HEALTH CARE HEARINGS

10/30/2013


                           Are you watching the Health Care Hearings ?
                           What a fiasco.....A waste of tax payers money
                           All they have to do is get the website working, I
                           checked the New Mexico Health Exchange, no
                           problems , just like other states that have health
                           exchanges, they all work. I say if the Canadian Co.,
                           they hired , why I don't know because we have great
                           Co.'s in Silicone Valley who could have done the job for
                           less....I say then the Canadian company shouldn't be
                           paid, period....

                                                       Cheers...Joe...

People are ridiculous --they could just pick up their phones.
When medicare launched there were no websites.

10/30/2013

                    Alice..

                           I agree ! I did find out something that shocked me when I watched 
                the hearings and a congress lady brought it up, I would ask the same question.
                Why would a single 30, 40, 50 year old man want maternity leave on his insurance
                when he doesn't need it ? Her asnwer was, it's part of the mandate. I think they
                need to change this, if your a single male you don't need it, if you get married
                that's another story..

                                                           Cheers..Joe...

There is no singular "blame."  The whole development process was very hush hush.  No one from Congress was overlooking its development.  They were too busy trying to kill it or defend it and otherwise do nothing else - busy doing nothing.

First, I think it was major wrong to use an out of U.S. company to build the system.  Wrong.  Second, it was wrong to let the states opt out of putting together their own exchanges.  It was the Republicans that kept the states from developing their own - and the original plan was the U.S. system was a back up for those states that just could not build their own - not a refusal as it turned out.  That lack of state systems put extra burden on the U.S. system.

Next. there was no discussion of all the little bits that are annoying until it was done!  There was just a blanket "kill it" from the Republicans and "save it" from the Democrats. 

The Insurance companies are making out like bandits, and they are the piece demanded in the early stages by Republicans instead of a single pay system where a few providers would get the bid.  That would have been so much easier - or like Medicare - a single pay system and then options for insurance providers to compete.  The insurance companies used this opportunity to clean house - and its unconscionable but par for the course in business.  It was naive to think the insurance companies wouldn't take advantage of this system that is a slam on their overall delivery before Obamacare.  NO matter what they get lots of customers who never bought insurance before.  They get to cut out the poor risks because those policies don't meet standards.  Win-win for them.

The publicity was abominable. It left a vacuum for the detractors to fill in with misinformation and fear and then jump on the complicated roll out and say, "I told you so."  If proper pre-training of the population and preparation for the possibilities from the new system had been better communicated, the complexity would not have fallen like hail on those seeking services.

A simple thing like a voting machine - look at Florida.  Rolling out a complex system requires months of educating the public.  Most people didn't have a clue about it's pieces until the day the roll out failed.

It helps pay for those who need it, but can't afford it.

10/30/2013

                         WRONG ! A man shouldn't have to have this mandate if he's single
                    30, 40, 50 yrs old, their just trying to screw the single guys.....Mandate
                    needs to be terminated at once by congress..Trust me it's not my
                    problem as a single man, these people have to learn and be educated
                    then again maybe they don't want to be?

                                                              Cheers...Joe..

Thank you for correcting me!  I am  only a woman and was just guessing anyway.

This is my second attempt to post here. I am still getting used to this Kindle tablet.

Here is the thing: The media is making a heydey of nothing. It is what they do. Think about the initial procedures that were required to put social security into place, and without computers. Every Us citizen had to be given an official name and number. (My muse wrote a song about "How many people have the same name?" I will spare you the video. I think you can get the message without it.)

Long story short, they did it.

And when the Medicare Part D program was passed while the W was pres, there were lots of problems setting it all up, which were fairly quickly resolved, as these will be.

It is a non-issue created by frantic conservatives and exascerbated by frantic media who have no real problems to create their productions, so they create them - on both sides.

.

    

alj wrote:

This is my second attempt to post here.  I am still getting used to  this Kindle tablet.

Here is the thing:  The media is making a heydey of nothing.  It is what they do.  Think about the initial procedures that were required to put social security into place, and without computers.  Every Us citizen had to be given an official name and number.  (My muse wrote a song about "How many people have the same name?" I will spare you the video.  I think you can get the message without it.)

Long story short, they did it.

And when the Medicare Part D program was passed while the W was pres, there were lots of problems setting it all up, which were fairly quickly resolved, as these will be.

It is a non-issue created by frantic conservatives and exascerbated by frantic media who have no real problems to create their productions, so they create them - on both sides.

10/30/2013

                           Aj Aj Aj Aj Aj Aj......Mandate is gone...

                                      Cheers..Joe..

I'm back to no tablet.

I agree the media beat it to death.  All these things are fixable.  Again, if it was put in place as originally envisioned, there would have been less stress on the U.S. exchange.  The little glitches in policy will get fixed along the way.  There's another glitch relative to families that needs a fix. 

Remember the first time you set up a web site?  I still have a glitch on mine and it's been up since 2006.  I have a search box that doesn't search !!!

My main complaint is the lack of information in preparation of roll out - and I think that was likely on purpose because the Republicans stood poised in attack mode for every breath about ACA.  It was not a good environment in which to develop such a complex program.

Eventually all the insurance company house cleaning will end, the people will get new, cheaper policies and the uninsured will have preventive medical care to save the major medical expense from letting preventable illnesses go too long without medicine or care.

In the mean time, everyone has something to yap about - because who is in love with medical insurance? hospitalization? pharmaceuticals? the high cost of surgery? - It's ripe for a hate fest even if nothing changed.

10/30/2013

                  The way it could have been done is all medical hospitals, Doctors, Specialists,
                  Surgeries have a limited amount, not atronomical, I know several years ago I
                  was in the hospital when they found out I had congestive heart failure the cost
                  major tests, hospital Dr.'s was for three days $12,000- and that was 8 yrs ago,
                  it should have been maybe $2,500- it's over rated, just like the emergency room
                 
                                                              Cheers..Joe..

Sorry, Joe.  They have lobbyists.

By the way, I saw on a news show that there are web sites where surgeons bid to do your surgery.  One guy had a hip surgery for about a fourth the cost his local surgeon would cost.  And he got to stay in the U.S.  If that catches on, some surgeons are going to be losing a villa in Italy.

10/30/2013

                   Good ! Maybe I can rent it cheap ? Villa anyone ?

                                                Cheers..Joe..

http://www.bidforsurgery.com/default.asp?Whichpage=12

http://www.medibid.com/consumers/

You are alive, Joe. You and we are glad.

dkchristi wrote:

I'm back to no tablet.

Are you still thinking of getting one?

Today I started playing with that free Office program from King(something) that you mentioned earlier.  I think I could come to like it better than the OfficePro I ended up paying $20 for, if I could figure out how to get the files into my dropbox.

I cannot figure out this whole Cloud thing - at all.

Our medical costs are as high as they are because the current system encourages it. Pharmaceuticals, machines for everythig from registering blood pressure to pumping blood through an artificial heart, and exorbitant prices for everything from aspirin to water pitchers in hospital rooms all get added to the patient's bill, and nobody cares because there are enough people who can afford the old insurance policies to prop it all up.

A couple of years ago, my ex had back surgery. I might insert that this man was an independent insurance agent who, along with his father, incorporated the family business to get the tax breaks. He eventually moved to SA and went to work as an executive for an insurance brokerage firm - part of a whole different story, but you see where I'm coming from. He stayed in a private suite with a sitting room for him and his guests, and chef prepared meals chosen from a select menu. I reported this then, and LC ponted out, probaby accurately, that he was paying for those uninsured patients that had to be admitted anyway, but that is still all part of an inflated system designed to fill the pockets of the medical businessmen.
Once we have a healthcare program that serves everyone, these executives will lose their money and privileges, so it's no wonder that their representatives are fighting it so hard.

Healthcare, Peoplecare, Moneycare.  The key word is Care.  The US has the capability and facilities to provide premium care if one has the money to pay.  Providing an affordable healthcare program is what the so-called Obama Care is about.  Insurers are concerned about making a profit.  They can't make a profit unless there are sick people who can pay.  It is one reason why other western countries allow the government to "control" the healthcare industry.  Governments don't run it, they control it by setting the guidelines that they enforce.  Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege.  A driver's license is a privilege - not a right. 

With all the pros and cons about a universal healthcare program, people should be more aware of how the system works.  Trying to sift through the true and the false information continues to be a problem.  Traditional insurers are fighting the universal care program since it will severly reduce their traditional method of making profits. Creating a new program will have flaws.  There is no need to go through a Trial and Error process.  Programs already exist that work.  Why not select a program that works and copy that with modifications when needed.  I can't speak for the Canadian system or the system used in France or the UK, however I am familiar with the program used in Germany and it works.  Insurers make money and have a surplus of funds.  The insured don't lack care and it is affordable.  Much of the opposition is simply because it is different and we know people resist change. 
I've been asked why I am concerned about a universal program in America since I am satisfied with what I have.  My response continues to be that I have seen what happened to my parents and see what's happening with my brothers and sister as well as cousins.  They are duped into fighting a system that will help them.  A generalized observation would be that those who vote Republican are led to be opposed.  JMO.

alj wrote:

I cannot figure out this whole Cloud thing - at all.

How to use DropBox:

http://www.soluto.com/knowledgebase/how-to-use-dropbox

Thanks, I'll check it out. I've been using the dropbox for a while now, but this newer version of Office that I'm trying out doesn't seem to have access to it, and says I'm not connected to Cloud. bit I am on all my other apps.