USA health care

[vbo man]

NY Times: Obama Signs Health Care Overhaul Bill, With a Flourish

    With the strokes of 20 pens, President Obama signed his health care overhaul -- the most sweeping social legislation enacted in decades -- into law on Tuesday during a festive, at times raucous, White House ceremony.

    "We have just now enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their health care," Mr. Obama declared in the East Room, before an audience of more than 200 Democratic lawmakers, White House aides and others who rode a yearlong legislative roller-coaster ride that ended with Sunday night's House passage of the bill. They interrupted him repeatedly with shouts and standing ovations.

    Moments later, the president sat down at a table, and affixed his left-handed, curlicue signature, almost letter by letter, to the measure, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, using 20 pens that he intended to pass out to key lawmakers and others as mementoes.

[Tromotorac]

Health Care Law Signals US Empire Decline

http://www.cnbc.com/id/36013573

[Tromotorac]

Skyrocketing Massachusetts health costs could foreshadow high price of ObamaCare

Posted By Aleksandra Kulczuga On Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

When Mitt Romney criticized [1] the Obama health-care program earlier this week, leading Democrats responded by pointing out that, as governor of Massachusetts several years ago, Romney himself presided over the enactment of strikingly similar reforms. RomneyCare and ObamaCare aren't so different, Democrats argued. If you liked one, you can't attack the other.

Fair enough. So how is the Massachusetts health-care system these days?

Like the bill that President Obama signed on Sunday, the 2006 Massachusetts plan was sold to voters on the now-familiar promise that it would reduce costs and lower unnecessary emergency room visits. That's not what happened.

Since the bill became law, the state's total direct health-care spending has increased by a remarkable 52 percent. Medicaid spending has gone from less than $6 billion a year to more the $9 billion. Many consumers have seen double-digit percentage increases in their premiums.

Even more striking, the 2006 law has done little to ease the burden on emergency rooms, a central goal of all heath care reform plans. A report by the Boston Globe [2]found that in the first two years of the program, the state's ER costs actually rose by 17 percent. "They said that ER visits would drop by 75 percent, and it hasn't been even close to that," said State Treasurer Tim Cahill, who is currently running for governor as an Independent. "It hasn't changed people's habits. It hasn't been successful at getting people to use less expensive alternatives."

According to Cahill, Massachusetts is still afloat thanks only to generous federal subsidies, Medicaid waivers and gobs of recent stimulus money. "I'm worried that now that this national plan has passed, some of that federal money will start drying up — that the feds might tell us, 'No, sorry you can't have this money because we have to go cover Texas now,'" Cahill told The Daily Caller.

Hospitals, particularly those that serve the poor, have lost so much money under the plan that a number of them are now suing the state in an effort to stay in business. "While health-care reform has brought the state closer to universal coverage," a group of six Massachusetts hospitals filing suit explained in a recent statement, "the unintended consequence of that success is many ... hospitals are experiencing significant shortfalls in payments as they treat additional patients whose public insurance doesn't cover the full cost of care."

The problem is not unique to Massachusetts; hospitals around the country have battled state governments over reimbursement rates for years. But there's no question the 2006 law has made things worse. One prominent teaching hospital in the state, Boston Medical College, filed suit earlier in the year, claiming vastly increased caseloads and a state reimbursement rate of only 64 cents on the dollar, leading to an annual shortfall of $181 million.

The problem, the hospitals allege, is that the state has diverted funds from reimbursements to prop up health plans for the uninsured. Under state law, those plans must in effect be "Cadillac" models, loaded with mandates for costly nonessentials like in-vitro fertility treatment. The plans are expensive, and therefore heavily subsidized. Hospitals are bearing much of the cost.

"Massachusetts changed everything about the health-care debate because the one thing about Massachusetts that actually worked well was getting people coverage," said Kevin Wrege, a former Massachusetts state insurance regulator and president of Pulse Issues and Advocacy who consults with the Council for Affordable Health Insurance. "If you provide it and it's free or near free, people will come. The problem is that the costs in Massachusetts are stunningly high."

So what does this mean for the rest of the country, now that the Obama administration has imposed a similar plan on the rest of us? "Massachusetts," said Wrege, "is the canary in the coal mine."


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Article printed from The Daily Caller – Breaking News, Opinion, Research, and Entertainment: http://dailycaller.com

URL to article: http://dailycaller.com/2010/03/23/skyrocketing-massachusetts-health-costs-could-foreshadow-high-price-of-obamacare

[zagor te nej]

Eh, mi smo onda pukli jos posle kreiranja Social Security administracije...a to je inace bio period najveceg kreiranja bogatstva u istoriji. Ovaj zakon nije promenio fakticki nista, samo je uveo u legalni okvir nacin placanja medicinskih usluga za one koji ih deceniijama dobijaju, a ne placaju. Ista realnost, pomerena iz sive zone. I to je to. Porediti MA i federalnu vlast je kao porediti pistolj na vodu i krstaricu. Svi big guns za smanjivanje cena su u DCju...Medicare, Medicaid, bulk buying. Nijedna drzava separatno nema nacina da utice na cene. Citav sistem moze itekako. I samo gledaj kako ce osiguravajuca drustva da kresu troskove sad kad im je ukidanje prava osiguranicima ukinuto kao mogucnost za odrzavanje profitabilnosti.
Ja se slazem sa osnovnim postavkama zakona, posebno sa obaveznim osiguranjem.

[Tromotorac]

Arhiviraj ovu izjavu, pa da je pogledamo za 10 godina.

[zagor te nej]

Jesi video sta je bilo sa akcijama bolnica, farmaceutskih kompanija i osiguravajucih drustava posle usvajanja zakona?

[Tromotorac]

Nemoj da se pravis sad polupismen, kad razumes o cemu se radi bolje nego 99% ljudi. Akcije koje pominjes reflektuju short term trend, brzu zaradu. Sledeca 2 kvartala. Na dalje staze, ne bas.

Bice ukrupljanvanja, mergera privatnih praksi, bolnice idu u Chapter 11, insurance industrija nestaje za 2-3 godine.

[zagor te nej]

A pa gresis iz dva razloga - prvo, estimated earnings za sledecu godinu su reflektovana u ceni akcija, zato i imas fluktuacije, pozitivne ili negativne u zavisnosti od toga sta tu brojevi u poredjenju sa ocekivanjima. Zakon ne menja nista merljivo u dolarima najmanje godinu dana ionako. Drugo, ova akcija u cenama reflektuje novih 30,000,000 korisnika koji ce biti paying customers.  Bolnicama idu najvece beneficije citave price, jer vise nece pruzati usluge neosiguranima za dzabe sve uz nadu da ce nekome (drzavi, uglavnom) u jednom trenutku u buducnosti da naplate deo cene, zato i jesu najvise skocile ovih dana.
Inace sam ubedjen milijardu posto da GOP nikad nece ni probati da ukine ovaj zakon.

[Tromotorac]

30M paying customers? Mislis valjda taxpayers covering 30M new patients. Mala razlika ;)

GOP ovo nece moci da promeni bez svog predsednika i vecine u oba doma. Znaci slabe sanse, i ne pre 2013 ako ikad. Najverovatnije bice usrana motka.

Ja trenutno vidim oko sebe frenzy - svi idu u medical field, nadajuci se lekarskim, RN platama kakve su danas. Ja ocekujem da ce zdravstvo da bude zasrano kao i sve drugo, sa puno sindikalnog mesanja, strajkova, Ch 11., i substandard kvaliteta na kakav se ovaj narod nije navikao kad je u pitanju zdravstvo. Jednom recju bice sve usrano, da nece moci nikako da se opere.

[zagor te nej]

ja ti opet kazem, tih 30m placamo mi sada ionako, vec deceniijama, po najvisim cenama, bez bargaining power-a grupe, koji recimo ima Blue Cross koji pregovara sa bolnicama i lekarima u ime miliona korisnika koje predstavlja..mislim, ludilo skroz. Plus, to je ekipa koja uopste ne koristi preventivnu medicinu koja ne kosta skoro nista, nego zavrsavaju u hitnoj pomoci sa sistemskim bolestima u poslednjim fazama kada je lecenje najduze i najskuplje.  A medju tih 30,000,000 ima ko zna koliko free raidera koji imaju od cega ali nece da kupe osiguranje.. a sad ce morati.

[Tromotorac]

Sta je incentive za tih 30m da promene svoj lifestile? Da li ih ista udara po dzepu da pocnu sa preventivnom? Garantujem ti da ce ista ekipa da nastavi da ide u emergency room kad treba, nece placati ni co-pay, nista. Mali % njih ce se odnositi odgovorno, vecina nece. Da su odgovorni, ne bi bili u toj 30M grupi.

Sada su mnoge bolnice su u Ch11 jer im nisu naplaceni racuni za servise koje su zakonski obavezni da obavljaju, a ubuduce bice u Ch11 zato sto ce insurance kompanije da im smanje uplate za servise koje su zakonski obavezni da obavljaju. Same shit.

[alan ford]

Ja ocekujem da ce zdravstvo da bude zasrano kao i sve drugo, sa puno sindikalnog mesanja, strajkova, Ch 11., i substandard kvaliteta na kakav se ovaj narod nije navikao kad je u pitanju zdravstvo. Jednom recju bice sve usrano, da nece moci nikako da se opere.

mi izgleda zivimo u potpuno drugim drzavama. Moje iskustvo je da se lekarski pregledi za nesto ozbiljnije zakazuju nedeljama unapred, cesto i mescecima, da je usluga osrednja, da se pribegava manje riskantnijim metodama cak i kada efektivnije postoje, kvalitet je osrednji itd. Slicno cujem od vecine poznanika amerikanaca sa kojima se druzim tako da ne mislim da ce doci do pada standarda. Cak sta vise moze samo da skoci, mada i u to sumnjam.

[Tromotorac]

Alane, da mi zaista zivimo u razlicitim drzavama. Plus, idemo u privatne prakse, koje se medjusobno razlikuju i unutar iste drzave.

[slawen]

GOP ovo nece moci da promeni bez svog predsednika i vecine u oba doma. Znaci slabe sanse, i ne pre 2013 ako ikad. Najverovatnije bice usrana motka.

Ne, vec nece hteti da menja. Vlasti se niko ne odriche dobrovoljno. A sjediniti politichku i ekonomsku vlast / pa to je sjajno ostvarenje, vidi kako Putin, i mi cemo tako....

[Tromotorac]

17,000 novih IRS agenata, pa to je citava divizija.

[vbo man]

insurance industrija nestaje za 2-3 godine.

Evo ovde u Australiji nije nestala i pored public osiguranja...Shta vishe chini mi se da im dobro ide.
Zashto bi ti nastavili da idu u Emergency kad je vec bolest poodmakla kad ce sad moci da odu pravo kod GP-a chim se ne osecaju dobro? Koliko sam shvatila poseta GP-u je u USI papreno skupa ako nemash osiguranje. Prichala mi prijateljica koja je sa NZ otishla da zivi u USU. Ona je imala osiguranje ali je videla kako izgleda kad ga nemash na drugima i prokomentarisala: "Shto se zdravstva tiche za milione Amerikanaca Afrika je bolja".
Zdravstvo na NZ nije bilo ni prineti Australiskom. Tamo si sam placao chgak i GP-a ako nisi isho u emergency. Masa nije mogla da povede doktoru npr. troje dece sa upalom uha...mnoga su deca oshtecena tako.
Videcete , ako to bude lichilo na Australisko bice to dosta dobro...

[Tromotorac]

GP nije skup. Testovi su skupi. A GP mora da nabiberci testove, da bi se zastitio od lawsuits. Go figure.

[vbo man]

Violent threats over US health votes

...Top Democratic US lawmakers called in police and the FBI after House members who voted for historic health care reform received violent threats and obscene, abusive messages.
Democratic House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said more than 10 Democratic lawmakers had reported incidents since Sunday's vote, some of which he described as "very serious" without giving details.
 
Lawmakers stepped up their security, as one senior Democrat reported bricks had been thrown through the windows of her home district office.
 
Democratic Representative Bart Stupak, who brokered a deal clearing the way for some fellow anti-abortion lawmakers to vote for the legislation, received a fax with a noose and the caption "all Baby Killers come to unseemly ends Either by the hand of man or by the Hand of God."
 
The abusive tone of some of the threats as well as incidents of violence have clearly shaken lawmakers as they prepare to head home this weekend for a spring recess.
 
Stupak's office received a voicemail in which an irate man declares: "You baby-killing motherfucker. You turncoat son of a bitch piece of shit. I hope you bleed out your ass, get cancer and die."
 
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was investigating a reported incident of a gas line being cut at the home of one lawmaker's brother, and the US Capitol Police was briefing worried representatives on how to keep themselves and their families safe.
 
"We received information that the congressman may have been threatened and that was the reason for us going to his brother's house, because it was related to us that he may have been targeted," the FBI said.
 
"Any member who feels themself at risk is getting attention from the proper authorities," said Hoyer. "That activity ought to be unacceptable in our democracy."
 
House Rules Committee chairman Louise Slaughter said in a statement that someone threw a brick through the window of her district office and "a voicemail referencing snipers" was left on her campaign office phone system.
 
"'Assassinate' is the word they used... toward the children of lawmakers who voted yes," reported a Rochester television news outlet of the message left for the New York lawmaker.
 
"The US Capitol Police, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and local police departments are all aware of these incidents and are still investigating," she said in a statement.
 
The incidents occurred after demonstrators demanding lawmakers "kill the bill" reportedly spat on one black representative and called others racial slurs just outside the Capitol over the weekend.
 
Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner said many Americans were "angry" about the health law, but underlined that "violence and threats are unacceptable. That's not the American way."
 
"We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change. Call your congressman, go out and register people to vote, go volunteer on a political campaign, make your voice heard -- but let's do it the right way," he said.
 
Democratic Representative James Clyburn said it was up to lawmakers from all political stripes to send a unified message that such threats from constituents were unacceptable.
 
"We in this Congress have got to come together in a bipartisan way and tamp this foolishness down. It doesn't make sense. That's not what a democracy is all about," Clyburn told CNN.
 
Ahead of the health care vote, conservative blogger "Solly" Forell was already reportedly being investigated by the US Secret Service for threatening posts toward Obama that he made on the website Twitter.
 
"ASSASSINATION America, we survived the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy. We'll surely get over a bullet 2 #BarackObama's head," he wrote in a posting.
 
Forell later deleted the post and backtracked, writing: "Let us all renounce the harsh rhetoric about the (president). Several, including myself, (have) used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil!"

Jel to pochelo?

[vbo man]

"violence and threats are unacceptable. That's not the American way."

xrofl

[vbo man]

Forell later deleted the post and backtracked, writing: "Let us all renounce the harsh rhetoric about the (president). Several, including myself, (have) used inappropriate language. Let's remain civil!"

Obradilo ga xsex

[vbo man]

9 Tied to Militia Charged in Plot to Murder Officers - NYTimes.com

    WASHINGTON -- Nine members of a Michigan-based Christian militia group have been indicted on sedition and weapons charges in connection with an alleged plot to murder law enforcement officers in hopes of setting off an anti-government uprising.

    In court filings unsealed Monday, the Justice Department accused the nine people of planning to kill an unidentified law enforcement officer, then plant improvised explosive devices of a type used by insurgents in Iraq to attack the funeral procession.

    Eight of the defendants were arrested over the weekend in raids in Michigan, Ohio and Indiana. A ninth remained at large, the Justice Department said. The indictments against them were returned last Tuesday. The defendants were identified as members of Hutaree, described by federal prosecutors as an anti-government extremist organization based in Lenawee County, Michigan, and which advocates violence against local, state and federal law enforcement. The group saw local and state police as "foot soldiers" for the federal government, which it viewed as its enemy, along with participants in what they deemed to be a "New World Order," according to the indictment.

    "This is an example of radical and extremist fringe groups which can be found throughout our society," Andrew Arena, Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent in Charge in Detroit, said in a statement. "The F.B.I. takes such extremist groups seriously, especially those who would target innocent citizens and the law enforcement officers who protect the citizens of the United States."

    A law enforcement official said that the alleged plot was unconnected to recent threats against Democratic members of Congress who voted for legislation overhauling the nation's health care system.

[vbo man]

New era for student loans begins - Obama signs sweeping legislation that puts government in place of private lenders.

    WASHINGTON - President Obama on Tuesday signed into law the last piece of his mammoth plan to overhaul health care and, with the same pen strokes, achieved a far-reaching change in the way most Americas help pay the cost of a college education.

    Both the health care provisions and revamping the loan program for college students were sandwiched into a single piece of legislation -- the budget reconciliation bill approved last week by the House and Senate.

    And, while the changes in the health care system are historic, the changes in the student loan program, though smaller, are just about as drastic. After years of controversy over a system in which the government and the private sector were major players, the new law ends the role of private banks as "middle men," cuts program costs and channels the extra money to the neediest students.

I ovde drzava daje student's loans...nishta ne fali.
Na NZ su ranije uzimali dobru kamatu na to ( drzava) al su posle promenili i oni.Mislim da je beskamatno i tamo i ovde ( ili s nekim malim troshkovima) ali nisam sigurna...

[vbo man]

Ellen Brown: Student Loans: The Government Is Now Officially in the Banking Business

    William Jennings Bryan would have been pleased. The government is now officially in the banking business. On March 30, 2010, President Obama signed the reconciliation "fix" to the health care reform bill passed by Congress last week. Slipped into it was student loan legislation the President calls "one of the most significant investments in higher education since the G.I. Bill." Under the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act (SAFRA), the federal government will lend directly to students, ending billions of dollars in wasteful subsidies to firms providing student loans. The bill will save an estimated $68 billion over 11 years.

    Money for the program will come from the U.S. Treasury, which will lend it to the Education Department at 2.8% interest. The money will then be lent to students at 6.8% interest. Eliminating the middlemen will allow the Education Department to keep its 4% spread as profit, money that will be used to help impoverished students. If the Education Department were to set up its own bank, on the model of the Green Bank being proposed in the Energy Bill, it could generate even more money for higher education.