Obama is telling people what they want to hear about health care, not what they need to know.
March 15, 2010
"What we need from the next president is somebody who will not just tell you what they think you want to hear but will tell you what you need to hear."—Barack Obama, Feb. 27, 2008
One job of presidents is to educate Americans about crucial national problems. On health care, Barack Obama has failed.
Almost everything you think you know about health care is probably wrong or, at least, half wrong. Great simplicities and distortions have been peddled in the name of achieving "universal health coverage." The miseducation has worsened as the debate approaches its climax.There's a parallel here: housing.
Most Americans favor homeownership, but uncritical pro-homeownership policies (lax lending standards, puny down payments, hefty housing subsidies) helped cause the financial crisis. The same thing is happening with health care.
The appeal of universal insurance—who, by the way, wants to be uninsured?—justifies half-truths and dubious policies. That the process is repeating itself suggests that our political leaders don't learn even from proximate calamities.How often, for example, have you heard the emergency-room argument? The uninsured, it's said, use emergency rooms for primary care. That's expensive and ineffective. Once they're insured, they'll have regular doctors. Care will improve; costs will decline. Everyone wins. Great argument.
Unfortunately, it's untrue.A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population. After Massachusetts adopted universal insurance, emergency-room use remained higher than the national average, an Urban Institute study found. More than two-fifths of visits represented non-emergencies. Of those, a majority of adult respondents to a survey said it was "more convenient" to go to the emergency room or they couldn't "get [a doctor's] appointment as soon as needed." If universal coverage makes appointments harder to get, emergency-room use may increase.
You probably think that insuring the uninsured will dramatically improve the nation's health. The uninsured don't get care or don't get it soon enough. With insurance, they won't be shortchanged; they'll be healthier. Simple.Think again. I've written before that expanding health insurance would result, at best, in modest health gains. Studies of insurance's effects on health are hard to perform. Some find benefits; others don't. Medicare's introduction in 1966 produced no reduction in mortality; some studies of extensions of Medicaid for children didn't find gains. In the Atlantic recently, economics writer Megan McArdle examined the literature and emerged skeptical. Claims that the uninsured suffer tens of thousands of premature deaths are "open to question."
Conceivably, the "lack of health insurance has no more impact on your health than lack of flood insurance," she writes.How could this be? No one knows, but possible explanations include: (a) many uninsured are fairly healthy—about two-fifths are age 18 to 34; (b) some are too sick to be helped or have problems rooted in personal behaviors—smoking, diet, drinking or drug abuse; and (c) the uninsured already receive 50 to 70 percent of the care of the insured from hospitals, clinics and doctors, estimates the Congressional Budget Office.Though it seems compelling, covering the uninsured is not the health-care system's major problem. The big problem is uncontrolled spending, which prices people out of the market and burdens government budgets. Obama claims his proposal checks spending. Just the opposite. When people get insurance, they use more health services. Spending rises. By the government's latest forecast, health spending goes from 17 percent of the economy in 2009 to 19 percent in 2019. Health "reform" would probably increase that.Unless we change the fee-for-service system, costs will remain hard to control because providers are paid more for doing more. Obama might have attempted that by proposing health-care vouchers (limited amounts to be spent on insurance), which would force a restructuring of delivery systems to compete on quality and cost. Doctors, hospitals and drug companies would have to reorganize care. Obama refrained from that fight and instead cast insurance companies as the villains.
He's telling people what they want to hear, not what they need to know. Whatever their sins, insurers are mainly intermediaries; they pass along the costs of the delivery system. In 2009, the largest 14 insurers had profits of roughly $9 billion; that approached 0.4 percent of total health spending of $2.472 trillion. This hardly explains high health costs. What people need to know is that Obama's plan evades health care's major problems and would worsen the budget outlook. It's a big new spending program when government hasn't paid for the spending programs it already has."If not now, when? If not us, who?" Obama asks. The answer is: It's not now, and it's not "us." Pass or not, Obama's proposal is the illusion of "reform," not the real thing.
Author: Robert Samuelson
Found in Newsweek
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Health Care. Show all posts
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, November 6, 2009
Exciting News for Diabetics
Hey, I’ve got exciting news for any of you who might have diabetes. Ameriplan now has a new diabetic plan available for members that saves an average of 50% off your diabetic supplies. We ship your glucose meter, test strips, lancets, lancing device, control solution, battery, and carrying case to your door for free.
With this diabetic plan you will never run out of supplies, and you will save hundreds of dollars on your supplies every year. If you have been a member with Ameriplan for very long now, you are familiar with how easy it is to work with, but you may not realize that this is an option that is available to you. Just like the rest of the services that we provide, there are no prequalification’s so everybody is accepted.
If you are already a member and want information on how to get this coming to you call me at (256)679-0853. If you are not a member and are interested in becoming one you can reach me at the same number.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
With this diabetic plan you will never run out of supplies, and you will save hundreds of dollars on your supplies every year. If you have been a member with Ameriplan for very long now, you are familiar with how easy it is to work with, but you may not realize that this is an option that is available to you. Just like the rest of the services that we provide, there are no prequalification’s so everybody is accepted.
If you are already a member and want information on how to get this coming to you call me at (256)679-0853. If you are not a member and are interested in becoming one you can reach me at the same number.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Problems I see with Promises of Universal Health Care
You know, it always amazes me the promises that politicians make when they are campaigning. I’ll sit there and think do they really think that anybody believes this garbage? I mean, much of it defies common sense. The only thing that really amazes me more than the fact that they seem to think we’re stupid enough to swallow their fairy tales is the number of people that do end up believing every word of it.
During campaigns of the past we’ve been told that everybody in the US was going to be provided with health coverage, no matter your health status. And where yes, where this was going to add billions of people who’s health cost would be added to the government burden, it wasn’t going to cost the average American anything. There would be no hike in taxes except on the top 1% and everything was just going to be great. Oh yeah, and although the service was FREE there would be no rationing. Sure it hasn’t ever worked that way for any other country but we’re going to be different.
Now, they are finally trying to push this “promised” bill through and we start seeing this for what it really is. We see that they are proposing two things.
First, every American will be forced to own Insurance or will be fined a large amount of money at the end of the year when you do your taxes. It really won’t matter if you only make $500 a week and your monthly bills run right at $2,000 a month. If you don’t get that $300-$800 a month insurance policy you will be fined several thousand at the end of the year. (I guess they did refrain from calling it a tax hike, but it sure sounds like one to me.)
The Second thing that we’re looking at is something that will be needed for Universal Health Care, although again I’ll remind you that we were promised it wouldn’t be needed. But somehow people believed the promise of no extra taxation. This was all going to be FREE. But they are saying that the only way this will supposedly work is extreme tax hikes for two years up front, before the system starts. Then within five years the goal is to have everybody on this system.
Now, as I mentioned in another earlier article, I’ve sold insurance before. Yes, it is true that I didn’t work in the corporate offices, but I would like to believe that I am aware of some things in the workings of insurance that some may not be aware of. These things are some of the reasons even beyond just common sense that tell me that Free Health Coverage even by the government without any extra taxes is just not going to be possible.
Let me tell you some cold hard facts. The cost of health care, notice I didn’t say Health Insurance, but health care costs go up right at about 20% a year on average. That is fact one. Fact two, even with the extremely high cost of health insurance, and the fact that they will only insure healthy individuals, they really only make a profit off of 3% of those premiums. Can you imagine how high the premiums would be if they took anybody, regardless of health?
But here is my point. The government is always talking about health care reform. Really all they want to reform is the insurance side of the matter which honestly is not where the problem is even at. Consider for a minute if the government decides to take control of providing your insurance needs. If profit is taken completely out of the picture, cost would only go down 3%, and that’s if the unhealthy were still not covered. When you figure them in it prices will go way higher than now. But even if that were not true, what about the fact that health care cost still goes up an average of 20% a year. That tells me that not only will there be a substantial tax hike starting two years before we get the benefits but the government is going to need to increase the money coming in to pay for these benefits at least about 20% a year.
In conclusion, there are things that could improve the cost of health care in America. But the problem is not on the insurance side of the issue. The problem is with the actual health care cost going up every year and this is being caused by trial lawyers who encourage people to sue providers for every imagined wrong. I can see going after a doctor for blatant malpractice, but when he/she is trying their best, but the result isn’t what is wanted, we need to remember that they are called doctor, not God.
Of course when lawmakers are asked to do something about this problem they refuse. Why, I don’t know. But I wouldn’t doubt that a look at where some of their campaign contributions come from might not give interesting results.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
During campaigns of the past we’ve been told that everybody in the US was going to be provided with health coverage, no matter your health status. And where yes, where this was going to add billions of people who’s health cost would be added to the government burden, it wasn’t going to cost the average American anything. There would be no hike in taxes except on the top 1% and everything was just going to be great. Oh yeah, and although the service was FREE there would be no rationing. Sure it hasn’t ever worked that way for any other country but we’re going to be different.
Now, they are finally trying to push this “promised” bill through and we start seeing this for what it really is. We see that they are proposing two things.
First, every American will be forced to own Insurance or will be fined a large amount of money at the end of the year when you do your taxes. It really won’t matter if you only make $500 a week and your monthly bills run right at $2,000 a month. If you don’t get that $300-$800 a month insurance policy you will be fined several thousand at the end of the year. (I guess they did refrain from calling it a tax hike, but it sure sounds like one to me.)
The Second thing that we’re looking at is something that will be needed for Universal Health Care, although again I’ll remind you that we were promised it wouldn’t be needed. But somehow people believed the promise of no extra taxation. This was all going to be FREE. But they are saying that the only way this will supposedly work is extreme tax hikes for two years up front, before the system starts. Then within five years the goal is to have everybody on this system.
Now, as I mentioned in another earlier article, I’ve sold insurance before. Yes, it is true that I didn’t work in the corporate offices, but I would like to believe that I am aware of some things in the workings of insurance that some may not be aware of. These things are some of the reasons even beyond just common sense that tell me that Free Health Coverage even by the government without any extra taxes is just not going to be possible.
Let me tell you some cold hard facts. The cost of health care, notice I didn’t say Health Insurance, but health care costs go up right at about 20% a year on average. That is fact one. Fact two, even with the extremely high cost of health insurance, and the fact that they will only insure healthy individuals, they really only make a profit off of 3% of those premiums. Can you imagine how high the premiums would be if they took anybody, regardless of health?
But here is my point. The government is always talking about health care reform. Really all they want to reform is the insurance side of the matter which honestly is not where the problem is even at. Consider for a minute if the government decides to take control of providing your insurance needs. If profit is taken completely out of the picture, cost would only go down 3%, and that’s if the unhealthy were still not covered. When you figure them in it prices will go way higher than now. But even if that were not true, what about the fact that health care cost still goes up an average of 20% a year. That tells me that not only will there be a substantial tax hike starting two years before we get the benefits but the government is going to need to increase the money coming in to pay for these benefits at least about 20% a year.
In conclusion, there are things that could improve the cost of health care in America. But the problem is not on the insurance side of the issue. The problem is with the actual health care cost going up every year and this is being caused by trial lawyers who encourage people to sue providers for every imagined wrong. I can see going after a doctor for blatant malpractice, but when he/she is trying their best, but the result isn’t what is wanted, we need to remember that they are called doctor, not God.
Of course when lawmakers are asked to do something about this problem they refuse. Why, I don’t know. But I wouldn’t doubt that a look at where some of their campaign contributions come from might not give interesting results.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
A Comparison of Health Insurance to Health Discount Benefits
I would like to say first off that I am a big believer in Insurance. I've been licensed by the state I live in to sell Life and Health and have been an agent for two different very large Insurance Companies. I could mention the names of these companies and everybody reading this would recognize them but for legal reasons I'll leave that off.
Having sold Insurance I have not only heard the horror stories but have also met the people that they have happened to. So as I said before, I am a big believer in Insurance.
My reason for writing this article today is that many people have no idea that there is an alternative or if they are aware of it they don’t really know any details about it or if it compares favorably to health insurance.
The name of this alternative is Health Discount Benefits and today I am going to compare it to Health Insurance side by side so that others can make an educated decision.
First off when you start shopping for Health Insurance you will find that the prices tend to range anywhere from $300 to $800 a month. The price depends some on the company but mostly it is determined by the size of your Deductible, the percentage paid after the deductible has been met, and the max out of pocket per year before the insurance pay’s the balance of the bill. There are also other factors you might want to check such as is maternity covered (this usually adds about $100 $120 a month) or even if some illnesses like cancer are covered. You wouldn’t think this would be an issue but you might be surprised.
Let’s say you decide on a lower priced policy costing around $300 a month. This will have probably at least a $5,000 deductible with you paying 20% to 50% until the Maximum out of pocket has been met. At that point the insurance will pay everything left.
Now before you are covered you have to underwritten. The job of the underwriters is to determine what the chances are that you will actually have to use this policy. Really you might think of insurance as a gamble which you are betting that you will use it and the insurance company is betting that you won’t. Let’s face it, most healthy individuals aren’t going to experience any catastrophic illnesses until after age 65 at which time you are covered by Medicare instead of the Insurance company. There is a chance of a serious accident which is why there is a whole section on the applications about dangerous hobbies and traffic citations. Basically if you are not in good health or they can see reason to believe that you are likely to have a serious accident they will not underwrite the policy or they limit coverage on that policy to not include certain cases.
Don't get me wrong, I know that this sounds very criticle toward the health insurance industry. Even though I sell the competing product, I've got to in all fairness mention that even with these precautions, most health insurance companies only make a profit off about 3% of the premiums. So really they have to work this way in order to stay in business. And let's face it, if there were no profits, there wouldn't be anybody offering the service.
Let’s say though that you are underwritten and that you have an accident the very first year of coverage. At $300 a month your out of pocket cost that year before the insurance kicks in is $3,600 for the premiums plus $5,000 deductible for a total of $8,600. At this point you will only have to pay the 20% to 50% until the maximum out of pocket is paid.
Now what about the Health Discount Benefits. This is a industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. There are several companies providing this benefit, but I know personally about one called Ameriplan which is the largest company providing this benefit so I will use their premiums for examples.
With this benefit you get coverage on Physician Care, Hospital Advocacy, Dental, Vision, Chiropractic, and Prescription. These benefits literally cover everything even procedures that are considered cosmetic. The Vision plan even covers designer sunglasses and Lasic Eye Surgery. And the price for this plan is $39.95 a month.
The reason that this plan is so affordable is that Ameriplan doesn't have to pay medical cost for the members. Basically, in return for providers agreeing to give these discounts to Ameriplan's members, they are sent patients that they would not have had otherwise. This in turn saves them the cost of having to run expensive ads advertising their services.
As far as underwriting goes there isn’t any. This is guaranteed issue. It covers all preexisting conditions, and there isn’t any waiting period. Since is it a Discount Plan, there isn’t any Deductible and you get discounts up to 80%.
Say you have to go to the hospital, the first year. Your out of pocket cost before you get any benefit is $479.40. The amount owed to the hospital is determined by ability to pay. I’ve found where some people haven’t had to pay anything and others had to pay $1,300 out of a $47,000 hospital bill. You might look here for testimonials of individuals who have used this plan.
So I hope this helps. I personally use the Health Discount Plan. $300 to $800 a month is just more than I really want to pay but at the same time I know that I do need coverage in case of something unexpected happening. If your not covered or you are wondering how you are going to afford the coverage that you currently have, I would encourage you to consider Health Discount Benefits.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
Having sold Insurance I have not only heard the horror stories but have also met the people that they have happened to. So as I said before, I am a big believer in Insurance.
My reason for writing this article today is that many people have no idea that there is an alternative or if they are aware of it they don’t really know any details about it or if it compares favorably to health insurance.
The name of this alternative is Health Discount Benefits and today I am going to compare it to Health Insurance side by side so that others can make an educated decision.
First off when you start shopping for Health Insurance you will find that the prices tend to range anywhere from $300 to $800 a month. The price depends some on the company but mostly it is determined by the size of your Deductible, the percentage paid after the deductible has been met, and the max out of pocket per year before the insurance pay’s the balance of the bill. There are also other factors you might want to check such as is maternity covered (this usually adds about $100 $120 a month) or even if some illnesses like cancer are covered. You wouldn’t think this would be an issue but you might be surprised.
Let’s say you decide on a lower priced policy costing around $300 a month. This will have probably at least a $5,000 deductible with you paying 20% to 50% until the Maximum out of pocket has been met. At that point the insurance will pay everything left.
Now before you are covered you have to underwritten. The job of the underwriters is to determine what the chances are that you will actually have to use this policy. Really you might think of insurance as a gamble which you are betting that you will use it and the insurance company is betting that you won’t. Let’s face it, most healthy individuals aren’t going to experience any catastrophic illnesses until after age 65 at which time you are covered by Medicare instead of the Insurance company. There is a chance of a serious accident which is why there is a whole section on the applications about dangerous hobbies and traffic citations. Basically if you are not in good health or they can see reason to believe that you are likely to have a serious accident they will not underwrite the policy or they limit coverage on that policy to not include certain cases.
Don't get me wrong, I know that this sounds very criticle toward the health insurance industry. Even though I sell the competing product, I've got to in all fairness mention that even with these precautions, most health insurance companies only make a profit off about 3% of the premiums. So really they have to work this way in order to stay in business. And let's face it, if there were no profits, there wouldn't be anybody offering the service.
Let’s say though that you are underwritten and that you have an accident the very first year of coverage. At $300 a month your out of pocket cost that year before the insurance kicks in is $3,600 for the premiums plus $5,000 deductible for a total of $8,600. At this point you will only have to pay the 20% to 50% until the maximum out of pocket is paid.
Now what about the Health Discount Benefits. This is a industry that is growing by leaps and bounds. There are several companies providing this benefit, but I know personally about one called Ameriplan which is the largest company providing this benefit so I will use their premiums for examples.
With this benefit you get coverage on Physician Care, Hospital Advocacy, Dental, Vision, Chiropractic, and Prescription. These benefits literally cover everything even procedures that are considered cosmetic. The Vision plan even covers designer sunglasses and Lasic Eye Surgery. And the price for this plan is $39.95 a month.
The reason that this plan is so affordable is that Ameriplan doesn't have to pay medical cost for the members. Basically, in return for providers agreeing to give these discounts to Ameriplan's members, they are sent patients that they would not have had otherwise. This in turn saves them the cost of having to run expensive ads advertising their services.
As far as underwriting goes there isn’t any. This is guaranteed issue. It covers all preexisting conditions, and there isn’t any waiting period. Since is it a Discount Plan, there isn’t any Deductible and you get discounts up to 80%.
Say you have to go to the hospital, the first year. Your out of pocket cost before you get any benefit is $479.40. The amount owed to the hospital is determined by ability to pay. I’ve found where some people haven’t had to pay anything and others had to pay $1,300 out of a $47,000 hospital bill. You might look here for testimonials of individuals who have used this plan.
So I hope this helps. I personally use the Health Discount Plan. $300 to $800 a month is just more than I really want to pay but at the same time I know that I do need coverage in case of something unexpected happening. If your not covered or you are wondering how you are going to afford the coverage that you currently have, I would encourage you to consider Health Discount Benefits.
http://www.hartlinefinancial.com/
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