Rick99

Healthcare 'Discussion Draft' Raises Concerns over Quality of Care

Apparently, you have not read the latest national polls indicating that 72% of Americans *want* a public health care option, more than half are willing to pay more taxes to get it, and a majority of Americans trust the government to provide a better quality of health care than private insurers. The American people elected a Democratic president and a Democratic congress to provide honest-to-God health care reform. Rather than whining about the evils of universal health care, a more productive use of your time would be to make a genuine effort to figure out how to pay for it.

Healthcare 'Discussion Draft' Raises Concerns over Quality of Care

As to the notion that with a public health option, we will have "rationing," we already have that with PPO insurance. My Blue Cross insurance requires that I obtain pre-authorization for nearly every procedure, and there is no assurance that my request will be approved. In fact, Blue Cross was recently sued, and lost, for failing to approve a kidney transplant that would have saved a young girl's life. Blue Cross said the process was "experimental" in their view. the girl died. *That* is health care rationing.

Two months ago, Blue Cross raised my rate 70%. I have been insured with them for eight years and have never once filed a claim. Thus, there is no justification for this rate increase, other than that "they can." A public option would keep these guys honest, and if they don't wish to remain competitive, it would give me somewhere else to take my business.

You might ask, why haven't I filed a claim for the past eight years? Because I have a "$5,000 per person" deductible, and on a family policy, covering my wife and I, that means, in fact, a $10,000 deductible per year. For which I am paying $5,000 a year in premiums and, as a result, I cannot afford to go to a doctor when I *am* sick.

In addition to the 70% rate increase, every time I cross a "five-year age threshold," (for example from 50 to 55 or 55 to 60), my premium *doubles*. That is in addition to the 30% increase last year and the 70% increase this year.

The "American dream" of a house with a white picket fence, and a modest retirement income is becoming more and more of a fantasy that American workers simply cannot afford -- unless, of course, they are government workers, and then they get all sorts of great health benefits (paid for by my tax dollars). Instead of this dream, what we are facing is that as we grow older, and when - not if - we fall ill, all that we have spent our lives working for will be wiped out, handed over to doctors and hospitals. And that is simply wrong.

Just this afternoon, I received a faxed copy of an appeal that I won against a Los Angeles based Medicare Advantage provider. They allowed my 85-year old dying father in law in lie in his own bloody excrement and to be deprived of hearth medication that he needed to stay alive. After two days of very vocal complaints and insistence that they remedy the problem, and after continued refusals, I hired a private nurse to attend to his needs. The MAO refused to reimburse me the $1,000 that I paid. After three appeals, and three losses, an administrative law judge found that this care was reasonable and medically appropriate and ordered that be I reimbursed. I took two years and a paralegal background to win this small victory. Most people do not have the skill or knowledge to score even minor victories against insurers. They get richer, the people get poorer, and sicker -- and that is just fine, according to the free market economy.

I'll take my chances with a public option over what i have now any day of the week. Perhaps I will be able to make that dictor's appointment I've been wanting (and needing) to make for the past two years, but have not been able to afford.

Healthcare Reform: Politicians Claiming Divine Rights

It is time for someone, somewhere to proclaim divine rights and to fix healthcare. The Republicans owned the House and Senate for 20 years and gave us absolutely nothing beyond "Health Savings Accounts" which shielded a few thousand dollars of income for the lucky few and very well-off who were able to stuff that money away in a savings account. Now, they are "full of ideas" that they say they will implement if only the voters put them back in power. We've been hearing that same tired song since Truman first noted there was a problem with health care in America fifty years ago. I for one don't mind someone assuming the mantle of divinity and throwing out this broken record so that we can have a new song in this country.

Direxion to Reverse Split 3x Financial ETFs After Steep Fall in Price

Reverse splits are *never* good for share price. After r/s'ing a $5 stock, the $50 stock still has a perception in investors' minds that it is a $5 stock and the share price invariably drops. My strategy for coping with reverse splits is to sell before the split, and (if I feel a compulsion to own the stock), buy it back on a big dip after the split.

History Suggests the Financial Bottom May Be Near

It depends on what page in the history book you are reading. The chapter I'm in says we are nowhere near the bottom. All of the indicators point to a "perfect storm" much like 1928. The credit crunch and deleveraging are nowhere near a resolution and until that happens, we are nowhere close to a bottom.