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Just for the record, I do think that a better system for all Americans is needed, just not the GVT running it. And I also don't want big business running it either, ie greed. Myself and other colleagues doctors, nurses etc have spent countless hours thinking about our system. Some great minds have come up with some brilliant ideas to deliver quality healthcare but our ideas fall on deaf ears.
The ultimate - would be doctors and patients only - but
that isn't going to happen - not in the 21st century. Congress needs to fix the Medicare fee schedule for providers, that's for sure.
and
Cost savings from a single payer system do NOT come from decreased MD reimbursement - they come from decreased Administrative costs.
Payment of taxes to the Medicare for All fund, which for most individuals and families is the Medicare payroll tax as the only tax contribution required.
But health insurance premiums drop to zero, so there is a significant savings for many Americans.
— No so-called Medicare Advantage plan premiums, which are private health insurance company premiums
— No Part A monthly premiums
— No Part B monthly premiums
— No Part C monthly premiums
— No Part D monthly premiums
What is Covered:
primary care;
inpatient care;
outpatient care
emergency care;
prescription drugs;
durable medical equipment;
hearing services;
long term care;
palliative care;
podiatric care;
mental health services;
dentistry;
eye care;
chiropractic care;
substance abuse treatment
Please do - although I'm highly skeptical, it would be enlightening to see how everything adds up. Philosophically, (as I think I said before) I just don't see how completely insulating people from the cost of their care can do anything except send the costs through the roof...
Payment of taxes to the Medicare for All fund, which for most individuals and families is the Medicare payroll tax as the only tax contribution required.
But health insurance premiums drop to zero, so there is a significant savings for many Americans.
— No so-called Medicare Advantage plan premiums, which are private health insurance company premiums
— No Part A monthly premiums
— No Part B monthly premiums
— No Part C monthly premiums
— No Part D monthly premiums
What is Covered:
primary care;
inpatient care;
outpatient care
emergency care;
prescription drugs;
durable medical equipment;
hearing services;
long term care;
palliative care;
podiatric care;
mental health services;
dentistry;
eye care;
chiropractic care;
substance abuse treatment
"Coverage" under MediCare/MedicAid is not what normal people consider "coverage." MediCare/MedicAid dictates the prices doctors and hospitals can charge for their services, it does not reimburse those doctors or hospitals for their actual costs. As a result the vast majority of doctors refuse to treat patients whose sole or primary insurance is MediCare/MedicAid. I am sure it is worse in other states, but in Alaska alone 90% of the doctors in the state refuse to treat MediCare/MedicAid recipients. Which begs the question: Why bother with coverage when those covered cannot obtain treatment?
"Coverage" under MediCare/MedicAid is not what normal people consider "coverage." MediCare/MedicAid dictates the prices doctors and hospitals can charge for their services, it does not reimburse those doctors or hospitals for their actual costs. As a result the vast majority of doctors refuse to treat patients whose sole or primary insurance is MediCare/MedicAid. I am sure it is worse in other states, but in Alaska alone 90% of the doctors in the state refuse to treat MediCare/MedicAid recipients. Which begs the question: Why bother with coverage when those covered cannot obtain treatment?
Sure, but if we just cut the pay of all those greedy doctors in half, wouldn't that solve most of our problems? If you think about it, it would also leave a lot more for the poor overworked lawyers who make the real contributions to our well-being.
You can't "force" people to buy a product. That's what makes the entire thing unconstitutional. How about tort and cross state reforms.
How about you familiarize yourself with 68 years of precedent by way of Wickard v Filburn.
Quote:
Originally Posted by steven_h
How about mandating a limit on management costs which have been engineered to suck cash out of the system. Why is some guy (who isn't a doctor) approving procedures based on bottom lines while making $1m+ a year for doing so.
You really didn't know that this is already in the bill you're calling for the repeal of? There is now a limit of 15-20 cents on the dollar that can go to "overhead". 80-85% of every dollar paid for insurance must now go directly towards actual health care.
How could you be so adamantly against something you don't clearly understand?
There is now a limit of 15-20 cents on the dollar that can go to "overhead". 80-85% of every dollar paid for insurance must now go directly towards actual health care.
If that's such a brilliant idea, why are they waiving it in hundreds of cases?
"Coverage" under MediCare/MedicAid is not what normal people consider "coverage." MediCare/MedicAid dictates the prices doctors and hospitals can charge for their services, it does not reimburse those doctors or hospitals for their actual costs. As a result the vast majority of doctors refuse to treat patients whose sole or primary insurance is MediCare/MedicAid. I am sure it is worse in other states, but in Alaska alone 90% of the doctors in the state refuse to treat MediCare/MedicAid recipients. Which begs the question: Why bother with coverage when those covered cannot obtain treatment?
What "coverage" do you get - that a Medicare recipient
can't get? Just curious.
Medicaid is welfare, and since they are not active participants in payment of their health care because they get it for free - it's always up to the individual doctor if he wants to work for very little or practically for free. That's
a given with that program. Not to mention, quite a few
of them are sue happy for obvious reason.
It is the impending steep cut to the physician's fees that prevent providers from wanting to participate in Medicare, or opting out of Medicare, and for good reason. Fix the fee schedule, fix the problem. Congress knows the formula is flawed so get off their ass, and get it done. Doctors aren't the bad guy in this, Congress is. Permanent repeal of this broken payment formula will preserve access to Medicare and TRICARE patients alike.
And I guess in AK, where there's a will, there's a way
An estimated 47 percent of primary care doctors see established patients who are on Medicare.
The report offered some clues as to how Medicare recipients without private primary care doctors are coping: Many are going to the community health center, a hospital emergency room or to nurse practitioners.
The number of elderly Medicare patients seen at Anchorage Neighborhood Health Center has nearly tripled since 2003, from 546 to 1,453.
And the number of visits by Medicare clients to Providence Alaska Medical Center's emergency room increased at an annual rate of 12 percent from mid-2008 to September 2009, the study says. From 2004 to mid-2008, the annual growth rate was 2.5 percent.
The report estimates 10 percent of Anchorage's older people see nurse practitioners, who have their own practices and do many of the same things doctors do, such as prescribe medicine.
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But your medicare payroll tax would be higher, that's a given. 
