I don’t get and I’m probably way off the mark, but why haven’t I heard any talk about keeping the cost of exorbitant medical & surgical procedures, exams, doctor’s fees, office visits down ?? I do not have the statistics, but tell me how much the costs have sky-rocketed over the past 20 years or more.
My guess is that these costs have doubled or tripled in that time, probaly more. Why can’t we slow these coste down ?? No wonder insurance companies health care premiums go up and up and up. My two cents.
I agree Keith. Probably one of the main reasons health care costs go up & up is because of Medicare & Medicaid. My mom fell down the steps a couple of years ago, in the hospital for 1 week. The bill was over $100,000 and Medicare paid about $18,000 on that bill. The providers have to spread the costs because they are getting cheated by the government. The only way to tackle the costs is for EVERYONE to pay appropriately.
“We cannot afford nor should we tolerate this waste of taxpayer dollars,” the White House said.
Are you kidding me? This administration’s actions so far have done nothing but waste taxpayer dollars. Please vote these idiots out in the next election.
Health care and Insurance reform is just a red herring to keep the American public distracted from the real problems. Health care and Insurance costs have risen in the last 20+ years for one root cause. The American system and society have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the political bureaucrats who are taking it to the bank right under our noses, and we are smart enough to tell them to take a profit cut. Our medical forces are no longer intelligent enough to objectively observe signs and symptoms based on their education and experience, they rely too heavily on micro-managing bean counters in their system to force impractical usage of medical gimmickery to increase $profits, then when no one pays all of the bills, they are allowed to write it off against their taxable interests.
This administration doesn’t care about attacking the real root causes of increasing health care costs. If they did they would allow us to buy health insurance across state lines and address tort reform. Their ultimate goal is to achieve a government run single-payer system. It’s a government take over of health care plain and simple. It’s going to be a boondoggle of epic proportions and will ultimately bankrupt the country. Sure they can keep telling us that costs will go down, it will be paid for with no increase in the deficit, blah blah blah. But there’s no way they can really know how much this is going to cost. Further, they are going to be collecting taxes to pay for it for up to 4 years before any of it is even enacted. That’s just one more part of their shell game they’re trying to put over on us.
…Medicare and medicaid now, how can we expect you to improve the current private system?
From the article:
“The White House said the new effort to root out improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid could double taxpayer savings to at least $2 billion over the next three years.
“We cannot afford nor should we tolerate this waste of taxpayer dollars,” the White House said.
An estimated $54 billion was lost through improper Medicare and Medicaid payments in 2009. Medicare is the government-run program covering elderly Americans and Medicaid is aimed at the poor.”
So out of $54,000,000,000 in waste and fraud, by our own admission you can eliminate about 3%?
To reiterate another blog, socialized medicine is only the tip of the iceberg. Just heard in New York, there is a bill to stop restaurants from using salt when cookig meals. The basis is health care. It drives high blood pressure, heart attacks etc. Strangly, even with the improved diets, end of life still occurs.
Per Beck yesterday, NYC has banned double fried cherry pies!!! What is happening?
If I want to eat a double fried pie, then so be it. Trying to make everyone eat healthy will only be the tip of the iceberg for health care costs lowering. What about all the genetics? If your family has bad genes, will they just get rid of us. With Pelosi, anything is possible.
Exactly. They talk about reducing waste by 3% as though that is a great outcome! The problem with healthcare is the extra $54 billion available to pay for unnecessary procedures. If I had a client willing to pay 20 times more than the market value of my house, I’d take it. That’s what the healthcare system is doing. The government makes the money available and they take it. It’s the same at the colleges and universities. Do you really think the cost of a college education would have gone up so drastically if the easy student loan money and lottery money wasn’t available? Get the government out of free enterprise. They have never done anything efficiently or effectively.
… is not as much Medicare as it is MEDICAID.
Medicare spending increased 9% from 2008 to 2009.
MEDICAID spending increased 24% from 2008 to 2009.
Federal Medicaid dollars are only half since the money is splict between the states.
2009 total spending Medicare:
721,250,000,000
2009 total spending Medicaid:
250,294,000,000 x 2 =
500,588,000,000
MEDICAID is almost the current cost of Medicare and is a FREE RIDE for those on MEDICAID, because they contribute ZERO dollars.
You are right on! On Christmas Day, President Obama said “we are incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country.” Was it a slip of a smooth tongue or is health insurance reform the objective rather than health care reform? Nobody talks about keeping costs down. The only people I know that actively attempt to control medical costs are insurance companies through PPO’s and pre-authorization.
1. Tort reform will have no effect on medical cost.
2. Tort reform will not guarantee coverage.
3. Tort reform will not stop a rate cancellation increase when someone gets diagnosed with a long term critical illness.
4. Insurers will never put customer’s health first, because they make more money (they think) by rolling people in and out of the company (same concept some P & C companies use). IT’S A GAME. They want your money while your healthy and for a while but will try to get rid of you before they estimate you are likely to have a medical need.
GET RID OF THE SHAREHOLDER GREED By establishing non-profit (like Blue Cross Blue Shield) used to be.
IT IS CRAZY AND SHOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE TO OPERATE INSURANCE ( A POOL OF CONSUMER MONEY TO PAY CLAIMS IN THE TIME OF NEED)for a NEVER ENDING PROFIT.
We need to take care of our health first and not rely on doctors, drug cos, and the gov. to do for us. I have not been to a doctor in years. I studied on my own alternative therapies, herbal remedies, diet, exercise, and lots of clean water to drink. We need to teach our children and adults how to care for themselves and only use medical for accidents and as last resort. Allow cancer patients to try alternative therapies first, etc.
You’ve been breathing the bad gas of the Obama-care doctrine, and unfortunately it’s taken over your mind. In MA we have non-profit HMO’s and everyone must purchase health insurance. Guess what? We’re all seeing 20-40% rate increases…know why? Because the cheap catastrophic plans don’t cover any thing and the rest of us “rich folks” that have decent plans are paying for it. There’s no free lunch, unless you’re an Illegal Lien. The have the most rights and are pandered to by the Dems. As far as the Malpractice Reform issue, I guess you think like a PI Attorney. Practicing Defensive medicine has never been more predominent than today, and that’s expensive and drives up the cost of care. That’s my 2 cents.
Of the total amount of money spent in the US on health care(government paid health care, insurance paid health care and non-insured health care), how much do you think we would save as a country by removing insurance company profits from the picture??? Pennies from the total. Ladies & Gentlemen the problem is the COST of health care. That cost will not go down until the consumer is put back in charge. Politicains know this but they have become masters at the shell game.
Put the consumer back in charge of buying their own health insurance(not the employer). Deductibles will go up, copays will vanish and then the consumer will start asking how much and is this really necessary!!!! That will drive down the cost. The medical industry is scared to death of REAL competition.
The way to fix healthcare is simple.
1. Go back to a major medical plan. Do not cover normal office visits and drugs under insurance. The doctors would lower their costs to get the patients in the door, and drug companies would lower the costs of medications, as nobody would be buying them.
2. Enact tort reform on a national level. This has to be done to keep medical costs down.
Nobody in Washington wants to do this, because it is too simple, and they would piss off all the lobyists.
I don’t get and I’m probably way off the mark, but why haven’t I heard any talk about keeping the cost of exorbitant medical & surgical procedures, exams, doctor’s fees, office visits down ?? I do not have the statistics, but tell me how much the costs have sky-rocketed over the past 20 years or more.
My guess is that these costs have doubled or tripled in that time, probaly more. Why can’t we slow these coste down ?? No wonder insurance companies health care premiums go up and up and up. My two cents.
I agree Keith. Probably one of the main reasons health care costs go up & up is because of Medicare & Medicaid. My mom fell down the steps a couple of years ago, in the hospital for 1 week. The bill was over $100,000 and Medicare paid about $18,000 on that bill. The providers have to spread the costs because they are getting cheated by the government. The only way to tackle the costs is for EVERYONE to pay appropriately.
“We cannot afford nor should we tolerate this waste of taxpayer dollars,” the White House said.
Are you kidding me? This administration’s actions so far have done nothing but waste taxpayer dollars. Please vote these idiots out in the next election.
Health care and Insurance reform is just a red herring to keep the American public distracted from the real problems. Health care and Insurance costs have risen in the last 20+ years for one root cause. The American system and society have allowed themselves to be hoodwinked by the political bureaucrats who are taking it to the bank right under our noses, and we are smart enough to tell them to take a profit cut. Our medical forces are no longer intelligent enough to objectively observe signs and symptoms based on their education and experience, they rely too heavily on micro-managing bean counters in their system to force impractical usage of medical gimmickery to increase $profits, then when no one pays all of the bills, they are allowed to write it off against their taxable interests.
This administration doesn’t care about attacking the real root causes of increasing health care costs. If they did they would allow us to buy health insurance across state lines and address tort reform. Their ultimate goal is to achieve a government run single-payer system. It’s a government take over of health care plain and simple. It’s going to be a boondoggle of epic proportions and will ultimately bankrupt the country. Sure they can keep telling us that costs will go down, it will be paid for with no increase in the deficit, blah blah blah. But there’s no way they can really know how much this is going to cost. Further, they are going to be collecting taxes to pay for it for up to 4 years before any of it is even enacted. That’s just one more part of their shell game they’re trying to put over on us.
…Medicare and medicaid now, how can we expect you to improve the current private system?
From the article:
“The White House said the new effort to root out improper payments in Medicare and Medicaid could double taxpayer savings to at least $2 billion over the next three years.
“We cannot afford nor should we tolerate this waste of taxpayer dollars,” the White House said.
An estimated $54 billion was lost through improper Medicare and Medicaid payments in 2009. Medicare is the government-run program covering elderly Americans and Medicaid is aimed at the poor.”
So out of $54,000,000,000 in waste and fraud, by our own admission you can eliminate about 3%?
To reiterate another blog, socialized medicine is only the tip of the iceberg. Just heard in New York, there is a bill to stop restaurants from using salt when cookig meals. The basis is health care. It drives high blood pressure, heart attacks etc. Strangly, even with the improved diets, end of life still occurs.
Per Beck yesterday, NYC has banned double fried cherry pies!!! What is happening?
If I want to eat a double fried pie, then so be it. Trying to make everyone eat healthy will only be the tip of the iceberg for health care costs lowering. What about all the genetics? If your family has bad genes, will they just get rid of us. With Pelosi, anything is possible.
Exactly. They talk about reducing waste by 3% as though that is a great outcome! The problem with healthcare is the extra $54 billion available to pay for unnecessary procedures. If I had a client willing to pay 20 times more than the market value of my house, I’d take it. That’s what the healthcare system is doing. The government makes the money available and they take it. It’s the same at the colleges and universities. Do you really think the cost of a college education would have gone up so drastically if the easy student loan money and lottery money wasn’t available? Get the government out of free enterprise. They have never done anything efficiently or effectively.
… is not as much Medicare as it is MEDICAID.
Medicare spending increased 9% from 2008 to 2009.
MEDICAID spending increased 24% from 2008 to 2009.
Federal Medicaid dollars are only half since the money is splict between the states.
2009 total spending Medicare:
721,250,000,000
2009 total spending Medicaid:
250,294,000,000 x 2 =
500,588,000,000
MEDICAID is almost the current cost of Medicare and is a FREE RIDE for those on MEDICAID, because they contribute ZERO dollars.
Keith,
You are right on! On Christmas Day, President Obama said “we are incredibly close to making health insurance reform a reality in this country.” Was it a slip of a smooth tongue or is health insurance reform the objective rather than health care reform? Nobody talks about keeping costs down. The only people I know that actively attempt to control medical costs are insurance companies through PPO’s and pre-authorization.
Jim:
1. Tort reform will have no effect on medical cost.
2. Tort reform will not guarantee coverage.
3. Tort reform will not stop a rate cancellation increase when someone gets diagnosed with a long term critical illness.
4. Insurers will never put customer’s health first, because they make more money (they think) by rolling people in and out of the company (same concept some P & C companies use). IT’S A GAME. They want your money while your healthy and for a while but will try to get rid of you before they estimate you are likely to have a medical need.
GET RID OF THE SHAREHOLDER GREED By establishing non-profit (like Blue Cross Blue Shield) used to be.
IT IS CRAZY AND SHOULD BE UNACCEPTABLE TO OPERATE INSURANCE ( A POOL OF CONSUMER MONEY TO PAY CLAIMS IN THE TIME OF NEED)for a NEVER ENDING PROFIT.
We need to take care of our health first and not rely on doctors, drug cos, and the gov. to do for us. I have not been to a doctor in years. I studied on my own alternative therapies, herbal remedies, diet, exercise, and lots of clean water to drink. We need to teach our children and adults how to care for themselves and only use medical for accidents and as last resort. Allow cancer patients to try alternative therapies first, etc.
You’ve been breathing the bad gas of the Obama-care doctrine, and unfortunately it’s taken over your mind. In MA we have non-profit HMO’s and everyone must purchase health insurance. Guess what? We’re all seeing 20-40% rate increases…know why? Because the cheap catastrophic plans don’t cover any thing and the rest of us “rich folks” that have decent plans are paying for it. There’s no free lunch, unless you’re an Illegal Lien. The have the most rights and are pandered to by the Dems. As far as the Malpractice Reform issue, I guess you think like a PI Attorney. Practicing Defensive medicine has never been more predominent than today, and that’s expensive and drives up the cost of care. That’s my 2 cents.
Of the total amount of money spent in the US on health care(government paid health care, insurance paid health care and non-insured health care), how much do you think we would save as a country by removing insurance company profits from the picture??? Pennies from the total. Ladies & Gentlemen the problem is the COST of health care. That cost will not go down until the consumer is put back in charge. Politicains know this but they have become masters at the shell game.
Put the consumer back in charge of buying their own health insurance(not the employer). Deductibles will go up, copays will vanish and then the consumer will start asking how much and is this really necessary!!!! That will drive down the cost. The medical industry is scared to death of REAL competition.
The way to fix healthcare is simple.
1. Go back to a major medical plan. Do not cover normal office visits and drugs under insurance. The doctors would lower their costs to get the patients in the door, and drug companies would lower the costs of medications, as nobody would be buying them.
2. Enact tort reform on a national level. This has to be done to keep medical costs down.
Nobody in Washington wants to do this, because it is too simple, and they would piss off all the lobyists.