Ok people ; it seems someone needs to tell the truth. Do any of you know how Co-Ops work when it comes to healthcare?

No?

I didn’t think so.

That being said, I would like all of you to think about this: Who runs a Healthcare Co-Op? If it is owned by its policy holders, exactly who manages it and how does it lower costs?

Currently, two major health care co-ops operate in the U.S. — HealthPartners in Minnesota and Group Health Cooperative in Seattle. Both function like regular insurers. At Group Health, less than 1 percent of the members actually sign up for a ballot and vote. Pam MacEwan, vice president of public affairs at Group Health, says she’s taken aback by the attention from Congress.

“We’re surprised the discussion of cooperatives has gone as long as it has,” MacEwan says. “Co-ops aren’t a magic bullet.”

In other words, 1 percent of the Co-op owners, lol, get that, owners are policy holders…how laughable, actually vote on who runs the Co-op. Anyone here know how many people live in the US? Um…almost 400 million? And how many people don’t have healthcare insurance? Um…well over 60 million? Ok, I have another stupid question. Who on earth is going to manage a Co-op made up of hundreds of thousands of policy holders in each state? Billy Joe Jim Bob living in a trailer park? I really don’t think so. Won’t it be some high and mighty bureaucrat? Oh goodie, another group of politicians and lobbyists we have to trust…two thumbs up guys, great idea.

Well, as it turns out, Co-ops do very little to solve the healthcare cost problem. If anything, perhaps it might be a good idea to listen to one of the only experts that have studied the Co-op solution.

Timothy Jost, a law professor at Washington and Lee University School of Law, is one of the few people who have researched them. Jost suggests that the expenses involved in starting a co-op and the struggle for market share would kill off most of them before they got going. He says it’s unlikely they’d make medical care any cheaper.

“Where I’ve seen cooperatives in operation, they don’t really compete on price,” he says. “They compete on quality, on customer satisfaction. That’s good. We need more quality. We need insurance products people are really happy with. But what we need most is cost control.”

How odd…the wonderful politicians that are pushing healthcare reform are attempting to dump 6 billion dollars of our taxes into funding Co-ops in all 50 states. I have a silly question again. Who really benefits?

I won’t deny that we need better quality in healthcare. Lack of quality Nursing staff, over population of foreign workers here on temporary work visa’s that have long since expired, Doctors that received their degree from somewhere in the depths of the Amazonian Rain Forest, human factors thrown out the window in lieu of profit margins, fat cat administrations made up of non-medical personnel, nosocomial infections run amuck, poor quality food, 25 min. wait times when you need to go to the bathroom and no one will answer your call bell, disgusting and filthy living conditions in sub-acute rehab areas, and stench that literally peals the paint off the walls, are just a few of the problems facing the medical industry.

But hey, that 4 million dollar front lobby and bazillion dollar marketing campaign are top shelf eh? Thumbs up to controlling health care cost gents. We can’t afford to have our children seen by a local Doctor that speaks English or Nurses on the Med-Surg unit that speak in a language we understand, but boy o wowy, we sure can make that healthcare facility look inviting.  Don’t get me wrong.  Some of the foriegn Medical Professionals that are actually in the country legally, are top shelf.  However, for every one of them there is, there are 20 others I wouldn’t have cleaning chicken coops.

When it comes to insurance companies, I really don’t think I have to throw a stone very far to find someone that is disillusioned or dissatisfied with their policy or the company that sold it to them. Reading the fine print of an insurance policy is like reading War and Peace in ancient sanskrit.  Insurance companies have everyone by the short and curlies so they can put into it anything they please.  So in other words, you will pay for it. You will like paying for it.  We will beat you with a stick until you love paying for it and then we will pass a law that will make you pay for it even if you don’t want it. Oh, and, btw, we don’t want to cover this, that, and the other thing, so you will keep on paying us until this, that, or the other thing, happens. Then we will slap you with a rubber chicken and cancel your policy. Now be good little children and break out your checkbooks.

But then, I digress. Let’s get back to the point. Insurance companies are in this game for profit. Believe it or not, so are the healthcare providers. If we are looking for a “magic bullet”, it most certainly is not the idea of Co-ops.

So, here is a suggestion. Let’s have all our politicians confined to a hospital for 3 weeks. Let’s make sure they are not known to be in the Senate, Congress, or any other public service. Let them experience firsthand what the rest of us have to deal with everyday.  Let them pay $25k per year for healtcare coverage only to be socked with a humugus hospital bill the insurance company decided not to pay.  Let them deal with the collection agency the healtcare institution sicked on them to make up for what they thought was supposed to be covered by the $25k they are already paying.  Let them know what it like to have their entire financial lives ruined because they had the misfortune of getting sick in the USA.

Oh, one other thing, take away their big fancy paychecks. Make them work at McDonalds until their medical bills are paid. No, not just the medical bills. Make them live in a 1 bedroom apartment with mold growing on the walls in the bathroom. Let them try to figure out how to afford childcare and laundry costs. Make them work 10-16 hour days 6 days a week to make ends meet.  Would anyone like to place a bet here?

I am willing to bet that 99.9 percent of our high and mighty politicians would not last one month if they had to struggle the way 77 percent of the rest of the country does.

It is easy to sit in an ivory tower and pretend to care. If you really did care you would understand something very important. The general public is not stupid. We may not always understand the particulars of these issues but we do know an idiot when we see one. We do know what stupid ideas sound like. And even though you may think you are fooling us, we know you are lying to us and we know you don’t really care.  Do you really think it matters if you call yourself a Democrate or a Republican?  You have all destroyed the trust the American public placed in you. 

So, pull your heads out of your collective asses and stop patronizing us. We don’t like you and we don’t trust you. Most of you are lawyers, unless I am mistaken. A show of hands…anyone like or trust Lawyers? No one? Aw come on…pretty please? Lawyers are people too…well; at least I think they are. Just because most of them fell out of Beelzebub’s bum, is no reason to hate them.

Here’s another funny observation. If no one likes or trusts Lawyers, what in the name of all that is holy makes us delude ourselves into believing we can like or trust them as politicians? Don’t fool yourselves John Q. Public; Lawyers are actually turned on by being the most hated individuals on earth.

I imagine you are saying to yourselves, “what a hypocrite. This guy must be a biget and anti-American!”  If he’s so smart, what would he do to solve this problem?”

Do you really want to know? Just remember, don’t ask if you don’t want to hear the truth. Yes, the truth is often painful and yes, it also brings about change.  You will have to set aside your liberal idealisms for 5 mins.

Still want to know?

Ok…but don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1) Change what you call Medicare taxes. Rename it. Oh I don’t really care what you make up…Call it, “we want our tax dollars used for decent healthcare”, tax.

2) Socialize healthcare up to the level of General Practitioner. Before everyone freaks out and climbs into the “it’s just one step away from socialism” bandwagon, or, “everyone in the world that tried it failed…just look at the Canadians!”, let me expand on this idea.

Does anyone know what makes up the lion’s share of patient care load in hospital emergency rooms all over the US? You got it, walk in clinical. Only about 30 percent of all patients seen in hospital emergency rooms are there for real emergencies. The other 70 percent could be easily seen in walk in clinics. Ok, how much did it cost to have the sniffles or a cut that needed one stitch? Believe it or not, on the average, it costs $1800 for each and every time you go to the emergency room and have to have a procedure done. That’s right, add it up. You have the walk in visit hospital costs, the attending doctor cost, the material costs, the lab costs, the x-ray costs, and soon the use of the bathroom costs and cubic centimeter of air you breathe cost.

So why use our tax dollars to pay for local clinics? Well, I suppose no one would mind not having to reach further into their pocket books every time they need a checkup. Imagine that Doctors could actually spend more time caring for patients than worrying about how to get paid by the insurance company.  I know the taxes we pay are difficult but I think that I would feel better knowing that my taxes actually paid for more than a politician’s annual raise.

3) Give major companies, like Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Dudly DoRight Mart, or what ever Mart it takes, the tax incentive to open and sponsor clinics in every store they have across the country. Let the Mart’s of the country pay for the equipment and set up of the clinic.  Give them the tax breaks they deserve for providing this incredible public service. Oh don’t be so gullible, I know there are other benefits to the Mart’s out there. Their Pharmacies would prosper; the store would have increased traffic and buyers. Oh no, is this a win-win scenario? Heaven forbid.  Oh, and by the way, pass a law forbiding Lawyers from sueing the Mart’s if the Doctor in the Clinic screws up. 

OMG!! I think a Lawyer just had a heart attack over that suggestion!  Quick!  Break out your calculators!  Or do I mean flack jackets?   Imagine the inevitable lawsuits that would be flying all over the place after the Lawyer reading this chokes on his morning bagle and lox.

4) Make sure everyone realizes that having a personal insurance policy is very important. After all, if you arrive at a clinic and the Doctor or Nurse Practitioner on duty tells you that the injury or sickness you have requires a specialist, then, and only then, would you see a specialist and activate your insurance policy. Insurance policies would become what they were meant to be. Catastrophic insurance. Costs to have a policy would plummet.  Everyone in the blinkety blinkin country could afford insurance at that point!

LOOK OUT!!!  There is an insurance executive on my front lawn pointing an anit-personnel rocket at my house!!

5) Let the people of this country know they are the most important part of our Governments agenda. If you are not a citizen of the USA, you are not going to be granted healthcare under any other condition than a genuine emergency. If you are in this country illegaly and you have an emergency, plan on being deported right after we put a bandaide over the bullet wound you got in the gang fight.  If you come into the country illegaly and have a child because you think it will keep you from being deported, guess again. We care about your baby, we really do.  However, we also care enough to tell you the truth.  What you have done is break our laws and your child has now been born to a set of parents that are criminals.  After the child is born and given quality American healthcare treatment, both the child and their parents will be deported.

The day of us extending free healthcare to the rest of the world while our own citizens are suffering is over! You want to receive healthcare in the USA? Become a legitimate US citizen. Our Government needs to start enforcing immigration laws and chase out the 20 million illegal immigrants now bilking our systems.

That’s right, you guessed it…protesters have arrived at my house and are now attempting to use a battering ram on my front door…no, no, don’t throw that barretto!  If you must, throw taco’s…I love taco’s.

Now I know this all seems too good to be true. Deferred costs associated with setting up clinics, cooperative efforts between Government and Industry, lowering healthcare and insurance costs through proper management of the system, good grief and slap me silly, its just too much to expect. The system that the Government has to put in place would raise the specter of “BIG GOVERNMET” taking over the healthcare industry.

OK, I am going to say it…GROW UP!!!

We need our Government to stop bending over for lobbyists! The term “big government” is a coined phrase made up by a lobbyist that does not want to be regulated.

So, when the time comes, tell the nit-wits on the Finance Committee that we are not idiots and we don’t trust a single word they are saying. Say no to silly ideas like Co-ops being a magic bullet. Demand that the Government actually tell the truth for a change.

Believe it or not, the truth, though hard to hear, is always the simplest answer.

Healthcare Reform and the coming vote…

In just a few days, all the fighting over Healthcare reform will come to a head with a vote by the Senate Finance Committee. The cost of this masquerade the general public is being forced to choke down will be around $900 billion over a 10 year period.  Ok, before you even attempt to wrap your head around this mind numbing figure, ask yourselves a question.  Has anyone actually told us how they intend to spend close to a Trillion Dollars of our money?

So, let’s go back to numbers, shall we?

There are approx. 400 Million people living in the country. Roughly 60 Million are currently uninsured.

Oh, by the way, before you get your head wrapped around that number, try to keep in mind that our lawmakers are estimating those numbers and there is a considerable variable built into the estimate. The real numbers could be as high as 75 Million uninsured Americans. Add it up folks, um…1 out of every 5 of us is uninsured?

Ok, back to the point.

There are some really important elements of this legislation that should have every warning light blinking in high gear. Then again, I think warning lights and red flags have been outlawed in Washington, DC.

First of all, has anyone figured out exactly how they are going to entice insurance companies to lower the costs of their policies? NO. I guess that one is just being buttered over at the moment. I mean, is the Federal Government suggesting that if my income is below a certain threshold that they will pay the difference to the insurance company? Are they telling us there is a magic formula out there that shows them the income vs. cost ratio? We already know they are not going to force employers to provide healthcare benefits to their employees.  So how exactly are they proposing we all get affordable healthcare insurance when they have no idea how they are going to control costs?  Maybe they believe if they make it a law and the people are forced to have insurance, the insurance companies will magically agree to lower the price to have a policy?   Do they think that the spector of Co-ops will scare the insurance industry into a panic and costs will mysteriously drop into the toilet?  I guess our politicians are expecting us to believe the same thing they expected us to believe about the price of gasoline or heating fuel oils.  Nope…none of us paid any attention at all to the record profits posted by Exxon.

A couple other questions…when it does become a law and the fines are shoved down our throats…how often are the fines imposed?  Once a day?  Once a month?  Once a year?  Everytime we get the sniffles?   Will our county jails bust at the seams, full of individuals putting in weekends because their kid got sick and they couldn’t afford insurance?  When we are pulled over, will the cop be asking for proof of healtcare insurance as well? 

“I’m sorry sir, I pulled you over because you look like one of the uninsured…no, that’s not profiling, it’s just my job.  Now outa the car and spread um”. 

Will State Heath Depts. start sending you a bill called a “surcharge” because you don’t own an insurance policy and the national healthcare database spit up your name?  Will they give the medical industry the right to not provide care for anyone who is not tatooed with their insurance companys’ mark?  How will they do it?  Will it be a bar scan or just a number?

Holy crap in a hat! Has our Government lost its collective mind? Scratch that. I think we all know the answer. They do have lead pipes feeding the water supply in DC, don’t they? Move over Nero and put those damn matches away!!

Second point…for heaven sakes, I know this blog is being monitored so I better start using smaller words. This point is for all you shady characters out there in dark suits and sunglasses hiding in the back of the van parked outside my house.

Show of hands…anyone out there knows how many people the Federal Government employs? Please try not to leave out all those shady characters previously mentioned.

No idea?

Ok, let me tell you.

The Federal Government employs an estimated 2.3 million people, worldwide. Keep in mind that this does not include the millions of people now serving in our Military. It also does not include the tens of millions of individuals employed by local and State Governments.  Remember, those are our tax dollars at work too.  Oh, and for all you silly little egg headed GS 13’s out there that want to debunk the numbers…don’t make me get a wet noodle and start woopin on yall.   I am willing to bet the numbers are even higher given the fact that many people are on an “unofficial” payroll.

Now you might be asking, what is the point?

Ok, ask any employee of the Federal Government if they pay for their healthcare benefits. OMG!!  They don’t?  Really?  Not even Co-pay?  What about State and Local Government employees?  NO?  For crying out loud!  Think this one through folks…how many people are employed by Local, State, and the Federal Governments in each State of the Union?  Hold on to your hats…try close to 1 million per State…50-55 Million Government employees. 

I’m speechless.

Ok, not really.

The point is very simple. Exactly how is the Federal Government doing it?  How are Local and State Governments doing it?  Are they using our tax dollars to pay for the healthcare benefits of all those people collecting a paycheck?   This is our tax dollar at work?   Let’s think this through for a moment.

It is ok for the Federal, State, and Local Government,  to insure itself on our tax dollar but it is not ok to use our tax dollars to provide quality healthcare for everyone in the country. Are they more inclined to figure out a way to satisfy and placate lobbyists from the Insurance and Healthcare industries? Oh, and someone really better take a close look at the US Chamber of Commerce. I think the sub-header says, “Home of the Lobbyist for Special Interests…if there is a loophole, we will find it”.

Believe it or not, by 2013, there will be a law in place that will force the American public to own insurance policies. They are comparing it to having to own automobile insurance. I can understand that but, once again, I don’t see them figuring out a way to lower insurance costs. What I see our Federal Government doing is using our tax dollar to subsidize the insurance industry by covering the difference.   They have also placated the Insurance industry with a new Law that will impose up to a $750 fine on anyone that does not purchase a health insurance policy.  Does the Banking and Auto industry bailouts strike a tone with anyone?

One word…are you politicians and your pit bulls, the black suited, dark sunglass crowd, listening?….Constitutionality. (btw, I know you nit wits like being referred to as “pit bulls”. Don’t take it as a complement. Pit bulls have very little brains and bite indiscriminately. Odd, doesn’t your job description require you have an education? Just goes to show, it’s all about who you know.)

I know it is kind of outdated and no one really cares what it says anymore…but don’t you think we ought to pay just a little attention to the rights afforded to us by the Constitution before we become a full fledged fascist state?

Nowhere in any of this am I seeing anything that suggests exactly how they intend this goofy thing to work. Once again, our Federal Legislators have made it impossible to understand by presenting 1000 page documents full of more sanskrit. Do our politicians and their counterparts in the Healthcare and Insurance industries have a secret Rosetta stone somewhere? We, the people, would really like to know