Universal Health Care... what would this mean...

[nurseyNJNYC]

hypothetically, how would universal healthcare affect us as nurses? the demand? our salaries? ive had a taste of the whole universal healthcare thing with the movie Sicko coming out and the upcoming election... but i dont know enough to say anything... any ideas?

:cheers:

[fronkey bean]

Sounds to me like scottlgarrett and his family are

And how can they do that, after you run the 'evil' drug companies out of business?

Those dang evil drug companies, providing people with miracle cures for evil profit. Shut them down. Shut them all down.

(While we're at it, shut down all the oil companies, too.)

~faith,

Timothy.

The key words are "out of pocket expenses". Add up what they pay in taxes and I'm betting their pockets would be emptier than ours.

P. S. Hey Viking, how about some new graphics and cartoons? These have already been seen and responded to in other posts.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

a coalition of big employers has came out in favor of a national mandate requiring everyone to buy health insurance, as long as the mandate doesn't make businesses provide coverage for their workers.

the national business group on health - which represents scores of fortune 500 companies, including wal-mart, microsoft, general motors and ge - said it would support efforts to require individuals to have health insurance coverage for themselves and their dependent children, but opposes any mandates that would require employers to either offer health coverage to workers or pay the government, reported the wall street journal. the group said is believes such mandates would force employers to eliminate jobs, move more jobs offshore, stunt future job growth, or raise consumer prices, the journal added.

wall street journal, january 30, 2008 (subscription required)

read on...

what i am seeing in my community is "business cost shifting" in healthcare.

a. with computer technology & access, insurers have told hospitals, doctors and homecare agencies "you can check eligibility on-line and obtain your own authorizations/preapproval at the touch of a button"

cost to agency = 3 fte to perform work done by insurance + 1 fte prior

b. marketing: our homecare agency been in the community 100 years; 4 hospitals part of our health system + two from regional group

private companies had marketers willing to come on-site to pick up referral piece of paper.

now 4 community liaisons going to doctors, snf and rehab; 7 fte in the hospitals.

c. snf facility social workers now expect homecare agencies to come on-site review chart and order dme equipment, enteral, oxygen, get equipment auths and scripts, etc --- arrange all post discharge needs. that is snf facilites responsibility under medicare. yet they fail to communicate patients being discharged, only to get calls from insurance co "well they were given auth" or er calling "why didn't nurse show up" .

d. shifting health insurance back to employee with insurance copays, drug coverage costs climbing every year---expect entire cost to be shifted employee within next 10-15 years....pendulum swinging back to pre 1964 when medicare/medicaid started.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

P. S. Hey Viking, how about some new graphics and cartoons? These have already been seen and responded to in other posts.

Because the same tired objections keep coming up......

The graph shows 2 pieces of information per country. National per capita health expenditures are on the vertical axis. The national per capita expenditures could be reduced by 30% with administrative simplification. Individual expenditures are on the horizontal axis. Individual expenditures could also be reduced by 30%.

NrsKaren, the description of "business cost shifting is dead on accurate.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

I found the following information:

Option 2 appears to deliver the greates average relief in health care costs......

The Americare option yields the greatest savings:

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

This graph shows how increasing numbers of un and underinsureds increase the cost of health care for everyone....

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

High health cost burdens correlate with lower wages in the community:

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

Bulk drug price negotiation yields significant savings:

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

I think our peers in the OECD have been doing a better job in restraining health cost growth.

[ZASHAGALKA, RN]

Fortunately, most people do what I do and scroll right past all those graphics. The point of debate is to insert your own opinion, not Paul Grubman's.

~faith,

Timothy.

[scottlgarrett]

The VA and DOD can bargain for bulk pricing on medications. As a result they purchase medications at a 52% discount from medicare. The prohibition on bulk price discounts is a prime example of how the conservative nanny state was used by the Republicans in congress to protect PHRMA and its profit structure at the expense of the public.

I agree that Medicare is underfunded. However we could in effect obtain significant increases for patient care by ending federal subsidies of the supposedly efficient Medicare advantage plans. We pay 20% more on behalf of medicare advantage beneficiaries than we do for traditional medicare beneficiaries. Another example of the Republican party raiding the public purse to enrich its cronies at the expense of the public. The greatest threat to our economy is double digit health care inflation.Our inflation averages 16%/year while our peers in the OECD countries hold that rate down to single digits.

The real problem is the Socialist Liberals who inundate us with graphs and statistics from other countries with populations and cultures vastly different than ours, decrying Socialist Medicine as the way to go. If you and your Liberal friends are so in love with Europe, go ahead and move there. Become Euro-enlightened, but spare us your socialism. Socialism, Communism, and Facism all failed.

We live in the greatest nation on Earth, where each citizen has the opportunity to succeed or fail without the help of the government. Each adult citizen in this great country pays for the necessary social services to keep things civilized through payroll taxes and sales taxes. Businesses pay even more for these services.

The Liberal Motto should be "IF IT AINT BROKE, FIX IT UNTIL IT IS"

And another thing, the VA and DOD negotiating bulk drug prices with Medicare is like the pot calling the kettle black. Simply one government agency working with another.

[HM2VikingRN, RN]

And another thing, the VA and DOD negotiating bulk drug prices with Medicare is like the pot calling the kettle black. Simply one government agency working with another.

In the interest of clarity I want to point out that Medicare is NOT allowed to negotiate for bulk price discounts while DOD/VA can negotiate. As a result the DOD/VA system obtains significant cost savings.

I have pointed out in the past in other threads that other countries can learn from us in the "right care" dimension but we can also learn significant lessons from what they do better. Our system is horribly broken and in need of repair.