AETNA's Effect on our 2013 Contract Negotiations

[Dracula]

In Summary..... The healthcare system that we had in place before "The Affordable Health Care Act" was not broken. [/U]

If you truly believe that, then you aren't keeping up with current events. Again, read the Time magazine expose on how our system is killing us. Yes, killing us.

 

[Returntosender]

Student Who Tussled With Aetna CEO Over Broken Health Care Dies - ABC News

 

[Bagels]

In Summary..... The healthcare system that we had in place before "The Affordable Health Care Act" was not broken.

With all due respect, if you educate yourself with hard facts, rather than ignoring them, then you wouldn't reach the conclusion that 'our health care system is not broken.' I'm not saying to agree that ObamaCare is an appropriate solution ... just that the system is broken.

I listed some of the facts earlier in a posting somewhere but I'll harshly recaps:
-- The percentage of FT workers being offered private insurance dropped 20-points over the past 30-years; the percentage of overall workers has dropped nearly 40 points over 30-years as companies began reclassifying FT workers as PT (even those that regularly work 40-hours/week) and transitioning toward PT work forces in order to circumvent the payment of benefits - this is even happening within professional ranks.
-- Over 20% of insured workers are covered by high-deductible health plans -- most of which pay little or nothing unless there's a catastrophe. Almost nobody had such insurance entering the 2000s.
-- In the early 1980s, just over 20% of workers paid a portion of their premium -- by the late 2000s, that number rose to 95% and stands at 97% today
-- The average family contributes approximately $4500 toward their health care premiums -- remember, 80% paid nothing in the early 1980s, and those that did paid very little.
-- Out-of-pocket costs continue to accelerate; for PPO plans, the average deductible has reached $1200 - up from $500 in the early 2000s - and for PPO/HMO plans, the average doctor's office visit has reached $40, up from $20 in the early 2000s
-- 60% of all personal bankruptcies are driven by medical bills -- and most had health insurance.
-- Un/underinsured workers at, for example, Walmart cost taxpayers billions & persons on other covered private health insurance even more
-- Few workers without a professional job (degree) or union (and even that's shrinking!!) are covered.
-- Due to high costs, the average person makes 2.7 doctors visits each year -- down from over 4 in 2001.

I could go on.... keep in mind that many people who are offered insurance decline it due to cost -- many of the healthcare plans offered by places like Walmart are predatory (pay $1000 for a maximum of $4000 in benefits ... which you're not likely to see in case of catastrophe, and if that happens, it won't help much). These numbers will continue to accelerate as costs soar (pre-ObamaCare) because of the snowball effect. For example, just a few years ago, Target removed tens of thousands of workers from health care eligibility because of competition from Walmart.

That's OK if you want to ignore the problem. But it's false say "the system isn't broken."

As far as physicians whining about possible decreased payments with ObamaCare ... the average per-office visit for a PCP is double that of Canada, and nearly triple that of Europe. Yes, malpractice insurance rates are higher (varies based upon location), but doctors will always achieve their biggest paydays here.

 

[Atomic_Smurf]

So ya, I have a family member who has this dog. He was a good dog for many years but as he got a little older he started peeing on the carpet, getting in the kitchen trash & bit the neighbors kid. These guys in town said they had the perfect solution, they could retrain the dog but it would be quite expensive. They had a pretty good sales pitch & were pretty pushy but the decision was made & off the dog went to be cured of his bad habits. After two weeks, and lots of money the dog was returned. Right off the bat the dog was in the trash again, pissing on the carpet & bitting people. Immediately a phone call was made to the people that had promised to retrain the dog & they responded. "Hey don't blame us, he was like that when we got him!"


See the analogy there. My family member is the American people, the dog is our health care system & the dog trainers are the folks that brought us Obamacare. That was fun.

 

[Bagels]

So ya, I have a family member who has this dog. He was a good dog for many years but as he got a little older he started peeing on the carpet, getting in the kitchen trash & bit the neighbors kid. These guys in town said they had the perfect solution, they could retrain the dog but it would be quite expensive. They had a pretty good sales pitch & were pretty pushy but the decision was made & off the dog went to be cured of his bad habits. After two weeks, and lots of money the dog was returned. Right off the bat the dog was in the trash again, pissing on the carpet & bitting people. Immediately a phone call was made to the people that had promised to retrain the dog & they responded. "Hey don't blame us, he was like that when we got him!"


See the analogy there. My family member is the American people, the dog is our health care system & the dog trainers are the folks that brought us Obamacare. That was fun.

I can just picture you cuddling with Barney, singing "I love UPS, UPS loves me, they want to take care of the health of my family..." Wrong. The fundamental problem with our health care system is that it relies on employers to take care of us ... and health care has long been low-hanging fruit for companies looking to increase profits. UPS doesn't give a damn about you -- it's in business to generate profits. While it's easy to point fingers elsewhere, the reality is that over our past two contracts, FedEx Ground has developed as a fierce competitor and UPS is now challenged with the daunting task of addressing its high labor costs. Even without ObamaCare, you'd be asked to pay a portion of your health care expenses, and to think otherwise is foolish.

God forbid you lose your job tomorrow ... but then try finding affordable health insurance. You won't be able to. You whine about socialism, but then cradle the benefits of socialism (e.g. health insurance).

Interestingly, since the introduction of ObamaCare, the pace of accelerating health care costs has slowed ... and nobody has a definite explanation as to why.

 

[blue efficacy]

BTW, he also informed me that NO patient that shows up at ER can be turned down for medical treatment, regardless of having insurance or not.

Your knowledgeable MD and Pharmacist friends should also know that the ER is no substitute for proper medical care. The ER will put a band aid on, but they won't cure the wound. It ends up being much more costly for society as a whole because they will keep going to the ER if the condition they go for originally comes up again, because the necessary medical care to fix something long term can indeed turn away people who can't pay.

People using the ER because they can't afford to use regular channels for medical care is one of the major contributors to the ballooning costs.

To reemphasize, the ER exists to stabilize a patient. It is not meant to be a long term answer for anyone, and it is extremely wasteful for anyone to attempt to use it as such. However, a low income uninsured person has no choice.

 

[sortaisle]

I don't like Obamacare that much...but here's the thing...I don't like it for what it is - a tax. The so called "death panels" that get spun around are simply false. The panel's sole job is to find things like double payments and cut the fat. Something that a lot of people has been bitching about for years. The panel is going to consist of Doctors, politicians, and nurses. The doctors have their opinions in check by the Hippocratic Oath. They can and will be disbarred for "death panels." Politicians are crooked most of the time but this is a big deal for them since their electability hinges on them making the right decisions. The nurses would also be bound under their own Hippocratic Oath or under their lead doctor's oath. Oh and the other death panel that Sarah Palin talked about was a Medicare clause for voluntary counseling for end of life functions that somehow got spun into pull the plug on grandma. I've got to tell ya, if I was in an end of life process, I'd like the opportunity for counseling to see what the options are. Dislike Obamacare for the facts, not for the fictions.