Obamacare hits home ~

I feel ill; this just makes me sick. We (my company) got the renewal rates for our health care insurance yesterday. We do not have a fancy plan, it doesn't cover any kind of WLS, it has $10.00 co pay for all prescriptions and $15.00 for doctor visits and a $1,000.00 per person deductible, it is not a Cadillac plan by any means. Last year, the premium for me was $886.00 a month, next year is will go up by $500.00 a month. The younger employees; the ones in their 30's only went up $200.00 or so, but still there is no way any of us can pay these rates.

When we quizzed the insurance company about why the huge increase when we have had no major claims, the answer was Obamacare and all the people they now have to cover without being able do anything about pre-existing conditions.

So, we are screwed. We will get some other quotes, but this is looking really ugly and I doubt any small business will be able to have health care insurance for their employees. But then I suppose that was always the plan.

Kerry

 Yep, we are screwed!  I am really glad I had my DS, because WLS will now no longer be covered next year on my plan. Companies will not be able to afford to provide private insurance to their employees in the next few years.  We will all be forced to go on the gov't plan.  Welcome to LapCorp style healthcare...I was told by friend of a Canadian, that the Canadians are depressed about losing access to our great healthcare.

Losing access to your great healthcare??? LMAO

 Then how come so many come here for our healthcare, including your prime minister???  

Isn't that like assuming that medical care is better in Brazil because so many DSers go there?  Sometimes people are seeking a particular doctor for a particular reason.  It's not a reflection on the health care of the entire country.

But this is:

The World Health Organization's ranking
of the world's health systems.
Source: WHO World Health Report - See also Spreadsheet Details (731kb)

The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems was last produced in 2000, and the WHO no longer produces such a ranking table, because of the complexity of the task.

Rank       Country 

1         France
2         Italy
3         San Marino
4         Andorra
5         Malta
6         Singapore
7         Spain
8         Oman
9         Austria
10        Japan
11        Norway
12        Portugal
13        Monaco
14        Greece
15        Iceland
16        Luxembourg
17        Netherlands
18        United  Kingdom
19        Ireland
20        Switzerland
21        Belgium
22        Colombia
23        Sweden
24        Cyprus
25        Germany
26        Saudi Arabia
27        United  Arab  Emirates
28        Israel
29        Morocco
30        Canada
31        Finland
32        Australia
33        Chile
34        Denmark
35        Dominica
36        Costa Rica
37        United States of America
38        Slovenia
39        Cuba
40        Brunei
41        New Zealand
42        Bahrain
43        Croatia
44        Qatar
45        Kuwait
46        Barbados
47        Thailand
48        Czech Republic
49        Malaysia
50        Poland
51        Dominican Republic
52        Tunisia
53        Jamaica
54        Venezuela
55        Albania
56        Seychelles
57        Paraguay
58        South     Korea
59        Senegal
60        Philippines
61        Mexico
62        Slovakia
63        Egypt
64        Kazakhstan
65        Uruguay
66        Hungary
67        Trinidad and Tobago
68        Saint     Lucia
69        Belize
70        Turkey
71        Nicaragua
72        Belarus
73        Lithuania
74        Saint Vincent  and the   Grenadines
75        Argentina
76        Sri  Lanka
77        Estonia
78        Guatemala
79        Ukraine
80        Solomon   Islands
81        Algeria
82        Palau
83        Jordan
84        Mauritius
85        Grenada
86        Antigua   and Barbuda
87        Libya
88        Bangladesh
89        Macedonia
90        Bosnia-Herzegovina
91        Lebanon
92        Indonesia
93        Iran
94        Bahamas
95        Panama
96        Fiji
97        Benin
98        Nauru
99        Romania
100       Saint Kitts and Nevis
101       Moldova
102       Bulgaria
103       Iraq
104       Armenia
105       Latvia
106       Yugoslavia
107       Cook Islands
108       Syria
109       Azerbaijan
110       Suriname
111       Ecuador
112       India
113       Cape Verde
114       Georgia
115       El   Salvador
116       Tonga
117       Uzbekistan
118       Comoros
119       Samoa
120       Yemen
121       Niue
122       Pakistan
123       Micronesia
124       Bhutan
125       Brazil
126       Bolivia
127       Vanuatu
128       Guyana
129       Peru
130       Russia
131       Honduras
132       Burkina   Faso
133       Sao Tome and Principe
134       Sudan
135       Ghana
136       Tuvalu
137       Ivory Coast
138       Haiti
139       Gabon
140       Kenya
141       Marshall Islands
142       Kiribati
143       Burundi
144       China
145       Mongolia
146       Gambia
147       Maldives
148       Papua New Guinea
149       Uganda
150       Nepal
151       Kyrgystan
152       Togo
153       Turkmenistan
154       Tajikistan
155       Zimbabwe
156       Tanzania
157       Djibouti
158       Eritrea
159       Madagascar
160       Vietnam
161       Guinea
162       Mauritania
163       Mali
164       Cameroon
165       Laos
166       Congo
167       North Korea
168       Namibia
169       Botswana
170       Niger
171       Equatorial Guinea
172       Rwanda
173       Afghanistan
174       Cambodia
175       South     Africa
176       Guinea-Bissau
177       Swaziland
178       Chad
179       Somalia
180       Ethiopia
181       Angola
182       Zambia
183       Lesotho
184       Mozambique
185       Malawi
186       Liberia
187       Nigeria
188       Democratic Republic of   the Congo
189       Central   African   Republic
190       Myanmar










www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

 I believe that the WHO is talking about access, not technological superiority.   And, you tell me, why would the Canadian Prime Minister come to the USA to have heart surgery????

Do you know how many Canadians come to the US to have something done here, they pay cash, because they can't get what they need in Canada.  A man I know came here for hip replacement, because he has been on a waiting list for 3 years, told it might be another 2.  He came to Chicago, paid cash, had it done within the week.

Universal Health Care is no good if you have to wait for a procedure that you need now.  I am a social worker, and I can tell you, I have never seen a poor person have to wait for care.  It is my middle class friends who are uninsurable who have issues.  And that is where the problem is...That is why we needed reform, which, I do feel we did not get.  Yes, we have big problems with insurance companies.  I agree.  

In a few years maybe ONLY Canadians will be able to afford to use US health care.

Americans will be going to Mexico or doing without.

The WHO rated based on several things...like access and preventable deaths and that kind of thing.  Well, the Canadians here seem okay with their system, but it isn't really relevant to the Health Care Bill changes, since we are not going to a Single Payer system like they have.

And they pay cash here and can get ANYTHING done here...you may have noticed that many people who are truly iffy in terms of being able to deal with any wls seem to get surgery...even those who don't know what they had.  Have you met Saved Baptist on the MB?  And then there was the lap band chick several years ago who didn't realize they were going to cut into her...duh.  And in L.A. you cannot escape the commercials for 1-800-get thin...they are still selling lap bands...in spite of the suspended license of one of the brother doctors and the dead patients.  But if you have cash or insurance that will cover it, you're in.

I think that the difference is like when I couldn't have behind the wheel Driver's Ed when I was in High School.  They ordered class by age...oldest kids first.  I didn't turn 16 until the January of my senior year and there were still older kids (juniors, but older) than I was right up until I graduated from high school.  I wanted the class.  I felt I was owed the class.  But I wasn't really going to suffer any damage without it.  So, like that highly publicized case where the woman swore she'd go blind and Canada wouldn't do her surgery...and then we found out that her version of her ailment was not at all what the Canadian doctors had to say...and she came here and paid cash and had surgery right away...she could have waited with no damage.  She just didn't want to and had the cash to do otherwise. 

Ah yes the WHO. And why is it that this "ranking" is 10 years old? From the ranking page here is the quote:

"The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems was last produced in 2000, and the WHO no longer produces such a ranking table, because of the complexity of the task."

I couldn't see how they came to these conclusions or rankings, so they're really meaningless. Are they ranked according to cash cost? Government costs? Taxpayer Costs? Where does the quality of the actual care fit into how these rankings were arrived at? etc. The list begs the answers to these and many more questions so one would know how to use the ranking; as it is displayed, it's less than useless.

This is something the lefties always quote when they're trying to shove universal health care down our throat, but as I said, it has no real world meaning; it's just a left wing talking point.

That being said, I do not like what we have now and I didn't like what we had before Obamacare. Changes need to be made, but what we got was nothing but a huge government power grab. We were lied to and are going to be paying for these lies for a very long time to come IMO.

I just hope every one of the liars who tried to sell this mess get thrown out in November and that the newly elected folks have the guts to repeal the mess and really do something that would help. I don't have much hope that this will happen, but I can dream.

Kerry 

It probably has real meaning if a family member was one of the dead people.  It takes a while to compile the figures.  The links take you to the methodology.


How about a little more recent:

www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

And this isn't as old:

www.allcountries.org/ranks/preventable_deaths_country_ranks_1997-1998_2002-2003_2008.html

And here's a more recent comparison of six countries...Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom...and we're in sixth place for outcome and in first place for spending.

www.commonwealthfund.org/Content/Publications/Fund-Reports/2 007/May/Mirror--Mirror-on-the-Wall--An-International-Update- on-the-Comparative-Performance-of-American-Healt.aspx

I've had health care in a few countries.  There are good and bad in all of them.  Our daughter lived with a Danish family for a semester in college.  The dad in that family was a doctor.  He thought differently about health care--and taxes--than most American doctors do.  But when we visited there, one of his patients, a very elderly woman, died.  We had plans for dinner out that night and we all had to sit in the car and wait while he went to the family's home and offered condolences and answered any questions they had.  He truly cared.

He didn't make a ton of money. The government told him where his office would be located.  He paid a much higher percentage of his income in taxes than we did.  But you know...he had more money and more time off and fewer headaches than most American doctors do.  He KNEW he'd have an income and a retirement income.  He KNEW his kids could go to college.  He KNEW he could have six weeks off every year for mental health purposes.   He KNEW that none of his patients were eating cat food so they could afford meds...or doing without meds.  And, with all this government interference, Danes eat LOTS of butter and rank highest on the "Happiness Scale," whatever that is.   It may have to do with the fact that Danish parents don't have to "sacrifice" for their kids and so their kids end up less neurotic.  Or it could be all the beer.  Either way, it works for millions of people....there and all over the world.

In fact, now that my idiot father died, I'm getting my Italian citizenship paperwork out so that I can get that documented and my kid--when traveling--can have access to a least minimal health care when in Europe.