Watch Democracy Now Today If You Can, OBAMACARE Co-ops Closing...
Not sure how many here already did, BUT Amy Goodman discusses how Insurance Co-ops that enrolled people under Obamacare are being forced to close because they are running out of money AND Congress continually cut funding over time.
I'm sure we'll be hearing more, but once I fear once again OBAMACARE is going to be front and center!! Going to post over at Primaries as they show clip of Bernie and what he said way back then.
I'm feel THIS is going to get HUGE, BIG TIME coverage any day now!
I don' have much more information other than what Amy Goodman spoke about on her program.
See my tag line!
= new reply since forum marked as read
if there was not something solid in, the bill to make them last, well we can blame it on the Repubs.
Unfortunately SP advocates were left out of the debate by Obama.
There is very little difference between the co-ops and the “public option”
Posted by Andy Coates, MD on Tuesday, Sep 29, 2009
By Kip Sullivan, JD
http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/09/29/there-is-very-little-difference-between-the-co-ops-and-the-%E2%80%9Cpublic-option%E2%80%9D/
"Advocates of a “public option” have been extremely critical of the health insurance cooperatives proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad last June and incorporated in the draft legislation released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on September 16. “Option” advocates claim the co-ops either will not survive or will be so small they will be unable to force the insurance industry to lower its premiums. This is legitimate criticism.
But “option” advocates should level the same criticism against the “option.” The “option” is no more likely to survive and thrive than the co-op program. A comparison of the legislation that would create “option” programs with the provisions in the Baucus bill that would create co-ops indicates there is only one reason to be less pessimistic about the “option,” namely, the “option” legislation requires that someone (the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services) attempt to get the “option” program going. There is no similar requirement for the co-op program.
Review of the “option” and co-op proposals
I have described the “option” programs in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee bill and HR 3200 in previous papers.
The Senate HELP Committee “public option” will be multiple “options,” and these will be run by insurance companies
“Public option” advocates circle their wagons around two useless sentences in HR 3200
HR 3200’s “public option” will not resemble Medicare
As I demonstrated in those papers, there is no meaningful difference between the “options” in the two bills. Both bills use vague language and provide few details......
......Rockefeller, Dean, Hacker and their colleagues in the “option” movement are doing a great job of leveling legitimate criticism against the co-op proposal. Their criticisms are aimed squarely at the question of how the co-ops will get started and whether they will ever grow large enough to take substantial market share away from the insurance industry. But they adamantly refuse to level the same criticism at the “option.” They should tell us why. I doubt they will do that. I doubt it because there is no rational explanation for this double standard. And no one likes to admit to behaving irrationally."
we are unfortunately familiar with that concept. We are also in a similar position as we have a decent HC plan through my husband's employer based retiree benefit and that has saved his life, there is no doubt.
Last week we had to decide on a new plan, bronze, silver or gold, there was no platinum option. Initially we were give the wrong premium figures from the HR department over the phone and were just looking between the silver and gold plans, thought we would go with the gold as they had a lower annual out of pocket max for only $25. more per month. We've reached the maximum for the past six years so figured we would do so this year. Go to enroll and the guy on the phone had it totally wrong! It would cost another $400. per month for the gold plan with a lower annual out of pocket max, some people look at deductibles, we look at the annual out pocket as we have paid that the past 6 six and expect to pay it again this year. We had spent a week looking at the upcoming lab and drug costs and decided on the gold, what you need to pay and/or owe in the first few months and decided that the 'investigational' drug was about $3000. per month we would hit that in the first two months with the gold. Well we ultimately settled for the silver plan that just increased our premiums $200. a month instead of $400 for the gold.
Bottom line is that if you have a serious accident or illness you are totally screwed, if you are lucky enough to have saved for retirement then you have a buffer zone which stands between you and bankruptcy. We are fortunate to have that buffer zone and family that has contributed, but all of those have an ending period. You have had seen what can happen with an accident, we have seen what happens with a serious illness.
We need to fix our broken HC system that either leaves people not seeking care, forces them into bankruptcy or just lets them die.
We need to wake the fuck up as a nation, I've seen too many people die, and I am viewing this from a somewhat privileged position of having good insurance. I could not even imagine how upset I would be seeing those who would not even attempt to seek care and there are so many of them
As I said, my insurance in this state FL is above millions. But for me that's where the real rub is because as a person who DOES have this insurance, and never been anything but close to what used to be middle class, it's an outrage that others don't! But more an OUTRAGE that I feel the NEED to apologize for it!
You say WAKE THE FUCK UP, a mantra that I've worn out myself and think we're sleeping the slumber of a new born baby. I passed over that line into cynicism some time ago when I HAD thought it couldn't happen. Thought I could be effective and contribute in my little way never wanting to drop out. In all truth it's taking everything I have to simply hang around and post my point of view from time to time.
There are too many adjectives to fully explain my feelings that at times I'm on the brink of desperation. BECAUSE I suffer from more than the normal OCD syndrome it's a constant battle to stop my head from spinning. My psychiatrist who is also a semi-friend because I've been seeing him for so long and is a liberal minded Democrat finally dropped out and no longer accepts any insurance... period!
It works well for me because we don't have "sessions" after so many years and our visits consist of whether my meds are still working. He prescribes meds with instructions that I've been able to wean myself to 1/2 of what he wants me to take. And one med that I NEVER fill because it's no longer needed. Understanding this affliction was my biggest problem. Most people have some OCD and it's not a problem, but when it blows up in your face and goes full force it's not a pretty picture. Taking a long time to make a point and it's this... I was forced to realize how fortunate I was that it wasn't Schizophrenia!! Losing mental control at that level must be HELL, not only for the person but everyone in their family.
A friend of mine has a son with it and I've seen what it's done to her and her family and their constant search for the right cocktail of meds that work for him. The stories I could tell. Over the years progress has been made and they consider themselves lucky because they've finally been able to obtain some peace of mind. While he needs his meds and he needs supervision he "works" in a mentally controlled environment where he feels some worth and hasn't gone off in a long time. Seeing what they had to go through for YEARS is something I think people need to see and understand! And this is just one disease, one case and has/had an affect not only on his family but this community!
Too harsh? Yeah, WAKE THE FUCK UP! Health Care is such a serious, serious need and America's once beacon of light is simply a "birthday candle" IMO!
I'm just beating a dead horse so my input feels meaningless. And this is yesterday's subject now. Move along. I'll post again another day.
