As you mentioned preventative care won’t reduce costs for another generation, I feel like nutrition might take just as long. How do we promote our citizens and neighbors to eat healther? Fast food sales have increased in this recession, thats bad for general health.

In my teen years I had nutrition lessons in health classes, but I don’t think they work seeing what my classmates have become.. Even the harsh reality of being morbidly obese isn’t enough for most people to decide something has to change. Unhealthy diets are becoming more and more status quo, and the obesity rate in this country will probably continue until food shortages hit (we won’t have perfect crop returns every year).

I think Congress should lift agricultural subsidies, which would naturally raise the price of food. Junk food won’t be as cheap. Nor would red meat, which is the worst offender in health. People are eating less junk. Obesity goes down, or stops growing as swiftly. Not the silver bullet, but its one thing that could help future explosion in costs.

The expectation of people with jobs is that they’ll get healthcare benefits if they are full time. That horse left the barn a long time ago.

The understanding of people who hold jobs that provide healthcare benefits is that should they become unemployed (the dreaded lay-off), there’s always COBRA. Ha! Speaking as one who has been there, my unemployment benefit (I use the term loosely) would barely have covered my COBRA co-pay. Thus, I was without any healthcare insurance for almost five years. Couldn’t afford it while starting a business, if I also wanted to live indoors and eat once a day or so.

As a small business owner, I will testify that the prospect of ObamaCare has already cost jobs. My own business put hiring plans on hold last fall when Obama was elected — because we weren’t sure we could afford to provide the healthcare benefits he’d mandate. So there’s two to three jobs lost — or at least deferred until something resembling reason again prevails.

Yes, the focus of healthcare insurance now is catastrophic illness. Most of us can slug along, otherwise. When I was growing up, I remember my parents paying for office visits. No one expected otherwise. No one had heard of co-pays. Of course, doctors still made housecalls then, too But whatever happened to personal responsibility?

I don’t hear much discussion of controlling healthcare costs — just controlling INSURANCE costs. There is a difference — ask any healthcare professional. (And one major way to do so is to cut all the government-mandated paperwork! It’s a nightmare.)

As for prevention, I would suggest that the pace of American life today — and the stress we are all under that is daily increasing with the national debt — puts us all in jeopardy in many ways. I know that personally, there are things I should be doing to take better care of myself. But I just don’t have time to work out and cook nutritious meals, not and keep my company afloat and keep from living in a cardboard box under some underpass somewhere. Yes, that’s the thing that keeps me awake at night — all the people counting on me and my business for their homes and livelihood. I can’t tell ‘em, “sorry, I needed to go to the gym.” So I grab another Starbuck’s at the drive-thru or a RedBull and keep on slugging. I don’t have time to have a garden like Michelle Obama’s; I’m too busy paying the IRS and my employees.

Sorry, Governor, but I vehemently oppose the idea of adopting electronic record keeping (i.e., centrally computerized healthcare records). I won’t participate; I don’t trust it. And if doctors are forced to participate, I predict you’ll see a black-market healthcare industry spring up, flying under the radar. I already know people who pay cash so there’s no record of their doctor visits. They are afraid not only of losing insurance, but of making themselves unemployable.

Right now, I have a mother who has had to have daily care for Alzheimer’s for over four years. She’s now moved to late-stage. The government hasn’t paid for it. I don’t expect them to. She’s paid for it, and her children have, every dime. When Mom got badly enough off, we were forced to liquidate everything she owned, other than two roomfuls of furniture for her assisted living “apartment” and her clothing, and we starting paying the bills. We hope she doesn’t outlive her money, but there is no guarantee — if she does, her children will pay. Yes, she has Medicare, but it’s little used as there isn’t much a doctor can do now but keep her comfortable. We also pay through the nose for Medicare supplemental each month, just in case. It’s our responsibility, but also our honor to do so.

I have no intention of turning her life, her care, or her death over to the likes of ObamaCare. It won’t happen. I’ll take her out of the country first; that’s a fact. I’m brushing up on my Spanish just in case

So what happens when she is unable to have that Obama-mandated 5-year meeting about the end of life? What happens when I refuse to have it? Someone going to throw me in jail? So be it.

Sorry for the rant, but from where I sit, Humpty Dumpty is in pieces on the ground. And not only is ObamaCare not the answer, the American people need to take charge of their own destiny and show some pride.

I hope we get the honor of some responses to the comments and questions posed by RedStaters.

I live in Bentonville and work for Walmart in the Home Office. I have an HSA and a family health insurance plan that costs me only $57/month with a deductible of $6,000. I love it and think this is THE approach to drive down health care costs. My plan is basically a catastrophic plan because with my high deductible unless something major happens I’ll never meet my annual deductible which means I never use my health insurance. I contribute $280/month to my HSA account from which I pay all my health care expenses. And I’m careful about those. Health insurance must also be connected to behavior and behavioral risk factors, i.e. I’m in great physical shape and go to the doctor once every couple of years. I don’t appreciate having to subsidize smokers and the obese.

I do have an issue with our health care system though and that is cost. I’m willing to pay for expenses out of my own pocket but the costs need to be transparent and have some basis in reality. I happen to have a recent example of outrageous costs.

I went to the ER last Monday because of an odd pain in my chest. I was without a shirt and plugged into the EKG machine within 10 minutes. Great!
I was then taken back to a room where I proceeded to have my blood drawn, blood pressure taken, another EKG, a chest X-Ray, and that’s it. I was out two hours after I entered with a clean bill of health.

I received my bill today. The hospital submitted a bill of $3,091.53 to my insurance company. Outrageous. Blue Cross managed to get it reduces to $1,394.35. Some of the expenses are explicit but the biggest charge, $1,195.20, just says “Ancillary Services”. WTH? Is it any wonder people are up in arms over cost? There is no way I consumed $1,394 much less $3,091 of services. Most of the time I was in the room I was alone. I’ll be calling them tomorrow to see if I can get it reduced by telling them that I will be paying for it out of pocket with my HSA debit card. If not, I won’t go to the ER voluntarily again.

Now let’s contrast my ER visit to my visit just this morning to the AR Heart Hospital for a ‘Healthy Heart’ screening. A program the hospital runs to look for potential heart problems.

I had blood drawn, and EKG, a CT scan, and my blood pressure taken in all four limbs. It cost me just $100 for virtually the same exam I had last week in the ER.

Suggestions on increasing cot transparency and rational pricing?

And FYI – I have called Senators Lincoln’s and Pryor’s offices every single day for weeks about Obama’s health care “reform” goals and of course voiced my strong opposition. I hope it’s making a difference.

and bible study…..and lying………we’re cool now, right?

The Democrats are addressing the core issues of the problem, in the worst way (but they are addressing them). Pre-existing conditions, sky-rocketing costs, insurers overriding doctors’ decisions. Tax credits only address one of those problems. McCain/Palin ran on taxing health benefits. This is not a good issue for the GOP.

I think the average independent who understands a public option supports it. The Democrats have oddly enough found a way to pay for it all, and I know a lot of people don’t mind a tax increase on the wealthiest 2%.

This is something the rest of the West has embraced. Defeating this isn’t a slam dunk for the GOP unless the GOP can pass some other reform (which they can’t, PelosiReidObama.

affirmative action comes to HELLTHCARE.

“Not One Red Dime for the NRSC or NRCC till they stop trying to elect liberals”

Join the RedState Strike Force

At least, sort of.

Re: Your point #1

1. Most Americans want more affordable health care, with a wide range of choices and options;

Yeah, they’d like that, but they already have it, for the most part. What most Americans want is to be left alone. They already have health insurance, and it keeps their health care costs low enough in general, and major medical costs are mostly covered. They don’t want to lose their current insurance coverage because Congress and the President wants to fiddle with the system to pander for votes, and they don’t want to lose their current level and availability of health care because Congress and the President have pushed a plan through that encourages prospective doctors to become lawyers instead.

And for sure, most Americans don’t want to pay for their neighbor’s insurance as well as their own. Especially if the cost is over $50,000 per year for each of those newly insured neighbors.

And we’d also like some of you people to recognize that health insurance and health care are two different critters. If you change one, you’d better take care that you don’t make the other one worse.

Welcome Gov. Huckabee.

I have written on this subject in by diary, and an excerpt and link is below for your convenience. My plan is a little different than most, but I think it is the most workable system for our country. I would be interested to know if you agree.

In response to Warner Todd Huston’s post entitled:

Is Healthcare a ‘Right’?

Lets have a look back at our history. Back in 1886 firefighting was mostly unregulated, and considered a private matter that had little government involvement. Home owners who desired to have their homes protected from destruction by fire had to pay private for-profit fire companies to respond and put out any fires that might start, which was not uncommon in wood-frame houses of the day that burned wood or coal for heat and used candles or oil lamps for light.

In those days fire insurance companies existed where a person could buy a policy that would cover the cost to put out any fire that might ensue on the property. Insurance companies would issue an insurance badge that was affixed to the front of the house so that any fire company would be assured of payment for their services. Home owners who didn’t have a policy and a badge, and couldn’t pay upfront for the services, had to fight the fire on their own and the fire company would stand by to ensure their neighbor’s home (those who had insurance) didn’t catch fire. Many people thought this was inhumane and called for a solution to this problem because the poor often could not afford fire insurance and as a result, it was the poor and uninsured who suffered the most from destruction and death by fire.

Eventually a solution for this problem was reached and I am sure you already know what it is. Private for profit fire companies and fire insurance companies were replaced by government run non-profit fire departments supported by property taxes instead of fees. Now I am also sure that by now you are beginning to see the correlation between 1886’s fire companies and fire insurance companies with 2009’s health care providers and health insurance companies. Some of the same arguments were made back then for keeping the old system, but I think we made the right decision to dump that system and adopt the one we have today,… for fire services that is… [Click here to continue reading ]

He’s a nice guy, but much like Romney he starts his arguments from a position of defeat. He says we (being the government run and funded programs) should teach parents and children how to live healthy.

Huh??

You don’t think with all the information out there, the level of normal education in our nation- most of us can read and understand English- that we can’t decide on our own what a healthy lifestyle should be?? You’re killing me! I think there is blood oozing out of my ears!!

Think about this for a second. If Huck says we need to “teach” people, then he is advocating the funding of programs employing government bureaucrats who think it is their JOB to tell us what to eat, how to exercise, and how to live (environmental impact issues). This will lead to government setting standards, which if not followed must be enforceable. (If not, why do it in the first place??)

Isn’t this the whole beef about government healthcare now? People we don’t know setting enforceable standards and rules on us forcing us to live a certain way that meets their opinion of “healthy”?

I could go on, but I’m getting weak from blood loss. Let’s try something different and have a starting position with any argument that says this “From this point there is NO government involvement.” And see what happens.

RW www.truthandcommonsense.com

This is a nice idea, but above this quote, you also mentioned human nature. In most employer-based systems I’ve seen, the business only pays part of the cost, and part of the cost comes out of your check. further, in an employer-based system, whatever the company pays is already figured into your full benefit package — meaning, in general, employers are paying a little less than they would were they not also providing the insurance. Which is fair.

the problem is, should we switch over to a consumer-based system (which I agree is actually more ideal), I forsee a disparity between what the companies will save on health care and what employees will see in their paychecks. Human nature. Now, for new hires, this is no problem. The main issue is with current employees. They took the job they have with certain expectations, and the reality is that, should companies stop paying out benefits, it will wind up costing those employees MORE money, in the long run, than will be reflected in their paychecks.

Furthermore, as a “leave me the heck alone” Conservative, I have a problem with this situation being regulated on a government level. I understand what you’re saying about the system, but even WITHOUT the issues I mentioned above, I don’t see it happening correctly on a broad scale without a mandate, and I’m opposed to mandates. I don’t want a system in which the government tells my employer what they can/cannot offer me as part of my compensation package.

Not to put too fine a point on it, so long as it’s not interfering with the life, liberty or property of somebody else, and doesn’t break any existing laws, it’s none of their damned business.

Medical infrastructure should be handled similar to any type of utility, consumers pay to access the system.
Go to a cost basis for consumers so they know how expensive certain test are, life is hard people are going to suffer & die (this is what individual charity is for, not the government).
Protect doctors from frivolous lawsuits.
Clean up the legal system.
Stop mandating health insurance providers to provide ever service available, this is a consumer choice issue.
R&D needs to be done by private means apart from a national referendum by vote.

Oh, get out of the healthcare business it’s not power granted to you in the constitution, and give the system back to the states and local counties.

Explain how we can offer 40+ million people health care insurance and costs are going down?

This is a big lie. This is stealth welfare, pure and simple. Who is going to pay? The millions of Americans who have healthcare insurance and are already paying too much for it.

I couldn’t agree with you more Gov. Huckabee. I can’t afford any more out of my household income. We can barely make it now.