A plan for disaster

The Bacaus health reform plan has some serious flaws. One of the big ones is that it forces everyone to buy insurance. If they do not buy insurance they will pay a fine that is reported to be about $1,000 give or take. Insurance premiums are expected to be $4,000 to $5,000. This does not include other "out of pocket" expenses such as co pays and the like.

The math here does not compute!

Knowing that an insurance company will no longer be able to deny someone health insurance, who in their right mind would pay the $4,000 to $5,000 for insurance when they are not sick?? Why not just pay the $1,000 fine, wait until you are truely sick, then sign up for insurance?  The insurance company cannot deny you! You will save lots of money.

Young people, who think they are indestructible, will no doubt see the difference.
This is where the recently released study from the insurance industry determined that premiums will skyrocket under this plan. Of course those in support of this reform claimed it was false, and that the insurance industry was trying to "scare" people. Yet, on at least this point, the logic in the study seems quite correct.
This is what would be called an "un intended consequence".

Another consequence of this plan, although very intentional, is that in order to stay under the trillion dollar mark and be so called defecit neutral, its revenues are front loaded and its expenses are back loaded.

This means that cuts in medicare reimbursements to providers, new taxes on "cadillac" insurance plans and the other host of revenue generating features will happen right away, yet on the expense side, like expanded insurance coverage are not fully implemented until years later(some nearly a decade), so as to allow the reform to build a surplus making it "appear" to be under a trillion dollars and defecit neutral. This is pure gimickry.

Another point on "cadillac" insurance plans is that the government, to generate revenue, calculates that the use of these plans will continue to increase over time, yet that flies in the face of economics 101. When you increase taxes on something, you get less of it, not more. So this is another area that will likely contribute to the reform plan exceeding planned expenses.

As it is now, many doctors refuse Medicare patients, does anyone think this situation will improve after the government cuts reimbursement rates even further?

I am in favor of reform, but only reform that makes sense. This does not make sense!

Twice the price

Today I was listening to a town hall meeting with a Democratic Rep and Howard Dean today.
The crowd seemed more or less a mixture of views.

They originally booked it for a place that held 500 people. They switched to a place that held 3,000 people, and still, not everyone got in. Anyone remember when you couldn't get 20 people to a town hall meeting???

A couple of points I'd like to bring out that they discussed.

1. Out of pocket expenses, under the House Bill 3200, will be limited to $5,000 per person or $10,000 for a family. So not only will I NOT be able to keep my insurance plan that I am VERY happy with, I will have the pleasure of paying TWICE the amount I currently pay. Thats a SWEET deal if you ask me!

2. President Obama has made insurance companies the "enemy" in this debate after realizing that "health care reform" didn't poll well because most people are happy with their health care. Yet, the insurance industry SUPPORTS the reform! Thinking people will ask WHY? It is because the insurance industry is looking at additional premiums from the government to insure 47 million more people.

3. Again today they tried to tell the people that this plan is just like Medicaid/Medicare or the Federal Health Care Plans for Federal employees. If thats so true, why not put everyone in it? Or why not just sign everyone up for the Federal Employee plan. Think of all of the savings to be made from not having 3 or 4 separate bureaucracies to administer health care! If its good enough for the American People, why is it not good enough for Federal Employees and the rest of the government? Because they wouldn't stand for it.

It was nice to see how popular Howard Dean is these days......

Some other broader points to consider:

1. We do have a shortage of doctors, esp primary care, in this country. Who, exactly, is going to care for these other 47 million people?

2. The claim is made that illegals will not be covered. But does the bill say that anywhere? Does it even address the issue at all? NOPE. This bill is, even at 1,100 pages, written very broad, and vague. No doubt, somewhere down the road, an un elected government bureaucracy somewhere, will determine that illegals should be covered. Then it will be too late.

3. Nowhere does this bill address TORT REFORM! Not in the least. Not even mentioned.
Just because we have Doctors, who we are short on, closing their doors because they can't afford malpractice premiums, doesn't mean we need tort reform! Nope, not even a little bit of it!

Now for an analogy...of sorts. Your mileage may vary.

I bought a bird feeder the other day. This bird feeder represents the "health care system". The birds, of course, are "health care consumers". The bird seed is "health care".

Now this is a pretty big bird feeder. It holds a lot of seeds. There are also many, many birds around here.

so I go and fill up my bird feeder with seed and hang it in a place to give birds easy access to the feeder. Then I sit in my chair and watch the birds eating the seeds and think to myself, "this is great".

So I come back the next day and my feeder is "EMPTY". I think back, yes I did just fill it up yesterday. So I fill it up again. The next day, again its empty.

So I try to figure out how to fix this problem. What to do?I go out and buy another bird feeder! I fill both of them to the very top. I think to myself, problem solved.
Since it is now beer:30 I dutifully crack one open and watch the birds eating away, thinking to myself that I should be good for a few days now!

In the morning, BOTH feeders are EMPTY!

After purchasing another feeder, plus one of those peanut butter type feeder, I think to myself, "This must fix the problem!"

I get up the next day to find ALL of the feeders EMPTY!

I have concluded that one of two things will happen:
1. I will go broke buying birds seed
or
2. I will have to start rationing the bird seed.

Which do you think I chose? More importantly, when faced with this decision, which do you think the government will choose? I guessing that, like me, they will choose the latter over the former.

While its true that everything in our economic system is rationed in some form or another, usually by price, very little is rationed by the government.
That is as it should be.

People who want to believe that we can have unlimited health care for everyone, for everyone, need to rethink that. It is not possible.

Mis information from President Obama:
1. You can keep your current insurance. NOT true. I won't be able to and I'm VERY happy with my insurance.

2. No health care rationing. Not true. Economics 101 should be enough to convince anyone that this is just not possible. Even today in this country, health care is rationed. But it NOT rationed in the way that other countries with "universal health care" ration it.

Dr Rawlins, who head the NICE in England said:

“be fair to all patients in the National Health Service (NHS), not just patients with macular degeneration or breast cancer or renal cancer. If we spend a lot of money on a few patients, we have less money to spend on everyone else. We are not trying to be unkind or cruel. We are trying to look after everybody.”

That is the truth of rationing in England. The problem is that there never has been, nor will there ever be enough money to provide unlimited health care to all people.
The only conclusion is that it will, in some form or another be limited.

England budgeted 6 billion dollars to build IT infrastructure to run their health system. It costs are now estimated at 30 billion and rising.
This goes to show how the government, theirs and ours, are often way off on the costs associated with its actions.

Another correction

After much protest, Britain will now treat Macular Degeneration before you go blind in one eye.



This is a pretty interesting video. At the end it describes how in Canada it can take a month or more to get an MRI.....unless your a cat or a dog. Pets can usually get them same day or next day!

I'd also like to point out again that the Democrats plan on cutting 400-500 billion from Medicare/Medicaid to come up with some of the savings to pay for this reform.
Also when the Democrats say that you can keep your insurance and your doctor they are not telling the truth. I have an Health Saving Account with Catastrophic Insurance Coverage. This type of plan will no longer be available under the reform plan!!! People with Flexible Savings Accounts(FSA) or Health Reimbursement Arrangement(HRA) will no longer be able to participate in those plans.

Also if you currently have employer provided insurance and lose it, you will be FORCED into the public plan or the public exchange by this new reform.

A correction

I my post about health care I made a mistake. Union members would NOT be expempt from the "reform". They would be exempt from paying taxes on thier health insurance as is now propsed as part of at least one of the proposals. This correction was brought to you by the person who has been correcting me for 42 years now.....my father.....

I'm on the way to the hospital

to get a blood infusion. I've bitten my tongue so many times I'm low on blood. I try not to make this blog political, people that know me know where I stand, but damn.

First I'll say that I did not vote for Obama yet he is, for better or worse, my President. I had hoped he would campaign from the left(as he did) and lead from the middle somewhere(he is not, at least domestically)



His health care imitative is just un real. Its not really his though, he has turned that job over to Congress.

Only one action would convince me that this "plan" was a good plan.

Only one, very simple action would convince me to fully support this initiative.

And this one action would save the government money.

That action would be for ALL federal employees to be put in the plan also.
From the President down to the lowliest janitor in some long ago forgotten federal agency.

I mean if its so good for the American People, it should be good enough for Federal Employees who are, by definition, our employees. Have you ever worked at a place where the workers had better insurance than the employees? Me neither.....

President Obama was asked this exact question. His response was to try and say he was giving the American People the same thing that Federal Employees have, then he tried to blend this with Medicare saying that its just like Medicare, in fact its just like what federal employees have....government provided health care.

Does anyone really believe that????? If you do, wouldn't it be easier for the government to open up the plans to all Americans? Ain't going to happen!

Itroducing a "Public" option is a horrible idea. It will not be long until the government begins to subsidize this "Public" plan to the dis advantage of every other insurer out there. Soon the "Public" option will be the only one available.

So how do you get more health care for less money? How does that work?
President Obama want us to think we can achieve that through efficiency.
Their is no doubt a ton of money to be saved from efficiency, but not enough to pay for this plan.

And why are unions exempt from this "reform"??? The UAW, SEIU among others...I wonder why? Payback???

And this very complex(1,600 pages or so) "reform" has to be done by August??? Sorry, I'm tired of Congress not reading laws they pass!!!!

Our health care system is far from perfect, but when I look around I don't see anything better.

I do not like "pre existing condition" being excluded but it is a necessary evil. Otherwise people would only get insurance when they were sick. You can't get sick and then go buy insurance just like you can't crash your car and then go buy auto insurance. So the only real way to get rid of "pre existing conditions" is to require everyone to have health insurance.

As long as were on cars and health insurance....
Everyone knows they are at risk of getting sick. Pneumonia, flue, colds etc. These are minor ailments. Sort of like maintenance items much like changing the oil in your car is a maintenance item. Imagine what car insurance would cost if it insured against needing an oil change or a car wash!

Indeed, if the insurance workings of cars and health care were interchanged, this debate would be about the cost of car insurance!

Insurance is to mitigate a risk. How risky is a cold? Or a twisted ankle? or a fever over a short time? The normal, routine illnesses that come from being alive. The risk is infinitesimal.

My health insurance is a Health Savings Account. To me it is perfect. I put money, albeit tax free, away in a savings account every payday.I can go to ANY doctor, anywhere in the world! I have a debit card I use to pay the bill. I use that card to pay for all prescriptions and tests also. I can use it to pay fom many maedical related things that insurance will never pay for, like asprin or bandages. My "out of pocket expenses" are limited to $5,000 per year so if something catastophic or serious occurs I know what my expenses would be, and I've already saved for it towards the $5,000. After $5,000 I pay nothing. the insurance picks up ALL cost from therapy to doctors to prescriptions and hospitals. It is what is called High Deductible Health Plan and it pays for any catastophic event or ilness over $5,000.
So for about $130 a week, Karen and I are totally covered.

Another upside is that I question the doctor now becuase I am the consumer! although I have yet to refuse what a doctor ordered for me, he knows that I will question him. He recently ordered 2 tests for me that checked for the same thing. I aksed him if he really needed both. He said that because of my family history, he would feel better with both. I completed both...and they both came back "ok". But the point is that if I had "regular" insurance I would have never even questioned him about the need for both.

And, if I ever get to retire, if their is any money left in it, I can use it for whatever.

Much like "energy reform", this bill will have many un-intended consequences. Congress knows well about those little buggers!

We know all about "energy conservation" out here in Nevada. They have been preaching that for a long time here. Our local electric company recently began offering "interest free" loans for you to add a solar water heating system to your house. Not a bad idea on the surface. Las vegas, much like Pahrump and most of Nevada, have been trying to conserve electricity for many years.

The problem comes when the power company gets your payment for your lower electricity use. You save $50 on your normally $200 electric bill. You think "Great"! The power company thinks "Wow! I didn't make enough money last month!" and drives right over to the State Utility Commission and asks for an increase to bring your bill back up to $200! This exact scenario has already played out in Las Vegas. The power company will get their money, that's why they are in business!

So if your in it for the "environment" go for it....and that's an ok reason. But don't think the electric company is doing you any favors trying to lower your bills.