patrick.net

Amen. Now we just need to convince our Representatives, Senators, and our President. Good luck. I've tried...

It is unacceptable for the health care system to be used as a cash cow for

medical goods & service providers.

FTFY.

"According to Towers Perrin, a global professional services firm, malpractice litigation costs $30 billion a year and has grown at more than 10% annually since 1975."

Anyhoo, if I were King I'd move the malpractice insurance from covering the doctor to covering the patient. It'd just be part of one's general insurance package, and the insurance companies would fight the doctors not shield them.

Wow, interesting thought Troy re: malpractice insurance...never thought of it that way.

Can you please elaborate on the Ponzi aspect of Medicare, I don't follow. Thanks.

Can you please elaborate on the Ponzi aspect of Medicare, I don’t follow. Thanks.

I thought it would be self-evident. But anyway...

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/20/the_medicare_ponzi_scheme_96581.html

I think Republicans should especially support universal health care, and anything that helps tort reform.

I do not get the fuss about abortion. If the government should not pay for abortion then it definitely should not cover maternity.

Don't we want abortion to be much more affordable than maternity?

I am generally pro-life, except that I strongly support the death penalty and I believe that abortion, though vile, is preferable to having neglected children, aka future welfare recipients.

yeah, Medicare is due to blow up real soon now since 3% of the wagebase as an input isn't enough to cover the boomers as they move into their 60s.

From the article:

"There is $34 trillion sitting off the balance sheet, waiting for future generations to pay," Herzlinger said.

That works both ways, though, on the other side of the $34 trillion expense is $34 trillion in income to the medical industry. Yowza! Full employment for everyone -- $34 trillion can pay 4.5M people $150,000 a year for 50 years!

Of course, elderly health care is purely consumption and not accretive to the national production of wealth, other than the fact that personal health is personal wealth so a healthy society is a de-facto wealthier one.

and I believe that abortion, though vile, is preferable to having neglected children, aka future welfare recipients.

The libertarian side of me has no problem with what people do with their bodies. I'm not religious so a one day fertilized egg or two week old blastocyst is just a ball of interesting cells to me, potentially a life but neither here nor there as far as I am concerned. Late term abortions are done for other reasons, nearly all because the health of the fetus/infant is severely compromised for some reason, and I don't see any need to interfere with that decision since, like you, there are costs involved and as a left-libertarian I think we've got to pick our battles about who society can support and how much.

I think the moment of birth is better than any to draw the line about government guarantee of the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Before then, it's really none of my business.

John Stossel has had some pretty "out there" opinions, is now a rep for Faux News. His opinion is completely biased.

There are some problems with Medicare - that's a given. There is so much fraud - with equipment providers sending stuff through the mail to people who answer a survey over the phone, jazzy chairs flying off the shelf (I've seen it), charging for services not provided. Hospices sign on just about anyone. Home health providers too. There should be more followup for fraud reports. And people who report fraud or abuse shouldn't be penalized or have their careers & reputations trashed.

De-regulating doctors? I've seen some who were drug addicted, who were drunk, who operated on the wrong body part or patient because they were distracted or confused... But that doesn't mean that I want a physician who was trained in another country, who doesn't speak our language, who doesn't understand modern equipment or sterilization procedures working on me. That wouldn't save money, it would create more problems.

Look at it this way - a CNA passes a short course and is certified to take blood pressure, complete a body assessment and report to the nurse. Would you want that same CNA to decide what is wrong with the patient and call the doctor for treatment orders? I'm gonna say hell no. Now, take a person who is a doctor in another country and send them here - if that country doesn't regulate how much training the doc has, or how much education the doc has, should that doctor come to the US and make life & death decisions? Not every decision is life & death, but we're paying for those times that they are.

So far as reasonable end-of-life decisions, we do spend money on the elderly. However, not all those decisions are poor. Just because a person has maybe 10 years left on them doesn't make their life any less valuable. It should be the quality they face vs the quantity they face that matters. No one should be denied treatment based on the decision made by someone who will inherit their estate. If I were Donald Trump's kids, I'd have him put down for a hangnail...

End of life decisions should be reasonable, but if I had to bet how much money is "wasted" in this area it would be substantially less than the fraud that's perpetuated within the system. IMHO, of course.

People pay into the Medicare system all of their lives, and draw from it when they're 65 or older. They pay premiums at that point ($100/month for part B plus their drug premium); so when people say that the elderly are a drain on the system that's not exactly true. If the premiums they paid for 40 years had been invested, I doubt the care would exceed the cost. The problem that we have now is that there are more old people drawing from the system than young people paying in - and we've used the money from Medicare & Social Security to balance budgets and spend on all sorts of things. Now that we're upside down, we want to make changes. Anyone see a similarity to the housing crisis?

Reasonable decisions should be made about everyone's care - but not according to finances. It should be quality vs quantity.

Peter P says

Can you please elaborate on the Ponzi aspect of Medicare, I don’t follow. Thanks.
I thought it would be self-evident. But anyway…
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/20/the_medicare_ponzi_scheme_96581.html

I guess I just don't have any wealthy seniors in my life...

Most are still working to maintain their employers bennies. When my dad retired and was diagnosed w/ Multiple Myeloma 5 months later I got the opportunity to go pick up his pain and anti-nausea meds at the pharmacy...$1,000 out of pocket. That's my personal Medicare experience.

Leigh says

Peter P says

Can you please elaborate on the Ponzi aspect of Medicare, I don’t follow. Thanks.
I thought it would be self-evident. But anyway…
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/05/20/the_medicare_ponzi_scheme_96581.html

I guess I just don’t have any wealthy seniors in my life…
Most are still working to maintain their employers bennies. When my dad retired and was diagnosed w/ Multiple Myeloma 5 months later I got the opportunity to go pick up his pain and anti-nausea meds at the pharmacy…$1,000 out of pocket. That’s my personal Medicare experience.

Medicare supplements cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars a month to five hundred. Advantage plans charge over a hundred per month - and these are for premiums. Drug co-pays are outrageous. Hospital & rehab co-pays are in the thousands.

I don't know many wealthy seniors. I have seen many who can't afford co-pays, premiums, etc. Once again, an article written by John Stossel taken as fact (when in reality he's made so many controversial comments he can't be taken seriously as a reporter, hence his association with Faux News which has admitted that only a minute portion of its programming can be considered "news), simply can't be relevent when discussing healthcare. Anyone can quote an "article" - hell anyone can write one. Doesn't make it so.

I've seen more patients who can't afford their care, even with insurance, than those who can. I'm sorry that Leigh's experiences were such - and that it's possible that the only way his medication became affordable was for him to receive hospice care to the tune of $140 per day to the Medicare system.

Unfortunately, the people who are the greatest critics aren't touched by lives affected by Medicare's good & bad points. Or should I say fortunately? After all, I don't wish anyone the hell of dealing with provider issues, denials, preauthorizations, case managers, etc. Sure, the system is broken and needs a fix. But the people suggesting the fix don't know or understand the issues.