The Health Care Bill has passed...

[AGDee]

I do realize that, I just think it's a band-aid though, not a fix for what is wrong with the system. I work for a health care system in Detroit, I truly understand the need for insurance for the uninsured. Our system provides hundreds of millions of unreimbursed care annually.

The health care system is so much more broken than just the unreimbursed care though. I know he had to battle just to get this, and hopefully, in the future, people will accept that there are more changes that need to be made. Most insurance companies are in the business of making money. Most are not non-profits. None of the companies that make money off of hospitals/health care are non-profits yet most of the hospitals are (all of them are, in Michigan). A model where you have all these profit organizations having a feeding frenzy off of a non-profit entity is simply wrong. It can't work no matter what.

The only entities that insurance companies have to please are our employers. Our employers are only happy with those insurance companies who offer lower premiums. The only way that insurers can do that is to deny as much care as they can. Most people who don't work in health care do not understand that insurance companies dictate their treatment almost completely. Most do not understand that, if your primary care physician KNOWS that a certain treatment is not right for you, they cannot skip that step and move to a more expensive treatment because they will get points from the insurance company if they don't try things in a specified order. Critical pathways, managed care.. all attempts by the insurance companies to make more money, not truly ways to better manage your illness. There is no real competition among insurance companies for the users of the system. The users of the system are bound to use whatever insurance their employer chooses to provide for them. I don't see much changing until THAT changes.

[ThetaPrincess24]

I say boo! I am one of the Americans who enjoys my health insurance that I have.

Real reform should start with competition across state lines for the best deals/coverage and caps on medical malpractice lawsuit awards.


Polls show most Americans dissapprove of this bill. I think the democrats have shot themselves in the foot with this one proving it isnt about the folks they claim to represent but about power. If Congress truly cared about the folks then put healthcare aside for now and concentrate on what matters to most presently (myself included) : JOBS and the ECONOMY.

[swanqween]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Most insurance companies are in the business of making money. Most are not non-profits.

Ahh and therein lies the problem!

My $0.02 on the matter:

Yes, being uninsured sucks & has problems; however, making insurance mandatory (thinking of the mandatory auto insurance law in Ca.) doesn't really work either. Why doesn't it work, (using results of aforementioned auto insurance) if you can't afford insurance you still won't buy it; or you'll sign up just to re-register you vehicle (or avoid the income tax penalty) then drop it. When Sacramento passed this idea the residents of the state heard the lip service from the insurance Co.s that they would offer 'low-cost' insurance for low-income residents (yeah right!) Now I've always held auto insurance (which has ALWAYS been higher than my registration/license fees have been!) But I scoff at their idea of what 'affordable' insurance is *especially* when the coverage is minimal.

How does this relate to med insurance? A for profit Co.s idea of what low cost & affordable is will be much different than the low income worker's idea who is living paycheck to paycheck (if that); perhaps the Gov't subsidies will assist, but what's the cost of that, more national debt that the taxpayers get to deal with via higher taxes *&* med insurance increases?

IMO costs need to be contained *first* before you mandate for everyone to have coverage for the out-of-control costs. How can this be achieved? a couple (less than conservative) ideas:

-nationalize health care; make health care administrators and providers government employees with set compensation, eliminating the for-profit 'must-raise-profits-each-year-for-our-stockholders' mentality

-reduce litigation; implement the (European?) system where if you LOSE you pay legal council fees for BOTH sides (this should reduce frivolous lawsuits) side tangent: redesign the juror system and adopt the (British?)system (isn't our legal system based upon theirs in the 1st place) incorporate 'professional jurors' that can be educated about matters, legalities, technology, etc. (cringing every time I think of the OJ Simpson trial; yikes!)

Sorry for going on, but it really irks me when legislation is passed that is 'supposed' to improve a situation but it is more about the elected Representatives concern about touting their own horn for re-election than taking the time to analyze policy and creating something that will actually address and improve the situation!

But hey, isn't it supposed to take effect in 2013; so plenty of time for those bureaucrats to revise, delay, extend deadlines, and ammend away for the next three years!