Forum Groups

 

Forums / Politics / Health Care passes

Health Care passes

40 posts
  1. Wahlin Scott B
    Wahlin Scott B avatar
    7/11/2012 8:07 AM
    Melvin Waldron, CGCS said:
    Jon Gansen said: Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/09/repor ... z20AQoLhbl


    I wonder what they plan to do for a living then?

    Mel


    Hopefully they will retire and play more golf!



  2. Melvin Waldron
    Melvin Waldron avatar
    43 posts
    7/14/2012 8:07 PM
    Fighting health act hurts small businesses

    As an owner of a food innovation business with a staff of employees, I am finding the health care rhetoric and actions by our elected representatives quite inadequate.

    We provide health care insurance to our employees and pay 100 percent of the premiums. It is our third largest line item behind salaries and rent. So I am obviously open to things that keep the cost of this benefit in check.
    Here are a few real-life facts from my business.
    Our annual rate increased just 1 percent last November. Yes, 1 percent. Why? Our coverage met the minimums prescribed in Obamacare. We were not penalized for having to bring substandard coverage in line with the standards of the legislation.
    Last week, we received a rebate of 4.2 percent of our 2011 annual premium.
    Obamacare was the reason. Our coverage through one of the largest insurers in Missouri exceeded the 80/20 rule with administrative costs of 24.2 percent, leaving less than 80 percent going to health benefits. This rebate was over one-half of one month's coverage. Nice way of lowering costs.
    As a business that pays for health insurance, we apparently also pay for persons and businesses who do not. The mandate/tax and Medicaid programs help to equalize this. I would like the three major health care providers in Springfield to provide the cost factor included in their fee structure for covering uninsured and underinsured patients. If this falls in the national 5 percent to 10 percent range, then my business will save another month of coverage.
    Last, why on earth would any politician stand in the way of my business paying similarly low health care premiums as much larger firms? Fighting the setup of state-supervised open-market exchanges certainly is not in my best interest.
    I firmly believe Obamacare is not perfect. Like any innovation, there is room for improvement. So as a business owner I make this one request of our elected officials: Lead to improve it. Follow the plan as it exists. Or get the hell out of the way.

    Tim Straus is owner of The Turover Straus Group Inc. in Springfield.


    I thought this thing was suppose to hurt small businesses, I guess we should have been asking those running small businesses?

    Mel

    Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO

  3. Wallace Jeffrey V
    Wallace Jeffrey V avatar
    7/14/2012 10:07 PM
    Jon Gansen said: Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/07/09/repor ... z20AQoLhbl


    Jon,

    I agree. As a part-time neurosurgeon, with a median salary of $589,500, I don't need this additional paperwork, even if I actually had to complete it. Nor does my front office girl (I forget her name, but I think it's "You"), that I'm paying $18.47 per hour. She'll have to complete this paperwork, and she is not happy. I think she's going to vote for Bob Paul. I've never heard of him, but she has this "great" T-shirt, so I'm not arguing.

    Anyway, I'm quitting this business. This sucks. In protest, I'm going to begin as an intern on the Daily Show, with a beginning hourly rate of $12.71. That should make our Congress sit up and pay attention! I'M ANGRY, AND I'M NOT TAKING IT ANYMORE!

    My wife is convinced that I'm insane, but I NEED to make a statement! And probably divorce the witch. I read on the Internet that I may not be able to charge $456.76 for a Q-Tip beginning in 2057. I'm worried, but you "people' could not even begin to fathom the depth of my worries. (Get it? Fathom? Depth? God, I crack myself up!)

    You have NO idea what I'm going through. Obamacare will make me tip my parking attendant FIVE DOLLARS! Seriously! And that will begin in 2092. Don't laugh......2092 is not that far away.

    So, Mr. Government, I will no longer perform back surgeries. I'm going to flip burgers. Take that, Jack! I am SO taking down our government. If you want sirloin, call my neighbor!

    Sincerely,

    D. Lusional, MD



  4. Steven Kurta
    Steven Kurta avatar
    2 posts
    7/15/2012 3:07 AM
    There was the same fight over Social security and Medicare when they were introduced. Social conservatives warned the country then as well, of course today they rely on it like it's a birthright.
    I understand why social conservatism exists, and how it exists, and I'm thankful it's as wrong about things as it is, like through history they've just had a terrible track record of being out of touch. It makes being a social liberal that much easier and more justified.

    When the Republican party figures out how to separate out the social conservatives from their ranks and run on a fiscally conservative/socially neutral platform, they might have something worth voting for.

    Ronald Reagan from 1961 when they were (wrongly) fighting against Medicare.
    [youtube">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGSAxtqgXhw[/youtube">



  5. Sandy Clark
    Sandy Clark avatar
    0 posts
    7/16/2012 9:07 AM
    Just keep in mind these ideas may be very moral and compassionate but Social Security is broke, MediCare and MediCade are broke. Every program ever devised had good intention but no long range plan as to how it would survive. When Social Security began, few collected it because the average life expectancy ended about the time you were eligible. Think for a minute if you were able to have all the social security money you paid in over your working life. If obligated to invest that amount yourself, would you be better off than what social security offers? I certainly don't know the answer but I do know that if it was mine, I wouldn't need to worry about the government going broke. It would be my responsibility. Social liberalism is about feeling good and emotions, not personal responsibility. It may create nice sounding programs but it never considers how they will be covered in the long term. I will take personal responsibility over emotional solutions any day. My future well being should be my responsibility, not the collective concern of the country.



  6. Melvin Waldron
    Melvin Waldron avatar
    43 posts
    7/16/2012 11:07 AM
    Sandy Clark, CGCS said: Just keep in mind these ideas may be very moral and compassionate but Social Security is broke, MediCare and MediCade are broke. Every program ever devised had good intention but no long range plan as to how it would survive. When Social Security began, few collected it because the average life expectancy ended about the time you were eligible. Think for a minute if you were able to have all the social security money you paid in over your working life. If obligated to invest that amount yourself, would you be better off than what social security offers? I certainly don't know the answer but I do know that if it was mine, I wouldn't need to worry about the government going broke. It would be my responsibility. Social liberalism is about feeling good and emotions, not personal responsibility. It may create nice sounding programs but it never considers how they will be covered in the long term. I will take personal responsibility over emotional solutions any day. My future well being should be my responsibility, not the collective concern of the country.


    Sandy, you make some good points, I think part of the problem since the inception of SS and Medicaid and Medicare, is we are living longer, and adjustments need to be made, as they have been in the past. The cost of health care has skyrocketed, with Medicare and Medicaid not able to keep up in my opinion. Heck I saw some of my mom's bills in the last year, what was Medicare and Tricare paid, exceeded I'm sure what her and my dad contributed, heck it was probably more then they made in the lifetimes. There certainly needs to be adjustments there I'm sure. I am grateful for those programs, it allowed my mom to live comfortably in her remaining years and I'm sure hoping I may do the same. I do worry about some people taking control of their money, do they invest it wisely? Does it still help them in the long run? Can some people even afford to invest money? Think about those making minimum and living paycheck to paycheck, how do they invest? I know I have been taking some small steps to help supplement my retirement and when making what I make along with medical expenses and what not, it is tight, but I can see in the long run how it's going to help me and my wife.

    There are not easy solutions because legislatively things are not made simple, with different income levels, ages, and everything else. Also with politicians not wanting to make tough decisions, raise taxes, or take out a little more social security, or change the age limit when to receive benefits. If the two parties would stop bashing each other and sit down and get to work, I'm sure it could be solved. Just my opinion.

    Mel

    Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO

  7. Sandy Clark
    Sandy Clark avatar
    0 posts
    7/16/2012 12:07 PM
    Mel, I would strongly believe that we would still need some form of safety net because of income differences and the fact that many of our mothers never worked outside the home. Fear of not getting reelected will indeed make these problems continue rather than being adjusted to fit the current times. I fully expect that both my wife and I have strong chances of living to be 100. Family genes just point that way. I hope I have invested wisely enough for us to be self sufficient. If it lasts and we begin collecting social security at age 70, we are fortunate to be around the 5K per month range from SS. With my investments and eventual inheritance of property on both sides, we will probably be better than off than most but I will not hold my breath or count on anything being for sure!



  8. Steven Kurta
    Steven Kurta avatar
    2 posts
    7/16/2012 5:07 PM
    When things are broken, we fix them.
    Social liberalism, to me, is about living better on the planet with each other, as opposed to living better on the planet for yourself.
    But hey, different generations figure things differently. In the end you keep what works and toss what doesn't.



  9. Steven Huffstutler
    Steven Huffstutler avatar
    11 posts
    7/18/2012 9:07 AM
    About That "83 Percent of Doctors Hate Obamacare So Much, They Might Quit" Poll
    By David Weigel
    Posted Monday, July 9, 2012, at 5:12 PM ET

    If a story leads the Drudge Report for most of the day, you're eventually going to hear about it. So, here you go: "Report: 83 percent of doctors have considered quitting over Obamacare," by Sally Nelson.

    Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving their practices over President Barack Obama's health care reform law, according to a survey released by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.

    Intriguing. What's the Doctor Patient Medical Association? Nelson refers to it as "a non-partisan association of doctors and patients." But lots of organizations claim to be "non-partisan." The DPMA's co-founder, quoted here, is Kathryn Serkes. She's "non-partisan" in the sense that she worked for a conservative Republican in the 2010 Washington state race for U.S. Senate, and appeared alongside Republican members of Congress at Tea Party rallies against the Affordable Care Act. Her partner at the top is Mark Schiller, M.D., who's also a fellow at the Pacific Research Institute, and the author of a classic 2009 column about how "Obamacare" would succeed by helping to kill sick people.

    If we can just make sure to treat cancer patients with older, cheaper, more ineffective treatments, then treatment will actually be more effective -- at cutting costs as more cancer patients die. We not only save the cost of more expensive medication -- we also save by relying on less expensive stays in hospices instead of more extended active treatments.

    More importantly, if we can help patients die quickly now, then we can save on the cost of any future major illnesses they would've had that would have cost society a whole boatload of money. Basically, one severe potentially terminal illness is cheaper than two.

    So, they have some opinions. But how did they get these survey results?

    The survey was conducted by fax and online from April 18 to May 22, 2012. DPMAF obtained the office fax numbers of 36,000 doctors in active clinical practice, and 16, 227 faxes were successfully delivered... The response rate was 4.3% for a total of 699 completed surveys.

    If you read the original Nelson story, you notice that the big medical groups don't bother commenting until they process the numbers. But you don't often bother if the data looks like this.



  10. Sandy Clark
    Sandy Clark avatar
    0 posts
    7/18/2012 10:07 AM
    I understand that virtually every poll we here on any subject relating to politics has a built in bias. The only thing I know for sure about doctors opinions is first hand conversation with a couple neighbors that are doctors and the maybe half dozen I have known through high school and college years together is that to a man, all of them will give up their practice. I will also be the first to admit that they are all my age or within a couple of years of me and just may not want to deal with anything new!



View or change your forums profile here.