Congress, Healthcare, and Hidden Costs

Thanks for the links and the information.  I agree with you.

That's the same question I keep asking. And the same point I drive home every time I write a government official about this topic, even President Obama has gotten that reminder from me.

Are you aware of the "documentary" that NBC is planning to run on Sunday? I'll post details later.

No, I'm not.  Would you send me a "reminder" about  your post?

Here's a link. Would you link yours to mine?

Former Hospital CEO Trying to Block Public Option

FamilyUSA is a VERY limited government group. It is not a surprise that they should release this figure. It is a surprise that the number they gave was so low.

Reforming healthcare under a single-payor system would streamline payment, help make medical records more secure while more widely accessible to additional medical providers (as they are all within the same system), and support care standards.

"Why is it that people are OK with paying taxes that provide members of Congress and their spouses with 100% medical coverage for the rest of their lives"

I don't think people are OK with it, I think most people don't even know it and the ones who do, don't know how to stop it... if it can be stopped.

Not just Congress but also all U.S. Military and "Intelligence" and pretty much any government employee along with their immediate family. Now of course those of us on Medicare can get treated for just about anything and doctors love to keep people who are terminal around as long as possible not caring about the person thenself. We spend more on extending the end of life instead of caring for people ailing from curable diseases.

Well, that would be because assisted suicide is a sin!  People don't have the right to die!  Dontcha know that that uppity black man in the Whitehouse is going to promote asisted suicide and forced euthenasia??

I agree with Pat V.  I'm not okay with it.

Entitlement, pure and simple Elizabeth.

I recall, one of the debates Obama had with McCain, he proposed that all American's should have sccess to the same health care options the Senate and Congress have, I feel Obama will try to resolve this, but it isn't as simple as he saying what he wants and it is done, he has to run it by the very people who feel it is their right only!

I'm wondering where this sense of entitlement comes from.  Why is it that THEY can have entitlement, but if one of us poor people thinks that we should get some basic level of healthcare, then we're just acting like a nanny state, socialist, communist, etc?

I know. It is like the fuedal systems in many countries in Europe, before they got managed health care!

I agree, Elizabeth.  Uninsured patients double the cost of insurance premiums for those who have coverage.  It's still not enough to pay for everyone's care!

I also believe that every citizen should have exactly the same benefits as our representatives. 

Thanks for posting to Fugitives from Ignorance, Conformity, and Peer Pressure

Then PLEASE contact the representatives above, contact your local reps, contact the whitehouse, tell your friends and family to do the same.

Already done.

Why is it that people are OK with paying taxes that provide members of Congress and their spouses with 100% medical coverage for the rest of their lives, but they absolutely REFUSE to consider the same thing for themselves and everybody else? I don't understand this behaviour, and I've never gotten an answer either.

The best answer I can come up with is that our tax money is paying for a few people (in comparison to the entire country) to receive better care than most who pay for insurance. Put the entire Country on this sort of plan and it breaks down to less quality in health care per person. HMO (which people paid for through private insurance companies) were denied excellent health care when this plan allowed for insurance companies to refuse them based on what it would cost. I always chose PPO, where the doctor determined whether I needed a procedure, test or surgery. Anyone who has ever been on medicaid knows you WAIT... You wait to get in to see someone after going through the red tape, filing papers, proving your income and feeling like people are snooping in your underwear drawer. Then you wait for hours in a room full of others who are also waiting for hours. (Bring a sack lunch and ear plugs... it's a long day with a room full of sick kids screaming and crying) I agree that this is better than nothing at all for those who have nothing at all. For me, it is humiliation and frustration. For years I have enjoyed the benefits of health insurance, leaving the days of being dependent on government assistance in hard times (when I was much younger, barely able to make ends meet on a meager paycheck that women were "privileged" to receive for their hard work and long hours.) I've also been disillusioned with Privatized Health Care... I knew the doctors, insurance companies and hospitals were raping the system with dishonesty... jacking up prices to make a buck off of our demise! I watched the premiums go up every six months until the economic crunch when the pay didn't meet the demands any longer. I'm not necessarily for universal health care, where I'm put on a long waiting list, sorted out according to the government's interpretation of "need", who comes first, second and last. I would like AFFORDABLE health insurance for those of us who are able to work. I would like privatized Health Insurance regulated so that it can no longer use us to gain exorbitant profits. We should not be victims at our own expense so they can afford Yachts, and extravagant living. I've paid into this system for years, with nothing left for me when I can no longer pay. Not poor enough to qualify for assistance, not rich enough to pay out the nose for climbing costs of health care Insurance. I'd like to see a system that accounts for every penny I pay into a system, credit it toward MY health care when it is needed. I want quarterly reports from the Insurance Co, showing me what they pay themselves, what they pay towards the collective investors (that would be those of us paying the premiums)and what the Doctors receive in excess paybacks. The whole idea behind INSURANCE was that we pooled our monies together to pay for expensive surgeries, procedures, tests and regular checkups geared toward preventative medicine. It was supposedly designed for people to help one another... based on NEED. It was not supposed to be a lucrative business for CEOs to make a profit off us... taking the excess money and giving patients stamped DENIAL papers in return.

Then please write to your legislatures.  Write to the people above.  Write to the whitehouse.

sorry, I forgot to format my comment in the editor. Paragraphs are missing.

I was watching Bill Maher tonight, and he said something about congress had taken this issue "off the table" I hope they haven't

For the moment they have, but there have been HUGE protests trying to get put back on.   Write your legislators, write the people above, write the whitehouse, write anyone you can think of and tell them what YOU want.

I'm glad there is a protest, and will have to write some legislatures; we definately need something new for healthcare in this country.

You make a great point, Elizabeth, but lost in all the hubbub is the rising costs of Medicaid & Medicare, and who pays for those??

A single payer healthcare system would streamline ALL of that and actually cost LESS per person than it does NOW because there wouldn't be all these "middle men" taking their "cut".

That was my point, Elizabeth. All those folk who are screaming about huge costs for a universal healthcare plan fail to identify the costs & wastes of both programs.

Ahhh, sorry I misunderstood.  Sometimes things don't translate well in writing.

Now, PLEASE write to legislators, governors, the President, and anyone else you can think of!

Excellent post, thanks so much for sharing it with my group.

Thank you, and  you're welcome.  Now, go WRITE.  Tell you story, tell your friend's story, tell your familie's story, but WRITE.  
BE HEARD!

Never met anyone who supported Congress having anything like this.  Have you?  But so what, congress does what it wants to and I note nothing changed with different administration either on the issue.

Hell if I had my way, they'd be making the same pay as any GS level employee and have Tricare with no retirement before 20 years service.

Have I what?

You state that people have no problem with Congress getting such great health care and I said I'd never heard anyone support that, I then asked if you had.

Actually, yes, I have.  Mostly from teachers, but they'd tell us that Congress deserved it because they were so important and they didn't have a "regular" employer, etc, etc.  Same reason why the president deserved to double his salary.

Ahh, yeah I'd be PO'd if someone tried to hand me that line too.

Now, as an adult, I've found that I'm not real happy with teacher's in our local union either.  Although, I didn't grow up here, so they weren't the ones to tell me that horsedip.

Just want you to know, I appreciate the info.

you amaze me..thanks for the kind words on my post. new friend !!!!!

Fighting for healthcare reform is in my blood.  Check out WWW.HATTIELARLHAM.ORG  They were my grandparents.

I went to the site and was WOWED, your grandparents, that is so so cool.

They amazed me all of my life.  I do some work with the foundation, and anm going to try to be MORE involved in the future.  However, as  you can see, I don't really have a choice, I HAVE to fight for healthcare for everybody.  So does my dad, Chuck L., he has a "group" Healthcare for Everybody.  We just can't help ourselves. (G)

I agree with this.  We cannot afford to keep paying for the medical care of the politicians in Washington.  They make enough money to pay their own way anyway...and if they actually had to do that and live in the real world, they would understand Joe Average.  I'm all for taking those benefits away from them.

But there is no way we could afford anything 1/10th as good for the rest of us either.  Not with the deficit we already have, the money we owe to the world, and the lack of growth in our economy by this current President.  It can't happen.  Not unless every single person who does not pay taxes now has to pay into the system.  They should also have to pay co-pays too. 

And people with good insurance should be able to keep it without having to pay taxes on it as if it's income.  (Yes, Obama IS considering that, even after he laughed at McCain for bringing it up first.)

Right on, we can't afford socialized medicine, our deficit must be taken care of.

And your solution would be?

Well, Elizabeth it would certainly NOT be adding to what we already cannot pay.

I've asked before...are you willing to say, "You bet.  I'll give up tax refunds forever and I'll be willing to pay 50-60% income tax for whatever income I have - working, unemployment or SS"?  If so, perhaps it's time to start considering something.  If not, then we need to let this whole thing drop.

I still have some research to do on this healthcare issue before I can offer or endorse a solution yet. One thing for sure, our government cannot spend endless amounts of money. To get the funding they must either raise taxes, borrow, or inflate the currency. Since at least World War II we have been borrowing at an unsustainable rate. Soon enough no one will want to lend to us anymore. Then we will have to inflate the currency even more, raise taxes, and/or cut spending. I'm not saying our current healthcare system is wonderful, but I cannot support a system that collapses us financially. If that happened and we were on government health insurance there just might be no health insurance for anyone.

I'm bettig you are currently covered by your parents insurance.  However, imagine if all of the thousands of dollars they spend on insurance, deductibles and copays went to the doctor, nurse, or other health professional instead of into the pocket of an insurance agent, CEO, or other insurance professional.  If we streamlined the paying, which is ALL a single-payer system would do, we would have PLENTY of money, because we wouldn't be paying a middle man instead.  If you'd like more information on a single payer system go to WWW.SICKOCURE.ORG or WWW.PNHP.ORG (Physicians for a National Health Plan) and look through some of the posts on this site.  Single payer has NOTHING to do with "socialized" medicine.  The government (usually) only becomes the payer, not the supplier.  It won't OWN the hospitals, the doctors, or the pharmacies, it will only direct payment to them, much like all the different insurance agencies do now, except that they won't deny coverage.  You can't be denied care, or refused coverage.  Pre-existing conditions won't matter, and it will no longer be tied to employment.

I was born with Epilepsy, Migraines, and Vertigo, I now suffer from chronic pain associated with back and neck problems.  I can NEVER be covered by a "private" insurer because of the problems I was BORN with.  If I couldn't get coverage from my husband's employer, or if something happened to him, I wouldn't be able to GET coverage because of "pre-existing" conditions.  What kind of system, in a "civilized" society says that because of conditions I was born with I can't get healthcare for those SAME conditions?

Maryilin-If it meant that I would no longer have to worry about premiums, co-pays, and deductibles, or that I couldn't GET insurance because of "pre-exisiting conditions" that I was BORN with, you bet. 

THAT'S what MY refunds go to ANYWAY.  We are currently carrying over $6,000 in medical debt, if that were wiped away and I'd never have to worry about that type of debt again, absolutely.

Great then, Elizabeth.  Everyone who wants this should offer and pledge to pay for it.  And leave the rest of us out of it (and not responsible financially for it).  We cannot afford this.  We already have so much deficit spending.  And we have government programs that don't work.  I know you keep talking about singer payer, but that's not what's on the table right now, and even if it was, in most places that means the government is involved.

I've already written to our Senators, and also the President several times. Done, and will continue to do.

Marilyn

I don't think it is OK for Congress to get 100% coverage. They should have to pay for their own healthcare like the rest of us.

When's the last time you told them that?

Actually I was not completely aware of this until I read in your post that our taxes provide "members of Congress and their spouses with 100% medical coverage for the rest of their lives..." So obviously I have not told them yet. Do you think they should have this privilage? If our leaders have all these extra privilages like this no wonder they are so disconnected from reality.

I have written to them, Elizabeth.  I think that if they had to pay for things like Joe Average, they would understand things better.

Of course, I also think every politician should have had some experience running a business or owning a business before ever deciding how to spend our money.

Marilyn, I know YOU'VE told them, I was speaking to Matthel Murphey.  I agree, if they didn't have the priviledges and perks they might have a better understanding of how the rest of us live.

Matthew if you didn't know that I have to wonder what ELSE you don't know about basic politics.  You might want to do some more research before making decisions about politicians.  You seem young yet, so you still have time.

I do research alright. I don't like to just automatically go with what one party or politician says:)

Who is Matthel Murphey? Did you mispell it on purpose? LOL, just kidding.

Good for you.  People who blindly follow a politician or, worse, a political party seem to think of the world as being black and white with no shades of gray.

Here is irony for you I am the only one working in my household, and thanks to the welfare system I am the only one not covered by medicaid. I hurt my back. on the job, and my boss tried to block me getting workers comp. Then I passed my first Kidney stone, just as my back was getting better, and because my work suffered I got put on 30 days notice. I had to shape up or lose my job! During this whole mess I had to max out credit cards to pay my medical bills, and guess what? Even when I was only working 20 hours or less due to injury I was not able to get back on medical coverage. They told me I had to be off work for three pay checks! Thats a month and a half.

The system is broken.

Yes it is.  They look at the "Gross" income instead of the "Net" which can be several HUNDRED dollars different.  Healthcare shoudn't be tied to employment, "pre existing conditions" or anything else.  It should be a RIGHT not a PRIVELEGE.

Citizens, not just paper documents are our country. The sign on the Statue of Liberty still means a lot, or it should. Justice is not being served unless we really in our hearts care for each others and throw away the petty politics. It seems 99% of the energy is spent on angry debates and barely 1% is spent on finding a solution. Solutions serve the people and our country. The rest is irresponsible.