Are You Transsexual? No Health Care for You!

[Stevi]

The VA health system is a single payer system run by the government.  I don't see where that has worked well.

My view is that we allow (force) a competitive system where any insurance firm that wants to continue to do business must offer group plans and only group plans where they can only ask thing like do you  smoke, drink alcohol or do drugs and number of adults and children covered, maybe, male or female.  No age, medication or present health concerns type questions.  They cannot offer any other special type plans that would siphon off the low risk customers.  (Employer based systems are already group type plans but similar info restrictions should apply to them as well.)  They can offer different options that may affect pricing such as different co-pays, deductibles, no pregnancy benefits and the like.  That way anyone who wishes obtain health coverage can do so at the best coverage for them per dollar the same way competition gives us the best meal per dollar whether your preference is hamburgers or steaks.  If you can't afford steak, at least you can afford to eat.  If you don't like the way the insurer is treating you, you should be able to easily move to another carrier.  For those on the low end of the income ladder, some kind of government assistance that provides basic preventative and essential care is a must.

Stephanie

[AnneK]

A big problem with private insurance companies is they are for profit.  That means the bottom line always comes first and can result in a more expensive system, for inferior coverage.  There are some things, such as health care, than should not be driven by corporate bottom lines.

[tgchar21]

Re: Insurers varying rate based on age - The limited range that insurers can vary the rate based on age under Obamacare may have backfired, with many young and healthy people refusing to buy insurance with the artificially high premiums and opting to pay the much lower penalty instead. IMO that "community rating" needs to be reduced or eliminated, with older low-income people being allowed a larger subsidy to mask that higher cost (in other words allow the full price of insurance to be "naturally rated" but make the out-of-pocket cost that the government subsidy doesn't cover a set amount based on income but not on age).

[AnneK]

The limited range that insurers can vary the rate based on age under Obamacare may have backfired, with many young and healthy people refusing to buy insurance with the artificially high premiums and opting to pay the much lower penalty instead.

That's an excellent example of why a universal program is needed.  If you're alive, you're in.

[Barb99]

The VA health system is a single payer system run by the government.  I don't see where that has worked well.
Stephanie

Are you a Vet? When was the last time you used the VA health care system?
I know several veterans, every single one of them likes the VA. They get in to see doctors in a reasonable amount of time (walk in many times), the doctors are well qualified and they are happy with the care they receive.
Is every thing perfect? no, but it's not the big mess some make it out to be.

[Deborah]

The government runs the health care system for the military too.  There is no better health care program in this country right now.  It's $50 a month for the whole family independent of age and co-pays are minimal. 

The government can run health care just fine if and when congress makes the money available.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[Brooke]

I always find it interesting, the backlash from suggesting a single payer system. Unless of course it's Medicare, in which point it's perfectly fine.


~Brooke~

[Brooke]

Healthcare Triage did a great video series a few years ago (around the time Obamacare was rolling out) examining international healthcare systems.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkfBg8ML-gIngk82SUbTp6Og_KkYfJ6oF

For anyone interested in healthcare policy, evidence based medicine, etc their YouTube channel is pretty amazing.


~Brooke~

[Amy1988]

My insurance company doesn't know I'm transgender.  I never disclosed it.  So they don't know. I have a female name so far as they know I'm a cis gender female. 

[rmaddy]

The VA health system is a single payer system run by the government.  I don't see where that has worked well.

Actually the VA is a single payer/single provider system.  The government provides not only the insurance, but also the means of health care delivery.  It is similar in this respect to the British system.

Under single payer, the government would act as the insurer.  The means of delivery (hospitals, providers, supply companies, etc.) are private.  This is similar to the Canadian system.

Incidentally, both the British and Canadian systems provide universal insurance for all their citizens, and both are consistently delivering better measured results in healthcare than the US, at less than half the price.

[EmilyRyan]

You should always have a plan B going through a gender transition.

What I'm getting at is that sometimes no matter how much we need or want a plan B etc. circumstances can prevent that whether is living in a anti-lgbt state (like i do), losing a job and not able to get another (savings don't last forever), or simply being born into difficult circumstances (like all the people that stand to lose their healthcare cause they have a pre-existing condition like autism (couldn't name others at the top of my head right now)).

Just saying 

[RobynD]

The thing is is that isn't a plan B for many people. Trans people are some of the nation's most challenged demographic from an economics standpoint. There are options out there for some services such as discount pharmacy programs based on income, planned parenthood and others, but figuring all that out and making it work for you personally is still a challenge.

We need a single payer system. I have no issues if it is backed up by a fast track private system, for those that can afford it though. This sort of public/private system exists in many countries.

[jentay1367]

My insurance company doesn't know I'm transgender.  I never disclosed it.  So they don't know. I have a female name so far as they know I'm a cis gender female.

If you can actually pull that off....that's simply brilliant. Good on ya' Amy. Loves me some subterfuge.

[Janes Groove]

I transitioned in the days when there was nothing, no job protections, nothing at all. I walked into my employer and told them of my transition and was fired and walked out of the building (straight up truth).

Why in the world would we EVER want to go back to the "good old days?"

[Michelle_P]

Why in the world would we EVER want to go back to the "good old days?"

There is a certain fraction of the population that has mythologized the 'good old days' as a perfect world.  They'd like to return to a way of life where they were never presented with challenges to their belief systems, where they were guaranteed a place at the top of the cultural packing order by right of birth.  Life hen was perfect for them, therefore must be perfect for everyone who matters.

I'm not now of them, so I would rather not go back to their 'good old days.'  But that is just me.

I view proper health care as a basic human right.  I realize that THAT is a controversial statement, although I would prefer it was an accepted cultural assumption.  Alas, the discredited concept of Social Darwinism and related ideological concepts is strong in certain subcultures, and universal health care is considered to be anathema to the purity of Social Darwinist ideologies such as Objectivism.

[Deborah]

If this shouldn't be included then every condition that people bring upon themselves should also be excluded.  So, no medical care for diabetics who eat crap.  None for cancer patients who ever smoked. Let overweight heart disease victims suffer and no meds for high blood pressure for anyone that doesn't exercise.  And let's not forget to ban treatment for any congenital condition since God doesn't make mistakes.  That ought to make insurance a lot cheaper for the healthy people and save a ton of money for tax breaks for the wealthy.  It's the conservative way.

In this Brave New World my hyperbole has become a Republican talking point.

Top Trump official says we shouldn't take care of someone who 'eats poorly and gets diabetes'

By Jack Jenkins @ ThinkProgress

http://bit.ly/2qeJFfr

A top White House official tried to defend the American Health Care Act (AHCA)— the GOP's response to Obamacare — earlier this week by implying that health care systems shouldn't help someone who "sits at home, eats poorly and gets diabetes."



Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[itsApril]

In this Brave New World my hyperbole has become a Republican talking point.

Top Trump official says we shouldn't take care of someone who 'eats poorly and gets diabetes'

. . .

http://bit.ly/2qeJFfr

A top White House official tried to defend the American Health Care Act (AHCA)— the GOP's response to Obamacare — earlier this week by implying that health care systems shouldn't help someone who "sits at home, eats poorly and gets diabetes."

Deborah, I fear satire is wasted on the literal-minded.  Jonathan Swift famously lampooned heartless and reactionary political opinion about famine with his "A Modest Proposal," which facetiously suggested eating the children of the poor, thus relieving the food shortage and simultaneously reducing the population that needed to be fed.

Be careful about satirizing the AHCA.  Administration officials will take it as a concrete policy proposal.

[AnneK]

Top Trump official says we shouldn't take care of someone who 'eats poorly and gets diabetes'

Does that include those who eat poorly,  because they can't afford healthy food?

[Deborah]

Ironically, the standard American diet recommended by the government and the American Medical Association with its high carb low fat mix is the primary cause of most of our metabolic disorders including obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.


Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote

[jentay1367]

It's imperative to have that recommended diet. It validates the corporate fast food giants menu choices with all the major food groups. You know Starches, sugars and preservatives. The building blocks of the American nutritional pyramid.