MSNBC Makes It Official: ObamaCare Is Gonna Cost People MORE In HealthCare

[Robbie]

I'm watching MSNBC this morning and on "The Daily Rundown" they reported the numbers coming in about health insurance now that Obama Care is starting to take effect.

Insurance rates are UP. Not by a little bit...but by a LOT.

It is going to vary state by state. The insurance companies said that by next year Californians (you guys are always "lucky" lol) will be paying EIGHTY PERCENT MORE on their premiums!!!

The lowest state I heard on the report was Ohio which will be paying 30% MORE.

The insurance company I use is Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Ours has been going up steadily the last two years...and BC/BS is saying that my premium will rise FIFTY PERCENT MORE by next year!!!!

MSNBC also played President Obama video footage where he signed the bill and proclaimed that it was going to LOWER costs for everybody (including businesses).

You know it sucks when MSNBC even has to admit that it's not working.

The entire point of "Obama Care" was supposed to be that health care was too expensive. And then instead of addressing the fact that Big Pharma and Big Medical price gouge Americans (we pay 3 to 4 times MORE for everything)...we all know that they gave a nice big present to the insurance companies.

So the entire reason for the existance of "Obama Care" is now doing the OPPOSITE of what it is supposed to do.

What now?

[Phoenix]

now everyone complains about it
and does nothing
its the canadian way...welcome to forced sharing

[TheSquealer]

Wait,....

Are you telling me that more government involvement doesn't lower costs while at the same time, making services more efficient? The US Post Office is only losing 15 BILLION a year, i really don't see what the problem is with letting them apply that same financial wizardry to all other aspects of our lives.

[woj]

it was pretty damn obvious it was going to play out like this right from the beginning...

[dyna mo]

President Obama sold the Affordable Care Act aka Obama Care to the American people based on four promises.

1) If you like your current insurance you can keep it.

2) If you like your doctor you can keep him or her.

3) The ten-year cost of Obama Care will be less than $1 trillion.

4) Obama Care will not add one dime to the deficit.

All four of these promises have been broken according to the administration?s own experts.

[Robbie]

Those 4 promises pale in comparison to what it's doing to people's health insurance premiums.

I don't even have to be sick and it's costing me more!!! A LOT more.

That is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the President said we NEEDED "Obama Care" for in the first place!

Let's see...people are having trouble finding jobs, the jobs they do find are low paying, the economy is in shambles...what to do? I know! Let's force everybody to buy health insurance and then watch the rates go up drastically and cause people who are already struggling to shell out even MORE money!

Pure genius!

[blackmonsters]

I say ban doctors and let all sick fuckers die!!!
That's how you cut cost!

[Robbie]

blackmonsters, the problem is that ObamaCare isn't addressing the problem at all.

If the problem was that health care is too expensive..and then Obama Care makes it MORE expensive...isn't that pretty fucked up?

This is what happens when legislation is pushed through without real debate.

Remember they used procedural shenanigans to get it passed in Congress. And remember Pelosi saying they had to vote on it BEFORE they could read it?

That's just not good governance or good policy in any way at all. And now we are literally PAYING the price in higher costs for health care.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Those 4 promises pale in comparison to what it's doing to people's health insurance premiums.

I don't even have to be sick and it's costing me more!!! A LOT more.

That is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the President said we NEEDED "Obama Care" for in the first place!

Let's see...people are having trouble finding jobs, the jobs they do find are low paying, the economy is in shambles...what to do? I know! Let's force everybody to buy health insurance and then watch the rates go up drastically and cause people who are already struggling to shell out even MORE money!

Pure genius!

i have a pre-existing condition and have been denied coverage due to that for years. i fully anticipate getting fucked further in january, when the pre-existing requirement kicks in.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

i have a pre-existing condition and have been denied coverage due to that for years. i fully anticipate getting fucked further in january, when the pre-existing requirement kicks in.

It would be nice if the Congress and Senate weren't having their pockets lined by Big Pharma and Big Medical so that our govt. would STOP the price gouging and you could just afford to go to the doctor and get your medications WITHOUT needing insurance (you know, like we all did up until the last 20 years)

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by Robbie

It would be nice if the Congress and Senate weren't having their pockets lined by Big Pharma and Big Medical so that our govt. would STOP the price gouging and you could just afford to go to the doctor and get your medications WITHOUT needing insurance (you know, like we all did up until the last 20 years)

well, you hit the nail on the head earlier, it's even worse now because we're forced to join up. i can't even imagine how much my monthly premium will be, just looking at them earlier, it's $400 with all the typical payment structures, now add in a serious condition.


i have no idea how much more to budget for monthly medical come january, and the insurance carriers are not talking #s yet. earliest i can even apply is october.

i am not expecting it to be pretty, well i am expecting it to be pretty fucking ugly actually. ugh.

[DWB]

I recently had my appendix removed and spent 3 days in a private hospital (private room) with excellent care from a surgeon who went to school in the USA and cute Asian nurses who flirted with me around the clock. Total cost: $2300

Based on the info I have found online, the average price in the USA for the same thing: $33,611

Point is, the cost of health care in the USA is just astronomical. I honestly don't know how the average Joe who is not insured can afford anything at all. And heaven help you if you have kids.

[blackmonsters]

Originally Posted by Robbie

blackmonsters, the problem is that ObamaCare isn't addressing the problem at all.

If the problem was that health care is too expensive..and then Obama Care makes it MORE expensive...isn't that pretty fucked up?

This is what happens when legislation is pushed through without real debate.

Remember they used procedural shenanigans to get it passed in Congress. And remember Pelosi saying they had to vote on it BEFORE they could read it?

That's just not good governance or good policy in any way at all. And now we are literally PAYING the price in higher costs for health care.

And the one reason to get rid of it is that it cost too much right?
So if everybody who hates it raised their cost then......

[Yanks_Todd]

Originally Posted by Robbie

It would be nice if the Congress and Senate weren't having their pockets lined by Big Pharma and Big Medical so that our govt. would STOP the price gouging and you could just afford to go to the doctor and get your medications WITHOUT needing insurance (you know, like we all did up until the last 20 years)

That is really the issue. The excessive cost, Obamacare or not, ends up somewhere that it shouldn't.

[Joshua G]

i blame the dems. if they had any fucking balls at all, they would try to pass single payer. instead, they rally around romneycare, which features the worst of both worlds. out of control profit margins for big medical, & people now required by law to pay into it.

the public option was supposed to provide a non price-gouging option to the public. It was democrat max baucus that killed the public option in the senate finance committee. & obama didn't fight for it at all. pussies.

with that said. there is no hope the repubs will ever come close to being right on this issue. so i hope that someday dems grow some balls & do the right thing.

[2012]

people are just figuring this out now ?

[Grapesoda]

The point of Obama care is for people with jobs to buy health ins for people with out jobs.... why would you think that would lower our health ins cost?:

[arock10]

I was under the impression obamacare was to insure more people
Also health care costs go up every year, can't blame it all on Obama. Blame the republicans for no single payer system which would've caused more competition and reduced costs (maybe not overall, but relative to what is projected)

[dyna mo]

So what is ObamaCare and what does it mean to you? There are really only a few things you need to know about President Barrack Obama's "ObamaCare".

? The Affordable Care Act contains over a thousand pages of reforms to the insurance industry and the health care industry in order to cut healthcare costs and to provide affordable health insurance to all Americans

http://obamacarefacts.com/whatis-obamacare.php

[Joshua G]

Originally Posted by arock10

I was under the impression obamacare was to insure more people
Also health care costs go up every year, can't blame it all on Obama. Blame the republicans for no single payer system which would've caused more competition and reduced costs (maybe not overall, but relative to what is projected)

obama said in his 2010 state of union that his plan was intended to control costs. he called it the 800 pound gorilla on the issue.

but its not just the repubs stopping single payer. dems are just as culpible. they wouldnt even bother putting single payer on the floor. they stripped the public option out in committee. maybe the same program with a public option, maybe this thread would not happen.

[dyna mo]

let's not forget obama was ramming this through in 2007, he didn't even hit the pause button when the banking sector was taking a shit on us all.

[kane]

Originally Posted by arock10

I was under the impression obamacare was to insure more people
Also health care costs go up every year, can't blame it all on Obama. Blame the republicans for no single payer system which would've caused more competition and reduced costs (maybe not overall, but relative to what is projected)

I think eventually we will end up with a single payer system. I was reading that 42% of all bankruptcies are caused by medical costs and 78% of those people actually had health insurance. The cost of health insurance continues to rise with no end in site as does the actual cost of healthcare and medicine.

Most middle class and lower people are now one major health issue away from bankruptcy and it will just continue to get worse. Eventually it will hit a tipping point. It likely won't happen for a while, but I think when it finally does hit the fan we will either have to revamp the healthcare system which will be very hard because of the influence various companies have over lawmakers or we will just go to a single payer system like most countries have.

[PornoMonster]

Originally Posted by Robbie

I'm watching MSNBC this morning and on "The Daily Rundown" they reported the numbers coming in about health insurance now that Obama Care is starting to take effect.

Insurance rates are UP. Not by a little bit...but by a LOT.

It is going to vary state by state. The insurance companies said that by next year Californians (you guys are always "lucky" lol) will be paying EIGHTY PERCENT MORE on their premiums!!!

The lowest state I heard on the report was Ohio which will be paying 30% MORE.

The insurance company I use is Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Ours has been going up steadily the last two years...and BC/BS is saying that my premium will rise FIFTY PERCENT MORE by next year!!!!

MSNBC also played President Obama video footage where he signed the bill and proclaimed that it was going to LOWER costs for everybody (including businesses).

You know it sucks when MSNBC even has to admit that it's not working.

The entire point of "Obama Care" was supposed to be that health care was too expensive. And then instead of addressing the fact that Big Pharma and Big Medical price gouge Americans (we pay 3 to 4 times MORE for everything)...we all know that they gave a nice big present to the insurance companies.

So the entire reason for the existance of "Obama Care" is now doing the OPPOSITE of what it is supposed to do.

What now?

I think the master plan was to drop the insurance you have and get on the Gov Obama care.. Yes you Can Keep the one you are on IF you can afford it, LOL.

Company I work for, has a Labor contract ending this year, and the Health insurance is a BIG Issue.

[Grapesoda]

Lawyers are the main reason health care cost go up. If a Dr misses one small thing that Dr or hospital is sued into bankruptcy so the testing is run to the extreme

[PornoMonster]

Originally Posted by DWB

I recently had my appendix removed and spent 3 days in a private hospital (private room) with excellent care from a surgeon who went to school in the USA and cute Asian nurses who flirted with me around the clock. Total cost: $2300

Based on the info I have found online, the average price in the USA for the same thing: $33,611

Point is, the cost of health care in the USA is just astronomical. I honestly don't know how the average Joe who is not insured can afford anything at all. And heaven help you if you have kids.

EXACTLY,
You can also blame Bullshit law suits and the price of malpractice insurance they have to carry..

[PornoMonster]

Originally Posted by arock10

I was under the impression obamacare was to insure more people
Also health care costs go up every year, can't blame it all on Obama. Blame the republicans for no single payer system which would've caused more competition and reduced costs (maybe not overall, but relative to what is projected)

NO, It was to Force people who do not need insurance to buy it, so they could have more money coming in to cover more people on assistance programs.

People are still NOT Covered if you did not qualify for welfare before.

Only the AGE thing if the child stays in school...

[epitome]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

i have a pre-existing condition and have been denied coverage due to that for years. i fully anticipate getting fucked further in january, when the pre-existing requirement kicks in.

You've been able to buy insurance for awhile now. I have preexisting condition coverage and pay $205/month through the evil government. I dread when I have go to private coverage and get raped.

[sicone]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

i have a pre-existing condition and have been denied coverage due to that for years. i fully anticipate getting fucked further in january, when the pre-existing requirement kicks in.

Same here.

[GrantMercury]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Those 4 promises pale in comparison to what it's doing to people's health insurance premiums.

I don't even have to be sick and it's costing me more!!! A LOT more.

That is the EXACT OPPOSITE of what the President said we NEEDED "Obama Care" for in the first place!

The problem is, the for-profit health insurance fuckers are still in the picture. Single-payer (the only system that makes sense, and the one every other 1st-world country uses) was SOCIALISM!!!!! Dumb fucking teabaggers were whipped into a frenzy about "death panels" by Faux News and took to the streets. We're too dumb to demand a system that works, because the corporate media scares paranoid lunkheads with terms they don't understand.

And, as usual, there's more to the story.

This is only one study, and it was conducted by a company with ties to a health insurer.

Additionally, the increase in costs isn't across the board, and it doesn't apply to all states. Also co-pays, "bridges" and deductibles will go down.

At an off-camera briefing with economics reporters on Tuesday, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius acknowledged that some individuals in what she called the "underinsured market" could see health care costs increase in coming years, but she largely attributed those increases to improvements in the quality of insurance plans.

"These folks will be moving into a really fully insured product for the first time, and so there may be a higher cost associated with getting into that market," Sebelius said. "But we feel pretty strongly that with subsidies available to a lot of that population, that they are really going to see much better benefit for the money that they're spending."

And there is a lot that's right with Obamacare, including the elimination of preexisting conditions, and a requirement that these bastards use at least 80% of every premium dollar paid to be used on actual healthcare (or refund the difference). Children can stay on their parents' insurance until they're 26, contraception is covered 100%, no-cost yearly checkups, and 45,000,000 people who had no coverage finally will (we can agree that's a good thing, even if it doesn't apply to you personally, right)?

So it's a mixed bag. I'm not very happy with it, but it's better than what we had. Maybe if idiots across the country would stop hyperventilating every time "socialism" is spoken, we could start a real conversation and get a system that works right, particularly since "capitalism" is what the current fucked-up healthcare system is all about. For example, check out what this guy takes in - and he's never healed a single person.

Blue Cross parent's CEO pay climbs to $12.9 million
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...o-12-9-million

Wow. That's a lot of premium dollars right there. He must be some great lifesaving physician...oh right. He doesn't know the first thing about healing the sick or saving lives. He's doing a great job saving us from "government healthcare" and "socialism," I guess.

[_Richard_]

a bunch of corporations own the US government, and everyone is still surprised that every 'do good' legislation gets hacked to corporate welfare pieces?

[Minte]

Our company group policy renews end of June. In the next 2 weeks we get started again on shopping health insurance for our employees. I'll post real premium numbers of what we pay currently and what we will be paying as soon as the quotes start rolling in. We'll see what obamacare is going to cost..

[madm1k3]

Originally Posted by Robbie

It would be nice if the Congress and Senate weren't having their pockets lined by Big Pharma and Big Medical so that our govt. would STOP the price gouging and you could just afford to go to the doctor and get your medications WITHOUT needing insurance (you know, like we all did up until the last 20 years)

That's the problem right there.

[PornoMonster]

Originally Posted by Minte

Our company group policy renews end of June. In the next 2 weeks we get started again on shopping health insurance for our employees. I'll post real premium numbers of what we pay currently and what we will be paying as soon as the quotes start rolling in. We'll see what obamacare is going to cost..

Those numbers are like Car insurance, It also depends On How Much coverage you get.
Your Deductibles
You Co-Pays
Your Total yearly coverage
On and on

[mikesouth]

And this surprises who exactly? The Insurance lobby wrote the legislation....if we had any sense wed round up all those lobyists, take the to the capital steps and shoot them all in the head....followed then by congress...the only people who dont have a lobbyist are the ones footing the bills....

[Jay]

Originally Posted by epitome

You've been able to buy insurance for awhile now. I have preexisting condition coverage and pay $205/month through the evil government. I dread when I have go to private coverage and get raped.

Really? Where? I would really like to know. I have a preexisting condition and I am paying an astronomical premium on a conversion policy thru BCBS. (so preexisting is covered now). I'm talking 5X what you are paying now and goes up substantially every year.

If I try for new policy rate is a bit lower, no coverage for preexisting of course. That is if they don't completely decline me.

Health Insurance in this country completely disgusts me...

[kane]

Originally Posted by epitome

You've been able to buy insurance for awhile now. I have preexisting condition coverage and pay $205/month through the evil government. I dread when I have go to private coverage and get raped.

You are buying insurance directly from the government?

[Sly]

I just got back from the pharmacy. My insurance dropped my medicine. Weeeeeee.

[Sly]

Originally Posted by Sly

I just got back from the pharmacy. My insurance dropped my medicine. Weeeeeee.

Let me clarify. They no longer cover it. Period.

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by Sly

Let me clarify. They no longer cover it. Period.

Sly it was only a few years back that it didn't cover anything at the pharmacy.

Insurance was supposed to be a "just in case" emergency plan for a catastrophic occurrence.

But we (the consumers in the USA) have been manipulated into a situation where EVERYTHING is "covered" by insurance, and they price gouge us so we can't afford to just pay for it ourselves (like I always did in the past).

Insurance SHOULDN'T "cover" our prescription medications.
And our prescriptions SHOULDN'T cost us many times over what every other country in the world pays for the same exact brand name medicines.

It's a big, well orchestrated rip-off. And the govt. doesn't "fix" it because they are all in on it (yes, even "baby jesus" obama).

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by epitome

You've been able to buy insurance for awhile now. I have preexisting condition coverage and pay $205/month through the evil government. I dread when I have go to private coverage and get raped.

no. i cannot. i tried again today. i understand i can buy what is now referred to as "bridge" coverage, which is insurance that covers everything except my pre-existing condition.

it is the same as the insurance i've had and canceled, they denied every claim as falling under the pre-existing condition.

if you are referring to the government program, it's been suspended since several weeks after its introduction

https://www.pcip.gov/

[kane]

Originally Posted by Robbie

Sly it was only a few years back that it didn't cover anything at the pharmacy.

Insurance was supposed to be a "just in case" emergency plan for a catastrophic occurrence.

But we (the consumers in the USA) have been manipulated into a situation where EVERYTHING is "covered" by insurance, and they price gouge us so we can't afford to just pay for it ourselves (like I always did in the past).

Insurance SHOULDN'T "cover" our prescription medications.
And our prescriptions SHOULDN'T cost us many times over what every other country in the world pays for the same exact brand name medicines.

It's a big, well orchestrated rip-off. And the govt. doesn't "fix" it because they are all in on it (yes, even "baby jesus" obama).

This is so true. Some medicines are priced so high that most people couldn't afford them without insurance. It is all one big scam. Big Pharm manipulates prices to keep them high forcing people to demand prescription coverage in their insurance which then drives up the cost of the insurance.

Another problem is that there are just too many people between my dollars and my doctor. If I was going to pay a guy $20 to mow my lawn I would hire him, he would mow my lawn and I would hand him cash. There is really nobody between him and my money. If it were run like the healthcare system I would have lawn mowing insurance and pay a monthly premium of $40 then I would hire a guy to mow my lawn, I would give him a $5 co-pay and he would bill my insurance $60. Will all of these people wanting to get paid in between he and I, the price is bound to go up.

[dyna mo]

Originally Posted by kane

You are buying insurance directly from the government?

kane, check this out. https://www.pcip.gov/

[PornoMonster]

Originally Posted by Sly

Let me clarify. They no longer cover it. Period.

Yep,
Mine now says what the Doc prescribed to you, well we want you to try these others first...

So now, the Insurance company is the Doctor???

[Robbie]

Originally Posted by PornoMonster

So now, the Insurance company is the Doctor???

Your doctors are Doctor Pelosi and Doctor Reid with Doctor Obama as head surgeon.

The govt. and the insurance companies know what's best for you...resistance is futile.

[kane]

Originally Posted by dyna mo

kane, check this out. https://www.pcip.gov/

Thanks, checking it out.

I have asthma. I have pretty much given up on getting any kind of affordable coverage that will cover asthma related stuff.

[kane]

Originally Posted by PornoMonster

Yep,
Mine now says what the Doc prescribed to you, well we want you to try these others first...

So now, the Insurance company is the Doctor???

My mom had to go through this with some depression meds. After trying different things she found a med that worked great. The insurance company would only pay for it if she tried at least two others from a list they provided because they felt these worked just as good and cost lest.

Luckily, she had already tried one on that list so she had to spend 60 days trying another. When it didn't work as well then and only then would they pay for the med her doctor prescribed.

[LeRoy]

Another reason to keep pushing my siggy!!!

DTI Cash pays 100% of all my healthcare costs.. including my wife and two kids

[L-Pink]

A good friend is a contractor specializing in large water projects, lakes, hotel atrium waterfalls etc. Above is a shot of one he was putting in front of the University of Kentucky Hospital. You don't want to know what it cost.

My old neighbor is a retired heart surgeon with a 1,200 acre horse farm valued at around 20 million.

An ex girlfriend has a masters in health administration and works in an office park with 3 five story office buildings full of administrative staff for the UK medical center. Her entire building was for processing insurance claims.

And people want to know why medical care costs so much ?..


.

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by GrantMercury

The problem is, the for-profit health insurance fuckers are still in the picture.

1912: Former President Theodore Roosevelt champions national health insurance as he unsuccessfully tries to ride his progressive Bull Moose Party back to the White House.

1929: Baylor Hospital in Texas originates group health insurance. Dallas teachers pay 50 cents a month to cover up to 21 days of hospital care per year.

1935: President Franklin D. Roosevelt favors creating national health insurance amid the Great Depression but decides to push for Social Security first.

1942: Roosevelt establishes wage and price controls during World War II. Businesses can't attract workers with higher pay so they compete through added benefits, including health insurance, which grows into a workplace perk.

1945: President Harry Truman calls on Congress to create a national insurance program for those who pay voluntary fees. The American Medical Association denounces the idea as "socialized medicine" and it goes nowhere.

1960: John F. Kennedy makes health care a major campaign issue but as president can't get a plan for the elderly through Congress.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson's legendary arm-twisting and a Congress dominated by his fellow Democrats lead to creation of two landmark government health programs: Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

1974: President Richard Nixon wants to require employers to cover their workers and create federal subsidies to help everyone else buy private insurance. The Watergate scandal intervenes.

1976: President Jimmy Carter pushes a mandatory national health plan, but economic recession helps push it aside.

1986: President Ronald Reagan signs COBRA, a requirement that employers let former workers stay on the company health plan for 18 months after leaving a job, with workers bearing the cost.

1988: Congress expands Medicare by adding a prescription drug benefit and catastrophic care coverage. It doesn't last long. Barraged by protests from older Americans upset about paying a tax to finance the additional coverage, Congress repeals the law the next year.

1993: President Bill Clinton puts first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in charge of developing what becomes a 1,300-page plan for universal coverage. It requires businesses to cover their workers and mandates that everyone have health insurance. The plan meets Republican opposition, divides Democrats and comes under a firestorm of lobbying from businesses and the health care industry. It dies in the Senate.

1997: Clinton signs bipartisan legislation creating a state-federal program to provide coverage for millions of children in families of modest means whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid.

2003: President George W. Bush persuades Congress to add prescription drug coverage to Medicare in a major expansion of the program for older people.

2008: Hillary Rodham Clinton promotes a sweeping health care plan in her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. She loses to Obama, who campaigns on a less comprehensive plan.

2009: Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress spend an intense year ironing out legislation to mandate that everyone have coverage or pay a fine; require most companies to cover their workers; require insurance companies to accept all comers, regardless of any pre-existing conditions; and assist people who can't afford insurance

2010: The American Medical Association and other big groups of health professionals lend their weight to the effort to extend coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people. Opponents scorn it as "Obamacare" and a government takeover of medicine. With no Republican support, Congress passes the measure. Obama signs it into law on March 23.

2012: The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 ruling, upholds the law, including its much-disputed mandate that almost all people in the U.S. have health coverage or pay a fine. The law's ultimate fate remains unclear, however, with Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and GOP lawmakers promising to repeal it if they carry the November elections.



http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-501705_1...reform-effort/

[Barefootsies]

1970's (Nixon)

President Richard Nixon renames prepaid group health care plans as health maintenance organizations (HMOs), with legislation that provides federal endorsement, certification, and assistance.

Healthcare costs are escalating rapidly, partially due to unexpectedly high Medicare expenditures, rapid inflation in the economy, expansion of hospital expenses and profits, and changes in medical care including greater use of technology, medications, and conservative approaches to treatment. American medicine is now seen as in crisis.

President Nixon's plan for national health insurance rejected by liberals & labor unions, but his "War on Cancer" centralizes research at the NIH.

The number of women entering the medical profession rises dramatically. In 1970, 9% of medical students are women; by the end of the decade, the proportion exceeds 25%.

World Health Organization declares smallpox eradicated.

1980's Reagan

Corporations begin to integrate the hospital system (previously a decentralized structure), enter many other healthcare-related businesses, and consolidate control. Overall, there is a shift toward privatization and corporatization of healthcare.

Under President Reagan, Medicare shifts to payment by diagnosis (DRG) instead of by treatment. Private plans quickly follow suit.

Growing complaints by insurance companies that the traditional fee-for-service method of payment to doctors is being exploited.

"Capitation" payments to doctors become more common.

http://www.pbs.org/healthcarecrisis/history.htm