Sunday, August 16, 2009

"The Public Option" is clearly stated in the House Bill

Page 13, lines 9 through 12

"PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE OPTION.—The term ‘‘public health insurance option’’ means
the public health insurance option as provided under subtitle B of title II.


I think Senator Specter has it mostly right. The town hall sessions with screaming people are not representative of the people of the country. (click here) His town hall sessions were completely shameful. There were people there that acted as if they were persistent enough the Senator would have to speak the words they wanted to hear. It was a beautiful moment when after being brow beaten by a participant in the town hall session he stated, "I won't sign a health care reform bill that adds one dollar to the deficit." The brow beater expected a groveling explanation after his fit, what he got was sanity. Didn't expect that.

I mentioned yesterday the particulars of 'cost sharing' in that an individual's maximum would be $5000.00 and a family's maximum would be $10,000.00. I should have listed the definition that appears on page 8, lines 11 and 12 and 9, lines 1 through 3.







COST-SHARING.—The term ‘‘cost-sharing’’ includes deductibles, coinsurance, copayments, and similar charges but does not include premiums or any network payment differential for covered services or spending for non-covered services.

So that is the limit on any 'fees' a health insurance company can apply to an insurance policy. It is important to address cost sharing because it limits today and in the future the extent a subscriber will have to pay. It makes it reliable. Cost sharing is necessary to contain the price of health insurance, but, also to deter abuse. So, these are additions to the cost of the health insurance coverage itself, such as deducibles and copayments no different than most policies that are employer based today. The primary differences are the limits on cost and the lack of cost of preventive care. Most folks won't notice any changes in their coverage or costs except for the lack of charges on preventive care and new limits on their copay or deductible responsiblity. Most folks will want to keep their current coverage, but, with greater assurances that costs will not increase in the future.

I wanted to be sure I mentioned that and didn't gloss over it. I think it is important for Americans to realize their legislators are making definitive moves to construct a health insurance reform that is realistic and not idealistic. The 'tone' among the 'angry' in the country is that this is 'another' big Democratic spending bill.

You know, they are trying to 'sterotype' the legislation as a big spending program that will cause all kinds of problems to the country's deficit. That is not the case. The bill sets limits on what insurance companies can expect from their members in the way of 'out of pocket' expenses. But, the bill also holds accountable Americans to carry their own weight in subscription fees and copays, etc. up to the limit the law allows.

The legislation for Health Care Reform is not a give away program, however, it will take care of people and allow for expenses beyond the 'preventive medicine' that is to be without cost. It allows for reasonable cost sharing of services that are needed if diagnosis require same. The legislation is no joke and should be taken seriously. We need this in this country to 'STABLIZE' a grossly unstable industry that robs people of their right to treatment to enhance their profitability. This bill will require health insurance corporations to treat their members with respect and not as if they were chattel.

With that reality comes the understanding, at least from my perspective, as to why there needs to be a public option. We don't want health insurance companies forming cartels and acting in unison against the citizens of the USA so to effect increased profits. A Public Option hinders such exploitation and keeps costs reasonable.





Changing the subject just a bit is the 'idea' of portability of health insurance coverage. No. I don't see that any health insurance company should have a corner on the market. As things stand now, each state has their own companies that provide coverage to people. That is not a bad idea. The differences will become more homogenous with the passage of federal laws, but, there is no reason for any one company to hold the entire market in one state while conducting business in all fifty. That will remove competition. Not only that, but, if everyone bought health insurance from a South Carolina company it would reek havoc with economies on other states where companies would be closing their doors and laying off workers. The entire delivery system would be bogged down by only a few insurance carriers. I do not believe in cross border insurance reform. I don't believe portability is a good idea. It will slow down care and damage economies. Just for the record.

I also wanted to mention this 'thing' the press has against Hillary speaking her mind while in Africa. I thought she was great. It was a demanding schedule, but, I simply loved her remarks about the 2000 Election in the USA. Is there anyone besides Walker Bush and Jeb that can state it was a fair election? I mean really. The Secretary of State of Florida, what's her name, disenfranchised thousands of black voters before the elections. She did it deliberately to effect the vote in favor of Walker Bush. Somebody had to say it. I loved the moment Hillary took to 'example' the way a democracy can be derailed by corruption at the highest levels of government. I love that Al Franken is a Senator, too. You know what I mean?

After realizing there are now limits to copays and deductibles and all that mess the government has taken the 'cost' of membership seriously and doesn't leave it to chance. Page 21, beginning with line 1 there are "Insurance Rating Rules" that will help the health insurance companies ask fair market prices for their services.

On page 24, beginning with line 4 the government states that in order to be called a health insurance company there has to be a sufficient provider network. As example, with a health insurance company named Great West, the nearest primary care physician might be seventy miles away. That's ridiculous and places undo expense on the insured to find an 'in network' primary care physician. Well, that mess is going to stop or the consumer has the right to find other insurance even with pre-existing conditions.

On Page 24, line 17 the bill starts to address an understanding of establishing 'value' and 'lower premiums.' It is based upon a medical loss ratio that insures the company is meeting expectation of its subscribers while providing for reasonable costs to their members in the way of subscription costs. There will be entities within the government to assist in that reality. If it is found the insurance company is charging too much for their actual loss by its enrollees there might have to be an annual rebate of costs. Imagine that, a healthier group of enrollees that didn't occur the costs the company anticipated and actually provided a lucrative bottom line for the year. Well, those savings would be passed on. That's how I read that one. So much for exploiting the American consumer based on their wellness. It keeps a check on costs in the face of better health of the insured. Contains costs to consumers.

See the costs to Americans isn't going to be served 'straight up.' The bill provides a 'dynamic' of cost to care. It is a very fluid bill whereby people that are well actually will be rewarded in their premiums. It's interesting. The bill is a living dynamic. There are no hard and fast costs here EXCEPT where maximums will apply. This bill is not an easy spread sheet kind of thing. There are a lot of aspects to it that are as dynamic as their subscribers. It's pretty cool stuff.

It's nearly 11:00 PM my time, so I think I'll end it for tonight and pick up again somewhere around page 35 if there is anything significant to note.

Until tomorrow.

Maybe the American people really are as backward as the media believes they are. I have lost repect for the media services in the USA.

This weekend the new media has decided the National Health Insurance Bill is dead. They decided that President Obama no longer was standing firm on The Public Option and there would be no more change in the health insurance industry.

At the title to the entry is an article by CBS which seems the least offensive of the media services. Secretary Sebelius never stated there would not be a Public Option. She stated it is 'not the essential element.' She never stated it wasn't to be an element at all. The media is not trustworthy. They are more scared than the people of the country are and it shows.

They hear what they want to hear. They write what they want to write. They say what they want to say. I have said it over and over. The people of the country are so confused as to the truth regarding this bill there is no getting through that barrier. The media is responsible for a good part of that confusion. Darn shame.

Is that amazing or what?

I waited to see David Gregory with the assistance of Rachel Maddow set the record straight and he didn't. He screwed up worse than anyone in the business. Meet the Press will never be the same.

I thought Representative Rangel had a lot to say and his focus was never addressed by Gregory. Instead, Gregory was trying to get concessions to his point of view and that was that the health care debate was dead and the President was retreating.

Whatever.

President Obama trying to make a point at a town hall meeting (the last of the three) stated, "...with or without the Public Option there was still a lot to this bill. He stated, the Public Option was a small piece of the legislation."




Well. That is all the press needed to hear and they were off and running. It went like this, "Obama is conceding there is no public option that will be a part of the health insurance reform bill."

"W"rong !!!!!!! Everyone got it "W"rong. But, then I really thought media was interested in the truth, not the manipulation of the truth. I forgot they struggle with their own inability to achieve 'ratings' without highly exploitive behavior. There was not one media service yesterday or today that didn't fail at bringing the 'real' message to the American people. Not one. I've lost complete faith in them.

What President Obama was saying is that the Public Option is only a small piece of this legislation. He stated the words, 'with or without' as a point of discussion to the degree the public option was a piece of the legislation. He never, ever implied there would be no public option in the legislation. He was attempting to illustrate how 'over blown' the concern of that aspect of the legislation was being portrayed in the media and otherwise. He never stated he was waving a flag of surrender.

How come I know that and no one that is holding a microphone, or camera or pen and paper knows that? I have absolutely no faith in the media services of this country anymore. They are exploitive and want to cause harm to political careers even where there is nothing to cause harm. They absolutely hate President Obama and are attempting to drive him into oblivion. They don't belong anywhere near him, yet alone have the right to set in ink an analysis of something as complicated at The National Health Insurance/Health Reform Bill. Their grappling for power in a struggle against a great President is shameful.



With that said, I need to continue to review the bill that is tenatively written by the House of Representative.

There is one thing I believe about the health insurance/care legislation now being written by the House and Senate, and that it is vitally important to achieve a bill to protect the people of the USA. If one more year goes by there will never be legislation written and that would be tragic for this country. The media circus alone is doing incredible damage to a vital part of the American Landscape. We need health care legislation and we need it now. I do believe there are powerful people that want to stall this long enough to stop it. We must be doing something right.

It is almost an injustice to go through this bill page by page, line by line, because the beauty of it that there is considerable ground covered. There are rules about a Health Insurance Exchange, there are parts of the bill that address Medicare and Medicaid, Shared Responsibility with health insurance companies, improving health care value, reducing health disparity and on and on. How many people understand the 'idea' of 'reducing health disparity?' How much has that been in the media? Not at all.

Okay. Let's see if we can make sense of this vast bill. Not that we should, really. We elected people to office to work to protect the people of this nation, not to cower to their frenzied state of mind following eight years of an administration that never deserved trust.

continued in new entry.

A lot happens when the sun rises.


August 16, 2009
2330
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES West Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)\

Last week everyone was fixated on Hurricane Guillermo in the Pacific above. It is still there. Hawaii will probably some larger than average waves. Surfers will have a good time.


August 16, 2009
2117 gmt
Tropical Atlantic Ocean Map

There is another 'tropical wave' behind Bill. Bill could be headed for the South Carolina coast. Not as far north as Wilmington. I don't know about the velocity. I don't have a lot of confidence in higher velocities with northern moving storms. There isn't enough surface water vapor at those latitudes to support higher category storms. I'll venture a guess of Cat 1 - 2 to the South Carolina coast.

Not enough information regarding the new wave off Africa. It might be that Bill will dissipate quickly as it moves north. That would lend to higher velocity to the new tropical wave off Africa.



August 16, 2009
2230z
UNISYS Water Vapor GOES East Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

This season is similar to 2007. The season started very late as the sun was traveling back toward the Southern Hemisphere. There were two late season hurricanes that devastated Central America. Both Dean and Felix manifested intoCat 5 storms using the water vapor off the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Both Dean and Felix started east of the Antilles to gain their higher level of vorticity.

There were two late season hurricanes that devastated Central America. Both Dean and Felix manifested intoCat 5 storms using the water vapor off the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Both Dean and Felix started east of the Antilles to gain their higher level of vorticity.

This year is a little different. The near shore storm in the Gulf of Mexico is not really new for this 'heated' troposphere. We have seen these 'near shore' storms before. They are powerful storms even as a Tropical Storm or Cat 1. The problem has been when the near shore storms occurred along the eastern USA they lingered and repeatedly battered the shore line. It was the temporal element that prolonged the damage to the shoreline.

It currently looks as though TS Claudette has the potential of being a prolonged storm at the Florida panhandle if it is pinched between a vortex system easily noted on water vapor to the east of Florida and a ridge of colder air from the north. Currently, it is that air ridge from the north that is fueling the water vapor as the two temperature air masses meet. The air turbulence along that ridge is probably signficiant.

These 'Heat' storms that manifest almost overnight are different than a '? regular ?' storm or regular hurricane in that they tend to oscillate. In other words they wax and wane in vorticity depending on available heat. So, even if Claudette seems to be moving on, it might 'skip' back again only to continue its dynamics. These unusual storms have to completely dissipate from any collective structure before citizens can let their guard down.

Don't sell Ana short. Ana will probably follow the island chain into the Gulf. Once there Ana can take a more northwest path and make landfall over the Gulf Coast, possibly Louisana. There is a north west 'injection' system coming through the Yucatan Channel. If that air mass is still present when Ana finds the Gulf it will drive the storm northwest.


August 16, 2009
2140z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite of southeast USA (click title to entry for 12 hour loop - thank you)










August 16, 2009
0916z
UNISYS Enhanced Infrared Satellite of southeast USA (click title to entry for 12 hour loop - thank you)