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Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (90272)	9/10/2009 12:41:10 AM
From: Larry S.	5 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 94695

GZ, I feel guilty of posting off subject but your characterization of the Health Care situation is disturbing. You know better. SS is not broke. In fact, the payroll tax increases introduced by Reagan and Bush, Sr. have created a TF balance that is expected to assure solvency through 2040. Further the increased number of Latinos will increase our fertility rate and should eliminate the negative conditions in subsequent years. Neither Medicare parts A or B are broke and are a lot more efficient than any private insurance company. The last time I looked at numbers for Medicare Part B, more than 96 percent of revenue was used to pay benefits, while the moat efficient private company was about 80 percent. I admit that I don't believe the Medicare numbers because it's customer service has become a disaster since they started outsourcing. It used to be (in the 90s) that you always got a person in Harrisburg, PA. They spoke English you could understand and you were off the telephone in less than a minute and with the correct answer to your question. Now, calls last for typically a half hour and you get a different answer everything you call. They all try to help but they seldom know what they are talking about. They are as bad as UHC people. I agree that tort reform is needed but don't blame the Attorneys. It is the people on Juries. I don't know how to solve the problem but some limitations are necessary. I also agree that the proposed revisions do not hit the real problems. If we did nothing more that require the use of standard form, the standard procedure codes and electronic filing, processing would be handled by computers with standard software. Errors and costs would be reduced dramatically both in Doctors offices and in Claim processing. Competition works in most parts of our economy but how do private insurers compete. They try to minimize benefits by avoiding subscribers that are most likely to require medical attention and depending upon most subscribers accepting screwed up claim processing. I could go on but I have become convinced that competition in the medical insurance business has a very negative impact. Larry

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (90272)	9/10/2009 9:56:24 AM
From: Qualified Opinion	3 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 94695

I expect medical insurance premiums to soar if insurance companies must accept people with preexisting conditions. This additional cost will likely be passed down to the employees and especially the individual payers. I'm an individual payer. If the U.S. Government requires people with preexisting conditions to be covered, the U.S. Government should pay for it. Premiums would be cost prohibitive if people with preexisting conditions had to pay for it.