Monday, March 8, 2010

Nation's Health Care System????

I don't know about you but I just read an article about the Presidents "Health Care" plan and I am not happy about it. President Obama dedicated his weekly address to defending Congress's plans for overhaul of the nation's health care system..

If you like your health plan, you can keep it, the only thing that will change is that you'll pay less, Remember that? Well according to the new Lewin study:

  • Approximately 103 million people would be covered under the new public plan and as a consequence about 83.4 million people would lose their private insurance. This would represent a 48.4 per cent reduction in the number of people with private coverage.

  • About 88 million workers would see their current private-employer-sponsored health plan go away and would be shifted in the public plan.

  • Yearly premiums for the typical American with current coverage could go up by as much as $460 per privately insured person, as a result of increased cost-shifting stemming from a public plan modeled on Medicare.

So, is there truth in the way the President and Congress are advertising their plan?

In his address the President asserted that, "if you like your current insurance, you keep that insurance. Period. End of Story." But what the President forgot to tell you is that his assertions is only true if the story were fiction.

President Obama has stated that any plan he'd sign must include a health insurance exchange with a public "option"." So if you like your current insurance you may, in fact, lose it. Period. End of story.

- Nina Owcharenko, The Heritage Foundation

21 comments:

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

I'm thinkin they should change things like the cost of RX and doctors visits. I don't like the idea of the gov telling me anything esp. when it comes to our health. I thought this was a free country, but it's not really any more.

Anonymous said...

do you know that one tube of cream that my husband has to use (and it's just a tiny little tube) for a condition he has, cost $500.00. Don't you think there is something wrong with that scene?

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

Being British I know nothing about your health care,but over here we have the NHS which you pay nothing to see a doctor or hospital care, you can of course go private and pay, in any way both systems leaves much to be desired. I guess the problems are world wide.
Once again Margaret thanks for a well documented post which was very interesting
read. reading about other countries problems is very fascinating to me.

Take care.
Yvonne.

A New Beginning said...

Hope things becomes better..Wish you the best of health always :)

Kavita Saharia said...

The other day one of my friend living abroad(out of India)was explaining this to me,but things were not clear to me.Thanks to your post now they are.Our country provides free medical treatments and drugs at our govt. hospitals .But if we want more advance services we do need to have a health plan.

Linda said...

Margaret,
Personally, I'm not happy about anything the President has done thus far.

I'm well aware of socialized medical plans because my husband is Canadian and he does NOT like that system and feels ours is more than adequate, since no one is turned away from health care here. I have experience in that area as well, from a former personal experience.

It's always been my feeling that employers should offer the health care plan. That's how it used to be. That's how it still is for me. My parents are retired and also quite happy with their medical plan, which is through my Dad's retirement plan.

Anyway - too much to say on the subject and not everyone will always agree. I will just say that I'm not in favor of this President's plan at all.

Doug Cloud said...

Linda for president!

Gigi Ann said...

I only just recently came down with an illness that requires me to take medicine each day and one pill a month. The medicine I take 4 times a day cost me $123.00 for 90 pills, which lasts me 22.5 days. The one I take once a month costs me $127.94 for one pill. Medicare doesn't pay for this so I pay this out of pocket.

But, all in all, Medicare pays for 80% of my medical expenses, so that is better than nothing, which is what I had before Medicare kicked in 4 years ago.

I can't follow what is going on in the Healthcare talks that is being discussed in the government, so will just have to wait and see what develops.

Thanks for the interesting post today.

Ann

Lilly said...

Goog luck with it all. We have it here and it works really well Margaret. But I am not sure of the exact nature of what your plan is. I hope you are well.

Judy said...

My insurance is through the state where I retired from but I will go on medicare this year. My Bob is on medicare with a supplemental plan and is very happy with his insurance. I have to meet an out of pocket expense each year on my plan. I am lucky right now to be healthy and not on any kind of medicine. I just hope I can stay that way for a while.

Linda said...

Dear Margaret,
I just felt the need to add one additional little comment that I'm sure we're all aware of, but.... "There is no such thing as anything FREE in life when it comes to services, or at least NOT to the working class". My husband attests that while many of his family who remained in Canada boasts of "free healthcare", they have a far higher tax rate than we have here in the states to pay for that "free" system. :)

I'll be quiet now. ♥
Love,
Linda

Puss-in-Boots said...

Apparently our federal government is going to try to take over all the hospitals, rather than have each state running their own. Our health system is deteriorating rapidly...and I received a letter today to say that my health insurance premium is going up. Need I say more...

Urmi said...

Very nice post. I always pray to God for everybody's good health. Wish you also a very good heath and long life. Take care. Keep writing as I am fond of your blog very much.

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Margaret:)

Greetings and good wishes on Sunday:)

As long as we are healthy,it really doesn't matter.But our problem will start when our health fails. Whether in US or India the cost of medical attention is going up and up. In India we can go to Government hospitals or to private hospitals. The private hospitals are business concerns and they try to fleece the people.The government hospitals provide shoddy service. We can take health plans and pay through our nose.

The government is not really concerned about peoples health.Every one should take care of himself or herself and GOD is there for all. If you have to get good treatment in Government hospitals, you have to meet the doctor in his house and pay him money. Doctors are no longer service oriented and they have become money making machines and they treat all human beings like a bunch of animals. They have no feelings, tenderness or kindness.

Very interesting post Margaret.

Best wishes to you and your family:)
Joseph

Patty said...

I doubt the insurance problem will ever be solved to satisfy all people. We can only hope and pray for the best. I know Abe's Medicare did not go up in Jan because he also did not get a raise. Mine went up by about $14.00 a month, I get my insurance through the state employee retirement, and to get my hospitalization, I have to have Medicare. The state reimburses me $45.50 a month towards my Medicare, but it's been that amount every since I retired from the school system about 6 years ago. Even though Medicare goes up, my reimbursement doesn't.

Unseen India Tours said...

I Wish you best health now and always !!

Doug Cloud said...

I hear you, Patty. It's like when I was younger there used to be a cost of living adjustment, but where did that go? The cost of living keeps going up, but our wages don't increase to compensate for it anymore.

The government is no longer 'for the people' but 'for themselves'. We need to do what they did in that old School House Rock segment they used to have every morning on TV - throw the government out and make a new one.

DeniseinVA said...

Thanks for such a great post Margaret. I have just been listening to this very thing on the news just now. I figure the more I read about it the more I will understand, and posts like yours really help.

Ellen said...

Hi! I didn't quite understand all this noise about your country's health plan as proposed by Pres. Obama. So glad that I have read your blog for it has cleared some cobwebs in some corners of my muddled brain. Lols! I'd like to see more people writing about it like you do. Issues are better understood that way when you get to see how it would impact people's lives.

Thanks for sharing.
God bless.

Kay said...

I do know that too many Americans do not have health insurance because they can't afford it. I do know that insurance companies keep making huge profits and keep raising premiums. I don't know everything about health care but everything I've read so far says we need reform. We can't go on as we've been going. I've got good coverage right now but not everybody does.

Unknown said...

Wow. I don't know how I feel about this. It is interesting to hear people that hate the president talk badly about it and people that love the president talk about it like it is the greatest thing around. I can never tell. It all confuses me : ).
I am thankful to live in America. We are a blessed nation indeed. Wether we have health care reform or not! : )

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