lifehouse51

I always have to bug the social workers about this, because I honestly don't know much about Medicaid, but it's not as easy to get as people think. Somehow the office can find ways to deny people applying for Medicaid.

lifehouse51

Currently, There is (What's the name of the Act? Edit: It's COBRA) that allows you to continue purchasing insurance at the same company, covering the Gap period (Up to a year?) after you lose your job. The new bill's not enacting a NHS style system, but rather makes it more affordable/easier to purchase insurance. So you still have to purchase your own insurance after you lose your job.

Rete

Only if you take Cobra. Otherwise, you are middle class, suck it up.

another bloody yank

Oh.

Well, at least it'll be cheaper soon, right?

WARPed

Cobra is available for 18 months after you lose your job in FL (my wife has had to rely on it several times over the last few years). You end up paying the premium that your old company would have paid, and to my knowledge actually remain on their policy, although obviously they do not contribute to it as they may have done when you worked for them. Also, Obama passed something not long after he got into office that reduced the Cobra rate by about 60% for something like 9 months to help those who had just been laid off. Quite frankly, without Cobra and the reduced premium rule Obama introduced my wife would have been royally screwed!

Michael

If for no other reason, you should probably support the health care reform bill because it extends the life of medicare.

In 2005 the republicans passed their own $1.2 trillion unfunded health care bill that started Medicare Part D (prescription drug bill) and "Medicare Advantage" (privatization of medicare).

The republicans claimed that medicare was inefficient and loaded with fraud (claiming that about 1/3 of all medicare claims were fraudulent). Therefore they assumed that if private companies ran medicare, those companies would provide better health care at a lower cost. To make the program successful, the government would provide 114% of the average cost of caring for medicare recipients to any insurance company when a recipient signed up for "Medicare Advantage". The government assumed that the recipient would get better coverage than standard medicare.

After the plan was implemented, it was found that most insurance companies were actually providing less coverage for zero cost "Medicare Advantage" plans than the coverage provided in the standard medicare plan.

Currently about 25% of medicare recipients have "Medicare Advantage" with about $25 billion (14% of the cost) in subsidies going to insurance companies annually. If 100% of the recipients were to use "Medicare Advantage", the subsidies would be about $100 billion. The subsidies are coming out of the medicare trust fund and have already decreased the life of the trust fund by 2 years (from 2019 to 2017).

So the current bill will no longer allow new recipients to sign up for "Medicare Advantage" plans and is being phased out over 12 years as people die off.

There are better unsubsidized plans available to medicare recipients called Medicare Supplemental. Medicare Supplemental plans that cost the recipient the same as "Medicare Advantage" generally provide better coverage.

The republicans claim that the democrats are double counting the savings from the medicare cuts claiming that the democrats are using the money from the medicare cuts to fund the private plans and will therefore will hurt medicare. Primarily because of those cuts is the reason that the CBO claims that $138 billion will be saved over 10 years and $1.2 billion the following 10 years (assumption was made that "Medicare Advantage" would have been subsidized at about $100 billion per year in another 10 years).

That is why the republicans are mad as hell since their 2005 health care plan to privatize medicare is being dismantled by the democrats.

lansbury

No primary care doctor, orthopedic specialist and physical therapist. I didn't want any particular treatment, just a reasonable standard of care to diagnose what the problem was and fix it. It most certainly hasn't been diagnosed, it has been guessed at. Treatment undertaken which hasn't worked and interest lost when they realized they could no longer make money from me. My last visit to the primary care doctor had him say when I told him the cortisone shot had made a difference. "I didn't think that would work, hope you keep improving" and he rush out the room. Well it had work a little but by no means been a cure, I was hoping he might follow up on the MRI he suggested if it didn't work but no. If my initial post seem harsh it was typed while I sat at my computer crying in pain just hoping it would go away so I could go back to bed.

I've never had such disgusting non caring treatment from any medical service where I have been treated before. Here it is clearly profit driven and the patient an ancillary inconvenience. I am beginning to think a dog would get better looked after at the local vet.

Michael

I think you are going to find out that the reason is that doctors usually do not understand how to treat pain. That is why many people get loaded up and addicted with powerful pain pills (even the very rich).

My sister has been seeing doctors for over 30 years for constant upper back pain problems without success.

lansbury

You know I realize some things can't be cured or the cause found, but at least I expected not to be seen as a check book on legs entering the office. There is a lot to be said for the fixed salary NHS in that it doesn't require the skills of a used car salesman to make a living. I am trying very hard to not take the vicodin which seems to be the only help I've had at the moment. Off to the acupuncturist in 30 minutes but why needles stuck in me should help I confess to not knowing, other than in the past they worked on my knee so hopefully my shoulder might be as receptive.

Michael

I went through something similar when I was 55 but it was chronic fatigue. Prior to that I had never been sick a day in my life. After I saw a doctor and had tests run (with nothing found), he recommended that I take long walks each day. WTF.

For the next two years I went to just about every specialist on the west coast, tried just about every drug and herbal remedy know to man, acupuncture, and a lot a really weird recommendations from support groups on the internet.

Finally I just ended up realizing that I was wasting my time.

I'm not saying that you are wasting your time since everyone should go through the process to make sure.

scrubbedexpat099

I will be paying the fine and buying cover when I am sick.

Giantaxe

So if you get acute appendicitis, how will you manage to buy insurance?

Michael

Or injured a car accident caused by the other person and the other person only has minimal or no car insurance.

celticgrid

Actually, as long as all the different sets of data are collected on the same basis...cost per population....life expectancy.

Of course there will be all sorts of other, underlying factors involved, but that doesn't change the quite unbalanced picture.

One of the problems with these statistics is trying to over-analyze them!

dakota44

Between the vicious and intolerant actions and words on the part of so many during the election and then the health care issue, I have developed a very negative view of my country. It would seem that the U.S. need not worry about external enemies. It's on track to destroy itself from within.

No, this is not the health care legislation that I would have preferred, or the sum total of what is needed, but it is a beginning. Now the Republicans and the Tea Party robots will devote every waking moment trying to figure out to to destroy it.

I certainly hope that those who have so adamantly opposed it and now find themselves eligible for government subsidies to help pay for their premiums, will have the decency to refuse the check. But we all know they won't. They'll take the money, and all the other so called "socialist" programs that can benefit them, and show up at the Tea Party meetings wearing their "No Socialism" T-shirts and spouting hateful words and slogans.