Health Insurance Increases

[Tom Del Rosso]

I suppose Obama is responsible for the rising price of gas too?

Non-sequitur.

 

[Tom Del Rosso]

The last time I looked, Brittan wasn't broke. The point is that our

The point is that when you refer to government programs with the word "free"
you are unintentionally revealing the attitude of a moocher who doesn't
think in real economic terms.

 

[shrtrnd]

You missed the actual cost, because the gov't isn't just 'mandating' it, they'll build
their own beaurocracy to run it. Your tax dollars won't just be paying medical bills,
they'll be paying the gov't workers who oversee it.

 

[[email protected]]

I suppose Obama is responsible for the rising price of gas too?

Most certainly!

 

[[email protected]]

If Obama is in charge of gas prices rising, who is in charge when they
go down? I seem to recall paying nearly $4 a gal in the last year and I
am only paying $3.64 at the moment.

Um, last year Obama was in office (so much for your IQ). BTW, it was $1.80
when Obama first walked in the White House. I just paid $3.90 yesterday.

I suppose Obama is only in charge when the price goes up, he must be on
vacation when it goes down...

It's more than doubled since his coronation. He *said* he wanted gas over $4
to make his "green" energy fly. That's really worked well, too.

Have you ever heard of supply and demand? What about the price of oil?
Is this man so powerful that he can control the worldwide price of
petroleum but he can't get bills passed in Congress? If I had that
power I would retire and profit from investing in oil.

Have you ever thought that there are two variables in supply and demand? No,
I suppose not.

 

[[email protected]]

I've seen that with my insurance, I'm billed $107.00 for lab tests,
it goes to my insurance company, they only allow $10.00. That is what
I have to pay. Even though I pay the first $10,000 (deductible) the
insurance company plays interference for me. That's a nice benefit.

Yep, high deductible insurance isn't just for disasters.

 

[[email protected]]

Um, last year Obama was in office (so much for your IQ).  BTW, it was $1.80
when Obama first walked in the White House.  I just paid $3.90 yesterday.


It's more than doubled since his coronation.  He *said* he wanted gas over $4
to make his "green" energy fly.  That's really worked well, too.

in the same time crude has gone up by 175%

http://ycharts.com/indicators/brent...ate=9/10/2012&format=indexed&recessions=false

 

[[email protected]]

Same as our extreme expenditures for education... we get such good
results O

made me curious, in 2007 USA and Denmark spent about the part of
the government budget on education 14.4/15.3%

in Denmark that means 'free' education for everyone that wants it,
and support from the government while studying, some thing like
~1000$/month for a university student over 20 living on his own

-Lasse

 

[[email protected]]

in the same time crude has gone up by 175%

http://ycharts.com/indicators/brent...ate=9/10/2012&format=indexed&recessions=false

Huh? That certainly seems reasonable since gasoline COMES FROM CRUDE.

 

[[email protected]]

Denmark ranks worse in reading than the USA, but better in Math and
Science.

Does Denmark have teachers' unions?

http://www.suntimes.com/15054902-76...ingency-sites-ready-charters-remain-open.html

Note that they're striking because, even though they're the highest paid in
the nation, a 16% raise wasn't enough. Of course they also don't want to be
measured by their results.

 

[[email protected]]

Denmark ranks worse in reading than the USA, but better in Math and
Science.

Does Denmark have teachers' unions?

yep all public employees are in a union, most public and private
employees
are in a union of some sort

guess it is a bit unfair to look at % of government budget since the
danish
budget as far as I an tell is about 3x the USA per capita

but the combined cost private and public of education is about the
same
7.4/7.2% of BNP, so in total Denmark spends a bit less on education

doesn't say anything about quality


-Lasse

 

[[email protected]]

Do you think doctors and executives should be middle class, lower middle
class or poor?


No, if they can afford it, they pay for it.
If they can't afford it, then those that can afford it pay again.




So, do you think those than can afford it will pay more to cover
everyone, or, do you think everyone's health care quality will be lower?
Mikek

YES.

 

[josephkk]

The only ones talking about it being "free" are the detractors. The
insurance is paid for, the insurance pays for the health care.

I find it funny that while everyone is all up in arms over the
government doing something to deal with the lack of health care in the
US, the real problem is the rising cost of health care. But no one even
seems to notice the rising water pooling at their feet. Once it reaches
their ankles maybe they will notice.

If the government stays out of health care, in ten years it will be so
expensive that employers will no longer be able to pay the lion's share
of the costs. Years ago they started requiring employees to pay some of
the insurance premium and started raising the deductibles. A friend who
is a teacher was very upset a couple of years ago when she realized her
insurance had a $250 deductible. Imagine how she would feel if it were
$2500 like mine has been for some years now.

What will you do when your health care insurance is paid completely out
of your pocket? Maybe you'll just pay for health care out of your
pocket with no insurance? Yeah, right!

Rick

That brings up an interesting aside. A few years back i wanted some
restorative dentistry done and my insurance would not cover doing it right
(actually it would not even cover it reasonably; partial dentures are not
too bad for back teeth but they suck to do not work for front teeth). So
i, having sufficient income and savings paid about $18,000 out of pocket
for the work (implants). That is about half (or less) what would been
charged if insurance had covered it. The administrative paperwork driven
by Medicare, insurance, and like is the reason. Moreover many extra
services were provided (multiple osseous surgeries) and the deal was fixed
price.

I have read similar stories here.

YMMV

?-)

 

[josephkk]

Oh ya, I wish I would have opened the HSA when it first became
available. I have fully funded it the last three years. I'm over 55 so
I get to put in an extra $1,000 every year.
I like the concept of an HSA, the money is yours, I care how my money
is spent, that's why I shopped for the best price when I got an MRI.
If everyone was forced to spend some of there own money that alone
would drive prices lower.
Mikek

Very much to the point.

?-)

 

[josephkk]

BZZZZ! Nope, wrong again. If a doc gets caught charging less for
non-insured, or even charging the same as insured, he is violating the
terms of his 'contract' with the insurance companies, and they can
adjust THEIR rates down to a fraction of what he just charged the
non-insured.

If we weren't talking about insurance companies i would swear that kind of
business practice is illegal. It may actually be so, but just not
prosecuted because it would be futile.

 

[josephkk]

Again, that is not true. They have the same restriction with Medicare
and they get the lowest rate of anyone, by Medicare rules which in
effect are law. So do they charge all insurance companies the same,
no... They "negotiate", meaning accept, the rates that each insurance
company offers and they differ.

If you pay "cash", you aren't on the same terms as the insurance
companies or Medicare so they can charge less if they want, but they
never do because you have no leverage as an individual.

Supply and demand... For now the doctors have all the cards but that
will change once mandated insurance settles in and people get to see the
true impact of rising medical costs.

Discuse you, but just what part of hiding the costs more(!) is going to
make them more visible?????

THIMk!!

 

[Spehro Pefhany]

If we weren't talking about insurance companies i would swear that kind of
business practice is illegal. It may actually be so, but just not
prosecuted because it would be futile.

Maybe they learned how to do it from these guys:-

http://www.steptoe.com/assets/attachments/1071.pdf


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany

 

[josephkk]

What reality are you talking about? You would think they save money not
processing forms with the insurance company, but the doctors I have
worked with when I had no insurance would not match their charges to
what the insurance companies pay. In one case I knew what the insurance
company was paying and she would not match that, charging me $10 more
for a visit. I pointed out the advantage of paying cash at the visit
and she said she couldn't make a living off of that little! So why is
she taking the insurance customers? Because they have more bargaining
power!!!

And you did not "fire" that creep on the spot??????

Medical care has been commoditized by Medicare. Deal with it.

The last time I looked, Brittan wasn't broke. The point is that our ^^^^^^^
health care system doesn't provide health care to a large portion of the
population. Can you really say that is better than universal coverage
through mandated insurance?

BTW Gmail has a spell checker, could you learn to use it?

 

[Mr Stonebeach]

   And we have another government program that will be underfunded, we
will need to borrow more money from China. We will soon be borrowing
50 cents of every $1.00 that the government collects in taxes.

I read some time ago this:

------------------------ QUOTE --------------------------
OK, let’s ask the question: how much overseas financing does the
United States as a whole need?

The answer is that it’s determined by an accounting identity: capital
inflows = the current account deficit, a broad measure of the trade
balance including income on investments. (Trade can adjust to capital
flows instead of the other way around, but that’s a longer story).

So what has happened to the current account deficit as a share of GDP
in the Obama era? Um, it’s way down:

<A plot is shown in the original>

How is it possible that we’re borrowing much less from foreigners when
the government deficit has gone up so much? The answer is that the
private sector is deleveraging, having moved into massive surplus as
consumers try to pay down debt and corporations hold back on
investment in the face of weak consumer demand. All those government
deficits have only partly offset this move, so that overall national
borrowing from overseas is down, not up.

But what would happen if the private sector stopped deleveraging? The
answer is, we’d have a strong economic recovery, which would among
other things greatly reduce the budget deficit. A side implication of
this point, of course, is that for the time being that deficit is a
good thing, helping to support the economy while the private sector
unwinds its excessive leverage.

So who’s actually financing the US budget deficit? The US private
sector. We don’t need Chinese bond purchases, and if anything we’re
the ones with the power, since we don’t need their money and they have
a lot to lose. In fact, we don’t want them to buy our bonds; better to
have a weaker dollar (a point that the Japanese actually get.)

To make excuses for Portman, lots of people keep getting this wrong,
even after all these years. But really, truly, the last thing we need
to worry about is whether the Chinese love our bonds.
-------------------------- END QUOTE
--------------------------------------------

Its taken from http://tinyurl.com/8wnfl6g . Great if it's true.

Regards,
Mikko

 

[rickman]

That is a -9% difference, and seasonal changes are the norm.

Yes, in the summer they typically are up!

Rick