Health Care Reform Support Group

I agree. How about we fix what is already broken, rather than create something new (which is already flawed) that will never go away? I couldn't agree more. How about TORT reform? So many things should be fixed, and they're pushing for a brand new monster. I have to stop right here because I promised myself NOT to debate this anymore.

I see where you're coming from, poor.

Max Bauchus is a traitor to his party, the president, his constituents and the American people. All he had to do was shephard a deal that was already agreed upon by 60 thru committee, but he tied it up and tacked crap on, so now reform is dead in the water. And the monolithic, refuse to debate rationally Republican Party will win again at the cost of the American people. Hooray! Let's all dance in the streets! The House is ready to finish this thing up, and the Senate is still fumble-bumbling the ball as usual. It is a disgrace.

the problem is that there is a lot of things that are 'broken' with the current system. there is no one button fix, or even a two or three button fix.

tort reform is one. eliminating the monopolistic advantages that the insurance companies exist and do business is another. creating a system that allows transfers of medical information among health care facilities is another. getting hospitals to quit using ER's as a funnel for overhead is another. increase and expand the current county health facilities would be another method of cutting costs.

another area that few people talk about is the pharmaceutical industry. currently most pharms get a grant to develop new medicines. when it hits the market they get exclusive rights to that med for five years which allows them to sell it for whatever price. remember, govt had already provided a grant in many cases in order to offset the research costs, not too mention tax advantages, etc, etc. so after five years, a slight modification and they get another five years. point in case; cholesterol meds. the new ones are the ones getting hyped. billion dollar industry.

add to the unending billing procedures, the malpractice insurance (that we pay), the cost of equipment, the lack of standardization of the simplest items. case in point; have chest pains and get an ambulance to respond. the EMT will attach EKG patches and run an EKG. get to the ER and they will remove the patches and put on their own to monitor you. they will call a dr and he will order an EKG. the tech comes and attaches new ones (because the others don't hook up to his machine) and run the test. the dr looks and shakes his head and mutters and says, "we better run a stress test." so off you go to the test room. they remove, yes they remove the patches and put on theirs. why? because, yes you guessed it, they don't connect to their equipment. run the test. now they admit you. the tech comes to hook you up. guess what they do? yep. remove the patches because those don't hook up to their machine. i had a two day ordeal and had six sets of patches attached. never mind the number of showers, alcohol, etc, etc, it took to rid me of the glue. at something like $100 a set. i spent nearly a $1000 on EKG patches.

simplify, standardize, synchronize, deregulate. these should be the first four steps. will it require an overhaul of the current system? yep.

as far as young vs old paying into based on need or health? i had pneumonia three times before i was 25. i had a kidney failure before 21. i had several accidents requiring ER as well as hospitalization before i was 30. my healthiest was tween the ages of 30 and 50. but then i had kids and we became friends with dr's and ER's. Who uses the health care system the most? people.

costs based on need is an impossible formula. none of us know what tomorrow holds. thus the need for the ability to pay for and recieve health care.

Why not go after those phony doctors who are charging insurance companies for things they never do. A friend of mine goes to physical therapy and his insurance company pays. He just discovered his insurance company was paying $75 a cession in the beginning. It is now paying $280. All he does is go in, does his exercise on his own and leaves. When questioned about this the insurance company says the Therapy sends a coded bill and they just pay it. He now has enough insurance for one or two more sessions.

So if doctors and therapist are over charging it makes sense that insurance rates go up. Let us reform that part of heath-care first. We do not need a public option. We do not need to loose more jobs because companies cannot pay the outrages fines and fees. Go fix what needs to be fixed instead of trying to take over the insurance industry as we did the automakers.

the only companies that will reduce their workforce are companies that had intended to shed workers beforehand. they might use the excuse that they can't afford to maintain their staff due to the new legislation, but in reality, they are only looking for excuses. been there, suffered through it.

and it isn't a matter of trying to take over the insurance industry, but rather it is in an effort to make the industry become competitive and provide affordable policies with adequate or varied levels of coverage. like the auto insurance.

and yes you are right in that there are several areas of health care that need reform. record keeping; billing; superflous tests or redundant tests; unneccesary exams; automatic charges for items whether they were used, administered, consumed. pricing. these are only a few.

reality is that instead of one health care reform act, there should be three or four aimed at different aspects, such as trying to improve screening for certain diseases. catching them early is a lot better than trying to do something for the patient when it becomes too late. or better yet, trying to improve the accessablity in less populated areas to health care. or maybe expanding county health organizations to fill the gap for lower incomes, or indigents rather than letting them fill up ER's and emergency clinics.