Obama's Health Plan

Regarding healthcare-

The news says that we have an escalating un-sustained health care cost and the worst heath care than most other nations. We are evidently not getting our moneys worth. Most of our health care dollar appears to be a scam and not used to promote health. This is an attempt to describe this apparent scam and wasted dollar with the hope that our nation will do better in the future.

Overpayment. We pay 50 percent more for health care than other industrialized countries, including those with universal care. Because health care expenses are so high 46 million Americans are currently without health insurance1. We do not get what we pay for. We rank among the lowest in the health outcome rankings of developed countries, and on several major indices rank below some third-world nations. We are paying a lot extra and since it is not in healthcare, where is it going?

Health care money. Some of this extra money is going to the Insurance companies. Health insurers have forced consumers to pay billions of dollars in medical bills that the insurers themselves should have paid, according to a report released yesterday by the staff of the Senate Commerce Committee. Insurers go to great lengths to avoid responsibility for sick people, use deliberately incomprehensible documents to mislead consumers about their benefits, and sell "junk" policies that do not cover needed care. Rockefeller said he was exploring "why consumers get such a raw deal from their insurance companies." "The industry and its backers are using fear tactics, as they did in 1994, to tar a transparent and accountable -- publicly accountable -- health-care option," said Wendell Potter, who until early last year was vice president for corporate communications at the big insurer Cigna.4
Total spending was for health insurance of $2.4 TRILLION in 2007, or $7900 per person1. In 2006, the six largest insurance companies made $11 billion in profits even after paying for direct health care costs, administrative costs and marketing costs. Total health care spending represented 17 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). 2 How many policies for the uninsured would this CEO money pay for?
Health care expense. Health care insurer has their expenses. Part of the pay out for some of the CEOs health insurance industry listed as follows:
Ron Williams – Aetna – Total Compensation: $24,300,112.
* H. Edward Hanway – CIGNA – Total Compensation: $12,236,740.
* Angela Braly – WellPoint – Total Compensation: $9,844,212.
* Dale Wolf – Coventry Health Care – Total Compensation: $9,047,469.
* Michael Neidorff – Centene – Total Compensation: $8,774,483.
* James Carlson – AMERIGROUP – Total Compensation: $5,292,546.
* Michael McCallister – Humana – Total Compensation: $4,764,309.
* Jay Gellert – Health Net – Total Compensation: $4,425,355.
* Richard Barasch – Universal American – Total Compensation: $3,503,702.
* Stephen Hemsley – UnitedHealth Group – Total Compensation: $3,241,042. 3

Bribing Congress. What about bribing Congress in escalating hundreds of millions of dollars so that that perhaps they may continue ripping people off is routine business. Indirectly this money comes from your health care dollar?
The amount of Campaign contributions from the health care industry for the years from 1998 through 2008 are listed as follows: 1998-$168,248,133; 1999-$189,369,414; 2000-$200,073,421; 2001-$217,878,463; 2002- $259,931,873; 2003- $277,570,278; 2004- $305,105,133; 2005- $347,545,104; 2006- $378,247,8656; 2007-$418,182,780; 2008- $483,934,321.5 Since they do not give this money away without expecting a return, I categorize this as corrupt money. How many uninsured would up to 500 million, insure each year. The organization moveon.org has been sorting out who gets how much and for what and advertising it. This embarrasses some congress members. I say good for them keep it up. Perhaps we could abolish this type of money in the future altogether.

Rip-off Artist Hospital. Illicit charges are some of the reason for the extreme cost of healthcare. American hospitals are fleecing patients out of billions of dollars annually, and experts say that while some of the overcharges are honest errors, many are deliberate.
That's because hospital bills are next to impossible for consumers to understand, which means hospitals can hide improper charges behind mysterious medical terminology and baffling codes. $129 for a box of tissues, newborn tests and a crib for male patient, $90 for a 70-cent IV are some of the examples. "Hospitals are huge moneymakers, their executives enjoy big bonuses."
And, according to a 1998 study of hospital billing procedures, they go to extraordinary lengths to discourage patients from delving too deeply into their bills. "Citizens are becoming more educated about hospital billing and taking responsibility of ensuring that their charges are correct," said the study's principal author, Dr. Kimberly Elsbach, of the University of California, Davis. "Hospitals are countering that with their own efforts to discourage people from becoming involved with challenges or audits because it costs them a great deal of time and money."6 And they waste no time turning accounts over to collection agencies or filing liens.

Socialism. Is not the one payer system socialism? The idea is no more socialized than our public school system. Why not capitalize our public school system where only those who could afford the over $10,000 could pay for it. Our nation would then be more illiterate that we are now. Our society is diverse in culture and ideas and that is what makes it great. China is even finding out there is a benefit to capitalism.

Saving money. Medicare has administrative costs far lower (four times lower) than any private health insurance plan. The potential savings on health insurance paperwork, more than $350 billion per year, is enough to provide comprehensive coverage to every uninsured American. Only a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan can realize these enormous savings and provide comprehensive and affordable health care to every citizen. I support President Obama’s heath care plan because it is the closest to a plan that will literally save this country. The idea tells the industry that if they have a better plan than the single payer system then produce it.

Contact Representatives. Call or write your congressmen or senator and tell them you want him to get more bang for the dollar by voting for the President Obama’s Health Care Plan because if you do not some very stingy selfish greedy people who regard greed above life, will have their way. This will cost you dearly out of the pocket and our nation will be less than it could be.

References:
1. http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml
2. http://www.nchc.org/facts/cost.shtml
3. http://girldujour.wordpress.com/2009/06/10/health-insurance-executive-compensation-will-make-you-sick/
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/24/AR2009062401636.html?hpid=topnews.
5. http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/indus.php?year=2008&lname=H&id=
6. http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhealth/P74840.asp