Healthcare Reform

Healthcare Reform By Kim LeFave Healthcare is one of the hottest political topics in the news. It affects every man, woman, and child. I’m sure most if not all of you have caught something on this topic. As I researched this topic on the internet I was surprised to learn some of the statistics on healthcare in America. Even though our nation is faced with recession and more than 8% of Americans are unemployed I still assumed the rest of the 92% of working Americans had some kind of healthcare insurance. I was alarmed to learn that 15% of Americans have no coverage. This is roughly 47 million Americans. To me it is obvious that healthcare reform is necessary. We are still one of the richest countries in the world. Why are so many without any healthcare insurance? Those of you who work full-time, how many of you pay a certain amount out of your weekly check for healthcare insurance? It seems to go up higher than the cost of living each year. Do you have adequate coverage? Most Americans are not happy with the out of pocket expenses they have to pay in addition to paying high premiums. Do you have a co-pay every time you see a doctor? Do you have to pay a portion for drug coverage? These costs can add up. When was the last time you saw a doctor? Do you avoid doctors unless you are absolutely sick? The reason I am bombarding you with these questions is to get you to think about what healthcare reform might mean to you. What is it you want out of your healthcare insurance provider? Most of us might say lower out of pocket expenses, like low or no co-payments for doctor’s visits, or low or no co-payments for needed drugs, or even no money taken out of our paychecks to pay for that health insurance. Wouldn’t that be nice? Do you realize that most developed countries have universal healthcare systems, which means whether or not you are employed you are covered for your healthcare needs. After watching a PBS program about universal healthcare in other countries I was very surprised that our country was not trying to do some of the same things that these other countries were doing. Take for instance Japan, under their universal health care system MRI’s are about two hundred and fifty dollars, and in America it is about two thousand dollars. No doctor in Japan is getting rich quick, but people are able to afford healthcare more easily. It is much of the same in other countries that have universal healthcare systems. Okay let’s get back to what is now going on in this country. Basically the Healthcare Reform Bill under President Obama’s administration is a very small step in actual healthcare reform compared to what other countries have done. I’m sure most of you have heard that under the new reform bill insurance companies cannot deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition. Also it limits sky high premiums because of gender and age. It will also prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it the most. It will eliminate extra charges for preventative care like mammograms, flu shots, and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. It is supposed to protect medicare for seniors by extending new protections for medicare beneficiaries. It will also eliminate the â€Å"donut-hole† gap in coverage for prescription drugs. If you don’t have insurance this new reform bill will create a new insurance marketplace called the Exchange. This will allow people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. It will also provide new tax credits to help people to buy insurance. It will give tax credits to small businesses and give affordable options for covering employees. It will offer a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. It will offer new, low-cost coverage through a national â€Å"high risk† pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. Hopefully this can all be achieved as proposed. It is not supposed to add to the national deficit and is paid upfront from the immediate savings from the initial healthcare reform. If savings are not realized essentially cuts will be required by the President to ensure that the plan does not add to the deficit. In addition these reforms will begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. It will create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will order immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, instead of practicing on defensive medicine. To do this the Secretary of Health and Human Services is instructed by the President to award medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Also large employers with more than fifty employees who can afford to buy insurance so everyone of their employees share in the responsibility of reform will be required. Their will be a â€Å"hardship exemption† for those who cannot afford the premiums. Okay so there it is the basics of the new Healthcare Reform Bill proposed by President Obama and his administration. To me this is just a minute scratching of the surface for healthcare reform in this country. I suppose you have to start somewhere. Not every American will be happy with the proposed changes. To me it should be done more on a trial basis, but let’s get real try it before you buy it in this country is virtually unheard of especially when it come to healthcare. I’m sure we will learn as we go and that it will be an honest effort to avoid high cost health insurance. What bothers me the most is that many things that make the healthcare too costly are not being addressed. What about the cost of a doctor’s visit, or the cost of a procedure, or the cost of your drugs? Will it go down? This reform bill hardly explains if this will happen. I think because of the newly created Exchange, healthcare insurance may go down a bit, but only time will tell if by the year 2013 when the exchange is fully active if it will affect the cost of the quality of healthcare as a whole. I read a blog online that made me question what is in the future for Americans when it comes to healthcare. How are people who can’t afford healthcare now supposed to afford healthcare when this new reform bill goes through? The blog questioned the validity of our government taking over another area where they have continuously failed in other areas. The point was that the Medicare / Medicaid system is already nearing bankruptcy as well as the U. S. Postal Service. It questioned how all this was going to be paid for by suggesting that the only real way to get the money is more taxes. Does that offer Americans a choice or is this being forced on us? These are very important points and even tougher questions that any American would be concerned about. Another blog for the healthcare reform bill suggests that there are many areas that the government has handled well, for instance; fire departments, police departments, waste water management, military, and coastguard. Although most of us think of some of these on a local level they are all federally funded. The strongest point was that this healthcare reform bill will reduce administrative costs from 20-30% to 2-3%. This would also reduce the profit that big time insurance companies and their biggest investors would make. My sister-in-law had that laser surgery on her eyes. When she researched cost she found that she could go to Canada and pay far less for the same procedure. She paid about three thousand dollars compared to the hefty price tag of seven thousand dollars here in the States. Many people have gone to Canada to receive cheaper procedures and cheaper drug prices. To me this is the real issue in this country. Yes, the insurance is expensive, but if you think about it procedures are even more expensive. If the cost of procedures and drugs go down along with the cost of insurance then this would make more sense to me. I think it will be at least another 5-10 years before we see this happen in this country. I think this bill will force some insurance companies to either go bankrupt or lose a tremendous amount of money. How will they compete with the less expensive insurances? Will it be just what happened to our banks? I see lots of merging insurance companies in our future. I hate to be clique but I think only time will tell how this will work out for all our citizens, our government and our insurance companies. Healthcare Reform ? Health Care Reform It should come as no surprise that the United States’ current health care system is in need of some major changes. Everyone knows that going to the doctor or hospital in the United States can cost a lot of money out of pocket, whether you have insurance or not. Americans who do have insurance pay into it with every pay check, only to go to the doctor and have to pay more. What it would be like to not have to worry about how much money there is in the bank when someone is sick? When a person is ill there are enough things to worry about without having to worry if they can afford the doctor bill. What are some of the pros and cons of a health care reform for the United States? No one person or company is safe when it comes to the burdens of the rising costs and decreasing quality of care in our current health care system. â€Å"Per-person health care expenditures in the United States have risen 6. 5 percent per year since 2000, and 5. 5 percent per year on average since 1994. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Many Americans who do have insurance are not safe from the rising costs of insurance. â€Å"Health care costs burden American mployers, who are forced to cut back on providing coverage and benefits or suffer a competitive disadvantage against international companies who don't bear health costs. † â€Å"Premiums for employer-provided health care have doubled since 2000. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unac ceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Due to the recession, many Americans have lost their jobs and are left with no insurance. There are 46 million Americans with no health insurance. A large number that do have health insurance are under-insured. Under-insured means that some who have insurance re not adequately protected from high medical costs. Many people with no or little health insurance will put off preventative care and even care they may know they need, until it is so bad that it ends up costing even more money. Individuals with no insurance will end up being diagnosed in later stages than those with insurance. â€Å"Effective chronic disease management and preventive care have been woefully neglected as a national priority and should be a key piece of any comprehensive and effective Reform. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) â€Å"Nearly 25% of uninsured children and 40% of uninsured adults have no regular source of medical care. † â€Å"Inadequate insurance coverage carries with it financial as well as medical risks: the costs of medical treatment are a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States† (Oberlander, Jonathan. (2002). â€Å"the U. S. health care system: on the road to nowhere? â€Å". Canadian Medical Association Journal , 67, 163-67. ) As a â€Å"great and free† country, we can not sit by and allow our fellow Americans to be denied medical care simply because of their income. A lot of what is rong with the current health care system can be shown in our infant mortality rate. It is fact that the United States’ infant mortality rates is among one of the highest. The United States ranks 26th in the world in infant mortality. How one of the largest and most modernized countries in the world have such a high rate? The answer to that is, it shouldn’t. A Commonwealth Fund Study found that the United States achieves â€Å"an overall score of 65 out of 100 when comparing national averages with benchmarks of best performance achieved internationally and within the United States. † It is clear that the United States is coming in well elow the standards of health, efficiency, and care. What would it be like to have a universal health care system? When it comes to why universal health care could be good for the United States, it's encouraged to watch the movie â€Å"Sicko†. It is one of Michael Moore’s documentaries. Whether loved or hated, it can’t be denied what is obviously working for other countries. In the movie he visits countries like, Canada, France, and Norway, and even Cuba. Yes, Cuba has nationalized health care. In the movie he takes a good look into what it might be like to be able to go to the doctor or hospital and not worry about how much debt might follow. Those people don’t have to worry about whether or not their insurance company is going to cover the cost of certain treatments or procedures. They don’t have to worry about being denied needed treatment, because of a pre-existing condition. People in these countries are generally healthier than Americans simply because they partake in more preventative health care. How is it possible that a country led by Fidel Castro has a better health care system than the United States? It’s simple. These countries have decided that everyone deserves to have health care, and everyone pays taxes for everyone to have it. One of the biggest complaints I hear from people who are against nationalized health care is, â€Å"Why should I have to pay for someone else’s health care costs? † The fact is, we are already paying for others health care. Everyone who works pays into Medicare and Medicaid. The way things are looking now, when I am eligible to use that money, there won’t be any for me. The current government health care system is bankrupting fast. Yes, everyone’s taxes will be raised. Paying more taxes seems reasonable to not have the financial burden be dropped on a single individual and their family in the middle of a stressful time of someone being sick. The costs of medical treatment are a leading cause of bankruptcy debt. † Half of all bankruptcy in the United States involve a medical reason or a large medical debt that they can not afford to pay The plan that President Barack Obama is proposing to the American people has a catching and enticing phrase. The bil l proposes that we build on what works in today's health care system, while repairing the aspects that are broken. To be able to provide affordable, quality health care for all Americans and reduce the growth in health care spending. This bill has public and private options for the people, a sliding scale afford ability credits, it will share responsibility among workers, employers and the government so that all Americans can have essential health care coverage and benefits. This bill will make it illegal to not insure people due to pre-existing conditions. It will allow coverage and benefits for mental health and substance disorder abuse. One of the biggest complaints of President Obama's bill is that it is said to include government funded abortions. The truth is, this bill does not clearly state either way whether the government will pay for abortions. It does say that under the public option plan, abortion costs can be covered. Pregnancies due to rape, incest, and when the mothers life is at risk are already covered by the government if the individual receives government benefits. .â€Å"Comprehensive health insurance for all Americans, are long overdue. The best time to fix American health care was [more than] a decade ago. The second best time is now. † (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) American’s need to stand up and demand adequate health care for everyone. American’s have been great at banding together in times of tragedy, as after the 9/11 attacks. People need to look at our health care system and recognize that this is a time of tragedy for the American people. It seems that most people are afraid of change, but sometimes change is needed. Reference Page (Furnas, Ben. (January 2009). â€Å"American health care since 1994: the unacceptable status quo†. Center for American Progress) Oberlander, Jonathan. (2002). â€Å"the U. S. health care system: on the road to nowhere? â€Å". Canadian Medical Association Journal , 67, 163-67. Healthcare Reform Healthcare Reform By Kim LeFave Healthcare is one of the hottest political topics in the news. It affects every man, woman, and child. I’m sure most if not all of you have caught something on this topic. As I researched this topic on the internet I was surprised to learn some of the statistics on healthcare in America. Even though our nation is faced with recession and more than 8% of Americans are unemployed I still assumed the rest of the 92% of working Americans had some kind of healthcare insurance. I was alarmed to learn that 15% of Americans have no coverage. This is roughly 47 million Americans. To me it is obvious that healthcare reform is necessary. We are still one of the richest countries in the world. Why are so many without any healthcare insurance? Those of you who work full-time, how many of you pay a certain amount out of your weekly check for healthcare insurance? It seems to go up higher than the cost of living each year. Do you have adequate coverage? Most Americans are not happy with the out of pocket expenses they have to pay in addition to paying high premiums. Do you have a co-pay every time you see a doctor? Do you have to pay a portion for drug coverage? These costs can add up. When was the last time you saw a doctor? Do you avoid doctors unless you are absolutely sick? The reason I am bombarding you with these questions is to get you to think about what healthcare reform might mean to you. What is it you want out of your healthcare insurance provider? Most of us might say lower out of pocket expenses, like low or no co-payments for doctor’s visits, or low or no co-payments for needed drugs, or even no money taken out of our paychecks to pay for that health insurance. Wouldn’t that be nice? Do you realize that most developed countries have universal healthcare systems, which means whether or not you are employed you are covered for your healthcare needs. After watching a PBS program about universal healthcare in other countries I was very surprised that our country was not trying to do some of the same things that these other countries were doing. Take for instance Japan, under their universal health care system MRI’s are about two hundred and fifty dollars, and in America it is about two thousand dollars. No doctor in Japan is getting rich quick, but people are able to afford healthcare more easily. It is much of the same in other countries that have universal healthcare systems. Okay let’s get back to what is now going on in this country. Basically the Healthcare Reform Bill under President Obama’s administration is a very small step in actual healthcare reform compared to what other countries have done. I’m sure most of you have heard that under the new reform bill insurance companies cannot deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition. Also it limits sky high premiums because of gender and age. It will also prevent insurance companies from dropping coverage when people are sick and need it the most. It will eliminate extra charges for preventative care like mammograms, flu shots, and diabetes tests to improve health and save money. It is supposed to protect medicare for seniors by extending new protections for medicare beneficiaries. It will also eliminate the â€Å"donut-hole† gap in coverage for prescription drugs. If you don’t have insurance this new reform bill will create a new insurance marketplace called the Exchange. This will allow people without insurance and small businesses to compare plans and buy insurance at competitive prices. It will also provide new tax credits to help people to buy insurance. It will give tax credits to small businesses and give affordable options for covering employees. It will offer a public health insurance option to provide the uninsured and those who can’t find affordable coverage with a real choice. It will offer new, low-cost coverage through a national â€Å"high risk† pool to protect people with preexisting conditions from financial ruin until the new Exchange is created. Hopefully this can all be achieved as proposed. It is not supposed to add to the national deficit and is paid upfront from the immediate savings from the initial healthcare reform. If savings are not realized essentially cuts will be required by the President to ensure that the plan does not add to the deficit. In addition these reforms will begin to rein in health care costs and align incentives for hospitals, physicians, and others to improve quality. It will create an independent commission of doctors and medical experts to identify waste, fraud and abuse in the health care system. It will order immediate medical malpractice reform projects that could help doctors focus on putting their patients first, instead of practicing on defensive medicine. To do this the Secretary of Health and Human Services is instructed by the President to award medical malpractice demonstration grants to states funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Also large employers with more than fifty employees who can afford to buy insurance so everyone of their employees share in the responsibility of reform will be required. Their will be a â€Å"hardship exemption† for those who cannot afford the premiums. Okay so there it is the basics of the new Healthcare Reform Bill proposed by President Obama and his administration. To me this is just a minute scratching of the surface for healthcare reform in this country. I suppose you have to start somewhere. Not every American will be happy with the proposed changes. To me it should be done more on a trial basis, but let’s get real try it before you buy it in this country is virtually unheard of especially when it come to healthcare. I’m sure we will learn as we go and that it will be an honest effort to avoid high cost health insurance. What bothers me the most is that many things that make the healthcare too costly are not being addressed. What about the cost of a doctor’s visit, or the cost of a procedure, or the cost of your drugs? Will it go down? This reform bill hardly explains if this will happen. I think because of the newly created Exchange, healthcare insurance may go down a bit, but only time will tell if by the year 2013 when the exchange is fully active if it will affect the cost of the quality of healthcare as a whole. I read a blog online that made me question what is in the future for Americans when it comes to healthcare. How are people who can’t afford healthcare now supposed to afford healthcare when this new reform bill goes through? The blog questioned the validity of our government taking over another area where they have continuously failed in other areas. The point was that the Medicare / Medicaid system is already nearing bankruptcy as well as the U. S. Postal Service. It questioned how all this was going to be paid for by suggesting that the only real way to get the money is more taxes. Does that offer Americans a choice or is this being forced on us? These are very important points and even tougher questions that any American would be concerned about. Another blog for the healthcare reform bill suggests that there are many areas that the government has handled well, for instance; fire departments, police departments, waste water management, military, and coastguard. Although most of us think of some of these on a local level they are all federally funded. The strongest point was that this healthcare reform bill will reduce administrative costs from 20-30% to 2-3%. This would also reduce the profit that big time insurance companies and their biggest investors would make. My sister-in-law had that laser surgery on her eyes. When she researched cost she found that she could go to Canada and pay far less for the same procedure. She paid about three thousand dollars compared to the hefty price tag of seven thousand dollars here in the States. Many people have gone to Canada to receive cheaper procedures and cheaper drug prices. To me this is the real issue in this country. Yes, the insurance is expensive, but if you think about it procedures are even more expensive. If the cost of procedures and drugs go down along with the cost of insurance then this would make more sense to me. I think it will be at least another 5-10 years before we see this happen in this country. I think this bill will force some insurance companies to either go bankrupt or lose a tremendous amount of money. How will they compete with the less expensive insurances? Will it be just what happened to our banks? I see lots of merging insurance companies in our future. I hate to be clique but I think only time will tell how this will work out for all our citizens, our government and our insurance companies.