pioneer98 wrote:My Congressman votes against the stupid things proposed by Cruz, so I have no problem re-electing my Congressman....At the senate level, I didn't have much if a problem with Harkin or Grassley over the years, either. I even voted for Grassley 2 cycles ago....Iowa may be a very poor example of partisanship, because it is one of the most "purple" states in the country. We have a Republican governor, a Democrat-controlled House, and the contingent we send to Washington is a mixed bag.
SUNDAY morning news programs identify Kentucky as the red state with two high-profile Republican senators who claim their rhetoric represents an electorate that gave President Obama only about a third of its presidential vote in 2012.
So why then is Kentucky — more quickly than almost any other state — moving to implement the Affordable Care Act?
Because there’s a huge disconnect between the rank partisanship of national politics and the outlook of governors whose job it is to help beleaguered families, strengthen work forces, attract companies and create a balanced budget.
What’s known as accountable care is a change from the traditional fee-for-service model in which hospitals are paid each time a patient shows up, making more money the more care they provide. Under the new system, major hospitals concentrate on their sickest patients to figure out how to keep them healthy and at home. “This is not just one more of those 1990s initiatives around cost containment; this is really a trend around changing the way you deliver care,” says Karoline Hilu, a senior director at the Advisory Board, a Washington-based health-care consulting firm that works with hospitals. “This is going to be what hospitals need to do to survive.”
2012 was the first year that Medicare costs went down since its inception. That boggles my mind, actually.
One congressman called Obamacare "the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed," Obama said, visibly amused. "Ever."
He was referring to Rep. John Fleming (R-La.), who made the comment earlier this month.
Other Republicans have warned the law will lead to "Armageddon," he said, and one state representative called it "as destructive to personal and individual liberties as the Fugitive Slave Act."
The latter comment came from New Hampshire state Rep. Bill O’Brien.
Better yet, the president continued, one Republican said the health care law has to be repealed "before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens."
That quote came from Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.).
Basically, Republicans hate this law because a) it shows government can actually take on big problems and improve on them, if not eliminate them and b) because Democrats and Obama are the ones making the improvements. The "dangerous" aspect of it is that it is dangerous to Republicans' political careers if it succeeds.
They are scared because in a year from now when it's all in place and everyone sees it's a good thing the Republicans are all kinds of [expletive]. What happens when the thing you've been fear mongering about for years turns out to be something great? We'll find out, but this new law is going to be a great thing for a lot of people. I can't wait to sign up on an exchange next week. The last time I had insurance it was nearly $300 a month, the best projections I saw have me paying more then a $100 less than that. That's F'n awesome.
What’s known as accountable care is a change from the traditional fee-for-service model in which hospitals are paid each time a patient shows up, making more money the more care they provide. Under the new system, major hospitals concentrate on their sickest patients to figure out how to keep them healthy and at home. “This is not just one more of those 1990s initiatives around cost containment; this is really a trend around changing the way you deliver care,” says Karoline Hilu, a senior director at the Advisory Board, a Washington-based health-care consulting firm that works with hospitals. “This is going to be what hospitals need to do to survive.”
2012 was the first year that Medicare costs went down since its inception. That boggles my mind, actually.
This truly is a great, great idea:
The job of keeping Redd out of the hospital fell to social worker Derrick Williams, one of 27 employed by Mount Sinai. When Redd first became ill last year, she didn’t have a primary-care doctor and bounced between emergency rooms trying to figure out what was causing her vomiting, pain, and sudden weight gain of 50 pounds. Her legs were so swollen with fluid she couldn’t walk or put her clothes on, and she struggled to care for her 13-year-old daughter. “I used to feel like I wasn’t going to wake up the next morning,” Redd says. “The only time I felt good was when I was sleeping.” Doctors at Mount Sinai finally diagnosed her with kidney failure and told her she needed to go on dialysis.
One of the first things Williams did was find Redd a primary-care doctor, a simple yet effective way of keeping patients away from the emergency room. Mount Sinai has a program that grants its most at-risk patients easy access to a regular doctor or nurse practitioner. Now Redd has someone to call day or night who can tell her if she’s having a true emergency and, if not, schedules her for an office visit within a day or two.
The stories I've heard of the ER is that it is a ton of patients who simply need primary care treatment with the trend being to fake heart problems just to be the first to see a doctor and avoid the couple hour long wait = an ekg = more money spent.
