my doctor and health care.

[DesertFlower]

saw my doc friday. to make a long story short he's a liberal dem but is disappointed that obama didn't do a better job of making sure the ACA website was working. he said "we should have gone all the way -- universal healthcare". i said "medicare for all"? he said "yes". we talked about how medicare would be saved with younger people buying in.

i mentioned how some docs will not take medicare. i said "it's not illegal -- but it's unethical". he agreed with me.

he's a kind and caring doc and i'm fortunate to have him.

[Pinkflamingo]

1. I'm a doctor too. I don't get Drs who are opposed to patients getting care.

In fact it boggles my mind.

The one payer system would have been great but it would have been even more complicated.

Please tell your doctor, the website works fine now. I enrolled today.

[DesertFlower]

2. glad it's working.

my friend has been on medicare for almost 6 months. 2 of her docs don't take medicare. one is her therapist. my friend had to stop seeing her because she can't afford to pay $150 a visit. the therapist has been treating her for years and knows she has money problems. one would think she would have worked out a sliding scale for my friend.

[Cleita]

4. Medicare definitely needs to update its fee schedule but even

so most doctors still take it because they know they will get paid in a timely matter when the paper work is filled out properly.

[DesertFlower]

6. i agree. nt

[fadedrose]

10. Bless you, Doctor...

[Cleita]

3. If everyone were enrolled in Medicare for basic health care,

whatever problems it has would be fixed because when everyone rich and poor have to be under the same umbrella, they can effect change for the better.

Insurance companies could still sell insurance for frills for those who can and want to pay for it but other countries have proved that the best coverage that is most cost effective is single payer.

[DesertFlower]

7. exactly. there would still

be the Medicap plans to pay for what medicare doesn't.

[Joey Liberal]

5. You have a good Doc

My Doc doesn't like Obama or the ACA, but he's good at practicing medicine.

[DesertFlower]

9. my doc is gay -- obvioulsy gay, but it

doesn't seem to have any effect on his practice. the reason i say this is because i live in a very conservative area.

my late husband had no problem with it, but we've always had gay and lesbian friends.

my former doctor who retired when he was almost 79 was against single payer. he was religious and most likely a republican, but he was a good doc.

[fadedrose]

8. Yes you are lucky...

But there's still time, Obama and too many people who have faith in it won't let it die.

If only we could regain the house and go to single payer.

[DesertFlower]

11. i was watching ed schultz the other day.

he said the only way to get rid of special interests is to have progressives in the white house and congress.

let's face it the insurance lobby is very powerful.

[fadedrose]

12. Notice he said "progressives," and not democrats...

He must know the difference...

[DesertFlower]

13. exactly. nt

[littlewolf]

15. we had the house as well as the senate and the WH and still

could not get single payer, hate to throw cold water.

[DesertFlower]

18. we couldn't even get

a public option. insurance companies like all big companies have powerful lobbyists.

[fadedrose]

23. This was at the end of Bush's 2 terms

Unemployment, Wars to pay for, troops everseas, and the party was somewhat undivided because of the bruising primaries.

I think they were shocked that they got health care at all, and what a battle it was. I still remember the good speeches made at the Senate and House by Dems....the blue dogs who feared losing their seat never went along with us, as well as some of the great northwest and texas. So yes, it was all Dems, but they were not of one mind.

[DesertFlower]

28. exactly. nt

[Aristus]

14. I'm a Physician Assistant, and my patient population is mostly homeless.

I'm behind the ACA 100%, but we really need single payer.

We'll get there. I'm guessing 5-6 years of the ACA, and people will be open to single payer.

Every medical provider ought to support the ACA, but human beings are complex, and sometimes pig-headed. Not everyone trained in medicine will...

[Blue_In_AK]

16. In Anchorage, primary care doctors who won't take Medicare

outnumber the ones who do. They say they're not compensated enough.

As of 2012, fewer than 13% of primary care physicians in this city would accept new Medicare patients. I believe one or two strictly Medicare clinics have opened recently because the situation was so dire and a few doctors/practitioners had a conscience.

[DesertFlower]

20. and what are the seniors supposed to do?

i'm a senior on medicare with a medigap policy. thank goodness i have a doctor who would never refuse medicare. i also go to a pain clinic and i can't imagine those docs not taking medicare.

[Blue_In_AK]

24. I am lucky that I was an established patient at my clinic

so they will continue to see me. I had to give up my orthopedist who had been treating my bad knee.

As I mentioned in my edited post, a couple strictly Medicare clinics have opened within the past year or two because the situation was really serious here for the older patients.

[seabeyond]

17. it was not obama that did not go all the way. we gotta remember what exactly happened way back when

is all i am saying.

[jtuck004]

19. Patients scramble after AARP Medicare Advantage plans drop providers

Citrus County resident George Smith received a disturbing letter this month about his Medicare coverage. The AARP managed care network he had relied on for years will drop all eight of his and his wife's doctors as of Jan. 1.
...

UnitedHealthcare is shrinking AARP networks and focusing on doctors, hospitals and clinics that will "enhance health plan quality, improve health care outcomes and curb the growth in health care costs,'' spokeswoman Jessica Pappas wrote Monday in an emailed response to the Times. Hospitals and doctors that "demonstrate the highest quality at the greatest value will be rewarded for their efforts.''
...
Actually, the federal government announced this year it is increasing payments to Medicare Advantage plans 3.3 percent, while still pursuing the goal of eventually bringing the cost of Advantage plans down to those of original Medicare.

UnitedHealthcare believes that overall funding won't keep up with the growth in health care costs, Pappas wrote, and shrinking the network will help AARP plans maintain current benefits.
...

This is a Tampa story, but it's nationwide. A pre-emptive strike against perceived Medicare shortfalls by United Health Care, here.

[DesertFlower]

22. some links re. medicare advantage plans.

they're risky.

http://wendellpotter.com/2013/04/medicare-advantage-or-disadvantage/

http://www.caring.com/articles/disadvantages-of-medicare-advantage-plans

[Drunken Irishman]

21. Unfortunately, it's a lot harder than saying Medicare for All...

Even then, people would have to sign up and the same website issues we're dealing with right now would be an issue. Moreover, some people who are on Medicare have a difficult time affording the supplemental insurance and get this - actually WANT to sign up for the Marketplace (but can't, as it is illegal to be sold insurance through the Marketplace if you're on Medicare).

The entire Medicare system would have to be overhauled and that was just not going to happen, unfortunately. Too many Democrats had issues with the ACA being 'too liberal' and a hard sell back home. The idea of selling single-payer or Medicare for All would've been infinitely more difficult.

[DesertFlower]

27. those medicare supplemental plans (also called Medigap) policies are

expensive. my friend and her husband each pay $260 a month for their supplemental plan. then of course, there's the medicare which runs $104 a month each. she was thrilled when her husband turned 65 (she's a few years older) because she was paying so much for her employer based health care. turns out with medicare and supplements it's costing her about $20 a month more and several of her docs won't take medicare. she's disgusted.

i had one through IBM for $28 a month which also covered 65% of the cost of my drugs. the policy had a $4,000 deductible but also had a $4,000 max out of pocket.

IBM is dropping that plan so i got one with IBM's help. they're using "extend health". the new one is $64.50 a month with a $4800 out of pocket max. after the medicare deductible it will pick up 1/2 of the costs medicare doesn't cover. i took a humana part D for my drugs -- $12.40 a month. some drugs are subject to a deductible. the good thing is IBM is giving me $1,187 HRA. it will actually pay my premiums with a few bucks left over. i was told i could use the extra money for dental care.

the max out of pocket is very important. if a policy doesn't have one that's how you can go bankrupt. ACA requires their policies to have one.

thank you IBM. my husband was with them almost 43 years when he passed. they took good care of him and now they're taking care of me.

[jtuck004]

29. Oregon seems to have figured it out. They enrolled 50,000 people into Medicaid while the

exchange site was not working, with just a phone call or the return of a card.

Though Oregon's health insurance exchange is not yet up and running, the number of uninsured is already dropping thanks to new fast-track enrollment for the Oregon Health Plan.

The low-income, Medicaid-funded program has already signed up 56,000 new people, cutting the state's number of uninsured by 10 percent, according to Oregon Health Authority officials.

Though the new exchange called Cover Oregon was originally intended to be used for Oregon Health Plan enrollment, the online marketplace doesn't work yet. Instead, new Oregon Health Plan members are being enrolled using a fast-track process that was approved by the federal government in August.
...

To enroll, all they have to do is make a phone call or send a form consenting to be enrolled. So far, 56,000 people have done that, coming on top of more than 600,000 already enrolled.
...

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/10/oregon_has_cut_tally_of_those.html#incart_river

WA state has enrolled about 35,000 in Medicaid, about 4500 in marketplace.

Medicaid enrollment is much faster and easier than ACA, works much better. All it needs is people that will stand up and fight for it like they fight for donations from wealthy people.

[Drunken Irishman]

33. It's one state against an entire country.

Easier to figure out.

[Drunken Irishman]

34. But that really shows why states needed to form their own marketplace.

The lapse was that they didn't expect states to rely on the federal marketplace - not over half, anyway. If every state ran their own Marketplace, it wouldn't be near the issue.

[jtuck004]

35. Actually two states. But the principal is the same. Without all the overhead that the ACA

brings, dropping the concern about profit for the ins cos, etc, it's a LOT simpler. Cheaper too.

[DesertFlower]

31. vermont goes single payer.

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/08/11-1

it will probably happen state by state.

[Flatulo]

25. I expect yet more doctors will start refusing Medicare patients. Isn't $700b coming from provider

reimbursements as part of the ACA to go towards subsidies?

I've been hearing of doctors who refuse to accept any insurance whatsoever. Supposedly they're spending inordinate amounts of time fighting to get reimbursed from a bazillion different insurers and it's just not worth the trouble anymore. So they form a small self-insured co-op, kind of like a shoppers club and you pay them $5,000 or whatever per year. But that membership gets you same day service and covers all in-office procedures, lab work, surgery, etc. Not sure how they would handle hospitalization.

In general, I'm I'm favor of things that bypass the insurers, who add no value to health care delivery.

[ErikJ]

26. Robot physicians will save the day

They can do intricate operations better and diagnose better so we can have as many as we need. But we'll still need some human doctors or at least human physician assistants.

[Flatulo]

30. Yes, that DaVinci surgical robot looks amazing. To bad I see the TV lawyers already jumping onto

lawsuits for people who've supposedly been harmed by it.

I like what some municipalities do... fund a medical students education, them have them remain in that area for four years while getting a living stipend. They pay off the medical degree costs by working at a reduced rate.

[bigwillq]

32. Why does your doc hate Obama?