According to the Associated Press as cited in the Post article, "Cuba has made recent advancements in biotechnology and exports its treatments to 40 countries around the world, raking in an estimated $100 million a year. ... In 2004, the U.S. government granted an exception to its economic embargo against Cuba and allowed a California drug company to test three cancer vaccines developed in Havana."
did they pay more for less service or did they pay more for more service. That wasn't clear to me after reading the article.
The government is paying medicare advantage insurance companies 20% more. That accounts for some of the extra bells andwhistles in that program. Medicare advantage enables "cherry picking" by the insurance companies. They are selecting for healthier clients and in essence farming the government.
Excuse me, if I am missing the role of ideology here. I don’t know of any ideology that says that it is the role of the government to subsidize insurance companies that are unable to compete on a level playing field. It surely is not conservative ideology. Conservatives want to leave things to the market. If companies can’t compete then they should go out of business. In this case, if beneficiaries vote with their feet and opt for the traditional Medicare plan, why would any honest conservative want the government to subsidize the insurance companies that lose out.
The government is paying medicare advantage insurance companies 20% more. That accounts for some of the extra bells andwhistles in that program. Medicare advantage enables "cherry picking" by the insurance companies. They are selecting for healthier clients and in essence farming the government.
It's not this country that Michael Moore's work despairs - it's the people who WE elected to office (well, half of us - the other half didn't bother to vote, due to apathy or having become inert through bad life experiences). There is also the fact that democracy seems to breed an attitude of ME, ME, ME - "I've got mine, too bad you're in the gutter".
What the movie "Sicko" (which I saw today) shows us, is that the attitude people have in other countries, toward each other is different than that ours. There is a sense that they are their sisters' and brothers' keepers, and there is more time for doing things other than working for their own benefit, since work weeks are shorter, vacations longer, and benefits from taxes go to the people in their own countries, with empathetic programs.
The scene in the movie I can't get out of my head, is the one wherein Kaiser Permanente dumps an obviously disoriented, sick patient into a cab, directed to drop her off at a charitable venue. Where was the communication? the Care Plan? the responsibility just of one human being for another? Have any of you seen this happen? If so, have you contacted the State Medical Board, or Hospital Administration, about it?
We must wrest the reponsibility for our healthcare from insurance companies and employers! Let's get nursing and medical associations to stop being bargain mongers, and start serving all of us, by adopting plans that care(which would not act like the money grubbing multimillionaires who run healthcare like the mob (organized crime) did at the inception of that practise, paying for "protection" in the '20s., and let us choose from an assortment of plans that are affordable, with sliding scale deductables, and regulate pharmaceutical companies. After all, their research was paid for with our taxes and donations. They are not entitled to live like Dictators of who will live and who will die for lack of coverage.
I was in Canada working as a Public Health Nurse in Winsdsor, Ontario in 1962, when the concept of taxes financing healthcare there began. 7 doctors there delivered a plan that worked! It was taken up by that province and then Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia followed.
However, the very first HMO in the USA, was in San Francisco, started by French immigrants in the 19th century, for each other. I worked at French Hospital there in 1968-1972, and was impressed with the concern the members had toward each other. When they became unable to live unassisted, they donated all the money they had to French Hospital, and moved into the 4th floor there.
It was gratifying to see how their attitude of caring for each other was portrayed in the film, reflecting the continuation of their spirit of love.
Unfortunately pioneers to America had to develop a fighting spirit, and developed into protectors of what they have, rather than others who are different. Our heros are the people with the most money (toys), and so they get voted into office as our role models. Isn't it ironic and true, that our President is an idiot with money, but no respect! (And this is not the only country where that can be said/written, without repercussions.)
It's not this country that Michael Moore's work despairs - it's the people who WE elected to office (well, half of us - the other half didn't bother to vote, due to apathy or having become inert through bad life experiences). There is also the fact that democracy seems to breed an attitude of ME, ME, ME - "I've got mine, too bad you're in the gutter".
What the movie "Sicko" (which I saw today) shows us, is that the attitude people have in other countries, toward each other is different than that ours. There is a sense that they are their sisters' and brothers' keepers, and there is more time for doing things other than working for their own benefit, since work weeks are shorter, vacations longer, and benefits from taxes go to the people in their own countries, with empathetic programs.
The scene in the movie I can't get out of my head, is the one wherein Kaiser Permanente dumps an obviously disoriented, sick patient into a cab, directed to drop her off at a charitable venue. Where was the communication? the Care Plan? the responsibility just of one human being for another? Have any of you seen this happen? If so, have you contacted the State Medical Board, or Hospital Administration, about it?
We must wrest the reponsibility for our healthcare from insurance companies and employers! Let's get nursing and medical associations to stop being bargain mongers, and start serving all of us, by adopting plans that care(which would not act like the money grubbing multimillionaires who run healthcare like the mob (organized crime) did at the inception of that practise, paying for "protection" in the '20s., and let us choose from an assortment of plans that are affordable, with sliding scale deductables, and regulate pharmaceutical companies. After all, their research was paid for with our taxes and donations. They are not entitled to live like Dictators of who will live and who will die for lack of coverage.
I was in Canada working as a Public Health Nurse in Winsdsor, Ontario in 1962, when the concept of taxes financing healthcare there began. 7 doctors there delivered a plan that worked! It was taken up by that province and then Quebec, Saskatchewan and British Columbia followed.
However, the very first HMO in the USA, was in San Francisco, started by French immigrants in the 19th century, for each other. I worked at French Hospital there in 1968-1972, and was impressed with the concern the members had toward each other. When they became unable to live unassisted, they donated all the money they had to French Hospital, and moved into the 4th floor there.
It was gratifying to see how their attitude of caring for each other was portrayed in the film, reflecting the continuation of their spirit of love.
Unfortunately pioneers to America had to develop a fighting spirit, and developed into protectors of what they have, rather than others who are different. Our heros are the people with the most money (toys), and so they get voted into office as our role models. Isn't it ironic and true, that our President is an idiot with money, but no respect! (And this is not the only country where that can be said/written, without repercussions.)
Sorry, I have to disagree w/ you about Americans not caring about each other or about people from other countries. Americans have always given huge amts of money, both privately and in gov't programs, to help others. And for that matter, Americans do not have the corner on the greed market. I too have travelled outside the US and generally see that wherever I go the people there are more like us than not. I think Americans often have little tolerance for those they perceive as "looking for a hand-out", and they think most people should work for what they get, but they have always been generous to those who can't work or have had a temp. setback. Even though our "fighting spirit" makes us strive to achieve more for ourselves we have also always had an attitude of helping those who have fallen in the fight. I am not saying that our current insurance driven health care is all it should be, but I am saying it is not b/c Americans aren't concerned for their fellow Americans.
Also, whatever you think of our elected leaders, it accomplishes nothing to sit and call them names.
You still didn't answer my question but that's ok.
To put it more clearly, Medicare advantage plans can offer more benefits only because they have greater governmental reimbursements than traditional medicare.
To put it more clearly, Medicare advantage plans can offer more benefits only because they have greater governmental reimbursements than traditional medicare.
Soo?! I'm not being a smarta++, I'm really trying to understand. Why is that a bad thing? If you can enhance your coverage why would that be bad?
Fronkey Bean: You seem to encourage disagreement, when it is confusion I see in your remarks to my response and others. Your point about my calling Bush a stupid idiot didn't reveal that I applaud our American way of being able to do that without being punished for it.
Fronkey Bean: You seem to encourage disagreement, when it is confusion I see in your remarks to my response and others. Your point about my calling Bush a stupid idiot didn't reveal that I applaud our American way of being able to do that without being punished for it.
I don't think it is encouraging disagreement to point out name-calling is counter-productive. If you had said GWB has made America lose respect around the world that is an opinion. I may not agree but you are entitled to it and I have no problem w/ you voicing it. Long live the first amendment. But when you call him a stupid idiot you bring it down to a personal level where passions rule and reasoned debate is difficult if even possible.
As far as me being confused, often and thoroughly. Which is why I am asking for information and the opiions of others.
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
Real life examples from homecare: Medicare VS Medicare Advantage programs in PA
Medicare pays MC Advantage companies 20% more while patients gettingless care as MC Advantage plans are "gatekeepers"
Patient DX: new CVA (stroke) with L hemiparesis (L side arm and leg weakness) + difficulty swallowing discharging from skilled nursing home back to own home with spouse as caregiver.
Physician orders: SN (skilled nursing), PT (Physical therapy), OT (Occupational Therapy), ST (Speech therapy) and HHA (home health aide)
Traditional Medicare: patient receives services over 60 day episode.
Homecare agency reimbursed flat rate for all care provided based on functional status, severity of illness and diagnosis scoring. No copay for care.
SN: 1-3 visits/wk x 9 wks
PT: 1-3 visits/wk x 9 wks
OT: 1-3 visits/wk x 9 wks
ST: 1-3 visits/wk x 9 wks
HHA: 3 visits/wk x 9wks
Medicare Advantage all pay homecare at contracted rates per each visit made:
Company A: initial approval care for 4 weeks, total # visits to be used in that period; send website electronic report for further approval
SN: 6 visits
PT: 8 visits
OT: 8 visits
ST: 6 visits
HHA: 12 visits
Company B: initial approval care for 2 weeks, total # visits to be used in that period; call with report for additional visits
SN: 2 visits
PT: 2 visits
OT: not approved, PT to eval need and call request for approval
ST: 1 visit
HHA: not approved, denied as pt could wash themselves in nursing home.
Company C: initial approval care for 2 weeks, total # visits to be used in that period;call with report for additional visits
SN: 2 visits
PT: 4 visits
OT: 4 visits
ST: 2 visits
HHA: 6 visits
Company C only MC Advantage program charging copays for homecare at $20.00 PER DAY.
Patient can not afford copays so patient may refuse all care or homecare agency bills and doesn't get paid for copay.
Specializes in burn, geriatric, rehab, wound care, ER.
I don't think it is encouraging disagreement to point out name-calling is counter-productive. If you had said GWB has made America lose respect around the world that is an opinion. I may not agree but you are entitled to it and I have no problem w/ you voicing it. Long live the first amendment. But when you call him a stupid idiot you bring it down to a personal level where passions rule and reasoned debate is difficult if even possible.
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fronkey bean
491 Posts
did they pay more for less service or did they pay more for more service. That wasn't clear to me after reading the article.