34 Matching Annotations
  1. Aug 2019
    1. To be successful, Medicare for all and related proposals will likelyneed the support of the physician and hospital communities, whichhave yet to broadly back these proposals in part due to the uncer-tainty around prices.

      Doctors need financial security just as much as the construction workers do. It seems obvious that they would not want voters to choose cutting their pay.

    2. If prices were set at 200% ofMedicare levels, prices for some services would decline but otherswould increase.

      This seems only natural. There has to be a balance somewhere.

    3. While guaranteeing access to necessary care for all pa-tients is an important and laudable outcome, the increased potentialfor overutilization,

      It is only logical that if you let somebody have a free service, they will use it as much as they can,

    4. Reducing commercial prices to the level of Medicare priceswould, at first glance and without any adjustment, sub-stantially reduce the total cost of health care in the UnitedStates through lower total revenues for physicians andhospitals.

      I can see why it is such a struggle to bring down. If i worked in a hospital, i would not appreciate a pay cut like that.

    5. Hospital prices demonstrate a qualitatively similar pat-tern, with commercial prices for hospital inpatient care av-eraging about 200% of Medicare levels and those for hos-pital outpatient services nearly 300% of Medicare.

      What makes hospitals so expensive? It seems this would be hard to pay for.

    6. Commer-cial prices in network ranged from roughly 100% to morethan 300% of Medicare levels,

      Commercial insurance looks pricey!

    1. Sen. Bernie Sanders

      Supporters of the "Single-payers" method.

    2. In 2017, Canadians were on waiting lists for an estimated 1,040,791 total procedures. Often, wait times are lengthy. For example, the median wait time for arthroplastic surgery (hip, knee, ankle, shoulder) ranges from 20 weeks to 52 weeks. In the British National Health Service, cancelations are common. Last year, the National Health Service canceled 84,827 elective operations in England for nonclinical reasons on the day the patient was due to arrive. The same year, it canceled 4,076 urgent operations in England, including 154 urgent operations canceled two or more times. Times of high illness are a key driver in this problem. For instance, in flu season, the National Health Service canceled 50,000 “non-urgent” surgeries. In Canada, private insurance is outlawed (as it would be under Sanders’ proposal). In 2017, “an estimated 63,459 Canadians received non-emergency medical treatment outside Canada.” In Britain, private insurance is permitted—but it is an additional cost to the taxes that British citizens pay for the National Health Service. Escaping the system is an option for the wealthy, or for those who are willing to forego other expenditures to get the care they want or need.

      A system cannot conduct healing, and refuses to take care of the sick. This has a great deal to do with humanity, and deviations from health care.

    3. exacerbated

      A bad system already exists, and they once again set up a similarly bad system without improving its nature.

    4. The tax burden would be enormous, roughly doubling the current tax obligations for today’s taxpayers. One funding option Sanders proposes is a 7.5 percent payroll tax, plus a 4 percent income tax on all Americans, as well as a wide variety of specialized taxes on investments and taxes targeted to higher-income Americans.

      According to the analysis above, it can be said that the "Single-payer" system aims to reduce costs for users but ultimately has a higher tax rate than the conventional healthcare system.

    5. Under the Sanders proposal, for example, cost control is secured by a global budget and by imposing Medicare payment rates. Blahous, a former Medicare trustee, estimates that under the Sanders proposal, provider payments would be cut by an estimated 40 percent by usingMedicare payment rates. Using Medicare payment rates throughout the entire American health care economy would hurt patients. Already, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects that “nearly half of hospitals, approximately two-thirds of skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), and over 8 percent of home health agencies (HHAs) would have negative total facility margins.”

      The system does not keep a balance between suppliers and consumers. Make up the economy of health care disorders.

    6. The Urban Institute estimates 10-year spending of $32 trillion, only about half of which would be covered under Sanders’ funding options Mercatus Center’s Charles Blahous estimates a 10-year $32.6 trillion increase in federal spending. Even “doubling all currently projected federal individual and corporate income tax collections would be insufficient to finance the added federal costs of the plan.” Economist Kenneth Thorpe of Emory University estimates $24.7 trillion in additional federal spending, and also estimates an average deficit of $1.1 trillion per year. The Center for Health and Economy estimates a 10-year net cost of up to $44 trillion, and an annual deficit of $2.1 trillion.

      The estimated costs given by the institutes proved that the "Single-payer" system could not work properly, and it also made the United States a heavy loss.

    7. The cost of a single-payer system would depend upon its design, benefit levels, and scope of coverage.

      It is impossible to provide a specific costing method, but only general methods. How is design dependent? What is the benefit level of? and the range means the limit of the "Single-payer" system?

    8. His planwould finance the national insurance program through a combination of payroll and income taxes, and it would replace private and employer-sponsored health insurance and existing government health programs—including Medicare itself.

      Is that means banning the activities of private insurance companies, and using only a single-payer health care system while everyone is robbed of jobs and becoming poor?

    9. A “single-payer” health system is a government-controlled health care system. Government is the “single-payer.” In most versions of single-payer, most private health insurance is either outlawed or restricted, and most public health programs are absorbed into the single, national health insurance program.

      Explain the "Single-payer" system.

    10. What Is Single-Payer?

      The question is about the meaning of "Single-payer".

    11. Would Taxes Go Up Under Single-Payer? The tax burden would be enormous, roughly doubling the current tax obligations for today’s taxpayers. One funding option Sanders proposes is a 7.5 percent payroll tax, plus a 4 percent income tax on all Americans, as well as a wide variety of specialized taxes on investments and taxes targeted to higher-income Americans. (He outlines these tax proposals as options, but they are not included in the latest version of his bill.)

      I agree with the proposal of having specialized taxes on higher income individuals, although with the increase in taxes we would experience anyways, it seems that this would be hard to support.

    12. Medicare fails to effectively control waste, fraud, and abuse in the program. This failure of administration results in the staggering loss of tens of billions of taxpayer dollars each and every year. Private-sector health plans, policing their billing, have no comparable record in accumulating such enormous losses.

      This would be a good reason to lean toward private health care. People who abuse the system contribute a massive debt to our nation.

    13. Mercatus Center’s Charles Blahous estimates a 10-year $32.6 trillion increase in federal spending. Even “doubling all currently projected federal individual and corporate income tax collections would be insufficient to finance the added federal costs of the plan.”

      If doubling the current federal tax is not sufficient to compensate for the increased federal spending, then it cannot be sustained by taxpayers. Debt will rise.

    14. The cost of a single-payer system would depend upon its design, benefit levels, and scope of coverage. In the case of Sanders’ proposal, estimates consistently show that the plan would impose dramatic obligations on the federal taxpayer, and that the proposal would incur substantial annual deficits.

      This makes sense, as one can only be taxed so much before it becomes an incredible burden.

    15. His planwould finance the national insurance program through a combination of payroll and income taxes, and it would replace private and employer-sponsored health insurance and existing government health programs—including Medicare itself.

      Unless the tax was heavier on wall street than it is on lower and middle class citizens, the tax rates would cripple the average american, leaving little money to take home, and leaving consumers with no options.

    16. A “single-payer” health system is a government-controlled health care system. Government is the “single-payer.” In most versions of single-payer, most private health insurance is either outlawed or restricted, and most public health programs are absorbed into the single, national health insurance program.

      This would completely monopolize healthcare.

  2. doc-0k-c0-docs.googleusercontent.com doc-0k-c0-docs.googleusercontent.com
    1. Medicare: Created in 1965, this federal program provides health insurance for roughly 60 million elderly and disabled Americans. It covers hospitalization, rehabilitation and doctors' visits, but not vision, hearing, dental and long-term care

      This seems like a waste of a perfectly good policy, as vision, hearing, dental, and long term care is essential for longevity with a good quality of living

    2. Since 2008, average family premiums have increased 55%, twice as fast as workers' earnings and three times as fast as inflation, according to Kaiser

      This increase will not be sustainable for the average consumer in the near future.

    3. . Annual premiums for a family plan cost almost $20,000, on average, last year,with workers contributing about $5,550 and employers paying the rest, according to another Kaiser survey

      That is a LOT of money!

    4. Three-quarters of the public have favorable views of work-based coverage, according to a new poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Of those with such plans, 86% rate their coverage as either "excellent" or "good."

      This can be good if you are certain you will remain employed at the same workplace for many years. Through experience however, job changes have left us without insurance and unable to pay to go to the doctor.

    5. Nursing home and other institutional services would be covered under Medicaid.

      This portion would help elderly, who are let down by Social Security because it does not account for inflation.

    6. CNN)Health care has emerged as a key fault line for Democrats. All of them want to make changes, but their plans vary widely

      This struggle between the two parties makes progress slower.

    1. Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP)

      Physicians for a National Health Program it is an advocacy organization of more than 20,000 American physicians, medical students, health professionals that support a universal, comprehensive single-payer national health insurance program.

    2. Gallup

      Gallup is an American analytics and advisory company. Also, it is a private employee-owned Founded by George Gallup based in Washington, D.C. in 1935.

    3. American Nurses Association

      American Nurse Association (ANA) is the professional organization that started in 1896 as the Nurse associated alumnae was renamed to American Nurse Association in 1911

    4. "Bill Clinton Holding His Health Care Plan,"

      The Clinton health care plan was a healthcare reform package plan created in January 1993. The plan proposed by President Bill Clinton and the First Lady of the United States Hillary Clinton.

    5. The United States is one of the world's only developed nations that does not guarantee universal health coverage for its citizens.

      the reason is because the companies who run medical care are so expensive ( hospitals . doctors . medication )

    6. The average annual cost of health care for the typical US family of four was over $20,000,

      According to the Milliman medical index ( MMI ), in 2019, the cost of healthcare for an American family of four covered by an average employer with organization (PPO) plan is $28,386