It used to be said that there were three professions that you didn’t go into in order to get rich. These three professions were: preacher, teacher, and doctor.
This was because supposedly the people who chose these career paths did so because they were called to them, not for the money.
In recent decades, preachers and doctors have removed themselves from that equation, with many in both professions choosing their profession for the sole purpose of getting rich. In too many cases, they haven't been interested in the well-being of their clientele, but rather in how much money they can make off of them.
If we go to the formula of everyone paying premiums to Medicare instead of Humana, Cigna, Aetna and the rest, then we will lose some of those doctors, due to the fact that they will no longer be able to make a fortune in the profession. In my opinion, those are people who shouldn't be doctors anyway, and I say "good riddance".
Considering that the insurance company lobby claims that over $100 billion a year is "minimal profits" and that the insurance industry spends over a million dollars a day on advertising, I would imagine that we could use some of those premium payments to fund the education of the many new doctors and nurses we seriously need.
Of course, medical schools will have to cease their elitist practice of limiting the number of med-school graduates that are allowed per year, but this might be a small price to pay.
I believe that, once the artificially low number of new doctors allowed and the astronomical cost of the education are removed as stumbling blocks, we will find that there are plenty of good, caring individuals who actually have the calling.
Showing posts with label Medicare. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicare. Show all posts
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
No Mandate for Private Services
I keep hearing folks say that it is unconstitutional for the United States Government to mandate that we, the American people, purchase the services of a private business. Several states’ Attorneys General have promised to sue the Federal Government if the insurance reform bill in front of the House of Representatives passes.
OK, I have a fix, at least for the mandate part. How about if we do not insist that everyone buy health insurance. How about if, instead, we say the following:
You, as an American Citizen, do not have to maintain Health Coverage on yourself. But if you opt to not carry coverage, and something happens to you, such as an unforeseen illness or injury, then you will be required to pay cash, up front, out of your own pocket or forgo any treatment for said illness or injury.
You see, right now, if you do not have coverage and something happens, you can go to a public hospital, get treatment, and simply not pay the bill. That debt then reverts to the rest of us, and our tax dollars pay for your treatment. You will have to be required to pay cash up front because we cannot take the chance that you will simply SAY that you will pay on an installment plan and then just disappear or allow your payments to lapse.
So you pay up front or you simply fix the problem yourself. That way we all can be sure that those of us who have insurance aren’t being double billed.
OK, I have a fix, at least for the mandate part. How about if we do not insist that everyone buy health insurance. How about if, instead, we say the following:
You, as an American Citizen, do not have to maintain Health Coverage on yourself. But if you opt to not carry coverage, and something happens to you, such as an unforeseen illness or injury, then you will be required to pay cash, up front, out of your own pocket or forgo any treatment for said illness or injury.
You see, right now, if you do not have coverage and something happens, you can go to a public hospital, get treatment, and simply not pay the bill. That debt then reverts to the rest of us, and our tax dollars pay for your treatment. You will have to be required to pay cash up front because we cannot take the chance that you will simply SAY that you will pay on an installment plan and then just disappear or allow your payments to lapse.
So you pay up front or you simply fix the problem yourself. That way we all can be sure that those of us who have insurance aren’t being double billed.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Oppose anything the Democrats Attempt
This is a letter I intend to send to the four people who allegedly represent me in Washington, D. C.:
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, Representative Michael Burgess, and President Barack Obama.
I will blog this and any response (if there is any) at oakminde.blogspot.com
I use the word "you" to refer to the Republican Party because three of the four people are members of that institution.
I have noticed that most, if not all, of the Republican Party seems to be opposed to any kind of national health care system. You call it a government takeover, compare it to socialism, and in Washington, you simply refuse to participate in the proceedings or just block the proceedings. Since you are opposed so vehemently to any of the suggestions the Democrats have put forth, I would be extremely interested in being educated as to what your alternative ideas are. I feel certain that the status quo, allowing insurance company executives rake in multimillion-dollar salaries while denying care to their customers, is not your plan. Or is it? I have not yet heard a single intelligent proposal out of the Republican wing of government. All I hear, day in and day out, are complaints that the plan(s) the Democrats have put forth will not work.
Now let me give you an idea. I pay $6,000 a year in premiums to my insurance company, to cover myself, my wife, and my daughter. They pay their CEO 18 million dollars a year. They pay several highly placed executives close to that, I assume. They also pay enough in dividends to entice investors to park money in their stock. All the while denying care to customers. Since the highest paid government employee makes $450,000 a year, I have to assume that the head of Medicare makes considerably less than that. I think you will have a difficult time finding anyone that is currently covered by Medicare who would be willing to give it up, so I have to think that that system works.
I would never be described as the "brightest bulb in the pack" but it seems to me that if I give that $6,000 a year to Medicare instead of a for-profit insurance company, and everyone around does the same thing, we might just be able to make it work. I would even bet that it wouldn’t have to be all of the $6,000, so there might even be some savings on my end. Even if it is all of the $6,000, as long as there is not some insurance company flunky declining to cover the colonoscopy that my doctor thinks I need (as my insurance company did earlier this year), I will be happy. You can call it a tax increase if you feel like you have to, but in my book, I am already paying that tax to a private company.
Certainly there are things that need to be done to cut out waste and fraud in the system, but I think that can easily be taken care of once we have everyone adequately covered.
For sure, this idea will put a lot of insurance folks in need of a new career. I, for one, do not care if the multi-millionaire CEO of my insurance company suddenly has to go out and find a legitimate job.
I think that if we adopt this plan, and demand that Congress uses it for themselves as well, we can adequately cover every citizen of the United States and ensure that the coverage is fair and comprehensive.
As an afterthought, I also included Senator Bernie Sanders in the recipients. I hear him on the (liberal) Thom Hartmann show every Friday morning, and he seems to actually care about the American people. He supposedly does not accept campaign contributions from corporations, only from regular folks like you and me. I don't know if this is true or not, but I do know that he sounds intelligent and informed.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, Senator John Cornyn, Representative Michael Burgess, and President Barack Obama.
I will blog this and any response (if there is any) at oakminde.blogspot.com
I use the word "you" to refer to the Republican Party because three of the four people are members of that institution.
I have noticed that most, if not all, of the Republican Party seems to be opposed to any kind of national health care system. You call it a government takeover, compare it to socialism, and in Washington, you simply refuse to participate in the proceedings or just block the proceedings. Since you are opposed so vehemently to any of the suggestions the Democrats have put forth, I would be extremely interested in being educated as to what your alternative ideas are. I feel certain that the status quo, allowing insurance company executives rake in multimillion-dollar salaries while denying care to their customers, is not your plan. Or is it? I have not yet heard a single intelligent proposal out of the Republican wing of government. All I hear, day in and day out, are complaints that the plan(s) the Democrats have put forth will not work.
Now let me give you an idea. I pay $6,000 a year in premiums to my insurance company, to cover myself, my wife, and my daughter. They pay their CEO 18 million dollars a year. They pay several highly placed executives close to that, I assume. They also pay enough in dividends to entice investors to park money in their stock. All the while denying care to customers. Since the highest paid government employee makes $450,000 a year, I have to assume that the head of Medicare makes considerably less than that. I think you will have a difficult time finding anyone that is currently covered by Medicare who would be willing to give it up, so I have to think that that system works.
I would never be described as the "brightest bulb in the pack" but it seems to me that if I give that $6,000 a year to Medicare instead of a for-profit insurance company, and everyone around does the same thing, we might just be able to make it work. I would even bet that it wouldn’t have to be all of the $6,000, so there might even be some savings on my end. Even if it is all of the $6,000, as long as there is not some insurance company flunky declining to cover the colonoscopy that my doctor thinks I need (as my insurance company did earlier this year), I will be happy. You can call it a tax increase if you feel like you have to, but in my book, I am already paying that tax to a private company.
Certainly there are things that need to be done to cut out waste and fraud in the system, but I think that can easily be taken care of once we have everyone adequately covered.
For sure, this idea will put a lot of insurance folks in need of a new career. I, for one, do not care if the multi-millionaire CEO of my insurance company suddenly has to go out and find a legitimate job.
I think that if we adopt this plan, and demand that Congress uses it for themselves as well, we can adequately cover every citizen of the United States and ensure that the coverage is fair and comprehensive.
As an afterthought, I also included Senator Bernie Sanders in the recipients. I hear him on the (liberal) Thom Hartmann show every Friday morning, and he seems to actually care about the American people. He supposedly does not accept campaign contributions from corporations, only from regular folks like you and me. I don't know if this is true or not, but I do know that he sounds intelligent and informed.
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Health Care: Fixed!
How many people who have Medicare are willing to give it up? I don’t know the answer for sure, but my bet is not many, if any.
People on the "Right" like to argue that Medicare is going broke. It will be defunct in just a few years.
So here is my health care plan.
Reduce the age of eligibility for Medicare to 0. Or minus 9 months, if we are too stupid to figure that one out without it being in writing. The only requirement would now be that you are an American citizen.
Instead of paying thousands of dollars a year to private, for-profit insurance companies, everyone will now pay 1500 dollars a year into Medicare. This works out to about 35 dollars a week, less than half what I pay to my insurance company.
Sadly, insurance company executives will no longer be able to rake in multimillion-dollar salaries. Life sucks, find another way to make money. If the business I work for all of a sudden becomes unnecessary to society, no one is going to cry for me, I don't see any reason to cry for them.
My insurance company can cover me, pay their CEO 18 million dollars a year, pay several lower level executives multimillion-dollar salaries, and pay enough dividends to keep shareholders interested, based on the premiums of the people they "cover".
I have to assume that Medicare should be able to cover me on $1.5k a year, without having to pay out all those wasteful salaries and dividends. Once this is done, we can concentrate on weeding out the waste and fraud in the Medicare system.
My $1500 dollar per person price tag is just off the top of my head, and probably way high. I am sure there are folks that can figure out what the exact number needs to be. I would be happy with the 1.5k.
Bam, health care fixed and paid for.
People on the "Right" like to argue that Medicare is going broke. It will be defunct in just a few years.
So here is my health care plan.
Reduce the age of eligibility for Medicare to 0. Or minus 9 months, if we are too stupid to figure that one out without it being in writing. The only requirement would now be that you are an American citizen.
Instead of paying thousands of dollars a year to private, for-profit insurance companies, everyone will now pay 1500 dollars a year into Medicare. This works out to about 35 dollars a week, less than half what I pay to my insurance company.
Sadly, insurance company executives will no longer be able to rake in multimillion-dollar salaries. Life sucks, find another way to make money. If the business I work for all of a sudden becomes unnecessary to society, no one is going to cry for me, I don't see any reason to cry for them.
My insurance company can cover me, pay their CEO 18 million dollars a year, pay several lower level executives multimillion-dollar salaries, and pay enough dividends to keep shareholders interested, based on the premiums of the people they "cover".
I have to assume that Medicare should be able to cover me on $1.5k a year, without having to pay out all those wasteful salaries and dividends. Once this is done, we can concentrate on weeding out the waste and fraud in the Medicare system.
My $1500 dollar per person price tag is just off the top of my head, and probably way high. I am sure there are folks that can figure out what the exact number needs to be. I would be happy with the 1.5k.
Bam, health care fixed and paid for.
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