Thank You Cleaver
In a recent letter I received from Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, fifth district rep. for Missouri, he touts eliminating overpayment of Medicare payments to Medicare Advantage Plans like Humana Gold and Coventry Advantra.
Cleaver states that Medicare’s benefits are not affected and that this move is going to save over $150 billion over the next 10 years. Here’s what the Congressman didn’t say: by cutting Medicare Advantage payments to carriers by $150 billion dollars, they are capping what the carriers are being paid, the problem is, they are not capping what doctors and hospitals can charge. The net effect of this therefore, will be as hospital and doctor costs rise, which will happen, the Medicare Advantage Plans will have fewer dollars under the cap to work with. This will cause your low premium or zero premium Medicare Advantage Plan to have higher premiums and it will also raise the cost of out of pocket expenses. The vindictiveness regarding these plans of Democrats such as Cleaver, McCaskill and Moore is hard to understand, especially since these plans are so important to folks on fixed incomes that are seniors that cannot afford the $200 or more per month cost of a Medicare Supplement Plan. Medicare Advantage Plans like Humana Gold and Coventry Advantra, have an 83% satisfaction rate and have won the Gold Award for satisfaction three years in a row. So the question is, why is it that Democrats are so determined to destroy these plans? So in November, when you get your new plan design with a higher premium and bigger out of pocket expenses, don’t forget to call Congressman Cleaver and say thank you.
Checking the Facts
Many of you may have heard or read the story reported by Reuters, that Anthem Wellpoint was singling out women with breast cancer to cancel their insurance policies. Unfortunately, as is often the case with the “drive-by media” Reuters got it wrong. One of the women named in the story as having her insurance canceled or rescinded is Robin Beaton. If Reuters would have checked it’s facts, they would have discovered that Ms. Beaton wasn’t even an Anthem Wellpoint policy holder, and in fact she was insured by another company, as she stated in her testimony to Henry Waxman’s Energy and Commerce Committee. Additionally, Reuters failed to mention that Anthem has rescinded less than 1% of all policies, making it a rare occurrence when a policy is rescinded for fraud. Reuters is a Belgian-based company where the National Healthcare Program doesn’t even provide comprehensive mammogram screening until age 50. They might want to emulate Anthem Wellpoint’s aggressive preventative mammography screening program, which begins at age 40. Anthem also conducts automated telephone calls to women reminding them to get their screenings for breast cancer, cervical cancer and color-rectal cancer. Perhaps that is why cancer survival rates in the US are 83.9% compared to European countries where socialized medicine gives them a 69.7% survival rate, as reported in the Lancelot Oncology Report for 2008. The Reuter’s story appears to be a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black without bothering to check the facts.
Isn't it Grand?
I’ve been saying healthcare rationing is coming and it appears I was correct. The Obama Administration’s Medicare Actuary, Richard Foster, recently released a report that estimates that healthcare costs in the US will grow to $4.7 trillion for Obamacare by 2019. He also stated that he expects 15% of the Nation’s hospitals to be driven into budget deficits. That means insolvency ladies and gentlemen. Thus jeopardizing access to care for Medicare beneficiaries. Couple this with Dr. Donald Berwick, the new White House Tsar overseeing Medicare, who opined recently that the British National Health Service has developed a very good and very disciplined scientifically grounded policy for evaluation and treatment which we ought to learn from and emulate. Dr. Berwick went onto say, and I quote, “The decision is not whether or not we will ration healthcare, the decision is whether we will ration it with our eyes open. Right now, we do it blindly.” So now after the passage of Obamacare, the administration's point men are coming out of the woodwork saying publicly what we all knew before this monster was passed: there will be a shortage of doctors and hospitals as providers leave the practice rather than deal with Obamacare and the rising costs of a government run heatlhcare program, will bring about rationing. Isn’t Obamacare grand?
They May be Sellin' but We Ain't Buyin'
Normal 0 0 1 165 941 7 1 1155 11.1287 0 0 0 National Healthcare, as proposed by the Obama administration and the Democrats may be on life support but it certainly isn’t dead. The latest scheme involves the reconciliation process which would bypass the legislative rules in an unprecedented gambit that would require only 50 votes in the Senate to pass this monstrosity. Quoting Wendell Primas, Nancy Pelosi’s Health Advisor who said recently, “there’s a trick to it, but I think we’ll be able to get it done.” I happen to agree with Mr. Primas here, there is a trick to it and that would be the blatant attempt by Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Reid, and President Obama to hoodwink the American public into accepting this unprecedented move using the reconciliation process in an effort to take over 1/6th of the economy, control our choices for health insurance and our choices for health care. A recent Pew research poll showed that 64% of the people in this country do not want Obamacare. That’s right, 64% of Americans oppose this legislation and that number is growing. So while Ms. Pelosi, Mr. Reid and the Obama administration are selling, the American public just isn’t buying.
Who's Going to Cover Your Cancer?
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One out of two men and one out of three women will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, a good health insurance policy will cover about 70% of the cost of treatment, but what about the other 30%? You know, things like out of network treatment and specialty hospitals like MD Anderson or the Mayo Clinic? Or how do you expect to pay for the travel costs for you and a care giver that are associated to go to one of these facilities for multiple treatments? And of course, how are you going to cover your lost income as a result of the time off you will need to take during treatment? On top of all this, often times individuals choose to be treated with experimental drugs. In some cases, this could be a life saving choice, but because it’s experimental and not FDA approved, it is not covered by your health insurance, so what do you do? Well I'll tell you what to do: buy what they call a “cancer policy.” My wife, Lori and I have had this kind of health insurance policy for the last five years. It’s a lump sum policy that, if one of us was ever diagnosed, would pay us $50,000 two days after the diagnoses of cancer. What this is really about is choices, what that $50,000 really represents to people with these policies is the ability for them to make choices about their treatment that could potentially save their lives. A “cancer policy” can make a big difference in your life and relieve a lot of stress at a time when you and your family need it most.
