This is the reality, while everybody is bickering, you, and me, and everyone else that has healthcare, will spend more and get less each year. REAL insurance reform must take place or this country will no longer be a super power. If people are sick, they can’t work, if people go bankrupt because of medical bills, we all suffer, if people spread disease because they can’t AFFORD to see a doctor, we are all at risk. If YOUR child would suffering in pain because you couldn’t afford healthcare or the insurance plan you had refused to pay for treatment, WHAT would you do?
Wendell Potter testified before Congress about the need for a Public Option, he worked for Cigna and ultimately quit!
From the Washington Post
As businesses contend with rising costs, many workers face an erosion of health benefits next year, according to an annual survey released Tuesday by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust.
Forty percent of employers surveyed said they are likely to increase the amount their workers pay out of pocket for doctor visits. Almost as many said they are likely to raise annual deductibles and the amount workers pay for prescription drugs.
A major business lobby weighed in Tuesday, saying that if current trends continue, annual health-care costs for employers will rise 166 percent over the next decade — to $28,530 per employee.
“Maintaining the status quo is simply not an option,” said Antonio M. Perez, chief executive of Eastman Kodak and a leader of the Business Roundtable. “These costs are unsustainable and would put millions of workers at risk,” Perez said in a statement.
Also, an example is what happened in Massachusetts with their healthcare reform – some not very good results – http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97620520
@Elena
>>>HUH? Private AND PUBLIC, exaclty [sic] what should happen in my opinion
Opinion noted. Those words were mentioned in link you posted…
“Among those physicians who identified themselves as members of the American Medical Association, 62.2 percent favored both the public and private options”.
Whatever. That’s moot. Strange that they didn’t show the statistical sampling of the RWJF ‘study’. For all we know they mostly polled doctors that are for the public option. I *never* trust a poll that doesn’t show who they polled.
@Gainesville Resident
>>>Let’s see what effect that will have on the whole healthcare system. I imagine it won’t be a good thing.
Yep! Imagine insuring 20 MILLION more people (or whatever the current estimate is) but losing 45% of our doctors. Yea, that’ll work out well. /sarc
Don’t you think much of the losing doctors scare is the doom and gloom and scare tactics of oppostional politics? So doctors quit. And they are going to do what for a living? Become nurses?
So are the people saying no to any type of reform? When you pay out of pocket for your own health care you might change your minds.
There’s already a doctor shortage – no “doom and gloom and scare tactics” about it. My PCP retired and I had a hell of a time finding a new one because there just aren’t enough out there.
“Addressing a Looming Shortage
The Democrat-Gazette reports that although record enrollment is positive, many health officials are concerned about meeting the heavier demand caused by a growing population and the loss of physicians to retirement. The American Medical Association projects a nationwide physician shortage of between 51,000 and 228,000 by 2020 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/22). In response, AAMC has called for a 30% increase in medical school enrollment over the 2002 level to more than 21,000 first-year medical students by 2015. To date, the number of first-year medical students has increased by 8%, and planned increases would raise the number of first-year medical students by 17%, according to Edward Salsberg, director of AAMC’s Center for Workforce Studies. “It is unclear whether we will make the 30% by 2015,” Salsberg said (Bloomberg, 10/21). ”
From http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/126524.php
My point is that we do NEED both. I NEVER excluded private insurance, my point was that we need to have a public option also. Either regulate the hell out of private insurance or offer government competition.
GR,
I was just talking to my dad, a resident of Massachusettes, about this very issue. He cannot fathom why Congress has ignored the result of “requirement” only regarding insurance. People are required to buy insurance but because insurance premiums haven’t decreased, now people are struggling to afford health care! THAT is why we either need a public option or major regulation.
@Moon-howler
>>>Don’t you think much of the losing doctors scare is the doom and gloom and scare tactics of oppostional politics? So doctors quite.[sic]
Not at all. But counter to that it seems you readily accept any study or poll that supports the nonsense of The One and his ilk without question or critical thought. That doesn’t define a ‘moderate’, does it? “Scare”? “Doom and gloom”? Could you declare your ‘moderate’ sentiments any clearer? Good grief. Drop the ‘moderate’ pretense.
>>>So are the people saying no saying to to any type of reform?
Can’t reply to that, sorry. I’d pay any 5 year-old child $5 to diagram that sentence. 🙂
TOTALLY OFF-TOPIC (Mods please move or announce in a way suitable – I don’t know where to inform) Should be a lot of fun……….
Chili cook-off
The Harris Pavilion will host its annual chili cook-off Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Visit http://www.harrispavil ion.com to download the application. There is no cost to participate but the winning trophy is a great prize. A local group of musicians, “The Back Porch Band,” will provide entertainment. The pavilion would love to have three categories of competitors — home cooks (all chili must be prepared at the pavilion), restaurants (may bring prepared chili) and non-profit groups (all chili must be prepared at the pavilion.) Members of the Washington Redskins Marching Band will once again be judging. For more, call 703-361-9800.
Ring, tell you what, I have just hired you has my grammar specialist.
I am a functional illiterate. The neat thing is, when I make a mistake I can go in and fix it. It isn’t always done in a timely fashion though.
You answered my question. Much of the doom and gloom about doctors threatening to quit is right up there with Republicans saying they aren’t going to vote for John McCain. (and I am going to believe that they are running over to the Obama camp)
Doctor shortages are often in areas more rural areas. Those shortages are very real. The way to get more doctors isn’t to squeeze out those who cannot afford it.
You can think I am anything you want. I expect someone like you thinks I am a screaming liberal. That is the neat thing about being a moderate….everyone can take a poke and at the end of the day, think of the number of people I have pissed off. Double my pleasure, double my fun.
Potter was on Real Time with Bill Maher this week. He said the Baucus bill was a pretty terrible construction, said the status quo is probably better than the Baucus bill.
If the Baucus bill is the only one being discussed publicly –
And none of the other committe members endorse it –
It’s pretty obvious that, just as on immigration, we’re in a quagmire. The things people want done and will accept, and the things our corrupt leaders are willing to do, have no meaningful intersection. As with Amnesty 2006 and Amnesty 2007, Congress and the President thrash wildly and meaninglessly trying to find something they can force down America’s throat, but it’s pretty obvious at this point that it’s not going to happen.
What do we need, a new populace, or new leadership?
“think of the number of people I have pissed off. Double my pleasure, double my fun.”
Except for the plurality of Amereicans who don’t live on the extremes and don’t take their cues from either political party.