Bloggers,
I am working on a story about how locals feel about the health-care reform proposals now in the U.S. House and Senate. Send me an e-mail with your views on what should — or should not — be included in any bill that emerges. Do you favor a government option, single payer, leave as is? Do you believe something will pass Congress this fall?
Rachel Pritchett, 475-3783, rpritchett@kitsapsun.com
Oh yes we have concerns: Are the majority of American citizens just forgotten? We are 1)white, 2)married to a person of the opposite sex and 3) pay our taxes.
Are our elected officials even considering the moral, ethical and financial implications of any type of reform? Or do they just sign when the Party tells them to?
The feeling of not being represented and our wonderful county going to ruin is more than unsettling.
Where are we going to get the trillion dollars?
the cost of course, is a concern. However, having benefited from government healthcare through my husbands job with the Navy, I have had no problems with the services I’ve recieved, which has included 2 C-sections and my son’s autism diagnosis and treatment.Military medical is probably the closest thing to socialized medicine that exists right now. The only thing we had to pay for out of pocket is food when I’ve been hospitalized. I really don’t understand the uproar over healthcare for all. Shouldn’t the wealthiest nation is the world be anle to provide health care for all it’s citizens? I’ve heard from many Canadieans on the subject, and they all have good things to say about their medical services. I think the hysteria is mainly fear of the unknown- and drug companies fearing the loss of profits.
Why would we want the government any where near healthcare. Look at what a wonderful job they have done with welfare (divide the number of dollars by the number of recipients and you could mail each one of them a check for over a hundred thousand dollars. Or how about that great Ponzi scheme called Social Security. That one should be renamed socialists security if it is around much longer. And why are these same people that want to enslave us with this new entitlement not forced to use the same government healthcare we are. You want healthcare reform how about caps on mal-practice lawsuits. That is one you will never see from a bunch of worthless legislators (mostly lawyers). Of the 45 million uninsured, most choose to be uninsured as is their right (currently) because they prioritize the finances towards things that are more important to them. This is just another power grab by these socialists that gave us such wonders as ACORN and Fannie mae. We need to take our country back. We need to institute a policy that says if you don’t pay income tax you don’t get to vote.Then maybe we could be rid many of these bumbs.
Would be a better idea to give the opposing side equal status on the original plan . yes I know they lost the election. Now if nothing happens the democrats look like they failed , Obama really looks like he failed , and the republicans can say we were out of the talks .
Reform is needed is I believe a national consensus, the longer it gets put off in the form it is now the longer then opposing sides , special interests , have time to put up the negatives . Mainly less care and more money .
We need reform , the system is broken .
No one is arguing that something has to be done about health care out of control costs, but to not address the problems that are most responsible for the unacceptable rise in health costs is irresponsible. So far, everything that I’ve seen coming out of Congress has been irresponsible.
The problems that I see most causing the health care costs to increase at such steep rates are:
– The malpractice system that adds huge costs to the current health care system by requiring a doctor to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of malpractice insurance just to practice medicine. The cost of this insurance is passed directly to the patient for the doctor’s service.
– The cost of unnecessary tests and procedures that doctors order to protect themselves against lawsuits.
– The hospital costs for gratis services for uninsureds that are currently paid for through free hospital emergency room visits, which are passed through to insured patients. Of the published 40 – 45 million uninsured people in the U.S. it has been estimated that approximately one third are illegal aliens who are direct recipients of these services. Our little Harrison Hospital paid out over 13 million dollars to support gratis care which is, again, passed on to insured patients.
Tort reform and a solution to the gratis hospital costs (illegal alien) problem could produce enough savings to reduce costs of health care reform to something reasonable and sustainable. Unless these problems solved, there will be no way to prevent any health care program costs from continuing to escalate out of control. A lot has been said about how good all other countries health care is – how do they handle these problems.
Frank Reed, Poulsbo
Tort reform must be a part of any government intervention in the health care system.
If tort reform is not included, then Congress and the President are really not serious in improving the system and are just in it for the power of controlling more of people’s lives and money.
It seems to me that we should fix Social Security and Medicare before we go rushing headlong into another government entitlement program. Those two programs are currently staggering under a massive amount of unfunded liability but we don’t appear to have learned anything from the experience. We’re simply going to go down the same path again (with healthcare reform) and expect a different result this time. Unbelievable.
I hope the health reform passes. I think that one way to finance it would be to tax soda pop. Obesity is a real threat to health. Drinking less pop is a way to fight obesity. I also think that tort reform is important.
Maybe BlueLight will speak up and weigh in here.
One estimate of illegal aliens in this nation is between 12 – 20 million people…all getting health care by simply going to the nearest er.
What do you suppose the free medical care costs the taxpayers?
The thought of government handling another program to erode away our freedom of choice and bankrupting us further is sickening.
Look at Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Are these successful programs run by the government?
Jeff asked much the same thing on “Seeking Silverdale and Central Kitsap Blog” and my last comment there follows:
“I wouldn’t complain, Jeff, if the people were served and the physicians weren’t subjected to the same unfair practice they are subjected to now…the only profession I know about that our government dictates the amount of money they can earn through the unfair caps through Medicare and Medicaid.
My mother took care of her elderly and ill uncle’s medical billing and payments for years.
When the billing showed frequent double payments and billing through Medicare she called Medicare to straighten it out.
Most of the folks she spoke with thanked her for her diligence, but one annoyed person she spoke with couldn’t understand why she was so concerned,…”after all, it isn’t YOUR money.”
When Medicare’s employees are so indifferent of taxpayer dollars that paying twice or three times for the same service to the patient doesn’t matter to them, we should all be concerned.
Last night a ‘canned’ male voice called and said they were (a major senior citizen organization) having a phone conference over the upcoming health care reforms and gave instructions how to ask questions of the officials. I switched to speaker phone and listened. Within minutes I grabbed a pen and scribbled notes to myself and had questions to ask.
One of the things I wanted to know was once the drug companies were capped at what they could charge for their drugs, who was going to pay out the billions of dollars drug companies pay to develop drugs.
Another question I had when California was cited as the best example of a good health care system…well gee whiz, California is Bankrupt, no money… BANKRUPT.
How can they use that state as a good example of a good health care system when it is not prosperous, it is broke?
And then, generic drugs were mentioned…that our country wouldn’t allow the cheap generic drugs into the country.
Not True!
I know people who get cheap drugs from India without custom problems…no problems….and they buy a years supply at a time.
Another question is on their plan to eliminate the age factor. Age SHOULD be a factor in who gets what. Why give a 70 year old person a lung transplant when a 50 year old would get more benefit from it?
Age should most certainly be a factor in determining medical considerations.
The people I’ve talked with over the years of socialized medicine haven’t liked it in their country. The wait for services was extraordinary and one fellow in London said the government took 70% of his income for the government supported programs.”
People complain about the drug companies gouging patients for drugs. Tell me who will pay the billions of dollars it takes and the years of research to develop new drugs if the drug companies are capped in the amount they can charge?
Putting a cap on free enterprise…takes away the ‘free enterprise’ and individual choice….as well as the incentive to be inventive and spend the time and money to work at producing another ‘miracle’ drugs for patients. It takes years of cost going out – nothing coming in to research and develop a new drug.
Do we want drug research and development government run too?
Medicare and Medicaid cap what a physician can charge for services…never mind that their office overhead alone may EXCEED the amounts!
Sharon O’Hara
If age is a factor judgement for being on a transplant or replacement list, wait until you reach the age of age rejection. Some people that look 40 are seniors and it depends on how they care for themselves. Bremerton and general areas in the Kitsap Peninsula are junk food havens and people are fat. Move closer into any big city and you do not see the obesity nearly as much.
And before you tout socialized medicine, you better do more research. If you want a doctors appointment, you can wait months. More Canadians are unhappy with it while you may be speaking with the ones that are young and hale. Read my lips! Socialized medicine is the last thing to be pleased with and do not wish that on the US because then it is too late to reverse it. They take as long to stop something unsuccessful as to start it.
Regarding line 425 in the 1000 page garbled nonsense of the new health care bill: is it your wish to look forward to qualifying for SS and Medicare by being obligated to an “end of life” counseling session with a government worker to decide if suicide or treatment is right for you and the burden you put on your family; and are you willing to accept a pain pill in lieu of treatment? That would be every 5 years from when you start collecting SS and moving to medicare.
You owe it to yourself and your state-mates to inform yourself before you state and opinion. Read the fine print and be very concerned about all these stimulus packages and think about buying a car or parts from the government. Last night on the news I saw the governor of Texas talking about considering secession from the US. He is frosted that the government is telling small businesses they have to close down. Rather than blather what you think you know, read, read and read more. Just wait until we go into recession because of the need to start paying back the money we borrowed from China. If you do not think China is scared, think again. Think about the raise in costs in US for putting food on your table and everything else. Remember, the government doesn’t have money of their own. They work with our tax $$ but they sign for the loans. They oblige us to pay off the money they have spent that so far, it’s done almost nothing but disappear. Not one “Green job” has yet been given. Why? Nobody knows what a “Green job” is.
That sounds about par for the happenings in DC, but just wait until the end of the summer. You haven’t seen anything yet. And what a waste of tax payer money for a beer feste at the White House. Loose lips sink ships and dollars to donuts, if “acting stupidly” was on the teleprompter, that thing should get tossed into the recyle bin because it is doing nothing but causing hard feelings, and all his speech writers fired. Is this a president or an actor?
Do your homework!
Health care reform is direly needed. I’m amazed by the selfishness of so many people out there who are indirectly saying, “I got mine…now go get yours, if you CAN.”
As more and more people lose their health insurance through job loss or the fact that many companies are no longer providing health benefits because of the rising premiums, the current system will continue to break down. It needs to be fixed before many more people die because they can’t afford treatment.
The U.S. has the highest health care costs in the world, NOT the best just the most expensive! And for all of you griping about higher taxes, most of us are already paying those costs through premiums, deductibles and denied claims. With a single payer system, we’d have the peace of mind of knowing we wouldn’t be denied care.
And for those who complain about wait times in Canada, I have friends in Canada who tell me differently. On the other hand, I have waited in American emergency rooms for hours just to see a doctor for 5 minutes and then come away with a bill for almost $2000. And that was after my insurance paid its share.
“I have waited in American emergency rooms for hours just to see a doctor for 5 minutes and then come away with a bill for almost $2000. And that was after my insurance paid its share.”
American er’s treat anyone who walks in the doors. Their ability to pay isn’t a factor to treatment.
That means illegal aliens get treated for nothing. One estimate is that 12 to 20 million illegal aliens live in this country and get free medical care.
I don’t mind paying for our own citizens… I do mind paying for those who sneak into this country illegally to use up social services they did not and do not pay into. The tax payers do.
Sharon O’Hara
“If age is a factor judgement for being on a transplant or replacement list, wait until you reach the age of age rejection. Some people that look 40 are seniors and it depends on how they care for themselves.”
bailey…good post, thank you.
We’re not talking about seniors who look 40…and such things do not always depend on how they care for themselves…unless you included the folks who have face lifts and cosmentic surgery.
Many things should be factored into who gets the scarce organ for transplant…and age SHOULD be a part of it….not to include how the senior LOOKS.
” age is a factor judgement for being on a transplant or replacement list, wait until you reach the age of age rejection.”
I reached that age five years ago and stand by my comments.
Sharon O’Hara