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Stormy Shea Wants you to read: President Obama's Health Care Plan.
(I'm feeling determined)
I wanted to make this available to those of you who don't have a clue about President Obama's plan to improve health care ... and promote healthy people without breaking their banks. It could be you next. I think if you read this, you will find nothing at all wrong with the plan. I'd like to remind you that, like a CEO of a company, the President of The United States of America does not have to give us the details about what it is going to cost, or how it will be broken down yet. That is why we must trust him. He is looking at a much bigger picture and has a broader future view of how this will help the country. He does have the very best advisors in the world who have also helped him in the recovery our country is making slowly but surely.
Anyway, reading his plans before he ran for president is is why I became involved in helping him. That was over a year ago. Out of everyone running for president, he had the right motives, believe you me! So, please do yourselves a favor and read all of his plans for health care reform.
I will blog again later. I have read four books this week since I got my medicne. I'm on a roll.
Unlike those of his opponents, he actually wanted to help the lower 99 percent of us, instead of the top 1% that George W. Bush took good care of.
I will tell you all about that later. Right now, I am finishing up several books. It messes up a writer's head to read, so until I get it back to normal. (By the way, like I always say, never ever give up your psychiatrist. She gave me back my medicine once I got away from Dr. Frankenstein. Actually, I think she secretly wants me to write about health care for the 50 million people who do not have any insurance -- and the millions who will lose all they have as soon as they become very ill). LIKE I DID!!!!
Unlike past presidents or presidential candidates, President Obama has a great plan to help the bottom 99 % of the people. You can read on any number of issues if you would care to read about them at whitehouse.gov.
You can get a copy of this at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/fy2010_key_healthcare/OMB HOME
This is from the PRESIDENT'S BUDGET • FACT SHEETS
From President Obama's Fiscal 2010 Budget
Transforming and Modernizing America’s Health Care System
One of the biggest drains on American pocketbooks is the high cost of health care. Many families are one illness or accident away from financial ruin. Health insurance costs reduce workers’ take-home pay to a degree that is both underappreciated and unnecessarily large. At the same time, health care costs are consuming a growing share of federal and state government budgets. The United States spends over $2.2 trillion on health care each year—almost $8,000 per person. That number represents approximately 16 percent of the total economy and is growing rapidly. If we do not act soon, by 2017, almost 20 percent of the economy—more than $4 trillion—will be spent on health care
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At the same time that we strive to contain costs, we cannot stand by as tens of millions of Americans lack health care coverage. An unhealthy workforce leads to an unhealthy economy, and moving to provide all Americans with health insurance is not only a moral imperative, but it is also essential to a more effective and efficient health care system.
For too long, we have recognized the problems with health care, but have not taken responsibility for them. We can no longer afford to wait. That is why the President has already begun the process of reforming health care by:
Instituting Temporary Provisions to Make Health Care Coverage More Affordable for Americans Who Have Lost Their Jobs. As part of the Recovery Act of 2009, the Administration will provide Americans who lose their jobs or have recently lost their jobs a tax credit to keep their health insurance through COBRA. These steps are estimated by the Joint Committee on Taxation to help provide coverage for approximately seven million Americans.
Increasing Health Care Coverage for Children. In one of his first official acts, the President signed into law the reauthorization of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)— bipartisan legislation vetoed twice by the previous President. It provides the support, options, and incentives for States to provide coverage for an additional four million children on average in CHIP and Medicaid who are now uninsured by FY 2013. The President is committed to implementing this law quickly and aggressively to help families whose children are at risk of losing coverage in this weak economy.
Computerizing America’s Health Records in Five Years. The current, paper-based medical records system that relies on patients’ memory and reporting of their medical history is prone to error, time-consuming, costly, and wasteful. With rigorous privacy standards in place to protect sensitive medical record, we will embark on an effort to computerize all Americans’ health records in five years. This effort will help prevent medical errors, and improve health care quality, and is a necessary step in starting to modernize the American health care system and reduce health care costs.
Developing and Disseminating Information on Effective Medical Interventions. Medicine is changing so rapidly it is almost impossible for any individual physician to keep abreast of all the latest research studies. Without the most recent information on effective treatments, it is increasingly more difficult for a doctor to give a patient the type of individualized treatment he or she deserves. To help physicians get the information they need to provide the highest quality care for patients, the Recovery Act of 2009 devotes $1.1 billion to comparative effectiveness research—the reviews of evidence on competing medical interventions and new head-to-head trials. The information from this research will improve the performance of the U.S. health care system.
Investing in Prevention and Wellness. Over a third of all illness is the result of poor diet, lack of exercise, and smoking. Indeed, obesity alone leads to many expensive, chronic conditions including high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, and even cancer. Furthermore, there are important vaccines that can prevent diseases, and screening tests that can detect cancer and other diseases at an early stage when they are more curable. Yet many Americans are not getting these effective treatments. The President has devoted in the Recovery Act an unprecedented $1 billion for prevention and wellness interventions. This will dramatically expand community-based interventions proven to reduce chronic diseases.
Transforming and Modernizing America’s Health Care System
To build on these steps, the Budget sets aside a reserve fund of more than $630 billion over 10 years that will be dedicated towards financing reforms to our health care system. The President recognizes that while a very large amount of money and a major commitment, $630 billion is not sufficient to fully fund comprehensive reform. But this is a first crucial step in that effort, and he is committed to working with the Congress to find additional resources to devote to health care reform. The Administration will explore all serious ideas that, in a fiscally responsible manner, achieve the common goals of constraining costs, expanding access, and improving quality.
To achieve these goals and finance reform, the President looks forward to working with the Congress over the coming year, and as he does, the President will adhere to the following set of eight principles:
Guarantee Choice. The plan should provide Americans a choice of health plans and physicians. People will be allowed to keep their own doctor and their employer-based health plan.
Make Health Coverage Affordable. The plan must reduce waste and fraud, high administrative costs, unnecessary tests and services, and other inefficiencies that drive up costs with no added health benefits.
Protect Families’ Financial Health. The plan must reduce the growing premiums and other costs American citizens and businesses pay for health care. People must be protected from bankruptcy due to catastrophic illness.
Invest in Prevention and Wellness. The plan must invest in public health measures proven to reduce cost drivers in our system—such as obesity, sedentary lifestyles, and smoking—as well as guarantee access to proven preventive treatments.
Provide Portability of Coverage. People should not be locked into their job just to secure health coverage, and no American should be denied coverage because of preexisting conditions.
Aim for Universality. The plan must put the United States on a clear path to cover all Americans.
Improve Patient Safety and Quality Care. The plan must ensure the implementation of proven patient safety measures and provide incentives for changes in the delivery system to reduce unnecessary variability in patient care. It must support the widespread use of health information technology with rigorous privacy protections and the development of data on the effectiveness of medical interventions to improve the quality of care delivered.
Maintain Long-Term Fiscal Sustainability. The plan must pay for itself by reducing the level of cost growth, improving productivity, and dedicating additional sources of revenue.
Financing Health Care Reform. The reserve fund is financed by a combination of rebalancing the tax code so that the wealthiest pay more as well as specific health care savings in three areas: promoting efficiency and accountability, aligning incentives towards quality and better care, and encouraging shared responsibility. Taken together, the health care savings would total $316 billion over 10 years while improving the quality and efficiency of health care, without negatively affecting the care Americans receive. These savings include:
Reducing Medicare Overpayments to Private Insurers Through Competitive Payments.
Under current law, Medicare overpays Medicare Advantage plans by 14 percent more on average than what Medicare spends for beneficiaries enrolled in the traditional fee-for-service program. The Administration believes it’s time to stop this waste and will replace the current mechanism to establish payments with a competitive system in which payments would be based upon an average of plans’ bids submitted to Medicare. This would allow the market, not Medicare, to set the reimbursement limits, and save taxpayers more than $175 billion over 10 years, as well as reduce Part B premiums. These overpayments threaten Medicare’s finances and increase the premiums paid by participants in traditional Medicare.
Reducing Drug Prices. Prescription drug costs are high and rising, causing too many Americans to skip doses, split pills, or not take needed medication altogether. The Administration will prevent drug companies from blocking generic drugs from consumers by prohibiting anticompetitive agreements and collusion between brand name and generic drug manufacturers intended to keep generic drugs off the market.
CONTINUED BELOW!
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