United Health should be hauled in for their antitrust policies. They want to be the source of everything, thereby giving consumers no choices. This company does not pay claims. The doc, surgeon, pharmacy and insurance all work for one company— United Health. Criminals. We need health care .
Direct payments from employers as well as MERP’s can give employees freedom to spend their dollars outside of traditional insurance. We don’t need insurance. We need to purchase healthcare. Insurance is not healthcare.
Yes. We shall see. Directed payments. Primary care coverage for all. Give consumers back control of their health benefit. We do not have insurance, we have a mechanism to transfer $ to middlemen. We need a health benefit, which serves the individual.
One thing I forgot. What consumers need moving forward is a health benefit, not health insurance. What we call health insurance right now is not insurance against anything. It is just a direct payment to provide providers and insurers. It is the redirect of dollars into the hands of companies.
A health benefit provides a consumer with the ability to pick and choose health services that they need at the time in their life when they need it. And as they grow older, they can make changes to those services.
It is not working that way due to disincentives, and gaming of the system and the way our system is designed. It only acts as a pass-through and a financial transfer.
All I’ve seen on Twitter (X) is doctor after doctor advocating for HSAs, Direct Patient Care cash pay, & physician-owned hospitals. Physicians want to decline Medicare, Medicaid & insurance companies. They say socialized healthcare does not work, even though most other first world countries do it (you’ll wait forever to see a doctor! Like we don’t here?), and physicians claim cash pay patients would pay 10% less for services, that DPC would provide low cost imaging & blood work & the concierge service would be attentive doctors, longer than 15 minute appointments. High risk patients would need catastrophic medical insurance. I have peppered these accounts with questions about specialists, surgery, emergencies, hospital stays, etc. I keep being told I don’t know what I’m talking about-that insurance companies are the root of all evil. I agree insurance companies are greedy af & something’s gotta give. However, we can’t throw the baby out with the bath water & start over from scratch while people die. One doctor showed an invoice from an insurance company for a colonoscopy-billing for $24k & change. He said, “I would charge a cash price of $1,900.” We all know the co-pay of the $24k was maybe $200, the doctor said he only received $700, & the insurance company got a fee from the location, etc etc. We know insurance inflates bills. What the doctor doesn’t realize that if the govt funds an HSA at $8k (that amt was floated over last weekend) what person is going to allocate that amount for a colonoscopy unless it’s DIRE? Or cash pay out-of-pocket? Not the average American. I make fun of these physicians for staying in this “terrible” system-then I say “oh right you can’t go anywhere else in the world because it’s socialized & you can’t exploit for cash.” Some doctors were also saying they deserved to be paid back in some way for their schooling. I was like what? From the taxpayers? Ok.
My feeling is the federal govt will fund HSAs for a bit, then the money will dry up, then the onus will be back upon the individual & their employer. Pre-existing conditions will make it hard for people to get catastrophic insurance, Medicaid will go away, as will Medicare. We’ll be back to the 1900s. Rich folk will be ok. No one else will tho.
or single payer, gov’t negotiated standardized fee for service (eg medicare pricing) payments for physicians and a strict federal ban on the corporate practice of medicine (adios UHC & all rent seekers)
Agree that tax payer dollars going to either premium subsidies or individuals HSA accounts are absolutely not the answer. Both are lazy ploys to score political points. What do the authors propose to do the following: 1. put a hard curb on medical fee inflation over the next 10-15 years (in order to recover from these fees increasing beyond the rate of inflation for the last 30+ years) and 2. fix health "insurance" as a means to cover Americans.
We get rid of for profit health insurance companies by enacting single-payer universal expanded Medicare for All. There are 2 Fed Bills ready to be voted on. Bernie has one in the Senate and Jayapal has one in the House.
So curious how do you propose containing medical fees that have increased beyond the rate of inflation for decades. This isn’t just a health insurance issue, it’s a medical fee cost issue.
While I agree with this (or at least the State of Maryland model of transparency and reasonable set max fees), getting enough politicians to 1. have the political stomach to make this happen and 2. have on-going common sense messaging to counter and silence the barrage of scare messaging that will come from the industry lobby are the real challenges.
yes of course Congress will not serve the public unless/until the primary currency of politicians is votes, not $. it is a complete waste of our time to debate which policies work best for our welfare while politicians focus almost exclusively on the size of their campaign coffers as a measure of their success/likelihood of reelection. every member of Congress that isn’t primarily advocating for a complete overhaul of campaign finance and anti-corruption reform should be primaried. it’s too bad the American people can’t figure this out and unite behind this demand.
However in most other countries they pay a higher tax rate than in the US
In addition taking half the salary for instance $100k a year that pays back the 300K loan in 3 years, but then for the rest of your professional life you make half the income
Again, please ask a physician if they would accept that
100% no
Which is why the proposed Medicare for all will not happen, even though discussed for decades
Given the debacle that is Medicare Advantage, I'm not convinced the government will manage this appropriately. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the government's record here isn't great (although it's better than private insurers). Largely it is private health insurance companies that have failed at one of their core responsibilities over the last 30 years - medical service fee cost containment. By the way, employer HR departments negotiating with health insurers (or barely negotiating) also bear some responsibility. Another potential option is a combination of market based (patient to medical service providers direct cash payment - 80%-90%) plus government or insurance company catastrophic coverage (10%-20%). It would be great to pursue serious solutions without special interest influence. The likelihood of Congress and this Administration resisting that influence - unfortunately low to no chance.
original medicare runs very smoothly. less than 2% administrative costs (*1.1% as of last year). why do you think the privatized version of the program chose “medicare advantage” as the name? (to dupe seniors into thinking the programs are the same).
fyi- medicare advantage, medicaid (in most states), and the ACA are not government-run (fee for service). they are private programs funded with public money (capitated payments). no transparency and minimal/negligible oversight. it is insanely corrupt.
I hear you and like I said, it’s not that I don’t think it’s possible. It more whether the Ds and Rs in Washington are willing to stand up to private political interests throwing loads of money at them. So easy for both to get a bi-partisan win on this. It demonstrates how weak and/or incompetent our elected officials infortunately are. btw, the John Oliver dissection of Medicare Advantage is genius.
this is a SCOTUS problem. we need to make corruption illegal again and since the justices have fought for decades to legalize corruption, need to reform/reign in SCOTUS too.
The problem is the insurance companies are allowed to do whatever they want. Our Government officials take donations from big insurance and big pharma, etc.
Is this meeting going to be live for all American's to see? If hope so - we can see what is said and the goals of the select attendees. DT does not have a clue how the system works or how to address it. We will see.
Why can't we have a Medicare for All system with a parallel private pay system? It would cover everyone and the private system would create some pressure to keep the public system good. Put the insurance companies out of biz and have everyone well covered?
The expiring tax credits won't raise the premiums on 22 million people and the author knows that. They will affect the 4 million that were given this special break. The author also fails to mention the rampant fraud that is a gift to the insurance companies. The author is against the free market and wants universal healthcare that will beneifit the BUCAs.
You can get better from everything. The way to Protect people diagnosed with cancer or chronic illnesses, is to pump up your mitochondria. Stop taking synthetic multivitamins and prenatals that give you calcium and iron interaction. Take VitaminD3/K2, methylBcomplex, magnesium, CoQ10 twice a day, not once if you have cancer or chronic disease. If you have anemia don't listen when your doctor prescribes iron; use the supplements I just described. Eat 1 tsp chia seeds softened in water or tea 5 times daily for omega3, add cocoa powder or cinnamon to make it tastier. Eat many fruits and veggies and drink teas that provide VitaminC all day every day. Eat beans legumes chickpeas hummus every day because beans build bones, kill cancer cells, fix your microbiome and blood sugar. Stop eating oil mayo dairy and animal foods and you won't have blood pressure and Afib. Here is a nutrition guide and resources: https://nutritionfacts.org/daily-dozen
A full robust public system is necessary first. Then, the minuscule amount of biz the insurance cos will get from the 10-20% of folks who will do catastrophic policies is fine. It is important to have a private option for those people to keep competition in our public system, so it doesn't go sideways. Just my thought after more than 40 years in this fight.
Yes, I was referring to the private system, correct. The catastrophic policies will be only for that small number of people who want to have private care and coverage for catastrophic illness.
FAIL! Medicare for All is NOT the same as current Medicare? Why don't people do any research? Medicare for All gets rid of the profit motive of healthcare insurance companies. Medicare for All has comprehensive coverage, including eyes, teeth, hearing and Rx. Medicare for All would eliminate the need for ACA subsidies. Please get a clue!
United Health should be hauled in for their antitrust policies. They want to be the source of everything, thereby giving consumers no choices. This company does not pay claims. The doc, surgeon, pharmacy and insurance all work for one company— United Health. Criminals. We need health care .
Direct payments from employers as well as MERP’s can give employees freedom to spend their dollars outside of traditional insurance. We don’t need insurance. We need to purchase healthcare. Insurance is not healthcare.
Single-payer.
Yes. We shall see. Directed payments. Primary care coverage for all. Give consumers back control of their health benefit. We do not have insurance, we have a mechanism to transfer $ to middlemen. We need a health benefit, which serves the individual.
One thing I forgot. What consumers need moving forward is a health benefit, not health insurance. What we call health insurance right now is not insurance against anything. It is just a direct payment to provide providers and insurers. It is the redirect of dollars into the hands of companies.
A health benefit provides a consumer with the ability to pick and choose health services that they need at the time in their life when they need it. And as they grow older, they can make changes to those services.
Healthcare should not be tied to our jobs.
Unbundle and make health benefit mobile.
#MedicareForAll
Agree!
Yes. Catastrophic care needs an insurance coverage. Primary care and preventative care is uninsurable. DPC w/Catastrophic coverage.
It is not working that way due to disincentives, and gaming of the system and the way our system is designed. It only acts as a pass-through and a financial transfer.
Optum aka unitedhealthgrop is currently advertising in my state system “Optum community center enjoy a place where you belong”
Optum is also sponsoring some kind of lovin life expo.
Please take Rico out of our healthcare.
Passing The Medicare for all Acts will cover 100% of all medically necessary services any equipment.
Optum just loves gaming the “your friend” bs
Money needs to go to actual care, not this disingenuous come-on crap. 🐂💩
All I’ve seen on Twitter (X) is doctor after doctor advocating for HSAs, Direct Patient Care cash pay, & physician-owned hospitals. Physicians want to decline Medicare, Medicaid & insurance companies. They say socialized healthcare does not work, even though most other first world countries do it (you’ll wait forever to see a doctor! Like we don’t here?), and physicians claim cash pay patients would pay 10% less for services, that DPC would provide low cost imaging & blood work & the concierge service would be attentive doctors, longer than 15 minute appointments. High risk patients would need catastrophic medical insurance. I have peppered these accounts with questions about specialists, surgery, emergencies, hospital stays, etc. I keep being told I don’t know what I’m talking about-that insurance companies are the root of all evil. I agree insurance companies are greedy af & something’s gotta give. However, we can’t throw the baby out with the bath water & start over from scratch while people die. One doctor showed an invoice from an insurance company for a colonoscopy-billing for $24k & change. He said, “I would charge a cash price of $1,900.” We all know the co-pay of the $24k was maybe $200, the doctor said he only received $700, & the insurance company got a fee from the location, etc etc. We know insurance inflates bills. What the doctor doesn’t realize that if the govt funds an HSA at $8k (that amt was floated over last weekend) what person is going to allocate that amount for a colonoscopy unless it’s DIRE? Or cash pay out-of-pocket? Not the average American. I make fun of these physicians for staying in this “terrible” system-then I say “oh right you can’t go anywhere else in the world because it’s socialized & you can’t exploit for cash.” Some doctors were also saying they deserved to be paid back in some way for their schooling. I was like what? From the taxpayers? Ok.
My feeling is the federal govt will fund HSAs for a bit, then the money will dry up, then the onus will be back upon the individual & their employer. Pre-existing conditions will make it hard for people to get catastrophic insurance, Medicaid will go away, as will Medicare. We’ll be back to the 1900s. Rich folk will be ok. No one else will tho.
or single payer, gov’t negotiated standardized fee for service (eg medicare pricing) payments for physicians and a strict federal ban on the corporate practice of medicine (adios UHC & all rent seekers)
Agree that tax payer dollars going to either premium subsidies or individuals HSA accounts are absolutely not the answer. Both are lazy ploys to score political points. What do the authors propose to do the following: 1. put a hard curb on medical fee inflation over the next 10-15 years (in order to recover from these fees increasing beyond the rate of inflation for the last 30+ years) and 2. fix health "insurance" as a means to cover Americans.
We get rid of for profit health insurance companies by enacting single-payer universal expanded Medicare for All. There are 2 Fed Bills ready to be voted on. Bernie has one in the Senate and Jayapal has one in the House.
One reason why that won’t happen is that where a national single payer exists ; Physcians earn half of what are Physcians are paid
Never get past that hurdle
So curious how do you propose containing medical fees that have increased beyond the rate of inflation for decades. This isn’t just a health insurance issue, it’s a medical fee cost issue.
medicare pricing for all
While I agree with this (or at least the State of Maryland model of transparency and reasonable set max fees), getting enough politicians to 1. have the political stomach to make this happen and 2. have on-going common sense messaging to counter and silence the barrage of scare messaging that will come from the industry lobby are the real challenges.
yes of course Congress will not serve the public unless/until the primary currency of politicians is votes, not $. it is a complete waste of our time to debate which policies work best for our welfare while politicians focus almost exclusively on the size of their campaign coffers as a measure of their success/likelihood of reelection. every member of Congress that isn’t primarily advocating for a complete overhaul of campaign finance and anti-corruption reform should be primaried. it’s too bad the American people can’t figure this out and unite behind this demand.
Luigi.
However in most other countries they pay a higher tax rate than in the US
In addition taking half the salary for instance $100k a year that pays back the 300K loan in 3 years, but then for the rest of your professional life you make half the income
Again, please ask a physician if they would accept that
100% no
Which is why the proposed Medicare for all will not happen, even though discussed for decades
Given the debacle that is Medicare Advantage, I'm not convinced the government will manage this appropriately. I'm not saying it can't be done, but the government's record here isn't great (although it's better than private insurers). Largely it is private health insurance companies that have failed at one of their core responsibilities over the last 30 years - medical service fee cost containment. By the way, employer HR departments negotiating with health insurers (or barely negotiating) also bear some responsibility. Another potential option is a combination of market based (patient to medical service providers direct cash payment - 80%-90%) plus government or insurance company catastrophic coverage (10%-20%). It would be great to pursue serious solutions without special interest influence. The likelihood of Congress and this Administration resisting that influence - unfortunately low to no chance.
original medicare runs very smoothly. less than 2% administrative costs (*1.1% as of last year). why do you think the privatized version of the program chose “medicare advantage” as the name? (to dupe seniors into thinking the programs are the same).
fyi- medicare advantage, medicaid (in most states), and the ACA are not government-run (fee for service). they are private programs funded with public money (capitated payments). no transparency and minimal/negligible oversight. it is insanely corrupt.
I hear you and like I said, it’s not that I don’t think it’s possible. It more whether the Ds and Rs in Washington are willing to stand up to private political interests throwing loads of money at them. So easy for both to get a bi-partisan win on this. It demonstrates how weak and/or incompetent our elected officials infortunately are. btw, the John Oliver dissection of Medicare Advantage is genius.
this is a SCOTUS problem. we need to make corruption illegal again and since the justices have fought for decades to legalize corruption, need to reform/reign in SCOTUS too.
The problem is the insurance companies are allowed to do whatever they want. Our Government officials take donations from big insurance and big pharma, etc.
For sure that is a big part of the challenge.
Is this meeting going to be live for all American's to see? If hope so - we can see what is said and the goals of the select attendees. DT does not have a clue how the system works or how to address it. We will see.
Why can't we have a Medicare for All system with a parallel private pay system? It would cover everyone and the private system would create some pressure to keep the public system good. Put the insurance companies out of biz and have everyone well covered?
Patients always end up paying the full price
The expiring tax credits won't raise the premiums on 22 million people and the author knows that. They will affect the 4 million that were given this special break. The author also fails to mention the rampant fraud that is a gift to the insurance companies. The author is against the free market and wants universal healthcare that will beneifit the BUCAs.
You can get better from everything. The way to Protect people diagnosed with cancer or chronic illnesses, is to pump up your mitochondria. Stop taking synthetic multivitamins and prenatals that give you calcium and iron interaction. Take VitaminD3/K2, methylBcomplex, magnesium, CoQ10 twice a day, not once if you have cancer or chronic disease. If you have anemia don't listen when your doctor prescribes iron; use the supplements I just described. Eat 1 tsp chia seeds softened in water or tea 5 times daily for omega3, add cocoa powder or cinnamon to make it tastier. Eat many fruits and veggies and drink teas that provide VitaminC all day every day. Eat beans legumes chickpeas hummus every day because beans build bones, kill cancer cells, fix your microbiome and blood sugar. Stop eating oil mayo dairy and animal foods and you won't have blood pressure and Afib. Here is a nutrition guide and resources: https://nutritionfacts.org/daily-dozen
A full robust public system is necessary first. Then, the minuscule amount of biz the insurance cos will get from the 10-20% of folks who will do catastrophic policies is fine. It is important to have a private option for those people to keep competition in our public system, so it doesn't go sideways. Just my thought after more than 40 years in this fight.
More than 40 years…as what?
Yes, I was referring to the private system, correct. The catastrophic policies will be only for that small number of people who want to have private care and coverage for catastrophic illness.
Oh, stop. As long as for profit insurance companies are involved, that's a set up to fail. You must be a mouthpiece for them.
FAIL! Medicare for All is NOT the same as current Medicare? Why don't people do any research? Medicare for All gets rid of the profit motive of healthcare insurance companies. Medicare for All has comprehensive coverage, including eyes, teeth, hearing and Rx. Medicare for All would eliminate the need for ACA subsidies. Please get a clue!
OK - you must be a slow learner. I said MEDICARE FOR ALL includes those things. It's NOT the same as current MEDICARE!