http://blogs.chron.com/armedsources/2009...37000.html

Audit: VA lost, misplaced 437,000 veterans' claims

Now I realize that this is pensions rather than medical claims, but the VA is being lauded in many circles as the model for "the public option".

ugh....

(10-13-2009 11:16 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  http://blogs.chron.com/armedsources/2009...37000.html

Audit: VA lost, misplaced 437,000 veterans' claims

Now I realize that this is pensions rather than medical claims, but the VA is being lauded in many circles as the model for "the public option".

ugh....

There is an Atlanta-area Toyota dealer that is still owed $73,000 for "Cash for Clunkers". Ask any Physicians Office how long it takes to receive payment on a Medicare claim.

The US Government is very efficient in compelling payments but is much less enthusiastic about paying what it owes.

We all know how inefficient various levels of government can be - it takes a liberal to say "But it will different this time".

I am MORE than happy to place the job of determining what should be covered... collecting premiums through taxes and distributing those payments with the government... and fining or firing companies who fail to deliver what they are contracted to deliver. What I am NOT comfortable with is having the government involved in the process of delivering that coverage and processing the papwerwork.

BELIEVE me that if a company didn't get paid if it couldn't prove that it had people on the rolls, they would have PROOF, and wouldn't lose the paperwork. If a doctor didn't get paid for delivering covered services to a covered person, BELIEVE me, he'd follow up. With the government, everyone just shrugs... because there is zero incentive to do things correctly/efficiently. In the real world, if it takes you 8 hours to do 4 hours of work, they fire you... in government, they hire you an assistant.

I know I'm bashing now and being unreasonable... but...

Very interesting (and anonymous) read of the political winds (and reality) swirling around Obamacare. Dems aren't too happy about it (and probably will make too much of a deal about it, giving it further credence in the echo chamber that is Beltway politics).

http://thepage.time.com/essential-readin...ep-doodoo/

We should just do the French plan and be done with it.

Pretty much everybody over there is happy with what they've got, including the docs and the insurance companies. They have 99.9% "free" coverage, without a "government option"; in fact, the French government spends half as much, per capita, on health care as ours does. Health care in their "free" system is bad, somewhere between the VA and a bad HMO in terms we can understand, just like it is in any other universal system. The difference is that they expect it to be bad, it's just there as a safety net, and so 90+% buy private insurance either to supplement the "free" system when it fails to deliver (as it will, by design), or (more expensive) to bypass the "free" system altogether. That's a higher rate of private insurance than we have here today.

The French "free" system is comparable to the VA or a bad HMO here. The French "pay" system is comparable to good health care here, and the best there is comparable to the best here; the best medical experience I've ever been around was when my mom got her hip replaced in Paris. There is even a fair amount of innovation going on, particularly in non-traditional areas like homeopathic medicine. LaMaze was developed in the same hospital where my mom had her hip replaced. The docs on the "pay" side make plenty of money; not so much on the "free" side, but that is offset by much lower malpractice costs and free med school if you commit to putting in so many years on the free side. The government role is basically what your employer does here--collect money from your paycheck (through social security) and pass it along to the insurance companies. The "free" side is run by insurance companies, not the government; the premiums give them a bunch of money to play with, and that is how they got them onboard. Docs are onboard because of the med school and malpractice angles, plus the fact that docs and patients make all the decisions.

I cannot for the life of me understand why we don't just do that and be done and dusted.

Yes you can...


$$ is power in Washington.... the only greater power is fear

(10-21-2009 10:45 AM)Hambone10 Wrote:  Yes you can...
$$ is power in Washington.... the only greater power is fear

True, but, it still seems to me like there ought to be somebody somewhere with some sense.

(10-21-2009 10:15 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We should just do the French plan and be done with it.

Pretty much everybody over there is happy with what they've got, including the docs and the insurance companies. They have 99.9% "free" coverage, without a "government option"; in fact, the French government spends half as much, per capita, on health care as ours does. Health care in their "free" system is bad, somewhere between the VA and a bad HMO in terms we can understand, just like it is in any other universal system. The difference is that they expect it to be bad, it's just there as a safety net, and so 90+% buy private insurance either to supplement the "free" system when it fails to deliver (as it will, by design), or (more expensive) to bypass the "free" system altogether. That's a higher rate of private insurance than we have here today.

The French "free" system is comparable to the VA or a bad HMO here. The French "pay" system is comparable to good health care here, and the best there is comparable to the best here; the best medical experience I've ever been around was when my mom got her hip replaced in Paris. There is even a fair amount of innovation going on, particularly in non-traditional areas like homeopathic medicine. LaMaze was developed in the same hospital where my mom had her hip replaced. The docs on the "pay" side make plenty of money; not so much on the "free" side, but that is offset by much lower malpractice costs and free med school if you commit to putting in so many years on the free side. The government role is basically what your employer does here--collect money from your paycheck (through social security) and pass it along to the insurance companies. The "free" side is run by insurance companies, not the government; the premiums give them a bunch of money to play with, and that is how they got them onboard. Docs are onboard because of the med school and malpractice angles, plus the fact that docs and patients make all the decisions.

I cannot for the life of me understand why we don't just do that and be done and dusted.

Agree 100%.
What kills me is that some people are so automatic in their distaste for France in general that it gets lost that they have largely solved the two biggest domestic issue that we currently have- energy independence (they are 80% nu-CLEE-ur), and healthcare, as you describe. France is far from perfect, but if we had some humility we could learn from them in these two areas.

(10-21-2009 12:20 PM)Middle Ages Wrote:  

(10-21-2009 10:15 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  We should just do the French plan and be done with it.
Pretty much everybody over there is happy with what they've got, including the docs and the insurance companies. They have 99.9% "free" coverage, without a "government option"; in fact, the French government spends half as much, per capita, on health care as ours does. Health care in their "free" system is bad, somewhere between the VA and a bad HMO in terms we can understand, just like it is in any other universal system. The difference is that they expect it to be bad, it's just there as a safety net, and so 90+% buy private insurance either to supplement the "free" system when it fails to deliver (as it will, by design), or (more expensive) to bypass the "free" system altogether. That's a higher rate of private insurance than we have here today.
The French "free" system is comparable to the VA or a bad HMO here. The French "pay" system is comparable to good health care here, and the best there is comparable to the best here; the best medical experience I've ever been around was when my mom got her hip replaced in Paris. There is even a fair amount of innovation going on, particularly in non-traditional areas like homeopathic medicine. LaMaze was developed in the same hospital where my mom had her hip replaced. The docs on the "pay" side make plenty of money; not so much on the "free" side, but that is offset by much lower malpractice costs and free med school if you commit to putting in so many years on the free side. The government role is basically what your employer does here--collect money from your paycheck (through social security) and pass it along to the insurance companies. The "free" side is run by insurance companies, not the government; the premiums give them a bunch of money to play with, and that is how they got them onboard. Docs are onboard because of the med school and malpractice angles, plus the fact that docs and patients make all the decisions.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we don't just do that and be done and dusted.

Agree 100%.
What kills me is that some people are so automatic in their distaste for France in general that it gets lost that they have largely solved the two biggest domestic issue that we currently have- energy independence (they are 80% nu-CLEE-ur), and healthcare, as you describe. France is far from perfect, but if we had some humility we could learn from them in these two areas.

Absolutely.

I remember seeing an interview on BBC with the French energy and environment minister (a member of the Green party). He was asked, "As a Green, how do you justify the French dependence on nuclear power?"

He responded, "Look around, do you see any oil wells?"

To me the French are pretty pragmatic about how they approach most things. We would do well to learn to be more pragmatic and less dogmatic.

(10-14-2009 02:15 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  We all know how inefficient various levels of government can be - it takes a liberal to say "But it will different this time".

Indeed! So much of modern liberalism (including statism, protectionism and pacifism) boils down to what Disraeli said about second marriages: "the triumph of hope over experience".

And that was before "Hope" was an ideological banner all to itself.

(10-21-2009 03:04 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-14-2009 02:15 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  We all know how inefficient various levels of government can be - it takes a liberal to say "But it will different this time".

Indeed! So much of modern liberalism (including statism, protectionism and pacifism) boils down to what Disraeli said about second marriages: "the triumph of hope over experience".

And that was before "Hope" was an ideological banner all to itself.

When they talk of funding healthcare with savings from eliminating waste and ineffciency from medicare, two questions come to mind:

1. When has the government ever had sustained significant success in cutting waste and inefficiency? (Hint: it wasn't the stimulus package).
2. Why didn't they start cutting waste and inefficency Jan. 20, 2009? Was there some reason to wait?

On a semi-related note regarding efficiency, I note in the news today that only 13,000,000 of the planned 120,000,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine have been made so far, and inefficencies in the process have been blamed.

(10-21-2009 09:08 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  On a semi-related note regarding efficiency, I note in the news today that only 13,000,000 of the planned 120,000,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine have been made so far, and inefficencies in the process have been blamed.

(10-21-2009 09:45 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(10-21-2009 09:08 PM)OptimisticOwl Wrote:  On a semi-related note regarding efficiency, I note in the news today that only 13,000,000 of the planned 120,000,000 doses of H1N1 vaccine have been made so far, and inefficencies in the process have been blamed.

Most of the doses out there now are the live attenuated "nasal vaccine" which is approved for "healthy" people 2-49

If you are over 50, pregnant, or have respiratory, cardiac, asthma, diabetes, kidney or liver problems, or compromised immune systems you are supposed to wait and get the injection vaccine.

I'm not taking the vaccine. I usually get sick when I get a flu shot for the seasonal flu anyway, so what do I gain?

(10-21-2009 11:34 PM)WMD Owl Wrote:  If you are over 50, pregnant, or have respiratory, cardiac, asthma, diabetes, kidney or liver problems, or compromised immune systems you are supposed to wait and get the injection vaccine.

Well, I'm not pregnant, but I score on most of the rest. I think I will get the vaccine when/if it becomes available to me, but I have a lot of doubts about it ever actually being available to me.

(10-21-2009 10:00 AM)gsloth Wrote:  Very interesting (and anonymous) read of the political winds (and reality) swirling around Obamacare. Dems aren't too happy about it (and probably will make too much of a deal about it, giving it further credence in the echo chamber that is Beltway politics).

http://thepage.time.com/essential-readin...ep-doodoo/

Round two is in from the anonymous commenter on the tricky currents around the health care debate. Seems to be painting this as mostly a dead end, but I'm sure there are ways this can get through.

http://thepage.time.com/anonymous%E2%80%...alth-care/

(11-11-2009 10:47 PM)gsloth Wrote:  

(10-21-2009 10:00 AM)gsloth Wrote:  Very interesting (and anonymous) read of the political winds (and reality) swirling around Obamacare. Dems aren't too happy about it (and probably will make too much of a deal about it, giving it further credence in the echo chamber that is Beltway politics).

http://thepage.time.com/essential-readin...ep-doodoo/

Round two is in from the anonymous commenter on the tricky currents around the health care debate. Seems to be painting this as mostly a dead end, but I'm sure there are ways this can get through.

http://thepage.time.com/anonymous%E2%80%...alth-care/

Reid says that he will have the Senate Bill ready by Christmas Recess. Good Luck on that.

I think the whole Health Care Bill will dissolve over abortion and the Public Option.

The Senate Bill won't allow Federal funding for abortion, and at best will only provide a "trigger" for the Public Option.

This will be "fun" for the Conference Committee to work with. No way you can come up with any Compromise that will pass both the House and Senate.

Lots of opportunities for both the "Blue Dogs" and the Left Wing Democrat base to walk resulting in finger pointing between Reid, Pelosi and Obama. It won't be a very "Merry Christmas" for the Democrats inside the Beltway.

Obama blew 3/4 of the year, lots of political capital, and comes away with nothing and in the process gets slammed by the Republicans and Moderates for ignoring Afghanistan for 4 months.

And Obama thinks Congress is going to pass an Illegal Alien Amnesty Bill in an election year.

It is amazing--Obama's White House political-legislative managers make Bush 43's legislative team look competent.

Obama's problem is pretty simple.

He and his team are dedicated to passing a radical social agenda above all else, whether it's good or bad for the USA, whether Americans want it or not.
He can't do that without winning the election first, and he can't win the election if he tells the truth, so he tells a bunch of lies to get elected.
It's obvious to anyone with a lick of sense who reads his entire platform that the numbers don't work and it's all a bunch of lies, but people are so sick of Shrub (and justifiably so) that nobody kicks the tires very hard.
So he gets elected.
Now Obama is in the unenviable position of trying to figure out how to make a bunch of lies come true.
And the truth isn't being very cooperative.
Even worse, one by one, people are starting to figure out that they've been lied to.
Either he pulls a rabbit out of the hat on the economy or this gets very ugly.

Being president is sorta like being a community organizer, except there are consequences.

(11-12-2009 06:35 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  Being president is sorta like being a community organizer, except there are consequences.

Brilliant!

And syntactically, it reminds me of one of my favorite posts ever, in the Texas Bowl thread last year:
"Right now I am drinking beer and eating chips, which is sort of like wine and cheese, only with beer. And chips."