Thank His Doctors & The WH Staff That Teddy IS Doing OK

[stopbush]

Real people taking care of real people. Imaginary deities need not apply. We can handle this all on our own.

[leftstreet]

1. And his excellent medical insurance coverage n/t

[stopbush]

2. Exactly. I really hope Obama reforms health care and allows all of us

to buy into the same program that covers the Congress critters.

[leftstreet]

3. I don't know anyone who could "buy into" that kind of coverage

But no doubt we'll get tossed some cheaper bones policies

[stopbush]

4. Really?

In an excerpt from his 2007 book, Practicing Medicine Without a License, Don Sloan, M.D., shows that members of Congress enjoy health coverage with unlimited doctor visits, no deductibles and no co-pays -- all for $35 a month:

"The OECD conclusion was not a surprise. We just do not get enough for our buck. But that is not true for everyone in the country. There is an employee/insurance deal in the U.S. that includes unlimited doctor office visits of your choosing; covers all accidents, routine exams, physical therapy, labs and X-rays; and the like; unlimited hospital visits and stays; certain chronic care and rehab; full prescription coverage; and unlimited specialty consultations. For the employee and the entire family. There are no deductibles, no co-pays, and only a $35 monthly fee taken from an annual salary of $158 thou. Thirty-five dollars!

"The group awarded this insurance looks forward to a full pension and continued coverage until their deaths. Quite a few, most in fact, were millionaires before they took on their jobs that got them such a perk. Who gets this coverage? It would be nice if it were the underprivileged or the chronically ill and debilitated or our veterans."

Who couldn't afford that? My family's insurance currently runs about $1300 a month, ie: 37 TIMES the amount a Congress critter pays for their health coverage. And I sure don't make $158k per year!

[Juche]

5. Who knows how much of that is gov funded though

The federal employee may pay $35/month but the insurance itself is probably much more.

http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/parityes.htm


"The FEHB Program is the largest employer-sponsored health insurance program in the Nation, serving more than 8 million Federal employees, their dependents, and retirees. The U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) administers the FEHB Program, which currently offers about 250 health plan choices, providing over $29 billion in health care benefits annually."


So it works out to about $3500 per person of the 8 million beneficiaries (unless I'm misreading it and it is 8 million employees plus tons of retirees & dependents). Which isn't bad. But the insurance itself is going to be expensive if it covers so much.

The Brits, Taiwanese and Japanese manage to cover everyone for 8% of GDP. We have a screwed up system that costs 16% of GDP. So we have alot of room for improvement.

[stopbush]

6. Well, it's hard to figure the exact $ amount per person.

$29-billion in annual health care benefits may mean the VALUE of the benefits, not the actual payout made by the government.

And $3500 per YEAR equates to $302 a month per person for 8-million people, still much less than what many people pay. I imagine coverage for spouses and dependents is less than $302 a month, so if you're a family of four, your monthly premium wouldn't be $1200 in any case. You might pay only $140 per month, ie: $35 per person.

In any case, a program that currently services 8-million people would see huge cost reductions if, say, 100-million Americans were enrolled in the program. It would force health providers to negotiate rates with the gov, which would keep costs down.

A huge subject to be covered on this blog or in just a few posts.