[BITList] Health Debate Turns Hostile at Town Hall Meetings -NYTimes.com

[CT's]

mike,
unless you live in the usa, you cannot imagine the rancour the possibility of changes in the health insurance industry here is producing.
factually this is the present system......about 47,000,000 don't have health insurance because they cannot afford the $1,200 per month for a family or $400 per month for a single person.
even with health insurance the insurance companies completely dictates what they will pay for and what they won't - and this is after the fact, so when the bills are submitted to them they then start to pull them to pieces. this is in addition to the insured having a 20% deductible anyway. generally speaking, even if you have health insurance you will end up paying anything from 25% to 50% of the entire medical bill.
the average cost of a hospital stay is about $4,000 to $6,000 per week. there is also an individual gross cap on the cost of treatment.  If you cannot pay your hospital bill, the hospital will sue you and force you to liquidate you assets (house, cars, etc) so they can be paid. many people are bankrupt after a loved one has a serious illness - this is not unusual.
you cannot get health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition.
many people who have health insurance through their employer (to which they contribute - it ain't free), cannot change jobs because someone on their family insurance plan has a pre-existing condition - meaning they cannot get new health insurance through their new employer who will have a different policy with a different insurer! accordingly, (policies are not transferable) the choice is change jobs and have no health insurance or keep health insurance and stick with the lousy job!
women over 62 and men over 65 do have a national government run health scheme (Medicare) for which they contribute about $90 month, this is deducted from their monthly pension before they receive it. no one is screaming and kicking to stop it and go to a private health insurance system. it provides reasonably basic health care - there is nothing to stop people in this scheme paying privately for more luxurious care through a private health insurer - a la BUPA in UK.
the annual cost of health care in the USA is $2,300,000,000, this is 4.3 times the amount spent on national defense and is 17% of gross national product - it increases every year.
clearly there is much at stake for the health care insurance industry; they do not want to change the way they do business. it is a fact which they will agree with, that they are here to make as much profit as possible and not here to spend their money on your health problems. 
BUT, can you believe there are people who want to keep the system outlined above?

if this was your remuneration package why would you want to change the present system? (this is the ceo of one of the insurers - others are similar)
  Ron Williams - Aetna

  Total Compensation: $24,300,112

  Details: Williams earned $24,300,112 in total compensation for 2008, with more than half of that ($13,537,365) coming from option awards. He also received an additional $6,456,630 in stock awards to go along with his base salary of $1,091,764.

  Personal use of a corporate aircraft and vehicle, as well as financial planning and 401(k) company matches added up to $101,487 for Williams. 



of course you wouldn't; you are not bothered about the little people, you want the good times to keep a rolling. so the health insurers and pharmaceutical companies, etc. are now spending OVER $1,000,000 PER DAY on lobbyists, advertising, special interests groups and the like in order to PREVENT any changes to the present broken system. their latest tactic is to send shills into public meetings on healthcare. their job is to pretend to be a concerned citizen and scream and shout nonsense so the meeting is disrupted.

The USA is the only industrialised country WITHOUT a national, single-payer health system. 
Our neighbour to the north, Canada has one - I don't see Canadians clamouring to privatise it. if they want better care than their system provides, they can come here and spend as much as they like. They are certainly not paying $1200 per month for their health service. If everyone in the USA was insured in a single-payer system, the average cost per employed person would be about $50 per week - deducted from their pay check. Apparently all these screaming shill and the buddies prefer to pay $1200 per month than $200 per month!
I don't think Obama and co are doing a very good job in stating clearly how a national health system will work and how it will be funded and how much it will cost a family compared to the costs now.

There will inevitably be a single payer national health system here whether anyone likes it or not. the country cannot sustain they present system; some thousands of people lose their health insurance everyday, the pool of insured will eventually be reduced so much that the system implodes, regardless of how much the insurers and fellow travelers hand out to lobbyists, sig's and fellow travelers.
The bubble will eventually break.
ct


From: Michael Feltham 
Sent: Saturday, August 08, 2009 2:53 PM
To: BIT List 
Subject: [BITList] Health Debate Turns Hostile at Town Hall Meetings -NYTimes.com


I am sure that the majority of our UK readers support the National Health service with all it's faults.  Can you imagine having to pay for all your medicines and treatment in the UK as we get older.


Mike
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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/08/us/politics/08townhall.html?_r=1&th&emc=th 




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