HMO and PPO's are what started the medical insurance boom, a program for employers to offer to get key employees, vs raising wages, people like the co-pay and prescription plans, since that's what they see coming out of pocket.
Medical industry and big pharma love this setup, it drives more people into doctors offices, hospitals and to pick up prescriptions.
You are correct it is a cost sharing function not true insurance for the lower tier medical assistance, and since you don't see the real cost consumers just equate medical care on a co-pay basis vs a real cost basis.
May 04, 2017, 12:04 PM
parabellum
Nancy Pelosi calls 911 because she's in tremendous pain in her stomach. The wambulance rushes her to the ER. X-rays are taken of her abdomen. After about an hour, an ER doc comes out, looking at the x-ray.
"What is it, Doctor?? Doctor, what is it??", pleads Pelosi.
The doctor tosses the x-ray down and says "Well, it looks like bullshit to me, but you're going to have to pass it so we can see what's in it."This message has been edited. Last edited by: parabellum, May 04, 2017 02:53 PM
"I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023
May 04, 2017, 12:17 PM
sdy
The House is discussing the new bill and preparing to vote later this afternoon.
DEMs are going nuts. Obamacare is so wonderful and necessary. (according to them)
More and more insurance companies are announcing they are dropping out of obamacare.
I hope the bill passes and then we continue on as long as needed to keep dismantling obamacare.
Paul Ryan giving a good fact filled argument why we need to replace obamacare. What a contrast to the hysterical nonsense from the DEMs. Ryan also gave strong recognition of the leadership from President Trump and VP Pence.
May 04, 2017, 12:21 PM
MNSIG
quote:
Originally posted by HRK:Medical industry and big pharma love this setup, it drives more people into doctors offices, hospitals and to pick up prescriptions.
I think there is truth to that. I appreciate that you didn't say doctors love it. They sure as heck don't. Most of them are now salaried employees of huge corporations that tell them exactly how many minutes they are allowed per patient.
The HMO crap started back when I was in dental school with the claim that if people just went in for routine check ups, etc. overall costs would go down. Well, you see how that worked out. What it does do is put more cash through the insurance industry that takes their cut.
Given the unholy alliance between these corporations, I think we also need to be a little careful about how pre-existing conditions are handled.
It doesn't take much of a stretch to envision a situation where insurance companies decide that having high cholesterol is a pre-existing condition that places you at higher risk for CAD. Keep ratcheting down the definition of "high" and you get more and more people on statins, etc. to stay out of the high risk category. I'm not anti-statin. I take them myself. What I am against is the perpetual redefining of dang near every human condition into "pre-something".
May 04, 2017, 12:52 PM
EmpireState
Sadly, I don't think that this fix will be the last thing we hear on healthcare.
May 04, 2017, 12:56 PM
Il Cattivo
Well, that's the thing. The Dems didn't design OCare to work - that was, per Obama himself, supposed to be the job of the Republicans in Congress.* What the Dems did instead is do their best to make getting rid of OCare a long, difficult and complicated process, and they actually succeeded in doing that. So, yeah, cleaning up the mess could well take a bit of time.
* Yeah, I didn't believe it either.
May 04, 2017, 12:58 PM
parabellum
For the love of all that's holy, please don't start that shit again. I will lock this thread in a New York Minute. Just stow this "It was supposed to fail" shit.
"I am your retribution." - Donald Trump, speech at CPAC, March 4, 2023
May 04, 2017, 01:17 PM
sdy
Hmmmm
2 DEMs have voted for HR 1628 edit: both of those DEM votes just disappeared from the count
looks like it will be very close
it passed.
May 04, 2017, 01:21 PM
medic451
It passed, house Rs getting into buses to head over the the White House Rose garden for a celebration with Trump.
"I won't be wronged, I won't be insulted, and I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people and I require the same from them." - John Wayne in "The Shootist"
May 04, 2017, 01:31 PM
Balzé Halzé
Gonna be interesting to see what happens in the Senate now.
The dems losing their minds is predictable and pathetic. Hearing Pelosi ramble on like a lunatic, I swear she could've been saying the same things about Obamacare when it passed.
~Alan Acta Non Verba NRA Life Member (Patron) God, Family, Guns, Country
Men will fight and die to protect women... because women protect everything else. ~Andrew Klavan
May 04, 2017, 01:36 PM
sdy
can someone clarify or comment:
Because 4 House seats are currently vacant, it takes 216 House votes to pass legislation right now.
sound right ?
May 04, 2017, 01:37 PM
JALLEN
quote:
Originally posted by sdy: can someone clarify or comment:
Because 4 House seats are currently vacant, it takes 216 House votes to pass legislation right now.
sound right ?
Yes.
Luckily, I have enough willpower to control the driving ambition that rages within me.
When you had the votes, we did things your way. Now, we have the votes and you will be doing things our way. This lesson in political reality from Lyndon B. Johnson
"Some things are apparent. Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies. The result is: families under siege; war in the streets; unapologetic expropriation of property; the precipitous decline of the rule of law; the rapid rise of corruption; the loss of civility and the triumph of deceit. The result is a debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." - Justice Janice Rogers Brown
May 04, 2017, 01:37 PM
MNSIG
quote:
Originally posted by sdy: can someone clarify or comment:
Because 4 House seats are currently vacant, it takes 216 House votes to pass legislation right now.
sound right ?
One(.5) over 1/2 of 431
May 04, 2017, 01:51 PM
David Lee
quote:
Originally posted by MNSIG:
quote:
Originally posted by HRK:Medical industry and big pharma love this setup, it drives more people into doctors offices, hospitals and to pick up prescriptions.
I think there is truth to that. I appreciate that you didn't say doctors love it. They sure as heck don't. Most of them are now salaried employees of huge corporations that tell them exactly how many minutes they are allowed per patient.
The HMO crap started back when I was in dental school with the claim that if people just went in for routine check ups, etc. overall costs would go down. Well, you see how that worked out. What it does do is put more cash through the insurance industry that takes their cut.
Given the unholy alliance between these corporations, I think we also need to be a little careful about how pre-existing conditions are handled.
It doesn't take much of a stretch to envision a situation where insurance companies decide that having high cholesterol is a pre-existing condition that places you at higher risk for CAD. Keep ratcheting down the definition of "high" and you get more and more people on statins, etc. to stay out of the high risk category. I'm not anti-statin. I take them myself. What I am against is the perpetual redefining of dang near every human condition into "pre-something".
You are onto their scheme MNSIG. Much as I didn't want to inject Senator Paul here, he made a valid statement when he said " Sell the people health care, not insurence. "
May 04, 2017, 02:07 PM
PASig
In addition to eliminating the goddamn Obamacare "Shared Responsibility Payment"(what kind of Commie-sounding name is that crap?)...AKA tax for not having something you can't afford, I liked reading this about the new plan:
quote:
What does the bill do regarding health savings accounts?
It increases the contribution limits for tax-exempt HSAs, from $3,400 for individuals and $6,750 for families now to $6,550 and $13,100, respectively. It allows individuals to use HSA money for over-the-counter drugs, something the ACA had limited to only over-the-counter drugs for which individuals had obtained a prescription.
Agreed. Put the money in the HSA instead of high full coverage premiums.
May 04, 2017, 02:33 PM
ChicagoSigMan
Does anyone have a clue what this bill does?
Seems to me that it was passed in the House the same way Obamacare was passed - written in secret with backroom deals then rushed to a managed vote with minimal debate.
Can anyone say whether this is a good or bad bill?
This is exactly the opposite of the way the GOP promised to govern.
May 04, 2017, 02:37 PM
sdy
A group of REP House members are at the WH now.
Very gracious words spoken by President Trump.
Stunning that a man who was never a politician is now recognized as a President who works directly with Congress and provided the leadership to get this bill through the House. I am sure Mike Pence has a lot of positive influence with that. What a great VP choice.
There have been several reports that President Trump called key REP House members to get them on board.
So while the DEMs and the media continue to whine about a lack of accomplishment from the new administration, we just took the first step to replace the worst piece of legislation ever jammed down the throats of Americans.
Analysis: As House Prepares to Vote, Here's What's Actually in the 'TrumpCare' Bill
May 04, 2017, 02:44 PM
nhtagmember
quote:
Originally posted by parabellum: Nancy Pelosi calls 911 because she's in tremendous pain in her stomach. The wambulance rushes her to the ER. X-rays are taken of her abdomen. After about an hour, an ER doc comes out, looking at the x-ray.
"What is it, Doctor?? Doctor, what is it??", pleads Pelosi.
The doctor tosses the x-ray down and says "Well, it looks like bullshit to me, but you're going to have to pass us so we can see what's in it."
