UAW forced to be paid as a Southern Foreign factory worker.

That may be your opinion but you are not correct I was recently
hospitalized for six days. The Medicare set rate was over $13,000, my HMO
settled it for about one third that amount and I paid a $50 co-pay. The
doctor(s) bills were also settled for less than half the Medicare rate

 

How would that run the insurance companies out of business, when it comes to
Medicare coverage? You need to do more research on HOW Medicare funds are
disbursed. Insurance companies get the funds that would normally go to
hospitals every quarter once a person chooses to go for private insurance.

When I turned 65 I did not apply for SS. I am wealthy and do not need
another $2,800. When my private insurance contract came up for renewal I
was informed by the company I could no longer BUY insurance. Since the
insurance companies, that provide for folks over 65, get the Medicare
funds that are paid to hospitals for those over 65 in a given area, I was
REQUIRED to buy and pay for part "B." The only way to pay for part "B" is
to have it deducted form one monthly SS check. So now I get a check for
SS every month that I have deposited into one of my chartable trusts.

As to my current healthcare coverage I am not covered by Medicare, it is
provide by a Blue Cross HMO for which the month premium is ZERO and provides
MORE than is offered by Medicare, like dental and eye care benefits wellness
and etc..

In addition I purchase a $2,000,000 umbrella policy that covers cancer,
nursing home and others things not covered by any healthcare system.
Again one can not BUY an umbrella policy useless you have full coverage

As to my bypass surgery, at the time I was still working and covered by the
partners policy that paid the hospital bill that was, if memory serves,
around $42,000 twenty thee years ago. One of my sons-in-law performed
the surgery pro bono, my insurance only paid the other members of the team
of surgeons

In any event SS and Medicare are CURRENTLY headed to insolvency as we speak.
President Bush tried to reform SS and Medicare but the Dims would not go
along.

 

I recently went (for the first time) to a doctor under Medicare. What I
learned is:

a) Reimbursement rates are low to the point many providers do not accept
Medicare.

b) When a provider accepts Medicare, they jack up the rate/fee for
service in order to get what they normally would get for a cash transaction.

c) The big factor in healthcare costs for retired folks using Medicare
is the unacceptable level of administrative costs that factor in the
total sum picture. I've received more paperwork for two recent doctor
visits than I have in the last twenty-five years!

Believe me, when the guv'ment sez they're here to he'p you, whatch out!

JT

 

Medicare would drive the private companies out of business because the
cost is so much lower. They private companies are massive
bureaucracies in which at least 25% of your premium goes to
overhead/profit.

so presumably Medicare would pay for at least part of any future
medical expenses.

Magical free insurance! I guess there is a god. Wake up, Mike.
Someone is paying.

No doubt, but most people can't get this deal. Plus I would be quite
surprised if your Blue Cross HMO doesn't collect some money from
Medicare. You paid in those premiums for years.

How is this relevant to anything? (You can't buy the umbrella policy
w.o. full coverage because it is a supplemental policy, duh.)

Great, will he do that for anyone who walks in the door? That surgery
would probably be $250,000 now.

Bush proposed nothing wrt. Medicare, even thought its financial
situation is much more critical than SS. His proposal for SS
effectively was to borrow a lot of money and invest it in the stock
market. What a shame the democrats shut that down.

 

This is one instance in which the Canadian medicare system is superior. ONLY
one
payer in each of the Canadian provinces.

 

They might be long gone but the contracts are still in place.

 

You can say the same thing about congress.

 

Thats a silly question, its like asking me if I will buy regular vegatables
for $3 a bag or buy organic vegatables for $6 a bag. I go for organic
mostly. If I want to support my own for whatever reason I will pay a little
bit more. Some people just sell out at any cost.

 

Hmmm. it could benefit those who want to buy an American car.

 

Sure we could take over there factories even with there technology,
because the US would be rusty since they will no longer be innovators. The
US would be dumbed down when it comes to manufacturing because some saw
fit to shut them down when things got economicaly tight. Just throw the
baby out with the bath water.

 

Probably because no one else wanted a Scion and lots of people wanted the
HHR, its called supply and demand.

 

And you can say the same exact thing regarding a Japanese monopoly. But its
really funny that auto prices began to skyrocket in the late 70s when the
japanese fad started.

That job loss would have nowhere the effect if the US auto industry were
to shut down. Sure 500, 000 is a lot but its not 3 million.

 

Even though a lot of products are made overseas, they are engineered in the
US. Same applies to the most sophisticated auto assembly plants, like the
Ford plant in Brazil.

 

That is because there were import quotas and tarrifs on Japanese cars being
imported into the US.

It really matters of where you live. People in the South, Southwest, and
West don't care about job losses in the rust belt, and vis versa.

 

Say what? Bush us the guy who passed legislation specifically making
it ILLEGAL for the US Gov't to negotiate the price of drugs purchased
by Medicare. He made sure that it was illegal to buy cheaper,
identical drugs from Canada.

Bush's only interest was in making his friends in business, in this
case the drug companies, richer. He had no interest whatsoever in
making SS solvent (unless he was going to be able to divert those
dollars to some more of his friends in the financial industry).

 

As always, MH has it ass backwards. The US Gov't requires that it
always receive the LOWEST price of any vendor. It's fraud when you
charge other vendors less without lowering your price to the
government (fraud because you signed a contract that said you'd give
them the lowest price).

 

LOL! Nice try. The Scion was in extremely high demand at that time. I was
lucky to find the one I wanted. There were only 5 tCs on the lot.

OTOH, there were over a dozen HHRs. Out of 12 vehicles, you'd think that
ONE would have the options I wanted. They couldn't find one in three
states, out of over 100 vehicles.

Try again though. I enjoy a good laugh.

But the sad part is GM DIDN'T MAKE ANY OF THE MODEL I WANTED.

 

So, are you saying that if the Big3 go under, Toyota is going to hire people
in the US to build there plants in Japan and Mexico? Get a grip on reality,
please.

 

I didn't say anything of the kind. Nor was I specifically addressing the
auto industry. Go back and read my post.

BTW, if the Big3 go under (unlikely they would go into liquidation), Toyota
is not going to build more plants in Japan.

I really get tired of a bunch a whining union members claiming that if we
don't save the Big3 then the US will loose it manufacturing base, which
would have some sort of catastrophic effect on the US. They don't complain
when non-union software development has been shipped offshore, or when the
US is not allowed to develop its own energy resources and buy cheap oil from
foreign countries instead.

 

It's a lot bigger that "non-union software development". It's also
large chunks of the service sector, most manufacturing, anything that
doesn't specifically require a local labor force. We need to tariff
imported labor just like we tariff other imported goods. Otherwise
there won't be any jobs left in the USA or any people with money able
to pay the "US" corporations for their imported goods.