The reason that all the rest of the world who have universal health care
has a 5% admin overhead and our non-universal health care has an admin
overhead of 18-25% is exactly demonstrated by your experience with your
wife's prescription.
Most doctors in the US have more billing staff than they do medical
staff and more time and delay is spent on sorting out the business of
medicine than on the medicine itself.
US health care has Veterans, Gov, Medicaid, Medicare and all the MANY
insurance company's health plans and all the complexity that
administrating so many disparate systems. US Health Care doesn't even
cover everyone nor cover the same procedures nor cover anything at the
same price. Doctors have to be able to do business with them all.
No matter how the world's varied universal health plans deal with
private and public components, they all have one thing in common that
enables them to operate with an average of 5% overhead.
One set of everything:
* They very simply cover everyone from cradle to grave, (no having
to figure out who is covered)
* they use one coverage plan (rules) to govern all health care in
the country. (No dealing with multiple systems)
* they use one set of forms (Not buried in mystifying forms)
* they use one list of medical procedures (No having to figure out
what is allowed or covered)
* they use one list of prices (sometimes adjusted regionally) (No
haggling over the prices for every procedure)
We could cover everyone in the US too for the difference between 5% and
18-25% overhead.
But that % difference is currently going in the US to businesses that
don't want to be cut out of their self determined and unregulated income
train and they are spending millions and millions currently lobbying to
make sure they are not.
My medical plan is Group Health CoOp. The clinic building I go to is an
architectural wonder with glass roof, art pieces everywhere, live trees
in the lobby with outsourced maintenance and in the last 8 years the
entire place ... a building less than 15 years old ... has been
repainted, recarpeted and completely refurnished with new furniture twice.
You might expect that of a high priced law firm but I bet even the high
priced lawyers wouldn't go for such an ongoing waste of their potential
resources in their firms.
And when I use a lawyer, I don't use a fancy one in a high priced
building downtown... why do I have to use and pay for a doctor in a
building like that?
And my experience is that when I was young I got better health care
from our local doc and our local hospital than I do now with this Group
Health bureaucratic monster...
There is a new book out by T R Reid the Washington Post columnist. The
Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and
Fairer /Health Care/"
He went around the world investigating ALL the world's health plans and
does a great job of dishing up that info in a easily understandable
way. (Says essentially there are 4 different types around the world).
Very informative... highly recommend it.
db
Rev. Stewart Marshall wrote:
The problem in some areas is that they think people look act and think
monolithic or homogeneous.
I am not one who could really be called a liberal (Well if compared to
a John Bircher maybe)
I do not vote straight party tickets and normally do not vote
Democratic (I vote based on Candidate)
I do not agree with nor support all of Pres. Obama's initiatives. I
just happen to be p0assionate about this one Topic Health care reform.
I think most of what has been seen on public airwaves is
disinformation from both sides and is political in nature.
There is too much money involved from many sides to seriously look at
helth care reform because way too many lobbyists have a vested interest.
I just spent a half hour on the phone trying to get a prescription for
my wife. This is not anew medication it is not an experimental
medication it is one that is advertised on TV a lot. Problem is it is
name brand and my prescription plan does not want to pay the bucks for
her to have it. Because it hurts the bottom line.
So I take out of my productivity to get the company to do what they
have been paid to do, instead of circling their wagons and denying
everything that is supposed to happen. (I am finding that they loose
information and do not keep real good track of their phone logs.)
This is the type of health care system we defend and cheer on and do
not want to change? They have all sorts of electronic information in
front of them and instead of making human decisions they allow the
computer to make it for them and then do not stand behind it when pushed?
How stupid.
Stewart
At 11:54 AM 9/9/2009, b_s-wilk wrote:
I've met Paglia. Friends have attended her "classes". She's a phony,
even more than Ayn Rand--at least Rand believed some of what she wrote
[but didn't follow], while Paglia writes something to see how many
people get excited and give her the attention she doesn't deserve. If
you believe that she's accurate, you're more gullible than I thought.
Camille sez, "...This Salon column is my sole Web presence..." Thank
goodness.
Just because many of us actually think about issues, analyzing
details, and acting on the results, that doesn't mean we're sheeple.
But to Libertarians, all who aren't like them are sheeple. They want
to do what they want to do, when they want to do it, how they want to
do it, disregarding all others, until they get sick or lose their
jobs or homes and need help. Even the churches and NGO nonprofits get
some of their precious money from the feds in the taxes they don't
pay and the grants from local/state/federal agencies.
Why do you fear the government? Because you've chosen to avoid it and
not participate, letting others make decisions for you? Were you
drafted to go to war? Have you ever testified at gummint hearings?
Campaigned?
Rev. Stewart A. Marshall
mailto:popoz...@earthlink.net
Prince of Peace www.princeofpeaceozark.org
Ozark, AL SL 82
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
** List info, subscription management, list rules, archives, privacy **
** policy, calmness, a member map, and more at http://www.cguys.org/ **
*************************************************************************
