To CJM
#1 OK, you have me there
#2 Hospitals around the country as well as private practitioners reutinely choose the insurance plans that they are willing to accept. They chose these plans based on the patient population base and reimbursement. People in many of these plans however are the ones affected because the contracts between the hospitals and the private practitioners are constantly changing. I have had to change my childrens pediatritions due to the fact that they no longer accepted the insurance that my wife and I carry. I am not insane and I do agree with you that the lack of reimbursement from insurance companies is a definite concern with most hospitals but an even higher concern is the lack of reimbursement from private pay patients. The patients without insurance tnat refuse payment are a much greater loss to hospitals. Hospitals would be in hog-heaven if they could collect just the 50c on the dollar that the charge the insurance companies. This %50 reimbursement does allow the hospitals to function with a profit large enough to cover the non-payments.
#3 I agree to some extent. Unfortunately it is a necessary evil. If it cost $200 for a well baby check I don't know of too many families that would/could afford it. It is hard enough to get people to stop complaining about their 10 or 20 dollar copays. And I don't know too many doctors that will do it for for 10 or 20 dollars. I do agree 100% that you should not be able to barter for services. Unfortunately this is neccessary also for the insurance companies to work at a profit acceptable to the shareholders. It is this same bartering that increases the costs for the private pay patients. It is against the law for a hospital to bill a private individual a lower price for service than it bills an insurance company, unfortunately the insurance company already has contracts in place with the hospitals with a set fee schedule. This leaves the private pay patient with a hospital bill that is often times 50 or 100% inflated compared to the actual cost of care. Will the hospitals accept lower payment from an individual, yes many times but many times they would rather send you to collections for the rest. I do also agree with you that many times care is jepordized by insurance companies idea of what is "necessary" but remember, people always are able to have the test, procedure done if they are willing to pay for it, at full price, as you seem to think is more fair and ethical. It is just people usually are not willing. If you don't believe that private practitioners can decide their own repayment simply call around and see how many are actively accepting new medicare patients, and then ask them if they will accept a private pay.
#4 Although I don't have any figures in front of me (I will look) I seriously doubt that 95% of US corporations pay no corporate taxes. Even if that is the case, these corporations are supplying jobs and providing insurance for millions of americans in addition to providing a product that stimulates the US economy and in many cases is available for export. I agree with you though that these companies and individuals should not be funneling money off shore illegally, and if they are they should be punished accordingly. And for you saying that the rich don't pay their share of taxes, the top 1 percent of earners in this country pay around 35% of the total taxes. Here is an email that I got the other day. Now don't ask me if I can verify the information but I have no reason to doubt it.
How we pay income taxes.
Kamerschen, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Economics,
536 Brooks Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA
(
http://www.uga.edu/ <javascript
😳l('http://www.uga.edu/');>)
The top 1% earns 21% of all income; pays 37-1/2% of all taxes
The top 5% earns 35% of all income; pays 56-1/2% of all taxes
The top 10% earns 46% of all income; pays 67% of all taxes
The top 25% pays 84% of all taxes
The top 50% pays 96-1/2% of all taxes
The bottom 50% pays 3-1/2% of all taxes
** Just in case we are not completely clear on this issue, here is an
old story that will explain our US Tax System.
Tax Cuts - A Simple Lesson In Economics. This is how the cookie
crumbles. Please read it carefully. Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone
can understand.
Suppose that every day, ten people go out for dinner. The bill for all
ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go like this:
The first four people (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh $7.
The eighth $12.
The ninth $18.
The tenth person (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do. The ten people ate dinner in the
restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until
one day the owner threw them a curve.
Since you are all such good customers, he said, "I'm going to reduce the
cost of your daily meal by $20".
So now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay
their bill the way we pay our taxes. So, the first four people were
unaffected. They would still eat for free.
But what about the six paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20
windfall so everyone was getting his 'fair share'?
The six people realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth person and the
sixth person would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.
So, the restaurant owner suggested that it might be fair to reduce each
person's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out
the amounts each should pay.
The fifth person, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before, and the first four continued
to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, they began to compare
their savings.
"I only got a dollar out of the $20", declared the sixth person. He
pointed to the tenth person "but he got $10!"
"Yeah, that's right", exclaimed the fifth person. "I only saved a
dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I got!"
"That's true!" shouted the seventh person. "Why should he get $10 back
when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the break!"
"Wait a minute", yelled the first four people in unison. "We didn't get
anything at all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine people surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth person didn't show up for dinner, so the nine
sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill,
they discovered they didn't have enough money between all of them for
even half of the bill.!
And that, boys and girls, journalists , college professors and other
Massachusetts Democrats, is how our tax system works. The people who pay
the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them
too much; attack them for being wealthy, and next time they may not show
up at the table.
Also I never said that the rich do no wrong, but I do find it hard to believe that they do any more wrong than the rest of the country.
Don't get me wrong, I know that there are serious issues wrong with health care today. I see the effects of the shortcommings of the system everyday at work when a 12 year old girl is denied treatment for osteosarcoma due to the fact that she is not a legal citizen while a useless peice of **** crack ***** can come and go from the hospital as much as she wants because "it is her right." I firmly believe that people who contribute to this economy or are physically unable to contribute deserve the same treatment as anyone else, it is just people who live off of the system who unfortunately use up a lot of the resources. So back to the main questions, it is not the millionaires use of insurance that is the problem.
