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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (16849)	4/14/2010 10:35:38 AM
From: RetiredNow	2 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

First benefit to accrue from the Health Care Bill is an additional Democratic Congressional seat. This is anecdotal, but it also may be the first sign that the GOP is far too optimistic about their chances for a coup in November. Their opposition to Health Care could turn out to be an Achille's Heel instead of their expected Trojan Horse against the Dems. See below and keep in mind that Florida is full of retired elderly who have a real and vested interest in this Health Bill due to the ban against lifetime insurance maximums and pre-existing conditions... Democrat wins special election in Florida politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com Democrat Ted Deutch won a special election Tuesday for a Florida congressional seat in the nation's first federal election since the passage of the Democrats' health care plan. Deutch held a sizable lead over Republican Ed Lynch late Tuesday night in the Palm Beach-area 19th District, prompting Lynch to concede. Deutch had 62 percent of the vote compared to Lynch's 36 percent with 97 percent of the precincts counted, CNN affiliate WFOR reported. The election was to fill the seat of Democrat Robert Wexler, who resigned at the beginning of the year to head up the Center for Middle East Peace "I have never before felt the way that I feel at this moment," Deutch told his supporters, according to WFOR. "This is a victory for the community and it's a victory about issues." "We've heard for months that tonight ... is a referendum on health care, it's a referendum on the (Obama) administration, it's a referendum on what direction this country is going," Deutch said. "Let me tell you something, what we learned today is that in Broward County and Palm Beach County, Florida, the Democratic Party is alive and well." The controversial health care reforms may have played a large role in the election results. Lynch [mindmeld => Lynch is the guy who lost] said he wanted to repeal the new law. The 44-year-old contractor made opposition to President Barack Obama's health care legislation a major part of his campaign. Lynch was also critical of the federal stimulus program, and of the president's handling the war in Iraq. Deutch, also 44, supported the new health care law. Deutch will serve the remaining months of Wexler's term and will have to run this November for a full term in office.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (16849)	4/14/2010 1:21:12 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

precisely because of the example I gave you about my Grandma First of all, you're generalizing from one element of Medicaid, what they pay for nursing home care for the destitute. Most of Medicaid is for young families. They go to the same doctors that you and I do, at least in my state. Medicaid actually covers more things than Medicare does although up until the recent legislation passage it paid less. I posted a clip to that effect. Just because you think the system should have put your grandmother up in an upscale nursing home doesn't make the entire program inadequate. As for your grandmother's experience, I don't see how you can attribute that to Medicaid. Almost all nursing homes are places you wouldn't want to have to stay. I've never seen one that was nice, regardless of who was paying. That's the nature of the beast. The idea is to stay out of them. because I want for Americans what I personally am able to afford. However, I know it is not realistic to expect that we as a country can afford that for every American You said you've done some long term care planning. What was the difference in price between your grandmother's nursing home and the amount of insurance you arranged? What do you think would be realistic for the country to afford if not as much as you've arranged? I assume you wouldn't expect special treatment for your own family members, so what would you expect "every American" to get ? How much is good enough? I'm just trying to get a handle on what would need to be done to Medicaid to meet your standards, just what is the shortfall. I think if we diverted some resources from war and the military, we could easily afford it. There are a lot of things in this country that aren't good enough. There's not enough money consumed by war to take care of all of them. If you could divert that money, why would nursing home care for the indigent be the priority? BTW, are you aware of how people have long divested their assets so they wouldn't have to spend their own money on nursing home care but rather could give it to their heirs while the taxpayers foot the nursing home bill? It was quite the scandal a while back. Haven't heard much about it lately. You have to wonder, though, if that's not a part of why Medicaid benefits aren't more generous.

To: RetiredNow who wrote (16849)	4/22/2010 4:13:16 PM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 42652

Will Private Long-Term Care Insurance Supplement the CLASS Act? Howard Gleckman, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute Apr 22, 2010 View all previous columns » The Community Living Assistance Service and Supports (CLASS) Act—the new national long-term care insurance program included in the just-passed health bill—begins to change the way we pay for personal assistance for the frail elderly and adults with disabilities. CLASS takes a step towards moving long-term care financing from the welfare-like Medicaid program to an insurance-based system. But CLASS alone won’t get the nation there. Private insurance, currently a niche product that covers only about seven million Americans, will have to play an important role as well. A key question remains: Will private coverage fill the gaps left by CLASS? Top industry executives are deeply divided over how to respond to the new law. Some are anxious to design products that would supplement CLASS insurance, much like Medigap insurance currently enhances basic Medicare. But others see little benefit in selling such products, and suggest they may try to compete with CLASS. This could doom the new government program. And it could leave the industry stuck with the same limited market it has today. While many details of CLASS insurance won’t be worked out for at least two years, daily benefits will be relatively modest—probably about $50 or $75. That’s very valuable for the many elderly and disabled who live at home. But for those worried about having to move to a nursing home, which costs an average of more than $200 a day, CLASS insurance will fall far short of their needs. That’s where private insurance fits in. Today, buyers of commercial policies typically purchase a daily benefit of more than $100. That suggests many consumers may want to top off the government’s modest daily benefit with private coverage. This, in fact, is what has happened in France. There, government benefits are very modest for middle- and upper-income individuals. So about 25 percent of those 60 and older have purchased extra private coverage—far more than the seven percent who currently own long-term care insurance in the U.S. But CLASS coverage may not be easy for private companies to complement. For instance, while the daily benefit is modest, CLASS coverage is available for life. Private companies effectively dropped lifetime benefits years ago, and are unlikely to return to them. Private companies also worry about how people would qualify for benefits. Under CLASS, it takes only the approval of a patient’s own doctor, who is likely to approve most claims. And private companies fear it will be impossible to deny payments for somebody who is already receiving CLASS benefits. As a result, they may be reluctant to sell policies to complement government policies. But the biggest industry worry is price. It will be a few years before anyone knows how much CLASS premiums will be, but they may very likely exceed an average of $100 a month (younger people will pay lower premiums and older people will pay more). A new study by the SCAN Foundation and the consulting firm Avalere Health figures that a CLASS-like policy will cost the average buyer about $115 monthly. (SCAN funding supports some KHN coverage of aging.) Insurers worry that once consumers buy the government plan, they’ll have little money left to pay for a supplemental private policy. That was a big reason why much of the industry opposed CLASS in the first place. Now, some companies think those potentially high CLASS premiums may give them an opening to compete with government insurance. Here’s why: Private carriers can keep their premiums relatively low by refusing to sell to people with pre-existing health issues. But CLASS will be available to everyone who holds at least a part-time job and thus will cover many high-risk buyers. That threatens to drive up CLASS premiums which, in turn, may push more buyers to cheaper private insurance. By cherry-picking the healthiest buyers, private companies could kill CLASS. Why wouldn’t they? Because CLASS offers one huge potential benefit to private companies: It opens the door to a large government-funded marketing campaign that promotes the need for long-term care insurance. The industry has never been able to make that case on its own but, with federal promotional dollars, long-term care insurance could become a more widespread product, and that would be good for everyone. So maybe there is a deal to be struck: As long as private companies agree to sell CLASS supplemental policies, government agrees to promote the need for long-term care insurance, whether government or private. Now that would be a public/private partnership worth watching. Howard Gleckman is a resident fellow at the Urban Institute, author of "Caring For Our Parents" and a frequent writer and speaker on long-term care issues. kaiserhealthnews.org