The Way You Pay For Health Care Now �A New Way to Pay for Health Care in the Future
Are You Being Ripped Off?
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You can do better!
My Friend Leonard
Leonard belongs to an electrician’s union. He worked hard all his life.
He thought he had an excellent health insurance plan.
He thought if he needed health care he could afford to pay 20% of the cost since the plan would cover 80%.
But, He didn’t know his multiple back surgeries, and surgery for a traumatic brain injury after a car accident followed by several strokes would cost
over $2.5 M and 20% of 2 ½ million dollars would mean Leonard personally would pay $500,000.
He had to refinance his home more than once.
He had hoped to have no long term debt after he retired but instead he and his wife had another very big debt to pay.
We can do better for your family and Leonard’s
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We Can Create A Colorado-owned Healthcare Plan
A way for your family to have
Health Care Security
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A Colorado Healthcare Plan
A practical way for you and your family to have
Excellent Doctor-Patient Care
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A Colorado Healthcare Plan
not the stockholders of your current commercial health insurance plan
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YOU would own
the health care plan
What Is Wrong With Your Current Commercial Health Insurance Plan?
You are NOT guaranteed comprehensive health care coverage, for the rest of your life without an increase in your premium, copays, or deductibles
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Our Congressmen have that guarantee
Why don’t all Americans have that guarantee?
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Do you have full choice of doctors?
Does your plan cover everything you need?
What Is Wrong With Your Current Commercial Health Insurance Plan?
What Is Wrong With Your Current Commercial Health Insurance Plan?
Your family’s premiums and
out-of-pocket expenses are too high
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What Is Wrong With Your Current Commercial Health Insurance Plan?
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We wasted $4.5B of the $31.2B on unnecessary administrative costs
Coloradans Spent $31.2B on premiums and out-of-pocket expenses in 2019
$4.5B
Admin costs
$31.2B Coloradoans
total spent on Health Care
Where Does Your Hard Earned�Health Care Money Go?
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Stephen Hemsley, United Health CEO Annual compensation package was $7M in 2019
25% of hospital costs are administrative
Colorado has the 5th highest hospital prices in U.S.
Colorado hospitals have the 2nd highest profits in U.S.
Your Commercial Profit-first Health Insurance Company…
Sometimes covers your medical expenses, but sometimes fails to take care of you.
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Your health insurance company profits by denying you care.
The Bottom Line is Their Bottom Line - Not Yours.
Is Your Commercial Profit-first Health Insurance Company “Taxing” You?
But it is like a “tax” because
You have to pay it since you need medical care
Your premiums pay for unnecessary management, marketing and stockholder gains
But you can’t vote out the people who are “taxing” you!
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They have the power to “tax” and they “tax” you mightily
No it isn’t a traditional government tax
Is Your Private Health Insurance Company “Taxing” You?
Americans believe in no taxation without representation. Right?
Is it time for a “Tea Party at your Commercial
Profit-First Insurance Company’s Office?
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Should We Eliminate �This Administrative Nightmare?
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Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics; NCHS; Himmelstein/Woolhandler analysis of CPS
3000% |
2500% |
2000% |
1500% |
1000% |
500% |
0% |
1970 | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
Administrators
Doctors
Percentage of Growth of Administrators vs. Doctors in the U.S. 1970 - 2010
Do You Have Insurance �But Can’t Afford To Use It?
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Uninsured Under-insured
Uninsured and Underinsured --
420K filed for Unemployment benefits*
* Denver Post June 13, 2020
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??
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Do Your Employees �Have Health Insurance?
The Colorado Plan would ensure your employees have health insurance
As a small business owner you would no longer lose employees because YOU can’t provide them with health insurance
As a business owner you would no longer spend hours figuring out what health plan to offer your employees and how to pay for it
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Steward Masweneng on Upsplash
Does Your Hard Working Family �Have Insurance?
Before the pandemic:
In 2019 Colorado's uninsured rate was 6.5 %
But during the pandemic:
In 2020, many Coloradans lost their jobs and their health insurance coverage.
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Annual Retail Prescription �Spending Per Person�
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Marketing, lobbying and administration is 270% more than R&D!
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The Myth: Research $ Drives Drug Costs
Cancer drug Rituxan – �one dose�http://consumersunion.org/outrageous-health-costs/cancer-drug-markup/�Steven Brill, Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills are Killing Us, Time Magazine, March 4, 2013.
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Should drugs be priced fairly?
Drug Costs: Cancer Drug Example
How Much of Your Money Do Profit-first Pharmaceutical Companies Spend Lobbying Congress?
The profit-first commercial pharmaceutical and health products industry spent:
$228M lobbying Congress in 2019* (more than any other industry)
$233M spent each year from 1999-2018
$414M more contributing annually to candidates and political parties 1999-2018**
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Your money is being spent to make you pay more for a drug you need. Is that how you want to spend your money??
* opensecrets.org 10/25/19
**JAMA Internal Medicine May, 2020
National Cancer Institute on Upsplash
You and I Are Paying More For Health Care Than People Pay in other Countries
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https://www.pgpf.org/chart-archive/0170_international_health_spending_comparison
July 2020
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Do You Pay More and Get Less?
Life expectancy at birth
The United States
Ranks 42nd
Among the developed countries
According to the CIA World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2102rank 2016 est.
Deaths of Mothers During �Child Birth Is Rising in the U.S.
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Global, regional, and national levels of maternal mortality, 1990–2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015," The Lancet. Only data for 1990, 2000 and 2015 was made available in the journal.�Source: The Lancet Credit: Rob Weychert/ProPublica
Didn’t The Affordable Care Act �Fix All The Problems?
BUT the Affordable Care Act allows profit-first commercial health insurance companies
to raise our premiums, deductibles, and co-pays
to pay for their outrageous and unnecessary administrative costs
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The Affordable Care Act requires profit-first commercial health insurance companies:
Didn’t the Affordable Care Act �fix all the problems?
The Affordable Care Act
made it illegal for a profit-first commercial insurance company to deny you care
because you have a preexisting condition
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But …
the profit-first commercial insurance companies adjusted their rates so people with preexisting conditions have to pay more, lots more.
Why Should I Trust The Government To Pay For My Health Care?
Medicare taxes have paid for senior citizens’ health care for more than 50 years
Medicare administrative costs are less than 5%
Commercial profit-first health insurance administrative costs are as high as 20%
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Why Should I Trust The Government To Pay For My Health Care?
Colorado already knows how to pay for health care through the Medicaid Program
The administrative costs for this state program are much lower than the administrative costs for profit-first commercial health insurance plans
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What Would Happen To People Who Lose Their Jobs?
If we created a Colorado Plan, funds would be
available to retrain people who lost their profit-first commercial health insurance jobs
and assist them in finding a new job.
The money you spent on unnecessarily high premiums, co- pays and deductibles will be “freed up” for you to spend on other goods and services that will create more jobs in new sectors of the economy.
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Would You Lose Part Of Your Investments?
If we create a Colorado Plan and you lose retirement income from your group profit-first commercial insurance investments,
your retirement income
would be made whole
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Can You Do Better?
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The Colorado Solution
You and I would pay less in taxes than we would pay if we kept relying on profit-first commercial health insurance companies because
We would eliminate unnecessary administrative costs
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Our Own Colorado Plan
Publicly Funded, Privately Delivered
Excellent Health Care
How Would A Colorado Plan Work?
A Colorado Plan would:
Replace your current profit-first commercial health insurance
Replace your Medicare supplemental plan
Provide health care for all who are uninsured
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Sharon McCutcheon on Upsplash
How Would A Colorado Plan Work?
The plan would cover ALL
people who live in Colorado
You could work any where you
wanted to work
You could work part time
You could work for yourself
health insurance would not be “tied” to your job.
If we had another crisis, like the Covid 19 pandemic, you would have health insurance coverage even if you lost your job.
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How Would It Work?
Every Coloradan would pay a tax based on their individual income
Coloradans with more income would pay a higher tax
Coloradans with less income would pay a lower tax
The health care tax revenues would be placed in a separate state fund to pay for the care your family needs
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Some People Think ALL Taxes Are Bad
What if we didn’t tax ourselves to pay for libraries, police and fire protection?
How would we pay for these services or would we just do without them?
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What if we didn’t tax ourselves to pay for health care for senior citizens?
What if we didn’t tax ourselves to pay for highways?
How Would It Work?
A state agency like Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing could administer the plan
Your health care provider in private practice could submit a claim to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing for the medically necessary care your family received
The state agency would pay your health care provider for your care
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Could you save some of your hard earned money by replacing your profit-first commercial health insurance premiums, deductibles, and copays with a lower tax?
YES!
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A Tax Increase Is A Cost Savings
What Else Would Be Better For You?
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Full Choice
of Primary Care Providers
You would not be limited by your profit-first commercial health insurance company’s list of doctors.
How Will This Affect �Your Health Care Providers?
Providers would remain in private
practices to ensure choice
and quality care
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Providers would be well paid to assure good providers remain in practice in sufficient numbers to avoid long waiting times
Your Family Would Have Comprehensive Benefits, A Platinum Plus Plan
Primary and specialty care
Hospitalization
Prescription drugs
Medical equipment
Mental health & substance
use services
Emergency & urgent care
Preventive & wellness service
Long term care
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Chronic disease management
Rehabilitative services
Oral, vision, hearing services
Laboratory services
Maternity & newborn care
Palliative & end-of-life care
Alternative care by licensed
providers
Key Features of Your � A Colorado Plan Could Be…
No deductibles
No co-pays
Life time health security
If you were temporarily living or traveling in another state or country, you would still have coverage
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Would Your Family Have High Quality Care and Care When They Need It?
YES! Health care providers:
Would have more time with you
Spend less time on paper work
Provide them with a good income
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Why Would It Save You Money?
A Colorado Plan would replace several health insurance plans with ONE, much more efficient plan that would still include the benefits of your separate plan
Medicaid
Children’s health insurance program (C.H.I.P.)
The medical portion of worker’s compensation
The medical portion of car insurance
Medicare, and Tricare
could be rolled into one excellent plan
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Why would the new plan save you money?
Because unnecessary administrative costs would be eliminated including:
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Governance �by The People for The People
Do you get to vote to decide who is on the board? Do you even know them?
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Accountable to YOU
Is the board of your profit-first commercial health insurance company accountable to you?
Better Health Care For Your �Family One State At A Time?
Colorado has a big enough “pool” with 6M+ residents
Colorado has highly respected specialty care like Craig Hospital, National Jewish, Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
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Colorado Could Lead The Way
States are more likely to achieve guaranteed health care measures for your family than the federal government in the near future
Passing a universal health care measure in Colorado would send a strong message to the
federal government
and other states
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Colorado Could Lead The Way
Overtime, more states would create health plans and finally the federal government would approve an American plan
Canada Did It…one province at a time so can we.
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Is Colorado Alone? No!!
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Source:
Public Citizen
2020 July Single Payer Prospect
Why Get Involved?
You need to take responsibility and correct a health care system that is failing you and your family
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Why get involved?
Health care gives your family a fighting chance
Health care gives your family an opportunity to be healthy
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Why get involved?
Because you are being “Hoodwinked” by
Profit-first Pharmaceutical Companies
Profit-first Hospitals
Profit-first Commercial Health Insurance Companies
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Why Get Involved?
Even if you have health insurance, your family could go bankrupt
What is the medical bankruptcy rate in other industrialized countries?
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Why Get Involved?
Because a Colorado Plan would give you and your family free choice of doctors and hospitals
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Why Get Involved?
Because health care should be
a public resource like
Public Schools
Libraries
Roads
Fire Departments
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Why Get Involved?
We should look out for one another
We should leave no one behind
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You Can Be A Healthcare Hero
You can:
Convince your organization to support A Colorado Plan.
Participate in a rally
Host a house neighborhood party, invite a speaker
Show “Fix it”
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You Can Be A Hero
“Adopt” A Legislator
“Adopt” A Candidate
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You Can Do Better
What are you going to do to ensure your family has health care security?
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Questions? Comments?
Contact
Jeanne Nicholson, RN, MS
303-582-5830
Nicholsonjeanne@gmail.com
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