Tag: Health Plans

STOP THE PRESSES!

After bumping his gums for a year Donny has a new healthcare plan that we all should study carefully….

President Trump on Thursday announced the outlines of a health care plan he wants Congress to take up. The move comes as Republicans have faced increasing pressure to address rising health costs after lawmakers let subsidies expire, the AP reports. The cornerstone is his proposal to send money directly to Americans for health savings accounts so they can handle insurance and health costs as they see fit. Democrats have rejected the idea as a paltry substitute for the tax credits that had helped lower monthly premiums for many people.

  • “The government is going to pay the money directly to you,” Trump said in a video the White House released to announce the plan. “It goes to you and then you take the money and buy your own health care.”
  • Trump’s plan also focuses on lowering drug prices and requiring insurers to be more upfront with the public about costs, revenues, rejected claims, and wait times for care.
  • Trump has long been dogged by his lack of a comprehensive health care plan as he and Republicans have sought to unwind Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. Trump was thwarted during his first term in trying to repeal and replace the law.
  • When he ran for president in 2024, Trump said he had only “concepts of a plan” to address health care. His new proposal, short on many specifics, appeared to be the concepts of a plan, the AP notes. Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, described it to reporters on a telephone briefing as a “framework that we believe will help Congress create legislation.”
  • It was not immediately clear if any lawmakers in Congress were working to introduce the president’s plan. The White House did not offer any details about how much money it envisioned being sent to consumers to shop for insurance, or whether the money would be available to all ObamaCare enrollees or just those with lower-tier bronze and catastrophic plans.
  • The idea mirrors one floated among Republican senators last year. Democrats largely rejected it, saying the health savings accounts would not be enough to cover costs for most consumers. Currently, such accounts are used disproportionately by the wealthiest Americans, who have more income to fund them and a bigger incentive to lower their tax rate.
  • Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said the announcement was another one of Trump’s “empty promises” on health care, the Washington Post reports. “Every American should be asking themselves a simple question: are you paying more for your health care than you were a year ago?” Wyden said. “The answer ought to tell you everything you need to know about the Trump-Republican health care agenda.”

AS with anything that Donny spews out…there is little clarity but this is just an idea that will go to Congress for their take and that is where it will get more interesting.

Since this is not very clear I will hold my reservations until the final shoe drops in Congress.

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

On The Health Front

This issue has become dear to my heart with all the health issues I am dealing with it is good to keep an eye on who is doing what….

With an election looming I think two of the major issues for the mid-terms will be the economy and health care….with that said let’s look at what Uncle Don has promised us peons as a GOP plan.

Donald Trump is so lost on so many issues that he can’t even understand how lost he is. This is perhaps most evident with his “$20 trillion” in foreign investment. Trump’s wacky number is five times annual investment levels. It is two-thirds of GDP. But none of his aides can get him to stop repeating his imaginary number.

In the wake of the shutdown disaster, Trump seems intent on coming up with some alternative to the subsidies for people to buy insurance in the Obamacare exchanges. Not surprisingly, Trump has almost no knowledge of all the issues and complexities that have come up in the debate on health care reform over the last three decades.

Incredibly, he is completely unaware of his own ignorance. He proposes giving people money and letting them buy either their own health care or their own insurance. (It’s not clear what Trump thinks he is proposing.) Trump seems to think this is an original idea.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/11/19/trumps-new-ideas-on-health-care/

As per normal the GOP has half-baked ideas….

US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress have made a show of criticizing insurance company greed as they stand firm against extending Affordable Care Act tax credits and offer ill-formed alternatives.

But a report published Wednesday by the office of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) explains how a scheme endorsed by Trump and some top Republicans would further enrich insurance giants and big banks.

The report focuses on growing GOP support for a proposal that would give Americans money in tax-advantaged vehicles such as health savings accounts (HSAs) to help cover out-of-pocket costs. Last week, Trump championed the idea in the Oval Office, characterizing the proposal as a way to “forget this Obamacare madness.”

In a social media post on Tuesday, Trump railed against “BIG, FAT, RICH INSURANCE COMPANIES” and doubled down on the idea of funding health savings accounts instead of extending the enhanced ACA tax credits.

But Wyden’s report argues that “no matter how Republicans design their plan, their promise to take money out of the hands of big insurance companies and put it in the hands of patients will go unfulfilled, because the very arrangements they tout are administered by large financial institutions and the same big insurance companies.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/republican-healthcare-plan

Now some ideas from Dems….as most know I support the idea of Medicare For All and we know that will not happen for god forbid we become healthy people….

Bernie has offered up a few ideas for consideration….

The country’s current debate over ACA subsidies has sparked fresh calls for a shift to government-funded universal healthcare, for which Sanders has long led the fight in Congress. He acknowledged that “while I believe that the long-term solution to the healthcare crisis is Medicare for All, and I appreciate the 16 cosponsors we have on that legislation in the Senate, and the more than 100 cosponsors we have in the House, this bill does not yet have majority support in the Democratic Caucus.”

“The good news, however, is that there are a number of much-needed reforms to the healthcare system that we could offer now that would substantially improve the lives of the American people and are also incredibly popular,” he continued.

Specifically, Sanders called for:

  • Extending the ACA tax credits;
  • Repealing Trump and congressional Republicans’ $1 trillion in cuts to the ACA and Medicaid;
  • Expanding Medicare to cover dental, vision, and hearing;
  • Cutting the cost of prescription drugs by at least 50% with legislation requiring pharmaceutical companies to charge no more for medications in the United States than they do in Europe or Canada;
  • Expanding primary healthcare with investments in the National Health Service Corps as well as community and teaching health centers; and
  • Banning stock buybacks and dividends, and restricting CEO compensation.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-healthcare-crisis

Just a few ideas to let my readers know that this is becoming a priority….something that should have been years ago….

Any thoughts?

I Read, I Write, You KNow

“lego ergo scribo”

BURDEN Act

Another excellent idea from the Dems…..but will this fly?

For decades I have been criticizing the government on their double standards toward healthcare….you see the elected people get full coverage health plan and yet they do not want the rest of us to have such a luxury…..why?

The recent bill that Donny has signed into law did a lot of cutting of different benefits and the eyes of conservs is on Medicare….but now the House Dems have put forth what I think is an excellent ideas…..

In response to Republicans’ new law giving tax breaks to the rich while gutting the social safety net, U.S. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi on Thursday introduced legislation that would force members of Congress “to personally comply with the same burdensome work requirement paperwork they imposed on low-income Americans.”

Under the Illinois Democrat’s Bringing Unfair Reporting Duties to Electeds Now (BURDEN) Act, federal lawmakers “would be barred from enrolling in the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program unless they submit monthly proof of ‘community engagement,’ the same bureaucratic reporting required of Medicaid recipients,” his office said.

Krishnamoorthi’s two-page bill would also force members of Congress to file the same paperwork as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to verify eligibility, employment, and income. The proposal comes less than two weeks after President Donald Trump signed congressional Republicans’ budget reconciliation package.

The so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act is expected to leave 17 million Americans without health insurance, and, according to an Urban Institute analysis, an estimated 22.3 million families are projected to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits.

“President Trump’s reckless ‘Large Lousy Law’ forces millions of vulnerable Americans to jump through hoops just to keep food on the table or get the medical care they need,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement. “If congressional Republicans think these burdens are appropriate for struggling families, then members of Congress should shoulder them too. The BURDEN Act simply says, if you want taxpayer-funded health coverage, prove you meet the same standards you’re imposing on the American people.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/big-beautiful-bill-medicaid

I would have like to see a bill that would make the officials responsible for their own health plan…..that is until the rest of the country gets their consideration from these lay-abouts.

AS long as this has come up…..what about making a case for single payer plan?

Privatization of publicly funded Medicare and Medicaid, managed care, and “value-based payment”1 have failed to reduce cost or improve population health despite over 30 years of trying, and a new paradigm for health policy is needed. This article summarizes key health policy concepts and the implications of different payment systems and offers recommendations for design of an optimally cost-effective system enabling universal high-quality care at lowest cost.

Key Concepts

1. Should Health Care be Financed as a Public Good or with Market Competition?

Public funding is appropriate for essential public services necessary for everyone—funded by taxes and paid for with budgets based on cost of operations, with no opportunity for profit or loss. Examples include police and fire departments, public schools, the military, roads and bridges, and government services. Health care should be added to this list. Other industrialized countries with far more cost-effective universal systems treat health care as a public good, not a commodity.

Marketplace financing uses competition, market forces, private enterprise, and opportunity for profit and risk of loss. This works well for consumer goods, industry and manufacturing, hotels and restaurants, fuel and food production, and housing (except for those in poverty). These are appropriately subject to market forces, but health care is not.

2. Ethics: Professional vs Commercial Ethics

…..read more….

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/05/22/365176/

Single payer or Medicare For All, gets my vote then the health table will be equal for all Americans….sad that some do not want that to ever happen.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought –11Mar20

You may not like Biden’s idea for health care (I one do not) but you should know that the industry loves him and his industry control plans.

Why would I say that?

Look at what happened after Biden’s Super Tuesday wins….

Health insurance industry stocks surged Wednesday morning in the wake of former Vice President Joe Biden’s strong showing in the Democratic presidential primary’s Super Tuesday contests, opening up 600 points after traders appeared to bet the candidate’s resurgence would box out any chance of single-payer universal healthcare.

Sanders has made Medicare for All a centerpiece of his campaign. The healthcare industry has poured millions in ad buys against Sanders after the Vermont senator won primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. 

“The industry has long seen Biden as their white knight,” said Dr. Adam Gaffney, the president of Physicians for a National Health Program and an outspoken Medicare for All advocate.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/04/what-more-do-you-need-know-health-insurance-stocks-drive-wall-street-rebound-biden

I support Medicare For All……so I see that this turn illustrates what I have been saying since Biden uttered that he was interested in running……

Biden is the status quo……NOTHING will change with his election…..just the person on top.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–10Mar20

If you are following the elections these days then you may have an opinion on Medicare For All…….but what do you actually know what the candidates have to say to the accusations one way or the other?

You definitely did not get it on the debate stage….there was about 90 seconds to attack or defend and in the end all we had was yelling and accusations.

Here is an idea now that we are down to the two major candidates, Biden and Bernie……pick a place and let the two debate the pros and cons.

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday night said he would “love to debate Joe Biden on this issue”—the difference between a Medicare for All plan that dozens of studies show would cover all people for less overall cost and the for-profit status quo that leaves an estimated 28 million Americans uninsured and tens of millions more underinsured, vulnerable to bankruptcies, or lacking care due to financial reasons.

“Medicare for All is wildly popular with working class and lower income people who understand that we have a dysfunctional health care system,” Sanders said in an interview with MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow.

“We are spending twice as much—and by the way—I would love to debate Joe Biden on this issue, give us an hour on MSNBC,” Sanders said, “where we can talk about how anyone can defend this system in which we’re spending twice as much per capita on healthcare as the people of any other country and yet 27 million are uninsured, 30,000 people die, half a million people go bankrupt every year because of medical-related debt, and we spend far and away the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs. You want to defend that system? Let’s do it.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/05/give-us-hour-msnbc-sanders-says-he-would-love-debate-medicare-all-vs-profit-system

I love this idea……put the two proposals side by side and let the people hear the entire plan…..instead of a 90 second spot.

Personally I think all the debates should be along these lines……two candidates battling it out on a debate stage and NOT in the media that generates more confusion than it solves.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Old Idea For Health

Closing Thought–19Jul19

Many years ago I wrote a letter (days before emails) to my representative, Gene Taylor, with an idea I had….a proposal that I wanted him to look over and try to find a way to make a bill out of it.

I proposed that practicing doctors would dedicate one day a week to treat the poor….they could deduct their time, meds and services, day’s rent and costs of operations from what they owe in taxes/student debt.  The proposal was more extensive in the proposal but that is the gest…I sadly cannot copy the original for it was lost in Katrina.

I got a letter back thanking me for my support and hope to see me at his next rally….apparently the letter was written by a staffer who did  not read my letter……so I wrote off Taylor as a possible person to look to for help….and my support for him was gone.

I got to wax nostalgic after reading something taking place in California…..

As a remedy for its shortage of physicians, California has begun paying off the medical school debt of doctors who commit to making low-income Medi-Cal patients 30% of their caseload. The five-year commitment could suppress doctors’ pay at the beginning of their careers, Forbes reports, but erase debt that can total several hundred thousand dollars. The state has allocated $340 million for the program so far. It’s one more offer for new physicians, who are in demand, to consider: Two-thirds of physicians finishing their training last year had been contacted more than 50 times by recruiters, a survey found.

“This really is life-changing,” said Bryan Ruiz, a new dentist, after finding out that he no longer owed $300,000 in medical school loans. Ruiz already was serving mostly Medi-Cal patients at a community health clinic, per the Los Angeles Times, and expected to spend decades paying off the loans. “He’s committed his life to this kind of service, and that’s what our loan repayment program is about,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said at a news conference. Using tobacco tax revenue to pay for the program, California dispensed $10.5 million in debt relief to 40 dentists and $58.6 million to 247 physicians this month in its first installment.

I knew I had heard the idea somewhere before.

Damn!  I knew it was a good idea.

Learn Stuff!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Clinton and Obamacare Will Not Solve the Health Care Crisis

It is an election year so there will be lots of whining and bitching about Obamacare….mostly from the Right…..but they truth is that none of these options will not solve our health care problem…..and the ones that are offered by the Right are at best….laughable.

While it has done a lot of good, the Affordable Care Act is not a long-term solution to the US health care crisis.

Bernie Sanders’ campaign, which proposed replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with a Medicare for All system, has sparked a much-needed debate over the need for a single-payer health system. But this bold proposal didn’t win him the election. And now that Hillary Clinton has become the presumptive nominee against Donald Trump, the debate over health care reform is about to become extremely narrow.

With the media and candidates in full general election mode, Sanders’ argument that we must do better than Obamacare will soon be replaced by Trump’s insistence that we must do worse. Clinton will almost certainly respond by pushing the status quo, which remains broken. Critical dialogue, at least on the national stage, will likely be in short supply.

Source: Why Hillary Clinton and Obamacare Will Not Solve the Health Care Crisis – Linkis.com

The part I like best are the ones that are in the most opposition are the ones that have all the health care they need…..it feels like they want to horde health care for people like them….only.

“It’s Time for Single Payer…..”

The election of 2016 has brought about the continuing saga of the ACA (Obamacare)….of course each candidate has their own opinion on the subject….if it is the GOP it is the never ending “Repel and Replace” mantra, like a stuck record……on the Dem side we have Clinton who is pretty much happy with it the way it is and then there is Sanders who promotes a single payer system…..one that is not very popular with the dolts that report the news……..

I personally like the idea of a single payer system…..basically Medicare for all…….it would be the best way to see that every American has equal access to health care….but that makes me a…..wait for it……socialist.

It appears that I am not alone in wanting to see the idea of single payer return to the conversation…..

Despite limited advances provided by the Affordable Care Act, the U.S. healthcare system remains “uniquely wasteful” and profit-driven, leaving tens of millions without any insurance and even more underinsured.

As a result, say leading physicians, “the right to medical care remains a dream deferred.”

In an effort to finally realize that dream, thousands of medical professionals across the country have signed onto the “Physicians’ Proposal for Single-Payer Health Care Reform,” calling for a publicly financed, single-payer National Health Program (NHP) that would cover all Americans for all medically necessary care.

Source: 2000+ Doctors Declare: “It’s Time for Single Payer to be Back on the Table” | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

Bernie? How Will You Pay For Health Care?

At the last Dem debate there was a wealth of talking points but the one that got my attention was the health care debate…..Clinton attacked and Bernie countered…..but the media made a big deal out of Bernie’s plan for Medicare for everyone……it has gone on to the point of absurdity…..

I have tried to talk on this subject but I am no expert on health care…..unlike many detractors I will admit that I do not have the answer….but I believe that I found a piece that could explain Bernie’s plan……both good and bad (mostly bad because that is what will sell)…….

Bernie Sanders unveiled a single-payer health care plan just before Sunday night’s debate that he calls “Medicare for All.” He lays it out here, declaring that it’s about time health care becomes a guarantee for all Americans, “not a privilege.” Some related reading:

  • The International Business Times digs into the finances, including the tax hikes that would pay for the $1.4 trillion annual cost: a 2.2% income tax on all Americans, a 6.2% tax on employers, and progressively heavier income-tax rates on the wealthy (from 37% for those with annual income between $250,000 and $500,000 to 52% on households north of $10 million a year).
  • CNN has a tangible example for the middle class: “A family of four making $50,000 would pay $466 in new taxes.”
  • Sanders makes the case to Time that it would save people money on health care costs in the long run.
  • The Clinton campaign is skeptical of the numbers, and Hillary Clinton herself took issue with the plan in the debate, reports Politico. Democrats should build on ObamaCare, not “tear it up and start over,” she said.
  • A post at the liberal Daily Kos thinks Clinton’s criticism could be politically costly: “It will tie into the narrative of Hillary Clinton being owned by the corporatocracy.”
  • The Wall Street Journal notes that Sanders envisions it being administered by the federal government, not the states.
  • At Vox, Ezra Klein says what Sanders released isn’t actually a plan. “It is, to be generous, a gesture towards a future plan. To be less generous—but perhaps more accurate—this is a document that lets Sanders say he has a plan, but doesn’t answer the most important questions about how his plan would work, or what it would mean for most Americans.”

Personally, I like the idea of single payer…….of course it is not going to make the insurance or big pharma happy…….they will work hard to be sure that it never happens……and the media will also play a major role at not letting Americans have adequate health care…..after all a lot of money has been spent to buy these people and they are calling in their markers already…….

Watch for the politicians and then the media and you will learn which are in the pockets of the fat cats of the health care industry……

Name calling will not solve our problems……but searching for a candidate that best reflects your concerns and then vote for the person that has the best ideas….there is your answer.

A Bernie Homie……..