Subj : OBAMACARE To : BOB ACKLEY From : BOB KLAHN Date : Sun Feb 06 2011 14:16:00 EH>>>>> I look forward to see what legal gymnastics Holder does in his EH>>>>> appeal. RS>>>> One judge, making his ruling. RS>>>> It'll be appealed, I have no doubt it'll be brought all the way to RS>>>> the Supreme Court. JB>>> And you believe it is constitutional to force people to buy health JB>>> care or be fined or jailed ? BA>>> Of course he does. Note that it's very unlikely that he will have to BA>>> purchase it, most likely it will be furnished to him free - unlike BA>>> even those of us on Medicare (for those unaware I pay just under BA>>> $100/month for Medicare out of my Socialist Security). The uninsured in this country are overwhelmingly the working poor. They are the ones being hurt now, and the ones the right want's to keep out of the system. TR>> Ditto. And a medication I take for blood pressure just took an OOP TR>> jump of 600%, as of the first of the year. ... BA> There's a really easy way for the government to cut the BA> price of health care in this country, BA> quickly, too. And it will probably have far more effect on BA> insurance premiums than Obamacare BA> was supposed to (Obamacare was supposed to REDUCE premiums BA> by expanding the pool; in Obamacare was supposed to reduce costs through the public plan. That was killed. The increase in the pool doesn't take effect until 2014. BA> fact it INCREASED the premiums because it converted what BA> had been insurance into another welfare program - and a big BA> hunk of the pool expansion was deadbeats and others that BA> won't or can't pay the premiums anyway). Whose medical costs are paid for anyway, according to you. So that is obviously false. The big hunk of the uninsured are working poor, not deadbeats. You are partly right, they can't pay the premiums, because they are poor. That has always been my objection to the mandate. Since the mandate does *NOT* take effect for two more years, any insurance company that claims that's the cause of premium increases is committing fraud. Anthem Blue Cross has admitted their massive insurance premium increase is due to healthy young people falling out of the system because they are losing their jobs, or can't find jobs. It's the economy... one more time. BA> All the government had to do was require that insurors = BA> specifically including Medicare - pay health claims, in BA> full, within 30 days of submission; the only allowable If the government has to pay in full, why shouldn't insurance companies. Your theory was applied to drug suppliers under Bush's drug payment program, no negotiating lower prices. The result has been a disaster. Medical costs will soon be 20% of our GDP. If they have to pay bills in full that 20% will probably jump to 40%. Another disaster. Payment within 30 days should be required, but will have relatively little effect on overall costs. BA> discount would be 10% if the bill is paid within 10 days of BA> submission. Simple, easy to understand, and it doesn't BA> require a couple of hundred thousand bureaucrooks to run it. BA> Among other things, it would eliminate "cost shifting" Yeah, they will just hold all prices high. Remember, cost shifting would not be possible in a truly competitive market in the first place. So, that proves medical care is not any sort of competitive market, so costs will not come down if the government is required to pay in full. BA> (which places those unpaid charges on BA> everybody else's bill) and would eliminate at least one BA> incentive for fraud. It would also The only incentive for fraud necessary is profit. That won't be eliminated, it will be increased. BA> renmder unnecessary the phalanxes of Medical Records BA> specialists whose only purpose is to BA> insure that patients' diagnoses are coded to ensure the BA> maximum possible reimbursement (coding has become a BA> recognized subspecialty of that field). Most folks don't That is completely false. If they pay in full it will still be profitable to code for maximum payment, even more so in fact. ... BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn .... Great! My bunny's been cashing my reality checks again.. --- Via Silver Xpress V4.5/P [Reg] * Origin: Doc's Place BBS Fido Since 1991 docsplace.tzo.com (1:123/140) .