Medicare For All ... Thanx to Senator Bernie Sanders
This posting will serve as Part 6 of the "Health Care Reform: another Form of Reform" series, with also another related series linked below called "Health Care SnoweJob". But what inspires this Part 6, is so many folks stories over the last couple years locally here in Texas that are having more problems than ever with insurance and health care ... and also because there is not enough coverage on this as far as mainstream news or politically ... again, unfortunately we are media saturated with this Confederate Flag rubbish which took up a couple weeks of political and media bitch- fighting before getting resolved ... and of course Donald Trump whining about Mexican's, who dont know a damn thing about working class Mexicans, immigration, assume (at least in speeches) many have criminal intentions for coming here ... or probably never even known any besides those with big money, the odd thing about many American millionaires/ billionaires, with several like Trump running in politics, is they use the services of illegal/ legal immigrants (Mexican or others, Trump himself at least admit's it, while other's wont) and even investing in ventures/ projects out of our country that is simply to get by on the "cheap" for workers to increase their profit's ... or in this case using it politically. Or other big news of some Presidential candidate hopefuls lying about each other instead of focusing hard on issues. I chose Senator Bernie Sanders above to open this posting, because there is probably no one in Washington who has fought for a more balanced and cost efficient health care system in this country than him ... and Thank Goodness that he is running for President, because talk about fixing this is rare on Capitalism Hill (aka Capitol Hill). But, we have a serious dilemma of catastrophic economic proportion growing in this country, and you simply cant have your cake and eat it, something/ someone has to give. And as usual I was expecting this to come in time as you can see throughout these series in this journal/ blog over the last 6 or 7 years or so. Some news links and video below that I found of interest, then I will add a part to it after.
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***** THE NEW YORK TIMES: HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES SEEK BIG RATE INCREASES FOR 2016 (newsread)
***** USA TODAY: DILEMMA OVER DEDUCTIBLES: COSTS CRIPPLING MIDDLE CLASS (newsread)
***** NBC NEWS: KID'S HEALTH CARE COSTS GROWING FASTER THAN GENERAL POPULATION'S (newsread/ video)
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The Hard Line| Paul Ketchel discusses the Supreme Court upholding Obamacare subsidies ... Thanx to NEWSMAX TV
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***** PD/ RCJ: HEALTH CARE REFORM: another "FORM" of "REFORM" PART'S 5 THRU 1
***** PD/ RCJ: "HEALTH CARE SNOWEjob" PART'S 11 THRU 1 ... (a related series)
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High- deductible health plans mean doctors want money up front ... Thanx to WCPO.COM| 9 ON YOUR SIDE
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Thomas Hudson Pickering (aka "Ranch Chimp" & "Commie Tommie") with other half (wife) Rosalie Recto Vinas (Pickering)
Anyone who reads this that does not know me personally, I will tell you straight up that I'm not a conspiracy theorist or panic type guy ... when I say this can be economically catastrophic, I really mean that ... looking at the basic math will show you that if something is NOT done about this, it will hit us like a brick to the head/ skull at some point. There are too many special interests here not planning or looking ahead, and it's not a conspiracy, but many for different reasons just acting out of extreme greed, financial panic, politics ... and not thinking. Even the "fraud" alone today from doctors to medical services providers to nurses in the US is enormous, and the largest of investigations and take- downs in U.S.Department of Justice history, which I linked below. Too much problem also is in politics of the left and right, you have now on the right a strong movement to repeal the ACA (aka ObamaCare), yet have NO alternative plans to solve any of this ... so it's just political inspired by some special interests, and eventually we are going to have a cash crash, either with providers/ companies first or the insured/ uninsured/ customers ... but both will take the hit in time. The design basically like so much else in this country is just to keep you in debt till death as a sort of investment, but cant work in the longrun. Those that want to just repeal ObamaCare/ ACA or cut the government subsidies and think it will solve problems are so wrong, why in Hell do you think the U.S.Supreme Court ruled to leave subsidies in place? ... they can see what will happen if you remove them, yet have a mandatory law in place to buy insurance, even though I am sure some of the right wing justices want to, those subsidies to the lower working classes are also needed revenues to providers, and those people with the new health care could NOT afford to even keep the mandatory insurance without help, especially with decreasing wages and under- employment with the costs of living overall. But even our declining middle classes which are a key part of the bread and butter of our economy are being squeezed even more than ever.
***** NBC NEWS (18 June 2015): FED'S CHARGE 243 PEOPLE FOR MEDICARE FRAUD
One guy I know (Tim), had to recently get some day surgery for a small growth in his nose, making it difficult to breathe through his nose, his insurance is mostly paid for by his employer, he pay's a small part of it, and he also had to change that after the ACA went into law, also pay more out of his paycheck to cover/ subsidize the employer costs of the new ACA, even though as an employee dont have ObamaCare ... but Tim had no problemo with that, what he did have a problem with was having to shop for doctors, I think one wanted $5000 up front and he settled for one that wanted $2500 up front just to get it done ... plus his out of pocket, deductible expenses, etc, those of which can get paid later ... but he had to withdraw money (also another fee) out of his 401K just to get in. Another gal I know Judy who's husband died in an accident, now has no insurance and she is under- employed since her husband made the larger household income, she has a knee problem that requires surgery, since her husband died she is no longer on his plan for some reason (I thought as a surviving spouse they should offer her something), I told her to get on the ObamaCare deal, because she has no insurance and because IF she dont, they will start to keep any tax refund she has and penalize/ fine her ... she knew nothing of this though. But Judy cant afford insurance on what she makes, or can even afford the out of pocket it would cost on what she makes, and she already went through everything her husband had saved. Another woman I know (Jane), who has 2 young children and gets no solid/ steady support from her "ex" just told me she prays that her or her kids dont get sick, because the insurance plan she did have to buy is all she could afford on her wages, and the out of pocket would "kill her" (in her own words), she worx 2 part time jobs. Another guy (Randy) who is a independent self- employed contractor in AC work (which of course is seasonal) with some fly- by- night "self employed" insurance plan he's never had to use yet, told me he dont give a shit about the law to buy insurance and if he gets on the spot and decides to drop what he has, let them fine him or whatever. Some I have talked to will just go to emergency rooms regardless considering the expenses of what they do have insurance wise. Those are just a few of what I heard, all single working class citizens, one with 2 young children, that pay all their own bills on modest incomes with no assistance, therefore like many other working class Americans, really dont even have much money saved in the bank (these dayz it is much harder for Americans to save any money, because they are nickel and dimed to death on everything else), having to take out of their 401K's or put on credit cards, etc. There are others I hear from such as neighbours that are contractors, or work for small companies, construction to carpentry workers, etc ... and there are millions upon millions more across America that are in the same boat.
I also suspect now that some are not getting the same equal care and out of pocket expenses as others that have ObamaCare ... the reason is because a few months back I was visiting my doctor getting an annual type basic check up deal, and while in the office overheard a couple employees in the same office debating on what to do with a patient that had ObamaCare as far as payments who was in the waiting area ... one telling the other to decline certain procedures and to charge a cash up front minimum to even get seen ... and Yes ... the question from one lady/ staff employee to the other was .... "what do we do with this patient? ... they have that ObamaCare", showing the ID card to the other, the one responding/ deciding was shaking her head, of course it wasnt my business, but I couldnt help to hear and see their reaction. I myself am fortunate to be on a large group plan through the company of my wife, but even on my insurance when these ACA changes went through, my original doctor who I really liked was removed from our plan and I had to get another primary care doctor. Many Americans who work for small businesses may not be on large group plans and have insurance policies that are really not very good, although they are required by law to have them, and many cant afford what they have, even many middle class will have their credit ratings destroyed due to medical debt. The whole medical care and insurance system in the U.S. is also so complicated with too many parts, co-pays, co- insurers, and enough to confuse the Hell out of most ... I mean ... you would damn near have to take a college course to understand it, or waste endless hours of time you dont have, as much as having to endlessly shop around when your sick or in need of surgery/ treatment.
The ACA (HHS.gov/HealthCare) has several advantages sure (only because our system was not much to begin with), such as certain paid screening's, which insurers want anywayz for preventive care, such as most car repair places will give you give free checks/ inspections to find what is wrong and fix it to get your business, especially having in law not being turned down for pre- existing conditions and having no annual spending cap, and America does have really great care for those who can afford it. But this doesnt mean that we are not in dire need of reform to the whole system still ... abolishing ObamaCare is just political and solves none of the issues ... we need to keep what we have and reform from there. I am one that supports the need for a single payer type system as Senator Bernie Sanders talks about, or as even President Obama tried to get through with his partial public option plan at first that lobbyists and politicians both left and right in Congress threw in the trash. The reason I was for President Obama's "20% public option", is because I REALIZE you cant just shut out the entire insurance/ medical/ pharmaceutical industries in America at this point in time, WITHOUT it having a disastrous effect on the American economy, only 20% would handle the lower income people (which is still a savings to the taxpayers and government over paying for emergency room services across the board), but insurance, pharmaceutical and medical services provider lobbyists, even though they would still have 80% of the market, complained that a 20% public option would put them out of business, which is false, if they are as great as they say they are and competitive as they claim, it was just greed on their part, because that 20% going to government, is 20% out of their profit's, which is in the billions annually. Even my daughter and her husband who are both RN's here in Dallas, as well as my sister-in-law and her husband who are also both RN's in Toronto (Canada), and a doctor of mine who all told me in past, that they agree that our health care expenses here in U.S. is way out of whack, and needs real change. This should be a priority focus of politicians from the President on down and pushed very hard by the voters in this country, or else our economy will suffer more severely in time ... not get better, because of our neglect to control some of this and fix what is clearly broken before it breaks us.
Word Out ....
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***** RANCH CHIMP JOURNAL "WELCOME" POST
***** RCJ MUSIC/ ART'S HONOUR ROLL SOCIETY (my hand- selected music/ arts picks)
***** RCJ/ THOMAS PICKERING: GOOGLE+ (video posts)
***** THE RESISTANCE/ PERIL'S OF THE POWER POSSE (inspiration for hope & change) ... to be viewed as a "profit- see", not a "prophecy".
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