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The Vermont Senate has followed the House by passing legislation that would create the first steps toward a single-payor health system, according to a Bloomberg Businessweek report.
The legislation, which is supported by Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, would set up a healthcare coverage exchange and a universal health insurance program for the state. The differences in the Senate and House bills are expected to be worked out in conference committee, according to the report.
Vermont Senate Passes Legislation That Moves State Toward Single-Payor Health System | News & Analysis
Was listening to a debate on NPR on this issue this morning as I was driving to schol. The article isn't too big on details but I'm sure a bit more googling give anyone who's interested deeper insight into the situation and what the legislation covers.
Wonder if there's an opt-out option if you want to maintain private coverage.
Just going on what I heard this morning, I didn't hear any mention of it on the radio but I guess that doesn't necessarily mean it won't exist.
Wonder if there's an opt-out option if you want to maintain private coverage.
You can't opt out, why would you want to do that? Mother Government will care for you. Whether you want her too or NOT.
Not that I can imagine mandatory pay-outs into the "single payer" system AND private insurance premiums would be ideal for most people...
I wouldn't be opposed to it, as long as it was understood that if the person's plan did not pay for something, then the state would not pick up the tab, even if it killed them (with the exception being children as they should not be punished for their parent's stupidity)
I was on Medicaid as a child/teen, before they created SCHIP. It wasn't great. I don't want anything remotely close to it again, if I can help it.
This, except for the child clause. Also, if I still have to pony up I should be able to change my mind and use it if I so please (not that I would). If the opt-out allows me to also opt-out of paying then I agree, except, again, for the child clause.
I couldn't get a sonogram done on Medicaid because it was "unnecessary" according to the nifty flow chart the doctor had. Instead of diagnosing gall stones at 12 when the symptoms arose I had to wait until I was 16 and had "real" insurance to get somebody to run tests. I'll deal with insurance and their denials. I'll pay off hospital bills when I have to. I've had the alternative and I didn't like it.
It wasn't great, but you were cared for if you were sick. Now I'm not here to advocate the single payer system as the ONLY option, but I do see severe problems with our healthcare system as it exists now. I find it ridiculous that we, as a supposedly passionate country, profit off of our sick. I also find it ridiculous that people are willing to exploit our social programs as is common in health, welfare, and unemployment.
That's the thing. I wasn't cared for. Not many facilities accepted the program except ERs, and those that did had long waiting lists to get in. My problems weren't diagnosed and other illness were often just simply over looked.
I understand and disagree with those practices. Honestly I don't know enough about the ins and outs of the medical billing business to say with any certainty that there is any one right way. I however know of many people who have had coverage problems with private insurance as well. At the end of the day though, I find healthcare and education to be our biggest priorities in this country and find it ridiculous that many have had to give up ones livelihood just to live. Again, I don't know how to fix this problem, which is why I won't advocate something I don't understand strongly enough. I also believe that people need to get their priorities in order. Many CAN afford insurance but choose not to, opting for new cars, flat screen tv's and houses a quarter of a million dollars out of their budget. At the end of the day, I don't think anything will change in this country unless we have a serious look at our priorities.
I had to straighten out my priorities recently. I'm only 21. I used to be pretty athletic when I was younger, but now I'm borderline overweight. I'm suffering from borderline hypertension, high cholesterol, a fatty liver from eating too much junk. I made a lifestyle change. It all starts with the individual.
Surgeons say patients in some parts of England have spent months waiting in pain because of delayed operations or new restrictions on who qualifies for treatment. In several areas routine surgery was put on hold for months, while in many others new thresholds for hip and knee replacements have been introduced. The moves are part of the NHS drive to find £20bn efficiency savings by 2015. The government said performance should be measured by outcomes not numbers.
Surgeons have described the delays faced by patients as "devastating and cruel". Peter Kay, the president of the British Orthopaedic Association (BOA), says they've become increasingly frustrated that hip and knee replacements are being targeted as a way of finding savings. GPs were told not so send as many patients to hospital, maybe to delay referrals until the end of the financial year while perhaps introducing thresholds for surgery.
Overall, 692 surgeons in England sent the BBC information about the policy on hip and knee replacement of their local Primary Care Trust (PCT). Between them they covered the majority of PCTs in England. 106 surgeons told the BBC routine operations had been put on hold in their area. Others described new limits on when patients qualify for hip or knee replacements. 152 specialists said patients now have to be more disabled or in greater pain, and 118 told us hip and knee surgery had been regarded as a procedure of low priority.
A number of PCTs have been explicit about their decisions to put all routine operations on hold for several months up to April to help balance their budgets by the end of the financial year. They include Warrington, Sheffield, Eastern and Coastal Kent, Bury and Warwickshire. Alex Waring, a patient in Warwickshire, was told he was being referred for an urgent knee replacement in August of last year. Now he looks at that letter with bewilderment as more than seven months later he is still waiting for surgery. Mr Waring has already had one successful knee replacement and says he is in daily pain waiting for this second operation. "It's excruciating sometimes to put it mildly. And it affects you at the times when you're not expecting it. I get off my mobile scooter and nearly fall over because my knee is gone, the pain, you've to sit there until the pain just goes away."
Putting routine operations on hold means that GPs simply stop referring their patients for surgery. So although a patient might be waiting longer, this isn't recorded in the official waiting statistics. Another way of adding invisible waiting time into the system is to implement stricter new criteria which have the effect of delaying the point when a patient can be referred for treatment. An investigation by the BBC also found evidence in many PCT board papers of new thresholds being added for hip and knee replacements.
I understand and disagree with those practices. Honestly I don't know enough about the ins and outs of the medical billing business to say with any certainty that there is any one right way. I however know of many people who have had coverage problems with private insurance as well. At the end of the day though, I find healthcare and education to be our biggest priorities in this country and find it ridiculous that many have had to give up ones livelihood just to live. Again, I don't know how to fix this problem, which is why I won't advocate something I don't understand strongly enough. I also believe that people need to get their priorities in order. Many CAN afford insurance but choose not to, opting for new cars, flat screen tv's and houses a quarter of a million dollars out of their budget. At the end of the day, I don't think anything will change in this country unless we have a serious look at our priorities.
The "living within your means" argument. What stuns me into silence is the people who whole-heartedly believe that they have a natural born right to new cars, big homes, flat screens, a luxury boat, etc. Those people who stand in front of their flat screens and video games systems for an interview scheduled so they can complain about a lack of electricity vouchers...it turns me off to the whole system. Perhaps mandatory classes on money management and priorities are in order for those using the system to "survive". Or, maybe a societal shift in values away from materialistic crap?
To idealistic, right?
^^This
It would have to be a drastic cultural change though. Materialism is ingrained in our consumer culture.
You ain't kidding. It drives me crazy sometimes. I'm a money hoarder and it drives my boyfriend crazy. I'll have a few thousand in savings and half that in the bank, but to me that's "broke". Meanwhile he'll keep a couple hundred for emergencies and spend the rest on crap we don't need or don't have room for...just to own it.
I'm Asian, and it's a general stereotype that Asians are super-cheap. My dad is an example of the exact opposite of what your boyfriend is. Instead of buying new things every once in awhile he'll collect used junk just to have it. He's using a desktop computer that's more than a decade old and runs windows 2000. He's worn the same clothes for like 10 years. He got a fish tank off a listing on craigslist just because someone didn't want their fishtank anymore. And he decided to have pet fish AFTER he got a fish tank. That's like deciding to start a family because you bought a minivan.
The "living within your means" argument. What stuns me into silence is the people who whole-heartedly believe that they have a natural born right to new cars, big homes, flat screens, a luxury boat, etc. Those people who stand in front of their flat screens and video games systems for an interview scheduled so they can complain about a lack of electricity vouchers...it turns me off to the whole system. Perhaps mandatory classes on money management and priorities are in order for those using the system to "survive". Or, maybe a societal shift in values away from materialistic crap?
To idealistic, right?
Vermont Senate Passes Legislation That Moves State Toward Single-Payor Health System | News & Analysis
Was listening to a debate on NPR on this issue this morning as I was driving to schol. The article isn't too big on details but I'm sure a bit more googling give anyone who's interested deeper insight into the situation and what the legislation covers.
Vermont Senate Passes Legislation That Moves State Toward Single-Payor Health System | News & Analysis
Was listening to a debate on NPR on this issue this morning as I was driving to schol. The article isn't too big on details but I'm sure a bit more googling give anyone who's interested deeper insight into the situation and what the legislation covers.
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