The people that are against the health reform make me upset. I would have loved to be able to get treated cheaply by the government plan.

Before the reform was starting to get the ball rolling (about 3 months ago), within 1 weekend, I had a colonscopy to check for cancer and got my gall bladder removed from gall stones and spent 5 days afterwards recovering in the hospital.

My hospital bills are outrageous. I have been trying to dispute some of it, but in the end, I am still the one paying.

I am only 27 years old, and went through some serious health issues. I have had insurance for years upon years without a single health problem.

The amount I had to pay was not based on trying to “compete” with the government rates. There was no competition. I am still paying this off based on what this company decided.

I am one of the people where if my health problems had waited a year or so, I would be able to get this taken care of much cheaper. I mean, really, a 27 year old single male that is still only a couple years out of college.

Who pays the big, nasty insurance companies? I do. Not you. Not Mr. I am going to blog and complain. Me. Are you going to pay my hospital bills? I doubt it.

I am young. I can’t afford what I am paying. I am in so much debt to the point where it is very saddening, and it is from hospital bills.

Nobody is stepping up to make these big insurance companies charge people less. They are open to charge what they feel like. They are open to make me go in debt, bad.

Yeah, I was supposed to go in for a follow-up appointment to get checked out over 2 months ago, but I can’t afford it.

I have insurance and am now in debt and can’t afford to go in when I need to because of these insurance companies.

If there was, say, a government backed insurance plan, I bet I could afford to go to a doctor’s appointment when I need to.

This health care bill came in, and all of a sudden everybody got so concerned with a variety of health care options like they would magically go away or something. People started caring about the insurance companies.

What about caring for me? It is pretty obvious most of these people that upped and decided to care about the major corporations do not care what happens to me.

I am the reason why the health care bill is in place. I can’t afford to go back for a follow-up appointment. I need to. I went through surgery and 5 days in the hospital, so I need to return for a follow-up. I just don’t have that kind of money, and I have insurance.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/congress-finishes-health-care-reform–for-good-this-time.php

They’ve eliminated the Nebraska deal, so there’s at least one step forward.

I even tweeted Suze Orman (since she’s so gung ho about the new health care law) about betting me. She never responded… I know she reads replies. Coward!

Re: prescription drugs
Check out John Stossel’s video on prescription drugs:
http://www.hulu.com/watch/135096/stossel-thu-feb-25-2010

It was an informative episode of his show.

Re: budget
I’m still waiting on someone to bet against me about the budget will NOT be deficit neutral in 10 years. Even if we use fucked up govt accounting. So far I haven’t found a sucker (ahem person) that would bet me.

Re: China. Can you say Smart Hawley tariff all over again? Why is our government doing the things they are doing with China? It’s not a matter of if China stops, but when. At minimum stops buying as much as previous. They won’t cut us off… yet because of all of the existing debt they have with us.

Some of the similarities to the great depression are amazing. History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes. – Mark Twain

That being said, I haven’t been watching Fox, C-Span or reading blogs on this other than the couple I normally follow, who tend to lean “for” the bill. But based on the known aspects of the bill, since it’s gone through so many iterations without much transparency, I have concerns about many subsets of the legislation, how slimy it was to stop at absolutely nothing to pass it, and most of all, what the likely implications are as this grows. Once the government gets their tentacles in something, it gets bigger, more expensive, more incompetent until they virtually destroy it.
It’s obvious to me that the real goal is a government-run public option, which would be a complete sham. But that’s where this is headed eventually – at the expense of the millions of Americans who are actually already satisfied with their current plans. As the public option pushes out private insurers or makes it so onerous for corporations to use them, they stop offering private insurance and we all end up in the same crap government run program.
Is health care a right? There are arguments on either side. The Constitution doesn’t say it is, but let’s assume it is or we’re not worrying about that (and no, I’m not jumping on the bandwagon of challenging the constitutionality of forcing people to pay for healthcare).
So, I obviously don’t go along with the party line on everything blindly. People want the best of both worlds. No coverage, then mandated hospitcal emergency room care if they really need it. Everyone knows now, and emergency room will treat you for a serious health issue regardless of coverage, ability to pay or citizenship even. So, the part of the bill with penalties for those not paying, fine. But let’s make the fines meaningful.

* On the rationing piece, I took both sides of the argument playing Devil’s advocate and didn’t necessarily take one side or the other – it’s a necessary evil.
However, on the topic, we’re jamming how many millions of new patients into a pool of the same number of general practitioners? What will that do to availability to see a doctor for someone who presently has insurance? Extend it dramatically. Like you said, basic supply and demand. More new patients, no new doctors.
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Straight from CNN, a mildly liberal outlet (anything but conservative):
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/03/24/health.care.viewer.faqs/

“Question: What will happen when there are not enough doctors to oblige all the patients?

Last year, the American Academy of Family Physicians predicted a shortfall of 40,000 primary care doctors, and that was before the signing of the health care bill. That will put another 32 million people into the system — with a promise of free preventive care — and insurance to pay for regular doctor visits. Some physicians have expressed concern about this. Patients could see increased wait times, as in Massachusetts, where since “RomneyCare” went into effect, residents wait an 10 extra days to see the doctor. But others say the bill will help create more community health centers, so primary care can happen at these centers instead of expensive emergency rooms”
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Another minor detail. Why doesn’t this provision kick in until 2014? If you’re terminally ill now, you’re pretty much screwed still. Same CNN article. Why? It would cost a hell of a lot more (they’d actually have to account for it), but they wait until 2014 so they can build funds for 4 years and let it kick in after the next Election.
(same cnn article):

“Question: I am living with HIV and cannot get health care coverage. If this reform passes, how long before I am able to get coverage?

Answer: By 2014, that there would be no discrimination based on pre-existing conditions. You could not be denied based on an infection or some sort of pre-existing illness. That’s four years away, though.

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* Special Interests and Deals – Yes, older bills have earmarks, porkbarrel spending, etc. Wait, I thought that’s why we elected Obama right? He said no more special interests, catering to big business, etc. He basically lied during his campaign when he said not on his watch. This was the ultimate. If he were true to his word, he would have been able to craft legislation that was broadly accepted to garner at least a few votes on either side which would not have mandated the purchase of votes from within his own party and not a single vote from across the aisle. At least he was right about one thing – no more business as usual. This was quite unusual indeed.

* Generics – I could write an entire post on this, but first off, the NYT author (surprisingly) needs to check his facts. Most drugs do no in fact have 5 years. They have much longer. It’s a bit more complex than just putting a number on it since it’s from initial registration of the entity, not FDA approval, so it tends to be about 7-12 years depending on the development phase.
wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_drug#When_can_a_generic_drug_be_produced.3F

I’ve happened to work in Biotech manufacturing for years. It’s an insanely complex process, much more so than small molecule. It’s intensely regulated, much more goes wrong, more capital intensive, the human labor demands much higher salary, discards are vastly higher, cycle times are longer, liability is higher especially for sterile injectibles of which most biologics are vs oral for pharms, I could go on. Basically, you don’t want to be a Biotech CEO if you want to sleep at night. It’s an incredibly complex and risky business.
Hence, the certainly demand at a minimum, the same, if not more, patent exclusivity as drugs – which end up being 7-12 years post approval, not 5.

If getting into reimportation, price controls, etc., it’s an argument over whether you want lower costs today and no more innovation by removing incentive vs. leave the incentive and risk-takers will pursue those returns.
The market’s the best arbiter though. If drug-making were such a lucrative business, why do returns roughly trend with the broad market. Perhaps we should go put windfall taxes on Apple and force Microsoft to sell software at the cost of the CD it comes on, right? I mean, a CD is 10 cents, why do I have to pay $300 for windows? An IPhone costs a fraction of what Apple sells it for. It’s because you’re paying for the up-front risk taking and Billions in development BEFORE they collect a dime. Medicine is no different.

(…in order to keep Pharma’s support)… Not a single Republican voted for it. So, it doesn’t appear as though they needed pharma’s support. Perhaps they just saw the futility in destroying the world’s pharmaceutical industry by enacting artificial cost controls? I don’t know, I’m sure there were plenty of closed-door sessions with the Pharma lobbying group, but where they ended up, they’re still giving away $80 Billion over 10 years. Not too shabby. It would be nice if the government would trim waste and payrolls and give back the taxpayers $80 Billion ever.

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*Fuzzy Math – Well, like I said, and I didn’t have the link at time of publication, but here it is. The ex-head of the CBO says this is total Bullshit. Total. Every number, the way this bill is structured, the “savings” myth. It is so damn disturbing. Please read the article from this credible source and then tell me you still believe in this bill:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21holtz-eakin.html

Without copying his article, this bill is complete nonsense. But maybe I’m wrong, maybe he’s wrong. But is the market? No opinions there, this is traders’ money on the line.
Bill Gross, one of the most respected Bond Kings trashes US government debt due to this deal. http://www.pimco.com/LeftNav/Featured+Market+Commentary/IO/2010/Rocking-Horse+Winner+April+2010+IO.htm
And alas, Treasury Auction performs very poorly today. What’s this say about the prospect of longer term debt. What happens when China stops funding our debt? Then we’re really in trouble.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36021165
http://www.cnbc.com/id/36018558/

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* 10 Year of Taxes and only 6 years of benefits…
It’s disingenuous to NOT call them out on this. Why would it not be effective immediately? I’d love to know the answer. Or, better yet, why not start collecting fees for this until 2014 then? How can you not see what’s going on? It’s completely front loaded to appear attractive during the initial 10 years term and then this thing blows up when these idiots are all long gone. Again, please, I implore you, read what the CBO Director REALLY thinkgs about this hocus-pocus here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/opinion/21holtz-eakin.html

– elsewhere, good points and links. Thanks. You rightly point out there are inept people everywhere, not just govt.

Overall, biggest gripe:
This could have been done much, much better – more equitably, more efficiently and BIG – Stop Taking on More Debt! In 30 years, we will not be “saving money” with this legislation. It’s going to explode and we’re going to eventually have to pay the piper. We should have clearly understood and articulated honestly what the true costs will be over time. Costs (savings?) numbers were intentionally manipulated to mask what’s really going on. And now, today, all the details are coming out of the woodwork.

We’re using student loans to fund health care? How are these related? They’re not, but they’re reaching everywhere they can to pull in fees, raise taxes, raid coffers to make the numbers work for this sham. And get this! They’re actually forcing students to pay a higher rate than a proposed Repbulican rate so they can pay for it! Just saw this tonight:
http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/senate-democrats-beat-vote-student-loan-rates/

I realize some of this is posturing and trying to block the bill, but why were student loans even tied in to begin with? I’m sure more strange details will come out in the coming weeks leaving people scratching their heads.