Sunday, July 19, 2009

Your Health Care Should be Yours - Not Up To Others

The "Affordable Care Act" Established That You Are A Commodity


Keep these things up front where you can remember them:

"Health insurance", as discussed today, is NOT "insurance", because every person will access the benefits.  

   In an insurance plan, some do NOT access benefits. This is actually socialized medicine. Be honest and enforce that term.
The entire purpose of "health insurance" is to pay doctors, not you. 

   Someone has to be paid to treat you, because nothing is free.
If you do not pay, you are not a customer, you are a commodity. 

   Things will be done by policy, not the way you desire. Are you a fan of socialism? This is what you endorse, because your wishes simply will not be considered, however much you believe Santa is real.
A policy is not treatment. 

   If you do not make the market favor health care providers, no one will treat you. Your policy, subsidized by government or not, will be worthless.

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Basic questions do not get asked as often or as loudly as they should:

  • Why should I ever pay for something I DO NOT RECEIVE?
  • Why should government - really "other people" - pay anything?
  • Do you recognize that all resources, government included, are limited?
  • Do you know what your insurer's current practices are, and their relationship with your doctor? How about with other doctors? What do they have to say about non-routine procedures? Prescription painkillers?
  • Why are thousands of people who have nothing to do with actually treating you involved? Why should you support this?
  • Why does the Explanation of Benefits - from an insurer - have dollar numbers on it that no one was paid?

This last thingis an artifact of the insurer's agreement: a doctor will provide services for less than a "list price" in return for guaranteed payment - as the system pays money obtained by force from taxpayers.

What?


Really? The doctor doesn't adjust his prices to deal with the overhead of hundreds of forms he has to submit, and the correspondence regarding his services? Extra people in the office and at the insurer's offices do their jobs for free?
Of course not.

So, people want government to step in?

Why? 

Aren't you really, seriously nuts, proposing that? You don't like what government is doing in the Middle East, you know public housing sucks...
The IRS is not your friend. Why would you even begin to think a Federal medical authority would be? Is it really that important for you to think that you GET something for "free"?

The Veteran's Administration has been proven to let veterans DIE to reduce their workload. THAT is a government-run healthcare system. Its administrators, just as is the case with health-care insurers, suffer no immediate penalty from withholding care.

Yet the Affordable Health Care Act has penalties in store for you if you get care other than by Federally approved means. Your health care plan cannot be better than Federal authorities decree unless you pay a surcharge.
Yes, you're sick; sorry, fill out the forms and wait. Wait some more. You've been promised that no one will be denied care. 

"I'm sorry, you'll have to wait," says the receptionist. "You're not being denied care, it just isn't available right now. Have you submitted your paperwork? Then, the system is working perfectly." Oh, you want to go somewhere else to get treated, because some bureaucrat has not got it through their thick head that disease does not wait? 
Sorry. You can't.

No.

So, you are sick. The clerk is not sick. You will do as you are told. Cry. Watch in the mirror as the disease eats you alive, as you wait for the permission of someone whose income will never be challenged and who states that the system is working perfectly because paperwork is filled out.
Oh, wait...
In addition, this monstrosity is set up so that not only initially, even after you are signed up for it, it will reset and CANCEL the arrangements you have made with your doctors.
Doctors and hospitals are charging more and closing locations because of the costs of the "Affordable" Care Act - and small businesses cannot extract enough value from your labor to cover you if you work full-time and are therefore mandated coverage. So full-time jobs have been lost by the million.

Oh, joy. Did you vote for this? It's what happens when the ignorant clamor for government to give them something for "free".

"Free" does not exist.

Did you notice that the Affordable Care Act supersedes medical decisions made in your presence? Not only can you NOT keep your doctor, you cannot even keep the treatment she prescribes unless it is approved by someone who has never seen you.
Perhaps you have been told, “your insurance will not cover that” when your doctor wants to do repeated analyses, like MRIs, X-rays or lab work for rapidly-changing conditions? There you go: the “system” will work against you. You were charged for your policy, given a deductible to prevent you from using policy money, and then denied service... maybe in such a way that it's difficult to pay out-of-pocket for uncovered items.

The President of the United States LIED about this Act. It was pushed into law by "public servant" Nancy Pelosi, who said, "We have to pass this law to see what's in it." Why would you even think about supporting it? Why aren't you thinking about jail time for Ms. Pelosi?

I have another proposal, which will still ensure medical professionals get paid, which must happen. Here's a message you may wish to send your Senators:

 

_______________________________________________________________________


Dear Senator:

I believe I have a model for health care which could revolutionize the industry, improve efficiency and make you the object of public admiration. Bold claim? Well, let's see.

We should set up a new "Medical VISA Card" to change the system to a CREDIT model - like this:

• This card would be issued by an existing Federal agency or contractor to every person attaining majority, or to the guardian of every person for whom one is appointed, upon their voluntary acceptance of a contract. Chipped, this card would establish positive ID for that person. I call this a VISA card just because that company has all the assets in place to do this already. The program could bear another name.

• The card would be usable ONLY for prescription medicine and for visits to licensed doctors and dentists.

• The card would enable the consolidation of medical records and practices into  "portable" form. Some states today insist that "your" medical records are the property of the attending physician, and some consider them to be yours. Neither of these views serve the public well, but with a secure chipped card, all records can be accessed with the card in a chip reader at registered office locations. This feature could allow vast improvements in the administration of opioids and psychotropic drugs by preventing or reducing hoarding and prescription fraud. Software can easily track the daily use of these drugs, exposing when usage exceeds the prescribed amount for a particular patient.

• Procedures designed to improve the accuracy and monitoring of diagnoses can be approved and paid for by the patient, on demand. There are many conditions where lab work and imaging can’t reasonably be restricted to one or two tries.

 • The card would have a "threshold". Reaching this number would trigger agency review and participation. The agency would take over treatment costs and decisions once they are beyond your capabilities. Think of a value determined by a person's assets - the method by which credit is responsibly extended today. This is not a number a person has to reach - it is the current value of assets as officially reported.

• The balance would be due from the holder to the "medical VISA" agency, exactly as bank and other credit cards are handled today.

• An interest rate on outstanding balances would be established to pay the direct cost of the program (overhead), and to support an investment fund to be used for catastrophic illness and disability of all participants in the program (benefits).

• Card holders could be shown instructions for getting medical attention, and encouraged to avoid using emergency rooms for routine care. Hospitals could issue the medical card (facial recognition software can prevent multiple, fraudulent accounts) to send patients to other clinics.

Medical VISA card holders could build a positive, interest-paying balance in their medical account, as this is portable medical insurance. It doesn't depend on where you work!
This feature will eliminate the impossible burden now placed on business owners by removing the hiring and hours thresholds for "insurance" coverage through work. That never made sense.
Bingo. More full-time employment.

• This system does not discriminate between individuals based on anything but their documented assets, and then, only to determine when the agency steps in. It doesn't care about citizenship or race. If you are a non-citizen, you would be positively identified by this card.
This relieves the nation of the medical burden of transients.
There will always be a percentage of the public who cannot pay for their medical care. This is a difficult situation, but until the system is self-financing, it cannot pay these charges. If you value health care programs as humanitarian and representative of the goodwill of the United States, funding MUST be established. Lying about this will do no one good.

• The card and contract is voluntary for those who wish to avoid identification and to make their own medical arrangements, in order to avoid identification and bureaucratic complications some may find intrusive and/or impermissible. These arrangements may be obliged to register upon first use of public funds for treatment, a reasonable protection against fraud.

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Make no mistake about the fundamental nature of this card: up to the "threshold" amount, the holder MUST pay. People simply won't be careful with other people's money. This is true, even if it is unpopular.

Current rhetoric insists on calling today's medical plans "insurance". It is not, because there is no one who will not receive benefits.
A credit model for the delivery of services makes more sense by far, immediately removing the opportunity some have taken to lie, to characterize health care as "free" - which is completely impossible.

Senator, people understand credit cards. It's time to re-establish and strengthen the patient-doctor relationship.

This will do that. Need treatment? See available doctors, check their reputation for service and prices. Get treatment. Hand the doctor your card. Pay the balance.  

If you find merit in this, feel free to add to or subtract from it and pass it on - because there is a truth you cannot escape or deny:

You will not get to say what happens unless you are the one paying.