Question about health care. Anyone know?

[kane]

I was wondering today about something and was unable to find the answer. In theory this new health care bill, if it eventually is fully enacted, would end a lot of unpaid medical bills at emergency rooms and urgent care centers. As it is now you can walk into an ER or urgent care center and they will treat you whether you have insurance or not. If you don't have insurance they will bill you. If you don't pay they will try to come after you, but eventually they will end up eating the cost and passing that cost onto other paying customers. In many of these situations the hospitals and urgent care centers are public facilities which means they rely heavily on tax money to run.

My question is how much money annually do these ER's and urgent care centers recoup from tax payers on behalf of unpaid medical bills?

In theory a lot of these non-payers will now have insurance so it should cut down on a lot of this. I'm just curious if anyone knows how much this total is.

[will76]

Originally Posted by kane

I was wondering today about something and was unable to find the answer. In theory this new health care bill, if it eventually is fully enacted, would end a lot of unpaid medical bills at emergency rooms and urgent care centers. As it is now you can walk into an ER or urgent care center and they will treat you whether you have insurance or not. If you don't have insurance they will bill you. If you don't pay they will try to come after you, but eventually they will end up eating the cost and passing that cost onto other paying customers. In many of these situations the hospitals and urgent care centers are public facilities which means they rely heavily on tax money to run.

My question is how much money annually do these ER's and urgent care centers recoup from tax payers on behalf of unpaid medical bills?

In theory a lot of these non-payers will now have insurance so it should cut down on a lot of this. I'm just curious if anyone knows how much this total is.

Here is what it comes down to. If people without insurance go to the ER and don't pay their bill, it likely ends up on the shoulders of tax payers to pay it. If the person gets insurance and still ends up in the ER for something major, the insurance company pays it. BUt insurance company can't print money, so the more people they allow in with pre existing conditions and that end up in the ER racking up costs, the more they need to charge everyone else who has insurance to make up for it. So, in theory if this causes tax payers to save some, it will likely cause the rest of us to pay more in insurance since the insurance company is paying it. So in that situation we all pay for it with higher insurance costs... The "pool is bigger" argument is retarded, yes it is bigger but if you let in a lot high risk people opposed to healthy people then even with a bigger pool the costs are going to go up.

There is the point that now that more people have insurance they wont go to the ER for a cold, or they will do more preventive check ups since their insurance will now cover it. While that will likely be true in some cases with some people, we will see over time if everyone takes advantage of this and a lot of illness are prevented by the people who now have insurance.


The bill is for 940 Billion. So there is still going to be costs that the people who earn over 200K a year will have to cover for this bill.

3. As the new Health Care Reform Bill promises to benefit millions of poor American individuals, the rich and wealthy Americans get affected. Under this newHealth Care Reform Bill, there’s a 0.9% increase in Medicare payroll taxes for Americans who earn more than $200,000 annually individually and $250,000 for couples.

That amount will rise to a 3.8% tax if reconciliation passes. It will also apply to investment income, estates, and trusts.

http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/n...plained/882049

why increase it 0.9% for just the people who make over 200K, why not increase medicare 0.5% for everyone ?

[kane]

Originally Posted by will76

Here is what it comes down to. If people without insurance go to the ER and don't pay their bill, it likely ends up on the shoulders of tax payers to pay it. If the person gets insurance and still ends up in the ER for something major, the insurance company pays it. BUt insurance company can't print money, so the more people they allow in with pre existing conditions and that end up in the ER racking up costs, the more they need to charge everyone else who has insurance to make up for it. So, in theory if this causes tax payers to save some, it will likely cause the rest of us to pay more in insurance since the insurance company is paying it. So in that situation we all pay for it with higher insurance costs... The "pool is bigger" argument is retarded, yes it is bigger but if you let in a lot high risk people opposed to healthy people then even with a bigger pool the costs are going to go up.

There is the point that now that more people have insurance they wont go to the ER for a cold, or they will do more preventive check ups since their insurance will now cover it. While that will likely be true in some cases with some people, we will see over time if everyone takes advantage of this and a lot of illness are prevented by the people who now have insurance.


The bill is for 940 Billion. So there is still going to be costs that the people who earn over 200K a year will have to cover for this bill.



http://www.worldcorrespondents.com/n...plained/882049

why increase it 0.9% for just the people who make over 200K, why not increase medicare 0.5% for everyone ?

I understand how it works. I am just curious if anyone knows how much cost is passed on to tax payers and paying customers from those that didn't pay.

Sure, in theory, fewer people will go to these places for little things because they will now have insurance and can see a regular doctor, but right now we have around 30 million without insurance (not too count anywhere between 11-20 million illegals who are mostly uninsured as well) and these people often do just walk into an ER or an urgent care center, get care and never pay. I wonder how much total each year these people leave behind in unpaid bills.

[The Demon]

I wonder if people realize that 83% of the people that go to the ER are actually fully insured.

[theking]

Originally Posted by kane

I understand how it works. I am just curious if anyone knows how much cost is passed on to tax payers and paying customers from those that didn't pay.

Sure, in theory, fewer people will go to these places for little things because they will now have insurance and can see a regular doctor, but right now we have around 30 million without insurance (not too count anywhere between 11-20 million illegals who are mostly uninsured as well) and these people often do just walk into an ER or an urgent care center, get care and never pay. I wonder how much total each year these people leave behind in unpaid bills.

I heard it said that the cost of those nonpaying/uninsured using the ER costs the paying/insured an additional $1,000 per year per person. I am not sure if per person meant 1000x320,000,000 or not. I also do not recall the source.

[kane]

Originally Posted by The Demon

I wonder if people realize that 83% of the people that go to the ER are actually fully insured.

Where did you find that stat? I'm not saying it is wrong, just curious.

[DateDoc]

A lot of this new healthcare does not go into effect for a while. Some of it will be challenged in the courts. After the democrats get killed in the next election republicans will prob repeal some of it too.

[The Demon]

Originally Posted by kane

Where did you find that stat? I'm not saying it is wrong, just curious.

A study by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation found that the insured accounted for 83 percent of emergency-room visits, reflecting their share of the population.

Type that into google and you'll get millions of sites.

[The Demon]

Originally Posted by DateDoc

A lot of this new healthcare does not go into effect for a while. Some of it will be challenged in the courts. After the democrats get killed in the next election republicans will prob repeal some of it too.

We all hope.....

[kane]

Originally Posted by DateDoc

A lot of this new healthcare does not go into effect for a while. Some of it will be challenged in the courts. After the democrats get killed in the next election republicans will prob repeal some of it too.

I wouldn't count on the republicans destroying the democrats in the next election just yet. Gallup released a poll yesterday that was taken over the last few days after the health care bill passes show that 49% of the people surveyed think the bill passing is a good thing and 40% think it is a bad thing. That is about a 5-7 point swing in the positive just with the passage of the bill. http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Sl...l-Passage.aspx

Not to say that this will hold, it could go back down next week, but if people start liking the health care bill the republicans will find making big gains in the house and senate pretty difficult.

I still think they will gain seats, but I don't think they will take control of the house and senate. If they do take control of both houses I think it won't happen until 2012.

[kane]

Originally Posted by The Demon

Type that into google and you'll get millions of sites.

cool thanks.

[theking]

Originally Posted by kane

I wouldn't count on the republicans destroying the democrats in the next election just yet. Gallup released a poll yesterday that was taken over the last few days after the health care bill passes show that 49% of the people surveyed think the bill passing is a good thing and 40% think it is a bad thing. That is about a 5-7 point swing in the positive just with the passage of the bill. http://www.gallup.com/poll/126929/Sl...l-Passage.aspx

Not to say that this will hold, it could go back down next week, but if people start liking the health care bill the republicans will find making big gains in the house and senate pretty difficult.

I still think they will gain seats, but I don't think they will take control of the house and senate. If they do take control of both houses I think it won't happen until 2012.

It is my understanding that there are not enough seats up for re-election for them to take control of the House or the Senate in November...am I mistaken?

[kane]

Originally Posted by theking

It is my understanding that there are not enough seats up for re-election for them to take control of the House or the Senate in November...am I mistaken?

There are enough seats up, but the odds are pretty low. They actually have a better chance of regaining control of the house than they do the senate. There is a guy that runs the website http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/ who is very knowledgeable about stats, odds and politics. He is almost always dead on and he gives the republicans only about a 10% chance of taking back the senate. Incumbent senators are not easy to beat and both sides have people who are retiring and/or not running for re-election. The house, on the other hand, has a bunch of so called "Blue Dog" democrats. These are the conservative democrats and many of them were elected in areas where republicans tend to win. They were originally elected during the height of the anti-republican sentiment in this country and many of them voted for the health care bill which could put them in a situation where they might be vulnerable. So I think the republicans have a chance of winning back the house, but not much of a real chance of winning back the senate. I feel they will gain seats in both, but still not have a majority.

Of course November is a long ways away and you never know what will happen between now and then.