Health Care Bill

[Green Printer]

How will it effect you?

[pmhapp]

I'm not answering your question, but I think this is worth noting:

Printing Industries of America urges House to reject health care reform

[gordo]

I'm not answering your question, but I think this is worth noting:

Printing Industries of America urges House to reject health care reform

There's not a lot of clarity there. For example, the PIA states: "In industry surveys, our member companies consistently list 'cost of providing health insurance' as their most concerning public policy challenge."

Wouldn't health care reform benefit the industry?


gordon p

[CD102]

There's not a lot of clarity there. For example, the PIA states: "In industry surveys, our member companies consistently list 'cost of providing health insurance' as their most concerning public policy challenge."

Wouldn't health care reform benefit the industry?


gordon p

Because it is going to force employers of certain sizes to either offer insurance or face fines of $2000 for each employee.

The other part of it is that nobody likes change. It's easier to deal with the devil that you know than the ones that you do not.

[pmkprog]

Our company dropped insurance at the end of Dec. They couldn't afford to help provide it.
With that being said, the cost of the state option with a reasonable deductible is more expensive than private, by a lot.
I have pre-existing with asthma. So now I have a 2 year exemption on any thing billed under asthma. We have a 1,000 drug deductible. It's not the best plan and not the worst.
This new system would be nice if it allowed no price penalties for pre-existing, only for smokers.
The biggest problem I see is when everyone has to be in the pool, premiums are going to increase dramatically.
Most people won't be able to afford private any more and will be forced into the public option.

It becomes choice by default. Or the lesser of two evils.

[gordo]

I tried to find info on the US's proposed health care plan - but couldn't find any real info - just a lot of opinions (and scare mongering).
Being in Canada - and not being employed - I pay $102 per month to cover health care for my wife and myself ($52 each). If I was employed then my employer would be paying the premium. Health care is basically anything that involves a hospital or doctor and supplementary health care practitioners, laboratory services, etc. Almost all of the services are provided by private entities. The government does not participate in day-to-day care. If one earns less than $20,000 per year then the premiums are paid by the government on your behalf.
Health coverage is not affected by loss or change of jobs, as long as premiums are up to date, and there are no lifetime limits or exclusions for pre-existing conditions.
Private insurance is available to cover things that the government plan doesn't (like the cost of a private room, some prescriptions).

Hopefully the US system will learn from and take the best of what other countries are doing.

best, gordon p

[oxburger]

I think my rear end may be a little sore, but other than that, not much......

[rbailleu]

gordo,

do you think that $100 covers the true cost of your health care? some one is paying tax dollars for it. it may not be in your health bill, but it is in your tax bill.


also I dont think canada has nearly as many free loaders on the books. in fact canada has about 35,000,000 people which is what the us is trying to cover with the new scheme. some of which dont by insurance by choice. we already provide insurance to 60 million people on medicaid and another 44 million people on medicare. which is about 1 third of the people in the US. the rest of us get to pay for that and our own healthcare. I have been paying $5000 a year for the last 20 years and not getting but about $2000 total in care over the same period. seems fair to me. I personally get a little upset with the government asking me to pay more so that people that "choose not to work or come here illegally" can get free health care. I look forward to the day I can sit on my a$$ get food stamps and free room and board and health care. talk about life liberty and the persuit of happiness.

ps I think public education is a good thing. we just need to cut off the disruptive kids so they don't take down the rest of the system.

[gordo]

Obviously the $100 I pay per month is not the true cost of health care up here. That being said, the United States spends much more money on health care than Canada does, on both a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. In 2006, per-capita spending for health care in Canada was US$3,678; in the U.S., it was US$6,714. Total government spending per capita in the U.S. on health care was 23% higher than Canadian government spending. It certainly appears that you are paying more, but not getting more in return.

And obviously there is no "free" healthcare - it all gets paid for through taxes (mine included) and citizen funding. But it seems strange, to me, when businesses cannot afford to provide it for their workers. Or that you could lose, or not qualify for it, because of, for example, a pre existing condition.

You are lucky that you have not needed the care that health insurance provides. That lucky circumstance could change in an instant. Up here we hear stories of people who lose their houses to pay medical bills. Of insurance companies that have investigators researching claimants past medical history in order to deny claims. I don't know how truthful it was, but we see films like Sicko, which was about people who had medical insurance coverage but still lost out to the insurance companies and it looks pretty scary.

According to Consumer Reports a total of 40% of Americans ages 18–64 have inadequate access to health care compared with 5% of Canadians. I find it hard to believe that is acceptable.

There is some strangeness about the US - at least in my mind. I don't know how it works for illegals in the US. They seem to be an accepted, normal, part of US society. Don't the companies that employ them declare their wages as a business cost? If illegals are allowed to work and get paid a wage - shouldn't they be paying taxes? If they consume goods they are paying taxes aren't they?

Oh well, I shouldn't go on about stuff I don't really understand.

best, gordon p

[rbailleu]

gordo,

I guess my point was more that canadians are generally more responsible with there health care. maybe that is because of the government hand in it or maybe it there are less foolish and poor people. I dont know.

the stories about people losing everything are true. mostly because they would not pay for catastrophic health care insurance. I heard tonight, that for most people 15,000 deductible insurance can be purchase for $60 to $150 per month. the price of cable/internet. now that still leaves per existing conditions which I believe should be eliminated. some people can still just get caught in the middle at which point they file bankruptcy and lose some of their possessions, but if they are still health after the medical problem then they can work and pay it back. If they can no longer work then then go on medicaid and ssi. for every person that loses everything I can get you 10 stories of people that had a heart attack or cancer survived and got better and had some debts but worked for 20 more years.

legal cost: I think a percentage of the cost in the us is due to lawsuits. tort reform would lower these costs. I doubt cuba has this issue. not certain about canada.

as far as access goes. what is access. you can go into most any hosptial emergency room and get care immediately the question is only payment and we have a bunch of people that use the emergency room as a primary care center. and that is another issue. we should all work on.

dont get me started on michael more. what a tool.

drugs are cheaper in canada because the government threatens drug companies with stealing and making a generic if they dont just sell it for less. Atleast that is what I have been told by people in the drug industry. take it with a grain of salt.

but what can we lowly graphic arts professionals do.

rob