The Health Plan

Robin11 wrote

on 21 Aug 2009 8:28 PM

Do you understand it?  Insurance is one of the things that keeps many of us chained to jobs that keep us from "going for it" with our art.  And many others just go without and hope for the best, especially the younger artists.  Which is scary.  I think we need SOMETHING, but is it what's on the table now?

I can't find a simplified explanation, with pros and cons, anywhere!  I can read the 500 pages of the bills, but I don't even know what the current issues are in health care, problems, etc. and certainly can't analyze it and decide if I'm for it or not.

Some folks are SO SURE about yea or nay.  How about you?  (And if you can direct me to a dumbed down, but evenhanded explanation...please do!)

DanaD12 wrote

on 22 Aug 2009 11:50 AM

Robin, there's some good info out there to ck out.  I've made myself familiar with all of the pros and cons and I'm on the pro side of the Plan.  Here's a good site:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/?e=11&ref=text0

http://www.whitehouse.gov/realitycheck/faq/?e=11&ref=myth1

The second link should answer your questions.  Don't want to get too political but the GOP seems to want to block it for purely political reasons.  They had 8 years to do something and nothing happened.  Big insurance companies are totally against it as they will lose money, however, meds will be less expensive and that's one of my concerns...have a friend who only takes her meds every other day as she can't afford to take them daily!!!  Scary stuff.

I once posted a poll on an artist's board asking who had health insurance and who didn't.  68% said they didn't have it.  Ouch.

jaydub wrote

on 22 Aug 2009 6:19 PM

I am on s.s. disability, and have medicare, and pay $96.00 a month for the supplemental.. my wife, who is applying for her green card, has none. It is very scary,not getting sick , but the mentality of most corporatised health care(?) systems.

The bottom line has been profit!  I have had very un-nerving experiences with doctors geared towards seemingly reaching their monthly quotas,and how blaise they are in their relating to the patients. Unnecessary cat scans and mri's are just the tip of a huge ice berg tearing holes into families finances.

Robin11 wrote

on 23 Aug 2009 8:54 AM

Thanks Dana, that was interesting but I'd really like to hear the "cons" of the folks who oppose THIS plan, and an analysis of both, not just one side's.

Don't forget the lawyers.  The doctors NEED to do those unnecessary CT scans to protect themselves from the lawyers who feed off of any less than perfect health outcome! 

I truly think everyone deserves the health care they need, but need to figure out if this is the way to get that.

jaydub wrote

on 23 Aug 2009 9:18 AM

They are unecessary procedures none the less, that inflate the cost of health care. Can be a back crusher  for someone un-insured, why have not the vultures carrying legal briefcases been examined in their part of this huge mess? I don't watch or read the orwellian newspeak, so i am not up to date with the latest 24/7 verbal diarreha.

judyl40 wrote

on 24 Aug 2009 11:55 AM

I have yet to hear a rational argument against health care reform. Unfortunately, most of the 'con' arguments out there are based on misinformation & knee jerk reactions.

Bottom line is that health care is expensive, & it's only going to get more expensive  & wasteful under the current private insurance corporations. Single payer will save billions of dollars of administrative fees. As well. it should be the medical practitioners determining what is necessary for the patient, not the insurance companies.

I'd be interested in hearing any negatives on this as well.

judyl40 wrote

on 24 Aug 2009 11:57 AM

I tried all kinds of searches, Robin, & much of it is just op-ed at this point. I did find this site, however, that had a lot of info:

http://www.pnhp.org/

jaydub wrote

on 27 Aug 2009 1:32 PM

The groups that really need to examined, after years of turning away and looking at diversionary events and their tag a long current events. Are the Financiers of the central banks, and lawyers from the ambulance chasers to the congressman and the k st. lobbyists.

We spent $ 700 billion dollars a year on war making and maintaing forward operating bases. This country spent more on war making than  the rest of the world combined.

The insurance companies and petrochemical-drug companies, are needed to be told that the big easy money days are gone. No nore having pretty men and women drug company reps bringing over italian gardens meals for lunch for the docs and their staffs.

valeriemalley wrote

on 31 Aug 2009 12:10 PM

I watched on PBS, Bill Moyers, The Journal, Money Driven Medicine on the weekend.  In a film about the book written by Maggie Mahar.  One thing it discussed was that in Med Schools not many Doctors are going into primary care medicine because of the costs of schooling and paying back these costs from what they would earn as primary care doctors as opposed to being specialty doctors:  most are going into specialties hence many people are without primary care Doctors.  And Doctors themselves are concerned about declining care with patients, the lack of time that can be spent with patients, and that there is little they can do about it.  It is a program that can be viewed by going to Bill Moyers Journal, Video, where it has both video and transcript capabilities.  On Bill Moyers' home page, you can also reach this information plus there is a sidebar "Our Posts" and "Your Comments" that people weigh in to discuss the Health Care situation in America.  As a Canadian I am grateful to have the safety net of Health Care we have. 

j.b2 wrote

on 31 Aug 2009 2:22 PM

I'm not sure if I want to weigh in on this one. Not because I'm in sharp disagreement with anybody, but because of my own unique experiences with the healthcare system...

Robin11 wrote

on 31 Aug 2009 5:04 PM

I've been so busy I haven't had any time at all to devote to this but will now.

One thing I've observed is that the "cons" all seem to be the product of radio shows.  THere's one going on right now in Phila, sponsored by a talk show host.

judyl40 wrote

on 1 Sep 2009 9:50 AM

Hey Valerie, I didn't know you were Canadian! Me too. I've been living down here in Maryland for the last 5 years, so I've had some experience with both systems.

One of the things that I hate about American health care is that it's a for-profit system, so it's great if you have lots of money, loads of health insurance & you're a hypochondriac. If you're insured, they'll encourage you to get all kinds of what I would consider unwarranted tests, & I'm sure that there's a two tier price list for the insured & the uninsured. So everyone is paying for the abuse of the private insurance companies, & of course, all that does is drive insurance rates up. On top of that, the insurance companies can drop you like a hot potato anytime, if & when you really really need the health care. I think that's nuts.

Sixty-two percent of all bankcruptcies in the US are due to medical emergencies that are not covered by insurance. And this does not mean that a patient was not insured when tragedy struck... it can also mean that the insurance companies have the ability to wriggle out of their promises because they're huge corporate monopolies who can afford to hire lawyers to get them out of any contract.

If there was one non profit insurance that everyone paid into, the costs would drop because of the sheer efficiency of everyone using one system to administer the business side of medicine. This is not about changing health care itself, this is about changing the business of medicine.

Medicine is a profession, not a business.

judyl40 wrote

on 1 Sep 2009 9:53 AM

I wouldn't doubt that at all Robin. I'm sure that the fuel behind all the protests are fired up by the insurance companies & their lobbyist groups.

jaydub wrote

on 1 Sep 2009 2:20 PM

Sixty-two percent of all bankcruptcies in the US are due to medical emergencies that are not covered by insurance. And this does not mean that a patient was not insured when tragedy struck... it can also mean that the insurance companies have the ability to wriggle out of their promises because they're huge corporate monopolies who can afford to hire lawyers to get them out of any contract. Quote Judy Talingo...

They are huge money holes, almost as gigantic as the federal reserve...this is unsustaineable economics. Much like wall street is..with a handful of obscenely weathly individuals, making huge amounts of profit in situations that if i were to do something of that brazeness, i would be in jail or six feet under.

Lili Anne Laurin wrote

on 9 Oct 2009 6:45 AM

I think the discussion we are having here is very important but I hope that all of you are also directing your passions and concerns about reforming the healthcare in this country by writing your representatives in government. Did you know that for every person who writes their congressman, senator etc about an issue, the politicians calculate that the one writer represents 9 other people with the same views. So your voice is amplified by the power of 10!