Lively Democratic Caucus: ‘Voices Were Raised’

If you don’t want the public option, you must be a racist.

Public option is the only option. The insurers have shown they’re greedy and dishonest. Only a public option will force them to use their excessive profits to lower premiums and provide better coverage instead of buying legions of lobbyists, media blitzes, phony studies and filling congressmen’s coffers.

In terms of the national budget, the Democrat party in Washington DC is out of control on this issue of health insurance reform. The Republican party hasn’t been much better in the past in terms of balancing the budget.
The Govt run Medicare system is almost bankrupt because we are collecting too little tax to fund the benefits given to seniors. We are borrowing 1.4-1.6 trillion dollars just this year which will have to be paid back by the younger adults and future generations.
On top of this, we want to add the costs of healthcare reform which will add a large percentage of a trillion dollar bill onto the backs of the young including all taxes and contributions from states thru Medicaid. Who gets sick and goes into the hospitals? Typically they are older adults. So we are forcing young, generally healthy people to buy and pay for insurance at higher premiums so that the older generations can get affordable healthcare they need.
Young people wake up. This is one huge rip off for your generation. Healthcare reform is a big waste of your money as the Democrats are structuring their bills in Congress so far. You will pay higher premiums for the same coverage.
Instead of another wealth transfer between generations, tell your congress men and women that we can fix the health system by targeting efforts not on taxing insurance companies(they will pass these costs onto policy holders) but on the underlying healthcare costs which are skyrocketing every year. How do we get there?
1. Reward individuals who live a disciplined lifestyle. Authorities say 50-75% of healthcare costs are directly related to lifestyle. People who each too much and are obese, who drink alcohol excessively, abuse drugs, are sexually promiscuous, or otherwise live dangerous lifestyles incur much higher healthcare costs per person due to choices they make. Disciplined individuals should pay 50% or less compared to those choosing to less healthy lifestyles based on risk.
2. Health policies should be written so that consumers have to pay a percentage rather than a flat copay of bills whether doctor, hospital or drugs and there should be independent national reviews of the cost-effectiveness of each medical facility and clinic and drug so that consumers can make informed decisions. Why? We all know that when we have to pay on a percentage basis, we have a vested interest in cutting costs and to shop around. In the state of Washington where I live, most policies are written so that there isn’t sufficient incentive to find the best deal on medical care and there are not enough sources of information. Businesses and consumers need to informed that higher deductible plans typically are less risky for insurance companies and are generally a better value for those who pay the premiums.
3. We need tort reform. The Republicans are right on this issue. Democrats are being paid off by trial attorneys and will not give much more than lip service to this issue. By reducing compensation to reasonable levels for malpractice lawsuits, the health care system would save upwards of $100 billion a year thru reduction of defensive medicine and lower malpractice insurance costs.

I think I liked the idea of a public option .I , who has Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield,just recently had to have a pacemaker and my cost was still over $4,000 so I can just imagine what others must have to pay for the same situation! My deductible has risen from 5% to 15% in the past 5 yrs. and my many doctor visits have risen from $10 to $20 in just a few yrs. This cost is projected to double again in the 5 yrs. I’m retired now and $4000 put a hurting on my pocketbook ,but $8000 would surely would of put me in debt after working 31 yrs. for the government.These costs need to be put back into control somehow and the only way I see that happening is with a public option or some sort of competition that will control costs. I would like to know what others pay with inferior insurance companies .Please post!!

Be careful what you wish for.

So much for promised “transparency”. Ads a nurse practitioner I can tell you that a public option will ruin the best health care system in the world.

Health care reform is just about reforming how things are paid and who pays for them. It does not address the fundamental problem with medicine that people have failed to address for hundreds of years.
Physicians are selected for their ability to memorize, because medicine uses many “if this, then that – if not, then this” scenarios to substitute for real thought and logic. As an example (not exactly correct, but you get the idea), you have bad headaches – you then get a brain MRI to rule out tumors, etc. – if that says nothing – you go to the next diagnostic, etc. These are “acceptable” procedures in medicine – that physicians tend to memorize.
The problem with these “procedures” is that it prevents the Dr. from logical thought or reasoning. Its like their brain is one big sieve – they pour the data in the top – things travel through an “if then/if not” maze – and your diagnosis drops out the bottom.
As a result of this, much in medicine is wasteful, as their procedure tells them to do the un-obvious, not the obvious in many cases. Hunches and educated guesses are not allowed, so we have to go around the board to play the game.
Physicians swear by their methodology – and it is heresy to challenge it. A Dr. would say that what I am writing is idiocy – but it really isn’t. When I was a scientist working in a biomedical field, I routinely saw the MD’s in research follow this kind of logic and get lost, while all of us mortal scientists used reasoning and more human qualities to get the answers. I’m sure I will get lots of crap here for simply writing this.
This is why you take you life in your hand each time you go to the Dr. Since many ailments can be serious or fatal, it is something you cannot avoid. But, IMO, we have not progressed from the thoughts that used leeches and bleeding hundreds of years ago. Too much medicine can lead you to mis-diagnoses, and procedures that hurt you rather than help you. They can be justified in Medicine as long as the “protocol” is followed for your symptoms. But that doesn’t mean that the Dr. is thinking or is correct. Managing costs does not mean the system will get better – it just will manage the costs. Unless we reward the “smart” Dr’s and penalize the stupid ones, we will just see more of the same.
So our politicians are trying to manage a system that probably needs to have it’s fundamentals re-thought to get any different results. If we take all the incentive out of medicine – and cost containment will do this simply by lowering Dr’s earnings from an already low compensation (it is fallacy that they all are wealthy), then we will make the system worse, not better.
So when I hear talk of a public option, I laugh inside – as this will help a whole lot less people than a re-examination of how medicine treats people. Yes, you will get free health care (until we go broke). But that care will still be riddled with danger and bad medicine. I guess the saying goes … “be careful what you ask for”…