The Diane Rehm Show

1.Dentistry; and not just extractions, and not only for children. In my activities I see thousands of toothless and gap-smiled adults, many with rotting teeth and in continuous pain. When the business minded knave suggests "Getta job" is he also going to hire these disfigured ones? Illnesses of the mouth, teeth and gums neglected lead to ever more costly, and deadly conditions. Decay and disease are not always due to lax hygiene. (Tobacco is often to blame.) Dentists probably save as many lives as the rest of medicine combined. The availability of affordable dentistry is not adequate when the above is considered.

2.I am puzzled by the Obamas who focus on 20% of children who are overweight in a nation where %50 of the population lives in poverty, and at least one fifth are SNAP eligible. It does no good to lecture about diet to people without grocery money. Thanks, Michelle. Evita Peron could not have done a better job.

3.Parsimony is our new medical codeword for denial of care by insurance companies. They reward medical callousness and the withholding of information and care options by providers. I have experienced this procedure several times in the last month involving my own care and that of others.

4.Death panels are operating like soylent green, way beyond Gov. Palin's comprehension.

Many Republicans are so called Christians. Based on alleged Christian values how do you explain their efforts to block health care for all?

I am so so tired of these fake Christians who hide their very selfish, greedy ways behind their alleged religious values. So disgusting so hypocritical

This bulletin by HHS punts on the hard decision. Consumer advocates have historically opposed sale of insurance across state lines, because of the lack of a minimum threshold. PPACA contemplates the sale of insurance across state lines; but this raises the real possibility of a "race to the bottom" - purchase of insurance in states with low benefits.

It is also a little naive to assume that a state has developed mandates based on what is best for the people in that state - those with a financial interest in the health system have often influenced those decisions. And we potentially will have to fight those battles all over again with this decision.

Will these state by state decisions encourage real competition between insurance companies? Are insurance companies exempt from anti trust laws? Is this a way to bust up their power?
Can you talk about the McCarron Ferguson Act of 1945

The real "community"-wide solution to our health care crisis is universal insurance, which can only be achieved with government setting the rules and providing subsidies.
Exorbitant medical bills are the biggest cause of personal bankruptcies and home foreclosure. In recent years, health care profits, for drug and insurance companies, in particular, have soared, while more and more Americans found themselves without any health insurance at all or with inadequate insurance that didn't cover their medical bills. As part of their standard business model, insurance companies calculated which Americans were expensive to cover and refused to provide coverage to those people who had what they euphemistically called "pre-existing conditions."
Last year the nation took a step forward in addressing these problems with a health reform law that requires every American to have insurance, provides subsidies for those who can't afford it, and restricts insurance companies from discriminating against sick people. While America was debating health care reform, the insurance companies, big business, and the Republican Party spent tens of millions of dollars, in TV ads, campaign contributions, and lobbying, to oppose and weaken the bill.
Now every Republican candidate for president has pledged to dismantle what they call "Obamacare" before it even has been fully implemented.

Before the Government co-opted the moral obligation to donate by stealing from our wallets to give to social programs we may or may not agree with, people did take care of each other through social, community and religious groups. We still donate but the amount is cut by the amount of taxes that are levied against us due to social wellfare. Our communities would be stronger if people were allowed to help each other instead of putting more people in the poor house due to over taxation. The problem is ultimately that the more you tax the more people need help so tax more to pay for them as well... Let the morals and ethics of the individual dictate the giving, not the inefficent government.

When will the Diane Rehm show have Wendell Potter on?
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/profile.html

Will pregnancy be considered a pre condition or illness by so many of the alleged religious Republicans?

Can you explain how there will be health care savings in manditory health insurance program?

Currently, you pay for those who don't have insurance in the price you pay when you access health care. The hospitals and providers pass the cost to you.

Mandated Insurance just shift the cost from the health providers to the price you pay in insurance. Those who can't afford health care will not pay sufficiant premiums to cover the health care they will consume.

Thus mandated insurance will only increase health care cost since insurance companies add profit and administrative cost which will probably offset any new contributions of universal coverage.

I have been a nurse for over 35 years. I am in favor of universal coverage of health insurance. I realize this is a complicated endeavor but there is one thing that is not being discussed. As a consumer it is almost impossible to find out the cost of any test or even office visit. Decades ago when working in a clinic or Dr.'s office we had the patient sign in when they arrived, at the end of the visit they were given an itemized statement with the cost listed, amount insurance would pay and their balance. If they did not have insurance a payment plan was set up. Today patients arrive they are handed a blank invoice to sign at the bottom with no list of cost or amounts that will be sent to insurance and you have no idea what amount will be due until you receive a statement. Patients need to be able to shop and compare by cost and not sign a blank check. Thank you, Rebecca

To those who think they can always pay for their healthcare out of pocket, without the assistance of insurance, I applaud you for paying your bills. However, catastrophic illness or injury can happen to anyone. Unless you are quite wealthy, large medical bills can be devastating. While you may want to pay, have you budgeted for $100,000, $200,000 or a $1,000,000 in health care costs?

Also, on the program today, someone wrote in saying they were facing $51,000 in health insurance premiums for an individually purchased family insurance. I suggest that anyone facing premiums of that magnitude check with their state's high risk pool. While not all states have a pool, most do. Generally, the premium cost is at capped at 120% of regular premiums.

No, I am not involved with the insurance industry. I do have personal experience related to both of these issues.

Rather than re-type my comment, you might want to read my post. The reality is health problems can outstrip your assets in the blink of an eye. Unless you want to rely on the charity of strangers, buy catastrophic coverage.

I think that physicians and hospitals are becoming more aggressive in debt collection activities. However, legal action of any kind is also expensive. And, in the end you can't collect if the assets are not there.

Five years ago at the recommendation of by doctor I had an iud inserted (after child birth), at the time had insurance. Now it's time to take it out I do not. No one is even interested in the removal (it is embedded) for under $1000 dollars. So now iam stuck with it, literally. Iam a single unemployed mother, without any options. Clearly this is considered by the state of Utah as non-essential.

If Americans want to Opt Out of health insurance, I say let them. If you or your family & friends can not, or will not, pay possible health care bills, you will be put down and, you have to pre-pay for that, in case you don't have funds to pay for that to ensure you don't cost shift that to others.

Call me harsh but these folks want to be responsible for their own health care costs, well, go for it!

You get hit by a car and you have Opt'd Out - no care for you or your uncovered family. No police assistance, no fire assistance, no medics. You have to find your own way to the hospital or pre-pay the amublance before they take you, before they work on you at all! Oh, you are too damaged to get out your credit card, oops you may default on that, shifting your costs to the rest of us, which you don't want to, so cash only. You can't come up with the cash... Emergency services folks will call your family to ensure they will pay for their services and all your medical bills if you don't. Any asset they have, including their home, will be sold, if needed, to pay for your medical bills. If they refuse to make a binding agreement to do that, you will be put to death in a kind, cost effect way.

In my mind, this is the only way to ensure people who want to be responsible for own health care costs are held to their own standard. No health care credit!

We already know, that people without health insurance who get treated, many times, can not pay their bills which increases the costs for the rest of us. If you want out of the system, then get really out. Accept that if you can't pay, you get no services. You get hurt, you are sent home with nothing that you/your family can't buy over the counter.

Clearly, I support a system in which everyone is in. Which is not what we have now. But we can't keep pretending people will go thru their entire life and never have a health cost that is beyond their means to pay.

I go through 10 pairs of drugstore glasses a month because the CNAs don't have time to match them to residents. Those with low vision or a complex prescriptions are out of luck. You should see me sweat when smuggling broken dentures in and out of facilities to have my dental technician friends reglue and polish them. I have sworn to take my own life if possible rather than be abandoned in a rest home. The best ones have a high family and friend visitor rate, and questions and needs are constantly communicated. A potted plant gets more attention than most of these residents. Too many button pushes for help bring on the Tramadol and other quieting medicational restraints. Now that I'm "out" as an advocate it is amazing the things that are hidden when I arrive and the implausible lies I'm told. I know there are other elder-helpers out there who see these same things, so get some guts and speak up. File some complaints. Make the Med-mills work first for the residents, not the owners and providers.