Comments on: 46 Million Uninsured Americans

By: Dione Hayes

Dione Hayes — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:31:17 +0000

Regarding your article right out of the Democrats play book.

1. “The US pays significantly more for health care products and services than comparable developed countries”.
The Physicians, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies are forced to pay onerous premiums for liability insurance. Torte reform and deregulation is a critical part of the solution that this administration does not want to address. Socialized medicine in other parts of the world can not be sued for malpractice.

2. “Yet the quality of service and patient outcomes hardly reflect the difference is pricing”.
You’ve got to be kidding! We have the best health care system in the world. Americans are not crossing the border to get treatment in Canada. The wealthy and powerful from foreign nations come to the US for treatment.

3. “The US trails the developed world in life span, infant mortality and medical mishaps”.
An article came out stating we trail in life span because they include murders in the count. I will agree the US is the murder capitol of the world. You forgot to mention we have the highest number of cancer survivors.

4. “46 million US residents lack health insurance”.
21% of the 46 million are illegal aliens.
17 million of the 46 million earn over $50,000 or more per year. 7 million of those earn over $75,000 per year. They do not have insurance by choice.
Only 19 million go without insurance for a full year.
Also there is a large contingency of citizens that are eligible for some Federal program like Medicare or Medicaid.

By: Durand C. Waters

Durand C. Waters — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 01:49:24 +0000

Just to let you all know that income redistribution is alive and well in MediCare for those of us who have paid our way all their adult lives and have saved outside of Social Security to the point that their “investments (even “tax free” municipal bonds) are costing my spouse (a non-union public school teacher who only has 26 SS quarters and still has $192.70 a month deducted from our checking account, as I do from my SSA). So we are paying $4,624.80 in MediCare Part B premiums a year, which pays 80% of the 45.2% average it allows of each medical bill presented. Luckily, I am a retired USAF Reservist (did not collect retirement or have health benefits until age 60) and they pay the remaining 20% (within two weeks of filing) and provide pretty much full prescription drug coverage, so no need for MediCare Part D (which only 14% of MediCare retirees needed when it was passed-what a waste) under the various TriCare (USA, USN, too include the USMC, and USAF).

I guess I was fortunate to, also, qualify for the Federal Civil Service retirement under the 1986 Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) which does pay into the SS and has a 401(k) feature [Thrift Savings Plan (TSP)]. If the Obama Administration does away with TriCare, at least I can fall back on my Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), which is various private insurance policies where I would pay 28% and the government covers 72%, at this time, if I do it the year before page 16 of the Kennedy Health Care Bill takes affect.

And, yes , I am paying more for MediCare now than when I retired from Federal Civil Service in 2002.

Now, let me respond to a few of the comments above.

Frank Wells: If this National Health Care would be limited to only those US citizens who can not afford health insurance or qualify for MediCaid or S-Chip (go to this link and read all the articles: http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en-us&q=who+are+the+46+million+Americans+who+do+not+have+health+insurance&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8) then it would be more reasonable. Where it is the 8,000,000 in this article or the 15,000,000 in the 2007 Goldwater Institute one, it is not 30 to 50 million, so let’s not make the mistake that was done with Medicare Part D (see above in my personal remarks).

VAIOS: I bet you cannot wait until you and your wife are 65 and you will be paying at least $2,312.40 (2009 basic rate), plus the MediCare Part D prescription drug premium you choose. Sure beats the $930.00 a year you are paying now. And there is no choice and it gets worse under the Kennedy bill working its way through various Senate committees.

Wendell: You have an excellent perspective and that is why the current administration want to have everything passed before the bills are even written, left alone read.

The comment I keep hearing is let us take our time and do it right this time, because fixing it later has never really worked.

HarryfromtheNE: You have a good perspective from my point of view, but you get VAIOS get to you in your second entry. Until he is given everything and loses everything, he will not be satisfied.

Rodney: Actually, members of Congress have the same health care and retirement, including a 401(k), as all federal civil servants. Yes, what is paid, the amounts and matching, respectively, are sweater, but it is all managed by OPM.

BUt you hit the nail on the head when you said they need to be in it from the beginning. 20 years after they passed ADA, they were pressured into implementing it and their response was “We did not realize it costs this much”, but just increased the deficit to pay for it, rather than taking it out of their own budget.

Finally, besides MediCare (bankrupt since 2004), you should have mentioned MediCare (never solvent), SSA (will starting paying out more than it takes in in 2010 and will have to start cashing in those three file cabinet drawers of T-Bills), USPS (now an independent, self supporting agency-no, they are still getting subsidies) and the same for Amtrack.

If Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were really held accountable for what Congress directed them to do, they would be gone, members of Congress would be under Department of Justice or SEC indictment, along with any other Government Sponsered Enterprises (GSE).

DesertBob: Has the percentages correct.

Jo Ann Portell: Yes, Congress passed a law saying hospitals have to care for all who come through their doors. If an individual cannot prove their citizenship and the bill was just sent to the Department of State and the amount was deducted from whatever foreign aid or government bond interest (let’s add school districts, uninsured motorist and criminal costs.) be distributed, that might stem the flow across our borders.

Ken the American Belgian: The only thing I have to say to you is, regarding your dual citizenship, Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. (KJV). While this is a bit of a stretch, it is evident you love Belgium (where you are a slave to the government) and hate the USA (because it asks you to be responsible for you and yours. Make a choice and live with it.

tonycaudill: While I agree with you, we are already “being forced to pay” for all those who do not have their own insurance and if national health care is enacted, with its premiums undercutting private insurance by 30 to 40%, the latter will go out of business and a single payor system with MediCare results will be the result. It will take decades to undo the damage!

Desoto: Of course, Wa*Mart is now offer a limited benefit plan (http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walmart/health.html) and if combined with negotiating (I know, hard for individuals to learn to do) with preventive care, that could be an improvement.

john d: It all changes when you are 65 and forced in MediCare and I do knot know if using your FHEB as a supplement is as good as my experience with TriCare.

From my perspective it all boils down to the same mistake we made with prescription drug coverage under the Bush 43 Administration, but when you include stimulus and cap and trade with Mr. Obama’s national health care, it puts us into so much government there is no other definition than socialism.

By: john d

john d — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:29:35 +0000

As a retired air traffic controller, me and the FAA pay bcbs of alabama $1,000.00 per month. My one doctor visit per year, with deductable of $250.00, co-pay for blood test, co-pay for drugs cost almost $13,000.00. If the profit were taken out of health care, that portion would be more than enough to ensure that everyone would be covered.

By: Desoto

Desoto — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:16:07 +0000

The average company provided health insurance program costs the company $12,400 a year, expensive programs are $18,000 a year. If the company that you work for does not pick up the tab for this expenditure, your $50,000 a year job does not look so good.
I would bet that the people who are adamantly opposed to universal health care are coverd by a good company plan and the cost (think their coverage ) is passed on to the consumer. They just think that it’s fine that 1.3 million Wal Mart workers at an average wage of $8.75 an hour are cheap skates for not purchasing their our health insurance.
Every economically developed country on the plant has universal health coverage except the US.

By: tonycaudill

tonycaudill — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:50:48 +0000

Vaios : The deductibles you cite are not too far off from the norm. And 930.00 a year is great as I see it. I pay over 500.00 a month and fell great about it. I just don’t want to be F O R C E D to pay for a bunch of people who have opted out of their insurance programs or are here illegally,do you? You may feel the bite is harsh now,wait till you have to pay a deductible AND higher taxes (forever) for the “uninsured”. Cradle to the Grave, I refuse to do that for you or ANYONE.

By: Ken the American Belgian

Ken the American Belgian — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:07:51 +0000

Having lived outside the US for 10 years and now having dual citizenship, the Republicans/Conservatives have been fooling the American people for way too long. It is an outright lie that universal healthcare, aka Socialized Medicine, is in some way an infringment on our rights and will provide reduced levels of care or inferior results. Yes, I pay higher salary tax rates than in the US; I have done this excercise with working class people in the UK, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Norway, and when you compare the actual “cash in the pocket” after including all the taxes (property taxes primarily) and deductions (401K, Health Coverage, etc.) the percentage of income that is disposable to live on (pay rent, buy groceries, buy a car, pay a mortgage, etc.) is the same. One of the BIG differences is I will not lose my house, or go bakrupt if I am suddenly diagnosed with Cancer or some other catastrophic illness…I will just pay 5 Euros every time I go to the Doctor/Specialist and pay up to 20 Euros a month for my prescriptions. If I go to the hospital or the doctor my treatment is determined by the medical staff as to what is best for getting me healthy. The hospitals are better equipped and staffed than most hospitals I have been in in the US. Several years ago while on vacation to my parent’s in maine I was stung by a wasp and had my leg swell up like a large balloon. It cost me $150 dollars and wiaitng 4 hours in the Emergency Room to be told it was nothing to worry about … at home in belgium I could have called my doctor and he would have come to my house and checked for 5 Euros, or if I had gone to the ER I might have waited 20 minutes and it would have cost me 5 Euros.

So which System really works, provides full coverage at a reasonable cost. But then I forget, look at all the money the shareholders in these Insurance companies. pharmaceutical companies, health companies like HUMANA will lose if a system like is in the US and Canada is implemented in the US.

If you really want to cry, watch Michael Moore’s “Sicko”. He is not making any of it up. What he shows in Canada, UK, nad France is not exaggerated. It is the system I live with every day and it works.

By: Jo Ann Portell

Jo Ann Portell — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:06:08 +0000

We can talk all we want about not covering illegals, but the fact of the matter is we are already paying for them… everytime one of them shows up in an emergency room! We need to come up with a solution to this problem that is balanced and realistic. Trying to come up with a plan in a sporadic and knee jerk fashion, which is what the current Administration is trying to do, will not work. Whatever plan our Congress and Senate come up with, needs to be well thought out and fiscally viable as well as self-perpetuating.

By: DesertBob

DesertBob — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 19:44:00 +0000

The deliberate misinformation on uninsured “AMERICANS” started after the 2003 Census Bureau stats were released…and published early 2005 – and has been used ever since by the liberals to support their push for universal health care. The above article is accurate – I still have a copy of the original report on the ‘UNINSURED U.S. RESIDENTS’- please note: KEYWORD IS ‘RESIDENTS’.
Yessiree, 45.3% Noncitizen; 12.4% earned $50k – $74k; 8.2% earned MORE than $75,000. This information has been sent to government officials,TV & Newspaper reporters, major writers,Bloggers, OR any source claiming all ‘uninsured’ are American citizens…and, believe it or not – NEVER A RETRACTION OR CORRECTION. WAKE UP AMERICA !!!!

By: Rodney

Rodney — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:57:07 +0000

I understand that this country need a better health care system… Yet what I fail to under stand is how the government can fix it? ever seen how well medicare is managed? I have a novel idea,congressmen have their own health care policy. If we are to spend trillions of dollars. give us what they have!

By: HarryFromNE

HarryFromNE — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 18:45:46 +0000

Viaos,
Your incessant e-HOLLERING does nothing to help your case. YOU are one person. YOU 7 ONE MORE are two. YOU do not make a statistic that helps in what you disagree with. Why not deal with the actual figures and facts in the article?
Also, since by YOUR OWN admission you HAVE insurance, though you don’t like the money you have to use for deductibles, etc., you contradict your empty denial. YOU and YOUR FAMILY *ARE* insured, just not with the policy you would like.
“I consider myself…”? You can have your own opinion, but assertion doesn’t equal evidence.
I think you should know the difference by your 59th year.
Your post is empty of anything of substance to prove the article incorrect in ANY way.