Question Time

“Deirdre Van Dyk and I will be doing a podcast on health care to post later this week”
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Why her?

Please explain EXACTLY where in the Constitution of the United States is the federal government empowered to REQUIRE me to purchase any consumer product including but not limited to health insurance?

Because she will be asking me questions that are submitted by our Swamplanders. And, no, “why her?” is not going to be one of them.

Why are members of congress AND their leadership excluding themselves from HCR coverage? If it is so good for the American public, then why, pray tell, is it not good enough for them?

I can answer that now: Under the law, no one who receives coverage from their employer is eligible to buy it in the exchanges. The fear is that allowing that would undermine the employer-based system.

KT:
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Here’s my question:
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“By how much is this health care reform legislation expected to reduce the cost per person per year in the United States* from its current $7400+ down to that of other OECD countries* like Germany or France with their (approximately) $3600 per person per year?
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*Source: US Dept. of Health and Human Services CMS report 2008: link to PDF source
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*Source: OECD health care spending data 2009: link to source
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Deidre: “Karen, my dear, what events or stories do YOU think were the tipping points in getting this thingy done? And where DID you buy that lovely outfit?” And I always ask the Rorschach-esque q.: “What is your favorite DQ sundae?”
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(If I were asked, there were two events, both of which made the HC crisis hit home personally. The later event was the planned Wellpoint / Anthem rate hikes. “Oh, I’ve got insurance, that doesn’t affect me, right? Now it does.” The earlier was… (drum roll) …KT’s cover story about her brother. Media coverage really did pick up after that. Toot you’re your own horn, KT! Flaunt your media starlet status and stop being modest already.)

Isn’t it funny that the industry that was attacked the most throughout this debate (the health insurance industry, and rightfully so), ended up being a HUGE beneficiary to this bill?

…or ask the more direct version: “How much of a difference did YOUR coverage and that of your fellow swampwomen make in getting this thingy done?”

Great question, SZ.
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IMO this is the most important issue when it comes to health care- cost, because it affects nearly everything.

Could you discuss what effect the Massachusetts reform had on the cost of premiums, and whether we can expect the federal reform to have a similar effect? There seem to be conflicting reports on whether costs have gone up or down there.

KT, if my question doesn’t make it to the podcast, I’d be just as happy with you answering it. Just sayin’

Thanks for this Karen. My question is, given that this first year is frontloaded with new things that insurance co’s have to do (accept people with pre-existing conditions, remove lifetime caps, etc.), what safeguards are in place to keep those companies from jacking up premiums into low orbit while they still can?

“What are the biggest but least-noticed changes that will favorably / adversely affect the public?”

Here’s my question: How come KT never answers Stuart’s question?

Can you outline the legal objections to the health care reform bill’s individual mandate?

Conversely, can you describe legislation that supports the concept of an individual mandate?

“With the House of Rep.’s gallery vending machines offering 50-cent sodas, how much are the candy bars and snack chips?”
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“KT, in all your years of quality, award-winning journalism, have you (or your teammates) ever completed the ‘vending machine challenge’: eat one each of every item in the same machine in one sitting?” (it’s not easy, it’s really gross, even worse than the “suicide fountain drink”: mix all flavors at once)

“KT, do YOU think ice dancing compulsaries should be removed from the Olympics and Worlds competitions?”
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(I don’t; they’re dull as paint drying but since their moves aren’t as hard as pairs they still need an apples-to-apples yardstick.)

Maybe not for dead-tree time, but sometime I’d like you to address: “which game did HCR in fact turn out to be? Chicken? Lighthouse?”

I haven’t seen really good numbers for how much health care would have cost without the bill. It’s presumably not just the 940 plus the savings. Why have so few Democrats talked about this? The 940billion isn’t in a vacuum, it’s instead of the billions we would otherwise be spending.

KT, starting this September there are lots of requirements that are politically popular, such as no more denial of coverage for children with pre-existing conditions, but the individual mandate does not take effect for several years. Seeing as the immediate impact is likely to be adding high risk individuals to the risk pool without balancing this with the addition of the healthy uninsured, what is in the bill, if anything, to help limit premium increases due to the changing risk pool until the individual mandate takes hold? If nothing is in the bill, are the proposals or ideas on how to address this concern in the short term (as it will no doubt embolden the “repeal” movement if short term impacts are higher premiums)?

There have been talks of bringint the public option back. I hope it doesn’t come back to the bill. Do you think it will?

“How many GOP attorneys general who’re running for higher office expect this issue to propel them to higher office?

Now that healthcare has passed, what will swampland be looking to cover as the next big story? (I’m hoping for essays on how the senators spent their spring break.)

Would the healthcare bill have gotten more support from the tea partiers if they had a provision that mandated tea time for all workers?

Do Republicans think federally-mandated tort reform is Constitutional, and why, given that for 200 years tort law has been assumed to be a state issue?

(Good question. I’m hoping it’s finance reform with KT, Jay, Katie, and Amy working with TIME’s biz reporters like Barbara Kiviat and Stephen Gandel, etc. on a “superteam” to co-write stories.)

How many illegal aliens wont be getting healthcare because of this bill?

If two trains, on the same track, 100 miles apart, leave their stations at the same time, heading toward each other, one traveling at a rate of 20 miles per hour – assume instantaneous velocity – and the other at 27 miles per hour, what color are the conductors’ socks?

“KT, what was your most unusual / surprising HCR interview?”
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“Did you have to keep food diaries or join press pools in public restrooms during HCR coverage?”

Is it morally or ethically wrong to tell Grandma, that yes there are death panels and she’s their first “winner”?

Haha, I’m really digg’n your food questions.

How many McDonald’s cheeseburgers can Stupak eat in one sitting?

…we can answer that for KT: the socks will turn blue. The light waves bouncing off both pairs are approaching each other, not receding, and per the Doppler effect the colors shift towards blue as they get closer.

“You’ll never guess what the cover story is this week.”

I dunno… American Idol?

I wish I were kidding.

Brown. Sames as the pants.

Thanks. Your question about Stupak eating cheeseburgers makes me want to ask lovely KT if she personally saw Bill Clinton eat lots of McDonald’s during his WH stay, or was that more of a DC legend?

I can see Deirdre asking, “Dear Karen, what is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?”

Since the premise of a mandate is lowering cost by spreading the risk, what is the argument against allowing an unofficial immigrant to use their own money to purchase health insurance? Without it, they will continue to use the ER inappropriately, doubly increasing costs.

I second Stuart’s question and will add:
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While living in Germany a decade ago, our family received house calls (remember those?) when we were down with strep and chicken pox.
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This, in a country that spends 1/2 of what we do, per person, on health care.
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What can we do to restore this level of doctor/patient interaction here in the USA?

Ooo, I hope its:
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“TIME
‘…A big f*cking deal.’
-VP Joe Biden”
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I’m pretty sure that’ll sell magazines.

When will we expect to see the “replace” bill that the GOP is chanting about in their “Repeal and Replace” slogans?

Is the the last health care reform we should expect to pass for the next 50 years?

1. Not really a question.. Can you find out the reasons why each of those House Democrats that voted against the HCR?
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2. In hindsight, Did Bart Stupak really have 12 votes in his pocket?

KT – According to Think Progress, families will end up saving around $200 a year under this legislation:
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Families will save $100-200 annually. Families purchasing coverage in the small business market could save up to $100 annually and those who seek insurance in the large-group market could save up to $200 annually, the CBO report found.

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http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2010/02/25/obama-premiums/
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Did we really just go through a year of people screaming at the tops of their lungs so that a family can save $200/year?
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If our health care system is prohibitively expensive now, then what is $200/year going to do?

@SZ- I never thought of it before, but shouldn’t you ask more about moving targets? For instance, in 10 years,
Germans won’t be paying $3600 per year either, they’ll be paying $3600 compounded by somewhere between 3% normal inflation and whatever hyper-inflation we get for medical care here.
I’m upset to pay double what other countries are paying, but I’m even more upset about the hyper-inflationary growth. I’d rather pay double what the Europeans are paying now, with less inflation, than pay their rates now but with hyperinflation over the coming decade.

But what EVER you do, do NOT ask: “What would Jesus say?”

oh, MAN, I wish I had not typed that
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. . . Forgive me Father, for I have sinned . . .
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really, though, I like stu@4
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and, “If it is constituional to require US citizens to have health insurance, is it not constitutional to require insurers to charge them no more than $X?”

wwraqfter@27~~

Now THAT’s a good one!

Why is the Left the only group within the Democratic tent they refused to negotiate with on health reform?

anon76:
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If the choice were between accepting the same price now, and a low interest rate over the next 30 years, or a low price now, and a high interest rate over that period, of course I’d take the high price now.
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The high inflation rate we experience is a big reason why we have the high price per person, though, so that’s not the choice we face, unfortunately.
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If you look at this chart from US Health and Human Services ( link to PDF of projected categories of inflation rates ), you can see that the price inflation rates account for the majority of inflation. These price increases (as opposed to the other factors of age and use of health care) are the overwhelming cause of our cost discrepancy with other OECD nations.
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From the chart, you can see that “Relative Medical Prices” (the blue segment) actually decreased during 2006-2008, producing this:

U.S. health care spending growth decelerated in 2008, increasing 4.4 percent compared to 6.0 percent in 2007, as spending growth slowed for nearly all health care goods and services, particularly for hospitals. Health spending growth for state and local and private sources of funds also slowed while federal health spending growth accelerated in 2008.
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Total health expenditures reached $2.3 trillion in 2008, which translates to $7,681 per person and 16.2 percent of the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Despite slower growth in overall health expenditures, the share of GDP devoted to health care increased from 15.9 percent in 2007.

Unfortunately, as you can also see, the blue segment goes right back up again during 2014-2019.
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We pay $2.3 or so trillion dollars, the cost of two foreign occupations, in a single year for health care.
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That’s the price of our prices.
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We simply don’t get to choose between a low cost now with a high interest rate, and a high cost now with a low interest rate. It’s either lower prices now and in the future, or an inflation rate that exceeds GDP growth in a boom economy by more than a point.
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In other words, “bending the cost curve” isn’t a real option for a sustainable system.
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Thanks for reading and thinking about this, anon76.

Thank you, I worked hard on that question.

AS and the other new guy can talk about their childhood…which was literally yesterday.

Eeesh. I can imagine kids covering The Who. They are not alright.

“Will there be a watchdog (other than the IRS) created that will make sure cost savings are realized?”

Wait… Was the rail built with stimulus money? Does it run interstate? If yes, then the socks are definately red.

How much influence do you think the traditional media had on the understanding of health care reform?
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Pundits predictions that often were adamant but wrong: cannot be reconciliation, Obama weak, Pelosi weak, tea party groups speaking for everyone,
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Assuming all those commenting on reform were experts. Not explaining conflicting interests,
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Over covering the tea party groups and not addressing who was financing their “grass roots” and their agenda
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Not noticing and reporting on the negative influence of hate radio and Fox News in fomenting the violence and hate we are now seeing and how the Reps helped generate the misinformation used to dupe the right.
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I only ask these questions because we will be going into other areas where bipartisanship will not be possible;
finance reform
immigration reform
cap and trade
and I wonder if the same old Broder like memes will come forward and then the demonation of the left.

One question that was asked a while back, never adequately answered and then buried is: What are the estimated costs for insuring people with severe preexisting conditions? Let’s take lifelong smokers. If their lungs are totaled, how much would treating that cost? For a severe preexisting condition, that one’s pretty common. If insurance could not be denied, who pays for that, and how much? How high would the smoker’s premiums be, and how high would the general populace’s premiums be? I don’t believe I’ve heard of a premium cap being legislated, so couldn’t the insurance company just set these terminal smoker’s premiums at a tremendously high level? Eleventy billion dollars, let’s say?

In the bill as it stands, I believe there is only guaranteed coverage for CHILDREN with preexisting conditions. So questions remain, but for a much smaller set of people. I’m still curious as to the interaction with the premium cap and the estimated cost of insuring various (relatively common) severe preexisting youth maladies. Could insurance companies say, “Sure, we’ll cover your kid- for 80 million”? It seems not, the PR would destroy them. So the follow-up question is- how much would our rates go up for subsidizing them? More out of curiosity than a Scroogish impulse to snuff the life out of Tiny Tim for a few bucks, I swear.