Watch Democracy Now Today If You Can, OBAMACARE Co-ops Closing...

A video and transcript will be posted later this morning at www.democracynow.org

For me, here comes HUGE Repuke issue on the horizon! Then THE Bankers, off shore accounts makes it worse!

Ye shall know the truth and it shall make ye sick.

and much more info to consider.

http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2015-11-03/the-affordable-care-act-what-consumers-need-to-know

for all will only bring up more fear of rising costs out of control Federal spending.

....... there will be no "fix".

"A proponent of the co-ops, the former North Dakota senator Kent Conrad, said they were “sabotaged.”

“Those who wanted to kill them—largely Republicans and competing insurance companies – just step by step took actions to subvert them and to assure they would have an extraordinarily difficult time surviving,” Conrad said.

Yet, Miller explains that the co-ops wouldn’t be able to go into the private market and get loans the same way they were able to with the federal government.

“One of the things that people sometimes don’t take into account – this is almost “free” money, the solvency loans that are $2.4 million, those were on extremely attractive terms, whereas the startup loans had to be paid back earlier—within five years,” said Miller.

“If you’re the federal government in a low interest rate environment you could say, well that’s how it is and that’s just how the market charges for slow growth and limited loan demand, but these co-ops are in effect not very credit-worthy organizations with a lot of risk behind them,” Miller said.

“If they had to go into the private market to get loans they’d be floating junk bonds in a sense,” he said."


The Beacon

Yes, Conrad did say it, BUT WHO remembers?? You DON'T think this is going to be ANOTHER open "can of worms?"

Guess they GOOFED!

http://www.thepricewepay.ca/

The economic system, like the healthcare system, is not about benefiting the majority of people but enriching the elites controlling these systems.

Tell me how many "average citizens" are/were aware of any of this.

Their success, along with cuts in funding, are putting them under.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/nearly-half-obamacare-co-ops-folded/

Thanks for the topic. When I saw this last week I meant to post it as an op. Somehow between night and morning I forgot.

The "dung" just gets deeper and deeper!

Well, lots of points but I would like to mention one. It was flat out admitted by the insurance companies. People who have gone without insurance are sicker then we thought. This can also be found in the co op story. That is the point of health care being a right. People who can't afford it are literally sicker than those who can and have a more difficult time in life because of that one fact. We knew it, they are just now admitting it.

have master's degrees as ARNP's and it's so depressing! America The Beautiful!

and many are reluctant to explore other HC systems.

Thanks for adding this link, and this was the next story.

Breast cancer now as common among black women as white, report says

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/report-breast-cancer-now-common-among-black-women-white/

"....The data published this week shows the rate of breast cancer among African-Americans had ranged from 119 to 125 out of every 100,000 women.

But in 2012, that rate went up to 135 out of every 100,000 black women, matching the rate of white women. That number is troubling in part because breast cancer is more fatal for black women than white women: they are 42 percent more likely to die from the disease...."

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/3/the_co_ops_collapse_how_gop

"As the Obamacare open enrollment period begins, it’s the end for many healthcare co-ops, leaving hundreds of thousands of people scrambling to find coverage. The co-ops were founded to offer a cheaper alternative on insurance exchanges after Democrats stopped demanding a public option. But since going live three years ago, the co-ops have faced major cutbacks from the Republican-controlled Congress. Now the system is faltering, with at least eight health insurance co-ops shutting down. The co-op closures have left some 500,000 people without insurance—and a marketplace of fewer choices and higher prices. It’s the kind of scenario that advocates of a single-payer system warned about from the outset: With Obamacare relying on for-profit insurance companies to provide coverage, the market will find a way to squeeze out those who need it most. We are joined by three guests: physician, professor and single-payer advocate Dr. Steffie Woolhandler; Wendell Potter, a former insurance executive turned whistleblower; and Julia Hutchins, chief executive officer of Colorado HealthOP, a consumer-directed, nonprofit health cooperative in Colorado that was forced to shut down last month."


DR. STEFFIE WOOLHANDLER:
"....So, we’re not surprised they went under. You know, the only way to insure a population, that has worked, is through some form of nonprofit national health insurance. That’s what every other developed nation uses. And then you have everybody in what we call the same risk pool—everyone in, nobody out..."

"a fix" and that Repukes are using SCARE TACTICS" (surprise) but I know he's an advocate for single payer. He seemed to be talking about the here and now situation. Personally, the behind the scenes deals smelled bad back then, and getting more fetid and sour day by day.

Add to that is the fact HILLARY is "talking the talk" but UNFORTUNATELY too many people have the "Eyes Wide Shut" syndrome and blurred vision might lead to BLINDNESS!

Her support may be miles wide, but not very deep... Deep thinkers gets ulcers! LOL

But it's really NOT FUNNY and I shouldn't make jokes about it!

if there was not something solid in, the bill to make them last, well we can blame it on the Repubs.

Unfortunately SP advocates were left out of the debate by Obama.




There is very little difference between the co-ops and the “public option”
Posted by Andy Coates, MD on Tuesday, Sep 29, 2009

By Kip Sullivan, JD

http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/09/29/there-is-very-little-difference-between-the-co-ops-and-the-%E2%80%9Cpublic-option%E2%80%9D/

"Advocates of a “public option” have been extremely critical of the health insurance cooperatives proposed by Sen. Kent Conrad last June and incorporated in the draft legislation released by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus on September 16. “Option” advocates claim the co-ops either will not survive or will be so small they will be unable to force the insurance industry to lower its premiums. This is legitimate criticism.

But “option” advocates should level the same criticism against the “option.” The “option” is no more likely to survive and thrive than the co-op program. A comparison of the legislation that would create “option” programs with the provisions in the Baucus bill that would create co-ops indicates there is only one reason to be less pessimistic about the “option,” namely, the “option” legislation requires that someone (the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services) attempt to get the “option” program going. There is no similar requirement for the co-op program.

Review of the “option” and co-op proposals

I have described the “option” programs in the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee bill and HR 3200 in previous papers.

The Senate HELP Committee “public option” will be multiple “options,” and these will be run by insurance companies

“Public option” advocates circle their wagons around two useless sentences in HR 3200

HR 3200’s “public option” will not resemble Medicare

As I demonstrated in those papers, there is no meaningful difference between the “options” in the two bills. Both bills use vague language and provide few details......


......Rockefeller, Dean, Hacker and their colleagues in the “option” movement are doing a great job of leveling legitimate criticism against the co-op proposal. Their criticisms are aimed squarely at the question of how the co-ops will get started and whether they will ever grow large enough to take substantial market share away from the insurance industry. But they adamantly refuse to level the same criticism at the “option.” They should tell us why. I doubt they will do that. I doubt it because there is no rational explanation for this double standard. And no one likes to admit to behaving irrationally."

I know I'm sounding very "Johnny one note here," but this really pisses me off. Also I'm not a Johnny, more a Sally. Plus I do have pretty decent Health Care through my husband's employer based retiree plan if they don't SCREW it up. At present we don't need referrals, I can use mail order scripts that have been free since we've had it, our Primary care visits are $5.00 and Specialist visits are $20 and I even feel guilty because of it! My husband had an accident at a Go-Kart event when a car veered off the track (he was helping with flags) and he got hit in his lower leg breaking his tibia and fibula and a head concussion. The accident ended up costing $158,000 and we ended up paying a little over $550.00 out of pocket! That was 1 1/2 yrs. ago and I kept waiting for more bills. That info wasn't necessary just added it because I feel privileged when it should be a basic right. Better get a salt shaker and throw some over my shoulder, huh??

OK, guess I've had enough for one day. I'm sure "they" aren't going to consider what WE think!

we are unfortunately familiar with that concept. We are also in a similar position as we have a decent HC plan through my husband's employer based retiree benefit and that has saved his life, there is no doubt.

Last week we had to decide on a new plan, bronze, silver or gold, there was no platinum option. Initially we were give the wrong premium figures from the HR department over the phone and were just looking between the silver and gold plans, thought we would go with the gold as they had a lower annual out of pocket max for only $25. more per month. We've reached the maximum for the past six years so figured we would do so this year. Go to enroll and the guy on the phone had it totally wrong! It would cost another $400. per month for the gold plan with a lower annual out of pocket max, some people look at deductibles, we look at the annual out pocket as we have paid that the past 6 six and expect to pay it again this year. We had spent a week looking at the upcoming lab and drug costs and decided on the gold, what you need to pay and/or owe in the first few months and decided that the 'investigational' drug was about $3000. per month we would hit that in the first two months with the gold. Well we ultimately settled for the silver plan that just increased our premiums $200. a month instead of $400 for the gold.

Bottom line is that if you have a serious accident or illness you are totally screwed, if you are lucky enough to have saved for retirement then you have a buffer zone which stands between you and bankruptcy. We are fortunate to have that buffer zone and family that has contributed, but all of those have an ending period. You have had seen what can happen with an accident, we have seen what happens with a serious illness.

We need to fix our broken HC system that either leaves people not seeking care, forces them into bankruptcy or just lets them die.

We need to wake the fuck up as a nation, I've seen too many people die, and I am viewing this from a somewhat privileged position of having good insurance. I could not even imagine how upset I would be seeing those who would not even attempt to seek care and there are so many of them

As I said, my insurance in this state FL is above millions. But for me that's where the real rub is because as a person who DOES have this insurance, and never been anything but close to what used to be middle class, it's an outrage that others don't! But more an OUTRAGE that I feel the NEED to apologize for it!

You say WAKE THE FUCK UP, a mantra that I've worn out myself and think we're sleeping the slumber of a new born baby. I passed over that line into cynicism some time ago when I HAD thought it couldn't happen. Thought I could be effective and contribute in my little way never wanting to drop out. In all truth it's taking everything I have to simply hang around and post my point of view from time to time.

There are too many adjectives to fully explain my feelings that at times I'm on the brink of desperation. BECAUSE I suffer from more than the normal OCD syndrome it's a constant battle to stop my head from spinning. My psychiatrist who is also a semi-friend because I've been seeing him for so long and is a liberal minded Democrat finally dropped out and no longer accepts any insurance... period!

It works well for me because we don't have "sessions" after so many years and our visits consist of whether my meds are still working. He prescribes meds with instructions that I've been able to wean myself to 1/2 of what he wants me to take. And one med that I NEVER fill because it's no longer needed. Understanding this affliction was my biggest problem. Most people have some OCD and it's not a problem, but when it blows up in your face and goes full force it's not a pretty picture. Taking a long time to make a point and it's this... I was forced to realize how fortunate I was that it wasn't Schizophrenia!! Losing mental control at that level must be HELL, not only for the person but everyone in their family.

A friend of mine has a son with it and I've seen what it's done to her and her family and their constant search for the right cocktail of meds that work for him. The stories I could tell. Over the years progress has been made and they consider themselves lucky because they've finally been able to obtain some peace of mind. While he needs his meds and he needs supervision he "works" in a mentally controlled environment where he feels some worth and hasn't gone off in a long time. Seeing what they had to go through for YEARS is something I think people need to see and understand! And this is just one disease, one case and has/had an affect not only on his family but this community!

Too harsh? Yeah, WAKE THE FUCK UP! Health Care is such a serious, serious need and America's once beacon of light is simply a "birthday candle" IMO!

I'm just beating a dead horse so my input feels meaningless. And this is yesterday's subject now. Move along. I'll post again another day.

as the PPACA bill neglected to provide a continuing source of funds for the loans to the Co-Ops.

there is such a disparity in how we view outcomes on a variety of levels.

We can blame the 'other party' for our faults or maybe because we failed to do what was needed to be done. Too often I feel it is the latter, but it is easier to blame 'others.'

Either way, the people are not winning.

of people.