Author Topic: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles  (Read 8815 times)

Eyeball Chambers

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #25 on: June 09, 2009, 06:13:03 PM »
Why shouldn't healthcare be treated just like any other commodity?
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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #26 on: June 09, 2009, 06:47:50 PM »
People don't want high taxes but the majority will blindly vote for whoever promises the most and then never pays for it through taxation. Hence our giant deficit and 70 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities.
No doubt.  Someone said it another thread, poor people complain about the quality of their communities but don't pay taxes to fund programs to keep it nice.  The same is true about everything else in this country.  Someone has to pay for it but there eventually comes a breaking point and people will revolt.  Sadly the American public are too stupid to realize that Barry's plan is not going to do anything but drive up taxes and debt without actually solving anything.

Why shouldn't healthcare be treated just like any other commodity?
Bingo.  I hope hospitals start shutting down emergency rooms so illegals can't suck money out of hospitals.
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gcb

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #27 on: June 09, 2009, 07:36:55 PM »
I don't understand socialized healthcare works in the majority of the other first world countries so why wouldn't it work in the US?

It seems to me there is a lot of propaganda out there and few facts.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #28 on: June 09, 2009, 07:42:57 PM »
The govt. can't manage itself and can't properly fund/run medicare, how is it going to manage universal healthcare?

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #29 on: June 09, 2009, 07:44:01 PM »
The govt. can't manage itself and can't properly fund/run medicare, how is it going to manage universal healthcare?

So it's an american incompetence thing then  ::)

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #30 on: June 09, 2009, 07:52:22 PM »
So it's an american incompetence thing then  ::)

Basically.

Also, there isn't money enough for it. We just can't grow the economy enough to make it affordable without a massive wealth redistribution or making it impossible for small businesses to operate.

Simple example(s): TricCare (military HMO) has been as far as two years behind paying claims. How can someone possibly afford to provide care to patients without being paid for two years? One of my friends had to admit a patient because TriCare wouldn't approve an ultrasound in time.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #31 on: June 09, 2009, 07:55:43 PM »
Yeah well maybe they should be looking to other countries where universal healthcare works and then re-organize accordingly.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #32 on: June 09, 2009, 07:59:04 PM »
I don't understand socialized healthcare works in the majority of the other first world countries so why wouldn't it work in the US?

It seems to me there is a lot of propaganda out there and few facts.
Socialized medicine doesn't work the way people think, which is why we have Canadians coming here for medical services.
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Kazan

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #33 on: June 09, 2009, 08:27:07 PM »
Yeah well maybe they should be looking to other countries where universal healthcare works and then re-organize accordingly.

Maybe the government should just stay out of it. This all just more ways to gain power and control.
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gcb

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #34 on: June 09, 2009, 08:32:57 PM »
Maybe the government should just stay out of it. This all just more ways to gain power and control.

The government did stay out of it and it doesn't work - so what do you do?

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #35 on: June 09, 2009, 08:39:07 PM »
The government did stay out of it and it doesn't work - so what do you do?

Who says it doesn't work? The government, big surprise.
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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #36 on: June 09, 2009, 09:36:54 PM »
lol, is this 333386?



hahaha,  It could be him??

ROFL

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #37 on: June 10, 2009, 04:38:03 AM »
Yeah well maybe they should be looking to other countries where universal healthcare works and then re-organize accordingly.

Any comparison between those countries and the US is pointless because they don't resemble each other in any significant manner. People bringing up Canada forget it's a socialist country, taxes up the wazoo, and has a two tiered system that allows its wealthier citizens more access.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #38 on: June 10, 2009, 04:59:21 AM »
hahaha,  It could be him??

ROFL

No that is not me.  I have a shaved head and am much bigger than that guy.  I have a Bronx Nu Yawk accent and dont post videos.

Good try though.   

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #39 on: June 10, 2009, 05:02:05 AM »
The government did stay out of it and it doesn't work - so what do you do?

That's pure nonsense, the govt is 100% already involved in health care. 

The govt and the states issue insurance regs that mandate that companies cant sell policies across state lines.  Additionally, the govt mandates that certain procedures be covered under ALL PLANS, which drives up the premiums.

Medicaire, Medicaid, SS, VA, etc are all examples of govt run health care and guess what - THEY ARE ALL BROKE AND DISFUNCTIONAL. 

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #40 on: June 10, 2009, 05:04:30 AM »
hahaha,  It could be him??

ROFL

That sounds like a Brooklyn/Queens or Long Island accent, not a Bronx accent.   

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #41 on: June 12, 2009, 07:28:50 AM »
Obama Green Bay Town Hall June 11 2009


President Obama at Green Bay Town Hall 6/11/2009 Obama explains why single payer health plan IS NOT SOCIALIZED MEDICINE.
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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #42 on: June 13, 2009, 07:51:55 AM »
President Obama: Health Care Reform, the Key to Our Fiscal Future! Weekly Address

June 13, 2009 White House
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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #43 on: June 13, 2009, 08:12:33 AM »
His eyes look bloodshot.  I guess he's doing coke again. 

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #44 on: June 13, 2009, 08:38:30 AM »
Or maybe he's not getting enough rest. He's probably up all night trying to beat his chief of staff in their reading contest.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #45 on: June 13, 2009, 08:59:32 AM »
Or maybe he's not getting enough rest. He's probably up all night trying to beat his chief of staff in their reading contest.

Dont think so.   Dear leader knows all, sees all, hears all, and does not need to read.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #46 on: June 13, 2009, 10:10:04 AM »
Dont think so.   Dear leader knows all, sees all, hears all, and does not need to read.

It's funny. So many conservatives seem to hold sentiments like this. It makes me wonder why you guys question him so much.

For the record, he's just a dude. I don't think he's omnipotent.

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #47 on: June 13, 2009, 10:54:32 AM »
It's funny. So many conservatives seem to hold sentiments like this. It makes me wonder why you guys question him so much.

For the record, he's just a dude. I don't think he's omnipotent.

It was a joke.  And by the way, many in the media and in the Dem party do think he is omnipotent.  Remember Evan Thomas calling him "God"????

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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #48 on: June 16, 2009, 05:00:36 AM »
A plan to boost America’s fiscal health

By Peter Orszag

Published: June 15 2009 19:26

As the healthcare debate picks up in the US, there has been much discussion about how to pay for it. Coinciding with this debate are vocal concerns about the country’s underlying fiscal position – which some have suggested as a reason to delay healthcare reform.

What this argument ignores is that healthcare is central to the long-term fiscal and economic prospects of the US. If costs per enrollee in Medicare and Medicaid grow at the same rate over the next four decades as they have over the past four, those two programmes will increase from 5 per cent of gross domestic product today to 20 per cent by 2050.

Healthcare cost growth dwarfs any of the other long-term fiscal challenges the US faces. Nothing else we do on the fiscal front will matter much if we fail to address rapidly rising healthcare costs.

The US spends almost 50 per cent more per person on healthcare than the next most costly nation, but our health outcomes lag those of most industrialised countries. For families, after adjusting for inflation, health insurance premiums have increased 58 per cent while wages have risen only 3 per cent since 2000. For states, rising healthcare costs are squeezing their budgets, leading to cuts in essential services and tax rises. And for the economy as a whole, if healthcare costs grow at the rate they are now, healthcare will consume one-fifth of GDP by 2017.

That is why Barack Obama is committed to undertaking healthcare reform this year. Based on estimates by Dartmouth College and others, the US spends about $700bn (£428bn, €505bn) a year on healthcare that does nothing to improve Americans’ health outcomes.

Reducing the number of tests, procedures and other medical costs that do not improve health presents an enormous opportunity. Our fiscal future is so dominated by healthcare that if the US can slow the rate of cost growth by just 15 basis points a year (0.15 percentage points), the savings for Medicare and Medicaid would equal the impact from eliminating Social Security’s entire 75-year shortfall. If we slow the rate of healthcare cost growth by 1.5 percentage points per year, by 2030 we could reduce the federal budget deficit by 2.5 per cent of GDP, which is about $350bn relative to today’s economy.

So what must be done? As he made clear in his speech to the American Medical Association on Monday, Mr Obama is firmly committed to making healthcare reform deficit neutral over the next decade, using real savings or revenue proposals that can be scored by the Congressional Budget Office. The offsets are not theoretical; they are specific proposals determined by outside, impartial arbiters such as the CBO to cut spending or raise revenue.

In particular, Mr Obama has put forward in his budget proposals to generate $635bn for healthcare reform with roughly half coming from Medicare and Medicaid efficiencies (such as reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers) and half from tax provisions limiting the itemised deduction rate for the wealthiest Americans to what it was when Ronald Reagan was president. On Saturday, Mr Obama also proposed an extra $313bn in Medicare and Medicaid savings proposals including a proposal that will generate about $106bn in savings over 10 years by reducing payments that help hospitals with the cost of treating patients without insurance because as we expand coverage, the need for such payments is reduced. Taken together, these “pay-fors” total about $950bn over 10 years, an amount that puts us in a good position to fully fund health reform in a deficit neutral way.

We must also address the forces making the healthcare system unaffordable and inefficient. The system creates incentives for doctors and hospitals to provide more care, not the best care. A lack of information on what works leads to huge variations in the quality of care and its cost. As Atul Gawande has described in the New Yorker, there are cities such as McAllen, Texas, that spend close to twice the national average on healthcare and do not get better results than lower cost, high-quality cities even in their own state or region.

The US must move towards a higher-quality, lower-cost system in which best practices are universal – rather than concentrated only in some parts of the country. The administration has therefore put forward initiatives such as health IT, research into what works, prevention and wellness, and changes in provider incentives. We must also change the process of policymaking so that policy can keep pace with a dynamic health market, for example by expanding the role of bodies such as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

It is partially because of the unnecessarily high costs of our system that too many Americans lack insurance and are exposed to big financial and health risks. Mr Obama has said that healthcare reform must reduce costs and expand coverage since doing the latter without the former is fiscally unsustainable.

This is not the end of our commitment to fiscal responsibility. Once healthcare reform is in place, the US can then focus on other aspects of fiscal sustainability, including Social Security reform. But the bottom line is that healthcare reform is a necessity both for millions of American families and the long-term fiscal and economic health of the nation.

The writer is director of the White House Office of Management and Budget
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Re: Attacking Health Care Costs from All Angles
« Reply #49 on: June 16, 2009, 05:22:19 AM »
A plan to boost America’s fiscal health

By Peter Orszag

Published: June 15 2009 19:26

As the healthcare debate picks up in the US, there has been much discussion about how to pay for it. Coinciding with this debate are vocal concerns about the country’s underlying fiscal position – which some have suggested as a reason to delay healthcare reform.

What this argument ignores is that healthcare is central to the long-term fiscal and economic prospects of the US. If costs per enrollee in Medicare and Medicaid grow at the same rate over the next four decades as they have over the past four, those two programmes will increase from 5 per cent of gross domestic product today to 20 per cent by 2050.

Healthcare cost growth dwarfs any of the other long-term fiscal challenges the US faces. Nothing else we do on the fiscal front will matter much if we fail to address rapidly rising healthcare costs.

The US spends almost 50 per cent more per person on healthcare than the next most costly nation, but our health outcomes lag those of most industrialised countries. For families, after adjusting for inflation, health insurance premiums have increased 58 per cent while wages have risen only 3 per cent since 2000. For states, rising healthcare costs are squeezing their budgets, leading to cuts in essential services and tax rises. And for the economy as a whole, if healthcare costs grow at the rate they are now, healthcare will consume one-fifth of GDP by 2017.

That is why Barack Obama is committed to undertaking healthcare reform this year. Based on estimates by Dartmouth College and others, the US spends about $700bn (£428bn, €505bn) a year on healthcare that does nothing to improve Americans’ health outcomes.

Reducing the number of tests, procedures and other medical costs that do not improve health presents an enormous opportunity. Our fiscal future is so dominated by healthcare that if the US can slow the rate of cost growth by just 15 basis points a year (0.15 percentage points), the savings for Medicare and Medicaid would equal the impact from eliminating Social Security’s entire 75-year shortfall. If we slow the rate of healthcare cost growth by 1.5 percentage points per year, by 2030 we could reduce the federal budget deficit by 2.5 per cent of GDP, which is about $350bn relative to today’s economy.

So what must be done? As he made clear in his speech to the American Medical Association on Monday, Mr Obama is firmly committed to making healthcare reform deficit neutral over the next decade, using real savings or revenue proposals that can be scored by the Congressional Budget Office. The offsets are not theoretical; they are specific proposals determined by outside, impartial arbiters such as the CBO to cut spending or raise revenue.

In particular, Mr Obama has put forward in his budget proposals to generate $635bn for healthcare reform with roughly half coming from Medicare and Medicaid efficiencies (such as reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers) and half from tax provisions limiting the itemised deduction rate for the wealthiest Americans to what it was when Ronald Reagan was president. On Saturday, Mr Obama also proposed an extra $313bn in Medicare and Medicaid savings proposals including a proposal that will generate about $106bn in savings over 10 years by reducing payments that help hospitals with the cost of treating patients without insurance because as we expand coverage, the need for such payments is reduced. Taken together, these “pay-fors” total about $950bn over 10 years, an amount that puts us in a good position to fully fund health reform in a deficit neutral way.

We must also address the forces making the healthcare system unaffordable and inefficient. The system creates incentives for doctors and hospitals to provide more care, not the best care. A lack of information on what works leads to huge variations in the quality of care and its cost. As Atul Gawande has described in the New Yorker, there are cities such as McAllen, Texas, that spend close to twice the national average on healthcare and do not get better results than lower cost, high-quality cities even in their own state or region.

The US must move towards a higher-quality, lower-cost system in which best practices are universal – rather than concentrated only in some parts of the country. The administration has therefore put forward initiatives such as health IT, research into what works, prevention and wellness, and changes in provider incentives. We must also change the process of policymaking so that policy can keep pace with a dynamic health market, for example by expanding the role of bodies such as the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

It is partially because of the unnecessarily high costs of our system that too many Americans lack insurance and are exposed to big financial and health risks. Mr Obama has said that healthcare reform must reduce costs and expand coverage since doing the latter without the former is fiscally unsustainable.

This is not the end of our commitment to fiscal responsibility. Once healthcare reform is in place, the US can then focus on other aspects of fiscal sustainability, including Social Security reform. But the bottom line is that healthcare reform is a necessity both for millions of American families and the long-term fiscal and economic health of the nation.

The writer is director of the White House Office of Management and Budget

We are supposed to follow this guy when he estimated both the UE % wrong and the effect of the stimulus???

This is the same guy who the CBO says' numbers dont add up????

This is the guy who said the economy would grow 4-5% this year as his budget projection????

Good laugh to start my day Benny.