You might want to sit down.

Earlier this week, the Business Roundtable — a trade association made up of the CEOs of giant corporations — sent a letter to Congress.

What do they want to do?
Increase the eligibility age for Medicare.
Make access to Medicare dependent on income.
“Modernize” — a.k.a. privatize — Medicare.
In other words, the millionaires who run the largest corporations on Earth want to slash the social insurance programs the rest of us rely on.

You know what — never mind what I said about sitting down.

We have to stand up.

We have to stand up for the basic protections that have kept generations of Americans from living out their lives in sickness and poverty.

We have to stand up to people who have more money than they could ever need yet still want to squeeze even more from those who have never had enough.

At Public Citizen, we’re fighting not only to preserve Medicare, but to improve and expand it into the universal, single-payer health insurance system our nation needs to make the ideal of health care as a human right the reality for every American.

Stand up to corporate greed — and help us keep doing critical work like fighting for single-payer, improved and expanded Medicare-for-all health insurance — with a donation to Public Citizen right now.

The Business Roundtable’s leadership consists of CEOs from AT&T, Boeing, Dow Chemical, Exxon Mobil, General Electric, JPMorgan, Walmart and other mega-corporations.

What do they know about what it’s like to worry if you can retire with dignity and security?

You know the facts:
The United States is practically alone among developed nations in adhering to an immoral (and ineffective) for-profit health insurance regime.
48.6 million Americans — almost one of every six of us — is uninsured.
45,000 Americans a year — 123 a day — die because they don’t have health insurance.
The private health insurance industry eats up $350 billion a year in administrative costs, waste and profits.
A single-payer, Medicare-for-all system would cut drug prices by 40% or more.
Inflated medical bills are the number one cause of personal bankruptcies in the United States.
The majority of doctors and the American people support a single-payer, Medicare-for-all system.
With your help, we can make sure that the facts — not the propaganda of corporate lobbyists like the Business Roundtable — shape our nation’s response to the disgraceful tragedy that is the private, for-profit health insurance establishment.

I've lived in Europe, we're way past overdue for quality, affordable, realistic healthcare.

I still have and display Skatergirl's ribbons and bracelets. IBC is a stone cold killer, but her last months should not have been spent losing her job, her home and everything else she held dear to save a private insurer from paying out.  

Serowbot wrote on 08/18/13 at 22:09:22:


I guess there are millionairs and then theres really rich people. Cause even millionaiers cant afford the current system. Case in point:

A coworkers brother-in-law was/is a surgeon.. in CA.. and very well off. He got brain cancer. So did what everyone does, he went through the system, got tests, got diagnoses, got treatment. Things were not looking good. Bills racked up, but he paid them. But he could not work... so he could not earn and the zero income and mega outflow... could not go on indefinitely.. yet that seemed to be where he was headed. He applied for benefits and was turned down. They said that while he could not work in his profession, he could work... say at McDonalds.
At that point he started calling markers. He got short-listed on a research program that insurance would not pay... so he paid.  It worked. He's "cured enough" to go back to work as a surgeon. Which is good as he was pretty much wiped out financially.  This was several years ago.. probably 2006.. co-work has moved on, so I have not heard any recent news.

I agree the system is broke.

Other horror stories abound. My neighbor, nearly lost their house. The husband had bad diabetes and got too bad for her to care for him at home. So what happens then. They could not afford to put him in a nursing home.. not at $3000 per month. But in order to get the government to pay... the one going in has to be destitute. What about the spouse? She has to be destitute as well? When we moved, they were still going through the dance of paying for in-home care... and watching their bank account empty out.

And then there is my own mother. My sister told me that I scared the hell out of her. ( certainly not my intention) My mom was a school teacher, she has a $200k house ( patio home)  and really nothing else. Gets gets her retirement, and has state insurance( $800/month come out of her monthly check).
I told her long ago to spend down her money. She wanted to leave a little some to the grandkids. I said it aint gonna happen. At some point if we are lucky, she will live long enough to go into a nursing home. At that point the government will take everything... Mom is 79 and still at home, near blind.. cant drive... in fear of falling. I do her shopping each week. My son does her yardwork.

But theres pleanty of other common practice that I completely disagree with:
If you have insurance, the hospital and insurance contract for a low price. But if you don't have insurance you pay "full price" except "full price" includes the cost of those that might not pay.. so its really full price plus. That's were you get $5 Tylenol.
One hospital here was taken to court... the name of the hospital St. Dominics.. you know a Catholic hospital. IT seems they had adopted a policy of turning over any patients to a collection agency on day one, if the patient did not have insurance. You could be a billionaire.. didn't matter, policy was to turn over the account on day one. They did get slammed for that.  

Unfortunately... the list of problems is much longer than the list of solutions. Trust is my biggest issue.

While I certainly don't doubt the truth of these stories of financial troubles, I guess I don't understand them.
We have a very good couple of friends ( a married couple ).  The guy has a job, and has normal Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield insurance for himself and his wife.  Their plan is a fairly good one - not the best, but not the cheapest.
Their max out of pocket expense is $4,000 per year, per person, for all co-pays and deductibles.  Insurance pays from day one, and whatever co-pays or deductibles apply go toward the $4,000 max out of pocket per year.
The wife was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer early last year, had two operations, and 6 chemo treatments.  Both operations were major surgery, and I know that chemo treatments aren't cheap.  All they had to personally pay was the $4,000 out of pocket for all of that in 2012, and insurance paid all of the rest, without question and without hassle.
Now they may have another max of $4,000 for 2013, but so far, the lady is doing fine with no signs of recurrent cancer yet, about a year and a half after the first diagnosis.
So, seriously, why is this couple so much better off than the folks about whom these other stories all told?  The insurance was no different as I see it, and our friends aren't rich.  $4,000 per year is a bit of a struggle for them, but it's manageable.

Jerry, first, Wahooo! Youre still in good shape! Not everyone is.

Skatergirl was fired, so, her income dropped, she had insurance thru her employer, shes fired, Wheres the insurance now/.\? In hospital, no job, no insurance,, you do the math,

Jerry, many major insurers won't allow you to COBRA your insurance if they know you have major medical issues. I had to fight them on my insurance when I was off work for 3 months with a broken shoulder, had coverage through the company, was technically still employed, but had to temporarily COBRA my coverage as I was unable to do my job. Ending up costing me a motorcycle in order to keep my home. House payment or health insurance, or sacrifice something to make both...

I was one of the company's highest grossing drivers, but as soon as I was laid up, basically kicked to the curb.

My father in law lost so much because the bills not covered by SS or private insurance were out of pocket. That's how it was done down here in the 90s, even today, Lisa gets bills from her doctors, and she's on full medical disability. Healthcare in Dixie is decades behind the rest of the country, except in cost.

Not advocating Obamacare, which is a farce. I'd like to see us with more of an English, German, Spanish national health care system. Reasonable fees for good treatment. When I lived in Spain, anybody could go to the clinic or hospital and get low cost, decent care, no strings attached.

WD wrote on 08/19/13 at 08:54:42:



Republicans killed this ... its was called government take over ... they mandated all the rest of the crap making Obamacare a farce ... and then now they are railing against that ... Basically they put in the crap, and they are complaining against the crap they inserted in ...

Cool.
Srinath.