not yet

NOT YET



its not made a name change
not yet

the aca insurance is still called
obamacare

once it gets all changed
i dont see how it can be made better
it will be called
trumpcare

now this obamacare
even if you dont like it
its important

it provides insurance to close to 20 million folks
those numbers can vary a lot based on who is
writing about it and what points they want to make

for all of us
what happens to this obamacare insurance
it bleeds into the nonobamacare insurance
it seems
most folks i know or my relatives
are all on
medicare and supplements
military retirement
veterans
work health insurance

its the work health insurance that seems to affect
most of you
as the price on obamacare goes
so does the cost of your work health insurance

my biggest worry
is the lack of support for the obamacare
will leave us with poor expensive policies
for those having to buy plans on the market

if this all falls apart without support
a lot of folks like many of you
wont be able to get affordable good health insurance
no
there will be what i call junk ones
that will be taunted by many politicians
as proof of low cost insurance
that are not worth what you pay for them
plus
those preexisting conditions will hurt all of us

so
i decided to go online to search for what i could get
as insurance through the exchanges
if i lived in three places i used to live

rural arkansas
rural texas just 40 miles north of austin
santa barbara

note califronia has the best website available for this
the healthcare.gov site is sketchy at times
the difference is california has tried to make theirs work
the us government has tried to make theirs fail

so
i pretended i was 42 with a 40 year old wife who was not pregnant
with a 12 year old son and a 5 year old daughter
with a family income of $75,000

i looked at the different companies that were offered
choosing the silver plan
since you need that one to get the subsidies
i filtered out the ones that i felt like would not be a good
dependable insurance company

in california where we live there was only one choice
in texas and arkansas there were several choices
i chose long established companies
in these cases the companies were blue cross blue shield ones

so
in california
the only choice was blue shield ppo
cost per month was $605 with a monthly tax credit of $928
it had a $2500 deductible per individual $5000 per family
yearly premium around $7200 with lots of out of pocket costs

in rural arkansas
the choice i made was arkansas blue cross blue shield ppo
cost per month was $711 with a monthly tax credit of $636
it had a $8000 deductible with a $14000 maximum out of pocket limit
yearly premium around $8532

in rural texas near austin
the choice i made was blue cross blue shield hmo
from talking to folks in the healthcare provider side this one
has a restrictive choice of physicians
cost per month was $798 with a monthly tax credit of $386
it had a $5000 family deductible with a max out of pocket of $14700
yearly premium around $9576

all of these policies had a lot of extra costs involved like
copays for office visits extra costs for drugs some had limits on
office visits some had limited choices of providers

when compared to the one i helped my son buy the first year
obamacare came out
a plan that was better than the one my wife she got from work
his was a much better plan than whats available now

now
the obamacare or not yet trumpcare or aca policies dont have
the same quality as they did in the beginning
which
i have noticed is the same as those policies folks get
from their work related policies

now all this is for folks who qualify for tax credits
if you dont qualify then you really pay a lot for insuance
well over $15000 a year for this family of four

i dont see any fixing going on of all of this
getting rid of it without replacing it with a more workable system
will leave a lot of you without coverage
due to
the costs
the available only of bad policies
the preexisting clause that will affect most of you

for now i am safe from all of this
since i have medicare and medicare supplement
but even that is climbing in costs
i can afford that
many retired folks cant

the solution
a complete revamping of our healthcare system
in a bipartisan way so it can withstand the changes
of who is in control in congress at a moment in time
well
i just dont see that happening

i guess what i am saying
is
there may not really be a solution
since too many powerful influences will come into play
if a change is proposed

it would definitely suck to be a small business person trying
to make it so you are protected from a medical expense disaster

as i have said before
its our fault if this happens
since
we elect those folks who wont change things up for the better

the organicgreen doctor

put your name on it

PUT YOUR NAME ON IT
if what all the news folks said this weekend is true
obamacare will flip over to trumpcare this week

my guess for trump that will not be a good thing
when it sticks on you that word
its there
forever probably

im sure those 15-20+ million that will lose their health coverage
arent going to like it much
theyll remember it when they go to vote
many of them voted for trump

this weekend i watched several different news shows
about the new trumpcare plan
fox cnn msnbc pbs
and
read a diverse number of articles on the plan

my thoughts are
i agree
its obamacare lite
with less folks being covered

whenever our health system is being revamped
and both sides dont work together to get it done
its not going to be a good  plan

the democrats did a one sided plan
called obamacare
the republicans are doing a onesided plan
called trumpcare
then
when the democrats control congress again
it will be back to
obamacare 2

cant we like
take a step back
take a deep breath
get a bipartisan group together
come up with a plan
that is better for all of us

now if you make over $250,000 a year
youll like this plan
you are getting a tax break
but
if you make less than that
well you might not notice much

will it affect most of us
this trumpcare plan
probably not
since the majority of us arent affected too much
by all this
except
the general consensus is that
all our insurance costs are going to rise
no matter what is done

im not sure this plan is going to fix this
its not

then
theres the let the states decide on things like
preexisting conditions

now
lets see
texas is going to make that better for those of us
well most of us
who have preexisting conditions
the state
that has the third world statistics when it comes to
maternal and child health
an embarrassment for one of the richest states
to be ranked down there with those third world places

yep
i wouldnt want the state of texas to make things better
for our health system
their record is not a good one

so
obamacare wasnt the answer
it did fix somethings like capped lifetime amounts and preexisting
conditions to name a few
tumpcare wont be the answer either
it will create what i call reverse death panels

folks will lose insurance
diseases like cancer diabetes cholesterol high blood pressure
those slow killers
will slowly kill those uncovered folks

we wont be better i am afraid
it will probably affect all of us

here we go again
back into the health care abyss
again

the organicgreen doctor

trumpcare 2

TRUMPCARE 2

my first thoughts when i read about the trumpcare 2 that
passed through the house was
they the republicans are trying to lose the next elections in 2018
by passing this trumpcare 2 legislation

why
if you take off your politics hat
open you wallet
or
your checking account
be honest with yourself
now leave politics out of this
and
say
how is this going to affect me and my family

now if you make over $200,000 you are making out ok
you are getting a tax cut
you will probably though
lose benefits and especially if you are older
as you will pay maybe as much as 5-6 times for you health insurance

i ran across a bbc article on the trumpcare 2
now bbc
why cant we be like the english
they tell the truth
they just look at life better than we do

here is what they wrote about some big consequences of
trumpare 2

there would be no individual mandate
if you didnt have insurance and tried to get it you pay 30% more
for premiums

the employer mandate would be gone
thats the one where if you have over 50 employees you have too
offer them insurance

gone would be the medicare taxes other taxes like on medical devices
investment income drug companies some high end health policies

insurance for dependents would be kept

the requirement to cover certain things like er visits preventative care
cancer treatments mental health eg is gone
its left up to the states to decide
guarantee with texass record they wont be well covered since texas
has some of the poorest overall healthcare in the nation

now this is the big one
preexisting conditions coverage is left up to the states
again if you live in texas prepare to dig deeper into your wallet
whats preexisting conditions
well
i would say almost all of you have one
i do my wife she does my siblings all do many of their kids do
this one is going to cost most of us a lot of money

medicaid expansion would be phased out over time
the poor just get it the worst it seems in the trumpcare 2 bill

womens care
this will affect at least half of you
there may not be contraceptive and pregnancy care
if you have delivered a baby lately
look at your total bill for that delivery and prenatal care
that now may be yours to pay

insurers can now charge us old folks more
as much as 5-6 times as much
this one will eventually affect all of us

the tax credit formula will be altered
those hurt the most are
you got it
the old folks and the poor ones

now the good thing is that trumpcare 2 has to go through the
senate
where the general feeling is what gets spit out of there
will not look like what the house just produced

i am hoping it will be a more bipartisan effort in the senate
maybe they will finally do a real fix
like what needs to be done

the clocks ticking
the next election is over a year away
what gets passed may determine who has control of congress

yes
politics makes strange bedfellows sometimes

the organicgreen doctor

rot care

ROT CARE

our healthcare system is not going to work
if we have one party ram through a program without
the other

although i like the start that obamacare gave us
protecting millions of us from financial ruin
it was rammed down the republicans throats
when the democrats had total power in the late 1990s

that left a bad taste in the republicans mouth
a real bitter one that helped to lose the democrats
any control of the government

what goes around comes around

then the republicans did the
gotcha thing
tried to ram a new plan down the democrats throat
how do you like the taste they said
but
well
politics it seems makes strange bedfellows
the freedom caucus who wanted to wipe out a lot the gains
that were made to protect our health
which most of us dont want to lose
they sort of teamed with the democrats
whom they probably dont agree with on anything
to defeat the attempt at trump ryan care

like a republican senator said at one of those rowdy
back home meetings recently
we just need to back up
take a deep deep breath
pause for a while
get the democrats and the republicans who can work together
to come up with a bipartisan health system
no
they want agree on everything
but
what comes out of it will be mutually agreed on

my suggestion
5 moderate republicans and 5 moderate democrats
with no majority for either party

the plan will probably be a better one
that we can all accept

if we dont
we wont have a workable plan

it will just get changed again with the democrats get power again
that
we cant let that keep happening

first let me say i think that there should be a
two option health care plan

one option
is
medicare for all
just add things to it that make it save money
like a tax for the medicare for all if you chose this one
say a 1 % tax that all pay no matter their income
add copays with the  deductibles and co insurance
like regular medicare does now
the copays would be new
make the copays set or make them sliding scale
eg
i dont mind paying a $25 copay to see my primary care provider

start putting controls on services provided that seem a waste of money
like even stricter criteria for mris and other testings
i have had mris and scans not the research ones that didnt
necessarily change my care that much
it would have saved medicare a lot of money

make it harder to prolong folks lives
did you know that 90+% of doctors die at home
while most nondoctors die in the hospital
i think we know something yall dont

then
allow nurse practitioners or physician assistants to operate
independently
they dont get paid as much as doctors do
let them be independent but keep the pay down to the level
so that they make the same income they do now
but
also then cut the doctors reimbursement to the nurse practitioner level
make it mandatory that all providers take this medicare for all

i personally see a competent neurology nurse practitioner and have
no problem doing it

there are other ways
to get more costs down
like
change how we allow our drugs to cost us so much

look closer at foreign countries like sweden and canada
and england to see how they hold their costs down
then
we need to do those things that they do thats good

then
option two
private insurance
that you obtain yourself or via your employer
set some standards they all must meet
then
put them out in the private market

i recently bought my medicare supplement
it was fairly easy and straightforward
almost too easy
i was worried i was doing something wrong
or
i was missing some loop hole
nope
it just worked fairly smoothly

i think that what will happen over time is that the
medicare for all will gradually take over
if its kept simple and straightforward and efficient
as medicare is now

maybe allow for medicare for all supplements to be sold
like they are now with the regular medicare

i told someone the other day
im calling our new insurance plan the congress is coming
up with
ryanobamatrump care

they
smiled and said
oh you mean
rot care

yep thats what we are going to end up with
if we are not careful
is
rot care

the organicgreen doctor

trumpcare revisited

TRUMPCARE REVISITED

as i wrote recently
i plan to keep an open mind about the trumpcare plan

i really dont care which party or group puts forth a new plan
as long as its better and protects all americans

so i stopped yesterday and watched the press conference
of secretary price as he presented and talked about the
new proposed plan

i call it proposed since what starts out is not always
what gets spit out at the other end
after going through congress
getting eaten up by special interests with a lot of money
i guarantee that big pharma health insurance companies
hospital groups all are going to be spending big bucks
to both sides i must add to get what they want in the
new bill

eg
when a bill a starts out it will be bill z in the end

then
i notice dark clouds on the horizon already
conservative republicans dont like it
democrats dont like it
those with lots and lots of money with influence
dont like it eg the koch brothers
so this trumpcare may have an uphill ride

but
the republicans have promised theyd do one
we are starting to get closer to the mid term elections
those will influence what gets done
if this bill is not passed quickly

i realize that this is way a  new health system is going
to be built
piece by piece over time
of course thats what got us in this mess before
piece mealing it

the floor really needs to be swept clean
and
we completely create a new system
the goal
affordable
covers all
has good outcomes
our outcomes are bad compared to other industrialized countries
really an embarrassment not good

remember through all this
we are only talking about 7% of our population that this directly affects
it looks like half of those will eventually lose coverage
granted the rules that apply to the trumpcare will filter back to
those who have company insurance or government sponsored insurance
this will affect our coverage

so far
some of the good stuff from obamacare is being saved
the preexisting conditions part is being saved
but there will be high risk cost that will be applied
expect to pay more if you are high risk whatever that means

no lifetime limits on coverage thank goodness
one premature infant could wipe folks out forever
a 26 year old could stay on parents insurance

i saw no mention of the requirement for preventative care
im sure thats addresed somewhere in the bill

you are not required to have health insurance
i know that stuck in everyones craw
i understand why it was there to force healthy folks into
the insurance pool

block grants theres that word again will be used to cover folks
on medicaid however the numbers on that will drop in a few years
there will be a lot of folks left out of the system when that happens

if you drop your insurance and then get back into the system later
you will pay a 30% penalty on your premiums
this one doesnt stick in the craw as bad as the other mandate

the older you are the more premiums you will pay
the premiums will be allowed to go up 5x rather than 3x
uh oh theres nothing worse than a group of angry grayhead folks

he didnt say they would get rid of those death panels

then there is the tax credits and the health savings accounts
it seems to be helpful but it will not be as much as under obamacare
if you are lower income these may not help you as much
my guess is a lot of folks will go back to just not having
health insurance again
we all pay for this one way or the other

they have thrown the abortion issue in the new program
that will automatically lead to a lot of opposition
that the trumpcare doesnt really need
they should leave this out of the bill
add it back later if thats what the system wants

i also heard secretary price say
if you like your doctor and your hospital and your insurance
you can keep them

me thinks he should not have said that
thats not ever been true even before obamacare
its doubtful trumpcare will do this either

so my guess is
this trumpcare bill will change as it moves through
a lot of people will lose coverage
a lot of people just wont get insurance
most of us wont be affected much by these rules except
we will be paying more as we age or if we have health issues
our place in the health system rating compared to the rest of the
world will not improve

but
like i said
i plan to watch this all carefully
listening to both sides of the arguments

i personally am pleased with my health care coverage
i dont want to change
i will hold secretary price personally responsible

the organicgreen doctor

it needs a new name

IT NEEDS A NEW NAME
i am the first person to admit that the
affordable care act was not perfect
but
it pointed things in the right direction

we needed to be moving towards making sure all
are covered by some appropriate health plan
no matter whether they are poor or not

i personally think we should have medicare for all
simple efficient

so
as the republicans move to change it all up
to change obamacare
yes obama finally owned it
put his name on it

as they start changing it
i have decided to keep an open mind
to be apolitical when i look at what is proposed

so
i read several articles on the leaked details of the
republican plan
im sure there is good in there somewhere

there are words that when you see them
you get a little squirmy
since you know that its only going to be good for you
if you make good money

things like
vouchers
tax credit
health savings account
block grants
you can keep your doctor and your hospital
preexisting conditions
drug prices
plus more

someone is going to lose
well a lot are going to lose

so
i mentally when through my relatives and friends
most of them arent even affected much by this
well hardly any of them
they are either on medicare and a supplement or on a retirement
health insurance or get health insurance through their work or
military retirement

just thinking right now of that group
i know of one person who will be affected by all this
he is caught between retirement and medicare
he and his wife will have to pay what ever price the
new system comes up with

they will have to accept whatever coverage they are able
to buy
with the obamacare policies there is a minimal coverage
those bronze plans
that still was good coverage
there is some concern the new ones could be those
old junk policies that were health coverage by name only

now for me and soon to be my wife she also i am quite
pleased with being on medicare and buying my medicare supplement
with blue cross blue shield and my prescription plan via them also

dont change any of this please
if it aint broke dont try to fix it please

there are things though that will affect all of us
whether we are on government plans or on company plans
or on private plans

it appears that they will keep the under 26 year rule that allows
folks to stay on their parents insurance
what about the requirement to cover preventative care
like physicals immunizations paps mammograms cancer screenings etc
then
it looks like many of those who get it from their employers may have
to pay taxes on the cost of the insurance
eg
my wife she it would be $3600 a year she would have to pay income tax
on

tax credit or voucher
first you have to have the money to pay for the insurance then be able
to wait for the voucher or tax credit
works ok unless you are the working poor

health savings account
again that works ok unless you cant afford to put money back into this account
it seems to be an account that those with money would benefit from
now my wife she and i put back in a personal savings account each month
the calculated amount that we will be spending thats not covered
like copays and deductibles and non covered services

block grants
i personally wouldnt trust texas to use block grants for health care for
those in need
the record and statistics here in texas is actually embarrassing for those
who live here
some of the statistics are almost third world like
neighboring states like arkansas do a better job so far
some things you as the federal government have to just tell the states
this is what has to be done

you can keep your doctor and your hospital
dont promise that one
youll be lying
insurance companies have being doing this for years
without the governments help
its not unusual if your company changes its health coverage
the doctors and hospitals may not be on the list

preexisting conditions
these may not get covered very well
just what is a preexisting condition
this is a big one folks
asthma allergies pregnancy complications twin births autism add
aspergers high blood pressure morbid obesity diabetes heat conditions
arthritis like rheumatoid high cholesterol dementia cerebral palsy
als ms the list goes on and on
its doubtful any of us dont have a preexisting condition

high risk pools
is that where the preexisting condition folks ie most of us
get put in these high risk pools
i know i will be in there with my diagnoses
it will be an expensive expensive pool to be swimming in

then
there is drug prices
this is the one that all of us should be demonstrating against
all together
liberal and conservative
democratic republican independent you name it
we just all be marching demanding together
that this gets fixed
something get done about what we are paying for our drugs

we in america pay the highest drug prices in the world
big pharma spent $300,000,000 on lobbying last year
yes they lobbied both sides of the aisles
democrats and republicans benefited

show up at a town meeting with this as your only item
demonstrate to your congressperson
that this is not acceptable
thats probably the only way it will get change
it takes a lot of work to defeat three hundred million bucks

so
i am looking at this new health plan
with an open mind
nonpartisan
i would hope all of you would do the same
please on this one think for yourself
heck just look in your pocketbook
figure out how much this will really cost you
make them make it right
democrat and republicans both

so
then
we have to come up with a new name
for the new plan
i say
let him own it like obama finally did
then
lets call it
TRUMPCARE


he needs to put his name on it
just do one that is fair and will work for all of us

the organicgreen doctor