Hmm… You seem to have a different view on that scripture than JPII.
vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_01051991_centesimus-annus_en.html
Are you kidding? Where on earth did you hear this bit of fiction? The Roman Government was not into social services. It was military based and the point was to keep its vassals working to MAKE their own bread plus enough to pay taxes…for the military presence, the nice robes the Romans wore, the military gear, the building of roads to new lands for conquering.
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brillig.com/debt_clock/
Mickey you are woefully ignorant of medical finances and progress in medical care. Yes Medicare has a fee schedule and that was precisely what I referred to. Our specialty clinic has a procedure for which our charge is $5900. Now maybe you dismiss the talent it takes to open up a person, fix what’s wrong, close him back up again and then care for him for 90 days following the surgery. Oh you didn’t realize that when we do a surgery there is a “global period” where our care is covered as a part of the surgical payment. Now just in case you actually have respect for a doctor who went to school for 20+ years and think his lifesaving skills are worth paying for, how much of that $5900 do you think he gets from Medicare? That’s right it’s limited to $1785 quoted previously. IOW Medicare sets the fees that a doctor can make for doing various procedures. Realize Medicare sets this fee based on a formula that doesn’t reflect the increased cost of providing the care and realize further that it’s stagnant if not being reduced.*Hi Lisa, nice to hear from you again. Reference your, “Surgery payment by Medicare 1988 $5181.00”. What can I say. The eighties were a time of excesses.
Otherwise, from what I’ve seen of medicare payments. They have a fee schedule that they go by. If the charge is considered allowable. They’ll generally pay 80 percent of the allowable fee. My Dental insurance does the same thing. (Sadly, they don’t pay 80% though.)
As I’m sure you, as someone in the business, knows. Many organizations have fee schedules. Workers comp in most states is another example. So in short. It’s not revolutionary, it’s how things are done. I’ve not heard of any hospitals, or ambulance companies going out of business for it. Quite the opposite in fact. If they did not have medicare payments coming in, in a timely fashion. Then, they would go out of business.*
I’m sure you know this as well. Much in the medical profession has changed between 1988 and 2012. In general, procedures are much less invasive. Many surgeries are handled on an “out patient” basis. I would have to wonder about a physician who is performing the very same procedure today. That he did in 1988. Besides that, Surgeon/physician incomes rose drastically in the eighties. There was the advent of elective surguries. Most of which, I don’t believe deserve medicare reimbursment in the first place. But, they drove up costs non-the-less. Without some serious innovation on the part of our government. We might have seen physician fees cut entirely from medicare. GW, and his administration actually considered this. Where do you suppose we would be now, if they had?
ATB
What? You subtly are saying that I’m not Catholic because I don’t agree with you? Come on.
In the early Church they pooled their money together and distributed to each according to his/her need. They did not give it to the Romans to distribute. The admonition to give alms was not an admonition to give money to the government to distribute. I’m sorry. but your argument is simply not true. As a matter of fact, in modern times Catholic Charities gets money from the government (in contracts) to distribute alms, not the other way around.
Putting a stone of taxes around other people’s necks to take the “albatross” of insurance premiums off of others’ necks is justified? Really? This is getting more absurd as it goes on.
Lisa that’s the whole point. Cut reimbursment rates so low, doctors and hospitals are forced to turn away all Medicare/Medicaid patients…then the government can say “Look, Look! At these evil, greedy, heartless doctors and hospitals turning down grandpa because he has Medicare and Medicare unlike the greedy private insurance companies…don’t charge their patients outrageous prices…we need a nationalized health care service like the British have.”
Sure it does,if you are willing to plan ahead,“hurry up and wait” as is so often the case with gov’t programs.
Karl Marx accurately described the state of the working class under the unfettered capitalism of the second half of the 19th century. Charles Dickens did the same. For a more modern treatment, I recommend Steve Johnson’s book The Ghost Map. He does a fantastic job describing London at the time of the cholera epidemic in 1854. It is both shocking and amazing.
Romneycare is a government program and nobody in Massachusetts is waiting in line to see a doctor. Go back and read my first post.Sure it does,if you are willing to plan ahead,“hurry up and wait” as is so often the case with gov’t programs.
Are you a vet?
“You say po-tay-to, I say po-tah-to”
Follow the money to see where the incentives lie. Seriously, what do you think motivates men who are so wealthy to spend so much money to defeat a moderate like McCain? Pure political power is the only thing they lack.
Romney opposed and vetoed a penalty/tax which was overrode by a Democrat legislature which was over 80%
That explains a lot.
Of course we want what is best for them!Are you a vet?
I want better than “pretty good” for our veterans. I want the BEST for them. And I have not heard even “pretty good” for VA hospitals.
Why do the signs in the federal parks say “Don’t feed the Animals”?
Saying Karl Marx accurately described the problem is not the same as saying communism is the solution - sorry you can’t seem to make that distinction.My ignore list is growing. Communism is everywhere.
