[Vision2020] Do You Want Wall Street to Control Your Health Care?

[Glenn Schwaller]

Bear writes: “IF the present health care policy that the Congressmen
and Senators are under is good enough for them, why can't we all have
that same health care program?”

Well for one, the most typical health care plan for all federal
employees is a Blue Cross preferred provider.  A Kaiser Family
Foundation survey gives a PPO coverage cost of about $4800 for and
individual, close to $13,000 for a family.  The US Office of Personnel
Management gives figures of $5300 and 12,000 respectively for the
federal plan.  Of these two plans (Joe Citizen v Feds) an average of
73% of the plan is subsidized for Joe Citizen compared to 69% for the
Feds.

The Feds have the option of subsidized care at either Walter Reed Army
Medical Center or the National Naval Medical Center (DC and Maryland).
 Given this health care option, would my plane ticket to either place
fall under paid treatment costs??

So far, I haven’t seen anything to make me run to my Congressman
demanding to give me what (s)he has.  I think I’ll stick with what
I’ve got . . .

But change is in the wind and at present it’s coming in as a 170-page
bill, the Kennedy American Health Choices Act.

Wonderful

How is this to be paid?  Not a hint.  The Kennedy Act says nothing
with regard to cost estimates or specifics on how to pay for
guaranteed health care coverage for every American.  Well that’s not
completely true:

According to the Act “ (The) cost would be partly offset by receipts,
or savings, from three sources: 1) increases in tax revenues stemming
from the decline in employment based coverage; 2) penalties assessed
to uninsured individuals and: 3) reductions in outlays for the
Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.  So:  Taxes,
Penalties and further reduction in coverage for children and Medicaid
recipients.

Wonderful

And guaranteed health care for very American?  Even THAT is a falsehood!

According to the Act “The federal government would subsidize the
purchase of health insurance through those exchanges for individuals
and families with incomes between 150% and 500% of the federal poverty
level. These subsidies would represent the greatest single component
of the proposal's cost.”

The 2009 Federal Poverty level for mom, dad, brother and sister is
$22,050.  150% of this is $33,075.  So what happens if your family is
making less than $33,000 per year?  No health care coverage!  None.
Zip.  Oh, but they are covered by Medicaid!  Read above.  And besides
the “further reductions in coverage”, according to the Act “Expanded
eligibility for the Medicaid program MAY be added at a later date. A
significant expansion of Medicaid would have an effect both on the
federal budget and on the extent of insurance coverage”.

So good luck poor families.

And what if I decide to stay with health care coverage through my
employer?  Oh right - my “health care” is now going to be taxed!  So I
guess those tax dollars are going to pay for someone else’s
government-funded health care.  Oh no, that won’t happen because my
employer is not longer going to get a tax break for paying for my
health insurance.  This is not in the best interest of my company (do
you get the feeling Progressives are NOT interested in the best
interest of American companies??) so they will stop offering it and
I’ll have none.  Then, I’ll find myself having to pay a “penalty”
because I’m uninsured!  But on the bright side that penalty will go
towards paying for someone else’s government-funded health care . . .

Wonderful

Change is such a good thing . . .

GS


On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 11:50 AM, <bear at moscow.com> wrote:
> Nick,
>
> A novel thought. IF the present health care policy that the Congressmen
> and Senators are under is good enough for them, why can't we all have that
> same health care program?
>
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Greetings:
>> This is my contribution to the health care reform debate and will be my
>> radio commentary/column for this week.
>> The full version is attached as a PDF file is attached.
>> Will the GOP and medical insurance lobbyists destroy our chances once
>> again?
>>
>> Nick Gier
>>
>> DO YOU WANT WALL STREET TO CONTROL YOUR HEALTH CARE?
>>
>> Private medical insurance companies, driven by a need to satisfy their
>> investors, now take profits and management expenses that run between 17-30
>> percent of premiums, while Medicare's overhead is estimated at 2-6
>> percent. Medicare Advantage plans, heavily subsidized private policies
>> designed to substitute for Medicare, take an average 13 percent in
>> administrative fees. They have not managed care nor have they reduced
>> costs.
>>
>> A good portion of administrative costs for private insurance go to bloated
>> CEO salaries, the 2008 median of which was $12.5 million per year. The
>> median salary for CEOs in technology, oil and gas, and financials was in
>> the $8 million range.
>>
>> Wendell Potter worked as a senior executive for several health insurance
>> companies, and he recently gave testimony before a Senate committee. He
>> maintained that medical insurance companies are one of the main reasons
>> why our health care system is "both the most expensive and one of the most
>> dysfunctional in the world."
>>
>> Potter explained how Wall Street investors rates companies higher if they
>> turn premiums to profits rather than payments to patients.  As Potter
>> states: "To help meet Wall Street's relentless profit expectations,
>> insurers routinely dump policyholders who are less profitable or who get
>> sick."
>>
>> At a recent hearing before a House committee, insurance executives refused
>> to end the practice of canceling the policies of those who have become
>> ill.  Potter reported that three major insurers had "cancelled the
>> coverage of roughly 20,000 people in a five-year period, allowing the
>> companies to avoid paying $300 million in claims."
>>
>> Employees at small businesses have been especially hit hard by
>> cancellations or increases in premiums that no one can afford. The Small
>> Business Administration reports that since 1993 the number of small
>> businesses that cover their employee' medical bills has decreased from 61
>> to 38 percent.
>>
>> In his testimony Potter related the story of Aetna's reorganization in the
>> early 2000s.  New computer systems allowed Aetna to better identify risky
>> policy holders, and since then about 8 million Americans have lost their
>> medical coverage with the company.
>>
>> Potter predicts that consumer-driven plans, favored by Republicans and
>> which "cherry-pick the youngest, healthiest and richest customers," will
>> force "managed care plans to charge more to cover the sickest patients."
>>
>> Private insurers play a large role in the universal coverage enjoyed in
>> Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Japan.  In Germany private
>> insurers are not allowed to take a profit, and premiums can rise only at
>> the rate of increase of medical costs.  No one is denied coverage in these
>> systems and all them cost about half of what Americans pay per capita.
>>
>> In Japan there are more private hospitals than in the U.S. and most
>> doctors run their own businesses.  Every Japanese is required to have
>> non-profit medical insurance and the government pays the premiums of the
>> poor.  Average premiums for everyone else are $280 per month per family
>> and in most instances companies pick up half the cost.
>>
>> The U.S. should have gone to a single payer system decades ago, but the
>> power of the private insurers is so great that this is no longer feasible.
>>  The solution is a public insurance option such as Senate Bill 1278, which
>> would set the standard for comprehensive, accessible coverage; and Senate
>> Bill 1050, which would "improve transparency and accountability" in
>> private health insurance markets.
>>
>> Basic health care coverage should not be a commodity but a basic right for
>> each and every American.  Our medical futures should not be bought and
>> sold on the stock market.  Just as we could have better government if we
>> removed private money from political campaigns, so could we have better
>> health care if medical insurers took care of patients' basic needs rather
>> than looking at Wall Street's bottom line.
>>
>> Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
>> =======================================================
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>>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>>                http://www.fsr.net
>>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>> =======================================================
>
>
> =======================================================
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>               http://www.fsr.net
>          mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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