http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_HEALTH_OVERHAUL_PREMIUMS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-10-24-17-03-27

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I :heart; Q

Looks like the blockage of the Medicaid expansion is having the effect republicans hoped.

Costs will never go down as long as the poor use the ER for everyday services.

The good news: Scott will be gone before long and his Democrat replacement will do what needs to be done.

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I was right.

The Medicaid expansion or lack thereof does not affect the prices of the plans offered by the exchanges. The two are unrelated. The pricing of policies offered by the exchanges are determine by actuarial considerations relating only to those to be insured under that program.  So, Republicans played no role in this whatsoever. Minnesota's governor, a democrat, has said it isn't working. Minnesota approved the medicaid expansion.   

Strike one.

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I :heart; Q

7 Million more people who will see why we need single payer.


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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

I believe that's what the Minnesota governor has in mind too.

And of course the lack of expansion has an effect, higher medical cost equals higher insurance premiums.

Healthcare has gone up because medical costs continue to skyrocket.

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I was right.

Follow the money. Public option will help, but we need to ban pharm marketing directly to the public, and regulate the industry. Any company taking public research money has to play ball.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Jeez. Like some 39+ attempted legislative roadblocks, millions & millions spent in opposition and this is victory. Whoppee. GOP. Leadership.

Why do medical costs continue to skyrocket?

Originally posted by: johnnyboy Whats worse, your getting your scoops from the same tabloid that brought the headline "Hillary Clinton adopts alien baby baby." Space creature survives UFO crash in Arkansas. Secret service building secret nursery in White House. I am not exaggerating, this was an actual headline. Good luck with their new headlines and even newer relevance amongst aging, angry white men.
pigblo's response:
"That is exactly the type of thing that interests me. Hope they talk about the alien baby too."
nuke h2o here. (not ionn or sm other dimwit):
"yup. a very credible source here. from "why should the disabled be exempt from mocking" to "my liberal harvard girlfriend" (yea rite) to "rick scotts doing a fine job" dumshit. ummm: oink, duhhh, suuu weeee pigblo! but: this jerkoff has prbly "ignored" me too. great case for aliases. im gna hassle you one way or another pigblo. hey, folks, need an attorney. hire one who posts about national enqueerer factual reporting. but: he aint a lawyer, he lives in grandmoms garage"

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It's a democratic hoax

My last trip to the ER was $4,000. I imagine that $4,000 was to cover for the uninsured who don't pay. And I imagine a chunk of it went to administrative costs, since the insurance industry runs the show.



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I was right.

Why would I put you on ignore? A bit of advice to you:"oink, duhhh, suuu weeee pigblo!" isn't going to cut it if your goal is to hassle me. I dealt with that kind of thing just fine in 1st grade and it certainly doesn't bother me now.

Now, on to serious matters.

So, these people who were screwed by gov't intervention in the health care system are going to clamor for yet more gov't intervention? Don't think so. I dare say that the American people, who never trusted Clown Care, are going to have even more scepticism on whatever the progs' next hare-brained scheme might be. Y'all blew it big time.

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I :heart; Q

Were premiums going down or even steady BEFORE Obamacare?

No, they were climbing out of control. So the conservative experiment in privately insured national healthcare is falling short of the goal.

Now we need a public option to keep the private insurers honest. If you recall they resisted the public option because they were afraid they couldn't compete.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Before Clown Care, premiums were supposed to go down $2500 for a family of four. In fact, they have gone up $4800. Public option will not keep insurers honest, it will cause them to go out of business. Then we are screwed, well, at least the middle class is screwed. The poor and rich will do fine.

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I :heart; Q

You still have to ask why premiums were going up then and now.

Increased administrative overhead can only be to comply with more regulations or a higher volume patient load, unless there is a widespread increase of bonus payouts, salary increases, or luxurious business development expenses.

Hospital costs, doctor care, and pharmaceutical costs are all going up. Very little in the overall health of our nation changes fast enough to drive the price increases we have been seeing (long before ACA, but accelerating since then).

A lot of it is simply supply and demand. But a lot of it is simply a matter of what the market will bear; provides will expand like a sponge to absorb all money thrown at them. Government insurance reimbursement rates drive a lot of what private insurers will pay in reimbursement. We basically have a reverse-competitive market in which both are driving each other up.

I think there's already too much government regulation to break that up. It's a cluster.




I just saw Hillary on TV, speaking in FL about how they're going to make college affordable. I suppose it will be a similar model to what made health care so affordable.

My solution would be a public option with free basic & emergency care, focused on children and preventive medicine, then deregulate the industry to provide as much high end care and spend as much on TV drug ads as they want.

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"The truth is incontrovertible.
malice may attack it,
ignorance may deride it,
but in the end,
there it is." -Sir Winston Churchill

My solution would be to get the gov't completely out of heath care with one exception. If you want health care, you work and pay for it. The exception would be to keep Medicaid for the old and disabled.

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I :heart; Q

What is your solution to pay for medical care for a poor college student who gets attacked by a shark and has to stay in ICU for a week after several surguries to save his arm? Has no insurance.

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"I remember South Africa in the late 70's, sleeping on the beach at J-bay, smoking ganja with the blacks. On weekends we'd go to the pub in East London to drink beer and fight with the Afrikaners. They liked to fight, I liked to fight. It was a good time"

Go shop on the open market, then get back to me.


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I was right.

Under Paul's plan poor people would go without and if they happened to be injured they would die.

Maybe doctors without borders might set up some third world clinics for the unfortunate Americans.

I think it would be to much even for him.

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“It is the heart of US policy to use fascism to preserve capitalism while claiming to be saving democracy from communism “ - Michael Parenti

Yep, at $12,000 for a healthy family of four the amount of uninsured would be staggering.

Only an asshole would prefer the death of others to higher taxes.

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I was right.