Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So much red tape and convolution! All designed to make sure there is a big profit. As I said-----in an advanced technological society medical care is no different than electricity, tap water, highways, police services, public parks, etc. This is a hurdle that the American people need to overcome. As a golfer i can play public and private golf courses. As a consumer of health insurance I have no choices.
As for private insurance I would have no issues with a system that is fair and does not seek to maximize profits at all time by practicing crony capitalism.
I am for anyone making trillions of dollars if the competition is fair and there is no crony capitalism. Why do you think the health care lobby gives so much money to Washington? They simply want to make sure there is no National health Care because they would want to maximize profit.
Despite all the lunacy of Donald Trump this is one instance where he is actually correct.
I was going to make an humorous link between the golf course closing down nationally widely reported by multiple entities (quick google search and bloombergs will pop up with stats and figures) and the public closures vs the private. But since they don't separate municipal a from public, and the irony and attempt at humor may be lost in translation, I decided against.
But as a golfer, you can still read it. I quit playing 2 years ago, not because cost, but closing courses jammed up and slowed down rate of play so I found other things to do for 5 hours on sat and Sunday, and usually a night a week. Funny thing is, I don't miss it.
Just a moment of levity on an otherwise serious topic.
Profit is the incentive that attracts capital which fosters growth and better care than we would otherwise have. I wouldn't invest in a business that didn't promise a return.
A few billion paid to shareholders on hundreds of billions in paid claims seems reasonable.
Those are all very good questions and we are still waiting to hear the solution (if one scrolls thru the thread, we've been asking that of the supporters but... Others who work in the industry have had answers but they aren't the ones those who back a private option, as kinda proposed, finds acceptable).
I just wanted to double check.
I thought I may have missed something after having read every single post on this thread....so I went back and re-read every single post on this thread for a second time. What I noticed is that there are no answers from the supporters of this "Medicare for all/young" scenario or any scenario even close to it.
I thought they might be keeping how it's supposed to work all to themselves, much like "free everything" Bernie Sanders does.
All I've read/seen is a lot of emotional pontification and rhetoric with zero consideration for reality...let alone a solid, well laid out and honest plan stating where all of that $$$$$ to support this idealogy will come from.
I thought I may have missed something after having read every single post on this thread....so I went back and re-read every single post on this thread for a second time. What I noticed is that there are no answers from the supporters of this "Medicare for all/young" scenario or any scenario even close to it.
I thought they might be keeping how it's supposed to work all to themselves, much like "free everything" Bernie Sanders does.
All I've read/seen is a lot of emotional pontification and rhetoric with zero consideration for reality...let alone a solid, well laid out and honest plan stating where all of that $$$$$ to support this idealogy will come from.
In fairness of full disclosure, I worked for the dirty 'payor' community for years before getting into the w2 contracting side (don't have to deal with the corporate aspect) who profited solely by trying to deny claims as that's where all our profits came from.
Please stay with the thread however... You seem well informed and could contribute greatly either in sharing of information or correcting some false assumptions.
I have a few questions, please forgive my lack of knowledge in this subject area.
This Medicare for all plan....would there still be deductibles and co-pays?
Minimal copays. If there are no copays people would go to the doctor with common colds and things like that. As it is Americans go to the doctor for minor illness much more often than the developed world.
Quote:
How will it be funded?
It would be funded in exactly the same manner private health insurance is funded--------by monthly premiums. The difference is that the premiums will not go up to to promote profits for the top 0.1%.
Will it be funded through an increase in payroll taxes? On which side? Both employee and employer or just employer? To the tune of how many hundreds of billions of dollars?
Quote:
As it stands SS might not be around for "the young" - or not to the point those collecting today are. Why? Apparently there aren't enough employed "young" folks to pay in. So if Medicare for all is going to be funded through the "young" paying in via payroll taxes....?
See above. A young person would have the option of buying a plan from the private or public sector.
Quote:
Or is it that the entire system of Medicare will change and operate like a private insurance company...collect premiums from "the young", but specifics will be dictated by the government? Where have I heard that before?
If Medicare was so bad how come 99.99% of seniors take it. How come seniors do not buy private insurance. At most they buy supplemental.
Quote:
Won't the money "someone" saves be taken from "someone else"?
See above
Quote:
Who is going to provide the actual care? The same physicians and hospitals that already do? At what cost to them?
As you know (with very few exceptions) the same docs that take care of private insurance patients are the same docs that see medicare.
Quote:
What will the repercussions be?
Much lower health premiums and no deductibles.
Quote:
The US government can't even run the VA without a whole lot of inefficiency, so let's hand the health care of a few more hundred million folks to "look after"?
Medicare is not like the VA. Medicare is contracted out to private contractors and as I said those that are 65 and over immediately embrace medicare. I am all in favor of having the private sector run the VA.
Profit is the incentive that attracts capital which fosters growth and better care than we would otherwise have. I wouldn't invest in a business that didn't promise a return.
A few billion paid to shareholders on hundreds of billions in paid claims seems reasonable.
I suppose you work for free?
I don't mind a profit for creativity, innovation, or providing a unique service as long as there is healthy competition. As of now there is no competition because the insurance lobby donates TOO MUCH to Washington, DC. This is done to keep competition out and to make sure there is no public option. This is generally known as crony capitalism.
Doing paperwork for health insurance is not rocket science and at most should only generate a modest profit.
Minimal copays. If there are no copays people would go to the doctor with common colds and things like that. As it is Americans go to the doctor for minor illness much more often than the developed world.
That actually might be because the rest of the developed world allows the purchase of commonly used pharmaceuticals over the counter, while the US requires a physician's (or that of any other practitioner legally allowed to prescribe) prescription to be filled by a pharmacist.
Minimal copays. If there are no copays people would go to the doctor with common colds and things like that. As it is Americans go to the doctor for minor illness much more often than the developed world.
.
Despite spending more on healthcare, utilization is less in the US than in the rest of the developed world. We do not go to the doctor as often and out hospital admissions are lower. For example, The Japanese utilize healthcare more than 3x than the US. We do however, utilize MRIs more and are substantially more medicated.
With the exception of New Zealand, the US is the only country that allows advertisement of prescription medications and are constantly urged to ask our doctor about what drug ABC can do for us.
Despite spending more on healthcare, the US scores lower on key healthcare outcome measures, life expectancy and prevelance of chronic conditions. The former is influenced by the violent culture, while the latter is lifestyle oriented.
The US has better outcomes with most Cancers, especially within the " mature" population. In contrast, the US has worse outcomes with Stroke.
Ok thread got to long but this is about your responses to informed...
99.99% of seniors take Medicare because they think they have to! (And I'd refute that assertion because MA is FAR from traditional Medicare and operates as a private plan legally and regulation wise: as long as the plan passes the DOI of the state at time of submit real, everything about reimbursement is contract based and benefits-premiums and the rest of cost are chosen by individuals).
As a note, every plan offered by a payor, commercial, MA, individual, is reviewed and agreed to by the state it's offered in DOI... If tge DOI says no, it can't be offered. That includes all the premium hikes that helps drive these sorts of debates/threads/conversations.
Cmms does write VA rules, so regulation wise it comes from the same place as Medicare.
And, again... Many seniors take part A trad Medicare because it is a nightmare to try and opt out unless one chooses an MA plan which is, opting out.
I don't mind a profit for creativity, innovation, or providing a unique service as long as there is healthy competition. As of now there is no competition because the insurance lobby donates TOO MUCH to Washington, DC. This is done to keep competition out and to make sure there is no public option. This is generally known as crony capitalism.
Doing paperwork for health insurance is not rocket science and at most should only generate a modest profit.
Like 3% ?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
