Healthcare+Reform

Dalton Kristiniak


 * Why. **

The universal health care plan proposed by Obama is supposed to get insurance to those who don’t have it and make it more affordable to those who already do have it. The big health care companies are overcharging for basic insurance rates. Americans are being overcharged for medicine, prescription drugs are selling for twice the price in the United States compared to Canada and Europe. The universal health care plan is supposed to bring coverage to 32 million uninsured Americans. The proposed plan will not force everyone to have the same health care. People can still buy polices with more coverage if that is what they want. The goal of the policy is to get everyone insured. It is supposed to cost $940 billion over 10 years, but the policy is also supposed to reduce the debt by $143 billion over the first 10 years, and $1.2 trillion in the second 10 years, according to CBS news. “Over 45 million Americans— including over 8 million children—lack health insurance. Eighty percent of the uninsured are in working families.” People with healthcare are still struggling to pay for expenses, and the soaring rates are making it very difficult for small business owners to provide healthcare for their employees. “Lower costs to make our health care system work for people and businesses – not just insurance companies” said BarackObama.com, The money people save on health care can be spent on other things to help improve the economy.


 * What**

1- Medical files are still filed on paper; all of the files on paper will be transferred to online. This is important because the electronic files will help coordinate care, measure the quality of care, and reduce medical errors from lack of communication. To process a claim on paper, it costs twice as much as processing the claim on the electronic system. Also, according to BarackObama.com, “A study by the Rand Corporation found that if most hospitals and doctors’ offices adopted electronic health records, up to $77 billion of savings would be realized each year through improvements such as reduced hospital stays, avoidance of duplicative and unnecessary testing, more appropriate drug utilization, and other efficiencies.” 2- The universal health care plan will provide better disease management then most health care plans that people have. “Over seventy-five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure.” The people who have those conditions benefit greatly from these programs but a lot of people that don’t have health care also have these conditions, and many people’s plans do not cover such treatment. “Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease.” When these diseases are treated properly people can live for awhile even with the disease, “In addition to the needless suffering and early death they cause, these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly.” Obama also wants the hospitals to be more open with the quality and cost of things, cost of treatment and quality of treatment are very different for different hospitals and other care spots. Obama also wants to ensure that the care the providers are delivering is quality and the best interst of the patient is always the main concern, not money. 3- Obama wants to reduce the competitiveness of the insurance and drug companies. This will cause the price of medication and care to go down. Obama also wants to have the market be less of a competition and more about saving lives. Obama will allow U.S. citizens to purchase drugs from other countries as long as the drug is safe, the big drug companies are charging U.S. cosumers a substancially higher amount of money for the same drugs. “Some drug manufacturers are explicitly paying generic drug makers not to enter the market so they can preserve their monopolies and keep charging Americans exorbitant prices for brand name products.” This needs to stop. 4- Obama’s plan would reduce the cost of catastrophic illness coverage for employees and employers. These plans cover a large amount of the medical expenses for the private insurance companies, BarackObama.com revealed that, “In fact, the most recent data available reveals that the top five percent of people with the greatest health care expenses in the U.S. account for 49 percent of the overall health care dollar.” That pretty much says everything. According to BarackObama.com, the universal health care plan proposed by Obama will 1- “GUARANTEED ELIGIBILITY” and 2- make “NEW AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HEALTH INSURANCE OPTIONS.”

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Works Consulted

"Dem Health Care Bill Pegged at $940B Over 10 Years - Political Hotsheet - CBS News." __ Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News __. 28 Feb. 2011 ."Health Care Reform Bill Summary: A Look At What's in the Bill - Political Hotsheet - CBS News." __ Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News - CBS News __. 28 Feb. 2011 ."Health Reform in Action." __ The White House __. 28 Feb. 2011 ."The Top 5 Lies About Obama's Health Care Reform - Newsweek." __ Newsweek - National News, World News, Business, Health, Technology, Entertainment, and more - Newsweek __. 28 Feb. 2011 ."YouTube - Barack Obama on Health Care." __ YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. __ 28 Feb. 2011 .