| Local Health Care Debate Forges On After Durham Town Hall
Another problem is that people are feeling entitled to health insurance or health care. When are we ever entitled to a good or service for free? Health care is the work that specialized people perform in offering the service - why should anyone be entitled to what someone else has or can do? Also, people do not understand that Health insurance is a risk product - like car or home insurance. Companies that provide insurance are supposed to make a profit. The profits help pay for people who need care (like home insurance when a hurricane moves through). Insurance is not a savings account! Perhaps it is that health insurance in trying to keep costs down help pay for preventative care so their risk is minimized in the long term - a regular doctor visit you pay a "co-pay" the reason for the co-pay? Well simple - no co-pay and people will always take more of what the perceive is "free" a "co-pay" basically makes people think if they really need to see the doctor before going! So you think health care is a right - everyone can already get healthcare.
Norristown insurance agent charged with fraud
State investigators have charged a 61-year-old Norristown insurance agent with bilking 14 clients out of $45,000 in premiums for policies he never bought. Attorney General Tom Corbett's office identified the agent yesterday as Brian Johnson of Congress Road. Johnson owns Valley Forge Insurance Group Inc., an agency formerly at 102-C W. Germantown Pike, Norristown. The business is now at 401 W. Johnson Highway in East Norriton Township. Johnson can continue doing business while his case is being heard, said Lauren C. Bozart, spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Office. According to a complaint, Johnson took money from the clients, ages 75 to 96, but never sent it to insurance carriers for life insurance and long-term care policies. Johnson is charged with 14 counts each of theft and related charges, plus one count of insurance fraud, Corbett said.
Oral care professionals look to marketing as dental appointment
Friday, August 14 Although dental insurance can be inexpensive, those who provide care under these types of plans are finding that customers aren't taking the time for either routine cleanings or more expensive treatments that could prevent future health problems.Dentist Ken Peters in suburban Denver has found that roughly double the number of his patients have decided to forego more costly procedures since the middle of last year than the same period in 2007, a trend that is similar to the experience of more than half the dentists survyed by the American Dental Association in July, according to the Wall Street Journal."They figure they can't afford it so they wait," Dr. Peters told the newspaper. "They'd rather feed their family than spend the money on a crown."He and others have considered marketing to this group, using the fact that dental insurance is more inexpensive than other health care costs, and can provide testing that could provide patients with the ability to foresee long-term chronic conditions.Customers looking to reduce rates on dental insurance and other coverage aren't convinced that government efforts like Democrat bills will do much to limit their out-of-pocket expenses, looking at other policy changes to drive down costs.Medical and dental malpractice insurance reforms would be the option chosen by roughly half of Americans to reduce expenses and improve health care, according to a telephone survey conducted by M4 Strategies.
Kucinich Predicts Retreat On Health Care Reform
Much of the controversy surrounding health care reform has swirled around the so-called public option - a government insurance plan that would compete with private insurers. Congressman Kucinich wants the public plan to be the ONLY option; in other words, a single payer government system for everyone. Kucinich has for years been pushing such a plan. He says the problem with the U.S. system is the layer of bureaucracy imposed by insurance companies. Cut the private health insurers out of the mix, he says, and affordable, universal coverage is within easy reach. Kucinich: "One out of every three dollar goes to the activities of the for-profit system. They cream it right off the top for corporate profits, stock options, executive salaries, advertising, the cost of paperwork. If you took that 800 billion dollars a year, which is what that represents, and put it into care for people you'd have enough to cover everyone, doctor of choice, vision care, dental health, mental health care, long term care, prescription drugs - we'd all be covered." Kucinich says anything less amounts to just a subsidy to the insurance industry. He's a co-sponsor of House Resolution 676, introduced early this year by Michigan democrat John Conyers. It's a bill that would extend medicare, the single payer government insurance plan for seniors, to all Americans. So far only 85 house members have signed onto the single payer bill, and for now it looks to have little chance of gaining much traction. But Kucinich thinks the outlook this year for ANY reform looks bleak. Kucinich: "I don't think there will be a bill brought to the president's desk. I think that it's been mishandled and that we need to go back to the American people, and I'm certainly ready with John Conyers and 83 other members of Congress to push for our single payer proposal. But we have to show people why it's important. We need to listen to them first about their tale of woe." Bill Rice, 90.3 .
For aging boomers, long-term care insurance is an option
Since the early 1980s insurance companies have offered policies intended to help defray those costs. And more and more often those of the Baby Boomer generation are debating the wisdom of purchasing such a long-term care (LTC) policy. According to U.S government data, this year 9 million American men and women over the age of 65 will need long-term care. By 2020, 12 million older Americans will need long-term care. And, Medicare only pays for "medically necessary" skilled nursing found in a facility (a nursing home, for example) or hired to provide home health care. Medicare does not pay for custodial care (the activities of daily living with which someone may need assistance). LTC insurance policies may be for nursing home care only, home health care only, or a combination of the two.
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