What if I don't want my health care dollars to pay for other people's abortions?
Under the House bill, health plans could choose to cover abortion, but they generally could no use federal money to pay for them. Instead money from the premiums paid by beneficiaries would have to be used. The bill would keep current restrictions on the use of federal money for abortions.
Will undocumented immigrants get taxpayer health benefits?
Can the government deduct money directly from bank accounts to pay for health care?
No. The House bill says that one of the goals for electronic health records is to enable electronic funds transfers, in order to allow automated reconciliation between payment and billing. But is describes common electronic banking transactions, not special access privileges for the government.
Are non-profit cooperatives an adequate substitute for a public insurance option?
Co-ops are loosely defined as private, nonprofit, consumer-owned providers of health care. Prof. Ann Hoyt, an economist of U of Wisconsin-Madison, has been a member of a health cooperative since 1985; she reports that the health care is excellent. The executive director of the plan adds, "But it took us 30 years to get where we are today. Proponents say that a health co-op might need 25,000 members to be financially viable, and at least 500,000 members to negotiate effectively with doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers. They would need time to buy sophisticated information technology and to negotiate contracts with doctors, hospitals and other care providers. You have to make this decision. The complete article appeared in the August 18 issue of the NYT on page A12. Cape Care would like to become a health care cooperative for Cape Cod.
How much will reform cost and how will we pay for it?
The most common estimate of the cost is $1 trillion over the first ten years, but there are some estimates that are smaller. The NYT in an editorial believes the reforms enacted will be deficit neutral over the first ten years because President Obama and the Democrats will find cuts in Medicare and raise sufficient taxes to cover the cost of the initial expansion. It is vital to slow the annual growth rate. A reduction of 6.2 percent to 4.7 percent will save $2 trillion over the next decade. It has been suggested that those individuals that earn over $500,000 pay a surcharge. This could cover 50 percent of the cost of reform. It is also possible that taxes will be imposed on very expensive insurance plans provided by companies. Efficiencies in Medicare and Medicaid can be found by eliminating costly repetition of tests. In the long run, electronic record keeping comparative effective research will help bring down costs. At this point in time, nothing is cast in stone.
Why are the insurers and the drug industry smiling?
This information is taken from an op-ed piece written by Bob Herbert in the August 17 NYT. The insurers will continue to smile as long as a public option doesn't exist because millions of young and healthy individuals will be herded into the industry's welcoming arms. This is the population insurers drool over. Nonprofit cooperatives will have difficulty competing with the large well-established insurance companies. The additional income they will get will be more than the money they have agreed to contribute. The drug industry agreed to contribute $80 billion over 10 years and support health care reform. The government agreed not to seek additional savings. This meant that the government would not use its enormous purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices. Compare the $8 billion a year the drug companies are forgoing with the $300 billion in their annual profits. The drug companies and the insurers looking to benefit mightily from the direction the reform legislation appears to be going. This means the public interest is not being addressed.
5 Myths About Health Care Around the World
By T.R. Reid, Sunday, August 23, 2009 in the Washington Post
As Americans search for the cure to what ails our health-care system, we've overlooked an invaluable source of ideas and solutions: the rest of the world. All the other industrialized democracies have faced problems like ours, yet they've found ways to cover everybody -- and still spend far less than we do.
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