RestonWeb

RestonResident · Longtime Member Joined: 12 Nov 2006 Posts: 1131

health reform gets bluecross more customers. of course they want it. it is more money.

Chester · Longtime Member Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 1975

Obama is trying to get public support by bashing the insurance companies and the media is swallowing it. Maybe regurgitating it would be a better explanation. It's too bad that we no longer seem to have an independent media capable of keeping Washington in check.

CaptHacker · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 377

Health insurance companies deserve to be bashed. There's nothing good about a company that expects you to pay them expensive monthly premiums, and then, if something goes wrong, they hunt through your records to try and find an excuse to not cover you. They have no problem taking your cash, but they have little or no intention of paying for benefits. I call that theft.

I know of people that won't even see a doctor if they think there's something wrong with them because they're sure they'll be canceled. This is a rampant problem in this country. I didn't do it. Other "beneficiaries" of health care didn't do it. Who's doing it? The health insurance companies, and only because as things are now, they can get away with it.

Put down the crack pipe Chester...just put it down.
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George W. Bush....he didn't raise your taxes, he lowered your income!!

Bob Bruhns · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:50 pm Post subject:

Well, I had an operation in 2008, and it was covered quite well by my health care provider (Kaiser Permanente). I am fortunate I guess to have health care through my job.

There are horror stories in health care, though, and sometimes if you are not looking at everyday mainstream procedures, you get funny looks, quick and inaccurate answers, etc. And the issue of pre-existing conditions is really tough if you are depending on a job to provide care, and then you are unemployed, and your coverage lapses. On the other hand, there is a reality: who is going to pay for exams, tests, treatments and hospital rooms? Where does the money come from?

Maybe the whole cost and the whole incoming payment need to be considered. That's a big job. I have not done this, maybe somebody should. Maybe somebody has.
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The national debt and the deficit are robbing your children, your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren. http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Chester · Longtime Member Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 1975

California has passed a law limiting waiting periods to see doctors because of the long waits to see doctors at Kaiser Permanente for non-urgent visits. The long waits were causing patients to forgo visits or to go outside the network and pay the higher co-pay. Other states are following suit.

The whole issue of HMO's and their ownership of medical facilities seems to be a conflict of interest at least and possibily an anti-trust violation. I think financial payors and service providers should be kept separate. The whole practice of providing year-end bonuses to physicians to reduce costs creates a perverse incentive to deny service.

stix · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 5:15 pm Post subject:

Chester · Longtime Member Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 1975

stix · Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 6:02 pm Post subject:

The "reasons" for much of the opposition to Obamacare is that it raids one troubled entitlement (Medicare) to create another, which in reality will not be paid for without significant healthcare rationing and cost increase for the 250+ or so people with insurance. And please do not cite the CBO scoring based on phony WH/Congressional assumptions.

Federal mandates on insurance companies and patients ala the all-Dem plan are not the way to go .. ameliorating the cost issues at the point of healthcare delivery is. But then that does not satisfy the long range Progressive goal of the only single payer (and benefit arbiter) being the public sector bureaucracy...
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CaptHacker · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 377

Sayeth El Chester:

Chester · Longtime Member Joined: 18 Oct 2003 Posts: 1975

The Obama regs on pre-existing conditions are very easy for the insurance companies to get around. All they have to discontinue the old plans each year when open enrollment comes around and make the policyholders apply for coverage all over again. If they're accepted, the policy will be priced so high that many will have to forgo insurance. Any plan that costs more than $8000/yr is going to be subject to an excise tax. The whole thing is quite brilliant if you want to throw out the policyholders with high probabily of costly claims.

CaptHacker · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 377

That sounds to me like another silly argument. First, the bill isn't finalized so how can you claim there are "loopholes" in it. Second, the intent of the law vs. what's in the law are two different things. There isn't a law on Earth that doesn't have loopholes, but if they're doing they're job right the loopholes will get closed in time...and in this case I suspect they'll get closed quite quickly.

The "Health care is a personal responsibility" argument is just an idiotic way for the Republicans to maintain the status quo.

Let's just take an example of the "Health care is a personal responsibility" argument, but let's use one this theory's staunch supporters, John McCain.

I can just see it now:

stix · Posted: Fri Mar 12, 2010 6:19 am Post subject:

CaptHacker · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 377

....and yet that's what John McCain, Sarah Palin, and other "heroes" of the Republican party say....health care is a personal responsibility. McCain openly and firmly stated that in one of his presidential debates.

Well....let's put that to the test, shall we? Allow me to introduce you to Orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Bhaktar. His nickname is "Bahktar the Butcher." Why? Got a pulled muscle in your back? Clearly a spinal fusion is in order ($100,000+). Muscle tension in the neck? Clearly a disk decompression operatiion is needed ($40,000+). Stub your toe? Obviously reconstructive surgery is in order ($5000+)

"Bahktar the Butcher" was a name given to him by the other nurses and doctors that worked with him. Complain about him? "You're Fired." Yes the hospital he worked at was making a killing off his malpractice. And what did the brilliant insurance companies do? Why, the paperwork was in order, so clearly the "benevolent" doctor shouldn't be questioned.

One must be totally brain dead to not see the problems with the health care system. Who's to blame? Both the insurance companies and their inept personnel as well as the medical practice itself.

Who's the victim of this mess? The American people.

The Republican's solution: This is the finest health care system in the world....leave it alone....things are great...unless you have a pre-existing condition, then it's tough cookies.

Ahhh....The billionaire elite and their unquenching need for more and more money...Yeah, that's who we ought to be focusing on, not the American people. It's who can best finance your campaigns or allocate a high paying lobbyist opinion that counts...not the Amercan people.
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George W. Bush....he didn't raise your taxes, he lowered your income!!

stix · Posted: Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:15 am Post subject:

You must live on another planet CaptHacker, when you are not posting in this forum. Little of what you say about Congressional Republican positions is correct, and most of what you suggest by inference (that Obamacare and amassing huge new entitlement debt is the only way to go) is incorrect.

No Republican has said "...This is the finest health care system in the world....leave it alone....things are great". If you disagree, provide a link.

What they have said is in effect, '...there are problems and here are ways to address them in priority order in these economic times, without massive inefficient federal burcauratic involvement and new debt heaped on us and our children'.

Come back to earth Scotty...
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CaptHacker · Joined: 28 Feb 2005 Posts: 377

Sorry stix...it's you and the Republican Elite that are living on another planet.

Let's take a good, hard look at what the Republicans have done recently as well as in the past:

1. Currently - NOTHING. Make lots of noise, call it "socialism", spread fears that the U.S. residents will be subjected to "Death Panels." They're doing the exact same thing they did during the election. I received tons and tons of automated phone messages from the Republicans, and not once did they offer a solution to anything. "Obama pals around with terrorists" is not a solution. "Obama is a socialist" is not a solution. Noise, noise, noise, and nothing but noise..that's the Republicans.

2. Oh, wait....Bush tried to do something for healthcare didn't he? Of course. He tried to pay for tax cuts to the Republican's Billionaire Elite by having tax deductions for health care costs the average American was getting severely reduced....remember that? CEOs of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, United Healthcare, Goldman Sachs, Merryl Lyinch, Bernie Madoff....just a few elements of the Republican's Billionaire Elite would have gotten millions, in some cases tens of millions of dollars, at the expense of probably 99.99% of the American public. Hey...what a great health care plan!!!

3. And when the Republicans were in control of the house....what did they do about health care?? NOTHING, absolutely nothing.

The Republicans have become nothing but a useless, do nothing political party, They have no real solutions to offer anyone. Democrats are far from perfect, but at least they're trying to do something.
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George W. Bush....he didn't raise your taxes, he lowered your income!!