The Democrats' Approaching Dilemma | Medpage Today

The Democrats' Approaching Dilemma | Medpage Today:
What should they do about health reform?

Great piece.  My favorite statements:

"...allow insurers to keep their profits and socialize the losses...

Drs. Jiwani, Himmelstein, Woolhandler, and Kahn extensively analyzed the data for 2012 and determined that expenses related to billing and insurance in our multi-payer system totaled almost 18% of U.S. healthcare expenditures that year, far more than in any other OECD country. In 2014, in The New York Times, Elisabeth Rosenthal estimated administrative costs at 20% to 30% of the total.  Today, the ratio of administrators to clinicians is probably higher, and accounts for a larger percentage of U.S. healthcare costs.

At least one analyst crunched the numbers and concluded that "as countries spend a larger percentage of their healthcare dollars on administration (as opposed to public health, or providing patient care, for example), things get worse for patients and healthcare providers."

The way to reduce costs, maintain quality, and cover all is to treat the sick, simplify, and decentralize, through Medicare for all. Providers must be non-profit. Now is the time to work out the details."

How Medicare for all, which 70% of Americans support, could affect you

How Medicare for all, which 70% of Americans support, could affect you: "Medicare is a very popular program, so the idea of expanding it to everyone is popular as well," says Larry Levitt, senior vice president for health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation

Bill Of The Month: Texas Teacher Who Survived Heart Attack Gets Billing Surprise : Shots - Health News : NPR

Bill Of The Month: Texas Teacher Who Survived Heart Attack Gets Billing Surprise : Shots - Health News : NPR: An insured Texas teacher, 44, faces a "balance bill" of almost twice his annual salary from an out-of-network hospital's treatment of his sudden heart attack.

comment: A very good picture of a big part of the evolving negative impacts on the ever-shrinking middle class in America.  Not only is my job dictated by access to health coverage but how that coverage works, even in emergency care situations, can bankrupt me and ruin my life.

Can't Afford Health Insurance? Americans Rig Their Own Safety Net - Bloomberg

Can't Afford Health Insurance? Americans Rig Their Own Safety Net - Bloomberg: Consumers frustrated by high costs are bypassing the bureaucracy with patchwork plans.

Don't dismiss more pragmatic 'Medicare for All' plans - StarTribune.com

Don't dismiss more pragmatic 'Medicare for All' plans - StarTribune.com: More incremental 'buy-in' approaches merit consideration.

One big issue missed here is how much of our money goes to pay insurance/managed care companies to "manage" my health care access.  They are not only involved in my private insurance or work healthcare benefits but very much involved in much, if not most, Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries coverage.  Paperwork processing that adds no value to my healthcare and horrendous costs for high exec salaries and shareholder profits sucks huge amounts of money out of what we call health care.  It adds no value to my healthcare and is an absolute waste -- unless you are an insurance CEO or have lots of money invested in those company's stock.  Keeping the system unnecessarily complex just hides the profit motives and the intent of keeping universal access to health care unavailable to all those unworthy citizens.  Equal access to health care needs to be a right for all citizens like it is in other parts of the world.  We should be showing the way, not falling further and further behind.

Medicare-for-all costs: what the Mercatus vs. Bernie debate is missing - Vox

Medicare-for-all costs: what the Mercatus vs. Bernie debate is missing - Vox: Sen. Bernie Sanders and the left vs. the libertarians at Mercatus is the shape of things to come.