Ohio Woman Who Wrote President of Insurance Woes Back In Hospital

Sounds like another case of anecdotitis.
Outside forces affect prices. Daily threats from the government count as an outside force that can adversely affect prices. When government threatens to make an industry or its product more scarce, SURPRISE, the prices for the good/service that industry produces start rising. It’s not rocket science unless you’re a government employee.
Tell your President to shut his yapper about everybody’s private health insurance (private meaning none of Washington’s business) and concentrate on JOBS JOBS JOBS like he promised to this year.

Wait, so the President’s NOT supposed to talk about things because it will affect the prices? By that logic, maybe he shouldn’t talk about jobs because then employers will cut all the currently employed people’s salaries.
Our premiums have been rising before the President said anything. This story highlights the troubles that MILLIONS of Americans are facing. And if millions of Americans are hurting, well that will bring down the country no matter how low your taxes are. We are all in this together whether people like it or not. And I’m getting a little tired of the whining from the vocal minority.
Only 4% of Americans think our current system is fine as is. Obviously something is wrong and continuing to ignore a problem won’t make it go away any easier. Especially with rates escalating at the rate they are.
Besides, have a little heart. What is wrong with people nowadays?

Sure only 4% may think the system is ok as is – but the majority (52-64%) do not want the reform Obama is trying to pass. Other solutions could have been tried without the costly agenda this administrations INSISTS on – no matter what the people want.

I am all for universal healthcare, but in its current state, Obama’s plan will fail. Take a look at what happened to Massachusetts, the insurance premiums are one of the highest in the country. The reason why it’s so high, even with over 95% coverage, is because there is no public option. Whether you agree with the idea of public option or not doesn’t matter because the entire idea behind universal healthcare is to decrease premium increases. If there isn’t an option for cheap government sponsored healthcare what is it to stop insurance companies from raising rates anyway?

I’m telling Obama to KEEP TALKING ABOUT HEALTH CARE!!! I voted for him to get this problem changed. I didn’t want him to give up just cause it was hard. The recession makes this issue even more important not less. People who have worked all their lifes and PAID for health insurance when they were young and healthly and low risk lose affordable health insurance when they lose their jobs. He has been focusing on the economy from the second he took office and before. And with out the fact action and his sensible support of some unpopular things we would be in even worst shape.

What I find pretty 2 faced is the people screaming about jobs that also scream about the auto industry bailout! Do they really think letting all those jobs as well as the dealer and parts makers across the country go down the drain would been a good idea? Right when credit was frozen both for companies and individuals and they had no way to survive. Didn’t that action save a bunch of jobs? You people are talking out of 2 sides of your mouths

Why can’t our Congress give the same Health Care Insurance offered to them, to the rest of the country. The Government (via the taxpayer) pays 85% of their Health Care premiums. Does this sound like Universal Health Care for the few. Perhaps they need to pay for their own as the rest of us. That would save some bucks.

I don’t understand how people think that the healthcare debate and jobs issue are separate problems. I’m a resident currently working at a charity care clinic in Newark, NJ. We are inundated with patients without insurance.
And if you’re lucky enough to have insurance, don’t be fooled into thinking that the uninsured are not your problem. YOU are paying for them already, but you’re paying for terrible care.
Charity care clinics are so inundated that the wait is upwards of 5 hours at times. And how do the hospitals recoup their losses from charity care? They charge you and your insurance company, or they go bankrupt. Half the problem is that the uninsured have no primary care doctor, and when they do go to the hospital, they go to the ICU with something serious and expensive to cure that could have otherwise been prevented had they been insured.
We need more physicians, nurses, and staff. So, logic would follow that if we fund expanded healthcare, your jobs would definitely follow. The cost of healthcare would go down as well if we kept patients in primary care doctors’ offices and out of the ICU.

Ten years — a cancer survivor — sounds like the system worked. She’d still be waiting in line for the first treatment under ObamaCare.
I can’t wait ’til he starts attacking Life Insurance Companies for failing to insure people with pre-existing conditions. There are a few deceased people I’d like to insure.

At some point, she will be eligible for government healthcare payments, regardless of the outcome of the current bill in Congress.. yes, the system is broken and no, we don’t think all of Obama’s horses and all of Obama’s men can fix it.

Noz in many ways you are right. But why not open Medicare to everyone. This is a stop gap that will not cost us a trillion dollars and will give healthcare to all people. What I am saying is it would be cheaper doing this then get people working again and while this is going on put Medicare under the same laws large insurance carriers have to abide by. This will do a few things get people, help the economy and give everyone healthcare that does not use PRE-EXISTING and a reason not to pay.

Imagine Healthcare (Medicare) and retirement (Social Security) that gives every citizen healthcare and retirement without raising taxes. This could be a first if politicians actually do it. But remember their campaign fund contributors will not like it. So will it happen? Vote accordingly you get what you vote for.

“After they STOLE the money and spent it they declared WE HAVE TO RAISE TAXES TO PAY FOR SOCIAL SECURITY. So a plan can work if it is kept away from Congress after it is started. That means Medicare and Social Security can be repaired and not cost tax payers a trillion dollars. But the main statement is KEEP CONGRESS OUT OF THE FUND.”
Good luck with that too.

Susie: Medicare denies more claims that private insurance? Please. Maybe that’s because they cover way more people, particularly way more sick, elderly people, than do private companies. I have United Healthcare and my policy is good for nothing except being used as toilet paper. My elderly relatives who are on medicare can’t understand WHY I get so many claims denied because they have Medicare and rarely have any problems. I, on the other hand, am now paying off $3000 worth of bills that United Healthcare preapproved, and then decided to deny AFTER I got the treatment. It’s a moot point ANYWAY because the Senate bill doesn’t have a public option (ie govt.-run healtcare),

I thought the President wanted to drop the political props. Why do we keep using personal stories? I have a lot of sympathy for this lady, but this just distracts from the real health care debate.
One standard for your opponents. Another standard for yourself. Bad leadership.

I thought the President wanted to drop the political props.
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Calling real people facing disastrous health insurances situations ‘props’ is a bit much.

Stories like this woman are the things that motivates this President to do something for the ordinary person. For years, they have been ignored. This bill, though not perfect, will help 30 million people….not 3 million like the republicans want. What is everyone’s problem? Can we not do something for the whole and not for the few? Wake up…this is what is needed and in the end will reduce the price of insurance and prohibit insurance companies from throwing you off when you do get sick. They have been having record profits on the backs of all of us. It is time for someone to get busy and take them on and Obama has. Many untruths are floating out there by talk show pundents. They don’t care about you either they want big ratings. No better than the insurance companies, I say. Even the president of Fox admits that there are some untruths, however,his words were..this is a business and I am rated number one. So what does that tell you? If we don’t do something now,,,we all suffer. Today, as we speak they want to raise rates39% for costs? What costs…when you have record profits obviously you have met your costs.

“But why not open Medicare to everyone.” – Dan
That idea is worth thinking about.
I had earlier suggested expanding the VA hospital footprint to provide basic health care to the poor who can’t afford it and allow the general hospitals to only treat people with private insurance or Medicare. Do that or let hospitals set up care areas with basic services for people without insurance. That would decrease what they spend on all the free care they are forced to administer now. Also it would serve as an incentive to get insurance knowing you’d get only basic care instead of the best care out there. Jackson Hospital in Miami is now something like 250 million dollars in debt because of all the care they end up giving for free. My idea is one step towards helping an institution like that become solvent.
The one major problem I see with your idea Dan is that there is massive fraud in Medicare right now. Adding people to a system that is unable to get a handle on that will just increase what we pay as a nation for health care.
In other words, for your idea to have merit the government would have to figure out a way of stopping the fraud. That’s something they have been unable to do since the inception of Medicare.

It’s what Democrats like to call the “Politics of Fear”

It’s what Democrats like to call the “Politics of Fear”
Posted by: Aaron | Mar 11, 2010 11:54:05 AM
Actually its the politics of real people. One thing mass murderers do– or other twisted folks who do very cruel things– is to either demonize or dehumanize those they wish to be cruel to or kill.
Dehumanizing the story, dehumanizing the uninsureds, allows one to choose cruelty and the less civilized path.
I’m glad the Dems care about real people.

“There are thousands upon thousands of stories just like this – and it must be changed. That is the point.”
Get your checkbook out! I’m going to the beach.

You, like the President can continue your game of playing on people’s emotions and on personal stories. It just shows that there is not a lot of substance to your argument and still leaves a big donut hole in your costs and financing.
It’s a lot easier to demonize health insurance companies and mean nasty republicans than it is to answer questions and debate the Democratic health care plan.
FYI – the lobbyists you demonize and hate, were the same lobbyists carving out special deals with President Obama that banned the government from negotiating pharmaceutical prices.
When you argue on emotion, it leaves little time to care or look into facts.

ObamaCare will not help this woman, truth be known later on down the road with socialized healthcare – she would be allowed to die rather than ‘waste’ money on her – she would be sacrificed for the good of the many. Stories like this are for propaganda reasons only. I feel sorry for anyone with an major disease, however this dopey president and congress do not have the answer, they only offer solutions to making matters worse.

We all have our stories. This woman would be served better by charity than the government or business. If charities were changed to where donations to them reduced your taxes as *credits* instead of *deductions* people would give more to charities than they do now. If they were lazy or actually believed that the government could spend the money better than charities they could *choose* to send their money to, they would be perfectly welcome to give their money up the same as they do now!
So although the Democrats see this as a reason *for* BIG GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION, I see it as JUST THE OPPOSITE!
Bureaucrats really can’t care. They are constrained by rules that force them to help those who don’t need it while denying it to those who do! This woman would be worse off in Communist Russia at the height of its power, at the best it ever was! That is Obama’s Dream, I am afraid!

Now they’ll add Medicare taxes to unearned income – known as a TAX INCREASE – to fund this garbage. So I already paid Medicare taxes on the money I earned, now I get to pay it again on interest earned? Why not just confiscate all of my money and property now and just get it over with.

As progressive Mama says only those making over a certain amount would feel the tax. To compare this story as a fear tactic is laughable. That is the republican’s tool and have used it agains Ms. Richardson in Tex. to get Bush elected and again for Kerry and Clinton and others have felt the “fear” tactics of the republican party. They are using it again against health care trying to scare you with higher taxes, higher payments, losing your doctor if you like him, death panel….none of these things are true. the general public wil not be taxed, no one will be killed by a death panel and you can keep your doctor if you want. This plan is to give you choices so that maybe you can save a few pennies on your health care. This insurance group will help keep costs lower as the more that enter, the less the fees will be. What exactly is wrong with that? Also, the more people that will be able to afford insurance the more people will be available for insurance companies should they choose to use them. This plan, though not perfect, will lower the costs and yes, everyone should get health insurance because if they don’t we will still be paying for those that dont.There will be those who will milk the system and not buy insurance and we will still be paying for them. This is for those who are waiting in the emergency rooms that we are paying for. It should be mandatory just like car insurance. If everyone is covered..no one gets screwed.

progressive mama: As I said earlier, how many times do you want to tax me on the same money? Just come take all my stuff and give it away to others who didn’t earn it. Get it over with.

Conservative woman, I’ll emphasize this part:
“The proposals also would improve both tax equity and economic efficiency. Under current law, people with very high incomes generally pay a smaller share of their income in Medicare taxes than middle-class and low-income working families do because they derive much of their income from capital gains and dividends, which are now exempt from the Medicare tax. The proposal would address this disparity.” (Center for Budget & Policy Priorities, chuck Marr)
I’ll add this from the same source, and article:
“As is well known, incomes have surged in recent decades for households at the top of the income scale while stagnating for ordinary Americans. High-income households also have benefited from very large tax cuts.”

progressive mama: Since there is no cap on Medicare taxes plenty of us have paid more than our fair share. And why should I pay it twice? Once on earned income and then again and again and again on interest? Tax equity??? How can I say it more plainly – I’ve already paid taxes on that money once.

I got the impression that the woman’s illness and its return had nothing directly to do with her having or not having health insurance. She received treatment didn’t she? She wasn’t denied treatment at any point was she? The problem seems to be who is going to pay for the treatment and not her illness or whether she gets treatment for it. Everyone would be concerned if she did not get treatment within our system as it currently exists. How to pay for that treatment is a different issue. No one’s insurance, if they have it, pays 100% of the costs. What you wind up paying can or can not be an onerous burden depending on individual circumstances. Will this healthcare bill make those onerous burdens FOR SOME a thing of the past using OUR MONEY? What those who do not now have health insurance at all because they cannot afford it, suddenly be able to afford co-pays and the difference between what government mandated insurance pays and what the charges are? Are WE, using OUR MONEY, be on the hook for that as well as the insurance premiums for these people? This country is BANKRUPT. Maybe you and congress do not realize that. In this congress’s and this president’s mad rush to ram down our throats a system behind closed doors that will put us further into the hole, they will have effectively done away with the concept of personal responsibility.

I realize that if you’re in the tax bracket you claim to be in, you may wish to cling to the status quo where the rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the middle class shrinks– and that you likely justify that with a self-centered ideology such as objectivism or so called American conservatism” which is usually just being a proponent for the corporate nanny state and upholding current power structures rather than anything to do with intellectual conservatism and/or fiscal responsibility– but obviously I’m not impressed with your claim. I find the information at CBPP more pressing and on point.
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I do think my money belongs to me. I have worked hard for it and paid my fair share of taxes. I do not, however, think that I should be taxed multiple times on the same money.
You still can’t demonstrate how redistributing the wealth of America will do anything constructive to change the lives of the poor. We’ve been giving away money for years and the War on Poverty has been a rousing failure. I recognize your philosophy is one of “economic justice” and “tax equality”, but I have seen no evidence of that doing anything other than taking money from hard working people and putting it into a black hole.
The question that no progressive/liberal seems to want to answer is to give an example of Keynesian economics as a successful solution. Wealth will never trickle up.

Those people who work and produce are paid by someone. It isn’t their creation or their capital that has gone into the business. The profits from the business trickle down to the worker. That’s not being an idealogue, it’s just a fact. To say that the workers support the top is a lovely platitude, but if you take away the top, there is no business.
And you can snark all you want, but the reality is that unless you are self employed, you are employed by someone. You do a job for which you are paid. If you don’t want to do it anymore, you are replaced. It will never be the other way around no matter how much you wish it were. The deli owner does not get rich on the back of his workers, he pays his workers for a job they do. If the deli owner gets hit by a bus and the business closes, his workers are out of a job unless they have the capital to keep it going.

No person has the right to healthcare or any type of insurance paid for by another person. It’s an immoral violation of one’s individual rights to force that situation.

How can I say it more plainly– “The proposals also would improve both tax equity and economic efficiency” (CBPP)