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Trump's healthcare policy


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2016 Mar 2, 4:17pm   15,934 views  37 comments

by anotheraccount   ➕follow (1)   💰tip   ignore  

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/healthcare-reform

Point #5: Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure.

Does Hillary have anything like that on her website? Nope.

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/issues/health-care/

Comments 1 - 37 of 37        Search these comments

1   MisdemeanorRebel   2016 Mar 2, 4:18pm  

Hillary already said it in the last debate (Retitled Town Hall to save Wasserman's face when she added Debates to help Hill's weak numbers).

Everything is fine, Obamacare is what we got, and you're gonna like it, because WW2 competition for factory workers. Stuck with system, peons.

Any wonder she brings down the most corporate cash?

Remember folks, vote against Racism!

2   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 2, 4:23pm  

His formula is really simple. Switch everyone to HSAs, allow deduction of healthcare premiums for individuals, let everyone find out true prices. I think it will work. (and repeal ObamaCare)

When people spend with credit cards vs cash, they end spending twice as much. The current system of low deductibles with employer subsidized premiums is similar to credit cards. He wants to switch to cash.

3   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 2, 4:58pm  

I saw a Sutter affiliated doctor last year. Just in case, he send me to get an x-ray at the Sutter hospital nearby. I wonder what's his kick back. I did not do it even though it would not cost me anything. I knew it would be a difference between $50-70 at another facility or $1500 at Sutter for the insurance company.

4   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 2, 7:23pm  

If true, this is the best idea to come out of the Donald's campaign. It does contradict the idea that he would negotiate great prices for Medicare, but it's s good idea.

5   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 2, 7:32pm  

YesYNot says

It does contradict the idea that he would negotiate great prices for Medicare, but it's s good idea.

Actually, it does not. Medicare is a separate thing all together. Because of Medicare Part D passed under Bush and ACA passed under Obama, the government can't negotiate drug prices.

6   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 2, 7:38pm  

Using group buying power to negotiate prices is precisely why hospitals don't have clear billing. They charge everybody a different amount. You can't argue that you would be the best negotiator one day and then say you will make prices transparent the next day.

7   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 2, 7:45pm  

YesYNot says

Using group buying power to negotiate prices is precisely why hospitals don't have clear billing.

That's BS. In Northern Cal, Sutter is a monopoly in many areas. Part of Sutter's contract negotiations with insurance companies is that prices can't be made public. That has nothing to do with group buying power.

8   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 4:41am  

Group buying power is why people are negotiating on prices instead of using market principles in the first place.

9   anonymous   2016 Mar 3, 5:26am  

The whole reason insurance supposedly exists is to pool funds

The notion of group buying power is very dumb

10   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 5:45am  

IMO, the fact that hospitals can charge different people different amounts of money is dumb. As long as it is legal to charge different people different prices, the idea that insurance companies or the government would negotiate and use group buying power to do so is not dumb.
But wholesale prices are always negotiable and based on the size of orders in our society, so health care is not special in that sense.

11   anonymous   2016 Mar 3, 5:58am  

Whats really dumb is the idiots that voted for, or supported, Ppaca, the law requiring everyone to fork over very large sums of money to these worthless corporations

12   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 7:32am  

I've never been told that I could not find out the cost of a car until after I bought it and signed something stating that I would pay for any charges that the seller saw fit to add on. I was told that prior to my last surgery, which was a fairly simple procedure.

The issue with health care is that an insurance company is allowed to negotiate a group rate, but the retail consumer who needs health care on a time-sensitive basis is picked up, laid across the desk, and asked to sign away rights to be raped in a not yet disclosed fashion.

13   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 7:53am  

Ironman says

So you want to compare buying a car, an inanimate object just sitting there, to going in and having surgery in a hospital?

Do you really think that everyone reading this is too stupid to notice that you are the one who made the comparison in the first place? Did you notice that yourself?

Are you in favor of the current situation where patients have to sign something stating that they will pay whatever charges are deemed appropriate after service?

14   bob2356   2016 Mar 3, 8:44am  

mell says

Agreed. Actually Transparent pricing and HSA's with allowed accumulation and passing on do fix quite a bit of it.

No it doesn't fix quite a bit of it. It fixes a little bit of the symptoms without doing anything about the underlying disease.

15   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 9:11am  

Ironman says

Have you ever sat down with a billing person and actually ASKED for a breakdown on charges BEFORE your medical treatment?

Of course you haven't.... it's because you have insurance, so you don't ASK.

This is not true. I broke my collarbone, and the surgery was elective, but it was time sensitive, because there is a window of opportunity when bones stitch back together. In the end, my expenses were around $3500, which was my deductible.

The day after I had my initial doctors appointment, I called the hospital and my insurance company to find out what the costs would be. I was not able to get a lick of information from either party. I didn't have a choice of hospital, because my doctor has a relationship with a particular hospital (as they generally do). I called the hospital four times as a matter of principal. They gave me nothing. I couldn't delay, because of the time window.

The bill was a joke. The original bill was over $30,000 for this approximately less than 1 hr procedure. The negotiated cost was something like $6,000, of which I may have paid $2000 or $2500 or something. The insurance paid the rest. I had other costs including PT. Out of pocket on the year it was about $3500.

The overall cost was annoying, but wasn't a huge deal for me. But this system is crap. There are unknowns when you go into a surgery, but they give you no information ahead of time, and it is not a free market for the consumer. On the transparency part of Trump's plan I give him an A+. On the other hand, this is one part that is obvious, but will get into a law. Anyone who didn't have an insurance company to 'negotiate' the ridiculous $30K fee down to $6K would be screwed.

16   bob2356   2016 Mar 3, 9:58am  

YesYNot says

The day after I had my initial doctors appointment, I called the hospital and my insurance company to find out what the costs would be. I was not able to get a lick of information from either party. I didn't have a choice of hospital, because my doctor has a relationship with a particular hospital (as they generally do). I called the hospital four times as a matter of principal. They gave me nothing. I couldn't delay, because of the time window.

Next time go to medicare's database. https://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/Medicare-Provider-Charge-Data/index.html It's in excel format but you can dig through it easy enough.

The obvious question is why would you care since you had no choice anyway?

17   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 10:03am  

bob2356 says

Next time go to medicare's database.

Thanks. That's useful. I did have a choice, because it was an elective surgery with benefits and drawbacks. At some point, I decided I would pay up to my deductible anyway. At that point, it was a matter of principle.

19   bob2356   2016 Mar 3, 10:21am  

YesYNot says

bob2356 says

Next time go to medicare's database.

Thanks. That's useful. I did have a choice, because it was an elective surgery with benefits and drawbacks. At some point, I decided I would pay up to my deductible anyway. At that point, it was a matter of principle.

For a lot less than 3500 you could have gone to costa rica for the surgery. So you had the choice of shopping for a cheaper procedure and didn't. Just like millions of people every year don't bother. and won't bother now matter what happens with transparent pricing.

That is not to say I'm against transparent pricing. I'm all in favour, but it won't make anything more than minimal difference if it happens.

20   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 3, 10:24am  

bob2356 says

That is not to say I'm against transparent pricing. I'm all in favour, but it won't make anything more than minimal difference if it happens.

If everyone has a 13K deductible I think it will make some difference.

21   bob2356   2016 Mar 3, 10:34am  

tr6 says

bob2356 says

That is not to say I'm against transparent pricing. I'm all in favour, but it won't make anything more than minimal difference if it happens.

If everyone has a 13K deductible I think it will make some difference.

If wishes were fishes. Average deductible 13k, that will happen how? Average deductible is something like 1500 last time I looked. What will be driving it up by a factor of almost 10 in the foreseeable future?

People aren't going price shopping on a $1500 deductible. You didn't do it for $3500.

22   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 3, 10:44am  

bob2356 says

verage deductible is something like 1500 last time I looked.

That's not really true. If you look at California Exchange sliver plans with $1500 deductible and $5000 out of pocket maximum for a single person, you will see that the out of pocket is essentially the new deductible. co-pays and co-insurance between $1500 and $5000 only lessens the cost a bit. For a family on a bronze plan out of pocket max is 13K. Withing a three or four years it will be up to 15K, most likely.

23   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 11:00am  

Ironman says

Just because you don't know how to get to the right people doesn't make it true.

I'm pretty sure that no one knows how to get the right people.

Ironman says

When I was in the industry, maybe 1% - 2% of people would actually ask how much it was.

Maybe that's why the hospital can get away with employing people who don't know how to or refuse to answer the question. When the hospital billing employees who are reachable by phone do research and come back to you empty handed, how is the average retail customer going to fare trying to get info from that same organization?

24   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 3, 11:27am  

Ironman says

They're all transparent.

Single ultrasound with a single tech billed as 4 different codes at Sutter. Talked to three different billing people and no one could explain to me why there were 4 charges.

25   Patrick   2016 Mar 3, 11:41am  

Holy cow this position alone would get me to vote for Trump. Why can't any other candidate support something so obviously in the public interest?

OK that does it. I officially support Trump now. If he can get price transparency in medical care that alone would be a far greater accomplishment than anything in Obamacare.

26   MisdemeanorRebel   2016 Mar 3, 12:27pm  

Don't forget negotiating Medicare Part D Drug Buys, which is a no-brainer.

The fact that the Gov't pays full retail is such an obnoxious mark of Big Donor Control of the Dems and Reps, it's really all you need to know.

Notice neither Cruz, Rubio, or Hillary have said jack shit about it.

27   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 3, 12:30pm  

thunderlips11 says

Notice neither Cruz, Rubio, or Hillary have said jack shit about it.

Cruz and Rubio - repeal ObamaCare with no solution.
Hillary - ObamaCare is great.

28   Entitlemented   2016 Mar 3, 2:52pm  

tr6 says

transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals

Clintons = Transparency! America knows this is the case.

We need transparency and fair pricing in Medical and Legal field. Would argue that passing the Affordable Legal Reform is more important that the Obamacare.

29   curious2   2016 Mar 3, 3:04pm  

Entitlemented says

Affordable Legal Reform is more important that the Obamacare.

For once we agree. The U.S. Constitution, Amendment VI, says: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right...to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." Yet, Republicans advocate funding only prosecutors, and Democrats advocate funding only indigent representation. (Republicans demand "tort reform," by which they mean preventing you from suing for injury or fraud, while Democrats demand "access to justice," by which they mean more funding to represent indigent criminals and vagrants.) Neither party protects middle class people, who risk bankruptcy if they or their kids are falsely accused. Instead, as with medical emergencies, both parties "preserve the issue" for their own campaign purposes instead of solving the problem in the public interest. In any criminal case, you have an express right to the assistance of counsel, yet they charge you for it if you can pay. The government pays the police, prosecutor, court staff, even the jury, but the hapless defendant stands to be wiped out even if he did nothing wrong. IMO, the same right should extend even to civil cases: homeowners should not need to fear "frivolous" lawsuits, instead they should have a right to expect that assistance of counsel will be provided by the court as part of the court budget. You don't hear either major party proposing that though, because both represent the revenue recipients from the existing system, and advocate policies designed to maximize revenues.

BTW, the Constitution does not specify any particular right to medical assistance. To the contrary, the founders had no access to modern medicine, and yet the first five Presidents lived a median 82 years. That median includes George Washington, the only one who didn't complete his threescore and ten: he died at 67 because he was bled (standard medical care at the tme) and "waived his usual objections to medicines, and took those which were prescribed without hesitation or remark." Too few people read the Constitution, and even fewer follow it; most politicians, after swearing to uphold it, tend instead to maximize patronage network opportunities.

30   anotheraccount   2016 Mar 3, 6:52pm  

curious2 says

Lastly, Donald Trump proposing something does not mean it would actually happen if he gets elected. He says many opposite things, and his medical plan would require Congressional cooperation. The entrenched patronage networks make so much $$$ from the existing system that I doubt either major party would change it in a way that benefits the public interest. A president has more control over judicial nominees, and the Republicans have made a horrible pact with Pat Robertson, so a GOP President and Senate would be a dreadful combination.

I know that he is full of BS. Unfortunately Hillary does not even bother addressing any of these issues.

31   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 3, 7:29pm  

Hillary was pushing single payer for at least 16 years. She lost the election and a compromise produced the ACA. She is too pragmatic to throw it out and try again before the first one has time to be tested.

32   FortWayne   2016 Mar 3, 7:45pm  

This is an excellent plan, but establishment will hate it. It's gonna give folks more freedom and reduce prices.

Now I like Trump even more

33   curious2   2016 Mar 3, 8:17pm  

YesYNot says

Hillary was pushing

LOL - I try not to respond to lying trolls, but your comment went beyond even your own abysmal standards. Hillary Clinton in her own words, in 2008, when surveys showed majority support for single payer:

"You know, I have thought about this, as you might guess, for 15 years and I never seriously considered a single payer system."

Even prior to that, I can't recall her ever proposing single payer; to the contrary, she and Bill were among the first to propose HeritageFoundationCare, when she called it ClintonCare. It went on to become Romneycare, then "Hillary's Plan," and now Obamneycare.

I won't get sucked into another of your pointless trolling exchanges, where you have lied about what was on the screen in front of you, but this particular issue is so well documented that it illustrates perfectly the often 180 degree opposition between your comments and observable reality.

34   bob2356   2016 Mar 3, 9:03pm  

tr6 says

bob2356 says

verage deductible is something like 1500 last time I looked.

That's not really true. If you look at California Exchange sliver plans with $1500 deductible and $5000 out of pocket maximum for a single person, you will see that the out of pocket is essentially the new deductible. co-pays and co-insurance between $1500 and $5000 only lessens the cost a bit. For a family on a bronze plan out of pocket max is 13K. Withing a three or four years it will be up to 15K, most likely.

There are 35 million people in CA with health insurance outside of the California Exchange. There are 1.5 million people that used the California exchange in 2016. So your theoretical (but not actual) 13k affects 4,2% of people with health insurance and that's assuming the entire exchange is families on the bronze plan. Obviously the number is considerably lower.

My question stands. By what means do you see that the average deductible will increase by 1000% in the foreseeable future?

35   marcus   2016 Mar 4, 1:12am  

rando says

Holy cow this position alone would get me to vote for Trump.

In his case I think calling it a position might be a stretch. It's what he's saying to get votes.

And admit it, he had you with his Muslim hate.

36   FNWGMOBDVZXDNW   2016 Mar 4, 3:19am  

curious2 says

but your comment went beyond even your own abysmal standards

I see I was wrong about Hillary care from the 1990s. See. I'm happy to admit I was wrong when it is clear. curious2 says

I won't get sucked into another of your pointless trolling exchanges,

Lol. You love bringing up old threads, usually with a series of links where you selectively quote me out of context. Your getting sicker in, huh?

37   Entitlemented   2016 Mar 4, 12:26pm  

tr6 says

Point #5: Require price transparency from all healthcare providers, especially doctors and healthcare organizations like clinics and hospitals. Individuals should be able to shop to find the best prices for procedures, exams or any other medical-related procedure.

Summary:

A new hospital was contstructed in the last few years next to my office in Goleta. Medical finance/planners/equipment/contruction gobbled up over 100 offices in 6 buildings at the local tech location next door.

They have consultants. They fly in Monday, and work Tues - Thurday morning. They place is a ghost town on Mondays and Fridays (lets me work). The other firms have been commenting on "now we have an idea why health care costs are skyrocking" They rent the office space and spend funds like only a law firm could do. When I asked the supervisor where are the People on Monday and Friday, she said that "well they work at home on Mondays/Fridays" and then said many are consultants and travel etc.

We need to have transparency on every private and public enterprize. I have accountants and lawyers charging rates that are unjustified, and they are always at long lunches and go home early.

America has been scammed by non productive, paper pushing workforces. There appears to be legions of Chiefs, oversee-ers, consultants, but the number of people creating or manufacturing thing is at an all time low.

Sometimes, by observation I believe that the Malproductivity and the fraud, makework and waste that exists in this country makes the Scam that Madoff did look like a minor accounting error.

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