Health Law Clarification

I come from the era of house visits by physicians and from a country where health care is a birth right. I am confused by the term Obamacare. Being a health care worker here in the USA I have watched health care costs spiral out of control for the last 20 years or so. Insurance companies continue to increase their costs (and extreme profit margins - greater than any other known organization in the free world) while we, the working class or middle classes of the USA continue to pay their excessive premiums which allow their CEO's and shareholders to live the life-styles of the rich and famous. Initially, the thought of health care reform was to provide cost effective, efficient, quality care for all. This would mean keeping those without health care, who tended to visit the emergency departments of American for care (the most expensive area of any hospital), by providing them coverage to see a physician in an office setting.
The political staging in this country is legendary and although I have little to say about President George Bush, I admired Mr. Obama and thought this country was forging ahead by electing him President. Unfortunately, there are those among us who do not share my trust in this nation which has always done the right thing for the right reasons. They know that this country is in a precarious state at the moment and that it took numerous years for us to get where we now stand. Economists would tell us it will take years to recover from this situation. So do us all a favor, give Mr. Obama a break - stop blaming him for everything that is wrong with this country. Medicare is in the state it is in because people are living much longer, and receiving benefits for much longer than they did when Medicare was devised, not because Mr. Obama is trying to do something different with health care.
I'll get off my soap box now. You can catch me in Cancun on November 13th if you would like to carry on this discussion over a nice cold corona anywhere downtown...Jaki

 

I've said before I don't think this is the best timing... recession and all, but I am getting about sick of people blindly bashing and blaming all the problems on "Obamacare" when very few of the reforms have even taken affect. Jakif brought up a good point that I think is missed by people... the poor and uninsured don't just not use the hospitals.. they crowd the ER's with ear aches and colds... and as Jakif pointed out this creates a great expense when those people don't (or can't) pay for the service... which of'course results in those bills being passed on to those who DO have insurance or the ability to pay.. and then those people who can't pay are forced into economic ruin by the unpaid bills (medical bill are the number 1 cause of all bankruptcy fillings) So in theory if more people have some sort of coverage the costs should be spread more evenly across the board meaning lower per patients costs, and fewer people being ruined by sudden illness. You already pay for healthcare coverage for those who can't afford it, via numerous government programs that have existed for decades and through higher bills when you need medical attention...

 

As for Obama being bashed, I can think of no President who deserves to be bashed more than Obama. When he took office unemployment was 7.7% and now it's 9.7%. He has run up the biggest deficits in the history of this country and what do we have to show for it? Unemployment is higher than when he started his bailouts and spending spree. Much of the bailout money has gone to the companies that used to employ many of his closest advisors. And speaking of his advisors, he has ignored the Constitution and appointed his "czars" of this that and the other thing without any Congressional oversight and given those people Cabinet level responsibilities. He has said that we will withdraw from Iraq on an arbitrary date when every military person you could talk to would tell you that the worst thing any commander could do is to tell the enemy that we will stop fighting on an arbitrary date and leave regardless of whether we are close to a victory. Housing foreclosures are the highest in our history courtesy of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank with able assistance from Andrew Cuomo and Obama just wrings his hands.

Is there are crisis in health care? Absolutely. Should something be done to alleviate the problem? Again the response is in the positive. The problem is that he is doing what so many well intentioned and ill informed people do.....just throwing money at the problem and hoping it will be better. You want to reform health care then make people accountable for their actions. Nail doctors who overbill and hospitals that do the same. Cap compensation at health insurance companies. Increase the supply of doctors by giving us malpractice reform and making it cheaper for someone to become a doctor. What you don't do is arbitrarily put 35 million people into a system that can't handle the patient load that is already there.

Obama was so intent on socializing the health industry in the US that he ignoring the real facts. If Obamacare is so great why doesn't it apply to Obama, his family, and Congress? Don't tell me how wonderful I should feel in my Yugo while you drive a Caddilac. The priority at the time Obama took office was not the socialization of health care, but jobs and our economy. He completely ignored that reality because he didn't understand what those of us who work for a living have to do to survive. If you think Obamacare is going to be a wonderful reformation of the health insurance industry then you missed one very basic fact. When Obamacare passed every health insurance stock went UP, not down. Obamacare is padding exactly what you don't like about health care.

 

I don't care how they do it but something has to change. When my son who is blind (both eyes) Has Cerebral Palsy , Autism , Tremors and seizures is told he can't get into his Dr. bc as the Dr says ( to many are allowed on free medical now ) then something has to change. I have litterly waited in the ER waiting room with my son after a seizure for 8 HOURS before getting seen. Held him and prayed to God they got us in. NO NO I was not waiting for Gun shoot victims, heart attacks, moms in labor etc to be seen but people with Colds, flu's etc which put my son at even more risk of getting sicker.


It was NOT this way always this was a recent change MY family has seen. The sad thing is were told by my son special Dr. that half the kids that is being sent to her does not even require her care and can be taken care of by a family Dr but the Family Dr's for children on state care don't have room to see them so as soon as they see anything that's * not a cold* they send them to the special Dr. to "rule out anything it maybe" when in reality it is just the Dr's making money off cases that don't belong in her office in the first place. She is required to see them when sent to her office and write a report on if the child has needs that qualify the child to be seen at her office.

In the end this is HURTING children with severe needs and it needs to stop. I am not saying every child does not deserve medical care but it is obvious atleast to my family that there is families taking advantage of the system. You would be amazed at the amount of families that are on state medical that end up at the Special dr's offices trying to get their child qualified for SSI disablity when they DON'T qualify.

Is all of this because of Obamacare? I don't I can't be postive but I can be postive that something has changed recently and it is effecting MY family in a negative way.


Matter of fact just this last month when my son was having a severe reaction to a medication that made him tremor worse then we had ever seen it took us two freaking weeks to get into the Dr. Watching your son go threw this is HORRIABLE. I should note WE DID call into his family Dr . Er's ETC but it is much better to get into his special Dr. who can help our son right away instead of having to wait.

My husband and I pay our way in this world. Matter of fact we will pay on medical for the rest of our lives to keep my son healthy. We will be paying over $10,000 cash in the next six months to some of the medical that we owe and we pay montly payments. He does have two medical insurances but neither cover all of his special needs . Which is not your fault or my fault but it is what it is. I want my son to be able to stay healthy and live a long life and to be honest I wonder if under Obamacare if my son God forbid will ever be one of the people that are considered "not treatable" ( if God forbid we ever have to go on the "Obamacare"

Something has to change. I don't know the answer. I don't know how to change it but as a mother to a very special lil man it has to change . I can't sit in the ER 8 to 9 hours waiting for my son to be seen because the office's are to clogged up.

Ok I'm off this thread be it gets me heated and It hits to close to home.

 

The "Special Needs Kids Tax"

This provision of Obamacare imposes a cap on flexible spending accounts (FSAs) of $2500 (Currently, there is no federal government limit). There is one group of FSA owners for whom this new cap will be particularly cruel and onerous: parents of special needs children.

There are thousands of families with special needs children in the United States , and many of them use FSAs to pay for special needs education.

Under tax rules, FSA dollars can not be used to pay for this type of special needs education.


Now I'm done.

 

First off, Angels, I am so sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations with our medical system and your son. I went through it with my son with asthma which is very mild compared to what you are dealing with. Dealing with a sick child is emotionally and physically draining. My heart goes out to you.

Angels your situation is exactly what I'm referring to on this health care plan. We load the system up with people who don't need the care and those that do need the care are left out in the cold. I find that all medical professionals are so overloaded right now that I just don't bother unless I absolutely have to go to the doctor. I have walked out of a doctor's office after waiting 2 and half hours. The major cure is for there to be more doctors, not more people on the public dole clogging up the system.

 

I do agree with twinimini that something needs to be done to get more doctors and nurses in the work force, be it more government incentives and/or limiting malpractice suits to only the most egregious offenses. (or training some of the millions of people that are locked up in the US to be medical providers when they get out) Unfortunately this isn't something that will happen overnight. I can sympathize with Angel's story, ER's have always been used for non-emergencies by those who don't have regular doctors.. this probably wont change anytime soon and at first the rush to take advantage of the children's care provisions of "Obamacare" will undoubtedly create delays with specialists... there is no easy answer I only hope that the doctors and patients who need more urgent attention can find an arrangement.

 

Obviously TWINIMINI it is a waste of time to ask you to stop critizizing the man who is trying desperately to clean up the mess that was left to him following 8 years of the Bush Administration (I use the term administration with tongue in cheek).
The deficit was humongous before he even got into office because of a war that we should never have been in (again) and the absolute mess on Wall Street caused by the greed of the middle and upper classes in this country and beyond. This countries bankers, brokers and real estate agents encouraged working class people to think they could live the American Dream while all the time they knew that the market would explode and people would lose everything they had worked for. Mr. Bush was responsible for reducing the oversight of the business markets and brokers. You talk about Obama's jobs for his friends, check George W Bush's record on that front, my friend, very interesting. Every war American has ever been in during a Republican presidency, government contracts have been awarded to staunch supporters and donators to their cause and that will never change. Watch if they take power again next time, the same thing will happen. The rich get richer and the poor get poor and no one really cares if anybody other than themselves has health insurance or a pension when they retire during a Republican reign. Congressmen and Legislators all have full health insurance, pay raises (which they grant to themselves) from the day they take office until the day they die, as do their families. Having said all that, I wish you all a Happy Friday and a great weekend....Jaki

 

Jakif, you've heard what I don't like about Obama so now I would be curious as to what you like about Obama. Please don't give the standard "He's not Bush," because neither you nor I are Bush either and that doesn't qualify us as a good President. The only arguments you have placed is that it is all Bush's fault. It has been almost two years of Obama and a Congress of his own party, so please tell us what you like about him.

 

What do I like about President Obama.
I like that he got people off the sofa and out to vote (after all, some of us fought a war for that priviledge).
I think he wanted to make change, not just for democrats but for everyone. I think a lot of barriers were placed in his way to do what he really wanted to achieve, not only by republicans but also by members of his own party. I truly think he cares about ALL Americans not just the chosen few or the very poor.
He is a highly educated and articulate President who is well liked around the world, which can only be good for America and is a great change from what was there when he came into office.
I think unlike most politicians he is not self-serving, I believe that he is an honorable man who enjoys public service - check his record.
These are some of the reasons I like President Obama. Do I think he can solve all the problems of this country, not a chance, but at least give him an opportunity to try. Who on the other side is there - its a scary choice to say the least, do you really want Mrs. Palin leading the country???