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Chris gives a succinct definition of the real problem with health care in our country.

Big Al
February 15, 2017

We ask the question, “Is the real problem with health care in the United States universal coverage or is it the astronomical costs associated with the issue?”

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Discussion
26 Comments
    CFS
    Feb 15, 2017 15:50 AM

    Trump Administration Ushers In Changes To Obama Health Law
    By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and TOM MURPHY – Associated Press – 39 minutes ago
    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration took steps Wednesday intended to help calm jittery insurance companies and make tax compliance with former President Barack Obama’s health law less burdensome for some people.

    The moves announced separately by the Health and Human Services Department and the IRS don’t amount to sweeping changes to the Affordable Care Act. That would fall to Congress, where Republicans are struggling to reach consensus over how to deliver on their promise to repeal and replace the health law.

    But the administration’s actions do signal a change in direction.

    For consumers, the proposed HHS rules mean tighter scrutiny of anyone trying to sign up for coverage outside of open enrollment by claiming a “special enrollment period” due to a change in life circumstances such as the birth of a child, marriage, or the loss of job-based insurance. Also, sign-up season will be 45 days, down from the current three months.

    For insurers, the curbs on special enrollment periods are a big item. The industry claimed that some consumers were abusing special enrollment by signing up when they needed expensive treatments, only to drop out later.

    Insurers also would gain more flexibility to design low-cost coverage tailored to younger people. In another move aimed at consumers who move in and out of coverage, insurers would be able to collect back premiums from customers who had stopped paying, then tried to sign up again for another year.

      Feb 15, 2017 15:01 AM

      the last paragraph is stupid……..If, a person can not afford to pay the high premiums for a given month, or over an extended time….they are not going to be able to pay back premiums in the arrears and the additional current payment….These guys are in dream land, ..Oh, I forgot……THEY GET THEIR COVERAGE FREE, and HAVE DELUXE PLANS at taxpayer expense.

        Feb 15, 2017 15:02 AM

        TERM LIMITS…..

        CFS
        Feb 15, 2017 15:08 AM

        Draining the Swamp?
        I don’t see it.

          Feb 15, 2017 15:11 AM

          Going to take more awareness……the majority still have not figured it out…..

          Feb 15, 2017 15:12 AM

          Draining the swamp…..maybe there is more than one swamp… 🙂

          CFS
          Feb 15, 2017 15:16 AM

          And thinking of draining…..
          The Oroville level is down twenty feet from the emergency spill height as they drain the reservoir billions of gallons per hour from the second biggest reservoir by total volume after Lake Mead, but water companies are warning that rates will have to go up because they are losing all this water! With rain forecast for tonight for two days and then yet another storm coming on Tuesday of next week, that is the least of their worries!

            Feb 15, 2017 15:23 AM

            They have known since 2005 the dam had problems…….the water company should have had a reserve fund…..no excuses……….

    Feb 15, 2017 15:57 AM

    I think Chris has a very good understanding of the problems in the healthcare industry. The answer isn’t simply to make sure everyone owns an insurance policy. That’s good for insurance companies and hospital’s bottom lines. However, as history shows, the lower segment of the population still ends up in debt/bankruptcy without controlling costs.
    Medicare, for all its faults, still does a fair job of controlling costs, by paying a certain fee for the service. That’s why Doctors and hospitals would rather not deal with it. It could be even better if they had the right to negotiate drug prices. I believe we also could improve the drug expense by eliminating the advertising. That would have a secondary benefit by making TV a bit more enjoyable! Smile!

    Feb 15, 2017 15:06 AM

    Off topic: This is the kind of action that we might see for GDX:

    http://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=GDX&p=D&yr=1&mn=0&dy=13&id=p68717200019&a=506879875

    Feb 15, 2017 15:18 AM

    NSA………..Howard is named…..Lockheed will now get some additional contracts, I think Warren Buffitt knew something…I think he added to the airlines……..just WAG

    PF
    Feb 15, 2017 15:49 AM

    The real problem with healthcare in the USA is that more than 2/3rds of the population is overweight or obese. Get the population to slim down and the healthcare costs are guaranteed to go down.

      Feb 15, 2017 15:41 PM

      No, let people pay for their own care and the costs are guaranteed to go down. Besides, how do you get them to slim down? Twinkie tax? Gubmint skool grads love THAT sort of thing – anything that increases revenues.

      GH
      Feb 15, 2017 15:43 PM

      SAD — the Standard American Diet

      Processed trash and frankenfood.

      PF
      Feb 16, 2017 16:05 AM

      The point is that high and rising healthcare costs is the fault of the American people. Don’t blame the drug makers or the doctors or the insurance companies or Obamacare. Americans should literally take a look in the mirror and blame themselves.

        GH
        Feb 16, 2017 16:03 PM

        It’s more complex than that, PF.

        I agree that personal responsibility for one’s own health is paramount.

        But we have hucksters, snake oil salesmen, and monopolists galore that are taking advantage of peoples’ ignorance and destroying their health in order to fill their own pockets. And they own politicians.

    GH
    Feb 15, 2017 15:55 PM

    I believe the healthcare cartel in the US was designed by some of the same parties that created the money cartel. These were people who thought in terms of monopolizing the basic necessities of life, and the strategic sectors of society.

    There is so much wrong with the system in the US it’s hard to know where to start.

    It’s a price gouging scheme, and all Obamacare does is try to coerce us all into participating.

    Doctors are mis-educated, with emphasis on heroic intervention that maximizes profit rather than optimizing health. Most don’t even study nutrition, for crying out loud. Thankfully many of them break out of that paradigm, but the vast majority do not.

    A few examples of treatments that put profit over health.

    UTIs are commonly treated with antibiotics, which damage the healthy flora of the body as well as the bad, making one more vulnerable to future infection. This is a downward spiral for many, leading to more UTIs and more serious problems. Meanwhile, D-Mannose is very effective at fixing UTIs without any negative side effects. Cheaper, more effective, damaging, and much less profitable for the medical cartel.

    Osteoporosis. MDs like to prescribe things like Fosamax or Boniva, or whatever their latest versions are called, that increase bone density by disabling the cells that clean out old bone (osteoclasts). So all they do is game the bone density measurements rather than fixing the problem. What are the long term health effects of taking these drugs? We’ll probably find out eventually, but it isn’t likely to be good. Meanwhile, it’s known that a large portion of Americans are deficient in various nutrients necessary for building healthy bone, like vitamins D3 & K2, and magnesium. How many people who are diagnosed with osteoporosis are told this, or tested? The same nutrient issues are involved in osteoarthritis too, as the one issue is not getting enough calcium where it should be and the other is too much calcium where it shouldn’t be.

    (disclaimer — I’m not a doctor, I just know a little bit — do your own due diligence)

    Statins for cholesterol, when cholesterol isn’t even the root of the problem?

    The vast spending on dentistry, when Weston Price demonstrated almost a century ago that properly nourished people have virtually no tooth problems?

    Dentists still putting mercury in our mouths, and MDs keeping mum about this crime?

    The insane regimen of vaccines for small children, with additives like mercury and aluminum?

    And on and on and on. Most professionals in the system are unknowing and well-meaning, I imagine (though many know to steer clear of many of the nostrums offered up by their profession). But not at the top. These people have killed and tortured more than the Nazis did, just in a more subtle way.

    Obviously there is plenty that is good about modern medicine. When it comes to treating traumatic injury it’s nothing short of amazing. But it does not focus on optimizing health, and it bleeds us dry financially. We could have vastly better health as a society, at a fraction of the cost.

    Socialized medicine is a scam, because the same cartel that profits by price gouging us all also keeps us locked into poor health. In a socialized system, even if you make the effort to learn how to stay healthy and take the responsibility to emphasize prevention rather than cure, you still get to pay for all those who don’t. And let’s be clear–most health problems today are due to lifestyle.

    As with most problems in the USA today, the key is to smash the cartels and clean out the parasites.

    Health–the absolute best investment you can make.

      Feb 15, 2017 15:02 PM

      Here, Here!

    Feb 16, 2017 16:23 AM

    Something to consider for healthcare. Listen to this gentleman’s idea. http://www.davejanda.com/guests/dr-john-blanchard/sunday-february-12-2017