Category: Health Care

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Health Care Politics

More Americans To Suffer If Supreme Court Repeal Health Care

Thanks Republicans!!!

Sarah Lewis is fed up with American health care: “I’ve completely removed myself from the system,” she said. “I don’t want to be a patient anymore.”

Lewis, a 55-year-old single mother of two daughters, has been through the wringer. It started with a diagnosis of anal cancer in September 2010. Then came the denials from her insurance company, the fights with the insurer, the hospitals and the doctors over money, and the debt collectors chasing at least $20,000 that she owes. Not to mention the grueling chemotherapy and radiation therapy that, so far, have saved her life. She ultimately gave up on health insurance this year.

“I’m hoping that I don’t get sick again or anything happens because I’m trying to stay out of the system because the system failed me,” said Lewis, who lives in Dover, N.H., and was self-employed as an book indexer but has not worked since she got sick.

The system will likely fail Americans like Lewis again and again, if the Supreme Court overturns President Barack Obama’s health care reform law next week. Without its rules that will prohibit health insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions starting in 2014, Lewis and others who are sick or have suffered serious illnesses in the past can be shut out of the health insurance market. As many as 122 million working-age Americans have pre-existing conditions that could get them rejected by health insurance companies, according to a Government Accountability Office analysis issued in March.

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Health Care Politics

No Matter What The Supreme Court Decides About Healthcare, Americans Will Be Unhappy

Poll Results

A new Pew Research Poll found that the public is unlikely to be satisfied with the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on the 2010 Affordable Care Act – no matter what the Court decides. Whether the Court decides to uphold the entire law, overturn the entire law, or reject the “individual mandate” while allowing the rest of the law to remain in place, fewer than half of Americans say they would be happy with the decision.

The public’s expected reactions track along partisan lines. Most Democrats would be happy if the law is upheld, while most Republicans would be happy if it is thrown out.

But the other widely discussed possibility – that the court could reject the part of the law that requires individuals to have health insurance while keeping the rest – does not satisfy either side. Among Democrats, 35% would be happy with this outcome, while 56% would be unhappy. Republicans, who have consistently opposed the individual mandate, are not much happier: 43% would be happy if the court strips only this provision, while 47% would be unhappy.

 

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Health Care Healthcare Mitt Romney Pre-existing condition

Mitt Romney Supports Insurance Companies Denying Coverage to People With Pre-Existing Condition

To put things in perspective, Mitt Romney implemented ObamaCare in Massachusetts. Okay, it wasn’t called ObamaCare when Mitt Romney fell in love with the idea that everyone in the state he governed should have access to quality Health Care and included an individual mandate requiring all to buy insurance. No, ObamaCare wasn’t around at that time, so the bill was called The Massachusetts health care insurance reform law.

The main part of Romney’s law was an individual mandate that required all state residents to get insurance. The goal of the mandate was to make it financially feasible for insurance providers to be able to cover everyone, even those with pre-existing conditions. Romney loved the idea of the mandate so much, he even called for its implementation nationwide. His Health Care reform Law went into effect in Massachusetts 2006.

Now Mitt Romney is running for President of the United States and he is promising to repeal the very Health Care Law he once said should be replicated nationwide. Mr. Romney took this very different position because the individual mandate is not popular with Teaparty members of his party. Now that the President took Romney’s word and signed a bill that duplicates the Massachusetts model, offering the Health Care nationwide, Romney is promising to repeal and replace what is now called ObamaCare.

But what will Mitt Romney replace ObamaCare with?

Based on what he said earlier this month, Romney’s new-found vision of Health Care in America will not include an individual mandate and those who have a  pre-existing condition but couldn’t afford “continuous” insurance, will not have health care.

So let’s say someone has been continuously insured and they develop a serious condition. And let’s say they lose their jobs or they change jobs or they move and go to a different place, I don’t want them to be denied insurance because they have some pre-existing conditions. So we’re going to have to make sure that the law that we replace Obamacare with,ensures that people who have a pre-existing condition, who have been insured in the past, are able to get insurance in the future so they don’t have to worry about that condition keeping them from getting the kind of health care they deserve.

Video:

So the short version of what Mitt Romney is saying is this: if you have a pre-existing condition and couldn’t afford continuous health care coverage, don’t even bother trying to get insurance. Under Mitt Romney’s plan, you’re back to a system where healthcare insurance providers are allowed to drop your coverage based on your pre-existing condition.

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Health Care ObamaCare Politics Repeal

Health Care Spending at Slowest Pace in More Than 50 Years

The New York Times is reporting that the growth of health spending has slowed substantially in the last few years, surprising experts and offering some fuel for optimism about the federal government’s long-term fiscal performance.

Much of the slowdown is because of the recession, and thus not unexpected, health experts say. But some of it seems to be attributable to changing behavior by consumers and providers of health care – meaning that the lower rates of growth might persist even as the economy picks up.

Because Medicare and Medicaid are two of the largest contributors to the country’s long-term debts, slower growth in health costs could reduce the pressure for enormous spending cuts or tax increases.

In 2009 and 2010, total nationwide health care spending grew less than 4 percent per year, the slowest annual pace in more than five decades, according to the latest numbers from the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services. After years of taking up a growing share of economic activity, health spending held steady in 2010, at 17.9 percent of the gross domestic product.

The growth rate mostly slowed as millions of Americans lost insurance coverage along with their jobs. Worried about job security, others may have feared taking time off work for doctor’s visits or surgical procedures, or skipped nonurgent care when money was tight.

Still, the slowdown was sharper than health economists expected, and a broad, bipartisan range of academics, hospital administrators and policy experts has started to wonder if what had seemed impossible might be happening – if doctors and patients have begun to change their behavior in ways that bend the so-called cost curve.

If so, it was happening just as the new health care law was coming into force, and before the Supreme Court could weigh in on it or the voters could pronounce their own verdict at the polls.

Source: The New York Times

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Health Care Mitt Romney Politics

Ed Gillespie – Romney’s Campaign Advisor – Lobbied For The Individual Mandate

Ed Gillespie – Mitt Romney’s new campaign adviser – was a lobbyist for a federal individual health insurance mandate two years before President Obama embraced the idea, the Washington Examiner reports.

Gillespie wasn’t just one of CAHR’s lobbyists, he was their Republican headliner, touted in their press releases.

So while Romney can make a federalist distinction about himself — that he supports some state health-insurance mandates, but not federal health-insurance mandates — Romney advisor Gillespie (who did not immediately return my call or email seeking comment) seems stuck admitting he was a for a federal-level mandate when insurers were paying him to be for it, and is against it now that Obama is defending it.

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Health Care Nancy Pelosi Politics Repeal

Nancy Pelosi Predicts Health Care will Survive Supreme Court

In a vote of 6 to 3, the Supreme Court will uphold President Obama’s healthcare reform law, the top House Democrat predicted this week.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she’d respect whatever the high court decides, but forecasts the verdict would fall for the Democrats.

“I’m predicting 6 to 3 in favor,” Pelosi said during a long interview Tuesday with The Paley Center for Media in New York City, without specifying which justices would rule on which side.

The detailed prediction is something of a change for Pelosi, who has long said the Democrats’ reform law is “ironclad” constitutionally, but has also warned that speculation about Supreme Court decisions is just that — speculation.

Source: The Hill

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Health Care Politics Repeal

Americans are Believing the Right-Winged Propaganda about the Health Care Law

The right winged propaganda machine is succeeding.  A new ABC News / Washington Post poll reveals that a majority of Americans have bought into the lie and now believe that the health care law signed by president Obama should be repealed.

When asked about the individual mandate in the law, two thirds of those who answered the question say that it should be overturned or the entire law must be thrown out.

Two-thirds of Americans say the U.S. Supreme Court should throw out either the individual mandate in the federal health care law or the law in its entirety, signaling the depth of public disagreement with that element of the Affordable Care Act.

This ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that Americans oppose the law overall by 52-41 percent. And 67 percent believe the high court should either ditch the law or at least the portion that requires nearly all Americans to have coverage.

The case against the President’s Health Care Law goes before the United States Supreme Court next week where Republicans will argue that the law is unconstitutional because it requires American to purchase health insurance. No other alternative policies are suggested, so if the law is repealed the status quo takes effect again and the gouging of Americans by greedy insurance companies will once again be accepted.

Business as usual.

The poll was conducted by telephone March 7-10, 2012, among a random national sample of 1,003 adults.

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contraception Health Care Rush Limbaugh Slut

Republican Mouthpiece Rush Limbaugh Calls a Georgetown University Law Student a “Slut”

This is what the Republicans have lowered themselves to. One of their leaders, their favorite sons, one of their most admired mouthpiece went on his radio show yesterday and called Susan Fluke “a slut” for wanting contraception as part of her health care coverage.

After an all male panel headed by Republican Darrell Issa denied her the opportunity to speak on women’s health and contraception, Susan Fluke spoke at a meeting organized by Democratic House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi. Miss Fluke message was on the importance of contraception in women’s health care, and referenced one friend in particular who needed contraception to prevent ovarian cysts.

This was too much for Rush Limbaugh, who figured that “Fluke wanted tax payers to pay her to have sex.” This, Rush concluded, made Fluke a “slut” and the tax payers her “pimp.”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is what Republicans would call a valid argument. They are slowly succeeding in dragging this country in the gutters.

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Health Care ObamaCare Politics

Saving The Economy – ObamaCare Ia A Job Creator

While the Republicans dwell in the land if make-belief with their “corporations are people my friend” mentality and their wish to deny you health care by repealing the law also known as “ObamaCare,” reports are surfacing showing more ways the health care law is benefiting the economy – by creating more jobs.

President Barack Obama’s effort to bring the health-care system into the digital age is boosting a couple of software startups — ZocDoc and Practice Fusion — that are trying to do just that.

ZocDoc, which lets patients book medical appointments via the web, said today that former Senate Majority Leaders Tom Daschle and Bill Frist have joined the advisory board to help the New York City-based company expand.

Practice Fusion, meanwhile, announced today it raised $2 million in debt from a group of angel investors, following a $23 million round of financing last year. Physicians use Practice Fusion’s software to track their patients’ medical history, schedule appointments, prescribe medication and provide referral letters.

While companies big and small have spent years trying to crack the electronic medical records market, it was President Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus plan that sped up the process. As part of the plan, the government will invest up to $27.4 billion by 2021 to get health organizations on board.

So the reality of the situation is this; Republicans’ wish to repeal “ObamaCare” would not only affect you by once again allowing insurance companies to deny you care when you’re sick, even if you’ve paid your premium, a repeal will literally cost thousands of jobs in an already bad economy.

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Health Care Politics

Eight Ways The Health Care Law Helps You

The following was posted by Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health And Human Services on Wed Dec 28, 2011 12:06 PM EST

As we ring in the New Year, we also want to take a minute to reflect on the progress we made in 2011. I’m proud to say that we had a very productive year for protecting the health of all Americans, especially those who are least able to help themselves. From strengthening Medicare to expanding access to preventive services to holding insurance companies accountable – young adults, families, and seniors have begun to see benefits from the health care law that took effect in 2010.

Here are eight important ways that you or your family might have benefited from the health law in 2011:

Making Sure More Americans Have Health Coverage – 2.5 million more young adults have health insurance coverage thanks to a provision in the health law allowing young adults to remain on their parents’ health insurance until age 26. This means more young adults in this country can now go on and live their lives with less worry about visiting their doctor when they get sick, or facing catastrophic medical bills if they are in an accident.

Families around the country are benefitting from this part of the law, including families like the Houghs, whose daughter Natalie was diagnosed with a rare heart condition after suffering cardiac arrest at school. Her condition requires a lifetime of medication and care. Now, thanks to the health care law, Natalie can stay on her family’s plan and has started college. And by the time she turns 26 it will be illegal for a plan to deny coverage to anyone, regardless of their health, and Natalie will have access to a choice of quality, affordable health plans.

Shedding Light on Insurance Companies – Prior to the Affordable Care Act, insurance companies in too many states were able to raise their rates without explaining their actions. But now, insurers who want to hike their rates by 10%or more have to explain and justify those increases in writing. Experts will scrutinize those explanations and, in many cases, can tell the insurer to reduce their price.

As a result of this law, over the last year, 42 states, the District of Columbia and the five U.S. territories have stiffened their oversight of proposed health insurance rate increases. And results are beginning to come in. For example, Connecticut’s Insurance Department rejected a 20% rate hike by one insurer. And Oregon chopped the rate increase by one of its largest insurers almost in half, saving money for 60,000 people.

Giving You More Value for Your Dollar – A new consumer protection took effect in 2011 called the 80 / 20 rule. It makes sure that at least 80%of your premium dollars are being spent on health care and improving your care – not on advertising and executive salaries. If your insurer fails this test, you get a rebate, starting this summer. This rule makes sure that you get your money’s worth from your health insurance company.

Expanding Access to Free Preventive Care and Services – Under the Affordable Care Act, you and your family may be eligible for free preventive services. You may now have access to free preventive services such as:

Blood pressure readings, cholesterol tests, and nutrition counseling Many cancer screenings, including mammograms and colonoscopies Flu and pneumonia shots Routine vaccinations against diseases such as measles, hepatitis, and meningitis

Strengthening Medicare – Millions of Americans are enjoying improved Medicare coverage at a lower cost. Medicare’s premiums have remained stable and the Part B deductible will drop in 2012. Medicare beneficiaries now have access to free preventive measures like physicals, flu shots, tobacco cessation programs, mammograms, and colonoscopies. And Medicare will cover an annual wellness visit with no charge to seniors.

And thanks to the health law, the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap known as the donut hole is starting to close. Through the end of October, 2.65 million people with Medicare have received discounts on brand name drugs in the donut hole. These discounts have saved seniors and people with disabilities a total of $1.5 billion on prescriptions – averaging about $569 per person.

Putting More Doctors in Your Community – The number of doctors, nurses, and health care professionals in the National Health Service Corps has nearly tripled in the last three years. For the first time in its forty year history, the National Health Service Corps can count more than 10,000 members in its ranks.

Improving Patient Safety – In April 2011 the Partnership for Patients launched. This is a national partnership that will help save 60,000 lives in the next three years by preventing medical errors. The Partnership for Patients also has the potential to save up to $50 billion in Medicare over the next 10 years. More than 6,500 partners, including over 2,900 hospitals as well as physicians and nurses groups, consumer groups, and employers, have pledged their commitment to the Partnership for Patients.

This will help patients across the country, including patient advocate Sorrel King. In 2001, Sorrel’s 18-month old daughter Josie accidentally suffered burns requiring a hospital stay. At first, Josie was getting better. However, after a series of unintentional but totally preventable mistakes and complications, Josie died. She became one of 44,000 to 98,000 Americans who die every year from preventable medical errors.

Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud – The Affordable Care Act has given us strong tools to fight fraud. In 2011, the Department of Justice recovered more than $5.6 billion in fraud government-wide. Of the $5.6 billion, $2.9 billion was in health care fraud alone. Providers now have to go through tougher screening procedures before they can start billing Medicare. And we’ve given investigators new tools that allow them to analyze data in order to identify and stop suspicious payments before they go out. As part of the law, we also released new rules that will give states the flexibility to recover improper Medicaid payments, saving more than $2 billion over the next five years, with nearly $1 billion going back to the states.

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Health Care Politics Repeal young people

Insurance, Young People And A Healthier American Future

A new report issued last week by the CDC contained some very good news – young Americans are taking advantage of a provision in the health care reform, signed into law by President Obama.

Before President Obama’s historic health care reform law was passed, young people were generally dropped from their parents plan when they turned 18 or left college. Obtaining coverage through an individual plan could be cost-prohibitive for young adults, especially those with pre-existing conditions, so many went without health insurance altogether.

The Affordable Care Act includes a provision that allows young adults to stay on their parent’s health insurance until their 26th birthday. When that provision went into effect in September of 2010, about 64 percent of 19 to 25 year olds had health insurance. By June of 2011, that number jumped to nearly 73 percent.

This is good news in more ways than one.

Providing medical insurance for young people  encourages a more progressive attitude in regards to looking after one’s own health. Individuals can easily see the importance of maintaining good health – eating right, proper medication, getting exercise,  early diagnosis’ for disease, birth control, as well as having regular check-ups with a doctor.

And although a more health conscious  mentality will be a good improvement for anyone, it also benefits the nation as a whole, for the health of a nation greatly depends on the health and wellbeing of its citizens.

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Health Care Politics Repeal

Health Care Reform Goes Before The Supreme Court

The announcement is made: beginning next March, the Republicans effort to officially take away your health care, and put your health decisions back into the hands of insurance companies, goes before the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear arguments next March over President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul —a case that could shake the political landscape as voters are deciding if Obama deserves another term.

This decision to hear arguments in the spring sets up an election-year showdown over the White House’s main domestic policy achievement. And it allows plenty of time for a decision in late June, just over four months before Election Day.

The justices announced they will hear an extraordinary five-and-a-half hours of arguments from lawyers on the constitutionality of a provision at the heart of the law and three other related questions about the act. The central provision in question is the requirement that individuals buy health insurance starting in 2014 or pay a penalty.

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