How Big Will Government Health Care Be? And How Does the Health Care Bill Affect Seniors?
July 21st, 2009 by Skip McGrath
If congress passes the legislation setting up a government run health care company, it would have to become the largest health insurer in the world. So how big is that? Well, if you look at the largest health insurance companies you can get an idea. The new insurance company would have to hire thousands of people. It would need underwriters, a medical department, computer operators, claims adjusters, customer service people (well maybe not that one), and everyone from executives to janitors.
The largest health insurance company in the US is United HealthCare. They have 70,000 employees and they insure less than 10% of the population. The Government health insurance company would be much larger –some analysts insist that by the 5th year they would insure over 25% of the population.
Some would argue that this bureaucracy already exists in Medicare and it could be combined or cloned. I doubt if that would ever happen. Have you even known government to not set up a new bureaucracy when they had a chance. But even if they combined everything into medicare they would still have to hire 40-50,000 new employees just to manage the sheer size of the task. Could it eventually grow to 100,000 employees? Probably.
The final health care bill is far from decided but it is interesting to note how some of the current bills being debated will affect seniors. First of all our Medicare coverage will be severely impacted. The agreement with the AMA to cut Medicare reimbursements by 20% will have the most immediate effect. Now hospitals claim they will give seniors the same service for 20% less money if the government puts everyone in the country on health care. I am not sure I believe that. There is no way that the quantity and quality of care seniors get will stay the same with a 20% spending cut. And that provision is already decided and will be in any final bill.
Mandatory End-of Life Counseling for Seniors
Did you hear about mandatory counseling for seniors? Both the House and Senate versions of the bill have a provision whereby seniors would receive mandatory “end-of-life” counseling every 5 years –and more often if you have a serious illness. The bills don’t spell out what the counseling will consist of. That is left to the health care administration to decide.
This bill will be bad for seniors in many more ways. It will lead to rationing –a bureaucrat deciding if you get an operation or an expensive medication. So far the AARP is silent. And seniors, who are usually vocal, are not standing up this time. If you are a member you should call, write or email the AARP and tell them how you feel. If you are not –or even if you are, then email your congressman and senator. Here are the links to contact them:
Contact your Senator: http://www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_contact_senators.htm
Contact Congressman: https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
However you feel –if you support the bill, or if you don’t, you should let them know now.
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