Comments on: After Bho And Congress Pays For Health Care For Rich Kids, How Much Longer Till They Force Healthy Young?

By: Louis Bourbon

Louis Bourbon — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

I don’t know. Your question is too deep for me.
I only know that the healthcare crisis is fueled by the fear of death.
I make myself healthy and well just by willing it so. The last time I was in the hospital was when I was born close to 50 year ago.

By: Smartphone GPS Software

Smartphone GPS Software — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

Will is wrong on several accounts. In certain areas, specifically very expensive areas there is a hole in health care coverage. People are too rich to be on Medicare and too poor to buy their own health insurance (and it is quite likely it isn’t offered by their employer). This creates a problem. Certain states like NJ and NY (I believe) are asking for the upper limit on income to be raised to try and cover this gap.
Part of the problem is the way the government calculates the FPL (federal poverty level). Basically it underestimates by a significant margin what a family needs to get by.
People who think it is important to cover children’s health care (for the economy, moral reasons, savings etc.) think it is okay to raise the upper level or cutoff so that more children can be covered.
It would be a pretty rare situation for wealthier families (over 100,000 in income) to utilize such a program. I think Will is using a scare tactic with that bit.

By: VAK

VAK — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

Having just read the Congressional Budget Office paper on SCHIP from 2007, I have to assume that when Obama implements his health care reform plan, which calls for utilizing the private heath insurance industry in association with refundable tax credits to provide health coverage to everyone, this whole program will disappear. So my direct answer to your question is that I think it will take about a year before every adult and child is assisted by the government in regard to health coverage. More explanation below on how it looks like that would be implemented, and how that would be a positive thing.
The SCHIP program appears to be affecting the private health insurance industry, as some people with eligibility for the program are declining coverage for their children that is available through their employers. Additionally, it’s theorized that there is a likelihood that employers with employees who would be eligible for the program may not be offering coverage at all, as demand is low among those with incomes who are eligible for SCHIP. This would lead most to believe that employers are directing employees to the program when they are hired into companies that don’t provide health insurance, as coverage is something that nearly every job applicant looks for. This effect on the private health care industry is of course leading to higher premiums among the insured.
And this doesn’t even touch on the effects that this program is having on the Medicaid Program, which though they are markedly less than the effects on private health care, are still present.
This is yet another reason that broad sweeping health care reform is needed. We have so many overlapping programs that make for a very convoluted and inefficient system. We also have an incredible amount of waste within the private system created by inefficiencies. And we still have millions of uninsured patients who aren’t turned away – they just don’t pay. This leads to hospitals and doctors absorbing their costs, which just gets passed on in higher costs to everyone else.
The proposal that Obama talked about during the campaign calls for subsidy to employers and individuals who already pay for health coverage by providing them with refundable tax credits. For those who are uninsured, they would be included under the government’s own policy or provided with refundable tax credits to obtain health coverage through a different private insurer. Preexisting conditions would have to be covered by private insurers – a MAJOR reason that so many people are not covered now, even if they could afford reasonable coverage. And anti-competitive practices within the private health care industry would be driven out to promote more competition and reduce costs.
There are a number of other measures that he calls for as well, and yet the plan is not thoroughly detailed yet, either. It will be interesting to see what occurs when it’s drafted. I have to assume that eliminating the Medicaid, Medicare and SCHIP entitlement programs will be among those measures that would be included but are not in his limited bullet-point proposal. It wouldn’t make sense to keep them open when the goal is to streamline the system as much as possible in the interest of reducing costs.
I have to say that the plan that he calls for seems like a very realistic compromise, especially if it does eliminate these entitlement programs. If it does, it would utilize the private health care industry for 100% of medical coverage in the US, leading to happiness among that crowd, and preventing further damage to employment within the health insurance sector. In fact it should increase employment in that sector as they take on millions of new customers. And most if not all detriment to their business that would be caused by regulations could very well be offset by the influx of new business.
Of course, as more Americans are covered, we’d also have a great employment increase across the medical field as more of everything will be needed – from nurses to lab techs to doctors, as well as more clinics, hospitals, drugs and supplies.
And on the flip-side, we’d be able to clean up the costs associated with the many inefficiencies and overlaps in our health care system, as well as the huge costs associated with millions of uninsured patients.

By: Amanda

Amanda — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

“Rich kids” have health care. Wealthy people pay for medical insurance or actually pay their medical bills. Insured working class “healthy young adults” visit the family physician for treatable issues before they get so out of control that they end up disabled and have to collect Social Security Disability Insurance. Uninsured “healthy young” working class adults go to the local ER after symptoms have left them completely debilitated to be treated for conditions that could have been easily treated by the family doctor if they had insurance. Those same uninsured “healthy young adults” don’t pay the $6000 hospital invoice, which would have been a more affordable $150 co-pay had they been insured, because they can’t afford it then they collect Social Security Disability Insurance for the next 30 years while the rest of us pay for their health care because they “chose not to pay for health insurance.”

By: Who's Your Daddy Now

Who's Your Daddy Now — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

They should be forced into it. Are you going to wait till you need $100,000 heart bypass surgery and expect to get into an HMO that the rest of us have been supporting all our lives. That’s the definition of a “Freeloader”. Is that what you are.

By: Elena.

Elena. — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

To bad rich people are only 5% of the US population. And in universal health care, you can choose if you want public health care or private health care.

By: Lucifer

Lucifer — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

Young adults who “choose” not pay for health care also “choose” not to pay their medical bills. They spend the money they owe on a TV instead.

By: Hater Police

Hater Police — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 11:42:38 +0000

Nice spin. I missed the explanation of how this is an Obama proposal… Even Will doesn’t suggest that this is an Obama plan.