Universal Health Care in New Jersey

I am very proud to say (0.00 / 0)

that Joe Vitale is my Senator and he has been very courageous in his fight for health care./

I will be interested to see how this plan will work for my Agency which is a non-profit social service agency and provides health care to about 35 employees at 80% of the cost (about $20,000/mo).
The cost of this benefit has increased 150% over the last 4 years.  The annual cost is 10% of our total budget.  Any reduction would be welcome.

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by: sandy23 @ Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 17:07:42 PM UTC

it is a bullshit plan (0.00 / 0)

just another payoff the insurance companies with no new regulations to curtail their practices. rates or property taxes will not be reduced by a dime but insurance profits will go up. has mandating auto insurance reduced our rates? we pay the highest auto ins rates in the country and this will be no diffeerent. it is a shitty republican plan just like mass.

like the civil union legislation, anyone wo thinks this will do anything to improve healthcare or reduce rates in this state will be very disappointed.

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by: jerseygirl @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 06:27:46 AM UTC

Re: (0.00 / 0)

Auto insurance rates have dropped considerably in the last few years. That's been a big success story.

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by: Juan Melli @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 13:24:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

because deductibles have gone up (0.00 / 0)

and that is what is also proposed for health insurance.  If you can't afford the deductibles then having insurance won't get you to go to a Dr' sooner.

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by: jerseygirl @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 17:48:30 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

bullshit? (0.00 / 0)

why bullshit?  i only ask as i am an avid composter.

might i suggest chickenshit (which is ideal) or even horseshit (which is managable) over bullshit any day?

In fact, the shit on any ruminant livestock (bull, cow, anything that has multiple stomachs) is the worst of all, especially those who are corn-fed.  Which sadly is most of them.

And so Jerseygirl, as someone who shares your frustration (and presumably your goals of universal healthcare) let me humbly invite you to get strategic and share some concrete thoughts about how to get the most out of our massive piles of shit.

personally if i were uninsured in NJ (one of the many) i might regard this plan a brilliant or even a Godsend.

activist for hire.

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by: Jay Lassiter @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 13:38:36 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

ok Jay, I have worked in healthcare for (4.00 / 1)

over 25 years. I was at Vitale's presentation a couple of months ago. We need regulation on the insurance companies and unless Vitale changed his position considerably since then, there are none in his plan.

People will be happy one if they can afford it and only until they need to use it.

he was proposing to force people to buy into the cheapest employer plan on the market.
Mass. already had to drop the requirement for 20% of the population because they can't afford it. Charity care will not go away. It is a lie to tell people it will.

How about opening up the state health benefit plan. Forcing people to buy insurance does nothing to improve the outcomes for patients.

We need to look at a delivery system that is not working. We have too many hospitals. We have too many providers chasing the same patients and not enough necessary services because they are deemed unprofitable.

If reimbursement rates aren't increased we will continue to lose doctors who are willing to accept insurance at all.

the last time I looked BC did not have one OBG/YN that is willing to accept new patients. Not One. There are still many OBG/YN's that have practices in the state but they will not work for the reimbursements that are offered and they will not be hamstrung in their practices by being second guessed by accountants.

We have to look at the systemic problems in a healthcare system. It is far larger than simply forcing people to buy insurance.

I agree we all pay for the debacle that is our current system but enabeling a bad system even further doesn't help, it only extends the problem.  

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by: jerseygirl @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 17:44:10 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Here is the logic (0.00 / 0)

Most healthy folks don't think they need insurance - until they run smack up into the horrible truth that they too are only human.  Insurance where the low risk persons are insured with the high risk ones brings EVERYONE'S costs down.  Since we never know when a healthy person will come down with a disease  - and if the population at large PREVENTS problems because they go to get medical attention right away, the population as a whole will be healthier.  As someone who had to declare bankruptcy after 10 days in a hospital WITH insurance, I think this is a very good idea.

One Vote.  Yours.  It really does matter.

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by: carolh @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 16:18:19 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I understand how it is supposed to work (4.00 / 1)

but don't your see the contradiction. You had insurance but went bankrupt anyway.  The problem is insurance companies having no regulations. No payment requirements.  

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by: jerseygirl @ Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 17:47:04 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's Great That Someone is Proposing... (0.00 / 0)

...something that begins to address this problem in a way that can/will get more people covered, expand "the pool" and reduce costs for some.

On the other hand we progressives all need to be very careful about any plans that are being pushed by the insurance industry.   Anything that they "like" is likely to wind up costing us all more in the long run and providing third rate coverage.

We need a universal system that, essentially, eliminates the "middleman".

The whole health "insurance" industry is premised on a business model in which they make money by denying/minimizing coverage.   They hire armies of people whose only job it is to look for reasons not to pay claims.

About a fourth of every dollar spent on "health insurance" is used to cover the administrative, marketing and "profit" expenses of an "industry" that would have no role to play in a sane society that simply provided "coverage" for everyone.

Much as the Medicare "Drug" program was pushed as a way to provide relief to older Americans as a cover story for more profiteering by Pharma; we need to be very wary of all manner of "poison pill" proposals being put forth by agents of the status quo.  We need to understand that these people have tons of money to spread around with which to buy politicians and to buy really smart PR people who will
"frame" the way they indent to screw us as something we should all be supporting.

The fact is that many many many people see and understand the sheer stupidity and wastefulness of the status quo.   They see it in their own DIRECT PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.   That's why there is such a powerful potential demand for real change; and that's why we are getting these well orchestrated con jobs that deliver some incremental betterments for some people; but keep us on the path of expecting the foxes to help the hens build a more secure "house".

It would truly be a dirty rotten shame if we allow the industry that is screwing all of us, write the laws to "solve" a problem (that their very existence causes) in such a way that we get some superficial relieve while nothing much fundamentally changes.

We need to come to some kind of single payer system that emphasizes preventive medicine for everyone, and covers everyone.

The "health insurance" industry, as it currently exists, is utterly unnecessary, parasitic and bad for our physical and fiscal health.  

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by: Nick Lento @ Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 21:13:01 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Which NJ Progressive Legislator Will... (0.00 / 0)

...propose this kind of comprehensive plan?

Better yet, can we get the whole northeast region on board?  

(This runs 21:58, but is well worth watching/absorbing more than once ;-)

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by: Nick Lento @ Thu Mar 20, 2008 at 22:23:38 PM UTC

[ Parent ]