If one's budget doesn't include health care costs or defense spending

I'm sure if we have tort reform in the us as a whole not just state by state the medical cost could come down alot!!!

we got way too many frivolous lawsuits.

...and the idiots who do not vote.

BG wrote: The numbers don't really bear this out. In 2008 medical malpractice suits accounted for roughly 2.4% of health care spending.

The effect of malpractice suits are far greater.

For example, these lawsuits result in increased malpractice premiums that are then passed on to patients and health insurers.

...you also have a situation in which MDs prescribe lots of tests and procedures because they fear that they are at risk of a lawsuit if they do not. This "lawsuit avoidance" drives of health costs.

Boygabriel said:

Much like your blanket statements about entitlements I guess.

The article you posted was incredibly vague and did not provide any specific numbers... and also, to me at least, created more questions than it answered. He made no case for his solution being the answer to Medicare's sustainability problem.

lol the doctors will be unemployed or paid very little probably can't afford to travel any more .

Meanwhile, the health care providers in Brooklyn continue to sink.

Half of Brooklyn hospitals on life support

State urges orderly alliances.

For Boygabriel

From: "Hon. Richard N. Gottfried" <gottfrr@assembly. state.ny. us>

To: (nope, not telling)

Subject: Health Care for All New Yorkers Bill Introduced - "New York Health" Single Payer Plan for Comprehensive Health Coverage, Regardless of Income

Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 12:19:07 -0400 (EDT)

NEWS FROM

Assembly Member Richard N. Gottfried

State Senator Thomas K. Duane

Contact: For Immediate Release:

Ryan Streeter (Gottfried): 518-455-4941 Tuesday, June 7, 2011 StreeterR@assembly. state.ny. us

Mischa Sogut (Duane): 518-455-2433

Sogut@nysenate. gov

Health Care for All New Yorkers Bill Introduced

"New York Health" Single Payer Plan for

Comprehensive Health Coverage, Regardless of Income

All New York residents would receive comprehensive health coverage under "New York Health," a universal health care bill introduced by key legislators today. Under the plan, publicly-sponsored coverage would replace insurance company coverage, and premiums would be replaced by broad-based public financing based on ability to pay. The bill, A.7860/S.5425, introduced by Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard N. Gottfried and Senate Health Committee Ranking Member Thomas K. Duane, is co-sponsored by 62 other legislators.

Gottfried and Duane were joined at the Albany press conference today by Dr. Garrett Adams, national president of Physicians for a National Health Program; Shaun Flynn of the New York State Nurses Association; Mark Dunlea, co-chair of Single Payer New York and Executive Director of Hunger Action Network of NYS; and Laurie Wen, Executive Director of Physicians for a National Health Program, New York Metro chapter.

"We can get better coverage, get all of us covered, and save billions by having New York provide publicly-sponsored, single-payer health coverage, like Medicare or Child Health Plus but for everyone," Assembly Member Gottfried said.

"New Yorkers need and deserve security when they are sick or injured, and should not fear for how they will pay for medical bills. Primary care and access to health care should be a right. A single-payer system is not only cost-efficient, but the fair and moral choice for New York," said Senator Duane.

On May 26, Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin signed into law legislation that creates a single-payer system for that state. New York can be the second state to pass groundbreaking legislation that would provide a full benefit package to all New Yorkers that is more comprehensive than most commercial health plans.

"The current system doesn't work for patients or health care providers, or for the employers, individuals, and taxpayers who pay for care and coverage today," Mr. Gottfried said.

Under this plan, no one would have to give up the doctors or other providers they use. Instead of individuals and employers paying high premium costs, the coverage would be funded through a graduated tax on income, the legislators said. Deductibles would also be eliminated and co-payments would be non-existent.

"Federal health care reform made major improvements, but it still leaves insurance companies with too much control over premiums. Premiums are unrelated to a consumer's ability to pay. Too often, patients and their doctors are left trying to figure out what is covered and then trying to get reimbursed. New York State can do better," Mr. Duane said.

"Health coverage should be accountable to the people of New York, not to insurance company stockholders. We should get the administrative and cost savings of a single-payer system - which have been documented in repeated independent studies. It should be fairly funded based on ability to pay," Assembly Member Gottfried added.

"The Physicians for a National Health Program salute Assembly Member Gottfried and Senator Duane for their vision for social justice for New Yorkers. "New York Health" is model health reform legislation, not only for the people of New York but for the nation," said Dr. Adams.

"Two critical elements missing from the recent national health care package were ensuring that everyone had access to quality health care and controlling costs. That is why this state single payer proposal is so critical. Canada's universal health care system started at the province rather than the national level, and it will be up to states like Vermont and New York to show how to make health care an affordable right at a sustainable cost," said Mr. Dunlea.

"Doctors and patients are sick of a system controlled by private insurance companies. They don't provide the services they overcharge us for and they make huge profits by denying care. What we need instead is a system accountable to the public, not to CEOs and shareholders. The Gottfried/Duane bill would restore the doctor-patient relationship and give doctors the freedom to take care of patients," commented Ms. Wen.

In 2009, the "Partnership for Coverage" report by the New York State Health and Insurance Departments, based on an analysis by the Urban Institute, found that a single-payer plan would be the lowest-cost alternative for universal coverage, compared to plans relying on insurance companies and employment-based coverage.

Single-payer plans like New York Health would save billions of dollars, including excess insurance company administrative costs and profit; and billing and collecting for hospitals, physicians and other health care providers. Current federal, state and local expenditures for health care services - primarily through Medicare and Medicaid - would be incorporated into the New York Health Plan to help pay for the program.

Assembly Member Gottfried added, "By eliminating the need for any employer to provide health coverage for its workers, we would make New York dramatically more job-friendly, especially for small businesses, start-ups and low-margin businesses, while offering better and more secure coverage to every New Yorker."

Single-payer health coverage is a system in which a single public or quasi-public agency pays for health care for all residents, but delivery of care is primarily private, as it is now. Patients would have freedom of choice of health care providers, and health care decisions are made by patients and their doctors, not by insurance companies. All New Yorkers would be covered for all medically necessary services, including: primary, preventive, and specialist care; hospital; mental health; reproductive health care; dental; vision; prescription drug; and medical supply costs.

The cost of New York Health would not be new spending, the legislators said. For most people, it will be a substantial reduction in what they are now spending. When employers and individuals aren't "taxed" by out-of-control insurance company premiums and deductibles, most people's take-home pay will go up.

I predict that the insurance lobby will ensure that this bill goes nowhere.

Battle Of The Health Plans

Two Competing Proposals For A State Health Insurance Exchange Vie For Favor

By Cathleen F. Crowley Albany Times Union June 8, 2011

ALBANY -- Two proposals for a health insurance exchange are being floated around the state Capitol -- one that gives an exchange wide powers, and the other placing strong limits on its role.

Insurance exchanges are being created across the nation as part of the federal health care overhaul act. They will be marketplaces where individuals and employees of small businesses can buy health insurance coverage.

States have the option of running their own or using a federal exchange. New York plans to create its own entity, and is on a tight deadline to pass legislation in time to qualify for lucrative federal grants. This year's legislative session ends on June 20, and only six regular session days remain.

The Times Union has obtained copies of the two plans -- one drafted by Republican Senate leaders and the other drafted by Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office. Neither plan has been officially introduced in either the GOP-controlled Senate or the Democrat-led Assembly.

The governor's proposal would make the exchange a "public benefit corporation" with the power to regulate insurance plans and set minimum requirements for the plans offered through the exchange. This model also gives the exchange the authority to act as a buyer, putting the exchange in a position to negotiate discounted rates.

The Senate proposal calls for a "public authority" that has no regulatory leverage unless empowered by the Legislature, and no power to act as a buyer.

"It appears that the Senate Republicans' draft is a big insurance company dream bill," said Jessica Wisneski, legislative director for Citizen Action of New York. " (It) would do little to regulate the new insurance marketplace, or make sure that consumers have a good choice of quality plans."

The Senate plan sets up the basic structure of the exchange, directing it to create procedures to certify and rate plans according to federal guidelines and maintain a website where consumers can shop and compare qualified plans.

Cuomo's plan gives the exchange the power to limit the number of plans it would offer, and directs it to create a website with a standardized format for presenting the plans so consumer can compare benefits.

"From what we know of the governor's bill, it would be a huge win for consumers," Wisneski said.

Consumer advocates also like the leadership structure of the governor's plan. Under the proposal, the exchange would be overseen by seven voting board directors, including the state health commissioner, the superintendent of the Department of Financial Services, the state Medicaid director, and four directors appointed by the governor, including one recommendation from the temporary president of the Senate and one recommendation from the speaker of the Assembly.

The Senate plan calls for nine voting directors -- three appointed by the governor, two appointed by the temporary president of the Senate, two appointed by the speaker of the Assembly, one appointed by the minority leader of the Senate, and one appointed by the minority leader of the Assembly -- and two nonvoting members: the superintendent of the Department of Financial Services and the health commissioner.

"It's a very politically driven board," said Elisabeth Benjamin, co-founder of Health Care for All New York and vice president of the Community Service Society of New York.

Leslie Moran, spokeswoman for the New York Health Plan Association, said that the trade organization for most of the state's managed care plans wasn't backing one proposal over another at this point.

"We recognize that a (final) bill is going to meld elements of both," she said.

The NYHPA does, however, have concerns about the creation under the governor's plan of a third regulatory body to oversee an industry that's already subject to the state departments of Health and Insurance.

Rob Robinson, chairman of the Chamber Alliance of New York State, was similarly noncommittal in weighing the two plans, although he said his members "would like to see it bend more toward the Senate side."

Currently, chambers of commerce provide small businesses with some of the services that could end up being handled by a more expansively designed exchange.

"We don't want to end up competing with the exchange," Robinson said. "We want to be part of how it works out."

Casey Seiler contributed.

http://www.timesunion.com/business/article/Battle-of-the-health-plans-1414295.php#ixzz1OgLcJ5Vx

whynot, thanks for posting that article on the last page.

Now the question is, how will this graduated tax look

And will my employer be willing to give me some of what it would have paid for my health coverage? (laughsmileyface)

You know how critical I am of anything, but this solution is so simple & sensible I have no rebuttal. My main hope is that the cost savings are real and big enough that it won't significantly add to our collective tax burden. This could really be big.