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Position Statement: This crisis is being completely ignored by Congress. Completely.
Description of Position:
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My health care premium raised $125/month this year. And we are a healthly family. With a high deductible and a complicated HSA the insurance company paid nothing out. Yet, the average family of four pays $12,000 per year in health care insurance premiums. This is a crisis of gigantic proportions and our Congress is useless. Until voters want this problem solved it will only get worse. |
 2008-02-13 |
Being a member of the health care field I understand this issue better than most politicians. Universal health care is a only a dream with our current system. It will be too costly to implement in reality. But of course the presidential candidates know this, hoping to get elected before voters realize it is a lie. If my personal premiums rise $125/mo and we are healthy, what would they do when I am expected to pay for lots more unhealthy people? It will never be fair nor will it be cost effective. Medicare needs to be fixed first before we let the government start another plan. And do you see anybody offering to fix it? I will. |
| 2008-12-29 |
What a hoot! The health care messiah that people foolishly voted into the presidency can not break the habit and smokes! He can not even take the proper health care steps and stop smoking for his OWN good health. And many expect him to help THEM? Not going to happen. |
| 2009-03-10 |
PE has taken health care back a major step with his decision to limit the moral conscience of physicians. Within three years we will begin to see the shortage of physicians reach dangerous levels. Taking away incentives to practice medicine will raise health care costs and limit access to those who need it most. The decision to overturn a physicians` legal right to practice according to their faith and beliefs will only worsen the health care crisis. People of faith including both Christians and Muslims should be alarmed. Another bad decision for America by PE. |
| 2009-08-18 |
Jobs. The discussion of health care reform has to include the aspect of job loss.
Health care = JOBS
The health care industry provides excellent opportunities for good paying jobs. Are we willing to jeopardize those with a massive reform?
DISCLAIMER: I am a health care provider. I have practiced optometry for 25 years and I can honestly say it is a good paying job. So I speak from experience when I say we as a nation do not want to jeopardize our economy by eliminating jobs in the health care industry. During the presidential campaign we were promised that millions of jobs would be created. Once elected the attention, instead has been to reform industries and introduce legislation that will cause millions of Americans to LOSE jobs. Cap and Trade legislation will be detrimental to West Virginia’s economy. We have already seen job loss in the automotive industry and the financial sector. I live in Mercer County and the main industry is health care. If you add up the physicians, hospitals, and all other allied health professionals the best paying jobs are within the health care industry. The entire local economy is threatened by a reform that is not beneficial.
Obviously, lowering health care costs is needed. But how we proceed must be carefully planned and monitored. A massive health care bill by politicians; that is beyond any person’s comprehension is too dangerous to even be considered. So I will not even address any bill in Congress or the generalized plan of the president. Instead, I want to do what should be done in the first place. Develop a concise organized plan that will reduce health care without threatening job security, the economy or my income!
A lot of people complain about the cost of health care. Politicians make promises, lie and devote their time to getting re-elected. In fact, the absolute last thing any American should want is for a government bureaucrat to be in charge of their health. ITS TIME for something different. ITS TIME for real solutions to real problems. So here goes; I will list several ideas I have to lower health care cost, provide job security and improve health care for everyone.
1. Tort Reform. Reforming health care without addressing this issue is political nonsense. Only a moron would offer a plan without it. I would cap malpractice payments at $250,000 per individual with an aggregate amount of $ 500,000. There will be a limit of two entities so the ‘sue everybody’ strategy would be eliminated. The attorney fees will be limited to 20% of the payout up to a maximum of $ 50,000. This would reduce the ambulance chasers motivation to sue, sue and sue. Capping compensation would mean only the most clear cut malpractice cases would be pursued. Specialty areas such as OB-GYN would have less liability requirements in regards to time coverage and much less broad. The goal should be to provide the best quality care possible not punish someone for doing the best they can. We still want providers to be regulated and the quality they provide rated but that can be accomplished without significantly increasing the cost of health care. There is no amount of money that can replace a loved one. Penalizing the physician for the loss of a loved one will not solve anything. A major factor in the rising health care costs is that attorney fees are enormous in medical malpractice cases and drive up the cost for everyone. Very few people ever really benefit from these lawsuits. Sure there are exceptions and those needing long term care must be provided for. Tort reform would benefit them and not attorneys. Any plan that does not address this will fail and cause your taxes to go up and the quality of your health care to get worse.
2. Freeze all Medicare rates of reimbursements for 3 years.
3. During the 3 year freeze period I would organize specialty groups AOA, ADA, AHA, AMA and have them be required to cut costs within their own specialty. This would allow professionals within the specialty who understand make the cuts. If they are unable then the burden falls to the politicians in Congress. Professions would be required to make cuts of 10% for the first year, 5% for each of the second and third years. This is the area where standards of care can be reviewed, treatment options evaluated for efficiency and success versus cost, testing frequency and sharing. Serious consideration will be given to what testing is necessary and when, what procedures are successful and what is not and how care can be provided without sacrificing quality but still reduce costs.
4. Reduce over-regulation such as HIPPO, Rx pads, etc. The VA requires so much paperwork we could do a huge service to the environment by eliminating all the unnecessary red-tape.
5. Refuse treatment to illegal immigrants. This may sound harsh but the truth is they are not supposed to be here. They are here illegally. So by entering our country without permission; they accept the consequences of their actions. When they need health care they have two choices, leave or turn themselves in. In which case they will be exported. Just to show some compassion I will allow for the emergency treatment of some life-threatening conditions. They would be exported when medically stable enough to travel. Any illegal immigrant in prison will be exported. While I am on this topic all inmates would be required to work to cover their cost of health care, food and basic needs. If politicians can not think of anything for them to do, I have several ideas I can share.
6. Allow for larger HSA deposits and IRA deposits. I would allow citizens to prepare themselves and their families for health issues and retirement. The current system is a bad joke; stupid and not very funny.
7. Encourage preventative care. Mark food products with easy to read info such as; Lo, Med, High contents of fats, sugar, salt, etc. If you are over-weight you are required to take a course in preventative care and nutrition taught by trained nutritionists and nurses. This would create a lot of job opportunities and while liberals will say it infringes on the rights and increase cost. The truth is anything YOU do that affects ANOTHER PERSON affects their rights and we have to use common sense. Obesity increases the cost of health care for everyone. Prevention is the best and the CHEAPEST medicine. Our body is a temple to God and we need to treat it as such.
8. Begin supporting the American Children’s Endowment Fund that includes health wellness decade evaluations and motivation for individuals to remain as healthy as possible.
9. Streamline emergency room triage to reduce waiting times, testing, etc. The proper sharing of medical records can reduce cost. Eliminating un-necessary procedures will reduce health care cost.
10. Eliminate the health care risk of cigarette smoking by phasing out cigarette use over a 5 to 10 year period. Medicaid & Medicare recipients would have to stop smoking to receive benefits at the end of this transition period.
11. I would nurture the life style choices of developing health conscious decisions. Drug abuse and related crimes would carry stronger penalties. Americans should have the freedom to make the right choice. God gives us the freedom to do good. And to make good choices.
12. I would make qualified fitness center and health care supervised diet centers membership fees deductible up to a reasonable limit. This will promote prevention, exercise and diet.
13. Increase recess time at public schools and include more health awareness lessons for both parents and children. We have to be educated to change the way we make life choices regarding the foods we eat and our weight. This begins as a child and continues throughout adulthood.
14. Increase the roles of Registered nurses and Physician Assistants to provide a lower cost service. We need to open the doors for ancillary health care providers to provide services at lower costs.
15. End government payments for abortion except in life-threatening specific cases. Terminate taxpayer funding of planned parenthood in lieu of more cost-effective methods of education through the school system.
16. Limit drug and device manufacturer liabilities. Limit markup for new products for the first two years. Encourage new drug development and procedure inventions.
17. Promote abstinence to reduce the frequency of STD. Liberals will never promote this but in reality this can reduce health care considerably. If they were truly serious about lowering health care costs this would be a priority. But instead liberal politicians lie and try to deceive you. Abstinence eliminates the need for abortions and virtually eliminates the need for health care due to sexually transmitted diseases. AIDS would be on the decline but the Hollywood crowd does not want it that bad. Abstinence applies to the homosexuals too.
18. Eliminate free care at emergency rooms for routine care. Charge small fee, if patient presents and has no money deduct from their ‘government’ check. Significant amounts of emergency room visits are not emergencies. We can lower health care costs by transferring these people to health clinics that can provide the services required for less cost.
19. Re-train disabled recipients for new employment in a field that pays the same or higher compensation. Provide health coverage for one year to allow for a smoother transition. Becoming disabled for life should become a thing of the past. Rehabilitation can reduce health care demands on our society. Our goal should not be to place someone on the disabled sidelines but to return them back into society as a productive member. Currently people are penalized for trying to work again. ITS TIME to remove the penalties and help people work.
20. There are many more specific ways to reduce the growth in health care costs. For example, reducing overhead costs will allow hospitals to have more beds. More beds are vital when we face a pandemic, natural disaster or terrorist attack. By being prepared we can save lives. Instead, our government waits until we have a crisis to do their planning.
You probably have a few ideas that can benefit. The problem is we do not have an open discussion of solutions. We have a complicated confusing conglomeration of political lies and special interest influenced nonsense. We need to take the health care crisis out of the hands of politicians and put health care where it belongs. In the hands of the people who can solve the problems without bias and prejudice. This would leave the politicians more time to figure out how to get re-elected.
This is not a complete plan but a guideline to solving a problem that can be solved.
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Health Care
