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Health insurance is unaffordable
Insurance companies make billions of dollars a year profit while raising costs and cutting benefits. It is becoming unaffordable to most. Medicare costs are going up with no increase in Social Security in 2010. Yet Security Blue, a supplement to Medicare, is going up from $145 to $183 a month. A couple on SS will pay $366 out of their small fixed income. Is it any wonder that seniors go without? This insurance has a small cap on meds, making the $366 only a small portion of what they pay per month for health care.
When is it time for our government to stop the gouging and the power these insurance companies have over all of us? Free enterprise is one thing, but when everyone in this country is suffering due to it, it is time to put an end to it. No wonder people no longer trust the government. It was supposed to be "by the people and for the people." Where did that go?
Jerry Clutter
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Jerry : 11/3/2009
Call you're senator today and say you want a ROBUST public option. That is the only way there will be any competition that will lower cost. As long as we only have just 2 insurance companies in PA prices will not go down and people will continue to be uninsured and costing us more money than the we would have to spend on a REAL robust public option.
Price gouging? : 11/3/2009
You don't get it! The government can't be trusted. Your right, more government control never hurt anything!?
Choice : 11/3/2009
Jerry, You can choose to have insurance. You can choose to have medical bills. With the government there is no choice.
Oh, Mrs... : 11/3/2009
That's the solution? Don't get sick, Jerry... then you won't have medical bills. Why didn't I think of that??
Come on, come on : 11/3/2009
We are already taxed to death and our pockets are empty. If you want it - then YOU pay for it. Tired of paying for everyone else and coming up empty.
Billions Of Dollars : 11/3/2009
Governemnt is taxing us trillions of dollars and the Aston Martin has become unaffordable. I think Jerry will agree I shouold be provided with an affordable Aston Martin by the generous taxpayers. I am alll for that. I think I just startedf a coalition with jerry.
Twice as Much : 11/3/2009
In 2007 the total spending on health care in the USA was $7,290 per person compared to $3,601 person in France, $3,588 per person in Germany, $2,992 per person in the UK, $2,686 in Italy, $2,671 in Spain, and $2,581 in Japan (2006 average for Japan). We pay this additional $3,500 per year (approximately) in the form of higher premiums and deductibles, and drug, hospital and doctor costs. Maybe Jim, the mrs and rs have the extra $3,500 PER FAMILY MEMBER to waste every year, but I don't. We need a not-for-profit, government option now, not ten years from now. The Republicans and some blue dog Democrats are taking big money from the insurance companies to block a public option. This is like a huge extra tax on us all.
Explain it to me : 11/3/2009
I have yet to hear anyone explain to me how it is my responsibility to pay for anyones health care but my own and the of my family. If you need or want something, and looking for someone to pay for it, look no further than in the mirror. Get out of my back pocket and take care of yourself.
Anne : 11/3/2009
With the government involved, there surely will be NOT FOR PROFIT....just look at Chrysler and General Motors ! By the way, insurance companies work on a 3% profit margin. Compare that to almost any other business, and you'll see that insurance is the latest demon in the leftist war on capitalism. It was Big Oil, then Big Pharmacy, then Doctors that needlessly remove tonsils of children or feet of diabedics.
Jerry : 11/4/2009
It really scares the Hell out of me everytime someone wants a big government soluyion over the free market. Government usually is the seed of the problem, then presents itself as the solution. All it would take is a law allowing interstate health insurance competition to help the situation, allowing all 1700 insurance companies to compete with eachother. Add to that some tort reform to stop 1,234 extra tests as a CYA measure, and there you have it, affordable health care. Look at your next paystub. How many more government freebies can you afford ?
Guess Who : 11/4/2009
If you don't have an Aston Martin, will you a) Die, b) lose your home, car, or other possessions or c) have your future well-being endangered by way of ruined credit? If the answer to all three is "no" then maybe you should try to come up with an analogy that makes sense
anne : 11/4/2009
No anne, I don't have an extra $3500.00 per family member to waste because i care enough about my family to provide health care for them. Maybe, just maybe, you could go to France the next time your ill and see what wonderful treatment you get for your money. I love how liberals always bring countries like France into a conversation. I don't care about France or Italy.
Joe, : 11/4/2009
private insurance has an administrative overhead (including profit)of 24 cents per healthcare dollar, compared to about 4 cents per dollar for Medicare, and even less for the purely socialized VA system. Doctors, hospitals and picking up the tab for the uninsured also contribute to the fact that less of our money gets through for actual health care. You reply to Jerry that taking over from the private sector scares you; the private sector has obviously failed here in the USA, while the national systems run elsewhere have shown success. Have you seen the PBS frontline show that highlights the variety of options are available for us to choose from if we look at other countries and learn?
Anne : 11/4/2009
If you deduct the profit (which the government doesn't have to worry about as long as they have the Imperial Revenue Service), Taxes (which the government doesn't pay, or sales commissions (again, see the previous) , the private sector overhead is about 8.9%, NOT the 25 that big government fans commonly throw out there. Also, if we 'handicap' the government numbers to reflect the costs that a private company has in just opening their doors, the Medicare overhead comes out to around 6-8%. Also, the private sector includes costs of management in the overhead, while medicare doesn't. Try this link out: http://www.cahi.org/cahi_contents/resources/pdf/CAHI_Medicare_Admin_Final_Publication.pdf
Explain it to me : 11/3/2009 : 11/4/2009
" have yet to hear anyone explain to me how it is my responsibility to pay for anyones health care but my own and the of my family." We are talking about INSURANCE here. If you want to opt out and not have any, fine. But the whole concept of insurance rests on mutual interdependance. And the preamble to the Constitution says the government must act to ensure the common welfare, so maybe you should go to another country where you will be happier. In the meantime, we are paying twice as much for healthcare as the average Frenchman, and dying younger.
Anne : 11/4/2009
Also, have you heard the remarks from the Father of the Canadian Health care system or the new president of their doctor's association? They are saying that they need more free market forces in their system to help to provide better care and spur new medical innovations.
Jerry : 11/4/2009
No one in this country and I mean no one is denied healthcare regardless of their ability to pay.
Admin costs : 11/4/2009
Anne, surely you jest with this worn out argument about efficiency, right? Medicare has low admin costs because they pay everything. Why is fraud so rampant in Medicare? Private business cannot afford such fraud practices that government-run Medicare overlooks. Private insurance companies want to make sure the claim is appropriate, whereas Medicare just pays it out. Medicare is not a profit center, rather they just take more taxpayer money to payout claims, fraud or not. Nobody can sell the admin cost efficiency argument any longer.
Silky : 11/5/2009
Better reread the US Constitution...it says "PROMOTE the general welfare" NOT ensure, not provide, or any other such verb that implies creating a calss dependent upon government to take from one according to his means and give to according to his needs. Maybe you had start country shopping if you want your general welfare provided for.
Anne : 11/5/2009
Real quick before I head to work to feed Fedzilla, the low overhead of Medicare is a statistical slight of hand for two reasons, 1) Since medicare takes care od the elderly, whom have higher care costs, the percentage of money spent on overhead is statistically lower based on total expenditures. 2) Medicare is NON PROFIT (as is anything that the government sinks it's claws into like GM or CHrysler), there is no profit or stockholder dividends that need paid out, nor is there corporate taxes that add to overhead. If you take the profits out of the equation and adjust the Medicare numbers to reflect the cost of raising operating capital, Private insurance has an adjusted overhead of about 9% while Medicare would adjust to 6-8 %. PLUS with the private sector, freedom and choice is maintained.
Just asking .... : 11/5/2009
Okay, so can I opt out of paying for it for everyone else?
Health Care : 11/5/2009
I watched Sicko again last night to remind me we don't live in the greatest nation in the world. We live in the most greedy nation of the world. When our nation is willing to allow patients that are ill to be dropped off in the middle of the street, we make for a lousy society. Don't be so greedy America.
False : 11/5/2009
" when everyone in this country is suffering due to it". That is un-true. I am doing fine. And so are a lot of people i know. Quit trying to get public HC. I do not want to pay more because some people cant "afford" it
Try this for once : 11/5/2009
You worry about you and your family and ill worry about myself and my family, not only with healthcare but also concerning housing, employment, education, nourisment, etc.....
cin : 11/5/2009
I believe that mikey moore filmed sicko partially in Cuba. Perhaps you should move to that workers' paradise !
Oh, Jerry : 11/5/2009
You say that health insurance is unaffordable? My fax machine almost daily has offers for health insurance starting @ $ 149.00/mo
Oh, Patriot : 11/6/2009
Do those plans have a 10,000 dollar deductable? Kinda defeats the point, huh?
Patriot : 11/6/2009
I shed a tear for your soul, because you really don't have one.
Patriot : 11/6/2009
yep as soon as you don't agree you suggest we that don't agree with you, leave the country. you're real intelligent.
Hey cin & the rest of you pelosi hellthcare supporters : 11/6/2009
Welcome to the USSA Today, Ranking Member of the House Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp (R-MI) released a letter from the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) confirming that the failure to comply with the individual mandate to buy health insurance contained in the Pelosi health care bill (H.R. 3962, as amended) could land people in jail. The JCT letter makes clear that Americans who do not maintain “acceptable health insurance coverage” and who choose not to pay the bill’s new individual mandate tax (generally 2.5% of income), are subject to numerous civil and criminal penalties, including criminal fines of up to $250,000 and imprisonment of up to five years. n response to the JCT letter, Camp said: “This is the ultimate example of the Democrats’ command-and-control style of governing – buy what we tell you or go to jail. It is outrageous and it should be stopped immediately.”
cin : 11/6/2009
What did you mean by that remark? I'm just telling that I get several offers a week for $ 149.00 health insurance. What does that have to do with my soul? Seems like you are starting personal attacks against me and Mr. Furjanic.
cin : 11/7/2009
YOU are the one that is bad mouthing the USA and want us to be more like other countries. If they are so great, I merely suggest you may like living in them better since they are less greedy (your words, not mine).
Patriot, : 11/7/2009
Regarding your post about personal attacks, remember this old adage: When the law is on your side, argue the law. When the facts are on your side, argue the facts. When the law and facts are against you, launch personal attacks.
Here’s what : 11/7/2009
It would take for me to believe the government is even capable of running healthcare effectively. Let them try to run the Cleveland Browns. If they could make them a viable football team, then I would be willing to believe they could run healthcare.
From a 'man' : 11/7/2009
That should be in jail for his part in covering up shady book keeping at Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, and also recently was present as his boyfriend was busted for growing marijuana yet escaped arrest himself: Democratic Rep. Barney Frank took a dig Friday at the Republican lawmaker who organized a protest by conservatives against health care legislation. Frank, a Massachusetts liberal, told an audience: "Some of the people (at the rally) that wanted to engage me in conversation appeared to have been the losers in the 'Are you smarter than Michele Bachmann contest?"' I'd personally love to see this guy in one of those nice orange convict jumpsuits for his part in collapsing the mortgage industry.
Well Comrades : 11/8/2009
IS glorius day for new United Fascist States of America as the USFA House passed a draconian HELLthcasr bill that could land you in jail if you choose to not hane health insurance. This bill also provides a large affirmative action program, so your young doctor in the future may not be the best or brightest, but an EEOC hire.
Patriot at 11-04 : 11/8/2009
Yes I have heard of him. So what? An appeal to one man’s opinion is no argument, no matter what his job was 40 years ago. Have you seen opinion polls of Canadian citizens saying they are satisfied they are with their system, and that they would not trade with us for anything? That’s good enough for me. Besides, our “reform” is not going to produce a system anywhere close to as good as the one in Canada.
Tired of the lies at 11-4 : 11/8/2009
Actually, people are denied care by their insurance companies all the time, and not everyone qualifies for Medicaid. So your assertion is absolutely wrong; people die every day in this country because they don’t have coverage (pre-existing conditions) or their insurance turns down their treatment. Both involve “shrewd business decisions” by insurance companies whose reason for existing is to make a profit, not to provide health care. You are thinking of people who walk into emergency rooms with terrible problems; they must be treated, although their insurance company may deny payment if they go to the wrong hospital, send them into bankruptcy…..shrewd business if you can get away with it….
R, at 11-4 : 11/8/2009
The political headlines you are reading are one sided. Actually, non-partisan cost analyses show that healthcare fraud is a systemic problem that affects BOTH private insurance and public systems. Studies also estimate that medical providers (hospitals, clinics, and doctors) commit 80% of fraud, and private insurance companies and their employees commit another 10%. Consumers and criminals account for the remaining 10%. I hope you also realize that you are making the case for public insurance when you say that in order to maintain a profit, the private system must spend a lot more money administratively then the public system does.
Joe, 11-5 to Anne : 11/8/2009
(1) You don't understand percents. They make comparison between different amount fair. (2) You also make the case for a national health system when you acknowledge that the elderly cost more.
$291 per month per person : 11/8/2009
No one has challenged or addressed my 11-3 post. Every American man, woman and child pays twice as much, about $3,500 more per year, for health care then people in other industrial countries. That comes to about $291 per month, per person. Family of four-can you use an extra $1164 a month? My family sure could. Jerry’s original letter is right: our government has sold us out to private insurance companies, and the real problems are NOT being addressed by current “reform” bills, which will result in more people being covered, but will not control rising costs.
Anne : 11/9/2009
I understand percentages just fine.....My health insurance ate up 4.846% of my last paycheck, while big greedy government ate up 26.954% . 2) I didn not make the case with the elderly costing more. Medicare, Social Security and most other gvt programs for the elderly are BANKRUPT or near it. Also, where am I paying the extra $ 3,500 per annually for health care? By the way, look at your paystub. What are the percentages of health Insurance and Big Government from yours? Time to put up some real life numbers like I did and not the socialized medicine handbook numbers. Oh speaking of healthcare satisfaction polls, what about the 80% of Americans happy with theirs? Doesn't a poll of the American people mean anything to those of you that want us to be some other country?
Oh, and Anne : 11/9/2009
Please help my fifth grade understanding of the US Constitution by pointing out to me the specific section that allows the US Government to meddle in my health care, even to the point of punishing me should I choose not to carry insurance. I cannot find it in my copy, and PLEASE don't give me the lame old arguement about "promote the general welfare." It says PROMOTE not provide the general welfare, and if you ever read any of the thoughts of James madison, you would know that there was no intent for government to provide this kind of 'service'.
Real Reform : 11/10/2009
Until the medical industry enacts tort reform and competition across state liness for medical insurance we will continue to wallow in the status quo.
The United States of Joe : 11/10/2009
Whatever Joe has is the standard for all... Joe pays 4% of his income for health insurance, so that's what health insurance costs. Those people who pay 10, 20, or 30% of their income for health insurance? They don't exist! At my company, to cover a worker, spouse, and 1 child, it the cost to the employee is 810 dollars per month... So, I guess that we all make 20,250 dollars per month, or 243 grand a year... jeez! I wasn't aware that I was banking that much ching... holy crap batman! I am in the top 5%... whoda thunk? I posit that Americans have a right to affordable health care and that right is protected by the 9th amendment.
Insurance : 11/11/2009
Was there such a thing as insurance during James Madison's time. Not everything in life can be justified in the constitution.
Just saying : 11/11/2009
Sometimes by the sheer act of speaking you can prove how stupid and ignorant you really are.
Anne : 11/11/2009
Hardly making a case for public option here. You are cherry picking information, and it does not work to justify government takeover of health care. What part of 3% profit margins for insurance companies is too much?
Ellpises : 11/11/2009
Lay off the kool-aid my man.....the red dye is getting to you. I'm just throwing some real world numbers out there so people know from where I speak. Are there more expensive plans out there, YES. Are there less expensive plans out there? YES. Is pelosi HELLth care the answer? NO ! Also, I don't see how the 9th amendment gives you the right to health care? If so, how about a right to a house? A new car every year? Sorry to tell you this, but your rights end where my wallet starts. But I applaud your effort to at least reference the Constitution, that's more than most congressmen will do. However, the must buy insurance part of pelosi care and the sharing of information with the Imperial Revenue Service in my humble opinion, violates the Fourth Amendment, and the overall concept of mandating the purchase nationally violates the 10th.
Jury : 11/11/2009
True, not everything in life, but what the Federal Government (aka Fedzilla) is allowed to do IS !
R : 11/11/2009
That 3% is a heck of a profit margin, if CEO's are getting millions, the board of directors are getting millions in compensation, then there is the lowly stockholder who gets crumbs. But, if you want to defend the private airports the insurance industry has and the fat cat bonuses from 3%, by all means. But, please let them take it out of your shareholdings, not mine.
