With socialized medicine, ALL are treated like 2nd class citizens EXCEPT for the rich! AND THAT IS A FACT!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
CAPITOL Universal health study set to begin Urban Institute to develop a strategy BY VALERIE BAUMAN The Associated Press
Gov. Eliot Spitzer said the state will commission an independent research group to help New York develop a universal health coverage plan. The Department of Health and the Insurance Department will award the $470,000 contract to the Urban Institute, an independent, nonpartisan policy research group, to analyze proposals and develop a “strategic roadmap” to universal health insurance. Health Department officials said the Urban Institute would receive a two-year contract, but officials in the governor’s office expect the group to begin work by March 1 and to have a final recommendation to Spitzer by next summer. The contract must be approved by state Comptroller Thomas Di-Napoli. “There is arguably no better use of state resources than making sure New Yorkers are healthy,” Spitzer said Tuesday in a written statement. “We expect to model proposals that will enable us to reach that goal.” Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried is expected to announce a universal health coverage proposal for New York state. He said his proposal could save voters $4 billion annually, but how the system woul d be paid for was unclear Tuesday. Earlier this year, the governor charged the health and insurance departments with developing universal health proposals. The analysis will include proposals to provide universal health coverage through public and private mechanisms. The Urban Institute was one of eight organizations that responded to the Department of Health’s competitive request for consultant services for this project. The state has conducted public hearings throughout the state to solicit input on proposals for reforming the health care system, improving access to insurance and determining how universal coverage can become reality in New York. The eighth and final hearing will be held today in Old Westbury, Long Island. About 2.5 million people in New York state are uninsured, according to officials in Gottfried’s office.
CAPITOL Lawmaker urges $59B health insurance program The Associated Press
NEW YORK — A state lawmaker proposed Wednesday that New York create a $59 billion health insurance program that would cover everyone in the state, and probably be paid for through a huge tax increase. The plan, by Assembly Health Committee chairman Richard Gottfried, would generally replace the private health plans that now provide coverage to residents through their jobs. Gottfried said he is convinced the state could do the job cheaper and more efficiently than private insurers, while simultaneously offering more generous benefits. “We can have better coverage for all of us,” said Gottfried, a Manhattan Democrat. He offered no suggestions, however, on how to pay for the plan, which would give New York the country’s largest state-run health program. Gottfried acknowledged that the program would have to be paid for by new taxes, but he said he believed residents would wind up paying less under his plan than they pay now in insurance premiums and deductibles. His office estimated that the current system costs New Yorkers and their employers $63 billion per year. The proposal was applauded by some groups that have lobbied for universal health care, but criticized by others who suggested there was little evidence the state could afford it, or that it could do a better job than the current insurance system. “I’m trying to figure out how somebody can say with a straight face they’re going to double taxes to save money,” said E.J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, part of the conservative Manhattan Institute. Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who announced earlier this week that he would commission an independent research group to help develop a plan for universal health coverage, said he welcomed Gottfried’s proposal as a “valuable option” worthy of future study.
I am not in favor of a taxpaid, government run, health care system. Nor do I like the way the insurance companies are dictating our medical care. Again, our NYS government is more than eager to take on the task as opposed to allowing and encouraging the private sector insurance companies to reform.
Our health care system is desperately in need of reform and the private insurance companies should be striving for this diligently if they want to continue to exist or they will become extinct. Unfortunately, our insurance companies have become as self serving as our government.
And this proposed $60Billion dollar universal health care will be absorbed by the people who actually work and pay taxes. For the rest it is a free ride. (and I am not speaking of the people who are truly in need)
Years ago, the state set forth a law that allowed ALL people, insured or not, to receive the same medical treatment. At that time the state allocated monies to these hospitals to cover the costs of the uninsured. Well, the state has been relinquishing the funding and most hospitals are left to fend for themselves and are maintaining their services on mainly the insurance company's payments. So wouldn't it be wiser to continue the practice of state funded monies to cover these costs as opposed to covering the cost of ALL?
He offered no suggestions, however, on how to pay for the plan, which would give New York the country’s largest state-run health program.
WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? AND ARE THEY FRIGGIN NUTS?
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
After reading that gazette cartoon...all I can say is, 'I hope you're right little baby'!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
NEW YORK STATE Health care costs tallied Report breaks down figures of uninsured BY SARA FOSS Gazette Reporter
Providing health insurance for everybody in New York won’t come cheap. But a new report from the Fiscal Policy Institute suggests the state’s uninsured residents are already costing a fortune. The report, which was commissioned by the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, provides a county-by-county breakdown of the number of uninsured, nonelderly people living in each county and how much it costs to provide them with uncompensated health care. It also provides estimates for the broader “social costs” — a measure of how a lack of health insurance detracts from overall quality of life — of the uninsured in each county. “We wanted to know what the cost is, currently, of taking care of the uninsured,” said Lou Gordon, coordinator of the Business and Labor Coalition of New York, a coalition of more than 500 businesses, unions and trade associations. “Those costs are being absorbed by the rest of the system.” In Schenectady County, there are 13,635 noninsured, nonelderly people; the cost of uncompensated care is about $14 million, according to the report. The social costs range from $24 million to $47 million, according to the report, titled “The Health Care and Social Costs of the Uninsured in New York.” In Saratoga County, there are about 15,290 uninsured people; the cost of uncompensated care is about $15 million, while the social costs run between $27 million and $53 million. “There are a lot of uninsured people in New York, and it’s costly,” said Jim Parrott, deputy director and chief economist for the Fiscal Policy Institute, who pulled facts and figures from a number of sources, including the Urban Institute and the New York State Department of Health. “There’s a broad health care debate going on now, not just in New York but in the country. This is meant to be a piece that people can point to and say that society is already paying a high price.” “It’s illusory to think that we’re getting away without spending anything,” Parrott said. Social costs are hard to quantify, Parrott said. But the report suggests that they are much greater than the amounts currently expended for uncompensated care. CONSEQUENCES STUDIED In 2003, a National Academy of Sciences committee, called the Committee on the Consequences of Uninsurance, released a study that described the social costs of a lack of health insurance. Among other things, the report noted that the uninsured lose their health and die prematurely, that families lose peace of mind because they live with the uncertainty and anxiety of the medical and financial consequences of a serious illness or injury and that communities are at risk of losing health care capacity because high rates of uninsurance result in hospitals reducing services, health providers moving out of the community and cuts in public health programs. Mark Lavigne, a spokesman for the New York State Association of Counties, said counties bear a high cost for uninsured people who live in county nursing homes or use emergency rooms, county hospitals and other emergency services. Lavigne said the New York State Association of Counties has been working with Gov. Eliot Spitzer and the state Department of Health to promote government-sponsored insurance programs that provide health insurance for low-income people, such as Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus. “If care can be provided, it reduces other social costs down the road,” he said. “If you have insurance, you’re less likely to end up in the emergency room or needing emergency services. “Because we are the ones administering many of the health care services for the uninsured at the local level, counties have the ability to truly see the consequences of what a lack of primary care can do to a person and to a family,” Lavigne said. There are about 2.7 million fullyear uninsured people in New York; an additional 1.5 million people, on average, are uninsured for part of the year. The Fiscal Policy Institute report estimates that the amount spent on health care for the uninsured runs to about $7.2 billion: $2.2 billion in out-of-pocket expenses, $2.3 billion paid by insurance sources such as Medicaid for people who had insurance for part of the year and $2.7 billion in uncompensated care. If all New Yorkers were fully insured, the price tag would rise to about $11.3 billion, according to the report. Researchers estimate that 75 percent of uncompensated care costs were provided to the fullyear uninsured and 25 percent to the part-year uninsured. SEVEN PRINCIPLES The Business and Labor Coalition of New York has identifi ed seven principles it wants to see in any universal health care system adopted by the state: universality, affordability, administrative simplicity and transparency, adequacy, quality and the elimination of disparities. The group has launched a petition drive urging the state to use these principles to create an affordable health care system in New York. “We’re just saying this is what it is,” Gordon said of the report. “We’re not taking a position that health insurance has to be singlepayer or multi-payer. “The state is on a wonderful path,” Gordon said. “The devil is in the details.” Here are some figures from other Capital Region counties: Albany County: uninsured nonelderly people, 30,201; cost of uncompensated care, $31 million; social costs, $53 million to $105 million. Fulton County: uninsured nonelderly people, 6,715; cost of uncompensated care, $7 million; social costs, $12 million to $23 million. Montgomery County: uninsured nonelderly people, 6,783; cost of uncompensated care: $7 million; social costs, $12 million to $24 million. Schoharie County: uninsured nonelderly people, 3,545; cost of uncompensated care, $4 million; social costs, $6 million to $12 million.
Just who does this state think can afford this very expensive health care program certainly not the residents of one of the highest tax paying states in the country.
Whenever the subject of universal health insurance for New Yorkers comes up, the critics warn about the high costs of big government programs. What they don’t say is how many people in this state are already covered by government insurance programs, and that we are all paying the cost of providing care for the uninsured anyway. A recent proposal by Democratic Assemblyman Richard Gottfried for a statewide plan, and a study by the union-backed Fiscal Policy Institute make these things clear. Gottfried points out that more than 6 million New Yorkers are covered by government-funded, or subsidized, programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus. And with the exception of Medicaid, which is plagued by provider fraud, they appear to be efficiently run, providing good coverage at a reasonable cost. Gottfried also reminds us of the hundreds of millions of dollars the state now spends on “indigent care” subsidies to hospitals and clinics. The Fiscal Policy Institute delves even further into the costs of the uninsured in New York state. It cites an Urban Institute study that estimates the total annual amount spent on health care for the uninsured at $7.2 billion annually, including $2.2 billion in out-of-pocket expenses and $2.7 billion in uncompensated care. This uncompensated care is primarily responsible for the financial distress of two Schenectady institutions: Hometown Health Centers and St. Clare’s Hospital. The Fiscal Policy Institute estimates that there are 13,635 full-year nonelderly uninsured in Schenectady County, with the cost of uncompensated care to them totaling $14 million. But the costs go beyond the economic; there are also social costs including diminished productivity of workers and lower academic achievement of children. While these numbers are estimates, the point is that the current system of private insurance isn’t exactly efficient, even as it leaves out millions of people. And government programs already cover many New Yorkers and are working pretty well. A universal system that builds on those programs, and is funded in part by Medicaid savings, is not as radical as it sounds.
Gottfried points out that more than 6 million New Yorkers are covered by government-funded, or subsidized, programs such as Medicaid, Medicare, Child Health Plus and Family Health Plus. And with the exception of Medicaid, which is plagued by provider fraud, they appear to be efficiently run, providing good coverage at a reasonable cost.
Ok so who actually wrote this article? And how much research did they actually do on getting the real info on these so called government programs? Ask anyone, with some intelligence, what doctors they have to choose from? If they are treated with respect and dignity. What kind of care do they get? Ask a senior on medicare and see if they are covered for 'at home' services.
I agree that the insurance companies are out of control but clearly the government program solutions are clearly not working. Perhaps on paper they are and perhaps statistically they are...but sorry...people are NOT statistics on a piece of paper!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
they appear to be efficiently run, providing good coverage at a reasonable cost.
efficient and reasonable are not words one wants to use when referring to their medical treatments---is it???
Not to mention the statement "they appear to be..." is not to be used when charting in a patients medical chart--why you ask---the lawyers have a field day with it.....
lawyer:"well mr./mrs.smith. here you write that mr.brown appears to have a lump on his back. well did he or didn't he? did you get another co-workers opinion? How much experience do you have in looking at lumps? you would agree that medicine is an exact science would you not mr./mrs.smith?"
case closed Dr.House....
who ever did the exact science kind of research to write such an article should go back to 4th grade and learn to collect data, or they 'appear' to have missed that grade.....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Logged
AND ARE THEY FRIGGIN NUTS?
