Comments on: A Working Man’s Plan to Reform Healthcare

By: gloria

gloria — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:39:13 +0000

If you have comments, here are some phone#’s that may come in handy: obama 202 456-1414 vice pres 202 456-9000 and pelosi 202 225-4965 or go to congress.org. Another interesting thing to do is watch c-span. There you can hear congress and senate live. I believe we should not be fined large fines if we can afford health care, and we need to do more than reform insurance. That is just the surface of the problem. Why couldn’t doctors work for hospitals? There is one in the country where the doctors have their offices in the hospital, receive a salary and share cost of equipment. Why couldn’t we get costs down for doctors by making college cheaper, regulating drug companies, cost of equipment, all of which is passed on to us in charges. I also believe we employ the washington people and if they are failing us we need to fire them vie our vote. Everyone needs to be more aware of the constitution and making sure our rights are not slowly taken away under the guise of government helping us! The american people have always helped themselves even in bad times. I believe if we analyze things we will find that government now has a forty percent stake in business, at least a grab for 18 percent of education and how much for health care? I am concerned not because I am out of the way but because I am a concerned American citizen. And I might add, do not belong to any groups.

By: Mitch

Mitch — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:51:40 +0000

I’ve been in healthcare finance for over 25 years, and it seems to me that some of those numbers have to be off. when I was director of patient accounting in 1995, the national standard was 70 days in outstanding receivables, and any hospital that was around 270 days would have been closed before the year ended because they wouldn’t have had any money to pay anyone.

Having said that, I have my issues with the healthcare plan, but it’s mainly because we have no real idea what’s in the healthcare plan yet. We have no idea who or what will be covered. We have no idea how it’ll be paid for, especially since one of the main caveats of the Obama Administration’s plan is that it doesn’t add to the deficit. Many of us in health care finance are pulling for the plan deep down inside, but our minds are saying there’s no way conceivable to produce a far reaching plan that win’t raise the deficit.

If Congress can pull this one off, they should all get medals. I just don’t see that happening, though.

BTW, hospitals do NOT inflate prices depending on whether people have insurance or not; that’s against the law. What they DO, though, is have adjustments for those with whom they’ve contracted with; that’s allowed. Many hospitals across the country are now coming up with “contracts” for self pay people that are equal to the best insurance contract they have, excluding Medicaid or Medicare rates, to at least level the playing field some.

By: Jim Y

Jim Y — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:45:30 +0000

You’re right on the training part for patient accounting staff and insurance companies not paying all that quickly. Some of those other numbers seem a bit off, and I’ve been in health care finance for more than 25 years. It would seem that the entire state of Louisiana would have collapsed with receivables around 270.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 03:15:54 +0000

I think that all hospitals, no matter where they are or how big, should have to charge the same prices…to the insured and uninsured. Why should I be penalized because an insurance company won’t cover me.

My husband is unemployed and uninsured. Recently he was rushed to the ER for a life threating accident. Our total bill–$27,000.00. Just for the hospital. They charged him $111 for one pill that would cost $3 at the pharmacy. And I know that they inflated the cost because he has no insurance and they know that they can do it because there are no one there to help the uninsured and the poor.

Tell me, from all you experience and your excuses, how do you justify that.

By: Gordon

Gordon — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:50:22 +0000

1. Your item 1 provides nothing for low income people who can’t afford preventative care and don’t have extra money to put into medical savings accounts. What about them?
2. You say, “routine care is and should remain a personal
responsibility” What if you can’t afford it?
2. You advocate “a medical sinking fund for all Americans which pays for catastrophic care”. This is a good idea. Who administers the sinking fund and decides how it is to be doled out? It has to be some public entity, doesn’t it? (as opposed to private insurance companies)
3. Establishing national standards is a good idea.
4. Allowing patients to die with dignity is a good idea.