After reading HB 3200, I decided it would be futile to go over all the problems and besides, as noted in last months blog, it's not the final version. Sen. Max Baucus (D. Montana) has already introduced a senate version. Baucus has listened and there are major differences, but there are not enough to satisfy key members of the senate who don't appear to be supporting even Baucus's bill.

While Baucus says it doesn't contain a public option or free insurance for illegal immigrants, it does contain co-ops, doesn't require ID's to be asked for (thus making it impossible to eliminate usage by illegal immigrants) and does not address things like rationing. Baucus's bill calls for reductions in Medicare payments (huh! See previous blog).

No matter what you think of what doctors and hospitals charge, if you reduce their income they will limit your care either by retiring or in the case of hospitals, closing. No one wants to work for nothing.

Also please note that we haven't seen the final version of the healthcare bill yet. The House will have it's version and the Senate will have a different one. Both versions will go to a conference committee consisting of House and Senate members which will "iron out differences" and a final version of the bill will emerge. What the final version of the bill will look like will depend on a number of factors, including how strong the individual conference committee members are, how strong the taxpayers are either for or against the final version, (i.e. tea parties). So if you don't like the House or Senate versions or you don't like the conference committee version, speak out. If you don't speak out you will get stuck with something you don't like and it won't be anyone's fault but yours. You get what you don't speak out about. If you are for it say so; if you are against it, say so. In this case silence isn't golden. Silence can be deadly or at the least costly.

As for cap and trade, if gas and heating or a/c bills go up, will you blame the oil and utility companies? Maybe you should blame the government. You should also blame yourself a little. No business absorbs a tax without passing at least part of it to the consumers. If the cost of doing business goes up, don't the prices of the goods or services go up too? If prices go up then don't you want a raise to absorb the increase? Why should the business that employees you be any different? And, cap and trade is a tax on carbon emissions. Pay attention to when prices go up. Is it because the merchant or supplier just raised them or because a tax was added? Cap and trade simply means that each company is allowed to emit a certain amount of carbon, and if they exceed their allotment they have to buy carbon credits from a company that sells them. (Someone is making lots of money on this and it won't be the oil companies, etc. Al Gore has made a lot of money selling carbon credits.)

A tax can be direct (Todd Stroger's Cook County sales tax is an example), or indirect (cap and trade), but in the end, like healthcare rationing, the consumer pays.

The taxpayer always gets it in the end.

Is the water Hot Enough for you Yet?

A recent discussion got me to thinking a lot about health care.  (Actually, I've been thinking about it a lot anyway.)

Jerry and I are on Medicare right now and we are not satisfied.  The old adage "You get what you pay for" comes to mind.  I have been denied coverage for prescriptions and for additional tests for cancer (even though I'm a cancer survivor and need to be monitored very closely). We paid for the prescriptions out of pocket and I've skipped the additional cancer tests.

So what's the solution?   We are unhappy with Medicare, but we have no choice.  Once we turned 65 our private insurance cut us off so we have to have Medicare or we have nothing.  We have also been unhappy with a supplement we had, but at least we were able to switch that.  Before Medicare we were unhappy with an HMO his company put us on, but again we were able to switch that. 

Recently I went to Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale to have a problem taken care of that doctors here couldn't seem to understand.  Here's what I discovered.  When dealing with Medicare/Medicaid patients volume is important.  So doctors don't listen.  They just want to get you in and out of their offices quickly.  The more people they see the more money they get.  Mayo has overcome that problem.  They don't take Medicare assignment and so therefore their doctors spend more time with you and listen.  Mayo doctors are paid a yearly salary not a per patient salary.  Mayo can run things the way it wants without government interference so instead of treating me for pain (not what I came in for, I'd learned to manage my pain.) They treated me for my complaint: a collapsing leg, which I couldn't manage.

After all this I'm reading the 1,000 page tome called the health bill.  (HR 3200) And, what I'm finding out is that the pundits are right.  We don't want our government in health care.  First, no one can understand it (and neither can I) unless they are a government bureaucrat.  Even the definitions are confusing, because to define a term it refers you to another statute (which you don't have) or section of the same bill and without a page number, it's time consuming to say the least.  I don't blame members of Congress for not having read the bill.  However, I do blame some of them for not knowing what will happen.  Be realistic.  When government started paying for prescription health care for seniors, my husband's prescription plan really went south.    They raised the deductible, started covering only those medications that Medicare would cover, etc.  In short we got screwed.  So we did what any sensible people should do, we stopped paying for it and went out on our own. Let's face it; the copay was higher than those at local chains.  We are both on maintenance drugs that are actually cheaper without the current copay. 

Since then we've had to pay for medication out of pocket periodically that might have been covered, but when we factor in the monthly charge, and co-pay that we are no longer paying, it hasn't cost us that much out of pocket and we might actually be saving money.  You just have to shop around.

So here's a thought (and this will probably get the government goons on my tail, but hey I want this country to return to the free country it once was.)  You can read the government health care plan just by going to http://edlabor.house.gov/documents/111/pdf/publications/AAHCA-BillText-071409.pdf
This is the entire up-to-date bill before Congress right now.  Remember, it can be changed if the house and the senate both pass the bill.  If the versions aren't identical, conference committee can change it so this is by no means the final version.  It is only the current House of Representatives proposal.  I suggest you read it.  (Yes, I know I haven't finish the whole 1,000 pages either) rather than take someone else's word for it.  (I've already found some holy cows that back up what I've heard the pundits saying.)  Or if you don't want to read it just send it as something "fishy" to flag@whitehouse.gov.  We've done this.  Just tell them you got this fishy email and you wanted to check it out.  We've already done this and so far we're still alive.

I actually heard someone who had the same idea on a radio show so we won't be the only ones sending a copy of the bill to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.  And, to think we had the same idea as someone whom we don't know in another state.  Must be a conspiracy!!!

Is the water hot enough for you yet?