Daily Obama Jokes 09/21/09

Jokes are in the twitter feed.

An item in the news yesterday reminded me of something I've left out of the healthcare discussion so far. Another example of free markets dealing with health care costs.
According to a segment on Fox 1200 companies now operate their own on site medical clinics. This provides easy access to basic care for employees and knocks 10-30% off health care costs for the company. No government coercion needed. Just good old "It's cheaper to do it ourselves" market forces.
The government solution? An unburnable, bloated organization that will ultimately reduce access and drive up costs.
As a side note a regional supermarket chain, Giant Eagle, here in Cleveland is now offering free basic generic antibiotics commonly prescribed. The stuff's cheap, builds good will and gets people into the store to buy other stuff. A marketing move, I'm sure, but one that helps the uninsured.
Combine that with over 300 medicines available at $10 for a 90 day supply through Wal-Mart and other sources and basic care starts to become more affordable.
And affordability is the  ultimate issue.
Make basic health care affordable and insurance becomes the expensive option.  Insurance has expanded to become a combination of insurance and prepaid healthcare. There's a certain sense there. If people get annual checkups more problems get detected early and can be dealt with less expensively. It depends, though, on people getting those checkups. Most don't bother. That makes the practice questionable.
The min advantage of insurance is in their payment contracts with physicians allowing them to reduce fees by 30-70%..
Attack the upfront costs and insurance can return to what it was originally intended to be: A safeguard against catastrophic loss.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/20/09

So what comes next??
If some form of government run health care comes to be, what comes next?
Eventually the government will start complaining about people's lifestyles. As the government foots the bills (with your money) it's bound to  start  complaining about expenses brought on by people with unapproved lifestyles. People who drink, smoke, or are overweight. It won't belong a  few years I'm sure, until they will start trying to limit benefits for such people. It could get even worse. They could intrude further into someone's life by requiring check ups, fat farm attendance, dietary restrictions, etc.
A move is on now to tax soda pop. It's unhealthy. Punishment for disapproved lifestyles. And a regressive tax, to boot.
It won't end there. The camel is tramping around in the tent.
His Obaminess has given speeches in t past warning Americans they won't be able to keep their homes heated to 72. Enter Cap and trade.
He has warned in past speeches that we won't be to able to eat what we like.
The next step in a regulated, totalitarian societal agenda. Remember the health nut craze of Nazi Germany?
Fight for the  future and oppose government run health systems and any level now,

Daily Obama Jokes 09/14/09

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This last Friday I was in Walgreens getting my flu shot. It brought to the forefront of my thinking an unheralded healthcare option. Walgreens, CVS and Rite-aid are all offering flu shots.  Walgreens is all offering a variety of basic medical services through the pharmacy. These include such items as shots, treatment for basic illness such as colds, stitch removal and exams and form completion for school and camp.  The highest price I saw listed was about $70 and it looked like these services were available in most stores. Treatments are administered by the pharmacist or a nurse practitioner. You can use your  insurance. as well. These services are less costly than a  visit to a doctor's office. Multiple locations mean easy access.
CVS has a similar program offering mini clinics in select stores.
Accessibility and low cost. Isn't that what we are looking for?
While His Obaminess tries to shove an expensive, bulky, controlling health care plan down everyone's' throat the free market responds to rising heath care costs. Doctors' fees soar and new providers of service arise. That's how a free market works. That's how it's supposed to be.
I also note that nowhere in the any government bills being discussed is the creation of new lower cost providers of service discussed.
Free markets, yes. Obamacare no.

For this day,no blog.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/10/09

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His Obaminess gave his speech last night.
Whoopie.
His ideas are dangerous not only for wht they do now but for wht they could morph into in the future. Remember, with communists it's always wo steps forward, one step back and repeat.
No to the government run options.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/09/09

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Nobody seems to have given this much thought but it strikes me that Obama;s plans are all, for practical purposes, inflationary.
Consider.
When inflation occurs the purchasing power of your dollars is diminished, Each dollar you have is worth less because it will purchase fewer goods and services.
Cap and trade will cost each household several thousand dollars.
That lessens your purchasing power.
Obamacare will cost thousands of dollars per capita.
That lessens your purchasing power.
The trillions the government is borrowing will up your taxes.
That lessens your purchasing power.
The net effect is the same as inflation. The destruction of your purchasing power.
The Federal Reserve is mandated with fighting inflation precisely because of it's destructive effects on an economy.
If Obama's plans duplicate the net effect by reducing your purchasing power them it must also have an equally detrimental effect on the economy.
Nothing good I think, can come from any of this.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/06/09

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Don't be fooled. Putting into the law some kind of trigger to institute a government option for health care is nothing but a time bomb. Sooner or later something will happen to hit a trigger. This is nothing more than an attempt to quiet and placate people -- for now --while insuring an intrusive and inefficient idea gets implemented at some point.
Atime delay does not change a bad idea into a good one.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/05/07

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To summarize our view on health care changes:

Promote and expand existing community financed free clinics. Begin new ones.
On a state level require pro bono services by medical personal.
Special bankruptcy courts or rules for medical expenses only.
Tighten and possibly codify what actually is malpractice.
Hammer frauds.
Expand electronics claims and payments processing.

A combination of these measures would both expand services and bring down costs. No extreme government interventions into your life needed.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/03/09

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Some additional things that cause health care expenses to rise:

Technology.
Not at all onerous, new technologies and drugs to contribute to health care costs.

Patient Stuffing
Hospitals have been known to pressure doctors to keep the beds filled. Complaints arise sometimes about insurance companies balking at paying for certain hospital stays. This really isn't an attempt to be cheap but to fight this practice. In addition there is a tendency to get patients into repeat testing mills, turning them into checks to pay for expensive equipment and become a profit stream. I'm sure this happens, but it is a tricky subject. Many people, such as cancer survivors, do require regular testing for recurrence.

Administrative Expense.
The Athena Group a publicly  traded consulting firm, was on CNBC last year stating that 25% of health care expenses came from administrative expenses. Everybody working in the insurance industry have to be paid. All the hospital and doctor's office personnel that deal with  insurance have to be paid. Office space has to be paid for, Computers and software package, the physical forms, government compliances, and much more all have to paid for. Third party payer systems by their very nature boosts costs. going to a single payer government system won’t change that.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/02/09

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Another cause of needless expense is plain old fraud. This comes in a variety of forms.

Medical Fraud.
Most doctors, as I have pointed out have nothing to do with billing, pricing, claims, etc. But some do and some of those are, well, less than honest. One semi-regular bridge partner of mine many years ago was a physician who lost his license over fraudulent claims. Worse is when a medical group goes bad. When I was in the insurance business here in Cleveland one medical group had 3% of the doctors in their specialty but accounted for 36%  of the claims. This led to an investigation and prosecution of the owner. Note it was the owner of the group, not the doctors working for him. It does show though, that a few bad apples can do a lot of damage.

Subscriber Fraud.
Yep, patients take their share. The most common form perhaps is double dipping from two group insurance policies that should be each paying only part of the claim according to industry standard rules. Instead the subscriber files with both claiming not to have additional insurance. I discovered a number of people who had taken in over a quarter million dollars when I was in the business. Some union workers seem to almost consider doing this a fringe benefit. Insurance companies, when such fraud is discovered, rarely do more than insist on the return of money. There’s no profit in it to do more.

Internal Fraud.
Yep, crooks exist within the insurance business as well. Where I worked for six years thee was a claim supervisor who was a nice chatty young lady. Everybody liked her One day, out of the blue she turned sullen and uncommunicative. Her answers to people were snappy. Everyone was surprised by this sudden Jekyll and Hyde. Turned out she and her boyfriend were submitted phony claims under the names of physicians who didn’t have a reimbursement agreement with the insurer. Thus payment went to the insured not the doctor. They got caught when they submitted a claim for brain surgery. The physician whose information they used was a general practitioner. The claim hit a scope  of license red flag and that was that.

Daily Obama Jokes 09/01/09

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Another cause of high medical costs is the fact that our health care system is not truly a free market system. In theory you can go anywhere for anything. The mundane reality is quite different. To be sure you can pick your primary care physician or pediatrician. Understandably such decisions are usually made on the basis of trust in the doctor. Nobody asks for a price list.
From this point market forces disappear from the system. If the doctor wants lab tests or x-rays done they are done by who he designates or by the place he sends you. There is no comparison shopping. If you need a referral you get one. One. That's generally you who  you go see. Dissatisfaction with the referral may lead to seeing an additional specialist in the same field, but such decisions are generally made on factors other than dollars.
The end result is that these additional medical providers, not having to justify their fees against a competitor charge pretty much what they want.
Unquestioned and unchallenged.
Costs of lab tests and such should have a disclosure and options for testing be provided.
The lack of competition becomes most evident in emergency situations. If you hve an accident or heart attack or something akin the ambulance comes and gets you and takes you to the nearest facility. Now I'm not suggesting by any means that you can shop around during the middle of a heart attack or while bleeding out from an accident, I merely wish to point this out as another area where choice doesn't exist.
Until free market forces play a real role in the health care area there will be no downward pressures on prices.