The health bill adds 15 million people to medicaid

[Juche]

So if you are going to criticize the bill for not having a public option, you should take into account the adding of 5% of the nation to the public plan medicaid.


http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/30/gvsb1130.htm

Both bills would increase Medicaid eligibility. The House measure would extend the program to legal residents earning up to 150% of the federal poverty level, while the Senate bill would increase eligibility to 133% of poverty. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that both bills would cover roughly an additional 15 million people by 2019 at a cost of $374 billion for the Senate bill and $425 billion for the House measure.




The bill (due to Sanders) also expands public investment in Federally qualified health centers, doubling the number of people served from 20 million to over 45 million.

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut/508742/sanders_strengthens_senate_health_bill


As for the community health centers--officially named federally qualified health centers--they were spearheaded in the 1960s through legislation authored by Senator Edward Kennedy. There are now 1200 of them across the country with over 7500 satellites. 20 million Americans utilize these facilities, including 1 out of 6 Vermonters, giving the state the highest rate of participation in the nation.

The House bill provides $14 billion in funding for the federal health centers and service corps. Sanders says that indications from the White House and Democratic leadership are that there is a "good chance" the final bill will do the same. That would translate to health centers in 10,000 more communities throughout America within 5 years, and increase the number of people served by over 100 percent, to 45 million. It would also create 20,000 new primary care practitioners, dentists, nurses and other healthcare professionals. Sanders emphasizes a George Washington University study that shows the $14 billion expenditure would save money--$23 billion in Medicaid alone--"because you're keeping people out of the hospital and out of the emergency room. Now if this is not a win-win-win situation, I don't know what is," he says.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federally_Qualified_Health_Center





Also, if you don't like the for profit insurance industry, you can buy a non-profit plan on the exchange. But the myth that this bill will not expand public health care is not true. Community care clinics & medicaid will both expand.

[dkf]

1. The exchange is open to anybody?

I thought it was restricted?

[Cleobulus]

2. And those are the good things we should keep in the bill. n/t

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nightrain]

4. it's a sad commentary that we have so many on a substandard

and poorly-financed set of unstable state plans, and are adding to it!

But then this is a uniquely American solution!

[babylonsister]

5. If you have nothing, and are finally eligible for Medicaid, that's

a step in the right direction for those who had nothing. Why you characterize it as something different is beyond me.

[nightrain]

9. is there something not true about Medicaid being substandard?

should we not attempt something better than Medicaid?

[babylonsister]

11. Is it not true that someone who has nothing should be happy to finally

have something?

And of course we should attempt something better, and I honestly believe it will come. But you can't just wiggle your nose and make everything better. It's going to take time and spine; we've come this little itsy bitsy way after a year of fighting over every last issue.

Patience, grasshopper.

[nightrain]

12. oh dear... those that settle for so little... and are patronizing.

you a health care practitioner? do you have any idea how feeble and unstable Medicaid is?

[babylonsister]

13. And you sound like someone who has whatever it is you need, not

caring about those who have nothing. Do you have any idea how condescending you sound?

[nightrain]

14. LOL. slick. turn it personal rather than talk about how crappy Medicaid

actually is.

I guess you don't deal with Medicaid or health care provision on a daily basis.

[babylonsister]

16. LOL slick. You refuse to discuss the merits of a crappy plan like

Medicaid for those who have nothing. Color me surprised.

Enjoy whatever you have, and we'll just let everyone else struggle through without any help at all. That's the ticket! :eyes:

[nightrain]

18. your assumptions are enormous, and off-point.

[ipaint]

19. I have nothing, will I see you in line too as I wait for 4 months or more

to see a doctor. That is if I am fortunate enough to find one that takes medicaid.

Funny what folks will accept on behalf of those of us, who apparently because we are poor don't deserve as good as they, are getting. Thanks so much for settling for a broken system for me! I really appreciate your support.

Excuses, excuses. The gatekeeper class is full of them.

[snappyturtle]

20. Just a thought: When looking for a doctor to treat a small

injury of my husband, I called MANY doctors' offices only to hear: Do you have insurance? Are you on Medicare or Medicaid? Are you over 50? We don't have insurance and are over 50 so I got no doctor to take him. None would see Medicare or Medicaid patients! The only alternative was the emergency room although it was not any where close to an emergency condition. I've heard that a lot of doctors won't see Medicaid patients. I wonder if that will change if healthcare bill is passed.

[nightrain]

21. it will probably worsen b/c reimbursement rates are low, sometimes

below cost. It's not just MDs who are impacted by Medicare rates too--many other practitioner's rates are tied to MD rates and adjusted downward as well.

[gleaner]

6. No matter how it is sugar coated ...

this bill will not help anyone. It may add people to Medicaid, but that remains to be seen. There is no final version to refer to. But are you not aware that in most states doctors and hospitals that are for profit are refusing to honor Medicaid? The states have slashed their Medicaid programs so much that at best the care that was previously available was already sub standard. As we go forward and more medical facilities and doctors refuse to honor it, sub standard will become non existant.

You need to check your facts more carefully before you offer this as a rosy panacea which will solve everyone's problems. It is not a good bill. It will not provide health care. When you refer to Wikipedia, please be aware that users can edit and add information which may not be accurate and may be slanted to produce an impression they want to create. It is not an empirical reference. It is not a myth that the bill will not expand health care. It is a fact. It will benefit the for profit health insurance industry at the expense of the public and one way or another we will wind up paying for it. Who do you think pays for Medicaid? If they are going to use public funding to provide health care it should be good health care which will benefit those who receive it, not some sham program to make the private insurance companies and for profit medical industry look good.

If you are confusing Medicaid with Medicare, please check it out. Medicaid is a state supplement to Medicare and the states participate on a voluntary basis. How many do you think will continue to do so if they contemplate feeding scarce public funds to for profit insurance companies? Some doctors are already threatening to stop seeing Medicaid patients as a group or retire if their state government tries to demand it. I repeat, this bill benefits no one who has to work for a living or is not a health insurance company.

[Echo In Light]

15. There's bound to be a lot of wishful thinking/damage control - some w/good intentions, some not

... until the dust settles, and we see just what this, imo, quite unfortunate/drastically/intentionally compromised bill provides for, and what it does not

[gleaner]

22. I know ...

and I appreciate your reply. We have been discussing this bill and Health Care issues for so long I feel almost like I'm at Thanksgiving dinner with my relatives. We talked and sometimes argued, but it was to try and shed light on things and get us closer to points of agreement or to delineate points where we could not agree. Sometimes it was nothing more than football but it was our way of communicating about life in general.

I know that nothing is firm or written in stone until the bill is actually presented for a final vote. Even then there could be some surprises, I guess. So what I write is my impression based on what facts I can gather of what they are working with now, and to me it is not a good bill. I do appreciate being able to discuss it without hostility or personal animus because for the most part I respect and admire the people who post on this board who use their own time and resources to try to make sense of what is happening in an increasingly chaotic world. People like you, for instance who write thoughtful answers and try to enlighten us. Post on. ;)

[readmoreoften]

28. Thanks for saying with kindness and compassion what I would have tried to say

with complete irritation. Kudos to your patience!

[mmonk]

7. Sanders has done yeoman's work doing what he can to improve

the bill. As someone who doesn't like the bill as I don't think it goes far enough in structural change, I appreciate his efforts. I respect both him and Kucinich who fight for the public against all odds and corporate influence in these hard times.

[RC]

8. Screw all these band-aid 'solutions'. The only thing that will truly work is

Single Payer, Universal Health care. As long as the health insurance companies are involved, we will not have any real reform.

[ipaint]

10. Medicaid...

As Medicaid Payments Shrink, Patients Are Abandoned
By KEVIN SACK
Published: March 15, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/health/policy/16medicaid.html


States Consider Medicaid Cuts as Use Grows
By KEVIN SACK and ROBERT PEAR
Published: February 18, 2010

... A survey released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation found a record one-year increase in Medicaid enrollment of 3.3 million from June 2008 to June 2009, a period when the unemployment rate rose by 4 percentage points. Total enrollment jumped 7.5 percent, to 46.9 million, and 13 states had double-digit increases.

Because Medicaid enrollment often lags behind unemployment, this year’s increase could prove even greater.

The options are limited by several realities. To qualify for Medicaid dollars provided in the stimulus package, states agreed not to tighten eligibility for low-income people. And any time a state cuts spending on Medicaid, it loses at least that much in federal matching money.

Despite the ban on restricting eligibility, hard-hit states like California and Arizona are considering proposals by their governors that would remove hundreds of thousands from the rolls once the federal financing ends. Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona, a Republican, has called for eliminating Medicaid coverage for 310,000 childless adults and ending the Children’s Health Insurance Program to help close a two-year budget gap of about $4.5 billion.

Gov. Phil Bredesen of Tennessee, a Democrat, is proposing the largest cuts in the history of TennCare, his state’s Medicaid program. To trim 9 percent of the TennCare budget, he would establish a $10,000 cap on inpatient hospital services for nonpregnant adults and would limit coverage of X-rays, laboratory services and doctor’s office visits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/19/us/politics/19medicaid.html


30% of doctors don't take it or aren't taking new patients, over 40% of specialists. Waiting times are up to 4 months in some states to see a doctor. Medicaid is a purposely underfunded disaster. The long term unemployed number over 6 million. An additional at least 15 million under the income level americans are estimated to enroll. That number is a low ball estimate. Add them to the almost 60 million on medicaid today.

http://familiesusa.org/issues/medicaid/

It's a massive dumping ground for the poor. Approved of by the ever pandered to middle class that has a long history of not giving a shit as medicaid was systematically cut to the bone. The poor must sacrifice so the middle class can get theirs. The mantra of the new conservative liberal and just another version of the 30 year old right wing bootstrap meme.

Access to health care is rationed according to class with the for profit ins. companies and their shareholders as legal gatekeepers.
Throw the poor on medicaid and then the middle class can wash their hands of the that particular problem once again.

[Vinca]

17. Medicaid for all would be a good thing - financed by the federal government

by taxation. Unfortunately, many states are currently having horrendous financial problems and dumping an expanded program on them really makes no sense. That's one of the most illogical parts of the "reform." They ought to call it the "passing the buck" clause.

[Scurrilous]

23. K & R

:thumbsup:

[happy_liberal]

24. will people who qualify be forced into medicaid

will 15 million people be forced to give up their homes and assets so they can have mandated medicaid?

[Edweird]

25. You see that as a 'good' thing?

[Juche]

26. Yep

If people are going to criticize the privatization of health care, then adding people to community centers and medicaid is a sign of expanding public systems.

[nightrain]

27. my god, please inform yourself better about health care delivery...

[jonathon]

29. And, watch about that many people be unable to find doctors who accept Medicaid

That is a HUGE problem that isn't discussed.

This creates such a class war in health care.

Medicaid & Medicare are going to pay the lowest, and many doctors won't accept these patients now. One can only imagine what will happen with so many more added to the list.

Those with comprehenisve, expensive insurance MAY get the care or the very wealthy who pay out of pocket.

The rest will be left with lower quality of care with long waiting lists as they compete for services from a smaller number of doctors and care providers. Single payer would level the payments and availability of doctors to everyone in the population.

But, ah well. We are just peasants anyway. Right?

NO.

We need SINGLE PAYER.