McCain Says He Can’t Vote for Graham-Cassidy Health Bill

[AUDub 11,148]

42 minutes ago, joe6points said:

Thank you for the detailed response as to why my union-mandated coverage has gone up so much.

Details help so much in every conversation. 

I didn't ask about politics. I asked about how it helped you, possibly at my families expense.  You do realize, of course, that the last player in the game is the one that has to pay the bills.  Think about it.  No paying patients, no payroll.  If I (Or the general population) can't afford to go to the doctor,  I won't. If I (or the genrtal population) don't go to the doctor, there is little reason to pay for non-essential personel.

So much of the good data on Obamacare has been buried on search engines by the repeal argument currently taking place, but let's talk in generalities.

We as a society provide health care to everyone who walks into a hospital regardless of if they have insurance or can afford to pay their potential bill. EMTALA, etc.

Under this scenario, it is much more expensive for the healthcare system to provide coverage when not everyone has insurance because they will end up providing services that they will never see any money for (unless they over inflate the bill on other people).

When everyone has insurance then hospitals have a kind of "guarantee" that they will be reimbursed for all of the services they provide. This gives hospitals more predictability in cash flow, which allows them to better plan their organizational goals around providing care.

Simply talking about premiums only involves the demand side of healthcare. The supply side of healthcare (especially in poor areas) has benefited significantly from more standardized markets in the insurance industry.

And the demand side is what we need to be working to fix. Obamacare is a flawed system that can be improved upon. Repealing without a functional replacement lined up would be a tremendous step backward, and this is what the Rs are currently trying to do.

And really, one way or another our premiums will continue to rise whether things remain the same or something like the AHCA is put into place, but at a higher rate under the AHCA if you're older (over 40). Would drop if you're younger. WAPO has a good breakdown here.

Obviously there are a lot of complexities in healthcare, which we'll delve into if you want, but that's the gist of it.

[joe6points 9]

For the general paying population, the tax payers it would be a nightmare.  Do you want to work for a VA Hospital?  That is the next step.  And yes, I have visited VA hospitals.  The one in Biloxi was one of the most depressing places I have been in in my life.  Yet, they were serving the warriors that did nothing more than do what was asked of them by our government.

[homersapien 11,373]

32 minutes ago, joe6points said:

Thank you for the detailed response as to why my union-mandated coverage has gone up so much.

Details help so much in every conversation. 

I didn't ask about politics. I asked about how it helped you, possibly at my families expense.  You do realize, of course, that the last player in the game is the one that has to pay the bills.  Think about it.  No paying patients, no payroll.  If I (Or the general population) can't afford to go to the doctor,  I won't. If I (or the genrtal population) don't go to the doctor, there is little reason to pay for non-essential personel.

For better or worse, healthcare is like 1/6 of our economy.   Throwing a monkey wrench into the system is not going to help anyone.

Just be glad you belong to a group coverage and have coverage at all.   You'd likely be a lot worse off trying to pursue an individual policy.

 

[joe6points 9]

For the general paying population, the tax payers it would be a nightmare.  Do you want to work for a VA Hospital?  That is the next step.  And yes, I have visited VA hospitals.  The one in Biloxi was one of the most depressing places I have been in in my life.  Yet, they were serving the warriors that did nothing more than do what was asked of them by our government.

[homersapien 11,373]

7 minutes ago, joe6points said:

For the general paying population, the tax payers it would be a nightmare.  Do you want to work for a VA Hospital?  That is the next step.  And yes, I have visited VA hospitals.  The one in Biloxi was one of the most depressing places I have been in in my life.  Yet, they were serving the warriors that did nothing more than do what was asked of them by our government.

What would be a nightmare?  

[joe6points 9]

Do you want to work for a VA Hospital?  That is the next step.  And yes, I have visited VA hospitals.  The one in Biloxi was one of the most depressing places I have been in in my life.  Yet, they were serving the warriors that did nothing more than do what was asked of them by our government.

[AUDub 11,148]

1 minute ago, homersapien said:

What would be a nightmare?  

I think he's about to go off on socialized medicine. 

[homersapien 11,373]

Just now, Bigbens42 said:

I think he's about to go off on socialized medicine. 

Well, that post was certainly "random", so to speak.  

[AUDub 11,148]

4 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Well, that post was certainly "random", so to speak.  

Single payer is most likely where we're going to end up unless we can get things under control.

There are two ways I see this going. The Rs hopefully keep shooting themselves in the foot over it, hopefully until the Dems can get back on level ground and implement some patches, or they go the repeal path and screw things up royal, suddenly making Bernie's plan look like a great option by comparison. 

Sucks because my wife would likely lose a great job as a medical review RN with BCBS of AL. Oh well. At least we won't go bankrupt if one of the girls, my wife or I get sick.

[homersapien 11,373]

18 minutes ago, Bigbens42 said:

Single payer is most likely where we're going to end up unless we can get things under control.

There are two ways I see this going. The Rs hopefully keep shooting themselves in the foot over it, hopefully until the Dems can get back on level ground and implement some patches, or they go the repeal path and screw things up royal, suddenly making Bernie's plan look like a great option by comparison. 

Sucks because my wife would likely lose a great job as a medical review RN with BCBS of AL. Oh well. At least we won't go bankrupt if one of the girls, my wife or I get sick.

I agree. I just don't see the Republicans trying to do the right thing.  They've allowed themselves to become too radical to govern. 

Single payer would put a huge number of people out of work at the clerical level.  My last doctor's practice had about 6 people just for filing the various insurance claims.  This was for 4 doctors.

But if your wife is an RN, she will have plenty of new job opportunies if her job disappears.

[joe6points 9]

The duplications were because my PC got wonky.  I do apologize for that.

[joe6points 9]

The VA is what we would be headed for .  Private hospitals would not be able to provide the same level of care simply because the income would be limited by  the ability of the hourly paid clerk (often the bottom of the totem pole)  that coded the bill.  Hell, I'm an hourly paid worker.  I could have, and actually have come up with ideas to save the company money.  But I soon realized that in a union environment, I wasn't adding to my own family's bottom line. So I quit giving my ideas.  What's the incentive?  I'm paid by the hour.

 

If a clerk makes a coding error, where's the incentive for better performance? 

[AUDub 11,148]

18 hours ago, homersapien said:

I agree. I just don't see the Republicans trying to do the right thing.  They've allowed themselves to become too radical to govern. 

Single payer would put a huge number of people out of work at the clerical level.  My last doctor's practice had about 6 people just for filing the various insurance claims.  This was for 4 doctors.

But if your wife is an RN, she will have plenty of new job opportunies if her job disappears.

True, she'll always have a job available, but this BCBS gig is awesome. Telecommutes, which is a huge help with the kids, especially the baby. 

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19 hours ago, joe6points said:

Do you want to work for a VA Hospital?  That is the next step.  And yes, I have visited VA hospitals.  The one in Biloxi was one of the most depressing places I have been in in my life.  Yet, they were serving the warriors that did nothing more than do what was asked of them by our government.

Actually, yes. I would love a job at the VA here in Birmingham. Did my clinicals there and loved it. Their retirement plan and benefits awesome, though the pay isn't as good. Would love to help veterans. 

But I'm helping kids now and I love it too.