{"id":1507607,"date":"2024-12-12T20:05:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T01:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1507607"},"modified":"2024-12-12T20:05:00","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T01:05:00","slug":"understanding-the-anger-over-healthcare-in-one-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/understanding-the-anger-over-healthcare-in-one-picture\/1507607\/","title":{"rendered":"Understanding The Anger Over Healthcare In One Picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Understanding The Anger Over Healthcare In One Picture<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Mike Shedlock via MishTalk.com,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Healthcare costs have soared. Obamacare failed to live up to its promises.<\/strong> And my lead image dramatically understates the problems with costs…<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Data from the BLS, chart by Mish<\/em><\/p>\n

Changes Since 1983<\/strong><\/h2>\n

CPI: 208 percent
\n\tMedical Care Services: 505 percent
\n\tHospital Services: 975 percent
\n\tMedical Care Commodities: 308 Percent<\/p>\n

Changes Since Obamacare Started<\/strong><\/h2>\n

CPI: 41.28 percent
\n\tMedical Care Services: 77.98 percent
\n\tHospital Services: 77.98 percent
\n\tMedical Care Commodities: 29.94 percent<\/p>\n

Understanding BLS Calculations<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The numbers look bad but they are much worse than they look because of the way the BLS calculates the CPI.<\/p>\n

On all CPI calculations, the BLS only counts costs directly paid by consumers.<\/p>\n

To the extent corporations and Medicare are obscuring more of the costs, the CPI numbers are understated.<\/em><\/p>\n

Health Insurance Coverage 2023<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Employment-based insurance<\/strong>:\u00a054.5% of the population
\n\tMedicare and Medicaid<\/strong>:\u00a018.8% of the population
\n\tDirect-purchase coverage<\/strong>:\u00a09.9% of the population
\n\tTRICARE<\/strong>\u00a0(Active Military Service):\u00a02.4% of the population
\n\tVA and CHAMPVA coverage<\/strong>:\u00a01.0% of the population\u00a0<\/p>\n

The above is an AI-generated response. It totals 86.6 percent.<\/p>\n

Census. Gov says that in 2022, 92.1 percent of people, or 304.0 million, had health insurance at some point in the year.<\/p>\n

Those in various Medicare plans have seen smaller increases than those buying insurance for themselves.<\/p>\n

And the cost of direct pay is outrageous. Large corporations can get better deals than smaller ones.<\/p>\n

The BLS averages this all in to arrive at the numbers posted in the chart. Heaven help anyone paying for their own insurance who gets cancer or other serious needs.<\/p>\n

Rolling the Dice<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Obamacare penalizes young and healthy for the benefit of those older and with conditions.<\/p>\n

Young adults not working for a company that provides health care benefits frequently opt out. No one can blame them.<\/p>\n

ObamaCare Con<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Wall Street Journal discusses the\u00a0ObamaCare Con<\/a><\/p>\n

Progressives are at last acknowledging that ObamaCare is a failure. They aren\u2019t doing so explicitly, of course, but their social-media screeds against insurers, triggered by last week\u2019s murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, suggest as much. \u201cWe\u2019ve gotten to a point where healthcare is so inaccessible and unaffordable, people are justified in their frustrations,\u201d CBS News medical contributor C\u00e9line Gounder said during a Friday segment on the roasting of health insurers.<\/p>\n

Remember\u00a0Barack Obama\u2019s promise that if you like your health plan and doctor, you could keep them? Sorry. How about his claim that people with pre-existing conditions would be protected? Also not true.\u00a0The biggest howler, however, was that healthcare would become more affordable.<\/em><\/p>\n

Grant Democrats this: The law has advanced their political goal of expanding government control over insurers, in return for lavishing Americans with subsidies to buy overpriced, lousy products. (One might observe that Democrats are driving a similar Faustian bargain to induce automakers to produce more electric vehicles.)<\/p>\n

One problem is that simply having insurance doesn\u2019t change people\u2019s behavior. It does, however, cause them to use more care.\u00a0This is a particular problem in Medicaid, since beneficiaries often rush to the emergency room for nonemergencies because they don\u2019t have deductibles or co-pays.<\/em><\/p>\n

Another problem: The nearly 100 million Americans on Medicaid or tightly regulated and generously subsidized exchange plans struggle to find doctors to treat them. Physician access for Medicaid patients has long been limited owing to the program\u2019s low reimbursement rates.<\/p>\n

It has gotten worse since ObamaCare expanded eligibility, as states have tried to hold down Medicaid costs by reducing reimbursements.<\/em>\u00a0A 2019 study found that patients were only half as likely to get an appointment with a doctor compared with privately insured patients before the law passed. Post-ObamaCare, they were less than one-third as likely. Medicaid is insurance in name only.<\/p>\n

Patients with exchange plans hardly fare better.\u00a0Affordable Care Act plan networks include on average only 40%<\/a>\u00a0of local physicians and 21% of those employed by hospitals. Patients must pay significantly more out of pocket to see out-of-network doctors. If you find a doctor in network, there\u2019s no guarantee he\u2019ll continue to be. Insurers are narrowing coverage to keep down costs.<\/p>\n

They are also hiking deductibles, which this year averaged\u00a0$5,241 for a typical plan<\/a>. That\u2019s up from $2,425 in 2014. Although subsidies reduce how much people with ObamaCare plans pay toward their premiums, they are stuck paying out of pocket until they hit their deductible.<\/p>\n

Most healthy young people never do. That means their insurance is worthless except in the event of a catastrophic emergency, which was the gist of recent rants against insurers. Perhaps they should take up their grievances with Mr. Obama, since his law\u2019s mandates and regulations are to blame.<\/p>\n

ObamaCare requires plans to cover myriad government-determined \u201cessential benefits\u201d regardless of whether people need them. It also prohibits insurers from charging higher premiums based on a patient\u2019s health-risk factors and limits their ability to do so for older people.\u00a0The young and healthy are thus required to subsidize their elders, while taxpayers are required to subsidize everyone on the exchanges<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The WSJ noted \u201cstates have tried to hold down Medicaid costs by reducing reimbursements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone else pays more because if it. Wait times and the struggle to find a doctor who takes Medicaid are not factored into the CPI at all.<\/p>\n

\u2018This Is A Warning\u2019: Warren, Sanders Address Sympathy For UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Huffington Post reports\u00a0\u2018This Is A Warning\u2019: Warren, Sanders Address Sympathy For UnitedHealthcare CEO Killing<\/a><\/p>\n

Two of the biggest critics of the U.S. health care system condemned the assassination of UnitedHealthcare\u2019s CEO Brian Thompson while calling out \u201cvile\u201d insurance company practices aimed at maximizing profits.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the health care system,\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told HuffPost in an interview on Tuesday when asked about the cold response to Thompson\u2019s death, which included celebratory posts on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is never the answer, but people can be pushed only so far,\u201d Warren added. \u201cThis is a warning that if you push people hard enough, they lose faith in the ability of their government to make change, lose faith in the ability of the people who are providing the health care to make change, and start to take matters into their own hands in ways that will ultimately be a threat to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

After drawing some criticism for her remarks, Warren clarified her comments in a statement provided to HuffPost on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cViolence is never the answer. Period,\u201d the senator said. \u201cI should have been much clearer that there is never a justification for murder.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) called Thompson\u2019s killing \u201coutrageous\u201d and \u201cunacceptable\u201d before similarly criticizing insurance company practices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what the outpouring of anger at the health care industry tells us is that millions of people understand that health care is a human right and that you cannot have people in the insurance industry rejecting needed health care for people while they make billions of dollars in profit,\u201d Sanders said.<\/p>\n

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) also criticized \u201cvile\u201d social media posts for celebrating an \u201cassh*le that\u2019s going to die in prison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you gun someone down that you don\u2019t happen to agree with their views or the business that they\u2019re in, hey, you know, I\u2019m next, they\u2019re next,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd people want to celebrate it. It\u2019s twisted.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Twisted<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Government meddling is one of the reasons healthcare is so expensive.<\/p>\n

Obamacare failed across the board. And it did so by creating big pools of those who overpay and underpay.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not mince words. People who smoke ought to pay more for healthcare because they are a higher risk. Those who are grossly overweight ought to pay more as well.<\/p>\n

Medicaid encourages emergency visits by paying primary care doctors so little that the doctors refuse new patients.<\/p>\n

To avoid lawsuits, doctors perform more tests than necessary. Fraud is rampant. Paperwork is excessive.<\/p>\n

\u201cMedicare for All\u201d would enhance problems in all of the above.<\/p>\n

No Skin in the Game<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Customers who have already reached their max out of pocket deductibles have no skin in the game. And that\u2019s a huge problem.<\/p>\n

According to\u00a0Medicare.Gov<\/a>\u00a0\u201cNo Medicare drug plan may have a deductible more than $505 in 2023. Some Medicare drug plans don\u2019t have a deductible. In some plans that do have a deductible, drugs on some tiers are covered before the deductible.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Once deductibles are reached, sometimes in one month, consumers have no incentive to shop around.<\/p>\n

Other customers, unaware of cost differentials, fill prescriptions on the basis of convenience, that being the nearest pharmacy.<\/p>\n

Denver Health at \u201cCritical Point\u201d as 8,000 Migrants Make 20,000 Emergency Visits<\/strong><\/h2>\n

January 24, 2024:\u00a0Denver Health at \u201cCritical Point\u201d as 8,000 Migrants Make 20,000 Emergency Visits<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Denver hospital system is turning away local residents because it is flooded with migrant visits.<\/p>\n

Medicaid Expansion Was Supposed to Pay for Itself, Instead Hospitals Are Closing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

March 9, 2024:\u00a0Medicaid Expansion Was Supposed to Pay for Itself, Instead Hospitals Are Closing<\/a><\/p>\n

10 states did not fall for the Medicaid expansion trap under Obamacare. The rest are suffering. Private payers (you, one way or another) make up the loss.<\/p>\n

Medicaid does not pay enough to cover hospitals\u2019 costs, meaning hospitals need to make up for the shortfall by charging private payers more.<\/p>\n

This was one of the easiest \u201cI Told You So\u201d advance predictions in history.<\/p>\n

Best of all, we have a decade of data to prove it thanks to ten states that resisted the trap.<\/p>\n

Hospitals Turn to Pay In Advance, In Full<\/strong><\/h2>\n

May 9, 2024:\u00a0Hospitals Turn to Pay In Advance, In Full<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are in the hospital emergency room, and that\u2019s where most people without insurance go, then you get treated. Otherwise, many hospitals are turning to pay in advance for services.<\/p>\n

Nonpayment a Huge Problem<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s interesting to note that hospitals want payment in advance for births. Most illegals just walk in and never pay for anything.<\/p>\n

Nonpayment is one of the reasons costs are soaring for everyone who does pay.<\/p>\n

Obama claimed Medicaid expansion would pay for itself.<\/p>\n

Whenever you hear that claim please run. Free government handouts are never free and most often backfire completely.<\/p>\n

As long as we are going to have Medicare, and no politician will ever get rid of it,\u00a0It would behoove Medicare and insurers to\u00a0require\u00a0the cheapest cost alternative on all drugs. That would force competition and eliminate fraudulent collusion.<\/em><\/p>\n

US consumers are subsidizing the rest of the world. I would put an end to that by allowing drug imports.<\/p>\n

The Right to Die<\/strong><\/h2>\n

It\u2019s an uncomfortable topic, where demagoguery about \u201cdeath squads\u201d abounds, but we need to have a talk about the right to die and how much money we spend prolonging a terminal patient\u2019s life, in massive pain, for a few weeks or months.<\/p>\n

I have made my wishes known. I do not want to be kept alive by heroic means if the quality of my life is expected to be grim. That\u2019s a personal decision.<\/p>\n

At the national level, we must face this very uncomfortable question: Should we spend hundreds of thousands of dollars keeping someone alive whose life expectancy is 3 months? 6 months? a year?<\/p>\n

I say no to all for those without insurance, and no for me personally, regardless.<\/p>\n

Also, hospitals should be free to turn away those without insurance. We need tort reform to cut down legal expenses.<\/p>\n

When consumers have no skin in the game or not enough skin in the game, no one other than the insurers are interested in reducing costs.<\/p>\n

That is the fundamental problem with US healthcare. Senators Warren and Sanders proposals would make everything worse.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nThu, 12\/12\/2024 – 15:05<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/medical\/understanding-anger-over-healthcare-one-picture<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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