shouldered
By the public who has insurance, it would help the situation.
More than adding taxes anywhere. If I am to pay more taxes
I would prefer my monies to go pay the debt and not for the
Super Pharma and Hospital Business.
Medicaire has a set reimbursement rate as does Medicaid.
As do all of our insurance companies that hold any type of contract.
It is the ones without insurance that makes the cost of the bandaid $18.
I believe that at the very least, all children from birth to 21
Should have insurance. No matter what the family financial issue is.
How much money do you think big Pharma spends on commercials alone?
Drug reps make good money too.
The thing is this. Any hospital anywhere cannot
Turn down anybody who walks through the door.
So, maybe a reimbursement for those type of services
Set at a flat rate would not be objectionable.
A set rate for MRI's, CAT scans, etc.
Medicaire/Medicaid already does that.
I work with Medicaire A and B and other insurance companies
With the job I have. Not such a great plans either.
Especially after you paid into it all your life.
I think the problem needs to be fixed from the top down.
Regulating prices for services instead of a Universal
Type of health insurance, makes more sense to me.
The insurance companies would have to respect any cap given
And private and other types of insurance costs would not
Be an endless escalation driven by greed.
All insurances are great if you aren't ill.
I know that following Katrina, our state (La.) had major insurance issues.
I lost my house to two tornadoes. Not flooding.
I've paid homeowner's insurance for full coverage plus
An extra policy for 20% if total loss.
I had to fight for every penny of that.
Every penny.
Then came the word of increase of price and decrease of coverage.
I wonder if people living in earthquake prone areas
Have their rates go up following a quake.
Anyhow, all we heard about was the billions of dollars in loss.
Yet, all insurance companies at the end of 2005 in our area,
Posted a net gain in the billions. How is this possible?
My homeowner's insurance now costs double.
Go figure. They have us where they want us.
Between a rock and a hard place.
I have to have homeowner's and I have to have health insurance.
I just switched to company health insurance with my job from
Private insurance. My private insurance went up almost $300 this year.
That is due to my Lyme diagnosis.
I had to pay it. Had to.
I just think that socialized medicine doesn't work well.
My Grandmother in Germany has breast cancer and will not
Be offered any chemo or radiation due to the fact she is old.
Too old for the country to spend their monies on treating her.
The government made that decision.
Not my grandmother or other family members.
That is socialized medicine.
I am not sure there is a right answer, however,
Like all things, nothing in life is free.
So, if it is like a tax we pay for Public Schools,
Then those of us who continue with private or company based
Health insurance should get a tax credit or break.
Not taxed more.
I have a hard time thinking that more government is what we need.
Good points to consider Mark.
Thanks for letting me vent these frustrations.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Your point about your grandmother made me think more about my views. That is wrong.
I have friends in London who say that they may have to wait a bit longer for things that are not life threatening but they are not denied help.
Unfortunately its a very complicated issue and I am not sure what needs to be done but am sure that it must change in some way.
The current system isn't working. The US pays more per person (and not everyone is covered) than anywhere else yet we are we down the list as far as healthy people. Too much greed.
Posts: 27 | From Boulder, CO | Registered: Sep 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
geneal and all,
please write to the link in the 1st paragraph i'm posting here .... tell them like it is! don't sugar coat anything.
OPPORTUNITY ...be that squeaky wheel that gets greased! got get em gang .. get those fingers moving.
it's a copy of obama's health conference in des moines, iowa that i went to 3-23-09 ....
Governor Culver thanks the audience for their spirited participation and encourages people to continue the discussion by visiting www.healthreform.gov. ******************************************************
He also thanks President Obama for his commitment to health reform. He said, on every front, the President and his team have been extremely responsive.
1:23: Nancy-Ann DeParle closes the event promising to brief her colleagues in the White House on the suggestions and concerns brought up in the forum today.
She urged participants to visit www.healthreform.gov to submit more suggestions, and said "I have a lot to be optimistic about as I go back to the White house."
She says she heard frustration from small business, farmers, providers that premiums are out of reach.
She also says she heard the desire of clinicians to be at the table, to break down the barriers that exist to providing care, and she heard intelligent advocates from all different angles today.
Finally, she expressed hope that everyone will continue to provide input as we work to lower costs and cover more Americans.
1:18: Senator Harkin makes his closing remarks and talks about how members of Congress are working to make health reform happen this year.
He said they are setting deadlines, and hope to have a bill on the floor in late June to debate it in July.
He said his goal, and the President is pushing very hard on this, is to get this done in Congress before the August recess, and to have a bill to the President in September or October.
"We are not going to kick the ball down the field," he said. "This is going to happen this year."
1:10: A gentleman with a "Livestrong" t-shirt wraps up the discussion talking about cancer. He asks for a show of hands of how many participants have been touched by cancer in their own families or personally, and nearly 100 percent of those in the room raised their hands.
He said we need to continue to keep this very important issue part of the national discussion about health care.
1:02: Responding to the question proposed by Governor Rounds about rural health, a participant brought up the importance of long-term care providers in rural communities.
This participant said he came from a rural area, and many people there just want to stay in their homes and communities.
He said if we pay greater attention to the importance of long-term care providers, and if we invest in them, people in rural communities will visit hospitals less frequently and fewer citizens will need to live in expensive nursing homes.
12:55: Governor Rounds takes a few minutes to speak about the challenge of attracting doctors and nurses to serve in rural communities.
He said the demand for medical professionals in rural areas is so great that each provider is stretched thin, making it even more difficult to maintain a workforce of doctors and nurses.
He asked the participants for suggestions on how to attract medical professionals to rural areas, and how to support them once they establish a practice.
The Governor said we need a plan to bring good medical services to rural Americans.
12:41: A participant named Tracey brought up the cost of treating chronic diseases.
She suggested that the health system reform include a focus on primary and secondary prevention.
She said it is crucially important to think about how to keep the well healthy, to identify the at-risk individuals, and to help the chronically ill manage their conditions to keep the costs for treating these illnesses down.
12:30: Governor Culver reads a question from Audrey Wiedemeier, a resident of Iowa City who submitted her question online at www.healthreform.gov.
She asked, "What is being done to address the fact that many low income communities don't have access to affordable fresh healthy food?"
Governor Culver and Senator Harkin discuss at length what prevention methods we could employ that would be accessible to Americans of all income brackets.
Senator Harkin argues in particular that we need to rethink what food options kids have in schools to start prevention early in life .
12:20: A chiropractor brings up the issue of electronic medical records. He says the adoption of that technology could save $77 billion annually.
Now that $19.5 billion has been put forth in the Recovery Act for Health Information technology, we must think about how to make that transition.
He urges that an important question in the health reform effort is how can we use technology to drive best practices and efficiency.
12:10: After Darlyne Neff addresses the group, Governor Culver turns the microphone over to the participants in the audience.
A small businessman from Iowa speaks first, and stresses the particular difficulties that small businesses face as they strive to insure their employees when health care costs are skyrocketing.
A woman who was recently laid off from her job said she is not sure how she will get insurance, but hopes her former employer will be able to provider her with health insurance with the help of money from the Recovery Act.
Later, a man named Bruce from Iowa brought up the fact that people between the ages of 50 and 64 are among the fastest growing group of uninsured Americans.
Nancy-Ann DeParle said it is an issue the President is very aware of, and that solutions are being discussed.
11:55: Darlyne Neff, from Iowa City, Iowa addressed the assembled group after Nancy-Ann DeParle. Neff is a 75-year-old retired teacher living in a life-care residential community. She taught kindergarten, grade school, and speech at the junior high and community college level.
She said if she could go back to teaching now she would stress with her students the importance of listening to their bodies and would try to impress upon them the importance of health and wellness.
Darlyne was one of 30,000 Americans who participated in health care reform community discussions over the holidays.
She said she has survived operations for breast cancer and a brain tumor, and when she heard that the President's health care team was seeking input from Americans on how to reform the health care system, she thought, "this is something I really need to do."
11:45: White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle addressed and thanked the participants next - she especially singled out the clinicians she met in the audience, who are on the front lines of this health care reform effort.
She spoke about the first forum on health reform that brought together Democrats, Republicans, insurance executives, providers and everyday Americans at the White House to begin the discussion. These regional forums, she said, are a continuation of that discussion.
11:40: South Dakota Governor Rounds addressed the group next.
He said that in South Dakota, the pressing concern is how to provide the best possible care in small, rural communities.
9 percent of South Dakotans are uninsured. Governor Rounds said, "We can do better...and we must not leave out rural areas."
11:34: Senator Harkin just addressed the group - he stressed that we urgently need to change the health care system.
The Senator said, "the good news is, we have a President who gets it." He urged the incorporation of prevention measures in to the health system, so that we can transform our system from a sick-care system to a health care system.
11:25: Governor Culver welcomes the group and thanks President Obama for his commitment to tackling the "national challenge" that is health care reform.
He says he hopes the discussion today can provide some useful input for the President and his health care team (since the Transition, that team has been exceptional in listening carefully and turning the input they get into serious points and data to inform policy-making).
Two Iowa lawmakers - Congressman Leonard Boswell and Senator Tom Harkin, are next up to speak.
11:15: Governor Culver kicks off the forum with a video message from President Obama. The President thanks the group for participating and says he looks forward to hearing about the concerns and ideas raised at the forum today.
For background, the regional forums were designed to bring everyone with a stake in the health reform debate together, not just in Washington but across the country where people deal with the realities of health care every day, not just the policy analysis and politics of it.
Forums in Dearborn, Michigan and Burlington, Vermont were held over the last two weeks, and two more health reform discussions in Greensboro, North Carolina and Los Angeles, California are coming up.
11:05: The third Regional White House Forum on Health Reform just began in Des Moines, Iowa.
Today's event is coming to you live from the Polk County Convention Center (which was also home to the Iowa Caucuses in 2008)
Thomas Newton, the Director of the Iowa Department of Public Health just began his opening remarks to the forum, welcoming the participants.
It will be moderated by Governor Chet Culver of Iowa and Governor Mike Rounds of South Dakota,
with Nancy-Ann DeParle, director of the White House Office on Health Reform, representing the White House. ****************************************************
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Obama: "Part of what I think government can do effectively is to be an honest broker in assessing and evaluating treatment options."
Translation: Government bureaucrats will step in and call the shots. Both you and your doctor will be shut out from determining appropriate treatment.
If that doesn't worry you, the President elaborated further:
"The chronically ill and those toward the end of their lives are accounting for potentially 80 percent of the total health care bill..."
"There is going to have to be a conversation that is guided by doctors, scientists, ethicists. And then there is going to have to be a very difficult democratic conversation that takes place."
Just what do you think Obama's talking about here? Trust me, these are scary times if you're chronically ill or over the age of 55.
If you have diabetes or high blood pressure or multiple sclerosis - or are diagnosed with heart disease or cancer - your future doesn't look very bright based on the President's comments above.
If the feds determine you're costing more than you're worth, well, it's been nice knowing you.
Even Obama's top health advisers have emphasized that America should value the lives of young, healthy people more than those of old, sick individuals.
One such adviser is Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, brother of Obama's pit-bull chief-of-staff Rahm Emanuel.
Kevin Williamson of National Review Online describes Dr. Emanuel's views:
"He wrote in The Lancet in 2008: 'Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination.' We all were young once, the argument goes, and so denying the elderly and weak in order to care for the young and fit is just."
Does that sound "just" to you?
And, Obama claims that his health plan won't involve rationing or reduced care. But that's ridiculous, because all government-run health systems suffer from those drawbacks.
In fact, government-run health care supporters in Congress have already made a down payment on rationed care.
Specifically, 1.1 billion has already been appropriated as part of the disastrous "stimulus bill" for so-called "comparative effectiveness research."
What is "comparative effectiveness research?"
Congressman David Obey, Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, explained it in his committee's report:
"...those items, procedures, and interventions... that are found to be less effective and in some cases, more expensive, will no longer be prescribed."
What happened to America being a Republic that promises to safeguard the God-given rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?"
Private System vs. Government-Run System...
We are the first to admit that America's health care system is not perfect. Costs are out of control; access to care is a real issue for some.
Yes, some reform is needed, but "reform" modeled after state-run European and Canadian models is the wrong approach.
After all, despite its flaws, the current health care system in the United States is second-to-none in the world.
Dr. David Gratzer, a Canadian-trained physician who practices in the United States, makes that very point in his book The Cure. Here are just a few examples he cites:
U.S. breast cancer patients are four times as likely to be diagnosed before the tumor has spread... and thus much more likely to survive; U.S. cancer patients generally have much higher survival rates than their European counterparts; American heath care dramatically outperforms the "universal care" systems with heart disease and stroke; and, American researchers in a private enterprise system are responsible for roughly 80% of the world's major medical advances.
Here's how Dr. Gratzer describes his own revelation about Canada's state-run system:
"On [my way to medical school class]... I cut through a hospital emergency room and came upon dozens of people on stretchers - waiting, moaning, begging for treatment. Some elderly patients had waited up to five days in corridors before being admitted to beds. They smelled of urine and sweat. As I navigated past the bodies, I began to question everything I thought I knew about health care - not only in Canada, but also in the United States. ... I had begun a journey into the heart of one of the great policy disasters of modern times."
Painful and interminable waits for care are policy disasters Obama "forgot" to mention.
The time is now to tell Congress that you don't want government bureaucrats making life-and-death decisions for you and your family. The time is now to defeat government-run health care in the United States.
Shalome
Posts: 893 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2008
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posted
When does personal responsibility come into play. We have developed a nation where people believe they a right to the best of everything...and someone else should pay for it!
I spoke recently with a woman who said she was treated poorly at the hospital because she did not have health insurance.
In the next breath she was telling me about being upset because she fell in a store, and when she took them to court, they would not pay for her flip flops which were broken...and they were $120.
Unfortunately, many of those who don't have health insurance, car insurance, etc. have money for many things that are not necessary, but don't take care of their responsibilities.
Obama's solution of government deciding what health care I can have, and taxing me so everyone can have health care, is very frightening. The question is, what can we do about this??
-------------------- Wishing You Showers Of Blessings! Lyme since Fall 1983 = Diagnosed Summer 2008 IV Rocephin 7 weeks Stopped due to drug fever Now doxycycline "For I know the plans I have for you...plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 Posts: 430 | From Sunny South | Registered: Jul 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
shalome, thx for posting obama's comments & yours/rita's, etc! scary is right~!
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If you feel this strongly, than I urge you to write your senators and congressmen and woman. This is the beauty of living in the US.
I believe that change is coming and it's inevitable.
There are many, many fine people who have lost their jobs, their insurance, their homes that have been responsible.
Of course there will always be a few bad apples out there like the one you describe with the flip-flop, but I will never penalize the whole for the few that are naughty.
Where are the descriptions of all the "fine" people who have been loyal workers who have lost their jobs, their insurance etc.????
Our unemployment rates are skyrocketing and there are many who are desperately seeking employment that offers insurance to no avail.
We are the only industrialized nation in the world that does not have a nationalized plan for its citizens.
We are ranking lower and lower in healthcare annually. Something must be done and it's going to be done.
Unfortunately, the drug company's and the inusurance agency's have not budged and have left it up to the government to intervene.
Perhaps we all should have been putting pressure on them to stop the greed. Now look what we have to deal with. Their greed has been mounting and continues.
What, are we just going to let ppl die in the streets?
As the unemployment numbers rise(which is due to the greed) and good people loose their insurance benfefits and lively hoods, are we going to turn our backs on them.
Our country doles out millions and millions of dollars to other country's and yet we gripe about helping out our own???
Our tax dollars pay for all the money that is sent abroad to help with hummanatarian aide, infrastructure, medicine etc.... and yet, I have heard very few complain about that.
So, I guess I get a little confused when we are talking about offering an "Affordable" option to people in our own country.
Do we really believe that healthcare shouldn't be "affordable"???
If some don't want the health plan that Obama is suggesting, then they can keep the one that they are so happy with.
Times are very, very tough right now and yes, Obama's plan will have to be paid for somehow. I think it would be very prudent to pay for this as we go instead of borrowing more money from lets say China.
In the end if we have healthier employees, we will benefit long-term from a healthier economy, which will in turn mean higher wages and better benefits for all of us.
We need to look at the big picture.
But, in the meantime all we can do is voice our opinions to our leaders. I will continue to voice mine and am hopeful for the best outcome.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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posted
Health care is not best delivered by insurance. OK for houses and cars, not for healthcare.
Shut down the insurance companies, use that money to pay for single payer system. No more stockholders profits, big CEO pay, big admin costs from insurance bureaucracy that tries to deny payments. This is wasted money that could be better used to deliver care.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Lou I think you are correct in that "health care is not best delievered by insurance".
Cars and houses are tangible items our health is not!
Noone should "Profit" off of health.
I agee we are wasting money when people profit off of illness. That money could much better be spent on healing illness.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I think that everyone should pay for their health care.
I have always appreciated and taken better care of
What I have had to pay for (just about everything)
As opposed to something that was "given" to me.
I think people think "free"! That can be very exciting.
Nothing is free.
My freedom for health insurance is a no brainer for me.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Ann-OH
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2020
posted
Lots of interesting views here. I hope you are all letting your representatives and senators know how you feel about all of this.
No matter what the current administration comes up with, it all has to go through Committees,the House, the Senate, and more committees before it is finally passed and goes to the Prez for his signature.
No matter what worst-case or best-case scenarios you come up with, what finally gets signed will be different than any of them.
i send out letters almost daily of late, because I know this is a hot topic that is being decided upon as we speak.
All I can do is my little part in the big picture.
And, I agree that it will always be at the least a little bit different than what you think it will be.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
after i got off here since i was wound up, and i always have my bowl of airpopped popcorn, i watched cspan.
HEALTH meeting about this new plan but more importantly about the WORDS CHOSEN to try avoid a bigger mess than what we have now.
in the 1 hr. i watched it being intrigued, they were having the same comments/arguments OVER/OVER.
woman senator, mikalya, sp, stated they'd spent 2 entire days so far on 1 amendment; 15 total will take 30 days to just discuss the WORD SMITHING with just a few words changed !! she'd had her fill of things and wanted things to go faster.
will be interesting to see the progress, so if any of you have cspan, check out the daily hearings going on; you might come across a good one like this that EFFECTS us in the $$. thx.
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That is true about the Chinese. So sad that we have had to borrow, borrow, borrow(from the Chinese) and all the cruddy cheap stuff we import from them, what a shame.
It's very sad how our American Manufacturing jobs have all gone overseas. We have given so many jobs to foreign nations and now we don't have good paying jobs for our own.
How sad is that?
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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We have friends who have kids who just spent four long expensive years in college only to get out and not be able to find good paying jobs.
What the heck are we doing in this country? I mean what is the point of going off to college and spending all that money only to get out and not be able to get a job in the field you majored in let alone a job that pays decent wages.
We have got to do something.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
<What the heck are we doing in this country? I mean what is the point of going off to college and spending all that money only to get out and not be able to get a job in the field you majored in let alone a job that pays decent wages.>
Lies...several years ago my husband's department was sent to the Phillipines. Up to that point, my husband had been with the company for 32 years and had that job for the past 30. He was the expert. His department provided accounts payable for a Fortune 500 company with 14 staff members.
When it was sent to the Phillipines, it needs over 100 people to do the job my husband's department did.
Luckily, he was absorbed into another department to finish out for retirement (never secure, however).
I was so angry I wrote our congressman, which happened to be John McCain and John Kyle. I never heard from Kyle, but McCain replied. I think I threw out the letter.
However, in that letter, I mentioned that my children were making plans for their college education and we didn't want them to waste tens of thousands in college tuition only to have that career parceled out to India or Thailand.
My kids settled on something that couldn't be shipped out...EMT/health care, and my daughter is taking sign language.
Today, in the paper, it appears the shining leader is losing his gloss. With Bush keeping silent, it isn't giving them much ammunition to constantly compare to the previous administration.
I don't deny the country needs help. I'm just afraid that China will "assume the note" and we will just disappear.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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that is a big concern of mine too. China is all too willing to "assume the note" and we are doing nothing but letting them. Bottom line is if we are going to spend then he have to raise the money not allow China to pay for us.
It is very scary.
I hear people say daily that they think we are the "greatest" nation and that we can't allow China to become the best, but then all I see is us do something very different then what we say.
My husband works for a large company too and he has had to lay off tons of people. Many, who were not able to get reabsorbed into the system.
My husband got his MBA and Masters from MIT. His Masters was in a special program called "leaders for Manufacturing". I shake my head now and wonder if there will be any US manufacturing left. This is very scary.
I am happy for your husband was able to be reabsorbed. Your kids are smart going into something like EMT/health care. My son has one more year before college. He is probably going to major in History and Economics and then apply to law school. He thinks he wants to be a lawyer.
I keep telling him he needs to take on ppl like Wormser and Shapiro. LOL He would make a great lawyer and the demand will be there. I just want him to make a difference in the world and do something that is moral, ethical and he can feel good about.
Have a great day =)
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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kelmo
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8797
posted
You can be proud of your children. We need integrity now more than ever.
Posts: 2903 | From AZ | Registered: Feb 2006
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kam
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 3410
posted
I will be glad when I am able to read all of this but for now...my first thought that popped into my mind when I read the title is...
1. Hoping for better equipment in the hospitals. Saw someone speak about how the hospital in LA now uses the grocery type of record to help with over dosing or picking up the wrong bottle, etc.
2. I know other countries have better health care with less expense so hoping we can learn from them...take a bit from each country.
3. bottom line is hoping this is a positive change in our health care system which is in need of a positive change on so many levels.
4. Wondering if Hillary and others were really paid off as it states in the movie SICKO to stop the presses with changes in health care way back when??
Posts: 15927 | From Became too sick to work or do household chores in 2001. | Registered: Dec 2002
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
my pc/phone has been out of order for 24 hrs. so that's why no one has seen me.
so last night i went to cspan again. they were talking about health care again.
3 women were there discussing their health and BEING TURNED DOWN FOR INSURANCE TO PAY ANYTHIGN FOR THEIR SURGERIES:
1 woman had a double mastectomy; found out friday before mon. surgery; insurance co. sent her a letter .... we are NOT paying because:
1. your weight is NOT CORRECT; 2. something very minor ... completing their forms where they ask the SAME QUESTION over and over changing the words a LITTLE bit each time.
this woman got her texas hrep involved; his office worked 1 week or less; turned down.
texas hr called CEO/insurance co. talking to him explaining things. he got back to him in 4 hrs; we will pay for things!
2nd woman, a lawyer, was representing her brother with non-honskins, i THINK? anyway another shady deal; cant remember details since it was time to go to bed & i was trying to stay awake.
3rd woman worked for FILM INDUSTRY and gets insurance per company as they occur. another terrible deal. sorry my brain gave out...can't remember anything.
but this i remember ... texas hr said next panel was INSURANCE COMPANIES & 2 WOMEN HAD BCBS INSURANCE.
WHY ISN'T BCBS HERE TODAY TESTIFYING! he was shocked, etc. he was fun to listen too.
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METALLlC BLUE
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 6628
posted
I support Obama's plan. I think he's brilliant.
-------------------- I am not a physician, so do your own research to confirm any ideas given and then speak with a health care provider you trust.
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Excellent article emla999/lyme
I have BCBS and they are wonderful to work with. They pay without question, the things they agree to pay for in my contract. The things I do outside of the contract, I pay for myself.
Insurance, all kinds including home, auto, etc, works by a large number of people pooling their money together to pay for a small number of incidents (fire, accident, illness). That way the cost is affordable for everyone.
Where health insurance went wrong was when it began covering "wellness care". The thought was that by encouraging people to get annual checkups and tests, they would reduce medical costs by catching problems before they became big problems. It has failed miserably. Medical costs have skyrocketed and everyone is dipping into the kitty.
When all participants dip into the kitty, the kitty goes broke. Period. So to keep the kitty in the black, insurance premiums go up. Yes, the insurance company makes a profit. Of course they do. So does the video store, movie theatre, clothing store, any hobby you spend your $ on.
When government takes over, they will have the exact same problem, how to keep the kitty in the black.
You will pay one way or the other and the government will get just as restrictive in what they will cover and pay for as the insurance companies have.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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emla999/Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12606
posted
Here's an interesting viewpoint of Obama's health care reform.
posted
Ditto!!!
Posts: 893 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
did any of you watch cspan yesterday covering health care plan?
i watched after leaving her in early am hours, and wouldn't you know who is on this committee ??
our buddy nj frank pallone who read a 8 minute speech on their 1st amendment, which is 70+ pages long for the 1072 page senate bill passed!!
he talked about CLASS ACT/disabled folks.
disabled folks was really cute when he got into the CHRONIC DISABLED FOLKS WHO HAVE BECOME QUITE RILED!! i knew he was thinking of us lyme disease patients wanting our lyme bills to be placed on the agenda.
they were even talking about suicides; oregon house rep got involved & upset telling him he's not to ask this or that in committees, etc. he told them off ... was good.
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pmerv
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1504
posted
I think the govt should cover people who have no other option. Govt plan may not be perfect but it's better than nothing, which is what a lot of people have. Nothing. Let there be choices.
-------------------- Phyllis Mervine LymeDisease.org Posts: 1808 | From Ukiah, California, USA | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
I am happy with my insurance so far for the most part. I have a nationwide PPO and can go wherever I choose. I get reimbursed when I see someone out of network
HMOs are another story, my previous HMO almost killed me by restricting where I could go with my adrenal problem.
Room for improvement? Sure, but don't make things worse by making us all go into a system where some "government appointed committee" decides what care I get.
The problems started when the HMOs came into power and healthcare became a "business model"
Doctors didn't fight to remain in control and allowed the insurance companies to dictate care.
This is what must be stopped, along with physicians better monitoring of their peers, getting rid of the "bad apples" who practice with gross negligence, of which there are many.
Posts: 130 | From Central NY | Registered: Jul 2009
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
Obama has made it crystal clear that his admin is NOT working towards a single-payer system, in some circles aka as "socialized medicine."
In other circles, including in every other western economy, that system is aka "adequate health care coverage for all," with, unlike this country's private insurance rackets, a profound commitment to preventive health-care because it is less expensive, more rational, and NOT profit-driven.
Government run insurance? Nope. What is being proposed includes ONE segment of the healthcare market that would be a Public OPTION.
Insurance companies are freaking and spewing lies and distortions of every kind everywhere because their profit margin WILL be undercut by a publically funded alternative.
No one chooses not to have insurance. Many don't have it because their EMPLOYERS can't afford to offer it as a benefit or don't choose to, or because they are working part-time because they can't find a full-time job, or because they flat out can't find work at all.
This used to be a country where everyone understood we rise or fall together, that of course we are responsible for our neighbors' well being, because none of us is OK or safe or secure if our neighbors fail.
I pay taxes that continue to fund an invasion of Iraq I find morally unacceptable.. i paid taxes for over 20 years that went to fund public schools though I had no children then, etc etc. ... so what???
In theory, anyway, we have elections to decide what is the best PUBLIC interest, not to have our reps decide which ones of us are going to get screwed.
PS- My husband is a vet, and received OUTSTANDING medical care provided by the government, including the VA, without which he would be dead.
Veteran's care was grossly underfunded by the very ex-President who sent soldiers, often without adequate armor, into an endless war- and yes, that was a crime, but not the fault a faceless "The Government."
standing on this soapbox is making me dizzy..i'm all for honest discussion, but can't stand hearing the distortions the profit-seekers are paying millions of dollars to have put in folks' mouths.
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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Aniek
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5374
posted
There is a lot of misinformation about health reform and what the Obama administration is supporting.
There are a lot of terms that get thrown around that mean different things to different people. Some people think personal responsibility means increasing copays.
But to many in health policy, it is about encouraging people to take their medications and go to their doctors to treat their chronic illness so that preventable complications and hospitalizations can be prevented. This can actually mean reducing or eliminating copays for treating chronic conditions.
The Obama Administration has been clear that they do not want to tax benefits. That does not mean there haven't been proposals in the House and Senate to tax benefits. I personally do not expect benefits to be taxed, because it will result in employers cutting benefits and nobody who wants health reform wants that.
There is no discussion of forcing people to have government run health care. There is most likely going to be a government run option which people have the choice to buy. It will not be government run hospitals, like the VA. It will be a financing mechanism and it will have to compete with the private insurance market.
The reason the VA has problems is because they are underfunded.
-------------------- "When there is pain, there are no words." - Toni Morrison Posts: 4711 | From Washington, DC | Registered: Mar 2004
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
i think it's interesting my llmd doesn't take any insurance and my primary has a huge sign in his office that says "we do not take medicaid or medicare patients".....
now what does that tell you people??
i pay several hundred dollars a month co-pay even tho i have bc/bs federal. if they tax that, just less money that i will get. since i retired my money has gone down twice because of increases in taxes.
this is ridiculous....
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
Reality check- state of play on taxing healthcare..
NYT- "One House bill would impose a surtax on high-income people and a payroll tax -- as much as 8 percent of wages -- on some employers who do not provide health insurance for workers."
NO REALITY TO THE RUMOR THAT EMPLOYEES WITH INSURANCE WOULD HAVE BENEFITS TAXED...
More-- "The bill now moving through the House would raise taxes for individuals with annual adjusted gross incomes of $280,000, or families that make $350,000 or more.
``I'd like it to go higher than it is,'' Pelosi said Friday.
The speaker would like the trigger raised to $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for families, ``so it's a millionaire's tax,'' she said. ``When someone hears, `2,' they think, `Oh, I could be there,' because they don't know the $280,000 is for one person.
Taxing millionaires???! Daring to take back some pennies of the trillions they gorged on of money- our mortgages our pension plans our 401K's???? thrown their way in the past 8 years?
Oh yeah. That's called self-defense, though, true, of an after-the fact variety, since the class war is already over and we peons lost.
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Well, it stands to reason that if there is a "Public Healthcare Option" that employers will quit offering Healthcare as a benefit. Why? Because healthcare is already too expensive.
So, regardless of the good intentions, everyone will end up on this Public Healthcare. And, while veterans are covered and covered well, the rest of the public on public assistance is not well covered.
As mentioned Medicare and Medicaid.......problems. Doctors don't want to accept it because they pay next to nothing. I was on public assistance when I was 18 and had my first child. It was horrible. I sat in the waiting room all day, and I was treated like a dog. Why, because it was a free service. And, I am sorry, yes, people deserve insurance, but anything that the government touches turns to crap. And they will ruin healthcare too. You won't want it after the government messes it up.
America is about to fall.....we are about to fall on our faces because we all think that because we are Americans and we are a "wealthy" nation that our government owes everyone everything...an education, equal opportunities, safety, freedom to worship,...there comes a time when people need to learn how to work for what they want and not to expect things to be given to them.
I respect things I have had to work for. My house, my car. I have 2 children...why, because that is all I can afford. I upsets me to no end when people have 5 children on welfare because they get more money and they don't even take care of them. They don't even love or want them.
I can tell you that public housing, is not respected, people treat public housing like crap. It is trashed and bug infested. It is scary to live by and I would do almost anything to not have to live in public housing.
It is a simple as, you give your child a car for their 16th birthday, they don't appreciate it. You make them work for their first car, they appreciate it.
I worked at a doctor's office, do you know what patients called us everyday about every ****enanny thing???...the ones on medicaid and maedicare. They didn't work, they didn't have anything better to do but to call us all day everyday. Actual paying people, only called us when it was important. The didn't come for every cough or ache, because they were at work.
I am sorry...but that is they way it is.
And when taxes for healthcare hit, they hit everyone from the top of the food chain to the bottom of the food chain...they hurt everyone. So, if you think anyone is getting healthcare for free...it isn't free... every one of us is paying for it in someway.
The only way to make healthcare affordable for the government is for them to STRESS prevention. So, if you are overweight, you might lose benefits, if you smoke, you will lose benefits, if you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, self induce diabetes you may lose benefits....I mean, it is going to get bad.
You have migraines and no test confirms a reason for them, you will be SOL. You have problematic periods, oh well, you can't prove there is a problem. You get pregnant underage, oh well, you shouldn't have done that, so it won't be covered.
This all may seem silly, but you wait and see. Be careful what you wish for, because the Change you want, may not be the Change you get!!
Shalome
Posts: 893 | From Florida | Registered: Dec 2008
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
we have been programmed so well over the past 100 years, with increasing sophistication, to believe that anyone who works hard enough in America can be anything they want to be, and as wealthy as anyone else.
Those who don't have, we are taught, don't have because they are morally flawed or lazy or feel too entitled... the exact wording changes every decade, but the charge is always the same- "its YOUR own dang fault, dude. "
It has never failed to amaze me that my fellow Americans have rarely rebelled against that factually flawed morally repugnant self=servign defense of those who have and want it for themselves.
do Americans really believe that we are so singular, so different from any other people ever anywhere on earth that the OUR rich and ruling class are willing to share their power and riches if only we try hard enough?
Rubbish.
It is no accident people feel stigmatized when they have to turn for publiuc assistance, even when they have PAID for those benefits with their paycheck deductions.
No accident at all. As a historian of exactly this kind of debate, I have read many original documents from the late 19th to mid 20th century.
It has ALWAYS been DELIBERATE to make people feel so crappy and guilty about asking for public help that many would not out of shame, thus saving lots of dollars from the public treasury that, after, all is better spent on keeping in power the powerful and rich.
Those who so readily say they don't the government involved in anything to do with people's welfare, that the gov does no right- well, OK-- for you, if you so choose. That would work. Those who don't want any government can not pay any taxes.
That means, for y'all, no social security payments, no disability or unemployment benefits, no medical insurance for anyone poor, including children, no government help to pay for poor children to eat, including at school, no help securing a 1st time mortgage, no federal assistance--not a dime-- to help pay for your kids to go to college...
and hey, those of you who had parents or grandparents who fought in this country's wars and then used veterans benefits to buy a house or go to college or get medical care---maybe you should explain to them that they're really socialists.. or just demandign freeloaders.
UNDERSTAND SOME BASIC USA HISTORY, FOLKS!!!
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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emla999/Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12606
posted
If the government raised the payroll taxes up on some businesses wouldn't those businesses just raise the prices of their products or services to make up for the lost revenue?
Take Wal-Mart for example.
If the government raised the payroll taxes wouldn't Wal-Mart just raise the prices of their products to make up for the lost profit?
And wouldn't Wal-Mart's customer's really be the ones paying for this payroll tax increase and not Wal-Mart????
Here's another example, a successful auto repair shop.
If the government raised the payroll taxes wouldn't a successful auto repair shop just raise the prices of their service fees to make up for the lost profit?
And wouldn't the auto repair shop's customer's really be the ones paying for this payroll tax increase????
I would think that this would apply to other businesses as well. Plumbers, contractors,restaurants, grocery stores etc..
So, if the proposed payroll tax increase on some businesses is supposed to help pay for health care reform, isn't it actually going to be the consumer that will be paying for at least some of the cost of Obama's proposed health care reform?
Posts: 1223 | From U.S.A | Registered: Jul 2007
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
uh, my father service in two wars, did not go to college on the gi bill and bought his house himself without using government.
my husband and i own our house and did not use the government. paid for by ourselves, even tho he is a certified disabled vet. he does not advertise that, altho he does get a small, very small pension.
we do not use the military facilities, altho we can.
we believe there are others who are much worse off than we are, so let them use it. we do get a few prescriptions filled at the base, but otherwise use walmart.
so please explain why we have waiting rooms full of illegals here in texas, they are having their children here at our expense, and they go to the er for colds and flu. what's wrong with the urgent care facilities? why go to er's? those are life threatening situations people.
we had one hospital just shut it's doors here because they said they could not pay for all the illegals and people without medical coverage coming in. this was the only hospital in a very large community. now those people have to travel to dallas/fort worth.
and some people will not get coverage even tho they can afford it. they have the attitude "oh, i won't get sick"...DUH....
but paying trillions more dollars which won't even cover everyone is not the answer either.
how about going after the fraud and abuse? paying benefits to people who've been dead for years, people filing claims for kids they don't even have, dr's visits, etc.
and you're right on about no proof of illness. so what happens to us lyme patients? cdc says oh two weeks is good enough, so the government is going to say oh we'll pay for two weeks no more. damn right they'll do it. just wait.
there's no real answer. but one guarantee -- discussions sure get your attention and everyone has a different opinion, but cramming something down our throats without reading it is not the way to go.
and oh yes, didn't obama himself say he would pay whatever it cost to make sure his family got the best of care and that he would make sure they got the most expensive doctors, etc. he never answered the question directly about whether he would enroll in a govenrment plan. that's interesting...
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
yes, of course go after fraud and abuse...
but please, for real, explain to me why it is the fraud and abuse of individuals, not of insurance companies et al that you single out as what gets you riled.
do you really think there is any comparison as to what each costs us???
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
yes, of course go after fraud and abuse...
but please, for real, explain to me why it is the fraud and abuse of individuals, not of insurance companies et al that you single out as what gets you riled.
do you really think there is any comparison as to what each costs us???
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Excellent posts sometimesdilly.
Posts: 845 | From Eastern USA | Registered: Jul 2006
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randibear
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 11290
posted
oh yeah them too. they're charging us hundreds for medications that cost them only pennies to make.
they could eradicate probably thousands of illnesses if they would just make those meds available to people.
so why doesn't the government go after them? huh? what about the tons of fradulent claims and if you add the crooked doctors, hospitals, and drug companies, you've got one hell of a mess.
i'm not saying they're not at fault, there's enough blame to go around for everyone, but people too make mistakes.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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I also worked in the healthcare system , hospitals and offices. Correct in saying those NOT PAYING called for every reason imaginable, like hangnails, sore throat started at 7:01 AM, vomited once last PM....something the rest of take care of ourselves.
The working patients paying for their health insurance, who also had to pay co pays to come in, would wait until they couldn't self treat anymore, used common sense in calling the physician.
Many on Medicaid would wait until after hours to decide that their illness couldn't wait any longer, we are talking colds here, not heart attacks, and they would visit Urgent Care or the ER....no cost to them, just more convenient for whatever reason.
Also Medicaid paid for OTC meds, even would have them delivered to the home so the patient would be "compliant". Next we will be sending someone over daily to make sure they take their meds.
Personal responsibility needs to be promoted, some will not get well no matter what because THEY won't do what they should to help themselves
I worked with children most of my career. Many irresponsible parents, one practice even sent out taxis to pick up the parent and patient for their appointments often finding they weren't even home. What a waste of money!
I have always taken care of myself and my family. Very few reasons to call the doctor or visit.
But once I became ill I was pushed into a fragmented medical system with PCPs refusing to treat anything, being sent to specialist after specialist who refused to look at any symptom not related to their specialty.
No communication between PCP and specialist, tests often repeated because although sent ahead were lost or not reviewed. And insurance would pay for this!!!
So little time allowed for appointments that little could be addressed, most of the appointment the provider was trying to determine what insurance code could be used to justify testing and bringing me back over and over again even though they weren't actually helping me.
This is where reform is needed,as all in the Lyme community should know in the problems they have had with the mainstream medical community in obtaining even a diagnosis....
Posts: 130 | From Central NY | Registered: Jul 2009
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Everyone on the left and everyone on the right please take a step back and look at the real picture.
Politicians play us like fiddles. I listened intently to Obama last night and here are a couple of points he made that are merely meant to inflame you so you will get behind his plan.
#1-"It broke his heart to watch his dying mother wade though the mountains of insurance paperwork." First of all, he was 29 y.o. and an attorney when she was dying. He couldn't help her with the paperwork? Second-when has any government program NOT involved mountains of paperwork?
#2-"He is going to eliminate pre-existing condition exclusion." Well, the truth is that was eliminated years ago when they passed a law that said if you change insurance plans, the new insurance company cannot exclude your pre-existing condition. The only time there is a pre-existing condition now is if you had no insurance when you got sick. If they were to stop that clause, we all could just refuse to buy insurance until we got sick. Now, Obama is not going to let you do that. Nope. He will just mandate that you have to buy insurance. He says that will keep costs down and he is right.
So he didn't give you something. He gave private and public insurance plans something. More participants.
Of course, all the politicians are talking about the greedy insurance companies. Uh-huh. They do that to again incite you and get you on their plan.
No one is talking about the REAL healthcare costs. That is what doctors, hospitals and pharmacutical companies and pharmacies and health services are charging.
They don't talk about it because we don't pay for it so we could care less what it cost. We only pay the insurance premiums and therefore, we care about what that costs.
Why do you think someone else is going to care more about you and take better care of you and make better choices for you than you can for yourself?
Especially why do you trust in a huge, bureaucratic government that has shown us time and again how corrupt it really is.
You literally want to hand over your money to a bunch of strangers in D.C. and say please give me back to me as you see fit?
Honey, where I come from we call that prison. Once upon a time it was called slavery. I thought slavery had been outlawed but I am watching the American people beg to be enslaved.
I am just stunned by it.
Aniek stated earlier that the VA runs poorly because it is underfunded. Why is that?
Because they need more tax dollars? Or because they are funneling the existing tax dollars to other areas that suit them better?
Folks, please drop your preconceived ideologies at the door and honestly analyse our government practices. When you do, you will see that there really is no democrat or republican. You will find they are all in bed with big business and big business is going to benefit from any and everything government does.
That way big business will continue to pass big reward bucks back to the politicians and everyone will pretend to the masses that government is setting big business straight.
For example: The first bailout. Yeah. The AIG bailout sponsored by the republican president, George W. Bush.
Did you know that if we had bailed AIG out on Friday it would have cost us $26 billion but because we waited until Monday it cost us $85 billion? Now what financial dummies made that decision?
The difference in costs was due to a credit rating drop that occurred against AIG over the weekend.
The reason the government had to wait until Monday was because.....(drumroll) Henry Paulson (head of Fed Reserve) is an ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs. Bear Sterns and Lehman Brothers were big competitors of Goldman Sachs. We had to wait for those two to fail (remember the gov wouldn't bail them out) before we could bail out AIG.
Why did we bail out AIG? Because AIG had guaranteed investors investments in the mortgages. You know, like a promisory note or a bond. Not like insurance though because if they had used an insurance product, they would have had to have the surplus capital on hand to pay claims. Believe it or not, insurance has hefty government regulations already in place. Politicians don't like to tell you that.
So, to get around those pesky insurance regulations, AIG used Credit Default Swaps (promisory notes) which did not require AIG to actually have funds to pay if the loans defaulted.
Who would have guessed they would all default at once?
Now, we got rid of Goldman Sachs competitors so we pay AIG who turns around and pays 13 billion to Goldman Sachs, 5 billion to Bank of America. Citigroup got some as did France, Germany and Switzerland.
Hhmmm.....How come all we heard about was 165 million paid to AIG employees in bonuses? Because they want to keep us angry about the wrong things.
Did you know that at the same time AIG paid their bonuses, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac paid $214 million in bonuses to their employees? Why didn't the government go up in arms about that?
And, why oh why, are there no investigations into who actually caused the mortgage loan collapse?
Seriously, neither party is innocent. Blood is on every hand and instead of investigations, D.C. is handing out jobs to the top dogs. Count how many in high up government positions right now were once at Goldman Sachs.
Oh, did you hear that Goldman Sachs just had a marvelous profit quarter? Ahhh, now we can all relax. The economy is recovering.
Look, listen and learn. Just like our disease. It is being buried and we have to dig to find the truth.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
That's the scary part, people hear what they want, don't pick up on the inconsistancies, the half-truths...just hear "we will take care of everyone"
Don't believe it for a minute. I want to be able to make my own healthcare decisions, not have a government review board of politically appointed "experts" decide what care I should receive. I don't expect it all to be for free.
Years ago, before managed care, we had fee for service plans only that covered expensive hospitalizations and tests, not routine care.
The idea of the HMOs was to improve care by providing "preventative care".
How'd that work out for you?
Not very good for me I'm afraid because stringent "practice guidelines" were set up with diagnostic codes developed to force providers to stop treating us like individuals and put us into some "one size fits all" treatment of our medical complaints.
This needs to be thought out carefully, not thrown up in the air and let's see how it plays out.
Posts: 130 | From Central NY | Registered: Jul 2009
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
I become more worried as time goes by.
Maybe a time for an Independent party.
Something new and not steeped in the "good ol' boy" philosophy.
What we have now doesn't work.
What Obama is proposing scares the heck out of me.
I don't want or need more government.
I just want to have the Freedom to choose my life.
Insurance, coverage, company, etc is something I want to choose for myself.
I'd rather keep paying every little cent I have just
So that I be a part of my medical history.
Hugs,
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Geneal
I hear you. My mother is 83 and thankfully in good health. From what I can gather on the bill that is currently being debated, my mom would be encouraged to die and even if I can afford to buy her medical care, she will still be denied due to her age.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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posted
This woman has read both the Kennedy Healthcare Bill and the House Healthcare Reform Bill. She read the bill the Clinton's wrote in the 90s and made the public aware of the pitfalls.. Worth looking at since no one can understand the over 1000 page actual bill
luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Renee,
I saw this too and it is shocking!
We Americans better wake up and start really paying attention to what the politicians are doing in D.C. before it is too late.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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kam
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 3410
posted
I really don't know what this current administrations plan is for health care reform.
I have been trying to figure that out when I am able.
But, my guess is insurance companies will fight any change and most likely win.
I recall when I was trying to get a dx, one of the doctor's I saw showed me the headlines for the HMO I had at the time.
It was about how much profit they had made that year. It was huge. And I was not able to get help with my health.
Insurance rates were going up to. $1200 a month would be taken out of my pay check for insurance premiums with the PPO that I thought I would get next.
But, did not get well enough to get back to work.
don't know if the video by Jemsen has been posted on this thread. Can't read the replies of others right now.
Posts: 15927 | From Became too sick to work or do household chores in 2001. | Registered: Dec 2002
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Right Kam. Everyone's focus is on the insurance premium when it needs to be on the cost of medical care. Why is Mepron $600 a bottle? Liquid gold? Why is one chemotherapy treatment $20,000? What on earth could possibly be worth that?
Hey I am all for eliminating insurance altogether and then you would see medical costs come down.
Goverment programs already in place are so stringent on the fee they will pay doctors that most doctors refuse to take patients on these plans.
I assure you that is not going to change with any new government program. We will pay a lot and receive a little.
Now, my particular insurance plan costs my husband and I $800 a month. It is a PPO and has excellent coverage and service. Both my husband and I are over 50 which means even when we are healthy, our premiums are sky high and still only $800 a month.
I love it, am not complaining about it, am not asking you or anybody else to pay for it and I don't want to lose it.
Can you guarantee me I will not lose this great insurance plan?
What I am trying to tell you and you just aren't listening or don't believe me is that insurance is not fighting this because they are going to be a part of it. They are going to benefit from it. Obama and company have struck a deal with them that we are not aware of.
The article I post says that plain and clear. I believe it because I am in the industry and have not heard one peep of objection from any source. That is HUGE!
Pay attention. You guys think you're going to get those dirty dogs, but those dirty dogs are laughing all the way to the bank right along with the dirty politicians.
Pay attention. Start reading and learning.
Listen to both the left and the right media. Seek out and listen to independents and those who are not running for office. You will begin to understand when you drop your prejudices.
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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pmerv
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 1504
posted
Controlling end-of-life costs doesn't mean virtual "killing" of those who can't afford to pay for care. It means, as Dr. Russell Turk says in his article Reform Health Care Now: End-of-life costs are too high, "distinguish[ing] between care that prolongs life and care that actually heals the sick."
Dr. Turk's article is one of a series on the need for healthcare reform.
At the bottom there is opportunity to comment and links to other articles in the series.
Quote: "By the time my father-in-law passed away last September, my wife and her extended family were relieved that his six months of suffering had ended. Paul's arms and hands were black and blue from numerous IV's, blood draws and various other procedures. His weight had dropped substantially, his olive-toned skin was pale, and he was bed-ridden.
Not one of his multiple medical problems alone was terminal, but the ten different conditions affecting nearly every system of his body, slowly but steadily took their toll. His physicians spent most of their time putting out the latest fire. The best hope was that they would be able to stabilize him and send him back to a nursing home. There was virtually no chance of regaining his ability to function at a high level. Over time, we hoped that he would find the strength to make it home, and there were some signs that this might happen. Then one day, things spiraled in the wrong direction, and the end came relatively quickly and painlessly.
More health dollars were probably spent on my father-in-law at the end of his life than were spent on the rest of his 75 years combined. Despite all that money and effort, he was miserable."
posted
The Lyme has affected every system in my body and I will never be cured....so when do we decide it is time for me to die? I am disabled and cannot work, is it a waste of money to give me treatment?
If a patient is suffering the family has every right to decide to do only comfort care and no more, again no government intervention necessary.
Do we really want to be told "you cannot have this treatment because it isn't proven cost effective"?
For the government to even consider entering this debate is criminal.
I agree, physicians need to be better trained to deal with end of life issues and not look at death as some kind of failure. Sometimes they do encourage treatments that really won't help the quality of life.
But no government "agency" should be involved in these decisions directly or even indirectly...dangerous territory to enter I'm afraid.
And tens of thousands were spent on me in conventional care over the past 5 years for all the misdiagnoses and failed treatment I experienced when it was really Lyme all along....
I would have died if I had continued with the conventional treatment I was receiving but insurance would have been happy to pay for most of it.
I made the choice to go to an integrative, alternative practitioner. I highly doubt a government supported plan will ever embrace that decision.
Posts: 130 | From Central NY | Registered: Jul 2009
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luvs2ride
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 8090
posted
Renee,
I predict you are going to get back your quality of life with the healing approach you are taking.
I have a disease that is supposed to get progressively worse. Rheum. Arthritis. But because I found a rheumy who believes in ongoing infections as a source AND she practices CAM medicine along with allopathic medicine, I am 100% functional 4 yrs into my illness. I was 100% DISFUNCTIONAL when it all began 4 yrs ago.
Just this last visit, I showed her how much my 3 fingers with deformity from Herbodens Nodules have almost shrunk completely back to normal. They are once again fully functional.
She said "In the rheumatological Field of Medicine, this NEVER happens".
You are absolutely right that NO ONE has the right to take away your HOPE. NO ONE!
Until your last breath, the body has an opportunity to heal and you have a right to strive for healing.
If YOU decide you don't want to live any longer, mercy killing should be your option. But I would hope that MUCH counseling would be given you to show you MUCH hope for healing before you ever made such a decision. Not counseling to help you feel hopeless and to convince you that you have a duty to die.
How sick are we becoming as a nation that we would even consider such a thing?
-------------------- When the Power of Love overcomes the Love of Power, there will be Peace. Posts: 3038 | From america | Registered: Oct 2005
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emla999/Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12606
posted
All 1,080 pages of the health care reform plan that is being proposed to congress can be seen on the link down bellow.
posted
Probably not many, but it would behoove many of us here to read it or some of it and really try to understand what is in this bill, not rely on the media and all the hype that is thrown our way daily through paid advertising and false innuendo.
-------------------- aka: Lyme Warrior
In order to do "real" science, you have to have a "real" conversation with nature.
Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History!
"Just Demand your Rights" Posts: 869 | From nor - cal | Registered: Apr 2008
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bettyg
Unregistered
posted
liesandmore,
good point! may i suggest for those wanting to read this to start splitting things up so everyone is NOT reading same pages.
see how many are interested in doing this, and then POST ONLINE WHO IS READ FROM
1-20 PAGES,
21-40 etc.
and then they can summarize how it will affect us LYME/CO-INFECTION patients.
bill was 1080 when submitted to senate,
then 72 pages were added for first AMENDMENT when they hadn't read 1080 !!!! *****************************************
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