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Obama's health care reform speech

martzj
0 Recommendations

Did anyone catch Obama's few health care specifics? It turns out that 'pre-existing' and 'no more health care denials" are on the way for certain. Both sides of Congress agree to these. Possibly, Medicare recipients will no longer pay for prescription medications in future. No specific details were presented but that was expected. Obama gave a conservative guesstimate that the full reforms will be in place within 4 years. Sounded like 'affordable' health insurance for individuals and small business owners will also be open to everyone. Much more insurance accountablilty.

A 'public option' not for profit gov't sponsored health insurance for all who want to sign on, but health insurance sign-up is going to be a mandatory requirement. People can choose private or public insurance but everyone is in. Similar to the law that all drivers carry auto insurance.

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41 replies

Bellafia

mandatory health ins. the same as car ins.? people drive a powerful machine that could accidently kill someone, so where is the similiarity? once this public option becomes mandatory it will never change, just like it is mandatory to have car ins.
bellafia

heartgoddess

I am cautiously optimistic about healthcare reform, but the major hurdle is still the public option. If it is not included, insurance companies won't have any reason to keep prices in line. Did you know that United Healthcare gave its CEO a compensation package that totals nearly one billion (really) dollars? They have had record breaking profits for something like the last 20 quarters. Insurance companies as a whole have quadrupled their profits within the last decade.

pclipper

" people drive a powerful machine that could accidently kill someone, so where is the similiarity?"

- the similarity is that there is a cost to everyone when someone is sick and receives no care: the cost to society when you unnecessarily lose a sick or dead person's contribution to the general wellbeing, including the caregiving of children, the old and the sick that they can no longer do ... in the display of beliefs that diminish the value of human life (and, possibly the consequently high rate of violent crime and violence), in loss of productivity, in foreclosures, in having no ceiling on the share of the GDP that insurance companies get, in having no effective competition... did you read that General Motors was paying more for health insurance than they were for steel? And look where they are now! 'Every man for himself' is a costly concept!

"... public option. If it is not included, insurance companies won't have any reason to keep prices in line."

I am just reading an old collection of cartoons from the British magazine, Private Eye (the best of from 1961 to 1991)... hillarious! Aside from one depicting Michael Jackson's agent suggesting to a now Mickey Mouse character that you can go too far with cosmetic surgery, there is one depicting a Frankenstein's monster on a trolley in a lab and he is wearing a tuxedo... the lab staffperson is commenting that "ever since Frankenstein went private, everything has changed!" This is a comment on the UK resolution to the healthcare controversy. They went with a different sort of public and private mix, and I believe it depended on what your doctor opted for.. but there were (are? help me out here, UK people), two parallel systems. I think the law prohibited any medically necessary differences, so what you got was cosmetic differences. I was working in a hospital at the time, and when we got the odd private patient, they got a private room, orange juice with breakfast and china dishes. There weren't very many who went for this option, and perhaps the wealthy went to little posh private hospitals to have babies or to "dry out,"but not if they needed high tech care or surgery: this was in a large university based teaching hospital. There were really no other differences.. they were in the same ward as the public patients with the same staff, same regimes, same everything else. (They also probably got to pay $75.00 for an aspirin, with the dollars going to the doc, rather than the insurance industry, which wasn't such a major player there). And those who did opt probably did so because they were paranoid about public health care.

Penny,
watching from up north where we have to be vigilant about the displaced insurance companies taking their money hunger elsewhere if the U.S. public wises up!

martzj

"Penny,
watching from up north where we have to be vigilant about the displaced insurance companies taking their money hunger elsewhere if the U.S. public wises up!"

LOL Penny.....I've been saying this repeatedly. Watch out world because your cheap medical care and drug costs come from massive costs to US citizens. Which may or may not change in the next 4 years. Any Canadians paying $235 for a 90 day supply of Coreg yet? $1500 for a root canal and another $1500 for the crown?

Mandatory health insurance will be hard to enforce I imagine. Guess what package all persons who buy driver's insurance must pay for at minimum: Unisured motorists. Yep, those of us who DO cough up the $ for car insurance are forced to divvy up the funds to pay for people who don't have auto insurance but cause or are involved in accidents. Millions don't carry a bit of auto insurance because it is so high for young males and with each incident it gets hiked higher.

It will be interesting to see how mandatory health insurance is enforced. We only have one entity that is federal and into everyone's pockets here; IRS. Or will this be connected to Medicaid somehow? Will Social Security be sending out demands for proof of insurance? Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling doesn't it?

ellen128

That's the point.

Trissie

I'm having a problem trusting the fed government to do it well because it has botched up my part D so badly.
When part D went into effect, our insurance co. (BC/BS) dropped us oldies. When it was our insurance, it paid for our drugs with us paying a consistent co-pay for each drug refill. Now I am in the donut hole and yesterday wrote the pharmacy a check for 894 dollars, just for me. This will continue until I have paid $4350 out of pocket. By then the year will be almost gone and with it really cheap drugs.
Call me sceptical. Trissie

martzj

Trissie,

I watched carefully to hear Obama's plan on getting rid of this horrid burden on Medicare population....He did say there is a push to assist the elderly with prescription costs. (got the impression he was speaking directly about Part D).

I'm very unsettled by the continuing behavior of Congress backing for-profit and big pharma...the only time I saw the Republican side of the house jump up and cheer loudly was when Obama mentioned 'a cap on medical lawsuit amounts'. Right....it's our doctors who are suffering the most here. There still is NO reform bill yet so we still have no clear idea of what is coming....but I unequivacally listen to my guy instincts when it comes to the great white shark for-profit insurers. Once they get 'everybody in' kind of power it will be impossible to control their continuing life threatening practices. Nothing has ever stopped them yet. Congress? They continue to welcome bully industry $. They will never move to control the insurance industry AFTER this new bill passes. It was obvious last night how hard they are fighting to keep status quo alive and well.

On the plus side:

- insurance companies no longer allowed pre-existing exclusions. they must take everyone that applies and rates must be affordable (who gets to decide what affordable is? Insurance co).

-all children will be covered from birth to death, something never before seen in the US. Nor is this in effect yet. A 4 year implementation span was mentioned.

-while joining some type of insurance will be mandatory, one will probably be 'public option' in which all your dollars spent go directly to the doctor and care only. No profit agenda machine in the background working hard to deny you treatment while charging you for the privilege.

-'public option' will be offered on a sliding scale

ceebee

The key word is affordable. If any of these bills go thru as written, there will still be a 10-thousand dollar out of pocket cost to families (5k for individuals). That's not affordable in my house. I realize it's better than the 20k or more that insurance companies could charge without reform...but it's still a butt-load of money.

Also, it's not a done deal yet. The Republicans and the insurance lobby are not going to roll over on these bills before they hit a conference committee.

I hope the President doesn't lighten up... he really needs to tighten up. I also hope Rep. Anthony Weiner gets his bill to the floor. Medicare for all!!!!!

ceebee

oh... and four years is too long! a single payer could be in effect a lot faster... and in reality so could a public option.. that gives these money hungry sharks way too much time to find ways to gouge us in the interim.

think about how these banks are shafting credit card holders before the new interest rate regulations go into effect.

we trust them so.

kareno

You are right! Four years is a long wait. My husband and I have already gone through our savings with out of pocket expenses and we have insurance. We really need reform in the health care industry and soon. Kareno

ckspring

I trust the government with my health as much as I trust the SEC, who was supposed to ensure the safety of so many people's life savings and, despite being told Madoff was ripping everyone off, could not be bothered. Glad the government had nothing to say when I showed up in the ER, promptly went into SCA, and was "dead" for 40 minutes. Leave my health insurance alone!!! (And I do not believe for one minute that health care reform as it is currently being discussed will not adversely affect my health insurance. In my experience, any time the government has gotten involved in any aspect of my life, it has gotten more complicated and more expensive.)

goingstrong

I still say the best way to get our health insurance mess cleaned up is this:

Support the Senator from Louisiana who is bringing a petition to Congress for them to have the same insurance you and I have!

They should not be able to have a cadillac plan while they VOTE on a 'lesser' plan for the rest of us!

Here's where you can sign the petition! All that's required is first and last name! That's all!

http://fleming.house.gov/

Lynn

vampyrra1

Yet you apparently like it well enough to continue living here and enjoying freedoms that most of the rest of the world would love to have...

lkay

Ladies,
It does my heart good to read a civilized debate about this important issue and not have it descend into vitriolic name calling.

The subject of health care reform has been kicked around the block for way too long here in the US- at least 20 years or so. And our medical cost problems have not gotten any better. it is obvious to everyone that there is a need for adjustments to how health care is handled in the US.

With almost one in every 5 Americans living without insurance - many of you here are in that situation - it is a glaring problem that can no longer be ignored.

The time for change has arrived - I certainly hope we can come to a system that benefits all of us consumers first, and the profit centers second. That is in keeping with the philosophy of the Womenheart community here- patients should come first, always.

Great shifts in public policy have always been painful. Look back at the arguments against Social Security. Study the fight for Medicare/Medicaid implementation. And now today, you won't find anyone arguing that Social Security is socialism and should be abolished, or that the Medi's are going to take away private health care options and bring down our health care industry.

Again, I am so proud of all of you coming from different viewpoints, being able to have this civil discussion.

My heartfelt best,
Laura

eviefor3

"Yet you apparently like it well enough to continue living here and enjoying freedoms that most of the rest of the world would love to have.."

perhaps i am just waking up a wee bit grumpy this morning and so thinking negative thoughts, but did that last statement translate to everyone that disagrees or has issues with this latest government intervention should just sit down, shut up and let them tell us what is good for us? there is no room to question? no room to have alternative views, thoughts or ideas?
a $10000 hit before anything is even paid is probably not going to help most people. oh sure, they can say they have insurance and where does that still leave them? and will everyone be forced to pay premiums for that coverage?
my fear is that they are going to "hospicize" some of the more serious conditions.......so you have heart disease? "we know that already, so it isn't necessary to have additional tests, etc. only comfort care will be offered". gee, what a great cost saving tool........
in a perfect world, maybe the government will do what they are going to do in the manner that they so wish and the day after they sign it into law we will all be able to jump up and down and shout hooray, what were we thinking? they really are looking out for our, we the people, best interests (instead of the special interests)........ don't color me convinced.......i don't understand all of the town hall meetings and press conferences before they are firm in what they are going to do. speculation and innuendos and ideas flapping in the breeze (and then changing with the direction on the wind) are not what it takes to build public confidence. i for one don't want someone to give me their spin on what they "think" it will all mean, i want someone to tell me what it "will be".

evie

ceebee

evie you are so right. just because we support significant changes in the way America's health care system is delivered doesn't mean we accept everything Congress or the President offer at face value.

That's where INTELLIGENT debate comes into play...and CIVILIZED discourse...and SUBSTANTIVE alternatives. things sorely lacking in August.

mery

hmm. well all I'm going to add here is that I'm "still" wondering how all this is really all that different from what we've been hearing for, ohhh let's see, I'm 51, I'll go for about 30 years now.

laurahc

If you think about it, we have a "public option" right now--it's called the Emergency Room, where the uninsured have to go for every bump, scrape and nosebleed. And we all pay for it, just like we all pay for uninsured motorists.

-Laura

corby

It seems like the debate goes on and on. Health care is too expensive. I wonder how it got out of control. The republicans do seem to be backing the insurance and drug companies and are too worried about re-election to pass a bi-partisan bill that will truely help Americans. We need to lower costs or we will pay dearly in the very near future. More than 60% of all bankruptcies are due to health related issues. I'm for Obama's plan and I think we need to get the job done now. America is about having a choice - right now even the insured don't have many choices especially when we have pre-existing conditions like heart disease. Call your congressmen/women now!! Chris

martzj

"If you think about it, we have a "public option" right now--it's called the Emergency Room, where the uninsured have to go for every bump, scrape and nosebleed. And we all pay for it, just like we all pay for uninsured motorists. "

LOL Laura,

In my area a bunch of small walk-in day clinics are springing up. You take a number, take a seat and are seen in less than 30-45 minutes usually. I use these for quick access to flu shots my BCBS wouldn't pay for. The don't offer long term care, so chronic patients need a regular PCP but they are great for in and out help at the actual TIME you are injured. They offer a prescription for flu meds or whatever. No refills but I've never left without a handful of samples.
Haven't gone often, but that doctor was a whiz...he sees such a vast cross section of human travails and knew all the latest research on whatever I brought up. He was the dr who observed "wow, you came in here on the same Fed date as last year!" My cardio and PCP were useless...this was the dr who helped me understand I was having the worst times with angina during Dec-Feb deep freeze. By Feb. I could barely stand up, walk without losing balance.

Ladies,
The fact the women's cardiac care reform isn't slated in the bill language means it was never even considered. What is going on now is our congressional members 'stancing' as fiercely as possible to hang onto those massive health care lobby & big pharma $ to keep them in power. 'Care' is not even on the table....It is 'power and who gets to hang onto how much' that is on the table.

We still need to continue educating ourselves about heart disease progression and how to protect our families, children. Even though 'everyone is in' is on the way doesn't mean quality of care will differ in any way. Gotta stay vigilant. 'Women' as a separate gender population in need of specific gender-based care hasn't made it onto congressional radar yet which means there are still no laws in place yet to force doctors to treat female heart symptoms aggressively....or at all.

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