Healthcare Reform Detailed in Congress

Democrats have proposed a complete overhaul of the nations health care system, but Republicans are not so quick to jump on board. Mostly because they feel that it will not only cost the country too much money, but will limit freedom of choice for most Americans.

The Republican party has recently jumped into the healthcare reform debate with a proposal called the Patients Choice Act. This would provide a tax credit to allow for an individual to be able to purchase health insurance in more competitive private plans. They seek to balance the Democratic ideals for reform which they claim might cause a restriction of job creation thus restricting economic growth.

Legislation to reduce health care expenses and making insurance more accessible is what President Obama has asked from the Congress. He, along with other Democrats, desires health insurance coverage for all uninsured folks and increased competition for the private insurance corporations.

There is contentious discussion amongst the parties regarding details but both have some common ground as all realize there has to be a change. The similarities are creation of insurance exchanges which creates comparison based shopping for insurance plans. Also, both parties want to see more emphasis of expenses put toward prevantable diseases, trying to correct it before it becomes a more expensive problem.

Congressional leaders hope to pass some sort of health care reform over the summer months. They vow that no matter how the plan is written it will help more Americans afford the health care that they desperately need.

Big Changes Coming to Medicare Supplement Insurance in June of 2010

Medigap or Medigap Insurance are terms often used to refer to Medicare Supplement Insurance. The Original Medicare program has gaps which Medicare Supplement Insurance or Medigap Plans are designed to fill. Medicare Advantage is a separate program and should not be confused with Medigap Insurance.

Big changes will take place with Medicare Supplement Insurance plans on June 1, 2010. Learning about these changes now, will have you better prepared for these changes. Plan now to insure your future.

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners suggested the new changes to Medicare Supplement Insurance. Consumers will be protected by these new changes. Duplicate coverage will be eliminated and additional coverage will be offered.

The outdated Meicare plans were created early in the 1990’s. Consumers were seeing no benefit from many of the old plans. Time for change was the main focus of the NAIC.

Changes taking Place on June 1, 2010 are as follows:

1. Plans E, H, I and J will be eliminated

2. The Home Care benefit will be removed form Plan G and the 80% excess coverage is being incresed to 100%.

3. Two new plans named Plan M and Plan N will be created. These are lower cost co-pay plans.

4. Plans A and Plans C and F must be sold by all insurers offering Plan A.

5. Newly priced plans will be released which must include a standardized hospice benefit.

These changes wiil have an impact on all plans currently being offered. Originally many people thought this was not the case. The new plans will be created and the old plans will be closed.

New pricing will be available by all companies with these new plans. Meaning that companies no longer in the market will most likely get back in. More competition was the plan. Because of the new Hospice benefit all plans must be changed.

Changes taking place should benifit most consumers enrolling in Medicare for the first time. People with health problems may very well have to remain in the old plans. This means only older and sicker people will be in the old plans and cost will be on the rise.

Senior should begin researching their available options as soon as possible. A good idea would be to contact their current Medicare Supplement agent or locate a new agent on the Internet. Simply go to Google or Yahoo to find a new agent.

A Look Into Our Lifestyles and Medical Issues

Deaths occur across our country every day due to illness and disease. There are some in this group who might have been saved if they had been insured with a health insurance plan and had earlier intervention. The right to health insurance should not only be a province of the wealthy and/or employed, it should be made available to all citizens.

There are countries within Africa where there is not access to medication and health care such as we have here in our country. So there are lots of preventable deaths there due to this lack of resources.

But here in the US, we have so much medical care available our health is not even questioned. As a result we treat our bodies with disregard by eating unhealthy. This causes deaths of our own doing, so to speak, and we are still not affording people lifesaving medications if they have no health insurance.

Honestly, we all need to start taking care of ourselves and begin eating and exercising as if we want to live instead of die. Many of the diseases in this country that require medical treatment are diseases like Diabetes, Heart Attack, Stroke, Cancer, and other vascular diseases. All of which by the way come from the lifestyle that we lead. It is not the equivalent of having a society overcome with AIDS or stricken by Swine Flu (H1N1).

What we need to realize is that if we were all doing our part to stay healthy, then we would only need to seek medical treatment for other miscellaneous illnesses and injuries that we sustain, and medical expenses in this country would go way down. We are committing a sort of mass suicide.

Student Health Coverage

Allowing for further tax credits and being more open to the idea of personal health savings accounts so students can save in order to provide their own health insurance may be the answer for any student who is not sure how they are going to get the proper health care as they are away at school. Tax credits for employees that reach up to five thousand dollars a year have been proposed. It is hard to tell whether such a proposal would get any where and what exactly the impact of such a plan would be for students. The HCTC is already out there on the table and that is something that helps many parents be able to provide quality health care to their student children as they are off getting their education. The truth is that many larger universities already have a student health insurance plan and use that as part of the calculation to come up with your entire health insurance costs.

A misconception out there is that many of the clinicians who work at a university clinic are either rookies in the health care profession or otherwise don’t know what they are talking about. The truth is that many of these physicians are qualified and have seen all kinds of situations that prepare them and give them the necessary experience to provide the best possible health care they can while on campus.

If you are uncomfortable with the university clinic companies like Assurant and Cardinal Healthcare offer students a plan, if they are self employed and have a solid work history and a clean bill of health. Most innovative students become self employed while meeting with roommates or others on campus. A problem, however, is that self employed people don’t find time to search for right health care plan.

When you add the school work load on top of a self employed individuals responsibilities, this is an even greater issue. Many students are so over worded that they do not get proper sleep and continue to put off a doctors visit. This can be dangerous if a true medical issue is involved and not caught in time.

The health care industry is working to make the process of finding health care less time consumes and more accessible for all students who work, not just ones that are self employed.

Government Health Care, An Option Or A Necessity

The issue of health care is something that is on the minds of many Americans. While the government wrestles with the idea of a nationalized health plan, there are many who think that this will limit choices and the competitive health care industry. Unfortunately, when you look at the other options there really aren’t any. There are many who believe that this is not necessary; however, it is important to understand that we all pay to get these people health care one way or another.

There are over 45 million people in this country who had no insurance in 2005. Many of those will pay their bills to the best of their ability, the other 43 million spent for those people will be broken down in these categories. Government programs will take care of a third, and what’s left is handled with higher premiums for those people who do have health insurance.

Looking at this a person would think that their medical outflow would be less than if there were a federal plan to pay for. The reality may be different than this thought process, what if a person enters the emergency room, they have a ruptured blood vessel their brain and this is causing internal bleeding. The medical staff there will do everything they can do to keep her alive, but in the end she dies anyhow. The family answers questions from the hospital who are trying to determine the story, they discover Mary had high blood pressure but had to choose between her meds and food for her family. If she had had the medication she more than likely wouldn’t have been in this situation. The cost of trying to treat and ultimately trying to save her life in those few hours is very expensive compare to what a annual cost of the medication would’ve been.

This is a story where no one profits. Everyone will be paying for this scenario Mary went through in the emergency room. There were many hours spent by the medical staff even when the picture looked grim. An in the end, Mary’s children are left with no mother.

When you look at a scenario like this, isnt it just a better choice to help Mary pay for that high blood pressure medication?