Day 9- More on health care and the GOP’s attack on Women, the Poor, and a general lack of understanding of insurance.

I saw this video this morning that really triggered me and made upset with the “men” in this country making decisions about health care.

This elected official actually had the audacity to say that their insurance should be cheaper because they are men and they don’t need any prenatal or pregnancy care. I sure hope they don’t have wives or daughters. Also, I really hope women voters remember this in 2020.

So when I look at the GOP health care plan- here are some things I notice

They believe that Access to insurance is the same thing as actually having insurance (nevermind that most low-income Americans don’t have the money to purchase it themselves) Access vs Coverage

They believe that the market should dictate rates (nevermind that companies will maximize profit over providing care) Why the free market can’t work with healthcare

The believe that people who are healthy shouldn’t have to pay for those who are sick (nevermind that is how insurance works, everyone puts into a pot and then its there if you need it) Ryan doesn’t understand how insurance works

The believe a lack of regulations will mean lower costs ( even though unregulated pharmaceuticals have actually caused us to have extremely higher rates than countries that regulate it) Pros and Cons of deregulation   Deregulations effect on Pharmaceuticals 

They believe that universal health care will cost more and people will get less (even though we currently pay more for per capital in taxes for health care, while getting less than countries that have universal care) Fact

They don’t believe Americans should be forced to have health insurance (nevermind we are required to have homeowners insurance, auto insurance, etc)

Paul Ryan’s own words about the plan. They make it seem dire without mentioning that the GOP blocked things like Medicaid expansion, blocked care, and made it harder for the policies in the affordable care act to work. (Article)   A review of the new plan

Here is my biggest problem with this all.

Health care isn’t like other things in the market. If I don’t like my cell phone carrier, I can look at the prices of all the other options and make an informed decision.

With health care- costs are never given upfront (let alone in a medical emergency)

So yes, I if I could go to a website, type in my medical concern, the type of insurance I have, and get a list of providers, costs, and availability, sure this free market system could really help me. But that doesn’t happen. Especially in places like Montana, there may only be 1 doctor in hundreds of miles and the can charge whatever in the hell they want.

Prescriptions are based on doctors recommendations, not what makes financial sense as well.

That is why we need to stop treating health care like a business, because it’s not, it’s our health, our lives, and we are not going to go get medical help because we don’t have enough money in the bank. What the GOP can’t seem to figure out is that when people go get care that don’t have insurance, those costs are passed down to those who have insurance anyway and if they would have just given the affordable care act time and the provisions it needed, medical costs would have gone down.

Now the only way out of this mess is Universal Health Care, take the companies who are out for profit out of the equation. It is the only way that works for everyone. If richer adults want more care they can purchase it, but for the rest of us, we will at least be alive and not in mounds of debt if we get sick.

Oh and it won’t make health care any cheaper (Article) But at least health insurance companies will make more money, as evident by Paul Ryan meeting with them before his town hall meeting and fund raising for his own campaign (Article)

[He] believes that defanging the coverage mandate could help push individual-plan premiums up by 30% or more next year—and they could rise considerably more in the future, when the reduced federal assistance for low-income enrollees kicks in. That shift, he estimated, could shrink enrollment in ACA plans by three-quarters or more, leaving a smaller, less-healthy group of consumers.
“You’re going to see big rate increases, and you’re going to see insurers exit markets…this is going to destabilize the marketplace,” he said. Dr. Molina added that the proposal’s help for insurers, including the penalty for consumers who have gaps in their coverage, wasn’t enough to offset the negatives. Molina has said it is reconsidering its ACA marketplace offerings.

Update:

HHS Secretary Tom Price says nobody will be worse off finically 

“I firmly believe that nobody will be worse off financially in the process that we’re going through, understanding that they’ll have choices that they can select the kind of coverage that they want for themselves and for their family, not the government forces them to buy,” Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

I think what he means is our insurance care providers, pharmaceutical companies, and the top 1% it not be worse off.

Health policy experts have found that the net effect of the Republican repeal bill would be to raise costs for the average insurance enrollee by $1,542 per year in 2017, and by $2,409 in 2020.