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Health Insurance Reform Myths

Changes have become an essential thing to be done in our health care system. Can you imagine the premiums of health insurance doubling over the next decade, Medicare trust funds going bankrupt and number of the uninsured continue to increase? These are the circumstances we will have to face if a meaningful reform in the health insurance sector is not made soon.

Special interests in protection of the status quo have employed half truths, deception and cunning tactics to make us believe that the system is still not in a critical condition. In reality, the costs of health care are consuming 16% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and the increasing costs of health care are creating a problem for millions of people who are already struggling because of the present day economic downturn. As a result of this, we are not able to fix our economy unless the realm of health care is fixed.

AARP is a dynamic organization of 40 million members, one of the aims is to protect and strengthen the Medicare. With a long history of fighting for quality health care, it has become a target of those who intend to put a stop to any steps taken to reform the health care system. For a long period of time, the country has been undergoing a system which is too expensive, in which a lot of resources are wasted and yet, a large number of people are left without health care. So far, no bills passing through the Congress have yet been approved but the organization is dedicated to make reforms in the health care system.

Unfortunately, the myths are very popular among the masses today and instead of solving the issues with a positive comment, many of them are working hard on misleading the Americans. Let us take some of their distortions straight out.

No matter what happens, the AARP will never support the proposal which aims at jeopardizing Medicare. Rather, it is fighting for reforms which preserve access to the doctors and gives assurance that they will be fairly paid by the Medicare while making a reduction in fraud and waste. The association is working with the members of both the parties to close Part D coverage gap or the ‘doughnut hole’ for the prescription drugs. Reforming the health care system will help in controlling their ever-increasing prices throughout the system, including the Medicare.

There are no provisions which allow the Medicare to ask you to sign a paper, asking you to determine how you want to end your life. Asking you to do this is cruel and unforgivable. Rather, provisions will allow the physicians to get money for the time they spend on your counseling and for answering the questions of the clients about things like advance directives, durable attorney powers, hospice care and living wills. The patient has the sole right to avail this service.

Let us make things clear. May be some people are trying to scare off the senior citizens, but nothing is there in any proposal which will lead to the rationing of the care for elder Americans or any other age group. In any case, even if such a statement comes up, AARP will take the first step to ward it off.

Some of the fringe groups are making statements that the reform of the health insurance system is a back door attempt to create socialized medicine. But this is not true as it is the government which directly employs doctors and owns hospitals. Instead of this, the aim of the reform is implementing a system that will be much like one members of the Congress present today.

There is a range of affordable and good quality private health plans that the people may choose from. Some of them are offered by the employers, some by state and some by insurance exchange supervised by the federal government. The plans will not be allowed to not accept anyone based on the age or health of the individuals and will have strict cost sharing limits, making the coverage affordable for all.

Health Insurance Reform Increases Competition In Insurance Industry?

There has been a major argument between the congressional sponsors of the health insurance reform and President Barrack Obama that the health insurance exchange will lead to an increase in the competition. As per the exchange, the consumers will be allowed to make a choice between private health insurance plans with the premiums artificially increased by the government mandates and the government program that will artificially lower down the premiums.

Michael Cannon reported in ‘Fannie Med? Why a Public Option is Hazardous to your health’, on Aug. 6 Cato Institute paper that the new program by the government will literally expel a huge number of American from their present health insurance plans as a result of which, their relationship with their doctors will be threatened. The employers will choose to leave their current health plans for their employees and the private health plans will be closing down.

An analysis made by the Lewin Group estimates that if the Congress uses price controls of Medicare and if the programs become available to everyone, it will be able to attract 120 million Americans out of their private insurance plans. This number means more than 50% of the private insurance market. Mr. Cannon reports that a large number of those Americans will involuntarily leave their current insurance plans.

It is amazing that all the fearful people showing up for expressing their worries at the town hall meetings of this summer dismissed by the leaders of the Congress as hate mongers, racists and worse, has been saying.

Mr. Cannon advises that if the Congress aims at increasing the competition and making the health care more efficient, then there are other options available. Medicare should be converted into a program which gives vouchers to the seniors and frees them from purchasing any health care plan from the market.

Thousands of dollars will be made available to the workers which are currently controlled by their employers in the lieu of large health savings accounts. Likewise, the workers will be able to purchase any health care plan of their choice from the market.

Last but not the least; the Congress should increase the competition by asking the states not to deny entry of health plans and health care providers licensed from other states into the market. This means that the health insurance and clinician licenses will become portable across the state borders.

Such reformations will reduce the costs, increase the innovation and decrease the number of people without any insurance. All this will be done without additional spending by the government or higher taxes.

You must be wondering that if the things seem to be too good, then why they have still not reached the tables of Washington?

Obama’s Health Care Reform Turns Into Health Insurance Reform?

Obama and his ministerial team have made a small but important change in the ways they are expressing their heath reform policy. Obama, initially when speaking about this new system, talked mainly about the massive shift or transformation in the country’s health care system which would cut the ever increasing costs spent in medication. But the president has now altered his language and now speaks exclusively about the health insurance reforms.

Speaking about this, even Obama’s visit to the town hall meeting in New Hampshire was referred by White House as the health insurance reform hall. But this was not the case when all these proceedings started back in March and the Obama’s campaign to renovate the country’s healthcare system was named the White House Health Reform Forum.

This change in plan had let to the worries of many healthcare experts as this new plan clears signals that Obama will only settle expanding the health insurance coverage to uninsured people rather than bringing the escalating health care costs under proper control as mentioned in the original policy. The economists are also not very happy with this decision as they feel just covering the insurance cost without any methods to cut additional healthcare costs will only create further financial mess. Speaking about this David Knott, Head of the Booz & Co’s global health practice said that the team has lost the true plot on the health care reform. He also feels that the initial debate started out as a full fledged solution to the country’s health care system but now has nailed down to only meet the affordability problem.

It is clearly obvious that Obama’s current language and the one he used while the start of the debate is completely different. Speaking to the crowd in New Hampshire the president said, health insurance reforms are the key to build new foundation to the country health care system. He highlighted the fact that almost 46 million Americans are without health insurance today. He also stressed that these health insurance reforms are not only for the uninsured as most of these policies favor the insurance companies. These remarks are contradictory to Obama’s speech which he laid on March 5 at health reform summit. There the President said that cutting the overall health care costs would be the first step forward in rebuilding the country’s economy. The President then said that these investments in health care reform will definitely not add up to the budget and these investments would prove really profitable.

What has lead to this change? Right from the start it was obvious that the Congress has not got any plans to change the fee-for- the service method that is currently in practice for paying the hospitals and doctors. This method rewards the healthcare providers not for the quality but quantity. So if you assume that these doctors and hospitals account for almost two thirds of the nation’s health related spending, not touching this part means that the legislators have not many option to cut costs. Added to this, the legislators have even proposed paying doctors a lump sum of $245 billion in the Medicare reimbursements for the next 10 years to ensure their support for the health reform.

The government’s reluctance in this can be directly owed to the fact that hospitals are largest employers in most districts and also give them the political clout. Even the public rates these doctors at top among the other professions. In this context, insurers are the one who are quite unpopular with the public and thus are much easier target.

This change in plan has lead to arguments and people are started making it these days for passing the universal coverage. Many feel that this governments approach is concentrating on universal coverage and worrying about the overall cost cutting changes later. Massachusetts also did the same in the year 2006 when it proposed a universal coverage law. But now the city is facing escalating costs and is now planning to overhaul the fee structures of doctors. It is sure that this strategy won’t be possible in a nationwide basis where the current health care spending is projected to consume almost 20% of the GDP by 2017.

Hearing to the president’s change in tone, Robert Laszewki, Health insurance consultant wrote in his blog named health care policy & market review that he had been insisting for months that heath care reform bills passed by the government have not been true healthcare reform bills but are expansions to the health insurance reforms. He also feels that the country needs lot more than mere health insurance reforms and they truly needed health care reforms.

H1N1 Vaccine Will Be Attested and Ready by September According to WHO

Come September and the very first swine flu vaccines will be there for everybody to use after being attested. This is being suggested by the WHO director of the Initiative for Vaccine Research Marie-Paule Kieny. Kieny further suggested that he was positive about the enhanced standards of vaccine production yields coming in the wake of poor beginning, apparently propelled by supply issues.

By the first phase of September, scientists will have gone through the results of first H1N1 vaccine clinical trials. This has the objective of finding out the number of doses needed by the new vaccine for bestowing adequate shield against the virus. Early research has claimed that the antigen utilized doesn’t necessarily initiate an equally stern response to that of seasonal flu vaccine and this is why it might be required to utilize two doses and this could effectively halve the number of people ready for immunization. According to Reuters, just after the initial clinical trial results pour in, regulators could judge the approval of vaccines and the first countries will be anticipated to commence mass vaccination programs.

Obama to Talk About H1N1 with Mexican and Canadian Leader

In an associated news report, President Barack Obama will be meeting Mexican president Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper this Sunday and Monday in the Guadalaraja province of Mexico. The meet would chiefly discus ideas to tackle the expected rise of Swine Flu virus this autumn. According to the White House Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan, the leaders are anticipated to read a joint statement in regards to their amalgamated endeavors to check the potency of impact of H1N1.

Brennan further suggested that it was not beyond recognition for everyone that the Swine Flu virus had become a major challenge for all. It was only imminent and unavoidable that people would succumb to H1N1 this autumn. All over the last few months, many people have been falling ill and passing away.

Weight Loss Surgeries Safer Than Thought, Says Study

Researchers have come up with a safe tag for three eminent and widely popular weight loss surgeries. Some practitioners had been rather abhorrent about advising weight loss surgery to fat patients owing to safety concerns.

Dr. Bruce Wolfe of Oregon Health & Science University suggested the surgery to be pretty safe. Studying a trio of such stomach diminishing surgeries, it was found that one out of 333 patients passed away 30 days into the surgery and one out of every 24 developed some metabolic intricacy. Putting it against open surgery, the figures are a relief. 1 out of 47 patients tend to pass away during open surgeries. Wolfe said that there was further chance of improvement but presently, the data seems rather satisfying in light of recent past.

Weight-loss or bariatric surgery has gained fast grounds and come as a manna from heaven for the obese people. Such people have found it tougher to lose flab and abate the health issues that come along with obesity. Any one with a body mass index at or over 40 is being recommended such a surgery by the National Institutes of Health. BMI happens to be weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared.

A research took a look at 1198 highly obese people who had undertaken gastric banding. The process creates a smaller stomach through incisions thereby helping create an illusion of wholesome meals. Another surgery done laparoscopically, (Roux-en-Y) created tinier incisions in the belly by closing the stomach in its anterior area.

There were no deaths reported 30 days into the program for gastric banding. It was one among 500 for the laparoscopic bypass. It is worthwhile to note that a self-pronounced open bypass resulted in 10 calamities per 500 people.

Even in regards to complications like clot development, follow-up surgery and death, gastric banding led from the front with 1% complication, followed by laparoscopic bypass with 4.8% complication and then an open bypass with 7.8% complication. Wolfe further explained that the data also show why many surgeons would prefer gastric banding than laparoscopic bypass due to the risk factors involved.

Dr. Malcolm Robinson of Harvard Medical School suggested that complication rates for weight loss surgeries are along the lines with other major operations. An important point to be noted is that since the study took into its wing the services of 33 highly talented U.S surgeons, the result is not easily reproducible.

Johnson & Johnson and Allergan Inc are two band manufacture for weight-loss surgery.