Judge it!When uninsured people end get seriously sick and end up in the emergency room, it's very expensive. The hospital has to add that cost to what it charges all the covered patients for care. So everyone pays for the emergency care of the uninsured. Now if those uninsured patients had health coverage, maybe they could see a doctor and be treated before their condition gets so serious that they end up in the E.R. That would be much less expensive. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So getting more people covered by health insurance can ultimately save the state and all those small businesses money. Plus those small business employees would be more productive and use less sick time if they get preventive treatment.One other thing this bill did was to REQUIRE small businesses with over 11 employees to set up Section 125 plans.
Now, I sell Section 125 plans to small businesses. Their are significant costs to these businesses to implement and maintain these types of plans. I should be jumping up and down just like the pharmaceutical companies who are financing the war on smoking are. But that would be hypocritical. This is just another "tax" on the backs small businesses in the Great State of Minnesota - all in the name of "reform".
Minnesota Government
Governor vetoes health and education policy bills
- Posted in the Minnesota Government Forum
Comments (Page 5)
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Forgot to answer this question in my other post. The bill is projected to cost $270 million over three years. That is $90 million per year. Since the Healthcare Access Fund currently has a $250 million surplus, and is projected to have a $400 million surplus by 2012, I think it's pretty safe to say that this bill will be easily paid for from the fund. |
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You think healthcare is expensive now, wait until the DFL wants the government to take it over.
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No lies here. Please point it out to me. I provide for myself just fine, thanks. And I donate a significant portion of my income to charities here and abroad. You don't need gov't assistance in any way, huh? BS. I'll say to you the same thing I say to Archie - you can only make that claim when you stop using police protection (don't call if you're burglarized or attacked), driving on state-funded roads, using unemployment if you ever get laid off, using social security (you're going to send it back, right?), using any public park for any purpose, etc. You also won't use Medicare when you're older, and you'll turn it down for your parents, too, right? You choose to define it in your narrow terms - you say that you don't benefit from gov't because you aren't on welfare, but you refuse to acknowledge all of the things in your life every day that are provided by the gov't. The day you go completely off the grid and stop using any service that has any connection with gov't is the only day you can say you don't "need" it. |
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I did not say spending 40 million will bankrupt the state. That's classic. I said it's money that should go to the underinsured, not to tell people to quit smoking or stop eating Big Macs. We don't need the State to tell us that. The Phamacutical companies are doing a fine job of it. You must watch some TV. Check out what this particular doc has to say. He must not be a member of the MMA: http://youtube.com/watch... It becomes socialized medicine when the State dictates to doctors and clinics what they will pay. Had you read the bill? Here's one section: "The care coordination payment system must vary the fees paid by thresholds of care complexity, with the highest fees being paid for care provided to individuals requiring the most intensive care coordination and those who face racial, ethnic, or language barriers." So the highest fees are going to be paid to indivuals who face racial, ethnic or language barriers? Here's another: "Beginning July 1, 2009, and annually on January 1 thereafter, all health plan companies and third-party administrators shall submit data on their contracted prices with health care providers to a private entity designated by the commissioner of health for the purposes of performing the analyses required under this subdivision. The data shall be submitted in the form and manner specified by the commissioner of health." So the state is going to collect data on my personal insurance? All thirdd party insurance companies now need to repoort this information to the state? Whats that all about? I could paste 20 - 30 more examples throughout this bill. The real question should be: What part of this bill ISN'T socialized medicine? |
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Where did the 270 million number come from? What about 2012 and beyond? Check out the deliberation on the floor, specifically when Huntley is asked what this bill is going to cost. Fast forward to the 5:29 point http://youtube.com/watch... The committee chair doesn't even know what it will cost until 2010. Why were they even considering passing a bill in which the total cost is unknown? |
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Phil - Do you know what a section 125 plan is? |
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Also Phil - I don't disagree with anything you said here. It's how we get there and how we pay for it. I don't want the government running it. Their track record sucks. |
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OK, so you meant the bill will bankrupt Minnesota. I sure don't see how is that going to happen. Wow, Minnesota Majority, a radical right-wing advocacy group that obviously has an ax to grind on this issue, found one doctor who was opposed to the bill. Yeah, that's convincing. All the private payers dictate to the doctors and the hospitals what they will pay. The old days of the hospitals charging whatever they want, and the payers paying it, are long gone. Employers are clamoring for cost control in the healthcare industry, and the payers are trying to provide it. This plan is not much different than all the other health plans out there that set limits on coverage and treatments. I guess all those private plans are socialized medicine too then, right? As far as the data collected, they aren't collecting data on your personal insurance. They are contracted prices the third party payers and providers are paying to the hospitals. I would guess that they want to see if there is a difference between what MinnesotaCare reimburses and what these providers actually pay. That way they can see if they are over or under paying. What's wrong with that? |
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Honestly, no. I just looked it up and it looks like the standard employer cafeteria healthcare plan for pre-tax healthcare benefits. Is that right? |
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Depending on who all is eligble, it could bankrupt the state as it does in others.
***Money for Illegals' Care Runs Out(AZ-250 million/year)*** http://www.ktar.com/... Federal money set aside to reimburse hospitals for the care of illegal immigrants is going to run out at the end of this year. For the past four years the federal government has set aside $250 million a year to reimburse border hospitals for the care of illegal immigrants. An Arizona Republic article this morning told of an illegal immigrant involved in a motorcycle accident who had three surgeries for her injuries and then was sent back to Mexico to recover. "Indeed we spend millions upon millions each year, for care for these patients," said Dr. Michael Christopher, chief of staff at St. Joseph's Hospital. Christopher would like to see the federal program continued past this year. "We understand that the realities of the current fiscal situation in this country and we're not terribly hopeful," Christopher said. Christopher said in reality hospitals weren't getting much money from the feds to help cover those care costs. "What it amounted to was literally pennies on the dollar," Christopher said. But every little bit helps. "There's hospitals throughout the country that have closed as a result of being fiscally insolvent from the outflow of care that's been demanded upon them," Christopher said. Christopher said this is a federal problem that is unfortunately being forced on the backs of states and hospitals to figure out. ---------- Study Shows 25 Percent of L.A.'s Welfare Goes to Illegal Aliens http://www.hometownstation.com/local-news/ill... |
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I see that that video was posted by Minnesota Majority. I suspect they cherry-picked the video for the message they wanted to convey. I found a couple of new pieces of info on the bill. MinnPost report this:'Next year the HCAF expenditure will be $38.4 million and $253.7 million for the 2010-11 biennium. "These funds," according to the Senate Majority Research, "will go to expand MNcare," and other administrative and access funds'. According to a Star Tribune editorial, Pawlenty himself pegged the cost at $141 million per year by 2011. Since the surplus in the fund is projected to be $400 million by that time, it shouldn't be a problem. Now obviously you can't predict exactly how much care a group of 40,000 people is going to require in the next 3 years. But statistically you can get a pretty good ballpark estimate. And given that this bill caps hospitalization costs at $10,000 per year, it's hard to imagine that even if lots of those patients required catastrophic care that the plan costs would balloon out of control. |
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That's a pretty different can of worms. |
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I agree that private companies are generally much better at delivering services than the government. The government wouldn't even have this problem to solve if private industry had taken care of it. But unfortunately private companies don't see enough money in covering the poor. |
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Just remember this when you talk about budgets for Universal Health Care: Franklin Roosevelt introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised: 1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary, 2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program, 3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year, 4.) That the money the participants put into the independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the general operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and, 5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income. Today, 12.4% of every dollar earned under 100,000 goes to S/S. 2.9% of every dollar earned goes into Medicare. Both systems are severely broken and S/S benefits are taxed again. In Sundays Red Star, Bruce J. Rueben, president of the Minnesota Hospital Association, said this when asked: Which is a greater threat to the health-care system? Underfunding by Medicare and Medicaid? Or, unpaid debt? "Underfunding is much, much more of a burden. It's a huge hidden tax on those who pay for health care. In 2006, Minnesota hospitals lost $1.3 billion due to underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid." So really, should the State of Minnesota be even considering running health care? |
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Just think of the incompetence that the government has run virtually every other program they've been in charge of. Then imagine your health care run that way. And if you want to know how well govt health care would go, just look at how well the veterans health care is managed. If you're still not convinced, look at how f-ed up virtually every other government's health care system is. There is a reason wealthy foreigners often come to the US for medical care. |
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