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Post by AztecWilliam on Jul 29, 2009 11:40:34 GMT -8
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Post by AlwaysAnAztec on Jul 29, 2009 13:11:06 GMT -8
YOU have freedom of choice on Medicare as long as the physician or hospital accepts it. I DO NOT have freedom of choice as a member of an HMO. I must use only doctors / hospitals within their 'system'.
Unless you have a traditional 80/20 plan you cannot go where you want to. Actually, most 80/20 plans are only applicable within a larger system. Otherwise the reimbursement rate goes down to 50%.
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Post by aztecwin on Jul 29, 2009 15:41:17 GMT -8
Just another example of reasons that any change must be fully explored. This is too important to rush through Congress.
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Post by The Aztec Panther on Jul 29, 2009 18:41:28 GMT -8
YOU have freedom of choice on Medicare as long as the physician or hospital accepts it. I DO NOT have freedom of choice as a member of an HMO. I must use only doctors / hospitals within their 'system'. That may be true, but as someone who has been with Kaiser for all of his life (41 years and counting), I can honestly say that I've NEVER had a problem with that. Ever. I've gotten great health care, and have never felt the need to go outside of the Kaiser doctors for care. I would be really pissed if the endgame of a government run health care system comes to fruition in my lifetime. I like my health care plan. A lot. |
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Post by AlwaysAnAztec on Jul 30, 2009 9:46:03 GMT -8
YOU have freedom of choice on Medicare as long as the physician or hospital accepts it. I DO NOT have freedom of choice as a member of an HMO. I must use only doctors / hospitals within their 'system'. That may be true, but as someone who has been with Kaiser for all of his life (41 years and counting), I can honestly say that I've NEVER had a problem with that. Ever. I've gotten great health care, and have never felt the need to go outside of the Kaiser doctors for care. I would be really pissed if the endgame of a government run health care system comes to fruition in my lifetime. I like my health care plan. A lot. I agree with you, I've had Kaiser in the past. I'm currently with Scripps Clinic and, for the most part, am very happy with their doctors and the treatment. However, this was in response to William's statements regarding 'freedom of choice'. |
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Post by Bob Forsythe on Jul 30, 2009 18:07:54 GMT -8
YOU have freedom of choice on Medicare as long as the physician or hospital accepts it. I DO NOT have freedom of choice as a member of an HMO. I must use only doctors / hospitals within their 'system'. That may be true, but as someone who has been with Kaiser for all of his life (41 years and counting), I can honestly say that I've NEVER had a problem with that. Ever. I've gotten great health care, and have never felt the need to go outside of the Kaiser doctors for care. I would be really pissed if the endgame of a government run health care system comes to fruition in my lifetime. I like my health care plan. A lot. Good man. I've been on Kaiser since my ex first got coverage through her Pac Bell job around '75 or so. But keep in mind that there is a difference between Kaiser and other health care plans - Kaiser is non-profit, so the threat to it under a public plan is less than it is to the for-profit health care plans. Right now it does appear there are some rather heavy-handed requirements in the various plans that are going through Congress WRT when people would be put on a public plan and I think that needs to be worked out through the usual Congressional sausage making. But I have a suggestion. You live in North County as as such are represented by a Republican. There are always town hall meetings or something of that ilk during the August recess. I'd suggest you attend at least one of those meetings held by one of our Democratic Representatives and express your views. I won't be traveling to North County, but I'm hopeful I can attend one of Susan Davis' meetings, assuming she has one, and bring up my idea of a 5 cent VAT on most every purchase. I still think my idea is a good one. I was watching the Travel Channel today as they were doing food programs and it was stated that we spend, as I recall a half a billion bucks a year on BBQ sauce. We spend 600 Billion a year on new and used cars. We spend over a billion a year on cosmetics. So we put a 5 cent VAT on everything that's bought. Buy 10 bucks of groceries and it costs $10.05. Buy 600 bucks of groceries and it costs $600.05. Buy burgers, fries and drinks at McDonald's for a family of 4 and 5 cents gets added to the total. Value Added Taxes are regressive, but in this case, I think everyone should chip in, albeit with maybe a minimum of, say, 2 or 3 bucks before it cuts in. But really, a nickel on purchases aren't going to much damage the poor and if they're on WIC or some other program, that could be exempt. I brought this up a couple weeks ago and it didn't take me many sector purchases at all to come up with a trillion bucks in spending. A huge amount of the health care bill could be paid with a 5 cent VAT and everyone would be sharing the "pain". And if it was not enough, the tax bill to soak the rich would be so much less that they would not have any standing to complain. Does anyone really think they'd bitch if they were paying a nickel when they bought a new yacht or Porsche? If Davis holds any town hall meetings in August, I certainly intend to show up and offer this. =Bob |
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Post by AlwaysAnAztec on Jul 31, 2009 8:43:25 GMT -8
Bob - I believe you are just proposing a sales tax. A "Value Added" tax is added to a product at each stage of production. Evey time value is added to the product, it is taxed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_tax |
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Post by aztecwin on Jul 31, 2009 10:50:22 GMT -8
Bob,
You hav a pretty neat idea. How about refine it a little more and save us additional billions. Just round every purchase up to the nearest nickel, put that money in the pot and then do away with the expense of making pennies.
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Post by Bob Forsythe on Jul 31, 2009 10:55:15 GMT -8
Bob - I believe you are just proposing a sales tax. A "Value Added" tax is added to a product at each stage of production. Evey time value is added to the product, it is taxed. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Value_added_taxI stand corrected. Canada's GST is a VAT, but I thought that it was a simple sales tax. =Bob |
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Post by Bob Forsythe on Jul 31, 2009 11:03:23 GMT -8
Bob, You hav a pretty neat idea. How about refine it a little more and save us additional billions. Just round every purchase up to the nearest nickel, put that money in the pot and then do away with the expense of making pennies. Why in the Hell we still make pennies is beyond me but apparently we're going to stop making them in 2011 and the mint is recommending purchases be rounded either up or down to the nearest nickel. Take the bucks we spend on making pennies, the rounded up bucks and a nickel tax on most purchases and health care could probably be revenue neutral or very close to it. I'm going to push this on Davis as much as I can. =Bob |
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