|
Post by island tech on Oct 19, 2009 10:46:53 GMT -4
The dems wanted change and their getting it! Unforunately so are the rest of us!
|
|
|
Post by falgar25 on Oct 19, 2009 14:59:59 GMT -4
We just went through an open season. There were very few changes as far as I could tell. I was hit with the largest change, a significant increase in my monthly contribution. However, when I found the breakdown of costs for both last year and this year it was very interesting.
It turns out the total cost of my healthcare package actually decreased this year. The increase in my contribution was offset by a decrease in the company's portion: I'm paying more, they're paying less. Yeah, I'm going to remember that for a long time.
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 19, 2009 15:40:45 GMT -4
island...Most Dems I know didnt ask for or vote for that kind of change.....If we had our way about it, this big business managed care system that keeps raising your premium rates under the excuse of the "recession" wouldnt be existing...But as long as people are kept in the dark thinking its the best way to proceed for healthcare, this will keeping happening...Many Republicans unknowingly asked for that and got it too.
|
|
|
Post by safetildecember on Oct 19, 2009 20:54:00 GMT -4
I didn't really consider this article a political item, even though I did post it in that section, seemed like the right place at the time. Can the dems be blamed for employer covered health insurance cost going up? Yes, they can.
|
|
|
Post by island tech on Oct 19, 2009 21:05:33 GMT -4
One of the reasons its going up is because of the pending health care bill that is being shoved down our throats! They want to make it so tough to afford you wont have a choice but to sign up for the government run option.
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 19, 2009 22:48:30 GMT -4
Alot pf people are being bankrupt with healthcare costs and dont have much choice now as it is with managed care so whats the difference?...At least govt is monitored...Managed care isnt.
|
|
|
Post by eileen on Oct 19, 2009 23:16:07 GMT -4
Alot pf people are being bankrupt with healthcare costs and dont have much choice now as it is with managed care so whats the difference?...At least govt is monitored...Managed care isnt. Steph, I posed this question to you in another thread -- how can you claim that govt healthcare is monitored when Obama himself admits to hundreds of millions of dollars existing in waste and fraud in Medicare/Medicaid?? Sorry, but I trust private industry far more than I do the government.
|
|
|
Post by eileen on Oct 19, 2009 23:17:52 GMT -4
Sorry, correction - hundreds of BILLIONS of dollars in fraud/waste.
|
|
|
Post by nightpurse99 on Oct 20, 2009 4:14:31 GMT -4
Allow free market of insurance. Get Mr. Obama out of it!!
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 20, 2009 9:36:13 GMT -4
If you want to financially support big corporations like BCBS, nurse, thats your choice...Just allow the rest of us some other choice and dont force me to pay for their mistakes and waste of managed care...I already have thousands of dollars worth of free mugs and pens and notepads from insurance companies that could have paid for someone elses medications or doctors apppintments over the course of 20 years....Ive already paid the Pharmaceutical giants enough for their several billion dollar TV commercials for Paxil and Celexa and Wellbutrin.....enough already!.....Not ONCE did I EVER receive a free clock or pen or mug of free lunch from Medicare/Medicaid....Not once did Medicare/Medicaid show a billion dollar commercial on drugs....Not once from Medicare.Medicaid was I refused healthcare for a patient because of "medical neccesity" BS..I wonder why? ? There is alot of waste in Medicare and Medicaid but there is far MORE waste in private healthcare..ANY monitoring of govt healthcare programs is better than NO monitoring at all like BSBC...They will rob you blind and make a killing off you in the process....Yes, part of my axed susbtance abuse program PROVES that there is monitoring of govt. healthcare programs....Otherwise, why would it have been axed if someone didnt look at it and critique it? That makes it public knowledge for all and THAT is the beauty of govt. healthcare programs...You the consumer has some power to change it...Either thru your vote of elected officials who ax it for political reasons or thru town hall municipal voting....NOT so with private healthcare..You have no choice to change their big corporation system unless everyone revolts and overthrows it.....They all operate the same way and they keep that secret from you..so it is a monopoly.......Resolving some of that waste in govt. doesn NOTHING to clean up the mess in privatized healthcare.....What amazes me here is alot dont even know that and choose just to focus on the "govt" healthcare, as if taking care of that only will fix this...it wont....There is no freedom when your healthcare is rationed by businesses so they can make a profit....Im so thankful Obama has the courage to at least challenge the powerful healthcare lobbyists of managed care and is trying to enact some change.....Id rather see a 2 tiered system: one for those who want to financially support managed care and think they are getting the "free market", the other one a govt one for people who cant afford privatized healthcare and those who refuse to subsidize corporate managed healthcare.....Down with corporate welfare monopolies of privatized healthcare .. Eileen, I think you will revisit this conversation about healthcare years later and find that you supporting privatized managed care did nothing to give you freedom of choice, increase your quality of care, or reduce your premiums.....Prepare for the next decades of supporting that to be the same old same old.
|
|
|
Post by - on Oct 20, 2009 12:51:20 GMT -4
I would like to address this issue if I could.
I am a health insurance broker. The government could not handle the Medicare program so who did they pull in to bail them out about 15 years ago? The insurance industry. I told our new Congressman this same story. I also reminded him that the insurance industry is ok, it is the lawyers of this world that are to blame. They are the ones at fault. Lawsuits against doctors for malpractice have been the single most important element in driving up our health insurance costs, not the insurance companies. My doctor pays on January 1st each year, $250,000 malpratice insurance premims before she makes a single cent. Combine that with the same situation that hospitals face annually and what do you get? Higher costs to cover these expenses and who is the one that the finger is pointed too in the end? The insurance company. It is not their fault they have to cover their costs as well with higher rates from the doctors and hospitals etc. The ones to blame are the lawyers. They are the ones that made a fortune at the expense of the poor doctor/hospitals that were trying to save somones life.
As I see it, yes we need a reform in the insurance industry. Finally, the brains on capital hill have pulled in the insurance industry executives to try to work out programs to fit into every situation. Why would a healthy 25 yr old male in Massachusetts have to pay $300 month for his insurance when the same 25 yr old here in Maryland pays $95? That is the situation today because Massachusetts is a guaranteed issued state and everyone pays the same rate, healthy or " the un-insurable". What I also told our Congressman is that when he votes on a program make sure that the healthy people are guaranteed " preferred rates" as they deserve something for living a healthy life.
If any of you would have questions on your health insurance programs, concerns with your new " open enrollment" please feel free to IM me. I will give you straight, honest answers. Thank you for your time and allowing me to make a few points here.
|
|
|
Post by safetildecember on Oct 20, 2009 13:45:49 GMT -4
I would like to address this issue if I could. I am a health insurance broker. The government could not handle the Medicare program so who did they pull in to bail them out about 15 years ago? The insurance industry. I told our new Congressman this same story. I also reminded him that the insurance industry is ok, it is the lawyers of this world that are to blame. They are the ones at fault. Lawsuits against doctors for malpractice have been the single most important element in driving up our health insurance costs, not the insurance companies. My doctor pays on January 1st each year, $250,000 malpratice insurance premims before she makes a single cent. Combine that with the same situation that hospitals face annually and what do you get? Higher costs to cover these expenses and who is the one that the finger is pointed too in the end? The insurance company. It is not their fault they have to cover their costs as well with higher rates from the doctors and hospitals etc. The ones to blame are the lawyers. They are the ones that made a fortune at the expense of the poor doctor/hospitals that were trying to save somones life. As I see it, yes we need a reform in the insurance industry. Finally, the brains on capital hill have pulled in the insurance industry executives to try to work out programs to fit into every situation. Why would a healthy 25 yr old male in Massachusetts have to pay $300 month for his insurance when the same 25 yr old here in Maryland pays $95? That is the situation today because Massachusetts is a guaranteed issued state and everyone pays the same rate, healthy or " the un-insurable". What I also told our Congressman is that when he votes on a program make sure that the healthy people are guaranteed " preferred rates" as they deserve something for living a healthy life. If any of you would have questions on your health insurance programs, concerns with your new " open enrollment" please feel free to IM me. I will give you straight, honest answers. Thank you for your time and allowing me to make a few points here. Sounds like tort reform is what we need.
|
|
|
Post by Water Lady on Oct 20, 2009 21:47:12 GMT -4
Alot pf people are being bankrupt with healthcare costs and dont have much choice now as it is with managed care so whats the difference?...At least govt is monitored...Managed care isnt. Who monitors the government? The government. Bad, bad, bad...it never works and has been proved. You dispel that "fact" and my other ear may open for sound; otherwise, I'm not listening to the "company line" on this issue.
|
|
|
Post by safetildecember on Oct 20, 2009 22:16:02 GMT -4
Maybe if the pharmaceutical companies were not taking people to the cleaners and then some, people would not be so broke and could afford their medical care. The price of medications are outrageous. There needs to be tort reform as well.
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 20, 2009 23:21:46 GMT -4
You got that right, Safe....Especially when they have such a complete legal monopoly on it. If I try to purchase my meds in Canada, where they are much cheaper, Im threatened with arrest by the Federal Govt if I bring it over the border... I tried to purchase an expensive migraine med and found it about one third the cost in Canada. So much for the free enterprise system and shopping around.....Canada has no problem selling drugs over here but the US sure has a problem bringing them in. Im sure the pharm companies were behind that law, protecting their financial interests and forcing people here to pay inflated prices for medications...
|
|
|
Post by safetildecember on Oct 20, 2009 23:45:46 GMT -4
It would be easier to bring an IED or some other type of bomb over the border than a medicine.
|
|
|
Post by misternuke on Oct 21, 2009 0:02:42 GMT -4
You got that right, Safe....Especially when they have such a complete legal monopoly on it. If I try to purchase my meds in Canada, where they are much cheaper, Im threatened with arrest by the Federal Govt if I bring it over the border... I tried to purchase an expensive migraine med and found it about one third the cost in Canada. So much for the free enterprise system and shopping around.....Canada has no problem selling drugs over here but the US sure has a problem bringing them in. Im sure the pharm companies were behind that law, protecting their financial interests and forcing people here to pay inflated prices for medications... And yet strangely enough the pharmaceutical industry association "PHARMA" is a backer of Obamacare....them and the trial lawyers' lobby. Curious indeed...
|
|
|
Post by falgar25 on Oct 21, 2009 4:01:24 GMT -4
It would be interesting to know why the medications are less expensive in Canada. Is it really as simple as the drug companies intentionally rip off the US consumer while charging only a fraction of the price in Canada? Or, could there be a more complex reason?
|
|
|
Post by island tech on Oct 21, 2009 12:20:37 GMT -4
here's a good listen! www.youtube. com/watch_ popup?v=G44NCvND Lfc
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 21, 2009 15:25:43 GMT -4
The reason why medications are less expensive in Canada is because they dont have the business market for it.....Single payer healthcare is the norm there....So there are no Pharm companies to jack up prices and exploit the illnesses of people. Pharm companies want a strict monopoly on prices, forcing Americans to pay their prices or risk arrest bringing meds into Canada.... I find it ironic that many here defend the "free market system" of healthcare while they cant even get meds for the best price and and are forced to pay inflated prices.....some free market system that is......I saw Imatrex in Canada for about HALF of what Id pay here... Do you see billion dollar ads for Paxil and Wellbutrin on TV in Canada?...No, you dont.....Theres a reason for that...and you the consumer foots the bill.
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 21, 2009 15:52:15 GMT -4
Waterlady...The taxpayers monitored my govt. healthcare programs....not the govt...both on state and municipal and federal levels..All info was submitted to the public either via local town hall meetings or state/ federal records.... And you still havent answered to the fact that NO ONE monitors corporate health insurance companies like BCBS. Right this minute BCBS lobbyists are clammering to get into bed with politicians regarding health care reform....I wonder why?...Fox in the henhouse Wonders why you like getting increased premiums while decreased care as they make a profit off of you. And I guess an untrained, unlicensed, uncredentialed paperpusher is better than your MD or experienced healthcare provider regarding making your healthcare decisions since you dont seem to want to change this and put the power of that back to the healthcare providers who give the treatments. Just dont complain when they make costly mistakes and expect you to foot the bill.
|
|
|
Post by falgar25 on Oct 21, 2009 22:13:34 GMT -4
The reason why medications are less expensive in Canada is because they dont have the business market for it.....Single payer healthcare is the norm there....So there are no Pharm companies to jack up prices and exploit the illnesses of people. Pharm companies want a strict monopoly on prices, forcing Americans to pay their prices or risk arrest bringing meds into Canada.... I find it ironic that many here defend the "free market system" of healthcare while they cant even get meds for the best price and and are forced to pay inflated prices.....some free market system that is......I saw Imatrex in Canada for about HALF of what Id pay here... Do you see billion dollar ads for Paxil and Wellbutrin on TV in Canada?...No, you dont.....Theres a reason for that...and you the consumer foots the bill. I understand the "I hate the corporate managed care giants and pharm companies" answer. I understand this is how you feel. I am interested in whether this is the reason or only a highly-biased opinion. For example, is it possible that the lack of advertising is due to the lack of a market which is due to a single-payer system that won't pay for the specialized meds we have available here? Is it possible that there are restrictions against importing drugs from Canada because: 1, the Canadian health care system subsidizes them and every pill that goes to an American is a pill that is unavailable to a tax-paying Canadian; 2, the Canadian health care system controls the price of the drugs in much the same way the corporate managed care giants control the price of Dr. visits here; 3, the name-brand pills you can get in Canada are actually untested, fake, and dangerous; or 4, the drugs available in Canada are rip-offs of the American, name-brand drugs and violate the American patent? That "strict monopoly" the Pharm companies want is sometimes known as patent rights. A single-payer system is not an example of a free and open market. How can it be if it isn't open? A single-payer system, when the Govt. is the payer, is an example of Socialism. That alone doesn't make it bad, but recognize it for what it is.
|
|
|
Post by misternuke on Oct 21, 2009 23:09:58 GMT -4
The profit motive, however, drives a lot of the innovation we see in the US pharmaceutical industry. I don't see too many Canuck pharm companies among the leaders in new breakthrough products. The majority of new introductions worldwide are the product of American innovation, funded by internal R&D money put up by the developers as an investment in potential future profits.
Take away the profit motive, and the new products will dry up before you know it.
|
|
|
Post by dej on Oct 22, 2009 3:22:12 GMT -4
Our enrollment period is coming up, but we did get a "sneak preview" of the changes. My monthly contribution is going up, and my deductable is going up. But it was also pointed out that artificial insemination is now covered. I called my wife (she was babysitting our newest grandson), but I'm not gonna try to post her response to my newest insurance benefit. I don't think it'll get past the automatic "bad word" censor on the forum
|
|
|
Post by stephadele on Oct 22, 2009 4:05:29 GMT -4
And those drugs sold in Canada are just the same as those sold here in the US. ..The exact same meds we get here are sold in Canada for a fraction of the cost. From what my friends in Montreal tell me, they have the same access to medications as we do here...without the high price...My girlfriend and her husband cant believe the US is forced to subsidize the pharm companies just to get their meds....Their meds cost about half as much as ours do, from what she has told me about Imatrex and Wellbutrin and others... Apprarently, the same thing is happening in Europe...meds are much cheaper there without the the market system of pharm companies jacking up the prices. My own family in Texas used to get medications secretly in Mexico because they were so cheap....Retin A acne medication used to cost about a tenth of what it does in the US...the price was on the tube.. Ive examined many of them..they are the SAME RX as here...only ten times cheaper... If Pharm companies were truly concerned about patient rights, they would not be allowed to monopolize and force people to pay outrageous, inflated prices for drugs or go without . Confidentiality of patient and doctor also wouldnt be compromised as it is in managed care if they were so concerned about patient rights...It is routine practice for a healthcare provider in mental health to be required to inform insurance companies of detailed private and personal histories of people seeking care in order to receive authorized visits... I formed my opinion about managed care and pharm companies after working with them for 20 years as healthcare provider. Its was not a quick, uninformed opinion, it took many years for me to come to the conclusions I did with certainty. I kept giving privatized healthcare a chance to fix itself year after year .....way back in the early 90s....at first....Against my better judgement.. But then year after year I kept witnessing them do the bait and switch tactics in order to keep things the same and throw people off. Drug companies in bed with rich doctors, "employee contractors" , who were paid off to provide lectures for lavish drug lunches.....Then after lunch is over Im listening to a single mother in session who is forced to either pay for her sons expensive asthma meds and antidepressants or pay her utilties..while in the next room people have pigged out on $200 take out from Olive Garden It was enough to make puke. This one lunch could have paid for her meds for a month.....And to top it off, shes not even allowed medication samples from her MD...so shes robbed twice by the pharm companies. This happened every week in my career. It dawns on you that they are in business to do exackly this. Consumers being fed the Party line by BCBS about things getting too expensive and so" we have to raise your premiums."...."We also require you to fill out these forms every month on YOUR appointment time if you want services"...so more BS was piled on..consumers and providers being required to do more and get less.... I kept watching more and more people being denied care and and more loopholes and new rules created and then changed and beaurocracy used as a means to shut people out of fighting back and appealing their decisions... After years of watching them bait and switch the public so they could maintain their profits, I knew they werent going to change because they rely on this to stay alive....the public premiums are the tit they need to suck to maintain their profits.. And what good are new products if there is no healthy market competition in which to buy them? Being forced to pay inflated prices for drugs while the rest of the Western world pays a fraction of that only benefits one party: the profiteers. And since healthcare isnt on par as a commodity such as TVs, housing , retail, ect, the consequences of it going bust and not being accessable financially are much more serious than just financially tightening your belt and going without......Your life and health are adversely afffected...not the case if you didnt have access to a new TV set because you couldnt afford one....People die because of lack of affordable , accessable healthcare... Which is precisely why it should not be in the category of a markable commodity only. Single payer healthcare at least gives us a choice of having some basic care rather than to go without or go broke trying to pay for it.. And we all know what happens when people ignore the illness because they cant afford to treat it, medicate it... They go to the ER at some point...which increases hospital costs for everyone .. and increases the wait lines there. They clog the substance abuse rehabs and mental health inpatient units and make beds scare. What goes around comes around. You cant rob Peter to pay Paul anymore.
|
|