(2) I happen to be happy with my insurance and medical treatment – and really do not know anyone just now who is complaining – most folks who have worked are satisfied maybe the cost of insurance has gone a tad high but then so has milk.,..
Dad, come on, you are a federal retiree and on Medicare; you live near a large, renowned medical center. Of course you're happy! But do you know this about us: when our beloved ALM started with his current company (based in Europe) a couple of years ago, they did not have health insurance available for their American employees. We had to self-insure and these were our costs: 1) $900 a month for me, Ms Giggles and Little Dude, 2) $500 a month for ALM (Floggy was working full-time and had his own employee sponsored plan). So, $1400 a month, a $600 per person deductible and NONE of our pre-existing conditions were covered - at all, including medications! NOT MY IDEA OF A TAD HIGH!
But what does an exclusion for pre-existing conditions really mean? Well first of all any physician appts for those conditions would not be covered. Neither will blood/lab tests nor any procedures. With a history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol would they have paid for the care if ALM had happened to have a heart attack? They would have certainly done everything in their power to relate it to a pre-existing condition and therefore deny coverage. So, unless one of us had an accident or a serious illness that was NOT at all related to anything we had ever had before, this was not really health insurance, but emergency insurance.
I don't know what you pay for prescriptions with the new Medicare (unfunded) drug plan, but here are some examples of ours. WITH health insurance, Tricor is $50 a month; I got a new RX from the dermatologist for an ointment for my psoriasis, she gave me a coupon for $50 off the first tube and I still had to pay a co-payment. When it's gone, I can't afford to refill it! And as far as coverage and treatment are concerned, there is this: Little Dude's lack of visual motor integration is nearly curable with occupational therapy, but our private therapy had to end in December of 1st grade when the insurance wouldn't pay for it anymore. We are now at the mercy of the school system, who doesn't seem to think that providing the appropriate treatment and eliminating this problem (and the corresponding annual costs related to eventually providing him with a laptop computer) is directly related to his academic performance, so what he gets is piecemeal. Great health care delivery system there - not!
Deep breath.
Before I get to meat of the e-mail and it's descriptions of what the bill says, I think it might be a good idea to define what we are talking about.
Universal Coverage - This, of course, means that everyone is insured. Universal coverage is mandated by the states for auto insurance and we all pay a premium for "uninsured motorist." Since citizens aged 65 and older are all covered by Medicare, the insurance companies do not have to provide coverage for the demographic group that utilizes the most services. Imagine the cost of your auto insurance if the highest risk group, ages 16-25, were covered by a government administered "Motoristcare" program! Mandating that young people have health insurance would bring down the costs for all of the rest of us as they are the most healthy group of our population; the cost of services would be spread out among a larger group. And when they do need care, it would not be "uninsured patient" care that the rest of us end up paying for anyway.
Socialized Medicine - In it's purest form, this means that government provides for everything and the entire health care delivery system is controlled by and paid for by the government. Doctors are employed and paid by the government; hospitals are owned by and run by the government (think VA hospitals). There is no option on the table that provides for government take over of hospitals and doctors offices. This will not happen.
Single Payer System - For those 65 and older, Medicare is a single payer system; Everyone is covered by health insurance through the government. Implementation of a single payer system would essentially be providing Medicare for all citizens. I would imagine that younger, working citizens would have to pay premiums that would "save" Medicare from going "bankrupt."
Public Plan Option - A Medicare type plan that would be one option for consumers, and possibly small businesses, to choose as their health insurance plan. A good description of the public plan option approach is available here at TheHealthPolicyCenter.org.
Medicare - A Universal Coverage, Single Payer, Public Plan for US citizens aged 65 and above.
I'm running out of time here and wanted to start on the list of highlights. I thought I could pick out a dozen or so and just dismiss them right off, but every time I review the list, I have comments to make that there is no longer time to do at this sitting. So, I will revisit the list tomorrow until we make it through the pages.
Have a healthy night!
Dad, come on, you are a federal retiree and on Medicare; you live near a large, renowned medical center. Of course you're happy! But do you know this about us: when our beloved ALM started with his current company (based in Europe) a couple of years ago, they did not have health insurance available for their American employees. We had to self-insure and these were our costs: 1) $900 a month for me, Ms Giggles and Little Dude, 2) $500 a month for ALM (Floggy was working full-time and had his own employee sponsored plan). So, $1400 a month, a $600 per person deductible and NONE of our pre-existing conditions were covered - at all, including medications! NOT MY IDEA OF A TAD HIGH!
But what does an exclusion for pre-existing conditions really mean? Well first of all any physician appts for those conditions would not be covered. Neither will blood/lab tests nor any procedures. With a history of high blood pressure and high cholesterol would they have paid for the care if ALM had happened to have a heart attack? They would have certainly done everything in their power to relate it to a pre-existing condition and therefore deny coverage. So, unless one of us had an accident or a serious illness that was NOT at all related to anything we had ever had before, this was not really health insurance, but emergency insurance.
I don't know what you pay for prescriptions with the new Medicare (unfunded) drug plan, but here are some examples of ours. WITH health insurance, Tricor is $50 a month; I got a new RX from the dermatologist for an ointment for my psoriasis, she gave me a coupon for $50 off the first tube and I still had to pay a co-payment. When it's gone, I can't afford to refill it! And as far as coverage and treatment are concerned, there is this: Little Dude's lack of visual motor integration is nearly curable with occupational therapy, but our private therapy had to end in December of 1st grade when the insurance wouldn't pay for it anymore. We are now at the mercy of the school system, who doesn't seem to think that providing the appropriate treatment and eliminating this problem (and the corresponding annual costs related to eventually providing him with a laptop computer) is directly related to his academic performance, so what he gets is piecemeal. Great health care delivery system there - not!
Deep breath.
Before I get to meat of the e-mail and it's descriptions of what the bill says, I think it might be a good idea to define what we are talking about.
Universal Coverage - This, of course, means that everyone is insured. Universal coverage is mandated by the states for auto insurance and we all pay a premium for "uninsured motorist." Since citizens aged 65 and older are all covered by Medicare, the insurance companies do not have to provide coverage for the demographic group that utilizes the most services. Imagine the cost of your auto insurance if the highest risk group, ages 16-25, were covered by a government administered "Motoristcare" program! Mandating that young people have health insurance would bring down the costs for all of the rest of us as they are the most healthy group of our population; the cost of services would be spread out among a larger group. And when they do need care, it would not be "uninsured patient" care that the rest of us end up paying for anyway.
Socialized Medicine - In it's purest form, this means that government provides for everything and the entire health care delivery system is controlled by and paid for by the government. Doctors are employed and paid by the government; hospitals are owned by and run by the government (think VA hospitals). There is no option on the table that provides for government take over of hospitals and doctors offices. This will not happen.
Single Payer System - For those 65 and older, Medicare is a single payer system; Everyone is covered by health insurance through the government. Implementation of a single payer system would essentially be providing Medicare for all citizens. I would imagine that younger, working citizens would have to pay premiums that would "save" Medicare from going "bankrupt."
Public Plan Option - A Medicare type plan that would be one option for consumers, and possibly small businesses, to choose as their health insurance plan. A good description of the public plan option approach is available here at TheHealthPolicyCenter.org.
Medicare - A Universal Coverage, Single Payer, Public Plan for US citizens aged 65 and above.
I'm running out of time here and wanted to start on the list of highlights. I thought I could pick out a dozen or so and just dismiss them right off, but every time I review the list, I have comments to make that there is no longer time to do at this sitting. So, I will revisit the list tomorrow until we make it through the pages.
Have a healthy night!
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