Have you seen Ron Paul's health care plan? And you don't have to wait until after the elections because he

No I hadn't seen it--but I'm glad you did.

This would not solve the problem totally but it would be such a massive improvement and pave the way for the additional improvements necessary that we'd be on the right road at last.

The problems I see with this include that only 60% of employers offer insurance so until we address the OTHER problems of how the insurance companies CONTROL the market and violate the law routinely that leaves a lot of folks in danger economically.

Here's what I mean:

When 75% of the people who declare bankruptcy over medical bills ARE INSURED, then insurance is CLEARLY not the answer.

"Aldrich’s situation is "asinine" but increasingly common, said Dr. Deborah Thorne of Ohio University. Thorne, co-author of a widely quoted 2005 study that found medical bills contributed to nearly half of the 1.5 million personal bankruptcies filed in the U.S. each year, said that ratio has likely worsened since the data was gathered.

...

Like Aldrich, Thorne said, three-quarters of the individuals in the study who declared bankruptcy because of health problems were insured. "

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20201807/

Linda Peeno, MD testified that SHE had often denied treatment JUST to save the insurance company money http://www.thenationalcoalition.org/DrPeenotestimo...

Furthermore:

"the vast majority of health insurance policies are through for-profit stock companies. They are in the process of “shedding lives” as some term it when “undesirable” customers are lost through various means, including raising premiums and co-pays and decreasing benefits (Britt, “Health insurers getting bigger cut of medical dollars,” 15 October 2004, investors.com). That same Investors Business Daily article from 2004 noted the example of Anthem, another insurance company. They said the top five executives (not just the CEO) received an average of an 817 percent increase in compensation between 2000 and 2003. The CEO, for example, had his compensation go from $2.5 million to $25 million during that time period. About $21 million of that was in stock payouts, the article noted.

A 2006 article, “U.S. Health Insurance: More Market Domination, More CEO Compensation”

(hcrenewal.blogspot.com) notes that in 56 percent of 294 metropolitan areas one insurer “controls more than half the business in health maintenance organization and preferred provider networks underwriting." In addition to having the most enrollees, they also are the biggest purchasers of health care and set the price and coverage terms. “’The results is double-digit premium increases from 2001 and 2004—peaking with a 13.9 percent jump in 2003—soaring well above inflation and wages increases.’" Where is all that money going? The article quotes a Wall Street Journal article looking at the compensation of the CEO of UnitedHealth Group. His salary and bonus is $8 million annually. He has benefits such as the use of a private jet. He has stock-option fortunes worth $1.6 billion."

--Save America, Save the World by Cassandra Nathan pp. 127-128

"Insurance Companies Robbing Patients

Robbing patients to pay CEOs leads to unprecedented medical insurance corporation greed.

Thursday, January 3, 2008 8:52 AM

By: Michael Arnold Glueck & Robert J. Cihak, The Medicine Men"

http://www.newsmax.com/medicine_men/medical_insura...

Clearly we need to ENFORCE contract law so that legit claims ARE paid or the insurer takes a MASSIVE economic hit to remove all incentive for his violating the law. Second as you can see in some areas the market is CONTROLLED illegally by an insurer. That must stop so there is COMPETITION.

Third the ERISA shield (read Jamie Court's eye-opening book Making a Killing at http://www.makingakilling.org/) must be abolished legislatively.

Fourth PRICE TRANSPARENCY must occur--providers need to post their prices IN ADVANCE.

Fifth for those who have any kind of insurance for ALL non-emergency procedures the insurer and provider need to let the patient know in advance what the patient must pay and they have to be held to that figure, nothing more, barring fraud on the part of the patient. Why? Because predatory lenders are running loose, especially with hospital bills:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/conten...

I know Ron Paul does NOT support government run programs, such as Medicare and Medicare is in trouble--not only because it is losing doctors:

In the US, Medicare is going bankrupt. In 1998, Medicare premiums were $43.80 and in 2008 will be $96.40--up 120%. "Medigap" insurance is common because of the 20% co-pay required for service. Medicare HMOs are common because they reduce that burden without an extra charge in many cases. HOWEVER, many procedures which used to have no or a low co-pay NOW cost the full 20% for the HMO Medicare patient. ALSO the prescription coverage they tended to offer has been REDUCED in many cases to conform to the insane "donut hole" coverage of the feds. Doctors are leaving Medicare because of the low and slow pay AND because the crazy government wants to "balance" their Ponzi scheme on the backs of doctors.

"That dark cloud lurking over the shoulder of every Massachusetts physician is Medicare. If Congress does not act, doctors' payments from Medicare will be cut by about 5 percent annually, beginning next year through 2012, creating a financial hailstorm that would wreak havoc with already strained practices.

Cumulatively, the proposed cuts represent a 31 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement. If the cuts are adjusted for practice-cost inflation, the American Medical Association says Medicare payment rates to physicians in 2013 would be less than half of what they were in 1991."

http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=vs_...

Therefore we have to REFORM those systems. So while I applaud what Congressman Paul has come up with and pray Congress will pass it (I will be emailing shortly) I still think Cassandra Nathan's plan and other reforms are even more comprehensive and necessary.

QUALITY, ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE health care for all.

That means preventative care (physical with follow up). Real medication (no Medicare "donut holes" the really ill are ripped off again.) No bogus ridiculously low "caps" on needed medical procedures. No abuse of the ER. No paying for the silly with the sniffles to go to the doc for free. No more bankruptcies over medical bills. I want THIS plan that ends abuse of the taxpayer, takes the burden off employers, provides price transparency, and ends the rip-off of the US taxpayer at the hands of greedy insurance CEOs (which has been repeatedly documented).

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3068.html

Read the PDF, not the blurb, for the bulk of the plan. Book is searchable on Amazon.com

Cassandra Nathan's Save America, Save the World

As she wants to transition people off the fed roles to private insurers--but with protection from the games those insurers have gotten away with--I think it's in the spirit of what Paul has proposed.

Ron Paul has the facts wrong. Here is the quote from Nixon who signed the law. "Under S. 14, the Government would provide financial assistance to help various groups determine the feasibility of developing an HMO in their area, as well as assistance for planning and initial development. HMO's would be required to operate competitively without Federal subsidies at the end of an initial period of Federal support." The act was meant to help HMO grow, not force people to sign up for HMO. That come in 1990s when health care costs begin spiral out of control and many signed up without government involvement. HMOs stopped the spiral for a short time. If there was no government health care like Medicare and a ban on trial lawyers, we would have more uninsured and those who pay would pay more.

This is interesting. How do you become your doctor's customer, when you are buying insurance? Or does Ron Paul want you to self-insure? What pool do you belong to for insurance purposes, or are you underwritten individually?

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Yeah, I think as long as you're buying insurance, you run into the situation where the insurance company acts like the customer. In other words, there's no incentive for someone (except for beesting) to decline health services to save money because the insurance company is taking care of it...at least on a transaction by transaction basis. This third party payment problem is what prevents much needed competition. I don't see how Paul's plan addresses that. (OK, I think most people don't want to see it addressed, either.)

Great health care plan

By the way, you'll probably like the newest 3D Ron Paul commercial

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3MLTvYBQy0

http://hightidepromo.com/large.html

I am doing my part to spread the message around

It sounds like a much better plan than Hillary's plan.

I really like the part about TAX FREE interest on your own Health Savings Account.

I'm pretty sure our family Doctor { even though he's a Democrat.} would like the plan also, since we have had to pay him in cash for service for the last 15 years, being self employed.

Thanks for that info.

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I love it! I wish most Americans wouldn't believe the crap they see on TV, or be so polarized in their thoughts. What happend to "free thought"? Oops... That would be a Libertarian principle, not a Democratic or Conservative one (as now defined).

Imagine that? TRUE FREEDOM AND LIBERTY (yes they are separate terms people)

gldmj5 is right, Ron Paul might have unique ideas, but his career in congress is only a preview of what a failure he would be as a president. Being a successful president means working with everyone else, and Ron Paul's outlandish ideas have no chance of being able to do that.

And Melanie, Ron Paul's came ARE wacko conspiracy theorists. Your bigotry against Obama all of a sudden makes total sense if you are throwing your lot with the rest of the White Nationalists supporting Paul.

If the masses only knew what they have done in denying this man a platform as our leader! What a shame!

As a Congressman, 350 bills that Ron Paul has tried to push through have failed. Of those, only five have made it to Congress and not one passed. He is a passionate individual but considered a poor Congressman in relation to his peers.

We Ron Paul supporters tried to tell you guys.....

But we got laughed at and called "tin foil hat wearing conspiracy theorist"