Open Thread

hey folks,
I have to agree with Benson and his posts. This president is using alot of smoke and mirrors in an ill-advised attempt to push through this plan to "overhall" medicine. It is nothing but a thinly veiled attempt to capture more government control of the populace in that people will become even more dependent on government shills for their health and well being.
The doctors at the white house photo-op were duped. They were there for a chance to schmooze and what they got was a photo-op switcharoo.
What doctor in his right mind, unless he/she is directly funded by the government, would agree to sign on to a program that aims to cut their pay by 20% and increase their patient load by 15%, all the while allowing the legal industry (which the DNC chairman all but admits is their primary partner) to get away scott free. In other words;

YOU CANNOT HAVE MEANINGFUL HEALTHCARE REFORM WITHOUT TORT LAW REFORM!
NOR CAN YOU HAVE MEANINGFUL HEALTHCARE REFORM WITHOUT OPENING THE HEALTHCARE INSURERS TO INTERSTATE COMPETITION!
NOR CAN YOU HAVE MEANINGFUL HEALTHCARE REFORM WITHOUT AN HONEST ASSESSMENT OF WHO ACTUALLY NEEDS HEALTHCARE COVERAGE ASSISTANCE (THIS INCLUDES A DISCUSSION ABOUT COVERING INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE NOT CITIZENS OF THIS SOVEREIGN NATION).

what you will have is a medical field which is disgruntled, underpaid and litigated into leaving the field. why would one continue to be a doctor if all one works for is at the hands of an ambulance chaser looking to score. good luck.

notice how the president has been skirting the issue,saying things like there will be a panel formed to study the issue. lol, that's like the UN saying their security panel which includes Libya will study the issue of terrorist support in that country. what a joke.

Let the games begin.lol.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 12:06 PM

so what's up with all this real estate money in Bay Ridge. I mean it's a nice area and all, but who's doing the buying there?

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 12:09 PM

montrose morris,
Medicare is not socialized medicine. it is a government trust which is paid for by the individual over a life time. And it is going bankrupt. Not my words, that's the Congressional Budget Office's assessment.

medicare will be insolvent around 2017, that's 8 years away folks. so get your government run medical care while you can.

It is a good idea, at heart, but like many things administered by the government, it is rife with waste and abuse.

and now the president wants to expand "medicare" type coverage to the other 200 million Americans not in that type of coverage.
Wonder where they'll get the money to pull that giant rabbit out of Uncle Sam's hat?

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 12:13 PM

bxgrl,

I agree, bay ridge is really nice, I've hung out there many times over the years, I remember the white castle where they filmed the scene in Saturday Night Fever, of them jumping on the table and acting nuts.
I also recall the old rock venue Lamours That's going old school. Some really well known heavy metal bands played there.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 12:20 PM

montrose morris,

there are free market solutions to your predicament without resorting to overturning 17% of our economy which is already facing over a trillion dollar budget deficit.

here are some solutions for your predicament;

-enroll in a hospital based (HCC) healthcare plan for uninsured, they charge something like 15 dollars a month and require paperwork, but it is doable. In fact it is exactly what persons "without documentation" do in one of the hospitals in which I work.
-prescriptions are available at 4$ (four dollars) per prescription through Target Pharmacy and Wallmart pharmacy.
-look into local community clinic plans, some are private, there is one advertised in the Rockaway's queens which has you pay $365 a year with a 10 dollar per visit fee. For full access to Family practitioner, Gyn or other primary care offered at the center. No joke.
-consider a major medical plan for the unlikely event of a major illness or injury.
there is more.

No one is against increasing access to medical care for all, least of all myself.
what we are against is turning over a workable system serving most of the population in order to cover those who can be covered through much more economical means.

look at my suggestions posted earlier for a start;
increase interstate competition and see how fast the premiums will fall.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 12:44 PM

bxgrl,
I beg to differ, we are a compassionate people, Americans. we give more, of our own volition, than any other nation on earth.
what we are facing is a problem of coverage and it benefits all americans to have all americans covered.
the argument is on how to do it.

I do not believe, by any stretch of the imagination, that the government will be the solution to this problem. Look at their track record in wasting our tax dollars both Republican and Democrat.
the best run systems for healthcare are private enterprises. The best doctors I ever had were private, not at government run clinics, remember my previous posts about my experiences at the government run dentist's offices in Jackson Heights? Not good. The memories are still vivid.
The private solutions are there, we as citizens only need to mandate the proper solutions.

-open up health insurance competition
-clean up malpractice insurance industry overcharging
-stop the legal industry in it's abuse of the civil suit system at the expense of healthcare access
-work on limiting severe fraud and waste in the current government run systems

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:01 PM

dittoburg,
socialism; a system of social organization that advocates the vesting of OWNERSHIP and CONTROL of production, distribution and management of capital, land,(healthcare), etc. , in the community as a whole.

as it applies to President Obama's plan, it is the takeover of our private healthcare industry by default with the implementation of a "government option" which will have the effect of a virus in undermining the competing and sinking the better run private healthcare plans. Remember what I said about the predicted insolvency of the Medicare system by the congressional budget office. Don't even get me started on Medicaid which is already on bailout money in new york state.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:07 PM

mopar,
doctor's have to work with patients on solving problems for patient's on an individual basis.

diabetes meds can be expensive, they can also be inexpensive. depends on what prescriptions the doctors are giving patients.

take antibiotics for example; a look at the Target 4$ list shows many of the basic prescription antibiotics that might be needed
including
-penicillins
-cephalosporins
and even meds like Cipro, which is the one if you will recall,used against anthrax.

same goes for diabetes meds, asking the doctor if he/she is doing their best to limit cost is not asking too much. especially if you are paying.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:17 PM

what we have to keep in mind in the discussion of healthcare is not to let fear take over,
we are talking insurance here,
the truth is that most people are healthy between the ages of 10-50.
keeping that in mind, we should be thinking about structuring a system which emphasized maintaining good health with a "safety net" such as major medical which may or may not be paid into by the individual or the society at large for those who cannot afford it.
keeping in place the structures already in place for the seniors, the retired, the children and the indigent.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:21 PM

bxgrl,
studies I have seen reveal that most americans are actually satisfied with their healthcare plan. I am with mine, which I pay for with automatic deductions from my paycheck (pre-tax for now). The plan is a well known new york plan.
again, we are talking about insuring those who need insurance. let's identify those who need insurance, set guidelines for contributions by the individual or society and cover those using the current system which most people feel provides the best care in the world. There is a huge difference between getting healthcare and getting good healthcare.
The president could just sign an executive order and mandate all the hospitals receiving federal aid to enroll the uninsured. this would cover everyone but promptly lead to hospital closures and angry mobs of poorly treated patients and zombie like doctors overworked and ready to quit. we have to be smarter and target the solution to the problem. Everyone may be covered in Canada, but I know for a fact that many also have a private insurance plan which they pay for themselves.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:27 PM

dittoburg,
allow me to explain. the government option acts like a virus in undermining the private sector for a few simple reasons.
-first the government has the unlimited resources of the government and it's apparent lack of accountability as demonstrated by the impending insolvency of Medicare and the bail out of Medicaid in NY state and California to name two examples.
-lack of accountability for efficiency leads to the ability of the government plan to decrease costs at the expense of taxpayers. decreasing cost leads to unreasonable competition with private plans who may be well run and efficient but cannot decrease cost below a bottom line which apparently the governemnt has no qualms about doing.
- dont believe me? ask any doctor who sets their fee structure. they will answer Medicare. They set fees yearly for everything from blood drawing to open reduction of a femoral fracture to delivering a baby (and the current rate given for doctors to deliver a baby is about $900) ask your neighborhood ob/gyn how many deliveries he has to make to cover 120,000 in malpractice insurance.
medicare sets the fees because the insurance companies link their reimbursement schedules to medicare set rates, sometimes at a percentage of the going medicare rate (like 80%). This is a newer development over the past 20 years.

you may ask why doctor's have to accept these rates? the large majority do because they cannot make a living without accepting medicare. (remember most doctors graduate in their 30's with crushing debt and new expenses like malpractice, rent, food, family, practice fees, etc.)
so, understanding how Medicare sets fees, it is not a large leap to understand how the governement will set the premiums for private healthcare insurances until they go out of business.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:39 PM

bxgrl,
I am sorry to hear of your experience. This leads to a different discussion which we will all be forced to discuss at some time in our lives, that is, the allocation of resources. In some countries, the resources are rationed and individuals of a certain age are may not be eligible for extensive measures to extend life.
Keep in mind, I myself am for extending any and all measures for my loved ones and I wouldn't expect less of others. The truth is however, that in other nations, these choices have already been set by a govenment health panel. In the USA we currently have the option to choose every and all life saving measures such as radiation, radical surgery and chemotherapy. In other nations,those options are simply non existent or rationed.
Americans will have to come to terms with what we are willing to pay for in extending life, which reports show is being extended by health and diet in many nations without necessarily involving costly medical treatments. we will have to discuss what works in extending life and how long and how to pay for it. right now, the system is basically; those who can pay will receive extensive measures.Ironically, those that cannot pay and are on plans such as Medicaid also get extensive measures for life extension. Those caught in the middle are the ones who face bankruptcy or dissolving of their wealth by hospital/doctor fees.
There is no simple solution to this.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 1:51 PM

bxgrl,
lol, we've come a long way from the chatroom brawls.
truth be told, I am facing these same problems with my own family. My parents have a medicare HMO and are limited in their options for certain types of care.
one has no choice at times but to understand that nothing in life is a given. make the most of each day and let's hope that politicians are making decisions for the greater good of our nation and our children.
Did I mention the Cormac McCarthy Book ; The Road.
it's coming out as a movie.
Really, this is a must read for humanity. Don't even bother with the fact it won the pulitizer or the national book award or was Oprah's book of the month.
This book will puts our humanity in perspective.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:20 PM

uhhh,
that should read; "will put our humanity in perspective"

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:26 PM

montrose morris,
it sounds like we are agreeing more than you would like to admit.lol.
where's benson anyway, he started all this.

townhouselady;
youtube has some great pet videos with cats boxing dogs and dong all sorts of zany things. hilarious.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:37 PM

paging Dr. Freud.lol

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:40 PM

infinitejester,
you're right. that dong, says it all.lol.

porn sites anyone?lol

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:42 PM

peace out...for now.

Posted by: Legion at October 6, 2009 2:43 PM