explain (in the most unbiased opinion you can) how the different healthcare plans work?
second_chance.love asked:
like if obama wins, and everyone gets a health care plan, does that mean that the taxpayers of america will pay for people with self induced illnesses due to smoking or drugs? and if mccain wins, will we pay as needed, but that restricts poorer people from getting the healthcare they deserve??
ALSO: what’s the deal with preexisting illnessess?
like if obama wins, and everyone gets a health care plan, does that mean that the taxpayers of america will pay for people with self induced illnesses due to smoking or drugs? and if mccain wins, will we pay as needed, but that restricts poorer people from getting the healthcare they deserve??
ALSO: what’s the deal with preexisting illnessess?
January 31st, 2009 at 6:09 am
I don’t think that can be explained here now…The changes in how we handle healthcare are going to take a whole lot of work and revision before we know..
February 1st, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Okay, the big thing being pushed for right now is universal healthcare. They already have this sort of healthcare all throughout Europe, prime example being United Kingdom.
Though, yes, everyone gets healthcare, that doesn’t mean that everyone is going to get health care SERVICES.
If we have universal healthcare, then the government gets to decide what operations we can have. If you’re 80 years old, and you need knee replacement surgery, there’s a good chance that you will not get it because the government doesn’t want to pay for someone who is near the end of their life to get their knee fixed.
And even if the government decides to let you have a surgery done, you get put on a waiting list. I saw a documentary on Discovery Health one time about a woman with MS in the UK. (The show wasn’t about universal healthcare, it was really about MS.) She had to get treatment for the disease, but she was put on a nine month long waiting list even though she wasn’t in good condition. Some random things happened to others on the waiting list, and she suddenly got bumped up to only having to wait one month for treatment, but most aren’t so lucky.
So basically, a middle class working person who needs a surgery done is going to have to pay for the healthcare of people who are not working, and have to wait for them to have their needs taken care of before he gets his taken care of.
As far as the tobacco thing goes, the government is going to try and justify treatment because tobacco products have higher government induced taxes. But I don’t see where that money is going, now do I?
I’d just see the money deduction from my paycheck.
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:50 am
I have a full time job and I am uninsured because I have a pre existing illness (musculo-skeletal and neurological disorder, no not obesity and drug addiction, there ARE many people with real health issues that are of no fault of their own). I will break down for you what this means.
This means I had medical problems when trying to apply for insurance. You must be honest about these problems up front or else when you try to use the insurance for such matters they will not cover it on the basis that you lied, assuming they even cover the type of service at all. I couldn’t have lied anyway because they can look up my medical records and see the numerous times I’ve been to the hospital and doctor’s offices within the past few years.
In short, I am considered a bad risk for the insurance companies to cover me. This means that they would make less of a profit off of me because I would actually be USING the insurance often and not just paying my monthly bill IN CASE something happens in the future. This is the way the system is designed.
I’m sorry for the long post, but it requires alot of explaining, so bear with me and I’ll try my best to summarize.
MCCAIN’S PLAN
The only current way for people with pre existing conditions to get insurance now is if they are lucky enough to have an employer that provides medical benefits (which has drastically reduced over the years). John McCain, however, wants to RAISE taxes on the benefits of employees who receive them at work, which would encourage the employer to drop the coverage.
Instead he wants to offer $2500 for individuals and $5000 for families to purchase insurance on their own. He also wants to increase the playing field for insurance companies by allowing state based plans to be offered through out the country.
His strategy of marketizing health insurance was the same strategy used with our banking and financial system. It is under the belief that having no government interference or regulation on these companies and increasing competition will force the price down as they compete for more consumers. This is only an assumption that the price might come down, they wouldn’t be forced to change anything about the way they operate.
The PROS of McCain’s plan: when employers don’t have to worry about providing benefits or being penalized for not providing, they can pay their employers more. (They CAN, but that doesn’t mean they will. Though I’ll go ahead and assume they will, so its a plus)
The CONS:
What if people don’t pay enough in taxes? I work full time and never pay more than $1000. I would not qualify for his rebate. What if people lose their job and spend months out of work? They wouldn’t qualify for the rebate that year either. Assuming these rebates are an annual thing, I’m still not clear on that.
Also…
He doesn’t address the corruption of the way the insurance companies do business by not accepting those who need care (pre existing illness).
By having an exclusion list that is longer than the list of services they DO provide. The way they raise premiums on people who have an accident or need insurance (their “risk” went up, therefore their price goes up).
Even for those healthy enough to gain coverage in the individual insurance market, the screening, marketing and individual underwriting that insurers do to separate healthy from sick boosts premiums by 17% relative to employer-provided insurance, well beyond the help offered by the McCain tax credit. And that doesn’t include the co pays or out of pocket expenses they won’t cover at all.
Or the long waiting periods when you process an insurance claim. My Uncle has been waiting for a YEAR for his insurance company to decide whether or not to cover a treatment his doctor ALREADY approved.
McCain also approves of a government funded “Guaranteed Access Plan” where uninsured can go to get care but I doubt this plan will be a success. McCain doesn’t like to fund social services just like George Bush. I’ve already been to under-funded public clinics, all they do is give you a pain reliever.
Plus with all these tax cuts he is offering where would the money even come from to fund this plan when he already wants to fund a war and Bush has already put us more into debt by bailing out all the failed financial industries. Not being biased here, but seriously, where would the money come from?
OBAMA’s PLAN
It’s really hard to explain Obama’s plan because it involves so many new changes and plans so I’ll try to sum it up and you can always go read more about it on his website.
First of all, Obama is not calling for Universal Healthcare. If anything, his plan is more similar to Switzerlands, not Canada’s or France’s or the UK. (Although we spend 40% MORE than all of these mentioned countries on health care)
He wants to enact a National Plan, that you can or can not choose to apply for and are ensured guaranteed access. He will also be keeping in tact private and employer