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To DCMS:
In general, I support the main aspects of Healthcare Reform in the Senate, without any new Government Option. The Government hopes to use their power to control physicians and physician charges. They may require that physicians must participate in the Public Option (P.O.) if they want to continue to participate in Medicare. They are trying to force Physicians to use EHR so that they can check up on physician-patient records easily and control physician activities as well as charges.
The people behind this Government Option are Progressives, who eventually want to see a Single Payer system as in Canada and even Socialized Medicine as in the UK. Although the Public Option doesn’t specifically say this, it would result in employers gradually dropping their private insurance (paying the penalty) and letting individuals purchase the Public Option – often at the taxpayer’s expense. Ultimately the more progressive plan such as in the House (as opposed to the one by the Sen. Fin. Committee) would over time cost many times more than they currently say and it would lead to larger increases in Premiums. Taxpayers would be paying the bill down the road and Premiums would continue to rise. A recent independent CBO study predicted that Premiums would be even higher for those in the Public Option. Meanwhile, their study showed that modest Tort Reform would save $50 billion over 10 years.
Regarding the recent effort to “bribe” Physicians (AMA) to accept the P.O. plan in return for “fixing” the 20% cut in Medicare - don’t fall for it. That will be fixed later on by Republicans and most Democrats.
The most important aspect of Healthcare reform is to finally repeal the anti-trust exemption for Medical Insurance companies. The House bill does that, and Sen. Reid says he “may” do that in an amendment to their bill, but he refused to put it in the initial bill. After doing this, then finally there might be out-of-state competition for Medical Insurance. There would be NO NEED for the P.O. in that case. However, a Stronger Co-Op could be worked out that would provide an alternative, without leading to Gov’t. takeover of Health Insurance during the next 20 years. It could be written into the bylaws, that when this National Co-Op reached a certain size, it would be required to de-Merge, just as the BC/BS companies have.
As Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe suggests, there should be AFFORDABLE insurance plans offered to everyone – Catastphopic-plus type. However, the penalties for individuals not purchasing this insurance should be substantial, or else Premiums for others would go higher.
Healthcare providers should be allowed to compete for “cash payment” for those individuals who don’t have or don’t want to use their insurance. Currently, providers generally charge one fixed rate that is higher than the highest rate charged to insurance companies. Individuals who would otherwise not be able to afford healthcare treatments or diagnostic tests, would then be able to “shop around” for the lowest cash for service price. Providers would be happy, because they would be receiving new cash payments from new patients, without having to submit to insurance. This would reduce the overall cost of healthcare if someone without insurance coverage could get an MRI for say $400 instead of $1100 (an estimated currently billed rate).
Also, it would be wise if there could be some national regulatory agency that would allow providers to appeal Insurance billing decisions, just as the “Fee Review” part of the W/C bureau does. My fear is that Insurance companies will be finding ways to save money on doctor’s bills, so that they could keep premiums lower.
The politicians have tried to put all the blame for the increase in Healthcare on the Insurance companies. However, much of the increase is due to increased sicknesses and patient visits (more men than in the past) and more expensive methods of treatment. Our society is grossly overweight, due to too much sitting behind computers, and lack of exercise. A small sugared beverage tax, taken at the cash register, would encourage individuals to switch to diet, while raising needed revenue from those who choose not to lose weight. Overtaxing the wealthy, as Nancy Pelosi calls for, is not good for our nation, as the wealthy are already going to be responsible for bailing out the nations’ new debt.
In summary, Democrats must have some Healthcare Bill passed ASAP. There is a simple solution to drop the Public Option from the Senate version so that discussion on how to actually increase private competition and lower premiums can proceed. It would still keep open the possibility for a trigger (in States that don’t prove to be competitive) in the final merged Healthcare Bill. The final price tag should be no more than the $900 billion as President Obama called for.
PS.
Finally, as a note, I would like to see the PA Medical Society inform the public about the stoppage of production of Seasonal Flu vaccine (in order for the few manufacturers to produce H1N1). I wonder if our Federal Gov’t. is too embarrassed to admit that there will be a major shortage in a few weeks – after all the criticism of H1N1 and Healthcare. Had the CDC announced a shortage in Seasonal flu for this year one month ago, when this was known, then vaccines could have been rationed and saved for those in high risk. Instead there will be almost nothing in a few weeks.
Here is a short discussion from the PA Medical Society. It Illustrates how our Federal Government isn’t being honest with us at this time when they are trying to ram though a Progressive Healthcare bill.http://www.pamedsoc.org/MainMenuCategories/PatientCare/PublicHealth/Influenza/Shortages.aspx
(Anonymous)
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