Forum Health & Charity Care

[Towntalk]

Here is the referenced section of H.R. 1

Because of its length, I will provide you with the link and let you read it yourself at your leisure.

1.   Go to Thomas (available at my web site on the Government page)
2.   The bill number is H.R. 1 TITLE XXX (30)
3.   Here is the exact section to go to: Subtitle A – Promotion of Health Information Technology – SECTION 3001

http://reporters.notebook.tripod.com

[Towntalk]

I simply go by what I read in the press.

And not to worry, on this board I'm a pussycat. I vent my spleen on one of my blogs and bar any rebuttal from those on the sharp end of my tongue.

But back to the issue at hand.

The issue has been covered over and over again. Why do Canadians come down to the states to avoid the long waiting lists at Canadian hospitals?

Again, under the British system, one of the models that Obama wants to adopt, a board of bureaucrats must approve medical treatments. It was in the Stimulation bill recently passed and signed by the President.

After I finish here I will be more than happy to pull down the exact wording to save you the time of having to wade through a thousand pages.

I'm also painfully aware of how private insurance companies operate having experienced it first hand in my family twice.

Finally, what do you call the attacks on smokers, on junk foods, on schools policing what students bring from home for their lunch (this was in the news recently, and again I'll be happy to link to the article for you.). In just about every House and Senate health debate proposals are put forward to regulate what we eat, and certainly there are more than a few groups that are lobbying Congress for more controls.

[Towntalk]

And where does the government get the money from? Is it not taxes?

Social Security pays out millions of dollars every month ... where does that money come from? Taxes paid in part by the employer and part paid by the employees.

Welfare pays out millions of dollars monthly, and that money comes from taxes.

Ditto Medicare and Medicaid.

And speaking of "lifestyles" do you really want the government telling you just what you can eat, how much you must exercise, how and where you should live, and if you don't obey you would be denied health care?

Again I ask a very simple question: Just how much of our income should be taxed to pay for all these programs. 25%? 50%? 75%? 100%?

How much of our income is being taxed already (Local, state and federal combined)?

And what do we do with senior citizens who are more prone to infirmities than younger people? Do we just write them off?

[Towntalk]

Please be so kind as to explain the difference between your plans and what is being used in Canada and England.

Free care for the masses sounds great ... but who is going to pay the bills?

Where is the money going to come from?

Forum is suffering because of all its charity care.

The government? And where does the government get its money from?

Taxes.

So what percentage of our income should be taxed. Are you prepared to directly answer this question? What percentage of the income of a family of 4 with a $50,000 a year income would you tax? 25%? 50%? 75%? And what about the local and state taxes?

The state pays out a huge amount of taxes on health care each year for the underprivileged among us, not counting the amount that the federal government pays.

Single payer? Who is this single payer? And what do they pay? Lets say that under your single payer plan, the father develops prostate cancer and the family loses the main source of their income.

[irishbobcat]

Single-Payer Health Care....Universial Health care.....

[Towntalk]

You touched on a real conundrum there Jay.

Admittedly people are abusing the emergency rooms of the local hospitals and this expense must be reimbursed by the state and federal governments, and they in return are paying pennies on the dollar to the hospitals.

If we had the kind of system that they have in Canada and England would that solve the problem? I can't honestly answer that question one way or the other, but it's obvious that the hospitals can't turn charity cases away, yet at the same time they can't afford to keep eating the costs.

Health Care reform is on Obama's agenda, but what do hospitals like Forum do in the meantime?

[jay]

Forum Health called a meeting with local elected officials.  Part of Forum's financial problems stems from the outrageous amount of money spent on charity care.  I believe the news reported this to be $102 million over the past two years.  How are local hospitals going to survive when such a large amount is spent for services for which the hospitals are not reimbursed?