Re: those who say they don’t want the government telling them what care they can and can’t have, what insurance do they have? Sign me up!

I get 4 pills to treat my migraines each month because my insurance has decided that’s all I get. I have to decide which of the 10-15/month are debilitating enough to treat. I had to fight through several authorizations to get a medication my dr. prescribed that’s a generic and my plan pays 0% of anyway. I’d really like to know what insurance all of these people have if their insurance doesn’t have the a say in their level of care.

I don’t necessarily think this bill is 100% great, and there are parts I don’t agree with. But it upsets me that people are resorting to racial slurs, threats, and acts of aggression to show their disapproval. I know it’s out of fear, but it’s still horrible to read about.

In addition to having Doctor friends, I am an accountant that reviews Doctor’s tax returns. They’re paid quite well, actually.

And as for decline in care? It’s pretty well-documented that while our system isn’t perfect, it’s pretty darn GOOD. You get sick/hurt, you go to the Dr./ER and you’re taken care of. We have it pretty good up here.

I feel for private practice doctors (DrOHMommy included) because insurance companies, operating under the free-market system, have used their clout and numbers to force docs to accept less $$ than the service is worth which forces the docs to see more and more patients just to maintain their practice. None of this is addressed in the final version of this particular law and it needs to be. While so many on the Right are crying for less regulation, there actually needs to be MORE on the insurance industry. Less regulation didn’t work very well for Wall Street, and we’ve let HMO’s run amuck, basically unregulated since they were created by Nixon in the the early 1970s.

The good news is this law stipulates that Medicaid payments will be increased by about 20 percent in 2013 and 2014. It also gives Medicaid bonuses to Primary Care Physicians, who are typically paid lower then specialists, because we are going to need more as the exchanges open in 2014.

Outside of that, I’m very baffled as to why so many people are worried about a gov’t bureaucracy bungling up how healthcare is delivered. There is no “public option”, the law drives everyone to the private insurance companies. Yes, the rolls of Medicaid and Medicare will expand somewhat (and they were due to grow exponentially with the aging of the Boomers anyway), but the biggest provisions of the law mandate that people participate in existing private insurance plans. And it sets some regulations to make those plans affordable and accessible. It’s one of the major reasons the insurance industry lobbyist groups were ok with this bill. Yes, the are going to have to take on higher risk people (pre-existing conditions), but they will more then make up profit by the increase in customers.

Like I said, this law is not perfect. It’s not complete. But it’s a step in the right direction.