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Re: Contacting a congressman is like pulling teeth
I love the infant mortality rate one. Still born children and those who die within the first 24 hours aren't counted in countries like UK. In fact, if the child is under a certain weight, they are considered nonviable, and so don't count against their totals. The US on the other hand, counts EVERY birth, no matter how critical the infant may be, which means that children that are given up for lost in other countries are still given the best care possible here in the states. Easy to make the US look bad when you're willing to fudge your numbers. link
Japan has the highest life expectancy and the most MRI machines per person, and yet they have a severe lack of specialists and doctors in general due to government control. The government decides wages (dictates reimbursement) and so general practitioners are paid the same as specialists/internalists, despite how much extra training is required for the latter, which means more and more newcomers are going the easy route and avoiding specialties altogether. This means that the OBGYN needed for an at risk pregnancy is nowhere to be found, leading to cases such as in October of 2008 when a pregnant women was turned away from 7 hospitals and died. Or a similar incident in 2006 where a women gave birth after being turned away from 18 hospitals before giving birth and then dying. Japan’s Doctor Shortage Resulting in Patient Deaths
US has the most expensive healthcare, but its also the best, which is why the rich and world leaders from every other country come HERE for their care. Wasn't there just a story about how a politico from Canadia just came to the US for heart surgery? He would have had to wait much longer and undergo more invasive surgery in his home country w/ its free healthcare, so he opted to pay more and come here for the best care. An option he denies his own populace. link And the government here will exempt itself from being forced into the system they are inflicting upon the rest of us. True hypocrisy from the self deluded "ruling class."
If these politicians were really interested in lowering costs of healthcare, they'd start w/ tort reform and malpractice insurance. Average doc spends more than 40k a year in malpractice insurance alone. Between that and the student loans for 8 years minimum just to become a doc (much more if its a specialist) then is it really any surprise why doc bills are so much. link
And lets not forget that every person w/ private insurance is essentially forced to subsidize medicare recipients' bills, since the government refuses to pay market value for medical services. When the govt decides they'll only pay 70-80% of the costs of services rendered, the hospitals increase the costs on everyone else in order to make up the difference, which means the costs get passed onto those of us WITH private insurance. link
There are plenty of problems w/ the system that need to be addressed, but trying to emulate socialist polices of countries (where the people who can afford to avoid the bureaucracy do so by coming the the US for care) is not the way to do it. But this was never about healtcare reform. Its a naked power grab. The democrats are going to get hit HARD in November, but they figure that once the system is in place they'll be able to ride the entitlement mentality to a permanent majority status. After all, if you don't vote for dems, then those NASTY conservatives will take your welfare-oops, i mean, healthcare away.
This whole thing is an entitlement scam. Health insurance is NOT a human right. You have NO RIGHT to take the products and services from someone else w/out paying for it. But that is what this ultimately boils down to. People want the best care in the world, and they want someone else to pay for it. Well for every person above you that you're trying to get a buck from, there are three below you trying to get a buck from you.
Allowing people to buy out of state would increase the insurance pool, while letting individuals decide what they want in their policy, as opposed to the individual state mandates that drive up costs. If you're not familiar w/ state mandates, it works like this: If an insurance company wants to operate in a state, they have to cover an arbitrary list of items decided by the state government. EVERY policy needs to cover these basic items. So if you're a 24 year old man, you're paying in for breast cancer coverage and fertility treatments and other things that will very likely never affect you. Young women get to pay for prostate exams and viagra.
Think of the cost savings involved in not having to pay for unnecessary coverage. If you have a family history of heart disease, but none of strokes, then why not have a plan that JUST covers heart disease related illnesses? There a history of cancer but none of heart disease? Customize your plan to cover what you think you may have issues with and don't pay for things you don't need. When companies are allowed to freely compete, they'll work to make a plan that works for you. If you want general coverage, buy from Company A. If you want specified coverage, see if they offer it. If not, go to Company B, C, or D. Or if you DO NOT have any problems in your family medical history, get catastrophic coverage where you pay for your own check ups and treatments, but if you get in an accident or have a major health problem your insurance will cover it. You pick what you want based on what you want covered and what you want to pay.
And the dropping people when they get sick thing is something that can be addressed. If you've been paying your premiums, in other words, fulfilling your part of the contract, then you should not be dropped when you get sick. The thing is, though, it doesn't make sense for insurance companies to drop people when they get sick, because in a free market system, if Company A is known for such tactics, they'll lose customers, which means they lose money, and either change the behaviour or go out of business. Open competition and honoring contractual law would fix that problem.
Health savings accounts would be a way to address costs as well. Allow a person to build a pretax health savings account to cover medical expenses. They won't go in to the ER for the sniffles because that'll eat away at their account, but they'll have the money when they DO need to go in for whatever reason. People will act more responsibly when they're paying with their own money. And the HSA's should be allowed to roll over yearly, as well.
There are many ways to lower healthcare costs in the US, but it is unfortunate that we have a government more concerned with increasing its power and less concerned with actually helping fix a system that works for the MAJORITY of Americans.
I love the infant mortality rate one. Still born children and those who die within the first 24 hours aren't counted in countries like UK. In fact, if the child is under a certain weight, they are considered nonviable, and so don't count against their totals. The US on the other hand, counts EVERY birth, no matter how critical the infant may be, which means that children that are given up for lost in other countries are still given the best care possible here in the states. Easy to make the US look bad when you're willing to fudge your numbers. link
Japan has the highest life expectancy and the most MRI machines per person, and yet they have a severe lack of specialists and doctors in general due to government control. The government decides wages (dictates reimbursement) and so general practitioners are paid the same as specialists/internalists, despite how much extra training is required for the latter, which means more and more newcomers are going the easy route and avoiding specialties altogether. This means that the OBGYN needed for an at risk pregnancy is nowhere to be found, leading to cases such as in October of 2008 when a pregnant women was turned away from 7 hospitals and died. Or a similar incident in 2006 where a women gave birth after being turned away from 18 hospitals before giving birth and then dying. Japan’s Doctor Shortage Resulting in Patient Deaths
US has the most expensive healthcare, but its also the best, which is why the rich and world leaders from every other country come HERE for their care. Wasn't there just a story about how a politico from Canadia just came to the US for heart surgery? He would have had to wait much longer and undergo more invasive surgery in his home country w/ its free healthcare, so he opted to pay more and come here for the best care. An option he denies his own populace. link And the government here will exempt itself from being forced into the system they are inflicting upon the rest of us. True hypocrisy from the self deluded "ruling class."
If these politicians were really interested in lowering costs of healthcare, they'd start w/ tort reform and malpractice insurance. Average doc spends more than 40k a year in malpractice insurance alone. Between that and the student loans for 8 years minimum just to become a doc (much more if its a specialist) then is it really any surprise why doc bills are so much. link
And lets not forget that every person w/ private insurance is essentially forced to subsidize medicare recipients' bills, since the government refuses to pay market value for medical services. When the govt decides they'll only pay 70-80% of the costs of services rendered, the hospitals increase the costs on everyone else in order to make up the difference, which means the costs get passed onto those of us WITH private insurance. link
There are plenty of problems w/ the system that need to be addressed, but trying to emulate socialist polices of countries (where the people who can afford to avoid the bureaucracy do so by coming the the US for care) is not the way to do it. But this was never about healtcare reform. Its a naked power grab. The democrats are going to get hit HARD in November, but they figure that once the system is in place they'll be able to ride the entitlement mentality to a permanent majority status. After all, if you don't vote for dems, then those NASTY conservatives will take your welfare-oops, i mean, healthcare away.
This whole thing is an entitlement scam. Health insurance is NOT a human right. You have NO RIGHT to take the products and services from someone else w/out paying for it. But that is what this ultimately boils down to. People want the best care in the world, and they want someone else to pay for it. Well for every person above you that you're trying to get a buck from, there are three below you trying to get a buck from you.
Allowing people to buy out of state would increase the insurance pool, while letting individuals decide what they want in their policy, as opposed to the individual state mandates that drive up costs. If you're not familiar w/ state mandates, it works like this: If an insurance company wants to operate in a state, they have to cover an arbitrary list of items decided by the state government. EVERY policy needs to cover these basic items. So if you're a 24 year old man, you're paying in for breast cancer coverage and fertility treatments and other things that will very likely never affect you. Young women get to pay for prostate exams and viagra.
Think of the cost savings involved in not having to pay for unnecessary coverage. If you have a family history of heart disease, but none of strokes, then why not have a plan that JUST covers heart disease related illnesses? There a history of cancer but none of heart disease? Customize your plan to cover what you think you may have issues with and don't pay for things you don't need. When companies are allowed to freely compete, they'll work to make a plan that works for you. If you want general coverage, buy from Company A. If you want specified coverage, see if they offer it. If not, go to Company B, C, or D. Or if you DO NOT have any problems in your family medical history, get catastrophic coverage where you pay for your own check ups and treatments, but if you get in an accident or have a major health problem your insurance will cover it. You pick what you want based on what you want covered and what you want to pay.
And the dropping people when they get sick thing is something that can be addressed. If you've been paying your premiums, in other words, fulfilling your part of the contract, then you should not be dropped when you get sick. The thing is, though, it doesn't make sense for insurance companies to drop people when they get sick, because in a free market system, if Company A is known for such tactics, they'll lose customers, which means they lose money, and either change the behaviour or go out of business. Open competition and honoring contractual law would fix that problem.
Health savings accounts would be a way to address costs as well. Allow a person to build a pretax health savings account to cover medical expenses. They won't go in to the ER for the sniffles because that'll eat away at their account, but they'll have the money when they DO need to go in for whatever reason. People will act more responsibly when they're paying with their own money. And the HSA's should be allowed to roll over yearly, as well.
There are many ways to lower healthcare costs in the US, but it is unfortunate that we have a government more concerned with increasing its power and less concerned with actually helping fix a system that works for the MAJORITY of Americans.
J9: 
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