Posted on 06/13/2009 2:04:37 PM PDT by pleikumud
The president suggests trimming federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion over the next 10 years, saying greater efficiencies and broader insurance coverage will justify the change. Hospitals, especially those with many poor patients, say the proposed cuts are unfair and will harm the sick and elderly.
Even if Obama and Congress could hit the overall goal of $948 billion in health care savings over 10 years, it still might not be enough to cover all the nation's uninsured. Outside experts say the 10-year cost could range from $1.2 trillion to $1.8 trillion, depending on factors such as how generous federal subsidies turn out to be. One Senate proposal would subsidize families making as much as $110,000.
The administration wants to hold the cost to about $1 trillion, and Obama says the plan must not add to the federal deficit.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The government should be less involved, not more. Obama’s plan for socialized medicine will result in poor quality care, fewer doctors and hospitals, long waits for treatment, and most importantly, lack of individual choice - Freedom. America has the best health care in the world, driven by competition and the research and innovation of free enterprise. It seems that Obama and Congress are determined to ruin the great medical care we already enjoy.
About long waits for treatment: this is more than just an inconvenience. It is the government preventing me from getting treatment, and that could result in my untimely death. In other words, I will have lost my right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.
Plus, the national debt is already staggering and unsustainable. Even if it were good policy, which it isn’t, socialized medicine is too expensive. Obama’s accumulation of debt exceeds that of all previous presidents in American history combined, and that’s not even counting the unfunded liabilities for Socialist Security and Medicare.
Obama and his Socialist Congress are on a path to destroy capitalism, freedom, and your life. EVERYONE - write to your congressmorons every day.
The ObamaComs’ Obamacare program is being rushed into the system to cover up the failures of Medicare and Medicaid. It isn’t going to work either. It must be stopped now.
AND, for those of us who CHOOSE to live in fidelity in a monogomous marriage, we don’t smoke, alcohol is very minimum, we don’t sat on couches eathing junk food, high in fat and sugar, and we don’t worry, worry, and we exercise...we’re healthy.. Can we get a rebate on our taxes?
Yeah, the uninsured will be covered because they will have Government insurance. What about the illegals? Won’t they still be “uninsured”? Of course—and they’re a big part of the problem.
America has the best health care in the world, driven by competition and the research and innovation of free enterprise.
It works as I think you would design it, like auto insurance. High risk employees pay more, those with healthy lifestyles pay significantly less.
What, pray tell, are the Canadians going to do if this passes? The only thing holding up Canada’s health care system now is the ability of their citizens to come south and pay cash for immediate care. Absent that, they will be as screwed as we would be. FUBO.
It is highly likely that, conservatively, Obamas healthcare reform will cost 3-5 times what was originally proposed on a good implementation period. Unlikely that the limits will prove to be only 3-5 times what is claimed. Massachusetts healthcare is many more multiples of what was proposed initially ($125million...now over $800 billion in a few years and growing uncontrollably). Highly dangerous to implement any healthcare plan at this point that requires more spending, PERIOD.
The consumer and taxpayers are effectively dead relative to their capability to fund any Dim ideas.
The costs are too high because of government interference. If the free market were allowed to work, competition would ensure high quality and lower prices. If medical care and research had been completely controlled by the government over the past 30 years or so, we would not have the best health care in the world. We would not have so many life-saving drugs and advanced medical procedures that people now take for granted.
So the more government is involved, the worse the situation will get. And the less government is involved, the better it will get.
Hospitals have seen their reimbursements by the government and private insurance companies cut to the bone. On top of that they have to provide services to patients for which they get no reimbursements.
Then you have a yahoo like this Chicago bumpkin come along, and state something to the effect that hospitals will simply have to cut the waste. What waste?
With periodic difficulties with physicians and nurses trying to remain covered with malpractice insurance, the government TELLING the hospitals what it would pay for services, the insurance providers joining in with that ploy, and illegal aliens and others getting services for free, hospitals have been feverishly trying to find more ways to cut their costs for the last 25 years.
Health care provider organizations are not getting rich folks. In today’s climate, they’re lucky to remain solvent at all.
When you hear some nitwit say that the health care industry needs to suck it up, you know they don’t have the slightest clue what has been going on in the field for the last 25 years.
I believe a part of the high costs are imaginary.
People are flabbergasted to hear that some tablets cost $6 to $8 dollars these days. For the life of them they can’t understand why.
What they don’t realize is that these tablets are so effective that they prevent the patient from having to be hospitalized for a few days to a couple of weeks.
Other costs do go up exponentially, but a considerable amount of those costs are more or less passed on by the hospitals from they suppliers. Those suppliers are not under the gun to cut costs. That puts hospitals in a very tough position.
A major fallacy is the idea that people have a “right” to medical care. People have no such “right” any more than they have a “right” to free food, free retirement, free vacations, free education, or free housing.
At least 50% of the people in hospitals at any given time are there due to self-inflicted problems: obesity, cigarette cancer, alcohol and drug abuse, and heart disease related to bad habits. Let’s not forget irresponsible pregnancies by “parents” who either can’t or won’t care for their own children. The government, i.e. the “people”, cannot afford to provide free care to all who have no sense of personal responsibility. There will never be enough taxpayers, particularly due to the demographics and increased average age of the population.
This country needs to get over the idea that everyone is entitled to $750,000 worth of medical care to keep them alive for 6 more months. Death is inevitable. Duh.
“Quality-wise, that’s true. But the costs are way out of control and have been for some time. The questions is why?”
Answer: costs are NOT out of control. They are what one expects for premium health care.
If everyone bought BMWs, car costs would seem ‘out-of-control’.
Illegals are the biggest burden on our health care system. The federal government wants to cut payments to the hospitals but it still wants those hospitals to treat millions of illegals. They will do anything to avoid addressing the real problem caused by illegals.
Its going to be a trillion per year at least
mandates. states have forced them to cover everything so its not possible to get a streamlined cheap policy
Brilliant plan you got there Obama: defund most treatment for the sick and the infirm.
Costs ARE out of control. If car costs had gone up as much as health care costs, that BMW would cost $500K.
Ok, what part of Obama's plan did you not understand ?
BTTT
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