Yes-23 » medicare

Life in America: Personal or Government Responsibility

RodZ — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 09:02:45 +0000

Is the government really responsible for our healthcare or for purchasing our insurance? Are we where we are in life because of the decisions we make? I made a decision many years ago to have a career that provided me with certain benefits that I could carry forward in my life, including a very good insurance plan. This was the right decision for me, is it right for everyone? No, not in America, we have choices and we make them based on what we feel is right for us.

Things have changed in the past forty years, personal responsibility is no longer part of our national view. We now look to others to provide for us. The list of government programs, is endless, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, unemployment insurance, welfare, and many others. All of these programs come with a cost to others, nothing is free!

These are truly noble causes, they do help many in need, however the danger is that people do not use them as a short term helping hand but become dependent on them. Our welfare system has created a generational problem where family after family continue to live off of the state. Yes, we had reform but the problem continues. Social Security was supposed to be a safety net, but has become a primary retirement plan for many seniors. I don’t know how some of them live on what little they get. Medicare and medicaid are in such financial trouble they may not exist in a few years.

I realize that we are dealing with a very complex issue and I certainly do not have the answers. I also realize that many people are working very low paying jobs and cannot afford the high premiums. This is America, opportunity is endless, education is available, creating a comfortable life is possible. Yes, the economy is terrible right now and many are losing their jobs, however this is where the helping hand should come into play, but only for as long as it takes to return to a time of prosperity.

People with the money decided to buy the new cars, the big screen TV’s, the big house. They decided to over extend their credit and not to worry about using their money to buy health insurance. People with the money decided that the new boat or jet ski was a lot more fun than health insurance.

People made choices to not improve their education or skills and remain in low paying jobs. I mean no disrespect to these folks, I am sure they are hard working people. My point is that they have a “I can’t mentality” They feel hopeless and have no hope. I look at where these people are in life and wonder why. Young folks coming from nothing can join the service and will have an education paid for. It will be part of their benefits, in fact they can get a degree while in the service, fully paid for. Of course many join but never take advantage of this opportunity. Just another personal choice that dictates where they will be in life.

I know that our educational system seems to be failing our youth, again personal responsibility, where is it? Many parents do not seem to be involved in their children’s education and the kids are not doing well in school. We tend to blame the educational system and the teachers for this problem, but where is the personal responsibility of the parents? Yes, some teachers are not up to standards and many districts are poor, the facilities terrible. These problems can and should be fixed. There is a larger problem. Parents can’t or won’t help their kids learn. They may go to the football game, but cannot or won’t help with the math or reading. There are many reasons for this including, many parents are non english speaking. The kids are having to learn english and stay up with the class work on their own.

I wonder about personal responsibility, where did it go? This is America, opportunity is available, anything is possible. If we continue to look to government for our needs this America will disappear. I am not sure if we will like the new America but it will be that way because of the decisions we are making now.

Like you I have people I know and loved ones who are victums of circumstances beyond their control. Perhaps these are the people the government should help with support programs.

These are tough times and we are facing very complex issues, but until we all become responsible for the consequences of our decisions and assume personal responsibility things will continue to get worse.

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Deficit Reduction?

RodZ — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 16:10:18 +0000

Well, the vacations over, I took some time off for my son’s wedding and now its time to look at the new direction the liberals in Congress and the President are taking after trying to figure out the message of the voters.
They still aren’t listening to us and as usual they are trying to move their agenda forward by lying to us.
They White House has proposed some interesting deficit reducing, take care of the middle class ideas, none of which will move the country out of debt, fix health care or help the middle class. As usual they throw us a bone in the form of increased child care credits and some tax relief for families. How about extending the so called Bush tax reductions, how about across the board tax reductions for everyone, small business, individuals and reducing the capital gains tax? No, they want to target tax relief and impose a “freeze” on government spending, only it is not a freeze. The $500B plus stimulus not yet spent, the $245B TARP money not yet spent and any money paid back to the government will be exempt and reallocated. In addition a new $175B stimulus is being proposed. I am not sure but that total seems to add up to what we owe China alone, why not pay them back?
They only folks who will see the freeze are the retirees, you know Social Security and government employees, their wages will be frozen for the next 3 years regardless of the coming inflation.
As usual the politicians are going to give up on fixing Medicare or the health care system because they did not get to have it all their way. It was interesting to see the shift from health care reform to insurance reform and then see the whole thing flame out. The problem still exists, soaring health care costs, broken Medicare system and no relief in sight because we no long are reasonable people, able to sit down and reach a compromise that benefits everyone.
What about the billions in Medicare fraud, waste and abuse? Why is that not a priority? Why are they not fixing that problem? All they did was tell us that fixing that would help pay for reform and reduce the deficit, is it no longer a problem because the bill is floundering?
The President has stated on an interview that he would rather be a great one term President that a mediocre two term President, when is he going to start? There is nothing great about him yet. He said that his job description is not to get re-elected but to do the peoples business. When is he going to start?
Even now the “blame Bush” game continues. Ok, Bush is gone and you have had a year, what have you done Mr. President? Saved or created how many jobs, stopped the economic disaster? Hell it was even Bushes fault the Democrats lost in Massachusetts. I guess the anger at Bush caused the Democrats to lose Kennedy’s seat.
The politicians get it but they will not let go of the ideological views that drive them, they continue to spin the peoples will to get re-elected and move their agenda forward.
I believe that as long as our politicians are so polarized and driven by these ideological views they will never be able to sit down and fix anything. They screaming talking heads on both sides are not helping solve any problems either. Come on Olbermann, Maddow, Schultz, Rush, Beck and all the rest, take a break and learn to speak to the real problems. I believe that no one listens when everyone is screaming, we need to talk to each other and solve our problems as American people not as divided ideological groups who hate each other.

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Arizona Mayo Clinic Drops Medicare Patients.

RodZ — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:57:04 +0000

Fox News reported that the Mayo Clinic in Arizona is no longer taking Medicare patients because they are only recovering about 55% of their costs. I see this as a trend that is not likely to end anytime soon. The Congress thinks it can fix health care but has never done anything to fix Medicare. They establish prices for participating health care providers and the insurance companies use these as a guideline to establish what they will pay the same providers.
We have heard about the evil insurance companies and their exorbitant profits and yet no one talks about the high cost of service from the health care providers. I know doctors spend many years and dollars to learn their craft and no doubt they deserve compensation. I know it is extremely costly to run a hospital, but what are the limits.
The market would determine pricing if the government and insurance companies were not paying the bills. We have created a third party payment system that begs to be abused.
I don’t have the answer to the problem because I know when your sick or injured you want care and will try to get it no matter what. Congress has created a monster that will only keep getting worse because they don’t have the answers either. I do know that regardless of what anyone does medical care will continue to get more expensive as will our health insurance.
I am facing Medicare in a few years, I have no choice even though I currently have a private insurance plan. What will I get when I join the ranks of a government run system that is going broke and will not be accepted by the health care industry?
The Congress is returning to session and will complete work on this bill, we will get a bunch of laws that make the current system more expensive and cumbersome than it is now. I honestly believe that our representatives have no concept of how the average American lives. I really think they believe that a cost $400 to $600 a month for folks making $20 to $30K a year is no big deal. I really don’t believe Nancy Pelosi even needs health insurance. She is very rich in case you didn’t know.
Well folks we are going to get something none of us wanted at a price we can’t afford simply because certain elements of our population feels the government is better equipped to take care of us than we are. They are doing it because they want to control us and maintain or increase their perceived power over us. I know many of you don’t believe this to be true and think we should have health care for all. I don’t disagree with this in principle, I only disagree with how our leadership is going about the process. You see they have lost sight of the original premise, which was, lower cost, cover all.
I believe if you look at what is being forced on us by Congress you will see it doesn’t even come close to meeting the President’s stated goals.

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Health Care Reform? What Happened to Lower Cost

RodZ — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:11:56 +0000

I am confused, it strikes me that the original plan was to get more affordable health care for all of us. The original plan was to insure the uninsured. The original plan was to reform the system and prevent folks from abuses by the health care system and insurance companies. Is that how you remember it when we started?

The Senate debates have been very interesting to watch, both sides presenting their views and arguing the merits of each and every part of Senate bill. What really strikes me as odd is that Harry Reed and a small group of Senate Democrats seem to be operating in stealth mode, you know, write a bill and keep it secret, then hold meetings and agree on changes and keep the details secret, get a bill passed and try to bypass the House and Senate consolidation process and pass something just to get it done. What is the rush when most of the uninsured won’t get coverage for several years? Why is it that they have to wait? Won’t they get sick for the next several years?

While I agree that we need true reform and cost reductions in our health care system, I don’t know how to get to that point and apparently the Republicans don’t either. What I do know is that, with few exceptions, what is moving forward now will not lower the cost of health care, the cost of insurance or improve services for the majority of people. The attempt to add folks 55 and up to 64 to Medicare will raise the our medicare tax contribution. I know that many doctors and health care providers will not accept Medicare and more are moving in that direction.

It has been reported this week on several news outlets that Medicare leads all insurers in denied claims. I personally witnessed this over the last two years while my wife was under going cancer treatment at a major treatment center. I spent many days in this center and listened to many patients complain of Medicare refusing to cover standard cancer treatments or tests. My point is that like any other insurer Medicare wants to hold its cost to a minimum.

As reported on many major news outlets this morning the AMA and many hospitals are not supporting this new proposal. The hospitals claim it will drive them out of business because they will be the leading providers for the additional folks added to the Medicare rolls and the reimbursements from Medicare will not cover their expenses. They Mayo Clinic, a staunch supporter of health care reform has come out against the Medicare plan.

Ask yourself what happened to the original premise for health care reform? Are the Democrats truly trying to reform the system or just get something passed. I won’t speak to their motivations for the approach they are currently taking, I will say that there seems to be a certain amount of haste and desperation to pass something, anything in order to satisfy a political agenda. There seems to be no real regard for cost reductions.

Ask yourself why Republicans and Democrats cannot sit down and produce a bill that will benefit the American public. I know all the liberals will say the Republicans are the party of no! Perhaps your right but the minority party has always been cast in that light. What I am saying is that we the people need to engage and force the Republicans and Democrats in Congress to work together for the benefit of the American people. Impossible? Probably but we all need to start to communicate with them and let them know the infighting in unacceptable.

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Charles Gonzalez Congressman 20th Congressional District, Response to a Constituents Letter of Concern of National Debt

RodZ — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:49:22 +0000

The following is a response from Mr Gonzalez to a letter I sent to voicing my concerns about the extremely large debt the United States is amassing due to the current laws being enacted by the Congress. I received the following letter from the Honorable Charles Gonzalez, of the 20th district, San Antonio TX. Following that is my response.

Dear Mr. Zagala:

I want you to know that I understand why the provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) concern you, and I hope I can offer some reassurance.

The idea of borrowing more money, when our national debt has double in recent years, is counterintuitive at the least, but it’s a necessary move in our present situation. The best way to get our country out the red is to get Americans out of the red. That means putting Americans back to work, not just trimming wasteful government spending. The private sector is too frightened to hire people or begin projects, so cutting corporate taxes will just put millions into big companies that aren’t willing to spend it. By cutting individual taxes, from income tax to sales tax, for 95% of workers, we are giving the American people the money to buy necessities and creating consumer demand to spur private company spending. By providing contracts for construction companies, we not only get new roads and an updated electric grid, but we create business for those companies, all of their suppliers, and all of their workers, who can then go out and buy from other private companies, so the cycle builds on itself.

There have been plenty of rumors about wasteful projects supposedly hidden in HR 1, from the misleading claims about a $30 million dollar program for a mouse to baseless talk of honeybee insurance, but the bill is actually pretty well targeted and transparent. Much of the spending will go to the states, through established formulae, to keep teachers teaching and firemen on the job. The big projects will be under constant review – not only from Congress and government, but from you on the website www.Recovery.gov – and could lose their money if it isn’t spent within 90-days or if they’re wasteful.Putting money in the hands of Americans, through unemployment benefits or social security bonuses, will help mitigate the suffering of people innocent of causing this crisis. By getting our economy going again, we’ll be able to protect our citizens and pay down our debt in time. With HR 1, we have put a down-payment on our future. That’s a mortgage I’m ok with.

Sincerely,

Charles A. Gonzalez

Member of Congress

It is my opinion that the Honorable Mr. Gonzalez is well intentioned but none the less, the policies implemented by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (HR 1) will at best create temporary jobs and only forward an agenda of government programs long sought by many of our representatives.

Some of the funding requirements in HR 1 should have been ongoing over the years because of programs put into law in past years, the Super Fund and funding for the Base Realignment and Closure Act or only two examples.

Most of the funding in HR 1 does cover infrastructure construction that is truly needed but again, creates only temporary jobs. I am sure that the folks who benefit by these jobs will be thankful and I hope it will lessen the unemployment until the economy recovers.

The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez clearly believes that Americans need to get back to work and that the government must create and fund opportunities for them. He believes The private sector is too frightened to hire people or begin projects. He clearly believes that cutting taxes will only make these corporations richer and they will not be willing to spend it on new hiring, but he is clearly not opposed to awarding contracts to them using taxpayer money to perform the tasks in the bill.

The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez seems to overlook the fact that many businesses are afraid to hire or expand because of the uncertainty created by Congress and the administration concerning the legislation currently moving forward. They cannot plan effectively when they do not know the impact of this legislation on their bottom line. The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez further states that just trimming wasteful government spending is not the answer, I wonder if any of us have seen any trimming of government spending recently. I wonder why President Clinton had a balanced budget and a surplus. My guess is he reduced spending in combination with raising the income tax a bit. Of course I also believe that not raising the income tax would have generated a larger surplus and any surplus is a sure sign that we are being over taxed.

I strongly disagree with The Honorable Mr. Gonzalez’s implied characterization that the corporations of this country are evil and greedy. They do exist for one purpose and that is to make money. They also employ thousands of people and provide goods and services for all of us. I would ask Mr. Gonzalez if he ever heard of anyone getting a job from a poor person. I would also ask him what about our small business community who are said to create 80% of all the jobs, is he including them in his characterization?

I find the reference to the 95% of workers tax break a little disingenuous considering the amount of the reduction was extremely small and will be overcome when the current tax reductions expire at the end of 2010. Do you really believe that an average of $13 a month net per person will stimulate the economy? What is the reference to sales tax reduction? I wasn’t aware the Federal Government had a sales tax.

Mr Gonzalez statement, “by providing contracts for construction companies, we not only get new roads and an updated electric grid, but we create business for those companies, all of their suppliers, and all of their workers, who can then go out and buy from other private companies, so the cycle builds on itself.” is true in theory I suppose, but at what cost to we the people?

I read the bill and I can clearly see the growth of government via the establishment of boards, councils and staffing to support the oversight and administration of all these new programs. There are a lot of things in this bill that have nothing to do with infrastructure or construction and will not generate any jobs for the average American citizen. They will however create more Federal jobs and more regulations.

This bill has implemented changes to medicare, medicaid, provides funding to purchase land for flood control, provides funding for implementation of IT programs for healthcare, NASA funding for climate studies, low income energy assistance, child care assistance, head start funding, expansion of head start, provides money to the compassionate capital fund and faith based community organizations and WIC benefits increase and a 150 million dollar funding line for WIC administration costs? I question what are the job gains from this funding

Mr. Gonzalez provides two examples of misleading claims and rumors in HR 1. I never referenced these claims in my letter to him but I do have more than a few things in the bill I find questionable. $50,000,000 to the National Endowment to the Arts is an example of an actual questionable expenditure of money in a bill entitled American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I also question why many of the studies fund 1.5 million dollars for a report about the cost of the program.

Finally I would ask Mr. Gonzalez why are we providing home ownership opportunities for low income citizens? You may not know but Mr. Gonzalez co-authored Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Housing Act in 1997. The funding for this in the recovery bill is 1.5 billion dollars. I wonder if this 1997 bill contributed in anyway to the housing problem and many folks not being able to afford the home loans they purchased.

Mr. Gonzalez suggested I go to the website www.Recovery.gov to see how well the money is being spent. I have been there several times both before and after I received his reply. I suggest you look at it yourself. I was not impressed.

Finally Mr. Gonzalez, I strongly disagree with your last statement to me. “With HR 1, we have put a down-payment on our future. That’s a mortgage I’m ok with.”

Mr Gonzalez, maybe your ok with the size of that mortgage but I am not.” It seems to me that Mr Gonzalez just fine spending money that doesn’t belong to him.

Mr. Gonzalez is elected in a district where his continued job is very secure, in fact the opposing party will never challenge him because of the demographics of his district. He is not threatened with losing an election and will probably have his position for as long as he wants it. As a result Mr. Gonzalez will continue to vote the Democratic party line. Is this right or wrong? No, but it is what it is, a waste of taxpayer money without any thought of the consequences.

Mr. Gonzalez do you really think we can borrow our way out of debt? Would your treat your personal budget in the same way? I am very sure you would not borrow against one credit care to pay off another in you personal budget, why are you so intent on having the American people do this with the Federal budget?

I know this bill is law and we must live with the consequences of it but I implore you to stop amassing anymore debt before it becomes to large to ever pay back.

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Keith Oblermann: Impassioned Plea or Spin

RodZ — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:18:25 +0000

I watched the Keith Olbermann show, Countdown, for several nights in a row and listened to his moving plea for healthcare reform. In this hour long program Keith spoke passionately of his father’s brush with death and how he was thankful that he was able to get one of the top five surgeons in the world to save his fathers life.

I commend Keith on taking care of his father and agree that Keith was fortunate to be able to pay for his fathers medical services. Keith Olbermann had the ability to pay these bills because of the success in life afforded him by the opportunities of living in America. The high quality of care available to him was also because he lived in this county.

This story moved me until I realized that there were several things I didn’t understand because Keith did not mention them on his program. These omissions raised some questions in my mind.

Keith Olbermann is advocating healthcare reform, he is advocating Medicare or a Medicare like program for everyone in America and here is where my confusion begins. Keith’s father is 80 years old, does he have medicare coverage? Does medicare cover kidney transplants? Did Keith’s father get a transplant or some other type of surgery? Did this surgeon accept medicare? If medicare coverage was available why did Keith’s father not use the medicare system and it doctors? What did Keith pay for, medicare share of costs? The overage of costs that medicare did not cover? Did Keith pay all the costs because medicare didn’t cover this procedure? The bottom line is why did Keith have to go to this highly skilled surgeon? The simple answer in my mind is because he could afford the best to save his fathers life.

I understand that even if Medicare would pay for the transplant the donors would probably be responsible for their own medical cost and possibly their insurance would not cover the procedure. I understand further coverage could or would be denied to them under the preexisting condition clause of their policies. But lets look at why. If you have a major surgery, do you not open your self up to the possibility that you may have future health issues as a result of the surgery? These problems may take years to manifest themselves. The insurance companies would have to cover you in your time of need. This may be a cost that would not have been incurred had you not been a donor. Others under the plan would see increases in their premiums and co-costs. I only bring this up to give you a different prospective on this issue.

Keith brought up a number of interesting and valid points concerning the insurance industry. I agree that a major reform of the insurance companies and our healthcare system is in order. I am not sure what the answers are, but I would not advocate for a government system that seemingly failed my father. No matter whether we have a government program, private program or a combination of both, you can be sure that it will have it’s faults. You can be sure it will be expensive and you will pay for it. You can also be sure you will have a form of premiums, copayment, exclusions of coverage and all the other things we currently have to deal with.

We all hear about the obscene profits insurance companies get by denying coverage or payment for a multitude of reasons. If this is the case, perhaps our lawmakers should change the law to prohibit this practice. There are many things we could change in the system to create an affordable inclusive healthcare system. I believe we can do these things without have a government run system of healthcare. I have worked in a government bureaucracy, there are a lot of hardworking folks, but, I for one do not want a career civil servant making decisions about my healthcare.

Keith Olbermann’s plea did cause me to think about this issue. I think that he is passionate and sincere in his desire that good medical coverage is available to all of us. All I am asking is if the government is going to change the current system please don’t screw it up worse than it already is! Please don’t add additional cost to us! Please don’t add billions or trillions to our country’s debt.

I titled this blog as, Keith Oblermann, impassioned plea or spin. In my opinion it is a little of both. The only difference between Mr. Olbermann and all the extreme conservative talking heads is that he is an extreme liberal. Most Americans are not! we find it hard to believe what either side is saying when they continuously shout, scream and shade the truth. Just a thought to all of them….

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Health Care Reform. Seniors thrown under the Medicare bus

RodZ — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 19:45:45 +0000

Wow! I have been watching the house committee debate on the newest health care plan this past week. Again the liberals are bound and determined to have an all or nothing go at health care. The cuts to our seniors under the guise of reform will kill the advantage plan. The current spin is that it cost 20% more and only about 10,000,000 out of 47,000,000 use this plan. The truth is that Medicare is in trouble and needs to have cuts, but it is an entrenched entitlement. In my mind this only reinforces that fact that the Government cannot effectively run a large public program. I also include their failure to responsibly run social security.

How about we fix SS, Medicare and Medicaid before we tackle an entire redesign of the health care system of this country. It always strikes me as misleading when a politician says I am here to make your life better and then doesn’t sign up for the new plan they designed for you. The only folks who will still have Cadillac health care plans are those same politicians. I give you an example of what they did to the federal employees retirement plan of which they shared the same benefits. They gave the Federal employees the new and improved Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS). This system amounts to Social Security, thrift savings account (like a 401K) and a very small government payout. The old Civil Service Reform Act pension based the payout on years worked, high three salary average and your age, much better for the employee. Did they mandate that any new congressman fall under this system? Hell No, they still get 60% of their salary and a happy face. I contend the same thing will occur with a health care change. In short they lie.

Folks I contend that your costs will go up and your taxes will rise. They only people who will not have this happen to them are the folks who pay little or no taxes and currently don’t have healthcare.

Max Baucus has clearly demonstrated his contempt for the people of this country, he and the white house have issued a gag order effectively stopping insurance company’s from informing their customers of the effects of this bill.

I know I am repeating myself when I say that they they are trying to silence any opposition so they can achieve their ends, which is a large government controlled health care system. We are losing our rights an inch at a time, Please raise your voices in opposition of all these large government programs that are heading us to bankruptcy

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