Well

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I have tried to read the text of HR 3590 but ever time I try to open the site my computer crashes. I do get to the point where it says it is 351,993 words long. I know it was counted electronicly but I could just see some page with an assignment to count tthe words. I'll try another way if I can find one.

opencongress.org

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orders@sec.senate.gov


Just send them a request for a copy of HR 3590 and give them your name and address.
Anyone?

[David]

Here are the pdf files.

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thanks That first one downloaded in about 30 seconds. I took a speed reading course a few years ago. I scanned the last bill but it is still BORING.

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I just started on the Health Care Bill tonight. Here are a few gems: Domestic abuse and pregnancy will no longer be preexisting conditions for denial of insurance coverage. I mean, if your husband (or wife) beat you before you got insurance, insurance companies have denied coverage. And...if you were pregnant before, that means you have a proclivity to become pregnant again so that is a preexisting condition. Another part allows you to keep your kid on your policy until 27 if they are a dependant by every other criteria but age. In other words, you can keep your kid on you policy while they are in school. Or if they are an unemployed blogger sitting in the basement in their underwear listening to "I am a rock, I am an Island" That would definitely help the middle class. Insurance companies must pay out 85% of what they take in. That means a 15% profit only.

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Insurance companies no longer exempt from antitrust laws. You mean they have to compete? Communism! It didn't go so far as to require all insurance companies to compete in every state which I would have liked but if they sell in more than one state they must sell in all states.

Getting away from the bill, health care is too expensive because it is rife with monopolies. Health care insurance, equipment manufacturers and drug companies all have lobbied and succeeded with some exceptions such as the VA and DOD in eliminating competitive bidding by state or national governments. Hospitals and physicians (and nurses) are wined and dined by the representatives of the vendors and almost always pay what the vendors charge. The manufacturers are not content with adding a percentage onto the cost of production but raise the amount they charge independant of any kind of cost or overhead. Prices jumped proportionaly to the cost of advertising when drug companies started advertising prescription drugs and even that kept on climbing faster than the cost of advertising. Then their lobbyists and paid congressmen defended the price increases as necessary for research on new drugs, the only percentage that didn't increase, and a lot of that research is publicly funded. The medical malpractice system is all messed up. Just look at all the ads on tv, "if you or anyone in your family has had this happen to them:......." Not bad in itself but how much of the settlement money does the actual complainant receive? Often pennies. These are a few of the reasons our present health care system is more expensive than any socialized medicine in the world. The Democrats' solution? Let's pay a lot more. The Republicans like the system the way it is, the most expensive in the world because that is what the lobbyists expect them to say and they better if they want those donations coming in.

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Health Insurance Costs to Skyrocket by 10% in U.S. in 2010
January 28th, 2010

A recent national healthcare trend survey from Buck Consultants projected double-digit rate increases for health insurance in the U.S. The study analyzed responses from over 100 health insurers and HMOs. Insurers providing medical trends for the survey cover a total of approximately 78 million people. Costs for the most popular medical plans are projected to increase by more than 10 percent. Rate increases for health insurance plans are supposed to increase 11.1% for Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) 11.1%, 10.9% for Point-of-service (POS) health plans, 10.3% for HMOs, and 10.3% for High Deductible Consumer Driven Health Plans. In 2009 average cost of health insurance for an individual in the US was $4,824, and for a family $13,375. With an average of over 10% rate increases per year by 2020 this means the cost of health insurance per year could be as high as or higher than $13,763 for an individual and $38,160 for a family per year. Now that healthcare reform has died, US health insurance carriers and employers are going to turn faster to medical tourism as a solution to reduce healthcare costs as the US healthcare crisis continues to worsen.

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Psychiatric News December 7, 2007
Volume 42 Number 23 Page 12
© American Psychiatric Association
Health Care Economics
Prescription Drug Cost Increases Far Outpace U.S. Inflation Rate
Rich Daly
Next SectionPrices for the 122 drugs most commonly prescribed rose nearly 14 percent between 2004 and 2007, soundly beating inflation.

Previous Section The cost of prescription drugs rose at rates higher than the rate of inflation from 2000 to 2005, which made prescription drug costs among the fastest-growing in health care, according to a federal tracking report released in October.

A congressionally mandated report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) tracked the “usual and customary” prices for 122 of the most-prescribed medications dispensed by pharmacies in New York and Pennsylvania. The report found a 4.3 percent average annual increase and a nearly 14 percent increase in overall prices between January 2004 and January 2007. The report also tracked a narrower group of drug prices from 2000 to 2007.






The drug price increases outpaced a common inflation measure during the period. The GAO cited nationwide data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that found that from January 2004 to January 2007 prices of all common consumer goods for urban consumers—known as the Consumer Price Index (CPI)—increased by an average of 9.3 percent, or 3.0 percent annually.

The drug price increases were thought to be a large component of increases in overall health care costs, which rose by 6.9 percent in 2005, the most recent year for which the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has data.

Significantly, the GAO report found divergent trends among brand-name and generic drugs. So-called “usual and customary” prices decreased among the 57 generic drugs tracked and increased for the 65 brand-name drugs. Specifically, the generic drug prices decreased by an average of 12.8 percent between 2004 and 2007, or 4.5 percent annually, while the brand-name drug prices increased by an average of 21 percent, or 6.6 percent annually.

The findings reflect those of previous drug-price analyses, including an August 2005 GAO report that found a 30-day supply of the 96 drugs most commonly prescribed under a large federal-worker insurance program increased by nearly 25 percent between January 2000 and December 2004.

When the GAO researchers also updated their previous study on the narrower group of medications to include data through January 2007, they found prices for the brand-name drugs increased 48.6 percent, or 5.8 percent annually (see chart).

“Prescription Drugs: Trends in Usual and Customary Prices for Drugs Frequently Used by Medicare and Non-Medicare Health Insurance Enrollees” is posted at.▪

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Consumer price index summary:

The index for all items less food and energy rose 1.8 percent during
2009, the same increase as in 2008. This identical increase was the
result of offsetting factors. Pushing the index higher were vehicle
prices, which rose in 2009 after declining in 2008. The indexes for
new vehicles rose 4.9 percent in 2009 and the index for used cars and
trucks increased 9.2 percent. Additionally, the apparel index turned
up in 2009, rising 1.9 percent after declining in each of the
previous two years. The medical care index rose more rapidly in 2009,
increasing 3.4 percent after a 2.6 percent increase the previous
year, and the tobacco index increased 30.1 percent in 2009 after
rising 6.3 percent in 2008. Largely offsetting these accelerations
was the shelter index, which posted its smallest annual increase
since its inception in 1953. It increased only 0.3 percent after
increasing 1.9 percent in 2008, with the indexes for both rent and
owners' equivalent rent increasing 0.7 percent. Also, the indexes for
recreation and for household furnishings and operations both declined
in 2009 after rising in 2008.

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Producer Price Index continues to increase - medical equipment manufacturers - illustration
Health Industry Today, July, 1991
1 2 Next
[TABULAR DATA OMITTED]

Analysis:

The finished goods component of the Producer Price Index increased 0.7% to 121.7 in May from 120.9 in April. The May index is 3.4% higher than one year earlier.

The index increased for the second month in a row, after dropping for five consecutive months. Price increases for catheters led all categories.

The Consumer Price Index (for all consumer items) increased 0.3% in May to 135.6 from 135.2 in April. The percent change in the index from on year earlier is 5.0%

Meanwhile, the Consumer Price Index for medical care increased 0.5% in May to 175.2 from 174.4 in April. That was 9.0% higher than one year earlier. For all data except for surgical instruments, 100 equals the price level in 1982. For surgical instruments, 100 equals the price level in 1989.