Some ideas about healthcare

Previously, I mentioned that I don’t think that the government is going to take over health insurance. In other words it is FUD. I also mentioned that I’m concerned that without regulations that define coverage criteria we will have insurance companies making up reasons not to pay claims. What you will end up with is people with insurance going bankrupt like they are now.



Thinking about it further I can see how taking over the entire health insurance market would result in a situation where it make sense for them to provide health care instead. Paying the medical providers directly in the form of a salary would certainly make more sense than funding some insurance middle man to turn around and pay the providers. Taking out the middle man removes the cost. Of course, like I said before it’s not going to happen.



Since that isn’t going to happen I would like to see a generous benefits package outlined that would be a minimum of what is covered by anyone claiming to sell health insurance. Standardizing a benefits package helps create competition. I’ve seen negotiations for insurance coverage. When the employer talks about lowering the price the insurance company talks about lowering coverage. If you try to go to a different insurance company they give you a different plan that you have to figure out. It’s really hard to get to an apples to apples comparison of plans.



Similarly, I would like for the benefits to just have a coverage percentage, deductable and maximum. Along with this I would like to see language that would allow me to have a supplemental policy to cover all the out of pocket expenses that my current coverage dose not cover.



For all the benefits mentioned above I would like to see a group of people from the health care and health insurance industries come up with standardized coverage criteria for the whole benefits package. I would like the providers of care and health insurance companies to have equal say in the coverage criteria so that you end up with criteria that are reasonable.



I like that it looks like the plans will abolish pre-existing conditions.



I would like for all of my medical records to be available to anyone treating me for anything. If this is handled through some smart chip technology, the internet, or a hybrid of the two doesn’t matter to me. We are no longer in the 1950s. We shouldn’t have a condition where one doctor doesn’t know what the other doctor has done to treat the patient.



That’s the way I see it today.

Windows 7 Service Pack 1

Just read this and had to make a comment.

Dave, Microsoft’s marketing department called and wants to know where to send the check.

Seriously, you have to be kidding. You really think we should forget about Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP and both versions of the Xbox. All of these products required fixes of some type. The lesson that comes from this is “Microsoft products are in beta until SP1”. ME and Vista never really worked at all.

Your reasoning that the fixes are the only thing that comes into play doesn’t make sense. Murphy’s law ensures that your setup will be the one that has the problem requiring the fix. You might even be the first one with that problem which means that they or you will have to come up with a work around. If you want to do that have fun with it. As for myself and our company we will wait till SP1.

Chris Turner a real hero.

I was going to post more of my ideas about health care today, but I saw this story on the TV this morning. I’ll get back to the health care tomorrow.




First of all, Chris Turner, deserves thanks for making me feel younger. I’m 41 years old and to see reports of a 62 year old man fighting and winning reminds me that I’m not that old.



I have to disagree with him, however, about being a hero. I can only imagine how he feels about being called that, but it’s true. Without him the deaths of the guards would have been just part of a tragedy where thirty some odd people died. I know they were just doing what they had to do in a tough situation, but that is what heroes do. Heroes also tend to deny that they are heroes. He earned the title by his actions. He’s not going to get rid of the title with words.

Some ideas about healthcare.

The headlines today are all about the public option. Some of our politicians are worried about the public option being a stepping stone to the government taking over healthcare. As I mentioned in my previous post I was in the Army. I have seen government run healthcare and I liked it. Unfortunately, that’s not what the stepping stone leads to. It’s not even close.


What they are really talking about is a government takeover of health insurance. This is not likely to happen either. In the article linked below professor Carroll notes several states where similar ideas have been tried. I don’t know of any of these states where the public option has lead to a government takeover of health insurance



Huffington Post – Meet the New Health Care Reform, Same as the Old Health Care Reform

I am a bit concerned about the proposed legislation for another reason. I’ve billed insurance companies before and I know that having insurance does not mean that they will pay. I also know that it’s worse to have insurance that does not pay than to have no insurance at all.


The problem when billing is that different plans within different insurance companies can come up with a different set of hoops that the provider has to jump through to get paid. As long as insurance companies get to make up these rules they will find ways to deny claims. When claims get denied the patient ends up with the bill. So the patient is out the premiums that they paid plus the amount of the medical procedure.

Afghanistan

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2009/10/620000438/1

I keep seeing this come up in the news. First question in my mind is why is this an Obama level decision? I know he is the commander in chief, but moving troops around should be handled at a lower level. It’s not smart for him to be involved at this level. He gets all the blame if they loose and none of the credit if they win.


As a citizen I expect our president to give the military their mission and leave it to the military to decide how to do it. He should also decide on priorities of missions. When I was in the military our squad leader might define a limit of advance. When you reached that point you would find cover and reload your weapons. On a much broader scale I expect the president to define an end point to missions given.

I don’t expect the president to understand military tactics /strategy. He has people who have been very well trained in that area. He should trust them. They understand that sending more troops does not mean sending more people to get shot at. Sending more troops means sending more people to shoot back. That’s the way I see it.