Reply to Rev Cyn; Reply to Rev John

Responses to Reverends not keen on debate.

Rev John commented at 5:27,

Doctors can and should do the counseling, Bill. The already are, they’re already reimbursed for it. 3200 is not creating anything all that new. If you don’t trust your current physician to do that consult with you, find a physician you trust.

[quoting me in earlier post] And you think these guys aren’t exploring AI?

C’mon, Bill. We all know Skynet was a military proj ect.

John, if Doctors were allowed to bill Medicare for an End-of-life consult the backers of HR3200 wouldn't have to write a section to allow it. HR3200 allows them to bill every five years. Of course they can do that now. So can you. So can I. But none of us can bill and get reimbursed for it. Only Doctors will be allowed; once every five years.

As for AI in Health Care. It's called Decision Support Systems. It's lucrative business.

As for Rev Cyn,

On Socialism,

Socialism: Not the same as Communism. Not the same as Fascism. It is an economic philosophy, like capitalism, not a political philosophy, like democracy. Democratic socialist countries abound. Capitalistic fascist societies can exist, too.

Fellow Worker Murf and myself the only UU's I know who were into the Red Lifestyle. It was a lifestyle. It was a Religion. We had a hymnal. We had saints. It was far more than a economic philosophy. I'm sure there are other UUs who had similar Marxists pasts. As for Socialism today, I'd call myself a Tony Blair style Socialist. I suspect Blair not every UU's favorite, nor Rev Cyns. So who knows what a Red is today.

More Rev Cyn on lying,

"Keep My Existing Insurance":

I wish you couldn't. I would like a single-payer system which covers the whole country. I would like universal health care. But the fact is, I'm not going to get what I want: you are. You can keep your existing insurance under the plans that are being proposed. Anyone who tells you differently is lying.

Well the opening sentence expresses a lot of Americans fears with HR3200. The fervent supporters wish Americans would give up their insurance and plunge into the single payer. They know what's best for all. HR3200 creates a seemingly powerful incentive for organizations to opt out of Health Insurance as a benefit and pay the 8% tax to the Health Exchange instead. So that looks the plan. Not a lie; just the forecast.

This bill could easily set a cap on what any employer is going to pay for health benefits at 8% of payroll, and let everyone go to the Gov Plan (or Coop for that matter). So to assert Americans can keep their insurance while forcing every entity paying a health benefit to revisit that 8% threshold flies in the face of common sense.

I don't know how clergy will fare here. There are often loopholes for them, but I'm guessing every Church, especially those strapped for cash, is going to balance the costs of keeping that expense, or opt for that 8% and tell their Minister to go to the Gov Plan.

So our Ministers could be some of the first experiencing the Gov Plan. It's either going to be the future of most Americans (if passed), or the plan of last resort; sort of a larger Medicaid. Depends on the Gov Plan benefits package, and whether employers feel a need to attract employees with better plans.

And, as a guy who cut-his-accountants-teeth on Medicare / Medicaid billing systems, I can assure all standing up this system will not be easy too. Cash for Clunkers was easy programming. The specs for this thing daunting.

More in a bit, after I finish getting my resume ready for the next decade's Ross Perot/EDS to get a piece of that action administering this monstrosity...

...while humming When I was a lad in 1906, I joined a band of Bolsheviks. I sang that song with a ring so true, that now I'm in the prisons of the GPU. And now he's in the prisons of the GPU.....

One day I'm going to write down the songs of America's Trotskyists.