Health Care Team

Posts Tagged ‘Healthcare’

Health care has been so much in the news lately and there has been so much discussion about it, most people probably have no idea how they may be affected. Here, in the United States, national health care has been basically, Medicare, for those over 65 (or disabled) and the state run, Medicaid, in New York, or similar program, in other states. In order to qualify for state medical aid, one must have virtually no income or assets.

This type of system leaves many people in a difficult situation with their health care status. If they are not working at a company that provides medical coverage, not elderly or not dirt poor, you may have problems with medical care.

National health care would help those who do not qualify for state aid and not eligible for Medicare or any other health benefit program through work or school. Many jobs provide access to a couple of health plans and cover part of the cost of enrollment, where the remainder, is deducted from the employee’s salary. Of course, how much is covered depends on the employer. When an employee leaves the job, they can be eligible for co-ordination of benefits rights act(COBRA) and still qualify for the reduced payment of the insurance coverage.

National health care can provide either a wide range of medical insurance plans at affordable prices to the general public or direct assistance with medical claims and bills. It can also help people with more serious illnesses pay for expensive medications and lab work.

Obtaining well being benefits from your employer is one of the easiest ways to get health insurance. Many of these plans are partially paid by the boss, giving you a way to save income on your health care. Employer paid services likely provides better benefits than subscriptions that are purchased individually. The group benefits that the boss receives for insuring a certain number of people allows the insurer to offer more benefits to the employee.

If you receive free or discounted benefit through your employer you can view this as a raise in your salary. Health subscriptions can soon be mandatory. Receiving a discount from your employer to purchase your plan would enable you to meet health coverage requirements and watch your budget. It is constantly advisable to take advantage of these services. You never know when an emergency can arise. Right now, a common 5 day stay in a hospital can exceed 100k! Having insurance must prevent you from going into debt, or worse, being unable to receive proper treatment for your sickness or injury. In the next couple years, employees will receive bonus tax benefits for carrying a corporation sponsored plan.

These more savings, if you qualify under the income guidelines, will result in tax credits. These credits than can be applied to your refund or taxes that are due. Health insurance is not easily found outside of employment. Personal policies can exceed a thousand dollars a month, making it too high for many to afford. If you have the opportunity to get into a business sponsored plan, you should take advantage of it.

On his first day as Florida’s new House speaker, Rep. Dean Cannon took a clear shot at President Barack Obama’s new health-care reform law. Easy To Insure ME has the answers

“Should it really be the role of government to require people to purchase a health insurance product they don’t want, raise taxes to give that same product to others who can’t afford it, and commandeer our state government and its resources to carry it out?” Cannon, a Winter Park Republican, told House members after being sworn in two weeks ago.

“Or, should we work to limit government and empower the private sector?”

On numerous fronts, Florida policymakers have already answered that question.

While the fight against President Obama’s health-care reform may be centered in the Beltway, Republican resistance to the sweeping new mandates is also taking shape in Tallahassee. Among the battlefronts:

• Florida led the charge with 19 other states last March by challenging the law in federal court, claiming the mandates that uninsured people buy coverage violated states’ rights. A judge in Pensacola is expected to rule shortly after a Dec. 16 hearing on whether the suit can move forward. More states are expected to join after a new crop of state attorneys general are sworn into office in January.

•Last spring, GOP legislators hastily drafted a constitutional amendment spelling out that Florida businesses and residents couldn’t be forced to buy insurance, but a Tallahassee judge threw it off the November ballot for “misleading” language. Lawmakers have re-filed an altered version and hope to place it before voters in 2012.  Read more... (1274 words, 1 image, estimated 5:06 mins reading time)

Four in every five Canadians believe that the demands placed on the health system by aging Baby Boomers will result in reduced access and lower quality care, a poll commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association reveals.

There are also widespread fears – by close to 75 per cent of respondents – that growing health costs will result in significant tax hikes and an inability of seniors to afford health care as they age.

At the same time, the survey shows strong support for user fees and having well-to-do Canadians pay more out-of-pocket to help attenuate the impact of caring for a growing population of seniors.

According to the poll, younger Canadians in particular (those born after 1966) are willing to adapt to the pressures on the medicare system by buying private health insurance to supplement publicly provided care, using their retirement savings to pay for health care and going into debt to pay the health costs of their parents and themselves.

“What we see in these poll results is a refreshing acknowledgment of reality,” Anne Doig, president of the CMA, said in an interview.

“Canadians are not giving up on medicare but they’re recognizing that medicare needs to be transformed to deal with current realities, demographic and otherwise,” she said.

The poll, which is being released Monday at the CMA general council meeting in Niagara Falls, Ont., dovetails nicely with a report released earlier this month entitled Health Care Transformation in Canada: Change that Works, Care that Lasts.  Read more... (746 words, estimated 2:59 mins reading time)

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