New health care bill..

Blove86 · Mar 22, 2010

How about just realistic?
And if we just "wait and see", it will be too late to easily change it, won't it?

Dutifully noted, but at the same time, something needs to be done, waiting and waiting, decade after decade after decade, as we get sicker, sicker, and sicker, and alot of diseases, complications, and money could have been saved, if people were given preventative measures that could be used instead of having to choose between health bills and food bills, and then the problem gets worse, and worse, and worse.............Until ultimately people have to use expensive medical care that they cant afford, when all they needed in the first place was primary and secondary intervention....

HM2VikingRN, RN · Mar 22, 2010

I am really interested to see what people say in regards to this. I have been trying to find a STRAIGHT answer about what exactly was passed about an hour ago... but I still am getting biased news that is only telling one side.
I want REAL information as to what this bill is ACTUALLY going to do for healthcare. And for us, as healthcare providers. And for the future of our careers....
Does anyone have any links to factual articles or anything (I'm talking something that isn't by FOX or any place super biased one way or the other)?
:heartbeat

cmwf.org

epi.org both have good health care reform discussions.

Myrrh924 · Mar 22, 2010

The bill closes the donut hole for Medicare recipients by the year 2020. The first year's step is fairly piddly (a $250 refund), but it gets better from there. That will help a lot of cancer patients (others, too, of course) get access to lifesaving medications. For oncology patients, so much depends on being able to afford the oral chemotherapy regimens that are becoming more and more common in cancer treatment.

I also think that the insurance exchanges for those not employed by large companies sound promising. They are still private plans, but people will have access to some of the discounts that only large companies currently get.

I got these two tidbits from reading the bill itself. A lot of it is fairly hard to read, because it references existing legislation so heavily, but I at least picked out those two things.

linRdsNay · Mar 22, 2010

wow... a lot of the complaints seem to stem from the possibility of lost wages and not getting a raise. Is money the only important thing to you? I became a nurse to help people, all people, not just the rich that have private insurance or the poor that are on govt aid already.

And like a few others have mentioned, govt run healthcare isn't a death sentence. Look at other nations like Denmark and Canada, the government runs the show there and life expectancy is higher, people are healthier and happier. My family is from Canada, I've seen their health care system in action, it works.

stop complaining. you (and I) can speculate all you want but no one knows how this will truly pan out over the next few years. give it a chance. This country is such a mess already, lets hope that something positive can come from this.

imintrouble, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2010

I think worrying about money is a perfectly normal and natural response to the threat of job loss. That's just me.

linRdsNay · Mar 22, 2010

just be thankful you have a job at all. that's what i'm saying.

RN1982 · Mar 22, 2010

Our government is the biggest bunch of crooks out there...All of them. Democrats and Republicans. They all have special interest groups, lobbyists..etc. They will vote if you pay and that's what happened here. Screw them all. I cannot wait for Botox Pelosi to fade away.

Bormio · Mar 22, 2010

Healthcare reform, actually insurance reform, will impact patients primarily by allowing those previously uninsured to access primary care. It will also allow those needing to be screened for chronic and acute conditions access to screening and early treatment. It will radically change the reimbursement mix by reducing the percentage of self-pay patients and may potentially reduce the number of patients on Medicaid. The risk pools will be much larger and benefits will be better for a majority of patients. The large number of patients in the risk pools will allow for best practices to be tested with large groups of patients and superior and cost savings protocols implemented.

The ANA, AHA, AMA and all other major health trade organizations are strongly in favor of this legislation. It helps eliminate inequities in terms of access and quality of care and will hopefully direct patients to the proper level of care for their needs. Currently 45 million uninsured, and another 50 million underinsured are utilizing the most expensive points of access and emergency rooms for primary care needs.

The Congressional Budget Office released a report on Friday that states that the insurance reform will reduce the deficit by 1 trillion dollars over the next decade. This is because, patients will be redirected to utilize a lower intensity of services. Think of a pyramid of care that is currently upside-down with the majority of patients using the highest level of care. Turn the pyramid to its normal position and you now have a majority of patients utilizing primary care, because they have insurance, and moving up the pyramid to higher acuity of care which is needed for a much smaller population of patients.

Over time, this movement to primary care will affect physicians,nurses and hospitals as we care for patients with chronic conditions and basic health needs first.

For nurses who work in hospitals, pay should stay the same or increase as hospitals are able to better manage cost and they will have a higher percentage of patients seeking care where the hospital will actually receive reimbursement. The level of uncompensated care should decline.

Aside from eliminating for-profit insurance companies from the mix, this bill actually will help patients and providers.

The private insurance companies micromanage claims and patients and are incentivized to prevent patients from getting the care they need. Medicare, most notably, does not precertify or authorize any inpatient care decisions, but relies on the provider, physician and patient to jointly determine individual care plans.

The government is NOT taking over healthcare. We should be afraid of giving insurance companies any more power than they already have. I don't want my care determined by dividends expected by the shareholders of the for-profit I am forced to use.

The Republicans are either completely ignorant and have not acquired the knowledge necessary to debate the issue or they are using fear to influence the populace and hopefully win back the senate and house in the 2010 elections. I am inclined to believe the latter. They have used fear quite effectively in the past and as healthcare professionals, we have a responsibility to be informed and evaluate this changes in the healhcare system based on how our patients will be personally affected.

Saysfaa · Mar 22, 2010

Experience is the best teacher but it is wise to learn some things from others' experience... the heartland study lets us learn from other's experience by looking at what happened in states when they instituted versions of these changes. Other countries are another option, but it is harder to compare apples to apples.

Also, Epi and cmwf are very biased sources. Everybody wants everyone to have access to excellent care that they can afford. Epi and cmwf people think the best way to get it is through more government regulation, they study how that is true without studying If it is true.

theatredork · Mar 22, 2010

Paul Krugman, in his 2007 book The Conscience of a Liberal put forth the idea that allowing the Bush Tax cuts to expire at the end of 2010 would go a long way to funding the health care reform initiative.

I'm just astounded that people are completely okay with spending huge sums of money to implement a democracy in Iraq abroad, yet aren't willing to spend the money on a domestic issue to make things a bit more equal for society.

PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2010

wow... a lot of the complaints seem to stem from the possibility of lost wages and not getting a raise. Is money the only important thing to you? I became a nurse to help people, all people, not just the rich that have private insurance or the poor that are on govt aid already.
And like a few others have mentioned, govt run healthcare isn't a death sentence. Look at other nations like Denmark and Canada, the government runs the show there and life expectancy is higher, people are healthier and happier. My family is from Canada, I've seen their health care system in action, it works.
stop complaining. you (and I) can speculate all you want but no one knows how this will truly pan out over the next few years. give it a chance. This country is such a mess already, lets hope that something positive can come from this.

Hence, you should work for free since you are so charitable? Tell you what, since some of us have children to support, why don't you donate your wages that way those of us who have bills can continue to live, since we are so money hungry and everything.

Yes, this is snarky, snarky, snarky.

Since I've worked all of my life and have been dependent on NO ONE, I'd like to know that I can continue my way of living without the San Francisco Flower People judging me for wanting to eat.

RN1980 · Mar 22, 2010

500 billion in reduced reimbursements to hospitals? well what does that spell for the average nurse...reduction in wages, reduced hrs and bennifits, also throw in layoffs of nursing and support staff. funny, all the housekeeping and janitorial staff are applauding the bill passing, but yet when our hospital starts feeling the pain from not getting reimbursements their jobs will be some of the first to be eliminated.