Health Care

[Sparkle]

I just checked Snopes.com about the euthanasia letters. COMPLETELY FALSE. NEVER HAPPENED. AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN.

[mitch5252]

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Sure hope this will be covered...




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[Bethers]

OMG Mitch good thing I didn't have food or drink in my mouth.

[Sparkle]

Gosh I look good in green, but who he?

[kelpie]

My big question about this whole things is this - why in the world can't our "lawmakers" write simple bills that cover only one topic at a time? For example, make it unlawful to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. simple one page should do it. Then they would all know exactly what they were voting for or against. Oh...did I just answer my own question?

[Redetotry]

Did anyone see this or know if this is true. There is an email going around that says ,,,
ON "ABC-TV" Monday October 12, 2009
DURING THE "NETWORK SPECIAL ON HEALTH CARE".... OBAMA WAS ASKED:
"MR PRESIDENT WILL YOU AND YOUR FAMILY GIVE UP YOUR CURRENT HEALTH CARE PROGRAM AND JOIN THE NEW 'UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE PROGRAM' THAT THE REST OF US WILL BE ON ????"

THERE WAS A STONEY SILENCE AS OBAMA IGNORED THE QUESTION AND CHOSE
NOT TO ANSWER IT !!!

It went on to say
THAT THE
"KENNEDY HEALTH CARE BILL" WAS WRITTEN INTO THE NEW HEALTH CARE
REFORM INITIATIVE ENSURING THAT THAT CONGRESS WILL BE 100% EXEMPT !

There is just so much misinformation I don't know what to believe and sadly I suppose it doesn't matter because they are going to do what they want.

[jemek]

Not sure what the solution is but a lot of the same arguments against were made when medicare went into effect. I do know there is something wrong with our medical care when the United States is behind countries like Spain, France on the list for infant fatalities. I do know that altho I worked my entire life I didn't have ANY health insurance until I went to work fo rthe City of San Diego at age 42 because I couldn't afford the premiums if I wanted to feed my family. Congress has had many, many years to do SOMETHING and hasn't - they have excellent health insurance so why should they worry about the people who voted them into office. The time has come to do something - it may not be perfect but it has to be done.

I would have to double check this and try and find the article and report. I know I read something a while back about the comparing of the infant mortality rate in the US is higher then in other countries. The article brought up the reason was that in the US we count all infants..whereas in some of the other countries they only count them based on age.

[kelpie]

I've also heard that federal employees including members of Congress will be exempt from their new plan. Not sure about the infant mortality stats but read an AP story in our local paper two months ago about the "higher mortality rates" in the US compared to other countries. It said that one reason our rates are higher is ecause we have very high numbers from car accidents and homicides, i.e. shootings. If you take those two groups out, since they are NOT present in many other counries, then our rats drop way below almost everyone else. It also did some breakdowns by cause of death, like heart attacks, strokes, cancer, etc and in EVERY case our mortality rates were much lower.

[jemek]

I haven't chimed in here as many would say...."Lori, what do you have to worry about, the Government already takes care of you & Ernie"......and of course, Ernie has his opinion.... which I hear daily.... But if you look deeper you'll find that our retired medical is "iffy" too....if this goes to law......and we've already lost many benefits that were promised the military and Vets.....

Okay, back on with my Muzzle now....

I was talking to someone the other day...we were talking about Kodie and medical things. This person did not know we are retired military. I was saying that my out of pocket expenses for her therapy ($12.00 co-pay/visit). When you have her going in 2-3 times a week. It really adds up by the end of the month and then if she has other appts in there...it can run 150.00 or so easily. Then we went through the year were they denied the therapy. We won the appeals process but it took almost a full year to get through that. Now they are saying that all retired military will be placed on Standard vs Prime (Prime is much like an HMO format, we have a PCM and we have a simple co-pay, we pay an annual enrollment fee.) With Standard we would have no enrollment fee ( i think..don't trust them on bit)
But we would have deductible, we would pay I believe it is 25% cost share. Their thought is the retirees need to go to the VA and MTF for treatments. That is fine if you live near one of those and if you are in generally good health and do not having any long term specific needs.

I really have no idea what we will do if they push that switch to standard, most of the supplemental we have found that we could afford do not cover anything pre-exsiting.

This person then says...I bet you will be happy to see Gov't option healthcare. I then told I already have that option. I am on gov't health care and like Lori has stated..we have seen it change over time and cost us more and more.

[JanetA]

I believe that we are about to see a real mess and I'm betting no one will disagree w/ me.
As for the term I used, 'double dipping',, hey! I wasn't slamming it,, just stating that is happens. and for those that can do it,, I applaud them for "good planning". I believe we all get back what we put in,, not just in money , but in effort. I think I can say, with confidence, that we, in our group, are not among those who are UNDESERVING of whatever retirement income they receive, as they worked HARD to EARN it!

love you all!