[NPInfo] McCain the Health radical?

[Marilyn Dean]

Speaking of broken. Early in Feb our son and daughter-in-law had a premie
(24 weeks gestation-1# 8.9 oz). Birth date Feb 5th and discharge date May
25th. There is a 2 million dollar limit on their group BC/BS policy and the
hospital bill alone was 997,000.00. The neonatologist was charging 2,200.00
per day and there were other people involved including a pediatric
cardiologist (closed his PDA), a pediatric nephrologist (has medullary
calcinosis thought to be from an acute tubular necrosis related to the meds
they tried to use to close the PDA, and antibiotics). Pretty scarey time all
the way around and we are happy to report that he is now over 11 pounds,
smiling and physically very strong. Hopefully the cognitive development will
be normal, but they suggest it takes a couple years to know this. We are
thankful for all the wonderful care he received and without it we probably
wouldn't have this beautiful little boy. If he turns out anything like Dave
Mittman who wrote at the time that he was a premie, it will be a success
story all the way around.
Anyway, the only thing I can do is hope that the group plan will increase
their lifetime max. I know my own recently went to 5 million.
Marilyn Dean (who today is happy to report we are heading out to Washington
state to a vacation house where we will have all our kids and grandkids in
one place for a couple of days. Can't wait to see the grandchildren playing
together and of course see baby Andrew again)

-----Original Message-----
From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net]On
Behalf Of David Mittman
Sent: Friday, August 01, 2008 9:47 AM
To: NP Info
Subject: Re: [NPInfo] McCain the Health radical?


Never said that. What I do know is by every measurement the system is
very broken. I don't know who can fix. I know how I would start but
it's a tough bind. Someone has to start fixing.
Dave

On Aug 1, 2008, at 8:07 AM, Joanne DaCunha wrote:

> And, you think the government can fix that?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: npinfo-bounces at nurse.net [mailto:npinfo-bounces at nurse.net] On
> Behalf Of David Mittman
> Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2008 10:45 PM
> To: ACC; NP Info; paforum at mc.duke.edu
> Subject: [NPInfo] McCain the Health radical?
>
> I pay close to $18,000 a year in after tax dollars for the worst
> health
> care coverage I have ever had.
>
> July 30, 2008, 9:06 am
> Why McCain Is the Radical on Health
> Posted by Jacob Goldstein
> John McCain "is proposing the most fundamental health-care reform" of
> the presidential campaign, a McCain adviser argues in an op-ed in this
> morning's WSJ.
>
> This struck us as a rather surprising argument, given that Barack
> Obama's proposal includes mandating insurance for all children and
> creating a national public insurance program to cover those who don't
> have access to insurance through their employers.
>
> The op-ed, John C. Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis,
> focuses on McCain's proposed changes to the tax code, which constitute
> the main thrust of his health plan.
>
> Goodman writes that the current system is "extremely arbitrary,"
> because it allows employers to pay for health insurance with pre-tax
> dollars, but doesn't extend that break to the growing number of people
> whose employers don't provide insurance.
>
> McCain's plan would get rid of the tax break for employer-sponsored
> insurance, and replace it with a fixed insurance tax credit - $2,500
> for
> individuals, $5,000 for families - that people could use whether or
> not
> they get their insurance through work.
>
> This would create a "fairer, more efficient system with a much better
> chance of insuring the uninsured and controlling health costs at the
> same time," Goodman argues.
>
>
>
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