2011 MT legislature

[Lawnboy]

I'd like to say this about "Hunt Talk". This forum is full of friends. Anything that a poster want to ask, or to post for advice IMO, is a go. If you don't like it, you don't have to read it or follow it. Just my .02 cents. That's why I call this place home.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure Randy might even create a new forum for something that wasn't listed as long as it wasn't porn.
I don't drink beer so I don't read or comment on the beer thread. Doesn't mean that people can't discuss different flavors of barley pop.

 

[belly-deep]

That's kind of what I was thinking. I'm pretty sure Randy might even create a new forum for something that wasn't listed as long as it wasn't porn.
I don't drink beer so I don't read or comment on the beer thread. Doesn't mean that people can't discuss different flavors of barley pop.

I'm guessing you and SS are referring to me. Thats fine.

Every other forum I've been to has not allowed political threads unrelated to the main forum's topic. I assumed that was the same here, but BigFin corrected me on that an says its fine. If its cool with him, then that is good enough for me.

You'll also notice that I apologized for being the "hall monitor" as buzz put it.

 

[RockyDog]

Belly-Deep, dont sweat it and thanks for the apology. By posting this i learned alot from people that know more than me. I feel good about that. I still think Rheberg would bend me over for a buck, and in general I trust democrats to look out for the average guy more than i do the republicans. Whether it be stream access or health insurance. all these posts opened my eyes some on health care reform. as you can see my family has an extreme medical burden so I am a tad biased.

 

[Big Fin]

I'm guessing you and SS are referring to me. Thats fine.

Every other forum I've been to has not allowed political threads unrelated to the main forum's topic. I assumed that was the same here, but BigFin corrected me on that an says its fine. If its cool with him, then that is good enough for me.

Belly - that was not directed specifically at you. Sorry if it came across that way. I was referring to Rocky Dog that I thought it was a good topic for the Fireside.

I see how my comment may have come across as a "Shut up, I run the joint" comment, but that was not what I intended. Sorry about that.

We have the Fireside for non-hunting related issues. And if you want to talk pure politics, we have the Politics Forum that you have to ask to specifically sign up for.

Carry on guys.

 

[Lawnboy]

Fin you do run the joint
Belly Deep I saw your apology and only commented because others might be wondering what is and isn't off limits. I'm pretty sure that Randy would allow most stuff as long as it isn't porn or illegal. Wasn't trying to rub it in. I'm enjoying the bantering that's going on.

 

[Horn Seeker]

Just remember the insurance companies are businesses... they are trying to make money to pay employees who have bills and medical burdens of their own. These companies have MASSIVE responsibilty to their employees...they have many, many tens of thousands (hundreds of thousands??) of people that rely on them for income, comfort and health...

Being closely associated with a big insurance company that has paid my bills and put food on my table for about 16 years now, I am slightly biased. I have seen and heard about a LOT of smiling people that have gotten a check that allows them to rebuild their house after a fire or covers their doctor bills after an accident.

Biggest probs Period.... FRAUD... Pure fraud and the fraud that lawyers commit by conning people to sue insurance companies or doctors for 100X more damages than they may have expected......

 

[belly-deep]

Belly-Deep, dont sweat it and thanks for the apology. By posting this i learned alot from people that know more than me. I feel good about that. I still think Rheberg would bend me over for a buck, and in general I trust democrats to look out for the average guy more than i do the republicans. Whether it be stream access or health insurance. all these posts opened my eyes some on health care reform. as you can see my family has an extreme medical burden so I am a tad biased.

RockyDog,

I would say you are generally right as far as MT democrats go; I think they are a pretty good bunch of politicians (as far as politicians go). Democrats from outside of MT I don't care for...Pelosi, Obama, and the rest.

You are certainly qualified to be a tad biased given your family's condition. I can't fault you for that at all, and I hope I don't appear to be unsympathetic towards you and others in similar situations. I've had no such life experiences. My dislike of the bill comes from the tactics used to get it passed and that it seems to go way further than necessary in many respects. Then you have the recent exemptions to the bill for Obama's buddies like Unions and a few select corporations. To me, it makes the bill seem a little disingenuous and places the burden more squarely on smaller businesses.

 

[mdunc8]

Just remember the insurance companies are businesses... they are trying to make money to pay employees who have bills and medical burdens of their own. .

So was Bernie Madoff

 

[RockyDog]

RockyDog,

I would say you are generally right as far as MT democrats go; I think they are a pretty good bunch of politicians (as far as politicians go). Democrats from outside of MT I don't care for...Pelosi, Obama, and the rest.

agree with you completely and dont forget Reid. have a good day.

 

[noharleyyet]

The lack of media and, especially, political (both parties) rhetoric regarding collusionary insurance/pharma/tort/health care delivery says it all. Reminds me of an old adage, "The fix is good if you're in on it."

Good post Fin

 

[BRI]

The system is definitely broken in every aspect but I’m not sure I believe the government has the ability to come up with a solution and I don’t think the insurance companies want a solution. I do think a huge issue is with the ambulance chasing attorneys and the frivolous lawsuits. Hasn’t it been game-on ever since McDonalds had to pay because someone spilled hot coffee on themselves? We need some judicial review to look at some of these cases and say get this crap out of here.

I often wonder if the first day orientation for a new medical insurance employee is...."Deny every claim". Make them submit as much paperwork to make it painful. Hopefully they say screw it, I'll just pay the damn bill!

 

[MattK]

BRI- I agree that lawsuits have a lot to do with the problem.

Off topic somewhat but because you brought up the "hot coffee" incident, there was a lot of misinformation about that case. I just recently heard a lot more about that case that makes it a lot more in the favor of the person that received the settlement. 1. She wanted to settle out of court for very little...basically the cost of her burns but McD's wanted to roll the dice and make a statement. 2) The only reason McD's keeps their coffee that hot is to increase holding time on their coffee (money savings to them as they don't have to throw as much away). 3) McD's knew about the risk the temperature of the coffee had but ignored it because of the $$$. 4) The lady who received the settlement needed skin grafs. It wasn't just an ordinary coffee spill and a simple burn. I know I'm on a tangent and I definitely understand what you are saying about the ambulance chasing. However, I did find that information pretty revealing as to why she got such a big settlement (all of which I personally hadn't heard about).

 

[Nemont]

It is frightening to me how little people know about their health insurance, what their rights are within the state they live and what is available for them if they fall through the cracks.

For all who hate the insurance industry, you all are entitled to your feelings. Try working within the system for even 5 minutes and much would be clearer to those who believe all insurance companies are evil and they never pay for anything.

What is about to happen is the bill is going to come due for expanded coverage PPACA mandated. There is simply no way that coverage can be expanded and there not be an additional cost for insurance. Those are diverging curves and it will all be laid at the feet of the evil insurance industry. I have had to deal with this when HIPAA came about and costs went up an average of 50% in a two year period. That is going to happen again with PPACA. Not saying it is right or wrong just saying it is going to happen.

The entire system needs to reformed but I think a couple of things to remember; For those wanting the government to run it, they already pay 50% of all medical costs incurred in this country. Roughly $1.25 Trillion last year. Medicare is the single largest threat to our ability to ever have anything resembling a balanced budget. We can take back all the tax breaks handed since 2000 and it will not come close to the future liabilities of medicare as the baby boomers age. Every government ran health care program: Medicaid, Medicare, TriCare, IHS, SCHIP, etc all have major structural flaws and they are all having major budget shortfalls.

As for forming insurance across state lines, I disagree that it is just an insurance industry issue. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners also strong opposed allowing this for a couple of reasons. First and foremost whose laws apply? If a Montana resident bought a policy in Alabama and had a complaint for not covering something who do they complain to? Who law applies in this case. The NAIC does not want to lose their consumer protection function any further than they already have.

Pooling is great but once a pool get to a point of being credible they still get increases because the underlying costs of services is increasing at about 15% a year. If the pool decides they are smarter than the market and do not pass on a required increase then they end up like the school districts last year and are facing up to an 81% increase in premiums.

Covering sick people and sick children is the right thing to do. If we are going to not have a single payer, cradle to grave system then we need some way to require people to participate and end the free rider problem. Whether that is an individual mandate or not there needs to a way to have everyone paying in and insuring coverage for everyone.

So whether one believe PPACA is the answer or think it is not constitutional, the fact remains that we cannot expend 17% of our GDP on health care and compete in a world where other countries are spending 8%. The system needed reformed but I have very grave doubts that PPACA will do anything to lower the growth in the cost of healthcare and I know for a fact it will do zero to reduce what premiums are.

Nemont

 

[MattK]

Nemont- In order for any type of healthcare insurance to work, would you say that it needs to be mandatory for everyone to be on the plan?

 

[Nemont]

Nemont- In order for any type of healthcare insurance to work, would you say that it needs to be mandatory for everyone to be on the plan?

In some form or a single payer system. You cannot have the healthy, young invincibles choosing not to participate until they have an accident or illness. There are many, many countries that have a private/public partnership that provide universal care.

The Germans have an employer based system with a public safety net. The basically treat health insurers as public utilities. There are many "Sickness Funds" as they are called there and they are not allowed a "profit" but they are allowed to bank money and pay out bonuses for increased enrollment, reducing costs and saving money. The Germans have had two major reforms in recent years and are now moving to a two tiered system that allows people to opt out and go buy private insurance as well. They spend 8% of their GDP on health care.

Great Britain takes a different tack and provides national, cradle to grave, coverage for everyone. Same with Japan and many other advanced economies. There are models out there but Americans and especially American politicians have no real interest in a solution just rather to keep the current system limping along while crippling our ability to compete around the world.

Nemont

 

[Randy11]

sorry Randy. That does not sound good. You or your wife got a job prospect with insurance? If not hope you can use COBRA, going without insurance and getting into that "existing condition" status would be terrible. I assume rhebergs health care reform bill will pass so things are gonna be tougher. But hey, at least we wont be dragging down as much the ones who dont have life threateninging health expenses.

I actually am currently on Cobra right now, and HCTC pays it, and I reimburse them for my share. In a couple months I have to take over the full payments. It's gonna be steep, but I don't really have a choice.
Just got back from three days in Seattle of getting poked and prodded, and had a separate surgery on Thursday... There goes one hunt this fall

 

[Nemont]

At the end of COBRA there are options such as MCHA Portability or the MCHA Montana Affordable Care Plan (MAC). If you come off of COBRA this coverage is guaranteed issued and there is not a Preexisting waiting period.

http://www.mthealth.org/

It may or not be more or less expensive but it is an option for the end of COBRA.

The repeal of PPACA did not happen because it cannot pass through the Senate. Rehberg is running for Senate and polling shows PPACA is still unpopular and that the individual mandate is highly unpopular including such opponents as Gov. Schweitzer, who doesn't support the individual mandate.

The topic is not as simple as Republicans= bad, Democrats=good.

Nemont

 

[Randy11]

Thank you for that link NeMont...
Not sure if I qualify or not, but something to look in to.

 

[Nemont]

Randy11,

I would HIGHLY encourage you to call MCHA. call 800-447-7828 ext 2128 ask for Lynn. If you are at the end of COBRA and affordability is an issue you may probably can move to either MCHA plan.

I can help you navigate the system as well.

Nemont

 

[belly-deep]

It is frightening to me how little people know about their health insurance, what their rights are within the state they live and what is available for them if they fall through the cracks.
Nemont

Maybe you can answer a question somebody else asked. Are there many people that die because they have no way to get care?