Health-Care Hustle; Allowing The Marketplace To "Regulate" Itself

[Mr. Shaman]

"Way, way back in the 1970's Americans were riled up over the rising costs of health care. As a presidential candidate, Jimmy Carter started talking about how the government would be clamping down.

When Carter got to the White House, the very industry that only a decade earlier had tried to strangle Medicare in the cradle, seemed uncharacteristically humble and cooperative. "You don't have to make us cut costs," they promised. "We'll do it voluntarily." So Uncle Sam backed down, and, you guessed it, pretty soon medical costs were soaring higher than ever."​

I guess health-care-insurance providers (just) need a little-more-time to work-things-out.

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[Mr. Shaman]

Yep....Republicans are right....the private-sector surely does know how to manage their buck$!!​

"The documents show, for instance, that one Blue Cross employee earned a perfect score of "5" for "exceptional performance" on an evaluation that noted the employee's role in dropping thousands of policyholders and avoiding nearly $10 million worth of medical care. WellPoint's Blue Cross of California subsidiary and two other insurers saved more than $300 million in medical claims by canceling more than 20,000 sick policyholders over a five-year periodhttp://bulldogreporter.com/ME2/Audi...68&tier=4&id=A2C2ABF6758C4923B8436861D5A2EE0E, the House committee said."

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield are prepaid plans; in other words, the plan subscribers pay a set fee (typically monthly) for medical services covered under the plan."

 

[BigRob]

Interestingly the HMO is a government mandated entity, and the structure of this government mandate has all but eliminated competition from the health care market.

As per usual, you are ranting on about things you have no idea about.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Interestingly the HMO is a government mandated entity, and the structure of this government mandate has all but eliminated competition from the health care market.

Gee.....it sounds fairly-competitive, to me!! ​

"After three months of physical therapy, it wasn't getting better. The physical therapist told me she thought maybe I'd chipped a bone and it was tearing at the ligament. "You should get an MRI," she said.

This, as they say, is where the fun begins.

So I went to my doctor, who tried to order an MRI. It kept getting rejected. Finally, I found out why: Since the original treatment was paid by my car insurance, they didn't know I'd already had physical therapy. So then we had to go back and forth with the car insurance to get them to send the records.

It was just about this time that my insurance carrier announced they were severing the agreement with my university-affiliated practice in a dispute with the hospital over reinbursement rates - and I had to find another doctor.

You guessed it. Back to start! (I know; I'm bored with this story, too. But I want people to understand how many hoops we're jumping through under the present system.)

I got all that paperwork in when my former employer notified me we'd switched insurance plans - and I had to start all over againhttp://crooksandliars.com/node/29048."

As per usual, you are ranting on about things you have no idea about.

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[Das Tränegras]

Yes. It sounds very competitive. Don't know what I could do about it, though. I'm just a dude living in San Antonio, TX.

Well, one thing I could do is start a localized non-profit cooperative with the medical district(San Antonio is #1 in healthcare in the nation, methinks.). It would take a bit of elbow grease at the local level, but it would be much easier for an old bloke like myself to achieve than running for president and making things over from the top down.

Much, much easier. *o*

 

[BigRob]

Gee.....it sounds fairly-competitive, to me!!

As per usual, you are ranting on about things you have no idea about.

​

Your little story simply showed the problem with not being able to have insurance companies actually in competition in for anyone's business and all the red tape that has been thrown up.

Government mandated quasi-monopolies is not competition.​

 

[foggedinn]

I've always considered "self-regulated makets" to be an open invitation to con men.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Your little story simply showed the problem with not being able to have insurance companies actually in competition in for anyone's business and all the red tape that has been thrown up.

If insurance-companies felt entitled to federal-$ub$idie$ (under the old-regime), to remain competitive....along-with boosting their premiums....they're quite-obviously Too Large To Fail = Too Large To EXIST.

Maybe they should get into the financial-services gig, instead.....like AIG.

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[Andy]

If insurance-companies felt entitled to federal-$ub$idie$ (under the old-regime), to remain competitive....along-with boosting their premiums....they're quite-obviously Too Large To Fail = Too Large To EXIST.

Maybe they should get into the financial-services gig, instead.....like AIG.

​

You are making our point. No one is "entitled" to subsidies. It's government regulations that are causing the problems in the system. We should not have given a dime to AIG either. OR GM, or Chrysler, or Countrywide, or anyone for that matter. You keep slamming things we are against, and acting like you made a point. It would be humorous if it wasn't so sad that you don't even realize it.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

You are making our point. No one is "entitled" to subsidies. It's government regulations that are causing the problems in the system.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..........

​

"This $80 billion price-tag is based on two specific provisions where Republicans sold out seniors for their industry contributors. First, they created a confusing web of competing and inefficient private plans run by private insurers—who receive huge subsidies from the federal government—that beneficiaries must choose from, rather than a simple stand-alone benefit run by Medicare. The low overhead costs of a single administrating agency could save $4.8 billion annually.

Second, they made it illegal for the federal government to negotiate the price of drugs with manufacturers, despite the fact every other industrialized nation negotiates these prices. When the government does negotiate lower prices for bulk drug purchases, as does the Veterans Administration, it saves more than 40 percent compared to the market cost. Applied to Medicare, this would save about $560 billion over the first eight years of the program. The cost of the disastrous Medicare plan is even greater when the subsidies given to insurance companies are factored in."

What else ya' got, Skippy???

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[Andy]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight..........





What else ya' got, Skippy???

​

That proved nothing. Are you implying that just because republicans do something, means that I must support what they do? Don't be stupid. I'm not a democrat like you. I don't support Republicans just because they are not democrats or some such nonsense. I'm against the policy, not the party. It wouldn't matter which party supports the policy, I'm against it. In short, I'm not a bigot like most of the left is.

 

[Mr. Shaman]

I'm against the policy, not the party. It wouldn't matter which party supports the policy, I'm against it. In short, I'm not a bigot like most of the left is.

What's bigotry got-to-do with ignorance???

​

"Yeah, Canadians have better choice than we do. They spend half as much per person on health care as we do. And if you're going to cut our budget by 50 percent, we'd have to have some waiting lines. But if we're willing to keep spending at our current levels, we could cover everybody with first dollar coverage with terrific access to care.

I mean, in this country, the response to these escalating costs is a number of employers say, "We just aren't going to have health insurance anymore." So, Canada has been a very good model. It's been going on for 38 years. Canadians would revolt, literally, if someone said, "We're going to take away your health insurance system."