Originally Posted at Free Market Shooter; Authored by Sam Bocetta
Medical debt is the number one reason why Americans end up filing for bankruptcy. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, approximately a quarter of US adults ages 18-64 report problems paying or an inability to pay medical bills.
This includes people who have private insurance plans as well as individuals who receive health insurance from an employer. In 2014, about 40% of Americans racked up debt as a consequence of a medical issue.
Obamacare has been responsible for raising debt by trillions and many average US citizens are losing coverage under the so-called Affordable Care Act. The mortality rate increased in the years after it was introduced, with more premature deaths in particular.
The sick are dying before their time, and for those fortunate enough to survive, they are burdened with unwieldy medical debt that they can’t possibly pay off.
If the president has his druthers, this will one day be a thing of the past. The Trump administration’s proposed health care overhaul may have collapsed last year after two Republican turncoats decided to oppose the Senate Republican bill to repeal the ACA, but White House insiders say health care reform is still front-and-center for the administration.
Director of Domestic Policy Andrew Bremberg has said that Trump’s “policy direction is more robust and substantive than some people understand.”
Having repealed the individual mandate that forced Americans to sign up for costly health care plans, the administration must now hold out hope that the Graham-Cassidy Repeal Bill will get the votes it needs to pass.
The bill would fundamentally turn control of the health care markets over to the states. Changes would increase funding to the home states of Senate holdouts like Arizona Rep. John McCain. It would also enable states to opt out of ACA regulations.
As the bill’s co-author, Lindsay Graham, has said, “If you like Obamacare, you can keep it. If you want to replace it, you can.”
This more centrist piece of legislation stands a better chance of receiving bipartisan support than its predecessor which is good news for those who have been praying for significant change to come to the country’s health care system.
More than 2 million people have been adversely affected by medical bills, and not everyone knows how to properly file for bankruptcy. Among those dealing with problems paying medical bills, nearly identical shares of the insured and uninsured said the bills had a major impact on their families.
26% of people who reported problems paying medical bills received claim denials and 32% received care from an out-of-network provider that wasn’t covered under their health care plan.
A lot of people who are coping with the crushing weight of medical debt aren’t those afflicted with a chronic illness but, rather, people with a sudden or one-time illness. Fortunately for those individuals, the Trump administration is ready to roll out short-term health plans as an alternative to the high-cost coverage on Obamacare’s exchanges.
The new plans would offer coverage for a period of 364 days and would effectively nullify the former-president’s 2016 directive banning short-term plans that last longer than three months. These plans would be far less costly to struggling Americans than long-term plans because they aren’t subject to the premium-inflating mandates of Obama-era regulations.
This is good news for the temporarily sick and even better news for those who have been putting off a visit to a doctor for fear of having to pay out of pocket or break the bank.
While this kind of legislation will not eliminate the debt individuals have already incurred from past medical bills, it will ease the burden moving forward and prevent people from driving themselves into deeper debt down the road.
This is a crock of bullshit. Nothing can change the current system except: outlaw health insurance. See how quickly the costs go down, once the medical industry loses it’s collection agency.
Sure. Tell the doctor who needs to remove your brain tumor that you’re only going to pay him $18.
The truth be told – the Dr probably gets $4,000 – $5,000 for the surgery. The other $250,000 is eaten up by the corrupt hospital / healthcare industry.
The real solution is to break monopoly by the pharmaceutical, medical and insurance industry.
Maybe the government should have a huge role in public health education and disease prevention. However, I doubt it when I see such a huge failure of our education system here.
And some MFer who crosses the border is entitled to free care?
Wait, $65 for a hospital supplied Tylenol isn’t so bad. It does come in a pretty little paper cup, by a morbidly obese nurse who had to walk halfway down a hall and all the way back, ya know.
Trump’s IRS could remove tax-free status from any hospital that doesn’t have standardized pricing. Since the majority of hospitals are non-profits, they would immediately have to stop with the fake invoices that increase the perceived value of ridiculously overpriced healthcare insurance. If we can’t get rid of fake bills, we might as well go to “Medicare for all”.
These are the types of solutions needed.
WHAT AREN’T THEY BEING INSTITUTED?
Because Trump is a pussy, intimidated by Wall Street and the neocons.
Actually, it’s Congress that matches that description.
It seems that if healthcare was a competitive market on an even playing field then competition would drive the price/cost to whatever the market would support, instead of the dictated pricing system we have today.
It just seem that tough of a thing to figure out.
The reason it won’t go in that direction is that healthcare and big pharm lobbies won’t allow it. They have created a massive money printing machine that they will never allow to be shut down. Seems like I read somewhere that there are approx 90 admin support jobs for every doctor in this country.
It is a messed up system and needs to be fixed.
If the health insurance industry won’t allow a fix, then burn the whole thing to the ground and go to Medicare for all.
“It seems that if healthcare was a competitive market on an even playing field then competition would drive the price/cost to whatever the market would support, instead of the dictated pricing system we have today.”
Today’s special. We’ll remove your appendix for only $5.99.
We have the best government money can buy. As long as they keep greasing senators palms nothing will get done. And they know it.
You can NEVER get health care costs down by mandating health care. What other service do you buy that you CANNOT get a price on up front? This alone should be illegal! All the sick care corporations should be forced by law to have their prices online so consumers can shop around and drive the costs DOWN.