HCR Passes

[BarTopDancer]

Well I have no grandparents so obviously granny-death squad it doesn't effect me and I don't care.

I see one of those things will help a friend of mine who is against this. He owns a small business with less than 50 employees.

And I suspect that blogger has already been arrested by the Secret Service.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

This tax will impose a ten percent tax on indoor tanning services. This tax, which replaced the proposed tax on cosmetic surgery, would be effective for services on or after July 1, 2010.

Making reality shows 10% more expensive to produce.

[innerSpaceman]

Yay, I'm glad my employers will get a tax credit for my coverage. That's the only benefit I will remotely see from this - and yet I STILL support on behalf of the people I have compassion for. And because I see nothing more socialist in it than, as has been pointed out, schools, roads, fire and police, national weather service and the list could go on and on.

I wish I could live long enough through good health to see some real reform, but I have no illusions that much more will be done in my lifetime.

And I don't know if this counts to break the record (imo, it does not), but it was pointed out to me that - as evidence Congress is hopeless broken - no major legislation has been passed in the last 40 years.

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

And nevermind, that childless couple down the street is already paying, in the form of emergency room care that those without insurance are forced to resort to, and most of the time end up not paying the bulk of the cost. That tab has (rightly) been picked up by the tax payer all this time, and at a premium rate. This begins the process of actually planning for and controlling those costs, making sure fewer people need expensive emergency services, and that money has been collected to cover those that do.

You know who's losing money in that process? The lawyers and bill collectors who were middlemen in that process. WILL SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE ATTORNEYS????

[Gemini Cricket]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

Making reality shows 10% more expensive to produce.

lol!

[Morrigoon]

There's one aspect of the bill that I know is intended to help people, but I don't think should have been put it - the no co-pays bit. Copays for many insurance plans are modest enough that they function less to reduce the insurance company's burden on that visit, than they do to discourage gratuitous visitation by overprotective parents and hypochondriacs.

A good compromise would have been setting limits on copays but still allowing them. A modest $10 or $20 copay would make office visits accessible to pretty much everyone but discourage people from visiting every time they get a headache.

I'd also like to see pharmacists empowered to do more. Perhaps release certain medications to a near-OTC situation where a pharmacist can clear a patient to receive it without having to wait for a doctor's visit. Medication for UTI and bladder infections, for example.

Oh a side note, it occurred to me to wonder about this: For those folks who have gotten a "prescription" for certain "herbal" remedies... would the prescription coverage now be required to cover people's access to pot? How odd would THAT be!

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

I'd also like to see pharmacists empowered to do more. Perhaps release certain medications to a near-OTC situation where a pharmacist can clear a patient to receive it without having to wait for a doctor's visit. Medication for UTI and bladder infections, for example.

Problem with this is it will lead people to self diagnose more than they already are. What if that UTI or bladder infection is really an STD. Instead of being treated for the STD they are treating for the bladder infection while the STD gets worse.

[Not Afraid]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

The Huffington Post has compiled a list of the top 18 immediate effects of the health care bill as well as some that will take effect in the first year of implementation:

Health Insurers cannot deny children health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. A ban on the discrimination in adults will take effect in 2014.

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees will get tax credits covering up to 50% of employee premiums.

Seniors will get a rebate to fill the so-called "donut hole" in Medicare drug coverage, which severely limits prescription medication coverage expenditures over $2,700. As of next year, 50 percent of the donut hole will be filled.

The cut-off age for young adults to continue to be covered by their parents' health insurance rises to the age 27.

Lifetime caps on the amount of insurance an individual can have will be banned. Annual caps will be limited, and banned in 2014.

A temporary high-risk pool will be set up to cover adults with pre-existing conditions. Health care exchanges will eliminate the program in 2014.

New plans must cover checkups and other preventative care without co-pays. All plans will be affected by 2018.

Insurance companies can no longer cut someone when he or she gets sick.

Insurers must now reveal how much money is spent on overhead.

Any new plan must now implement an appeals process for coverage determinations and claims.

This tax will impose a ten percent tax on indoor tanning services. This tax, which replaced the proposed tax on cosmetic surgery, would be effective for services on or after July 1, 2010.

New screening procedures will be implemented to help eliminate health insurance fraud and waste.

Medicare payment protections will be extended to small rural hospitals and other health care facilities that have a small number of Medicare patients.

Non-profit Blue Cross organizations will be required to maintain a medical loss ratio -- money spent on procedures over money incoming -- of 85 percent or higher to take advantage of IRS tax benefits.

Chain restaurants will be required to provide a "nutrient content disclosure statement" alongside their items. Expect to see calories listed both on in-store and drive-through menus of fast-food restaurants sometime soon.

The bill establishes a temporary program for companies that provide early retiree health benefits for those ages 55‐64 in order to help reduce the often-expensive cost of that coverage.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services will set up a new Web site to make it easy for Americans in any state to seek out affordable health insurance options The site will also include helpful information for small businesses.

A two‐year temporary credit (up to a maximum of $1 billion) is in the bill to encourage investment in new therapies for the prevention and treatment of diseases.

How in the HELL can anyone look at this list and say: "It's the end of the world as we know it". Maybe it's because they've had health insurance forever and no illnesses and they can say "I feel fine". (Thank you REM.)

[Morrigoon]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Problem with this is it will lead people to self diagnose more than they already are. What if that UTI or bladder infection is really an STD. Instead of being treated for the STD they are treating for the bladder infection while the STD gets worse.

But how often do people allow a bladder infection to worsen because they can't get to a doctor?

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

But how often do people allow a bladder infection to worsen because they can't get to a doctor?

Now they can.

I get what your original point was, and some things like allergy medication should be available OTC or nearly OTC. Things that require antibiotics or that have symptoms similar to something more serious should not. Antibiotics are already over-prescribed and should be more controlled (by doctors, not the government), not less (dispensed by a pharmacist after being given a random list of symptoms).

The over-prescribing of antibiotics is personal to me thanks to all the antibiotic resistant strains out there now. I am seriously allergic to anything that ends in 'cillin or is derived from a 'cillin antibiotic - as in if they were to administer penicillin they would have to do it in the hospital because the reaction would be life threatening. There isn't much I can take and if things become resistant to zythromax I'm pretty much SoL.