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Posted by: bluetexasvalley 6 months ago
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flyonthewallzz6 months ago
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I agree, (I think?).
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I think focusing on bringing cost down and then offering the option to buy into a government run cost neutral health insurance program (to compete with industry) is the way to go. Perhaps with the option to buy a high deductible low cost option that would cover catastrophic stuff (say over $10G).
It would be cool, if one could put a Family Practitioner on retainer and then pay a reasonable amount for regular visits.
If the purchase price was on par or even a wee bit higher than what companies with more than 500 employees pay, I think a lot of small businesses and self-employed folks would benefit.
I think it is a battle that can be won.
And I think That is the Battle Obama has chosen, and I approve.
I think fighting for "Socialized medicine" in this country would be similar to tilting windmills.
I have been looking at IRS spreadsheets, and the industry tells the IRS and it's stockholders that it is only operating at a 7.6% profit margin (they deduct 23% for "OTHER").
If the government is so inefficient, then why would the industry fear completion from it?
I think there are about 1/4 of a million college educated folks sitting in cubicals for the insurance industry (9% of industry receipts).
I do not think it would be wise to pull the rug out from under them.
But a few haircuts may be in order.-
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Natureboy6 months ago
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"I think there are about 1/4 of a million college educated folks sitting in cubicals for the insurance industry (9% of industry receipts)."
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There are several million more such folks on the other side of the fence, working for medical providers, and doing nothing except trying to navigate the labyrinth that is medical payment in the USA, following up on claims with hundreds of insurance companies, resolving payment disputes, coordinating benefits, reconciling receivables, etc. A single payor system would simplify the administrative end a great deal, and make probably 80% of those jobs unnecessary.
Obama doesn't get it, but making those jobs unnecessary is a good thing. They don't contribute one iota to patient care. Our healthcare system is the sixth biggest economic sector precisely because it is wasteful and dysfunctional - fix it and it will be both smaller and more effective.-
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scott42616 months ago
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On this we agree. I am frustrated that the President is allowing insurance companies to the table at all....you can thank senators like Arkansas' Blanche Lincoln ...or as I like to call her, "Plantation Blanche," because she is a proponent of repealing the estate tax and she is against card check... She is a DINO --- Democrat in Name Only.
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I swear to God, I'm voting GREEN in 2010, just so I don't have to throw my vote away on her!
Sorry to get on a rant, but there are too many Democrats in congress just like Plantation Blanche. THEY are the ones who are holding this back!
This frustrates the HELL out of me!-
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Natureboy5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Take heart, Scott -
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The Canadian plan didn't start off on a grand national scale.
It started in a backwoods town of 15,000 in a backwoods province called Saskatchewan. The town was Swift Current.
When folks saw how it worked in Swift Current, it spread to Saskatchewan, and from Saskatchewan to all of Canada.
Grassroots efforts carry a lot more oomph on a local scale. So maybe we should work on getting county-wide pilot plans in place that will lead to state plans which people will want to adopt on a national level.
In New Mexico, we are working hard to get a good, statewide single-payor plan passed. We have been working on it for more than a decade. It has a lot of popular support, now, so the only way the politicos can kill it without committing political suicide is to make the bill go away in committee. They have been successful in supressing it thus far. But the pressure is building.
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