Image from The People's Voice
There has been a lot of arguing about the national health care reform bill going through Congress. On one side, you have Democrats who by and large support the bill, but can't usually clearly express something to the public. On the other side, you have Republicans who are to a man or woman are against the thing, and use Frank Luntz's code words to argue their points. And in the middle, you have "Blue Dog" Democrats who are contrarians and/or in bed with various health care lobbies.
Wherever you fall, you might want to do yourself a favor and read the thing. It looks pretty damned good to me. I can't imagine not wanting this after reading it. Unless I worked for a big insurance company, I suppose. But there even seems to be a little something-something for them in there. I'm on board. Take a look. . .
[Excerpt]
Benefits and portability
(a) In general.—The health insurance benefits under this Act cover all medically necessary services, including at least the following:
(1) Primary care and prevention.
(2) Inpatient care.
(3) Outpatient care.
(4) Emergency care.
(5) Prescription drugs.
(6) Durable medical equipment.
(7) Long term care.
(8) Mental health services.
(9) The full scope of dental services (other than cosmetic dentistry).
(10) Substance abuse treatment services.
(11) Chiropractic services.
(12) Basic vision care and vision correction (other than laser vision correction for cosmetic purposes).
(13) Hearing services, including coverage of hearing aids.
(b) Portability.—Such benefits are available through any licensed health care clinician anywhere in the United States that is legally qualified to provide the benefits.
(c) No cost-sharing.—No deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or other cost-sharing shall be imposed with respect to covered benefits.
Read it all at: John Conyers for Congress
Wherever you fall, you might want to do yourself a favor and read the thing. It looks pretty damned good to me. I can't imagine not wanting this after reading it. Unless I worked for a big insurance company, I suppose. But there even seems to be a little something-something for them in there. I'm on board. Take a look. . .
[Excerpt]
Benefits and portability
(a) In general.—The health insurance benefits under this Act cover all medically necessary services, including at least the following:
(1) Primary care and prevention.
(2) Inpatient care.
(3) Outpatient care.
(4) Emergency care.
(5) Prescription drugs.
(6) Durable medical equipment.
(7) Long term care.
(8) Mental health services.
(9) The full scope of dental services (other than cosmetic dentistry).
(10) Substance abuse treatment services.
(11) Chiropractic services.
(12) Basic vision care and vision correction (other than laser vision correction for cosmetic purposes).
(13) Hearing services, including coverage of hearing aids.
(b) Portability.—Such benefits are available through any licensed health care clinician anywhere in the United States that is legally qualified to provide the benefits.
(c) No cost-sharing.—No deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, or other cost-sharing shall be imposed with respect to covered benefits.
Read it all at: John Conyers for Congress
This bill is filled with restrictions on choice. I don't see anywhere in the bill that profiteering within the healthcare industry will be curbed, either. If that doesn't end, there will be no reform overall.
ReplyDeleteInclude the President, Congress and the Senate in this new plan and lets see how great it is and how fast they want to push it through!
ReplyDeleteLets take away the health plans they have now and sign them up! They are just as must a part of the nation as we all are. Why can't we
ever start small with any thing? First get rid of all the illegal's that are causing the drain on our systems. Second give the insurance to the people who do not have it not to every one. We need smaller government not bigger! Government get out of our lives!!!!!!!
When are the people going to be represented by the folks voted into office. Grow a spine and stand up and tell this man "NO" the people have said this is not what they want. There is a small group of people who want this and need this lets take care of them.
ReplyDeleteHere is my idea to start reform in insurance: It will take a lot of programming and corporation from both hospitals, doctors and the insurance companies!
Take a look at the insurance industry and at the administrative part of it. How many times do you get a bill for something that was not submitted correctly or was rejected and should have been covered and requires several calls to the doctors and insurance companies offices. Not only is your time taken up but the time of the insurance company and doctors office, the billing paperwork etc. The two need to learn how to communicate better regarding what treatment was done and stop fighting about the code. Come up with universal codes for all insurance companies for the same treatment and come to a basic cost range that the insurance company will cover and be done with it. The there is no question the doctors office knows what to bill and what to expect as payment. The insurance company knows what was done and what to pay. If a secondary insurance is involved it should be automatically forwarded to that insurance company for the secondary compensation. This can all be done by programming. If an error is made in billing it should come up when the charges and codes are entered up front and should be corrected before the charges are submitted to the insurance company. This means that the doctors and insurance companies are linked via computer and the billing is done on-line. The doctor can make notes about treatment in case the insurance doctor needs to review or has questions. They would also be able to ask questions of the office regarding the case and clear things up without having a lot of paper laying around and everything would be well documented. This in its self would save millions! Kill less trees, save on postage and if the patient has email they could receive the payment information on line as well saving the mailing cost of printing & mailing. What do you think?
Republicans want NO action on health care while Obama and the Democrats are in charge. Democrats will water down and dilute any reform in an effort to keep Republicans from squawking too much. Which won't work.
ReplyDeleteAnd we'll be left with the same mess, or one with a few bubble-gum and duct tape "fixes" no one is happy with. It is a shame that when Democrats have the numbers, they can't march in lock-step like Republicans do. I like the independence of the Dems, but I hate the lack of backbone.
I want to be a Czar! What do you think they make? You get to make up the rules as you go along. Spend money the country doesn't have! No one can hate you because the President said you can do what ever he wants you to do! I want to be the Czar of drilling for oil and natural gas in our own country, and having each state try to become as independent as possible. I want to try to close our boarders to protect our country. I want to send the illegal's home and give the unemployed a chance at a job they never thought they would take but they sure wish they hade now. I want to take all the illegal's out of our prisons and take them to the Mexico prison and drop them off because they are very expensive to feed and take care of. I want to change the law that says if you have illegal parents and are born here you are American, nope you are the same nationality as your parent. I am sorry they have to go home but we have to take care of ourselves first and this is a start. This may make their president step up to the plate. We will have to fine the employers that have hired them to pay for the busses to take them home or to the border to walk across. We need to start making other countries start fair trade with the US. If that means tariffs so be it. Sorry I have to be the Mean Czar but someone has to do it! I don't think the President will like me either, so I will have to work fast and stay under the radar and I will need help.
ReplyDeleteI'm always happy to have new readers, but I'm not following most of you.
ReplyDelete