Healthcare Plans of Mice(the idiots who illeagly pushed this through) and Me.....wait I think I insulted the mice let me apologize to them!

It's getting pretty funny to hear some of the arguments about the New Health Care Bill, but I still want to know what the plan is fellas. So for a lark I came up with my own plan and my own ideas. So read the following and have a few laughs and maybe you'll like an idea or two. Maybe not like I said this is just stuff that bubbled into my brain......and I do get a lot of interesting ideas floating around in there so it is what it is......



So one thing I keep hearing a lot about is now the insurance companies can't bully us. Really because I didn't see anything in there regarding private insurance companies. I mean the government cannot set their prices because that would be unconstitutional in the extreme. So good luck with that, in fact how could it not affect the premiums of private companies when some business decide to cut insurance from their benefits packages, sending their employee's to the 'governments' plan (which I still don't see just what their plan consists of? coverage options? prices? when this will take effect?). If they lose thousands of customers and their bottom line begins to shrink you bet your bottom, it's your wallets that will help fill that gaping hole! In reality the insurance companies are not the biggest problem in the equation of Healthcare Reform.


Why do insurance companies need to charge us an arm and a leg? Well if you have ever asked for an itemized bill for a visit to your doctor's office some of that might start to make sense. $10 of a wooden tongue depressor (a popsicle stick basically), $15 for a band aid but it will have a more important sounding name on the bill (when you call and ask they tell you it's a band-aid though), or how about $275 just for the doctor to walk in the room and say hello to you. I am not kidding this actually happened to me in my hometown in Wisconsin. I can only imagine what it would be like out here in Seattle where everything seems to be 3 times more expensive! If you look at your statements from the insurance companies you'll see that the doctor requested say $500 for services rendered but your insurance company will have already prearranged for lesser rates so you'll see that they give the doctor $325 for services rendered. Sometimes the discrepancy is more sometimes less I am sure they have a formula for this stuff.


So then does that mean it's the doctors and hospitals that are the problem. Yeah they are a part of it too just like the insurance companies are. Not only are doctors/hospitals looking at their own bottom lines, they also are having to deal with inflated malpractice insurance. This has become such a problem in this country that fewer men and women are training to become Obstetricians/Gynecologists, and many current doctor's of the specialty are leaving the practice because it is too expensive to work in the field. I am sure there are other specialties being affected as well but this is the one I have personal knowledge of. I lost 3 OBGYN's in the space of 2 years due to this very problem. Thankfully I have a wonderful doctor now, and if she moves or leaves the practice I will seriously be screwed because finding a good Primary Care Doctor is hard enough, finding a good OBGYN anymore is a miracle! So are doctors just so terrible these days that it's causing malpractice insurance to skyrocket?


Or has a new trend developed in this country in the last 20ish years. Has our nation become 'sue happy' and gone a little overboard. Every time you turn on the TV for any length of time you'll see at least one ad for a personal injury lawyer promising you a payment for your suffering. The new kitch is they don't get paid unless you get paid, yeah but what many people don't realize is; yeah they want you to get a big fat settlement because they'll take at least 40% of it. In the end your settlement really turns out to be not a hell of a lot. Looking at it in a lot of cases does it stop your suffering? If the it was a loss of life or permanent injury it sure won't change that. We have cases of malpractice that are legitimate and the doctor who made the mistake probably needs to be sanctioned, fined, and or lose their license and even in some cases should probably be put in jail. But with all of superfluous cases clogging an already overwhelmed judicial system is there really any true justice being found, and are the true horrors being brought to light.


So how the heck do we fix this cycle of waste, and system wide of healthcare inadequacy to an efficient and affordable one. I think that would be an easy answer....everything in this world needs a solid foundation.


Mindy's Health Care Plan:


A solid foundation....let's look at the base of what keeps causing health care costs to rise. We are paying high fees to insurance companies (or for those without insurance to hospitals/doctors), who are in turn paying exuberant fees for services rendered by doctors, hospitals and its subsidiaries who keep raising their rates but for the inflation of medical malpractice insurance.


So the bottom of the equation here is first how do we REFORM Medical Malpractice insurance.


I believe first and foremost that Americans on a whole need to step back and remember that doctors are human's too. Tell me that you haven't made a mistake at your job. Now before people start thinking I am barbaric and unfeeling, keep reading. Yes there needs to be a checks and balances to make sure grievous errors are not being committed by the people who are supposed to be trained to keep us healthy. For example if a doctor comes to work intoxicated and it causes a patient to die, yes that doctor should be brought up on charges and owes restitution to that family for the loss of their loved one. However if a doctor makes a misdiagnosis that causes or results because of a good faith error and not because of negligence or misconduct then why should lawyers get to shred him professionally and financially. Instead of fining Americans for not caring health insurance how about striping down the Medical malpractice insurance costs to affordable rates, and only allowing suits against this insurance in cases where the doctors misconduct or negligence was the cause of a death or permanent injury resulting in the patients lifelong disability. As for the other cases where a doctor may need to be reprimanded, censured, or warned by the Medical Board for actions inappropriate or harmful in his job or oath as a healer then set up a system of fines based on the severity of the problem, number of times, etc just like you would say for the Traffic laws. The first time you are caught speeding you get a fine, get caught x amount of times and you lose your license. Use the Medical Boards already in place to oversee the propriety of each state to help set up, implement and enforce The Patient Protection Task force or create jobs, for a special group within the state Medical Boards. Also there could be other incentives placed in with the penalties and not just fines. Doctor X has been fined $1500 for repeatedly making errors in charting resulting in 2 patients needing extra care for his mistake, neither instance resulted in permanent harm. However he can reduce his fine by 50% if he gives 5 hours a week for the next 4 months to such and such free health clinic in his area. Oh and that intoxicated doctor who was charged for killing a patient because of his misconduct, how about he gets the option to earn his keep in prison as the prisons physician for his entire sentence with daily piss tests to prove he is sober.


How about making people actually do something to make a difference in the world when they have made a mistake.


Okay so we have the cost of Insurance down for the doctors and as long as they do their job and don't make negligent or misconduct errors, life will be heck of a lot easier on their pocket books. Now it's their turn to pull back on those prices they are charging us. How about instead of that piece of wood you just shoved in my mouth costing me $10, we say it costs you 3 cents to buy one (I think that's way generous) so how about you charge me 10 cents. And that band-aid come on......let's be reasonable here. I get that you need to cover your bills and yes you have a right to make a profit. I know that economically if say you look at all of your costs and say okay it costs us this much to break even......say that 3 cent piece of wood would need to be billed to the patient at 6 cents per unit......is really a 4 cent per unit profit that bad on the grand scheme of things.


[ And just think of what could happen in this country if OMG other companies start to say wow let's really take a look at our profit margins. Maybe we could actually shoot out of this recession into a time of prosperity once more. And dare I say it.......the dollar could actually become competitive again!!!! Think about the possible ripple effect, countries wanting our goods because we can give them the price!!!]


Now that we have some foundation poured down we can go to those insurance companies and reform their policies. Our government can now take a look at state programs for those that fall below the poverty line. The one I am most familiar with is Badgercare in Wisconsin. I will be honest I don't know how it works exactly, except that I know a few people on it who have some of the best freaking insurance that it actually makes some of those with jobs jealous. So our government officials take this plan into their hands and study it, how does it work, why does it work? What is Wisconsin doing right? Look at other states with similar successful programs? Then put together a plan or implement a badgercare program in each state for those who are not working. Then go another step to help the 'working poor' which are not helped in your current plan by allowing them into the state program at set levels of affordable monthly rates. If you fall into tax bracket A it will cost you $50 a month or whatever, you get the picture.


Oh and here is my little tidbit for those who consistently on government programs and spend more than 1year without a job due to disability or extenuating circumstance approved by the courts. To receive your 'free' benefits after 1 year you would be required to do 4 hours of community service a month or else all benefits will be terminated. It's time some of the people in this country remember that nothing will be GIVEN to you and everyone has a duty to be a productive member of society. If you can't work for your keep then maybe you can spend some time cleaning up our roadways, teaching a child to read, or giving your time to a soup kitchen. Many of us fall on hard times at one point or another in our lives, it's the true measure of the person who strives to overcome those difficulties and to improve themselves into a better person.


There is so much work that can be done to make this country amazing once again. However instead of fixing what we already have floating around out there either draining us of funds or not being funded for whatever reason. My government and some of my fellow American's want me to accept a flawed and fruitless plan that's very existence at this point is unconstitutional, my only response and my avenue of action is to keep shouting NO!


This is not right and this will only further serve to push us further and further into a pit.


IT'S REALLY EASY LADIES AND GENTLEMEN IT'S CALLED OCCUMS RAZOR: THE SIMPILEST ANSWER IS USALLY THE CORRECT ONE!


The above is just a bunch of hypothetical views based on my opinions and concepts, however this is the core of the problem.......


(k to get this right you need to picture me with my hand raised and all but bouncing out of my seat......hahaha)


THE ANSWER DEAR GOVERMENT OFFICALS IS TO STOP THE BULLSHIT AND GET BACK TO THE BASICS! GO BACK AND LOOK AT OUR FOUNDATION THEN BEGIN TO FIX OUR COUNTRY.........


~Mindy