The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
This article is incredible, but it's also about 24,000 words long. As time allows, I'll provide some excerpts from it...
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
Article is now behind a subscriber wall. Here is a PDF
Excerpt:
"Taken as a whole, these powerful institutions and the bills they churn out dominate the nation’s economy and put demands on taxpayers to a degree unequaled anywhere else on earth. In the U.S., people spend almost 20% of the gross domestic product on health care, compared with about half that in most developed countries. Yet in every measurable way, the results our health care system produces are no better and often worse than the outcomes in those countries.
According to one of a series of exhaustive studies done by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, we spend more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia. We may be shocked at the $60 billion price tag for cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy. We spent almost that much last week on health care. We spend more every year on artificial knees and hips than what Hollywood collects at the box office. We spend two or three times that much on durable medical devices like canes and wheelchairs, in part because a heavily lobbied Congress forces Medicare to pay 25% to 75% more for this equipment than it would cost at Walmart."
TIME
More excerpts:
pg 11
"Moreover, the only players in the private sector who seem to operate efficiently are the private contractors working — dare I say it? — under the government’s supervision. They’re the Medicare claims processors that handle claims like Alan A.’s for 84¢ each. With these and all other Medicare costs added together, Medicare’s total management, administrative and processing expenses are about $3.8 billion for processing more than a billion claims a year worth $550 billion. That’s an overall administrative and management cost of about two-thirds of 1% of the amount of the claims, or less than $3.80 per claim. According to its latest SEC filing, Aetna spent $6.9 billion on operating expenses (including claims processing, accounting, sales and executive management) in 2012. That’s about $30 for each of the 229 million claims Aetna processed, and it amounts to about 29% of the $23.7 billion Aetna pays out in claims."
Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us
Article is now behind a subscriber wall. Here is a PDF
Excerpt:
"Taken as a whole, these powerful institutions and the bills they churn out dominate the nation’s economy and put demands on taxpayers to a degree unequaled anywhere else on earth. In the U.S., people spend almost 20% of the gross domestic product on health care, compared with about half that in most developed countries. Yet in every measurable way, the results our health care system produces are no better and often worse than the outcomes in those countries.
According to one of a series of exhaustive studies done by the McKinsey & Co. consulting firm, we spend more on health care than the next 10 biggest spenders combined: Japan, Germany, France, China, the U.K., Italy, Canada, Brazil, Spain and Australia. We may be shocked at the $60 billion price tag for cleaning up after Hurricane Sandy. We spent almost that much last week on health care. We spend more every year on artificial knees and hips than what Hollywood collects at the box office. We spend two or three times that much on durable medical devices like canes and wheelchairs, in part because a heavily lobbied Congress forces Medicare to pay 25% to 75% more for this equipment than it would cost at Walmart."
TIME
More excerpts:
pg 11
"Moreover, the only players in the private sector who seem to operate efficiently are the private contractors working — dare I say it? — under the government’s supervision. They’re the Medicare claims processors that handle claims like Alan A.’s for 84¢ each. With these and all other Medicare costs added together, Medicare’s total management, administrative and processing expenses are about $3.8 billion for processing more than a billion claims a year worth $550 billion. That’s an overall administrative and management cost of about two-thirds of 1% of the amount of the claims, or less than $3.80 per claim. According to its latest SEC filing, Aetna spent $6.9 billion on operating expenses (including claims processing, accounting, sales and executive management) in 2012. That’s about $30 for each of the 229 million claims Aetna processed, and it amounts to about 29% of the $23.7 billion Aetna pays out in claims."
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
Krugman makes some excellent points worth keeping:
Mooching Off Medicaid
Excerpt (but read the whole thing):
"Don’t tell me about free markets. This is all about spending taxpayer money, and the question is whether that money should be spent directly to help people or run through a set of private middlemen.
And despite some feeble claims to the contrary, privatizing Medicaid will end up requiring more, not less, government spending, because there’s overwhelming evidence that Medicaid is much cheaper than private insurance. Partly this reflects lower administrative costs, because Medicaid neither advertises nor spends money trying to avoid covering people. But a lot of it reflects the government’s bargaining power, its ability to prevent price gouging by hospitals, drug companies and other parts of the medical-industrial complex.
For there is a lot of price-gouging in health care — a fact long known to health care economists but documented especially graphically in a recent article in Time magazine. As Steven Brill, the article’s author, points out, individuals seeking health care can face incredible costs, and even large private insurance companies have limited ability to control profiteering by providers. Medicare does much better, and although Mr. Brill doesn’t point this out, Medicaid — which has greater ability to say no — seems to do better still.
You might ask why, in that case, much of Obamacare will run through private insurers. The answer is, raw political power. Letting the medical-industrial complex continue to get away with a lot of overcharging was, in effect, a price President Obama had to pay to get health reform passed. And since the reward was that tens of millions more Americans would gain insurance, it was a price worth paying.
But why would you insist on privatizing a health program that is already public, and that does a much better job than the private sector of controlling costs? The answer is pretty obvious: the flip side of higher taxpayer costs is higher medical-industry profits."
Mooching Off Medicaid
Excerpt (but read the whole thing):
"Don’t tell me about free markets. This is all about spending taxpayer money, and the question is whether that money should be spent directly to help people or run through a set of private middlemen.
And despite some feeble claims to the contrary, privatizing Medicaid will end up requiring more, not less, government spending, because there’s overwhelming evidence that Medicaid is much cheaper than private insurance. Partly this reflects lower administrative costs, because Medicaid neither advertises nor spends money trying to avoid covering people. But a lot of it reflects the government’s bargaining power, its ability to prevent price gouging by hospitals, drug companies and other parts of the medical-industrial complex.
For there is a lot of price-gouging in health care — a fact long known to health care economists but documented especially graphically in a recent article in Time magazine. As Steven Brill, the article’s author, points out, individuals seeking health care can face incredible costs, and even large private insurance companies have limited ability to control profiteering by providers. Medicare does much better, and although Mr. Brill doesn’t point this out, Medicaid — which has greater ability to say no — seems to do better still.
You might ask why, in that case, much of Obamacare will run through private insurers. The answer is, raw political power. Letting the medical-industrial complex continue to get away with a lot of overcharging was, in effect, a price President Obama had to pay to get health reform passed. And since the reward was that tens of millions more Americans would gain insurance, it was a price worth paying.
But why would you insist on privatizing a health program that is already public, and that does a much better job than the private sector of controlling costs? The answer is pretty obvious: the flip side of higher taxpayer costs is higher medical-industry profits."
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
A Huff Po comment, by Dutchman:
***
How to insure America's entire population:
1) Estimate the total, annual medical costs for the coming year. Exclude insurance and insurance related overhead expenses. (This amounts to about $2.15 trillion, give or take a few billion).
2) Divide #1 by the number of able-bodied, working age Americans (about 185 million, depending on your source).
3) Adjust this pro-rata share (about $11,600 per able bodied, working age American each year) to reflect risky lifestyle choices like smoking.
4) Add a 2.5% annual surcharge to the above to help fund a reserve pool, investment proceeds from which can help offset the total cost implementing the program. This brings the total to just under $12,000 per year, or $1,000 per month.
And voila! You have fully financed America's entire health care budget, but crucially, not seen one dime of it funneled off for insurance overhead, profits, or the large burden created by the insurance companies on healthcare providers, which soaks up an estimated $300 to $400 billion (2 - 2.5% of GDP) EACH AND EVERY YEAR!!!!
Now, $12k a year is an awful lot of money . But it represents each working-age American's pro rata share of the nation's current medical expenses. And remember, it also excludes the non-medical portion that Americans also pay.
When you add up the insurance premiums paid by most Americans, along with all the related deductibles, over the counter costs, in addition to Medicare taxes and the portion of state taxes that fund Medicaid, all of a sudden 12K per year is pretty reasonable, and is indeed lower than what Americans current pay to be insured in America. For those who can’t afford $12k per year, Medicaid should continue to be made available, paid for out of general revenues, like it is today.
America's private "insurance" industry is one of history's most finely tuned mechanisms for redistributing money that would otherwise go to real health care into the pockets of insurance company execs, their shareholders, the vast, hugely inefficient bureaucracy that 50 separate monopolies (okay, some are mere oligopolies) complete with ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTIONS instead.
And given that America ranks near the bottom of OECD nations in terms of longevity and overall health, it's clear that the one thing this huge cost ISN'T doing is making Americans healthier.
Finally, in the end, Ryan's plan does NOTHING to reduce America's total health care costs. Instead, he merely shifts the burden back to the individuals, who will now have far less pricing power, and get forced into much smaller - and therefore FAR less efficient - risk pools.
Ryan's plans will do nothing to save money, and do nothing to improve the health of Americans. It will, however, make a lot of insurance executives even more money."
***
How to insure America's entire population:
1) Estimate the total, annual medical costs for the coming year. Exclude insurance and insurance related overhead expenses. (This amounts to about $2.15 trillion, give or take a few billion).
2) Divide #1 by the number of able-bodied, working age Americans (about 185 million, depending on your source).
3) Adjust this pro-rata share (about $11,600 per able bodied, working age American each year) to reflect risky lifestyle choices like smoking.
4) Add a 2.5% annual surcharge to the above to help fund a reserve pool, investment proceeds from which can help offset the total cost implementing the program. This brings the total to just under $12,000 per year, or $1,000 per month.
And voila! You have fully financed America's entire health care budget, but crucially, not seen one dime of it funneled off for insurance overhead, profits, or the large burden created by the insurance companies on healthcare providers, which soaks up an estimated $300 to $400 billion (2 - 2.5% of GDP) EACH AND EVERY YEAR!!!!
Now, $12k a year is an awful lot of money . But it represents each working-age American's pro rata share of the nation's current medical expenses. And remember, it also excludes the non-medical portion that Americans also pay.
When you add up the insurance premiums paid by most Americans, along with all the related deductibles, over the counter costs, in addition to Medicare taxes and the portion of state taxes that fund Medicaid, all of a sudden 12K per year is pretty reasonable, and is indeed lower than what Americans current pay to be insured in America. For those who can’t afford $12k per year, Medicaid should continue to be made available, paid for out of general revenues, like it is today.
America's private "insurance" industry is one of history's most finely tuned mechanisms for redistributing money that would otherwise go to real health care into the pockets of insurance company execs, their shareholders, the vast, hugely inefficient bureaucracy that 50 separate monopolies (okay, some are mere oligopolies) complete with ANTI-TRUST EXEMPTIONS instead.
And given that America ranks near the bottom of OECD nations in terms of longevity and overall health, it's clear that the one thing this huge cost ISN'T doing is making Americans healthier.
Finally, in the end, Ryan's plan does NOTHING to reduce America's total health care costs. Instead, he merely shifts the burden back to the individuals, who will now have far less pricing power, and get forced into much smaller - and therefore FAR less efficient - risk pools.
Ryan's plans will do nothing to save money, and do nothing to improve the health of Americans. It will, however, make a lot of insurance executives even more money."
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
![Image](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/733749_10151352036519067_1988000550_n.jpg)
Chart: The provisions of Obamacare remains popular, three years in. Many of them get at least two-to-one support, but (a) most Americans still have no idea what's in the law; and (b) the most popular provisions are the ones Americans don't know about, while the least popular provisions are the ones Americans do know about. Details on the blog.
LINK
![Image](http://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/602681_10151515960688491_307612336_n.jpg)
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
![Image](https://sphotos-b.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-snc7/486252_570033203014998_1786301148_n.jpg)
***
"Friday, February 22, 2013
'Big Health Insurance Rate Hikes are Plummeting'
Some evidence that Obamacare is reducing the rate of increase in the cost of health insurance:
Big health insurance rate hikes are plummeting, by Sarah Kliff: The number of double-digit rate increases requested by health insurers has plummeted over the past four years, according to a Friday report from the Obama administration.
Researchers combed through data available from the 15 states that publicly post all requests for rate increases in the individual market. They found that, in 2009, 74 percent of all requests came in above 10 percent. By 2012, that number had fallen to 35 percent. Preliminary data for 2013, which only cover a handful of states, shows 14 percent of rate increases asking for a double-digit bump. Here’s what this looks like in chart form:
![Image](http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/files/2013/02/rate-increases.png)
LINK
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
But we are still getting hosed. Free Markets!
Six Charts That Illustrate Just How Much Higher Health Care Costs Are For Americans
Decades of data have shown time and again that the U.S. has the costliest health care system in the world by a variety of measures.
Still, a report released by the International Federation of Health Plans (i.e., health insurance companies) today provides a striking reminder of just how much more expensive health care is for Americans.
The report compared prices in the U.S. with prices in 11 other nations. It found that average prices in the United States are higher for most medical services cited in the report, but at the top end of the range, U.S. health care prices can be staggering compared to what citizens of other nations pay.
Planning to have a baby? At an average price for a normal delivery of $9,775, you'll pay more than a woman in the 10 other countries in the report -- and possibly as much as $16,653, or double what it would cost an Australian woman and more than 14 times the price for a woman in Argentina. The average price of a Cesarean section in the U.S., $15,041, is also higher than any other country -- and it could cost as much as $26,305."
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056822/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056828/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056829/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056831/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056837/thumbs/o-HEALTH-CARE-COSTS-570.jpg?1)
LINK
Six Charts That Illustrate Just How Much Higher Health Care Costs Are For Americans
Decades of data have shown time and again that the U.S. has the costliest health care system in the world by a variety of measures.
Still, a report released by the International Federation of Health Plans (i.e., health insurance companies) today provides a striking reminder of just how much more expensive health care is for Americans.
The report compared prices in the U.S. with prices in 11 other nations. It found that average prices in the United States are higher for most medical services cited in the report, but at the top end of the range, U.S. health care prices can be staggering compared to what citizens of other nations pay.
Planning to have a baby? At an average price for a normal delivery of $9,775, you'll pay more than a woman in the 10 other countries in the report -- and possibly as much as $16,653, or double what it would cost an Australian woman and more than 14 times the price for a woman in Argentina. The average price of a Cesarean section in the U.S., $15,041, is also higher than any other country -- and it could cost as much as $26,305."
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056822/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056828/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056829/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056831/original.jpg)
![Image](http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1056837/thumbs/o-HEALTH-CARE-COSTS-570.jpg?1)
LINK
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
You couldn't design a system more upside down and stupid than this if you tried:
***
Hospital Profits Linked To Patients With Surgical Complications: Study
"Patients who suffer complications after surgery are lucrative for hospitals, which get paid more when they treat infections and other problems, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.
In 2010, an unnamed, nonprofit 12-hospital chain in the southern U.S. was paid an average of $49,400 per person for treating surgery patients who have complications -- more than double the $18,900 paid for patients who underwent only the initial surgery, according to an analysis by researchers from Harvard Medical School and elsewhere.
More than 5 percent of 34,256 surgery patients were stricken with at least one complication, according to the study. Patients who needed additional treatments after surgery spent an average of 14 days in the hospital, compared to three days for those who didn't. The study examined operations including hip replacements, heart bypasses, and hysterectomies, and complications such as infections, septic shock and heart attack.
Hospitals aren't causing complications to increase their profits, but the economics aren't in their favor, said Barry Rosenberg, a partner at Boston Consulting Group in Detroit and a co-author of the study. But with so much money at stake, hospitals that do a better job reducing surgical complications and making health care safer and more efficient could take a big financial hit, Rosenberg said.
"If you go out and do all that hard work and reduce your hospital's surgical complication rate, the prize that you get at the end of that is lower profitability," he said. "That's crazy. It shouldn't be that way. We would much prefer a system that would somehow reward that hospital for doing all the work to reduce their complication rate," he said."
LINK
***
Hospital Profits Linked To Patients With Surgical Complications: Study
"Patients who suffer complications after surgery are lucrative for hospitals, which get paid more when they treat infections and other problems, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association today.
In 2010, an unnamed, nonprofit 12-hospital chain in the southern U.S. was paid an average of $49,400 per person for treating surgery patients who have complications -- more than double the $18,900 paid for patients who underwent only the initial surgery, according to an analysis by researchers from Harvard Medical School and elsewhere.
More than 5 percent of 34,256 surgery patients were stricken with at least one complication, according to the study. Patients who needed additional treatments after surgery spent an average of 14 days in the hospital, compared to three days for those who didn't. The study examined operations including hip replacements, heart bypasses, and hysterectomies, and complications such as infections, septic shock and heart attack.
Hospitals aren't causing complications to increase their profits, but the economics aren't in their favor, said Barry Rosenberg, a partner at Boston Consulting Group in Detroit and a co-author of the study. But with so much money at stake, hospitals that do a better job reducing surgical complications and making health care safer and more efficient could take a big financial hit, Rosenberg said.
"If you go out and do all that hard work and reduce your hospital's surgical complication rate, the prize that you get at the end of that is lower profitability," he said. "That's crazy. It shouldn't be that way. We would much prefer a system that would somehow reward that hospital for doing all the work to reduce their complication rate," he said."
LINK
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
One hospital charges $8,000 — another, $38,000
"Consumers on Wednesday will finally get some answers about one of modern life’s most persistent mysteries: how much medical care actually costs.
For the first time, the federal government will release the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. What the numbers reveal is a health-care system with tremendous, seemingly random variation in the costs of services.
In the District, George Washington University’s average bill for a patient on a ventilator was $115,000, while Providence Hospital’s average charge for the same service was just under $53,000. For a lower joint replacement, George Washington University charged almost $69,000 compared with Sibley Memorial Hospital’s average of just under $30,000.
Virginia’s highest average rate for a lower limb replacement was at CJW Medical Center in Richmond, more than $117,000, compared with Winchester Medical Center charging $25,600 per procedure. CJW charged more than $38,000 for esophagitis and gastrointestinal conditions, while Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital averaged $8,100 in those cases."
LINK
.
.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/936291_10151646765004238_2035039522_n.jpg)
"Consumers on Wednesday will finally get some answers about one of modern life’s most persistent mysteries: how much medical care actually costs.
For the first time, the federal government will release the prices that hospitals charge for the 100 most common inpatient procedures. Until now, these charges have been closely held by facilities that see a competitive advantage in shielding their fees from competitors. What the numbers reveal is a health-care system with tremendous, seemingly random variation in the costs of services.
In the District, George Washington University’s average bill for a patient on a ventilator was $115,000, while Providence Hospital’s average charge for the same service was just under $53,000. For a lower joint replacement, George Washington University charged almost $69,000 compared with Sibley Memorial Hospital’s average of just under $30,000.
Virginia’s highest average rate for a lower limb replacement was at CJW Medical Center in Richmond, more than $117,000, compared with Winchester Medical Center charging $25,600 per procedure. CJW charged more than $38,000 for esophagitis and gastrointestinal conditions, while Carilion Tazewell Community Hospital averaged $8,100 in those cases."
LINK
.
.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/936291_10151646765004238_2035039522_n.jpg)
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
Unexpected Health Insurance Rate Shock-California
Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates
Rick Ungar
Forbes
Every now and again, a political pundit is required to stand up and admit to the world that he or she got it wrong. For me, this would be one of those moments.
For quite some time, I have been predicting that Obamacare would likely mean higher insurance rates in the individual market for the “young immortals” and others under the age of 40. At the same time, my expectation was that those who fall into the older age ranges would benefit greatly as their premium charges would be lowered thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
It is increasingly clear that I had it wrong.
Yesterday, Covered California—the name given to the healthcare exchange created pursuant to the Affordable Care Act that will serve the largest population of insured citizens in the nation—released the premium rates submitted by participating health insurance companies for the three health insurance program categories (bronze, silver and gold) established by the Affordable Care Act, along with the catastrophic policy created for and available to those under the age of 30.
Upon reviewing the data, I was indeed shocked by the proposed premium rates—but not in the way you might expect. The jolt that I was experiencing was not the result of the predicted out-of-control premium costs but the shock of rates far lower than what I expected—even at the lowest end of the age scale.
So, why the all too popular narrative that Obamacare would mean unaffordable healthcare premium costs for so many Americans?
Setting aside the never-ending nonsense peddled by the opponents of healthcare reform, everyone from the Congressional Budget Office to numerous private actuaries have warned that premium shock could be expected to set in once the public began to see the reality of what Obamacare would mean to their pocketbooks. And yet, the only real jolt to the system being felt by these public and private prognosticators today is utter amazement over just how reasonable the California prices have turned out to be....
For all the negative chatter about how including older and sicker Americans in the health insurance pools would drive up the price for younger participants in the pool less likely to be ill, what we are now seeing in states like California is that the desire on the part of the health insurance companies to increase market share—thanks to the large influx of customers as a result of Obamacare—is driving prices downward.
That is precisely what the President said would happen."
Forbes
Obamacare Insurance Exchange Announces Premium Rates
Rick Ungar
Forbes
Every now and again, a political pundit is required to stand up and admit to the world that he or she got it wrong. For me, this would be one of those moments.
For quite some time, I have been predicting that Obamacare would likely mean higher insurance rates in the individual market for the “young immortals” and others under the age of 40. At the same time, my expectation was that those who fall into the older age ranges would benefit greatly as their premium charges would be lowered thanks to the Affordable Care Act.
It is increasingly clear that I had it wrong.
Yesterday, Covered California—the name given to the healthcare exchange created pursuant to the Affordable Care Act that will serve the largest population of insured citizens in the nation—released the premium rates submitted by participating health insurance companies for the three health insurance program categories (bronze, silver and gold) established by the Affordable Care Act, along with the catastrophic policy created for and available to those under the age of 30.
Upon reviewing the data, I was indeed shocked by the proposed premium rates—but not in the way you might expect. The jolt that I was experiencing was not the result of the predicted out-of-control premium costs but the shock of rates far lower than what I expected—even at the lowest end of the age scale.
So, why the all too popular narrative that Obamacare would mean unaffordable healthcare premium costs for so many Americans?
Setting aside the never-ending nonsense peddled by the opponents of healthcare reform, everyone from the Congressional Budget Office to numerous private actuaries have warned that premium shock could be expected to set in once the public began to see the reality of what Obamacare would mean to their pocketbooks. And yet, the only real jolt to the system being felt by these public and private prognosticators today is utter amazement over just how reasonable the California prices have turned out to be....
For all the negative chatter about how including older and sicker Americans in the health insurance pools would drive up the price for younger participants in the pool less likely to be ill, what we are now seeing in states like California is that the desire on the part of the health insurance companies to increase market share—thanks to the large influx of customers as a result of Obamacare—is driving prices downward.
That is precisely what the President said would happen."
Forbes
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
![Image](http://m.static.newsvine.com/servista/imagesizer?file=steve-benen72190982-6669-E3EC-0C5B-99D66A64E0DA.jpg&width=600)
"...43% support "Obamacare," which isn't that bad, all things considered. But while a majority of the country opposes the law, there's a major disagreement among them -- 35% of opponents believe it's too liberal and prefer a more conservative law, but 16% of opponents believe the Affordable Care Act is too conservative and wish it had gone further.
A quick glance at the top lines, in other words, gives the wrong impression. Indeed, it's rather misleading to lump together those 16% of Americans who want a more liberal health care reform law with the law's conservative critics.
Kevin Drum summarized the results in a [more] accurate way, which is largely the opposite of what you'll see in most of the published reports: "According to a recent poll, 59 percent of Americans support Obamacare, while 35 percent oppose it. Among supporters, 43 percent support the law as is, while 16 percent think it doesn't go far enough."
LINK
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
"If You're Young, This Is The Only Obamacare Infographic You Need. I Obamadare You To Click On It."
link
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.
![Image](http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/files/2013/07/072113-toon-luckovich-ed.jpg)
From: link
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***
Conservative scholar: Obamacare sabotage 'unprecedented and contemptible'
Maybe, finally, the Republicans have jumped the shark in their fight against Obamcare. Maybe it was the 39th repeal vote in the House. Maybe it's the Senate nihilists call to shut the whole government down in order to defund the law. Whatever did it, they've lost American Enterprise Institute thinker Norm Ornstein, and when you've lost the AEI ...
It's refreshing to see a conservative who thinks that other conservatives fighting this hard to take affordable health insurance away from millions of people is in and of itself a bad, immoral thing. It's also refreshing to see a conservative—and a pundit, no less—recognize and say out loud that the Republican Party has gone completely off the rails and that we're not dealing with just a new normal of governing. The inmates have overrun the GOP asylum..."
Link
link
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![Image](http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/files/2013/07/072113-toon-luckovich-ed.jpg)
From: link
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***
Conservative scholar: Obamacare sabotage 'unprecedented and contemptible'
Maybe, finally, the Republicans have jumped the shark in their fight against Obamcare. Maybe it was the 39th repeal vote in the House. Maybe it's the Senate nihilists call to shut the whole government down in order to defund the law. Whatever did it, they've lost American Enterprise Institute thinker Norm Ornstein, and when you've lost the AEI ...
Welcome to the club, Mr. Ornstein. Actually, he's been in the club for a while, having written a book with Brookings fellow Thomas Mann that places a good chunk of the blame for a dysfunctional government on the Republicans. But this, this is something more. He's calling out Republican leadership, not just the tea party extremists, for sabotaging government.For three years, Republicans in the Senate refused to confirm anybody to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the post that McClellan had held in 2003-04—in order to damage the possibility of a smooth rollout of the health reform plan. Guerrilla efforts to cut off funding, dozens of votes to repeal, abusive comments by leaders, attempts to discourage states from participating in Medicaid expansion or crafting exchanges, threatening letters to associations that might publicize the availability of insurance on exchanges, and now a new set of threats—to have a government shutdown, or to refuse to raise the debt ceiling, unless the president agrees to stop all funding for implementation of the plan. [...]
What is going on now to sabotage Obamacare is not treasonous—just sharply beneath any reasonable standards of elected officials with the fiduciary responsibility of governing. [...] [T]o do everything possible to undercut and destroy its implementation—which in this case means finding ways to deny coverage to many who lack any health insurance; to keep millions who might be able to get better and cheaper coverage in the dark about their new options; to create disruption for the health providers who are trying to implement the law, including insurers, hospitals, and physicians; to threaten the even greater disruption via a government shutdown or breach of the debt limit in order to blackmail the president into abandoning the law; and to hope to benefit politically from all the resulting turmoil—is simply unacceptable, even contemptible. One might expect this kind of behavior from a few grenade-throwing firebrands. That the effort is spearheaded by the Republican leaders of the House and Senate—even if Speaker John Boehner is motivated by fear of his caucus, and McConnell and Cornyn by fear of Kentucky and Texas Republican activists—takes one's breath away.
It's refreshing to see a conservative who thinks that other conservatives fighting this hard to take affordable health insurance away from millions of people is in and of itself a bad, immoral thing. It's also refreshing to see a conservative—and a pundit, no less—recognize and say out loud that the Republican Party has gone completely off the rails and that we're not dealing with just a new normal of governing. The inmates have overrun the GOP asylum..."
Link
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
Canada figured this out in 1966. The vote by the politicians was unanimous. Britain did it in 1948. "Around 8.4 per cent of the United Kingdom's gross domestic product is spent on healthcare." Canada spent 11.6% their GDP on healthcare in 2012. The average percent of GDP the 30 countries in the "Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development" spend is 9%. The US spends 17.9% of it's GDP on healthcare and get's this result for it:
"Of 17 high-income countries studied by the National Institutes of Health in 2013, the United States had the highest or near-highest prevalence of infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancies, injuries, homicides, and disability. The Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among similar countries, and notes U.S. care costs the most.
"A 2004 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report said: "The United States is among the few industrialized nations in the world that does not guarantee access to health care for its population." A 2004 OECD report said: "With the exception of Mexico, Turkey, and the United States, all OECD countries had achieved universal or near-universal (at least 98.4% insured) coverage of their populations by 1990." A 2010 report observed that lack of health insurance causes roughly 48,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States.[4] US Healthcare wiki
***
‘Medicare for All’ Would Cover Everyone, Save Billions in First Year: New Study
31 Jul 2013
ECONOMIST SAYS CANADIAN-STYLE, SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH PLAN WOULD REAP HUGE SAVINGS FROM REDUCED
PAPERWORK AND FROM NEGOTIATED DRUG PRICES, ENOUGH TO PAY FOR QUALITY COVERAGE FOR ALL – AT LESS COST TO FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES
WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--July 31 - Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.
That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said.
Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act,... would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else.
“No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said."
the rest...
"Of 17 high-income countries studied by the National Institutes of Health in 2013, the United States had the highest or near-highest prevalence of infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancies, injuries, homicides, and disability. The Commonwealth Fund ranked the United States last in the quality of health care among similar countries, and notes U.S. care costs the most.
"A 2004 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report said: "The United States is among the few industrialized nations in the world that does not guarantee access to health care for its population." A 2004 OECD report said: "With the exception of Mexico, Turkey, and the United States, all OECD countries had achieved universal or near-universal (at least 98.4% insured) coverage of their populations by 1990." A 2010 report observed that lack of health insurance causes roughly 48,000 unnecessary deaths every year in the United States.[4] US Healthcare wiki
***
‘Medicare for All’ Would Cover Everyone, Save Billions in First Year: New Study
31 Jul 2013
ECONOMIST SAYS CANADIAN-STYLE, SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH PLAN WOULD REAP HUGE SAVINGS FROM REDUCED
PAPERWORK AND FROM NEGOTIATED DRUG PRICES, ENOUGH TO PAY FOR QUALITY COVERAGE FOR ALL – AT LESS COST TO FAMILIES AND BUSINESSES
WASHINGTON--(ENEWSPF)--July 31 - Upgrading the nation’s Medicare program and expanding it to cover people of all ages would yield more than a half-trillion dollars in efficiency savings in its first year of operation, enough to pay for high-quality, comprehensive health benefits for all residents of the United States at a lower cost to most individuals, families and businesses.
That’s the chief finding of a new fiscal study by Gerald Friedman, a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. There would even be money left over to help pay down the national debt, he said.
Friedman says his analysis shows that a nonprofit single-payer system based on the principles of the Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act,... would save an estimated $592 billion in 2014. That would be more than enough to cover all 44 million people the government estimates will be uninsured in that year and to upgrade benefits for everyone else.
“No other plan can achieve this magnitude of savings on health care,” Friedman said."
the rest...
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
“Obamacare” and the Perpetual Republican Temper Tantrum"
![Image](http://www.forwardprogressives.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/john-boehner-sad-tantrum-300x300.jpg?768572)
"The law was passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate, signed by the President and then deemed Constitutional by the Supreme Court. Outside of a full-on Constitutional Amendment (which in today’s political environment would be nearly impossible to pass), “Obamacare” is about as definitive a law as you can get.
Yet, since even before the law was passed, Republicans have done anything they could to defeat it. They’ve distorted facts, tried to sabotage its implementation, perpetuated outlandish stories and have sought every possible loophole in existence to try and do whatever they can to prevent this law from working.
From “death panels” to the lie about it being a government takeover of health care, telling Americans they won’t be able to choose their doctors (as if current health insurance plans gave people unlimited selection for any doctor they wanted) all the way to the lie that it’s a “job destroyer.” Republicans have built an opposition to “Obamacare” that’s based on complete fiction.
Which always prompts me to ask the question, “If the truth about the Affordable Care Act is so terrible, why do Republicans always seem to be lying about it? Shouldn’t the truth be enough?”
But despite their best efforts, the law continues to move forward. And as the law continues to do so, millions of Americans have enjoyed access to health care which they were previously denied due to the fact they were born with a pre-existing condition.
And as we continue to see reports from states showing that “Obamacare” is actually driving down the cost of health insurance premiums, Republicans are becoming more desperate than ever."
LINK
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![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1098166_194408050727597_1820674188_n.jpg)
![Image](http://www.forwardprogressives.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/john-boehner-sad-tantrum-300x300.jpg?768572)
"The law was passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate, signed by the President and then deemed Constitutional by the Supreme Court. Outside of a full-on Constitutional Amendment (which in today’s political environment would be nearly impossible to pass), “Obamacare” is about as definitive a law as you can get.
Yet, since even before the law was passed, Republicans have done anything they could to defeat it. They’ve distorted facts, tried to sabotage its implementation, perpetuated outlandish stories and have sought every possible loophole in existence to try and do whatever they can to prevent this law from working.
From “death panels” to the lie about it being a government takeover of health care, telling Americans they won’t be able to choose their doctors (as if current health insurance plans gave people unlimited selection for any doctor they wanted) all the way to the lie that it’s a “job destroyer.” Republicans have built an opposition to “Obamacare” that’s based on complete fiction.
Which always prompts me to ask the question, “If the truth about the Affordable Care Act is so terrible, why do Republicans always seem to be lying about it? Shouldn’t the truth be enough?”
But despite their best efforts, the law continues to move forward. And as the law continues to do so, millions of Americans have enjoyed access to health care which they were previously denied due to the fact they were born with a pre-existing condition.
And as we continue to see reports from states showing that “Obamacare” is actually driving down the cost of health insurance premiums, Republicans are becoming more desperate than ever."
LINK
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.
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1098166_194408050727597_1820674188_n.jpg)
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
Obamacare cheerleading:
40 ways Obamacare is working
1. Say goodbye to lifetime limits: Insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on coverage.
2. Children can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
3. Starting in 2014, adults will no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
Free preventive care, including:
4. Annual check-ups
5. Contraception
6. Vaccinations
7. Gestational diabetes screenings
8. Mammograms
9. Screening and counselling for HIV
10. Cholesterol screenings
11. Colonoscopies
12. Blood pressure screenings
13. Cancer screenings
14. Osteoporosis screenings
15. Young adults can stay on their parents' insurance plans until the age of 26.
16. If insurance companies aren't spending your premium dollars on your health care—at least 80 percent—they've got to give you some money back.
17. Insurance companies can't raise your rates by double-digits without justification.
18. Insurance plans can’t require higher co-payments or co-insurance if you get emergency care from an out-of-network hospital.
19. Women will no longer be charged more than men just because they're women.
20. The health insurance marketplace will be ready to go in every state starting October 1 of this year.
21. No-hassle comparisons: The online marketplace provides easy access to information on all available plans, so you can do a side-by-side comparison and find a plan that works for you.
22. Many Americans will be eligible for financial assistance to help them buy health insurance on their own, so you can afford a plan that will be there if you get sick.
23. When you buy insurance through the marketplace, premiums can be determined based only on these four factors: where you live, how old you are, how large your family is, and whether or not you are a smoker.
24. In the marketplace, you can choose a plan that matches your budget and needs: Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.
25. By 2020, the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" will be closed for good.
These are the essential benefits that all health plans in the marketplace must cover:
26. Ambulatory patient services
27. Emergency services
28. Hospitalization
29. Prenatal care
30. Neonatal care
31. Mental health services
32. Prescription drugs
33. Rehabilitative services and devices
34. Laboratory services like bloodwork
35. Preventive care
36. Wellness services
37. Chronic disease management
38. Pediatric services, including oral and vision care
39. Lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicare.
40. These states are already foreseeing dramatic drops in premiums: New York, California, Nevada, Connecticut, Oregon.
***
Read This Before You Believe The Obamacare Premium Spike Hysteria
LINK
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1146743_10151761727344313_1562154177_n.jpg)
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/998440_699116660104674_1123057318_n.jpg)
![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQ2pU_LCQAEOZtX.jpg:large)
![Image](https://sphotos-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1000596_578715508838873_532287523_n.jpg)
The Latest Right-Wing Freakout Over Obamacare
40 ways Obamacare is working
1. Say goodbye to lifetime limits: Insurance companies will no longer be able to place an arbitrary cap on coverage.
2. Children can no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
3. Starting in 2014, adults will no longer be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition.
Free preventive care, including:
4. Annual check-ups
5. Contraception
6. Vaccinations
7. Gestational diabetes screenings
8. Mammograms
9. Screening and counselling for HIV
10. Cholesterol screenings
11. Colonoscopies
12. Blood pressure screenings
13. Cancer screenings
14. Osteoporosis screenings
15. Young adults can stay on their parents' insurance plans until the age of 26.
16. If insurance companies aren't spending your premium dollars on your health care—at least 80 percent—they've got to give you some money back.
17. Insurance companies can't raise your rates by double-digits without justification.
18. Insurance plans can’t require higher co-payments or co-insurance if you get emergency care from an out-of-network hospital.
19. Women will no longer be charged more than men just because they're women.
20. The health insurance marketplace will be ready to go in every state starting October 1 of this year.
21. No-hassle comparisons: The online marketplace provides easy access to information on all available plans, so you can do a side-by-side comparison and find a plan that works for you.
22. Many Americans will be eligible for financial assistance to help them buy health insurance on their own, so you can afford a plan that will be there if you get sick.
23. When you buy insurance through the marketplace, premiums can be determined based only on these four factors: where you live, how old you are, how large your family is, and whether or not you are a smoker.
24. In the marketplace, you can choose a plan that matches your budget and needs: Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze.
25. By 2020, the Medicare prescription drug "donut hole" will be closed for good.
These are the essential benefits that all health plans in the marketplace must cover:
26. Ambulatory patient services
27. Emergency services
28. Hospitalization
29. Prenatal care
30. Neonatal care
31. Mental health services
32. Prescription drugs
33. Rehabilitative services and devices
34. Laboratory services like bloodwork
35. Preventive care
36. Wellness services
37. Chronic disease management
38. Pediatric services, including oral and vision care
39. Lower prescription drug costs for people on Medicare.
40. These states are already foreseeing dramatic drops in premiums: New York, California, Nevada, Connecticut, Oregon.
***
Read This Before You Believe The Obamacare Premium Spike Hysteria
LINK
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1146743_10151761727344313_1562154177_n.jpg)
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/998440_699116660104674_1123057318_n.jpg)
![Image](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BQ2pU_LCQAEOZtX.jpg:large)
![Image](https://sphotos-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1000596_578715508838873_532287523_n.jpg)
The Latest Right-Wing Freakout Over Obamacare
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1097971_631586833542404_1337883461_n.jpg)
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Nice:
Summary Of A 1993 Republican Health Reform Plan
In November, 1993, Sen. John Chafee, R-R.I., introduced what was considered to be one of the main Republican health overhaul proposals: "A bill to provide comprehensive reform of the health care system of the United States."
Titled the "Health Equity and Access Reform Today Act of 1993," it had 21 co-sponsors, including two Democrats (Sens. Boren and Kerrey). The bill, which was not debated or voted upon, was an alternative to President Bill Clinton's plan. It bears [a whole lot of major] similarity to the Democratic bill passed by the Senate Dec. 24, 2009, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
Kaiser Health News
![Image](https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1186006_621566864543920_776317745_n.jpg)
"Now as for the last 20 years, republicans have feared not that healthcare reform would fail the American people but that it would succeed.
An American public grateful for access to healthcare could provide democrats with an enduring majority for years to come." --John Perr
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
This really is the crux of the healthcare question. Is healthcare a privilege or a right? All of our peer countries have considered that question and answered it affirmatively. In the past, we have not. Now:
![Image](https://sphotos-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1003908_578675478861122_1201813165_n.png)
"I’m going to keep doing everything in my power to make sure this law works as it’s supposed to. Because in the
United States of America, health insurance isn’t a privilege, it is your right." —President Obama
![Image](https://sphotos-b-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash4/1003908_578675478861122_1201813165_n.png)
"I’m going to keep doing everything in my power to make sure this law works as it’s supposed to. Because in the
United States of America, health insurance isn’t a privilege, it is your right." —President Obama
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
(Psst, it's not a yes or no question. How can you answer it affirmatively?)Dardedar wrote:This really is the crux of the healthcare question. Is healthcare a privilege or a right? All of our peer countries have considered that question and answered it affirmatively.
(Sorry, I don't want to hijack your thread, I'm just curious.)
"We may become the makers of our fate when we have ceased to pose as its prophets."
~ The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
~ The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
It's not my thread, it's everybody's thread! And thanks for asking. Good catch.
The crux of how countries deal with their healthcare rests upon a moral question that they have all had to deal with: are we going to treat healthcare as a right, or a privilege? If the question is, "is healthcare a right?" then with Obama's statement above, we have now joined all of our peer nations in answering that question in the affirmative. Healthcare, is a right.
This stands in contrast to guys like this.
I am botching a paraphrase from "The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care." Let me clean it up. He makes this point (I just tried to find the actual quote I am thinking of in the book but couldn't find it quickly).Indium Flappers wrote:Dardedar wrote: (Psst, it's not a yes or no question. How can you answer it affirmatively?)
The crux of how countries deal with their healthcare rests upon a moral question that they have all had to deal with: are we going to treat healthcare as a right, or a privilege? If the question is, "is healthcare a right?" then with Obama's statement above, we have now joined all of our peer nations in answering that question in the affirmative. Healthcare, is a right.
This stands in contrast to guys like this.
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Re: The Healing of America --Meeting Presentation
How Testicular Cancer Convinced A Former Republican Staffer To Leave His Party
"Before he could realize the value of affordable health care, one Republican campaign staffer had to experience what it’s like to be without it.
Clint Murphy, now a real estate agent from Savannah, Georgia, who’s been involved with Republican campaigns since the 1990s, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2000 when he was 25 years old. Four years and four rounds of chemo treatment later — all of which was covered by insurance — Murphy was in remission. Insurance wasn’t a problem in his subsequent political jobs — he worked on John McCain’s election campaign in 2008 and Karen Handel’s Georgia gubernatorial run in 2010 — but when he quit politics in 2010 and entered real estate, he realized just how difficult obtaining insurance with a pre-existing condition could be.
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Murphy said he thought after 10 years since his cancer diagnosis, the insurance companies might cut him some slack — instead, they found something else to charge him for.
“I have sleep apnea. They treated sleep apnea as a pre-existing condition. I’m going right now with no insurance,” he told the AJC.
That’s why Murphy had this to say to his Republican friends who oppose Obamacare on Facebook last week: “When you say you’re against it, you’re saying that you don’t want people like me to have health insurance.” LINK
"Before he could realize the value of affordable health care, one Republican campaign staffer had to experience what it’s like to be without it.
Clint Murphy, now a real estate agent from Savannah, Georgia, who’s been involved with Republican campaigns since the 1990s, was diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2000 when he was 25 years old. Four years and four rounds of chemo treatment later — all of which was covered by insurance — Murphy was in remission. Insurance wasn’t a problem in his subsequent political jobs — he worked on John McCain’s election campaign in 2008 and Karen Handel’s Georgia gubernatorial run in 2010 — but when he quit politics in 2010 and entered real estate, he realized just how difficult obtaining insurance with a pre-existing condition could be.
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Murphy said he thought after 10 years since his cancer diagnosis, the insurance companies might cut him some slack — instead, they found something else to charge him for.
“I have sleep apnea. They treated sleep apnea as a pre-existing condition. I’m going right now with no insurance,” he told the AJC.
That’s why Murphy had this to say to his Republican friends who oppose Obamacare on Facebook last week: “When you say you’re against it, you’re saying that you don’t want people like me to have health insurance.” LINK
"I'm not a skeptic because I want to believe, I'm a skeptic because I want to know." --Michael Shermer