HIGHLANDER
Member
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Health Insurance III
- Thread starter mrsrunningbear
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HIGHLANDER
Member
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mrsrunningbear
Active member
I agree....highlander..... sorry.....but I really don't want it yanked....its interesting and shedding some light on the subject at least it is for me will you remove #21
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polarisrider1
New member
looks and smells like politics.
rocketman356
New member
The US per capita cost of our medical system is 4 times that of Canada. One of the greatest reasons for this is the incredibly costly and inefficient system of insurance company billing and constant resubmission of bills. Anyone involved in the actual providing of medical services (clinics and hospitals) have to employ large numbers of billing people because the process is so complicated. The insurance companies have nothing to do with health care - they are an expensive middle man. They drop you at will - deny coverage for prexisting conditions and basically want to provide coverage for people who wont need medical care. The only protection you have is if you are part of a very large group plan. Your premiums don't go just to health care - the CEO's of the large insurance companies make up to 75 million a year- their building are the largest in many cities.
They get by with what they do because they finance so many election campains.
They get by with what they do because they finance so many election campains.
So do you think Canadas health-care style would be an improvement over ours? Or do you
think it will be 4x's as bad? Not sure I buy that style of health-care considering with my 5 family members to the north complain about it so often.
From the New York times 3/31/10
According to the actuarial consulting firm Towers Perrin, medical malpractice tort costs were $30.4 billion in 2007, the last year for which data are available. We have a more than a $2 trillion health care system. That puts litigation costs and malpractice insurance at 1 to 1.5 percent of total medical costs. That’s a rounding error. Liability isn’t even the tail on the cost dog. It’s the hair on the end of the tail.
Full article here http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/31/would-tort-reform-lower-health-care-costs/
But our elected officials DO NOT receive that type of care. They are exempt from it, and
will be. So when we get this style of healthcare, dont think its the same.
I think the quality of coverage will go down. I think you will also be fined for not taking it,
no freedom of choice to the consumer. I enjoy my healthcare, yes a little spendy, but it does have everything in it. Sometimes too much coverage.
mrsrunningbear
Active member
well I've written down the results.....thanks for holding off as long as you all did with the political stuff...
kevisip- CLEARLY not what he is saying. What he is saying is that the US health care costs are 4 times that of Canada on a per capita basis, in fact, US health care costs are the highest in the world. This what you get for that:
"The USA's life expectancy is ranked 50th in the world after the European Union (40th). The World Health Organization (WHO), in 2000, ranked the U.S. health care system as the highest in cost, first in responsiveness, 37th in overall performance, and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study). A 2008 report by the Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among the 19 compared countries."
His post is attempting to answer the question "Where is the money going?", not to endorse the Canadian system. A key reason for this is the insurance companies are not in the business of providing "health", they make money by not providing "health". You get sick, you get dropped. You lose your job and they won't cover pre-exisiting conditions on your next insurance. As you get older they raise your premiums.
Look at it this way, the only 2 segments of the US health insurance population to experience growth over the last decade are the uninsured (about 15-17%) and the government insured (about 20%). The growth in these two segments have come from the employer paid segment, which is now only 53% of the population (down 10pts in 12 years). In other words, as fewer people get employer health care, they end up with no insurance (you pay for them through increased pricing of services to offset pro-bono care) or on a government program (your tax dollars pay for it). Who isn't paying for this is the insurance companies, who have now whittled there customer lists to those that have the highest margin, not those that need the health care. Lower margin policyholders can't get "health".
Therefore, we have a very expensive health care system, the most expensive in the world, which does not provide an adequate return in terms of "health". If I am paying the highest per capita rate in the world my success rate should not be the measurement of insurance company profits, but in the measurement of our "health". The US falls woefully short on these measurements.
Please note that I am not advocating a single payer Canadian system. The US is an insurer based system. OK, then it needed to be restructured to begin to accommodate the health needs of our citizens rather than the profit needs of the insurance companies. They need to provide "health".
I have no clue if what was passed will work, but i know that status quo was not working.
well I've written down the results.....thanks for holding off as long as you all did with the political stuff...
It was a challenge!
When is the last time you itemized a hospital bill? $20 kleenex, tylenols, and band-aids. $3000 ambulance rides, and God forbid you end up in the ICU. My dad was on a ventilator for 48 hours and the bill was over $100,000, and luckily had good insurance. So now...do the ones with insurance get gouged to pay for those without insurance? I'm sorry, when people come into the car dealership I work in, they have a choice (to pay here or take it somewhere else.) You go to the hospital, and whatever THEY decide you need, you have to pay your fair share of the bill. The mark-up on hospital drugs and supplies is astronomical, and the role of drug companies and the insurance industry is the reason healthcare is so expensive. End of mini-rant...Thanks
why has my stock in a huge insurance corp gone way up this week? drug corps are rising fast also.incrementalism will sting you in the ars before you know it.I just hope all you supporters are old or verry affluent and wont suffer the wrath of gov run health care.I have had my fill of the VA thank you verry much you can take that kind of care and stick it up H Reids loose ars
thunderstruck88
New member
Ezra x5 This stuff gets my goat so I'd better chill right now go from this to this so I can sleep tonight
This stuff gets my goat so I'd better chill right now go from this to this so I can sleep tonightWhy? Well, because it is not "government run" health care, it is "government subsidized" health care. If the primary problem is premium cost and the government is now going to subsidize premiums then about 23% of the population who cannot afford regular care is now going to be getting it (or at least paying for it) and insurance companies get 40 million new premium paying customers and drug companies sell drugs and medical equipment companies sell equipment. It's classic American capitalism except that the government is paying for those that can't afford it. Now these people will become customers and the businesses supplying those customers will benefit. Of course, those companies will have to pay taxes to help support the system.
I don't understand why people keep calling this government run health care. It is not the VA, it is not a single payer system. It is government subsidized. You will not go to a government clinic. You will get insurance form your employer as you are now, or you will buy it on an exchange (think a 40MM person "group"). The exchange will have many plans and costs from which to choose and the consumer selects the coverage they want. The government will subsidize these plans on a sliding scale based upon income. The plans will have new controls on them regarding age multipliers, pre-exisiting conditions, etc.
Insurance companies get 40MM new customers.
Hospitals get new customers
Drug companies get new customers
Profits get made throughout the industry
And if it works America gets healthier
I just hope the nation can afford it.