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1. 

   donbeco said, 3 months ago

   The votes of the clueless count the same as the informed, that’s democracy. Kind of scary at times.

2. 

   fennec said, 3 months ago

   According to something I read on this site, the structure of the Senate was due precisely to address this problem in that they have a longer term of office and there are only 2/state. The Founding Fathers seem to have been aware of the effects of mob opinion.

3. 

   motivemagus said, 3 months ago

   LeRoy Schaffer, a St. Francis city council member, dressed in a tuxedo and top hat to appear at Rep. Michele Bachmann’s town hall meeting. (She’s the nutty Republican from Minnesota). Schaffer got visibly emotional asking Bachmann about the future of health care and the role of special interests in Washington.
   “I’ll be danged if I am going to give up my Social Security because of socialism,” Schaffer said.
   The Harry Golden Rule in action!

4. 

   nomad2112 said, 3 months ago

   Medicare only approves $350.00 of a typical $2,000 medical bill. Now here is the interesting part.

   The health care provider is required to “write off” the $1,650.00 difference. Since doctors cannot survive having only 16 percent of their bills reimbursed, this amount will be “written on” several another patient’s bills.

   This is what they call cost shifting. This is one of the reasons that our insurance premiums are so high. Doctor have to charge more to survive and, insurance companies raise their rates to compensate, in part, due to loss ratio (dollars in versus dollars out).

   Now imagine a public plan created by a government run monopoly coming to fruition. An ever increasing section of the population enrolls as many companies will no longer feel the need to offer group insurance to their employees. The end result will be more and more cost shifting to the insurance companies/private sector. Obama says this “competition” is good for the insurance companies. However, even the largest preferred providers that the insurance industry utilizes can not afford 85% “write offs”. Since the government can and does run in a deficit mode, does anyone honestly think that the insurance industry could compete?

   Once the insurance carriers have “withered on the vine” and are gone, we are stuck with the under funded public plan, whether we like it or not. The final result will be less choice, care and, quality for everyone.

5. 

   believecommonsense said, 3 months ago

   nomad, don’t think you got your facts straight … ask some physicians and they’ll tell you they prefer dealing with Medicare than many private insurance plans … Medicare compensates more fairly in total (according to many doctors), is less cumbersome, interferes LESS with medical care, is more efficient and pays on a more timely, consistent basis

   that’s the opinion of many physicians I’ve spoken with throughout my many years of working within and writing about healthcare

6. 

   donbeco said, 3 months ago

   This year had a hospital bill of over $39,000, the charge was written down by over $20,000 as the hospital and my private insurance have an ongoing understanding. Had I had no insurance then the hospital would have hounded me for the full amount. That is blatent price discrimination and allows gross overstatements from the hospitals about poor reimbursments.

7. 

   believecommonsense said, 3 months ago

   Highly recommend the documentary below. The story of how today’s market-driven medical system gives Wall St. investors life and death control over our healthcare, turning medicine into a profit machine instead of a social service to meet human need.

   http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/profile.html

8. 

   believecommonsense said, 3 months ago

   donbeco, you are so right with your comment! Hospitals and other providers report losses based on stated “charges,” not actual costs. it’s a big game.

   I’ve shared before how I received a lab bill for a blood test for $398, but the lab didn’t know my COBRA time limit had run out, so they mistakenly showed they billed my insurance co. $129 for the test. But since my COBRA time had expired (at $358/per mo.) I had to pay the grossly inflated bill, though I negotiated for a tiny discount for paying in full with cash.

   Every day private pay patients with no insurance in this country are subsidizing Blue Cross, Aetna, United Health Care, etc.

9. 

   McGreen said, 2 months ago

   Anybody with private insurance who has a serious medical issue to deal with knows all about how private insurance games the process. Oncologists are ‘specialists’ and require all sorts of approval and coding for their claims. Denials are common - they are banking on a percentage of people being too ill/intimidated to fight back and therefore benefitting their profit margins.

   Of the industrialized nations we are the only ones who think it’s fine for up to 20,000 people to die every year due to treatable illnesses. Makes you wince when republicans claim they are compassionate conservatives - bull hockey,

10. 

    wbr said, 2 months ago

    dear bull hockey mcgreen i was hospitalized 5 wks ins paid all but sunday news paper – yes they made me pay for the funnies

11. 

    believecommonsense said, 2 months ago

    wbr, that’s great for you but how does that apply to the national discussion about healthcare reform and universal coverage?

12. 

    ReasonsVentriloquist said, 2 months ago

    Recent numbers…

    The bill was for $235
    The insurer said 95
    The insurer paid 75
    The insured paid 20
    The Bill is apparently “Paid”

    Why bill for $235 if you’re willing to settle for $95?
    How much premium did I pay so that the insurer could pay $75?

    And now my latest observational rave (as opposed to a rant which requires less factual observation)

    This morning on Today they had a very helpful section on how not to get sick ( http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/32625721#32625721 )
    The thrust of which being that there is a program that companies can participate in to “help” you live a “better” life which will in turn help the company in lowered costs.

    This is the problem with corporate owned media. The slant of this report doesn’t seem to be but it is definately “It’s your obligation to stop needing health care!” as opposed to “The bastiges are overcharging you and gouging the system!”

    “Oh, ReasonsVentriloquist! Why would they do that? You’re just being paranoid!” (Hey! who said that?)

    Why would they? Because they are owned by GE and GE happens to be a hugh supplier to the health care industry! They sell machines and they sell the maintanence of those and all the other “biomedical” machines in contracted hospitals. (I have friends who work and some who did work for GE in this field.)

    Why would they? Because their financial division sells health related insurances (among other things) including Long Term Care, Life Insurance and Health Insurance (Actually I’m not 100% on the health insurance, GE has sold off some divisions.)

    The point is that it is increasingly clear that it is very important for us to institute ownership regulations of the mass media!

    People will say, “well it just doesn’t matter anymore because now that the web is here we all have freedom to access all the information….” Bush Llit! The internet is merely an echo chamber of the MSM, which, ironically is more and more an echo chamber of the internet!