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For years now, ever since government got involved in civilian health care in the 1940s, we have watched them come up with one fraudulent scheme after another. They promise health care will become more affordable under their plan, costs will go down, treatment will become more available, paperwork will be reduced.
And every time, costs go up, health care becomes less affordable, out-of-pocket payments soar, and paperwork becomes legion for both patients and providers. Every time. Obamacare was merely the latest in a long line of govt programs that fail to deliver what they promised and/or head for bankruptcy from the day they are initiated.
And yet politician after politician keeps campaigning on promises and assurances that THEY will make health care more affordable, lower costs, yada yada. Finally THEY are the ones who will do it right. THEY are the ones whose plan will actually work (i.e. deliver what they promise). And people actually vote for these snake oil salesmen, yet again.
Now the race for the 2020 Presidential election is starting, and as reliably as the sunrise, liberal politicians (in both parties) are making the same promises that have failed time and again.
And we have on this very forum people discussing how this politician's plan is more likely to work than that politician's.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
Clearly a lot of minutes have gone by.
Once the votes are counted, how much are medical costs going to explode this time? How much are deductibles going to rise, until most people don't even bother using their "insurance" any more since they have to pay out of pocket for every procedure short of million-dollar surgeries? How many more procedures will people skip entirely (more and more people are doing this already), since they can't afford the out-of-pocket payments demanded by their "affordable" insurance plans... there being nothing else available under government restrictions?
I look at people earnestly discussing how this govt plan will finally solve the problems, or that govt plan will extend insurance to everybody, etc. etc.
Hasn't government demonstrated convincingly enough, through years and years of govt restrictions and regulations, and cascading costs and problems, that government is incapable of running the country's health insurance?
You folks are amusing to watch. Like dogs chasing their tails, convinced that any minute now they will finally catch them, despite years of failure.
There must be some type of plan that will work. It's not Medicare for All. Maybe its more like Medicaid for All with the ability to buy private insurance to supplement it. Actually, if they could manage to fix Obamacare so that some people didn't get stuck with huge premiums, that could work. If they would let it work. But our government is so screwed up and corrupt and greedy that nothing gets done. They've all got their hands out to the lobbiests who will pay them the most.
But I think if some of them would swallow their pride and just take another look at what Obamacare was supposed to be--and then take the time to fix it--yes, they would actually have to WORK on it--that might be the best idea. As it stands now, Obamacare is good for some people but unfair to others. Take care of that and get to work on it.
Or are we as a country that far gone that we can't even fix health insurance?
I'm afraid that we are. Republicans have no interest in fixing healthcare. I'm all about a Medicare option.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PilgrimsProgress
Until Congress gets their act together on health insurance, the Trump administration has been chipping away at the edges of the problem because citizens need all the help they can get. Something is better than nothing and one size doesn't fit all anyway.
While the intention of this announcement was to let us know of the latest health coverage, he also quickly sums up the progress in health care in the past two years which you know nothing about if you watch censored mainstream media. It will be a pleasant surprise!
And yet politician after politician keeps campaigning on promises and assurances that THEY will make health care more affordable, lower costs, yada yada. Finally THEY are the ones who will do it right. THEY are the ones whose plan will actually work (i.e. deliver what they promise). And people actually vote for these snake oil salesmen, yet again.
Hasn't government demonstrated convincingly enough, through years and years of govt restrictions and regulations, and cascading costs and problems, that government is incapable of running the country's health insurance?
You folks are amusing to watch. Like dogs chasing their tails, convinced that any minute now they will finally catch them, despite years of failure.
Yeah, Trump campaigned on that. How did that work out? Despite the campaign rhetoric, Trump did not mention healthcare in his inaugural address. Shortly thereafter, he mumbled something about “ no one knew healthcare was complicated”. Obviously he and campaign insiders were unaware.
States had and continue to have primary responsibility for insurance regulation. No two states have the same regulations. No two states require insurers to cover the same things.
A few states have been open to out of state insurers and expressed willingness to negotiate differences in regulations. Thus far, no takers.
Insurers have in state networks of providers who agree upfront to reimbursement rates. An out of state insurer would not have a network and would reimburse providers at out of network rates. The diff would be balance- billed to the consumer.
Premiums are variable within state by geographical regions. For example, Florida has 69 geo rated areas. The premium differs for same insurer selling the same plan across the state. It depends on :
Number and type of claims made by the local population, and
Ratio providers : local population, and
Ratio hospital beds: local population, and
Number of insurers operating in the local market
Depth and breadth of network in the local market
Insurers can and do cherry- pick which geo rated areas within a state they choose to serve.
For years now, ever since government got involved in civilian health care in the 1940s, we have watched them come up with one fraudulent scheme after another. They promise health care will become more affordable under their plan, costs will go down, treatment will become more available, paperwork will be reduced.
And every time, costs go up, health care becomes less affordable, out-of-pocket payments soar, and paperwork becomes legion for both patients and providers. Every time. Obamacare was merely the latest in a long line of govt programs that fail to deliver and/or head for bankruptcy from the day they are initiated.
And yet politician after politician keeps campaigning on promises and assurances that THEY will make health care more affordable, lower costs, yada yada. Finally THEY are the ones who will do it right. THEY are the ones whose plan will actually work (i.e. deliver what they promise). And people actually vote for these snake oil salesmen, yet again.
Now the race for the 2020 Presidential election is starting, and as reliably as the sunrise, liberal politicians (in both parties) are making the same promises that have failed time and again.
And we have on this very forum people discussing how this politician's plan is more likely to work than that politician's.
"There's a sucker born every minute."
Clearly a lot of minutes have gone by.
Once the votes are counted, how much are medical costs going to explode this time? How much are deductibles going to rise, until most people don't even bother using their "insurance" any more since they have to pay out of pocket for every procedure short of million-dollar surgeries? How many more procedures will people skip entirely (more and more people are doing this already), since they can't afford the out-of-pocket payments demanded by their "affordable" insurance plans... there being nothing else available under government restrictions?
I look at people earnestly discussing how this govt plan will finally solve the problems, or that govt plan will extend insurance to everybody, etc. etc.
Hasn't government demonstrated convincingly enough, through years and years of govt restrictions and regulations, and cascading costs and problems, that government is incapable of running the country's health insurance?
You folks are amusing to watch. Like dogs chasing their tails, convinced that any minute now they will finally catch them, despite years of failure.
[/rant]
Ain't that the truth. And watching people making it a partisan issue, as though it's one party denying us all of *the solution* shows how ignorant people are, in addition to being naive.
File this campaign promise under B for B.S. along with promises of free college tuition, reparations, and the fight on cancer.
Thanks for all the serious discussions. And for those who just want to do political bashing - I hope that's not what this thread is all about. There are plenty of other threads for that.
But for those who wondered why someone could just join Medicare after the rest of us have been paying in all our lives - don't forget, FICA taxes are withdrawn from EVERY paycheck to every one in the USA who pays into it. And that means most everyone, except some government employees, etc. FICA taxes are Social Security, and Medicare. So everyone has been paying in, and would continue to pay in, while they are drawing a paycheck (and afterwards).
Thanks for all the serious discussions. And for those who just want to do political bashing - I hope that's not what this thread is all about. There are plenty of other threads for that.
But for those who wondered why someone could just join Medicare after the rest of us have been paying in all our lives - don't forget, FICA taxes are withdrawn from EVERY paycheck to every one in the USA who pays into it. And that means most everyone, except some government employees, etc. FICA taxes are Social Security, and Medicare. So everyone has been paying in, and would continue to pay in, while they are drawing a paycheck (and afterwards).
If that's the only way it can be done, then so be it. And it would make us retirees feel better if younger people had to keep paying in from their paychecks just as we did--they'd have to because otherwise there won't be enough money. They would have to pay some sort of tax (?) too besides their Medicare pay in and Medicare premiums because there wouldn't be enough money if young people start using Medicare. Retirees didn't get to use Medicare when they were young; there should have been something available to us but there wasn't.
Last edited by in_newengland; 06-15-2019 at 12:56 PM..
Thanks for all the serious discussions. And for those who just want to do political bashing - I hope that's not what this thread is all about. There are plenty of other threads for that.
But for those who wondered why someone could just join Medicare after the rest of us have been paying in all our lives - don't forget, FICA taxes are withdrawn from EVERY paycheck to every one in the USA who pays into it. And that means most everyone, except some government employees, etc. FICA taxes are Social Security, and Medicare. So everyone has been paying in, and would continue to pay in, while they are drawing a paycheck (and afterwards).
But only the population of people >65 are currently using Medicare, about 15% of the population. To cover 100%, rates would have to go way up.
Actuarially you could not pick a worse plan. Basically healthy people get cherry picked out by employer provided insurance and sicker and older will go onto Medicare but without an increase in taxes to provide said Medicare coverage.
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