One thing I would do is allow importing of drugs from overseas at their prices. No reason why Americans should be paying more for prescriptions when so many are created here. It would force the drug companies to negotiate a world rate.

FDA could blanket approve anything the German/EU equivalent has approved. No reason to believe they are doing a worse job at certification than we are.

As Ashington mentioned many services could be moved to the domain of NPs instead of doctors. Removing regs that require certain training for certain procedures would help.

I'm not very knowledgeable about healthcare regulations, but from reading the news it seems there is quite a bit going on that increases the workload for delivery of care.

I'm not asking you to bet, I'm asking you to back up your assertion with evidence.

Silly, I know.

Here's your problem:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...ealthcare-gov/

Which leads to the supposed hacker's own blog: https://www.trustedsec.com/january-2...ealthcare-gov/

Which then has a bunch of well-known security guys saying that the site still has vulnerabilities. So, the security of the site is still bad, but the disclosure of personal information or health records has not happened.

Great thing about the ACA is all those people can easily sign up and get better insurance.

Woohoo.

One of my best friends is an ob/gyn and he talks about how many anesthesiologists suck at just giving an epidural. The good ones do it effortlessly and the rest are total messes, yet the ball get paid the same, pretty much.

That is debatable. Not all small group insurance is total crap. Some of it is but not all. And there will be pissed people. The question will be how many.

you do realize giving epidurals is not all an anesthesiologist does right?

They are also like a gigolo. Jamming tubes down people's throats.

Aetna CEO: Mark Bertolini says, "Aetna could be forced out of Obamacare.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101354183?doc...20forced%20out

Hard to believe you work in the insurance business. People can get more expensive, more comprehensive insurance. Not better. It will cover many treatments they don't want or can afford.

THE FWEE MARKET IS THE ANSWER but also we should try to leverage European monopsony prices and then also try to create a global international drug certification organization.

Insurance companies saying no is the only way right now . Since, you know, we actually have our members interests in mind and want to protect them from spending money on crap (that could expose them to harm!) that they don't need.

Still a whole ****load of crickets, except for someone linking an article that thhere could be shortages.


lol just stop the nonsense about an actual, existing, you know, right now, you know, not "invisible" shortage that may exist, but does not, exist right now.

ok, ikes?

it's been cited thoroughly you're just in denial.

Everyone keeps pointing to Mass as the example for Obamacare. Here you go.

http://www.massmed.org/News-and-Publ.../#.UuEvRCLnamQ

IBM has announced that they are dropping retirees and spouses. Target has announced it is dropping part-timers. Many small companies(under 50 employees) are throwing their employees into the exchanges.
Are you ever willing to listen to anyone other than the left wing press?

I agree that Community Rating will have an affect on plan rates. But I don't think it has to do with Increased Risk. Insurers now have to treat each Small Company as a part of a larger pool consisting of all small companies they insure. So if one company has one employee who gets very sick that won't force that company's plan costs to skyrocket. Instead that cost gets absorbed into the larger pool. Insurers understand full well how to assess risk for large pools of employees and set rates accordingly. Plan costs in the aggregate may go up as a result but not necessarily. It is likely only because currently insurers can incent small companies with large health expenses to abandon health insurance completely (sort of a post-condition screening) thus forcing those costs onto individuals, state and federal government.

I agree that forcing all plans to cover essential health benefits will increase plan costs for small companies whose prior plans didn't include them. But I don't think this has to do with Increased Risk. The costs for essential health benefits are well known because they are fairly standard for large company plans.

Eliminating medical underwriting may very well increase the costs of some or all existing small company plans but again not because of increased risk. Insurers are very well aware of the estimated costs for large pools of unscreened people. They will now be grouping them all together and charging one rate. The same as allowing individuals with pre-existing conditions to buy insurance at the same rate as other people in their age group and smoking status.

edit: the one caveat for all of the above is that currently insurance companies may not know the ultimate medical costs for people who have exceeded the $1,000,000 lifetime cap. And there is always the risk that some new type of deadly disease could extend the ratio of people who exceed the previous $1,000,000 cap. So this type of "Increased Risk" could very well impact plan rates in the future...

I mean these guys just completely ignore the fact that insurance is available. Oh noes my policy was canceled, yes this can be bad and I freely acknowledge that, but we've got people itt reduced to the talking point that Obamacare is causing people to LOSE INSURANCE, seemingly forever.

If you aren't going to back your assertion up with evidence (this is the third time I've asked for it btw) then don't bother responding to me. If I wanted to read dumb rando arguments over and over again I'd just go to redstate.

Just curious about your own personal situation. Do you have health insurance through your employer? Obamacare? Mom and Dad?

Now compare to the other parts of the country with similar make up.

Oh yeah I forgot, health care is perfect in the rest of the country - which is why Mass is going to vote to scrap their wildly unpopular plan any day now. Just like the rest of the developed world with their godawful socialized medicine. And seniors who are sick of a government bureaucrat coming between them and their doctor. I mean just because not one entity that's gone to socialized medicine has ever gone back to something like ours doesn't mean a thing. Any day now...

Here's where your brain switches to the duh free ponies argument - that people love free stuff - and you instantly forget that you were just arguing that UHC is a horrible socialist nightmare.

I've said from the beginning the GOP needs to come to terms with Obamacare and the expansion of Medicaid becoming very popular (to the point it will be taken for granted within a decade).

Calling for its imminent failure and repeal was never a political viable strategy. In essence, like on healthcare, abortion, gay rights, immigration, and probably gun rights, the GOP has opted to be on the wrong side of history.

How the **** did this happen? ****ing primaries, lack of leadership, and backlash against everything Bush (who was really quite moderate as a GOP, especially on social issues).

Obamacare and



ETA: I pay roughly $65 a week for better insurance than I had before the company I previously worked for closed. I was paying around $200/month there for individual coverage.

Cool, how about backing up your assertion with evidence?

LOL seriously have you ever made a post on the Internets that wasn't completely ****ing ******ed?