In a meeting with the congressman, St. Vincents says a public health option is going to be necessary...

http://www.billingsgazett...002e0.html


I think this is a huge admission for a hospital to make...always before they have wanted the government to stay out of it...

And of course Rehberg is unswayed...

http://www.mcdonald4congress.us/

Party line!

Steve Ballock, St. Vincent's chief finance officer, said there really isn't time for a free market, last-company-standing solution to medical records if teamwork medicine is a goal. The government will have to establish a universal language for electronic medical records that all doctors can access.

Hear, hear! Now who here, other than that moron Kyle, can disagree with this statement?

Richard and Rick, for starters.

If they try to pass this health reform program without a public option it is doomed from the start IMO...To make it mandatory to have this insurance and then have no public option to compete and try to keep the prices down is foolish...it gives the insurance companies a gun to our heads..

Hey that's great Gunnar. Now show me where Obamacare does that.

So far what I've seen are proposals to throw billions into a market where no standards exist. Spend now, figure out standards later is not a recipe for success.

Howdy, in practice a last resort 'public option' would get straddled with all the patients insurers don't want. The healthy would maintain cheaper private coverage while the 'public option' costs explode.

At that point they'll either have to severely ration care or do something artificial to try to tip the market in their favor. Once they start down that road, you're basically on the short road to single payer.

Not according to your employer or at least the sister hospital to your employer...they say a public option is the only way..they are sick of dealing with insurance companies that deny coverage every chance they get or worse....read the article..the CEO says having insurance only DOESN'T WORK....

Actually that's not what the CEO said, if you read it. One other person in the room said something similar but it wasn't Jim Paquette.

As with any call for reform, you're going to hear everyone's wish lists on every side. That's what this is. But the more valid way to look at it isn't the wish list view. Look at what's in the bill.

Mayo Clinic (everyone's fav, even Obama) looked at it and found it lacking.

http://healthpolicyblog.m...ttee-bill/

70% government control of the healthcare market has helped drive up costs, not drive them down. 100% control won't make it better.

One big question though. How come whenever I say something you don't agree with my connection to the Health Care industry past or present is suspect, allowing you to try to discredit whatever it is I'm saying. Now someone says something you agree with, and their connection to Health Care now gives their words extra weight.

Seems like someone's just trying to win an argument

Oh please Rick....Don't be a boob...I just want good health care for us all...and most of the experts are saying that a public option is the only way to achieve it...You cannot leave health care to just insurance companies and expect them to hold down the cost..Ain't gonna work no matter how much you wish for it...

Rick... rube or stooge?

Insurance won't fix health care any more than government will. People given as much control as possible over their own care is the best solution.

But what we keep hearing is to take more and more of that control away. Just remember that while you're happy to give Obama the reigns to your health care future, some day, possibly soon, there'll be another GW at the helm.

How can people who just months ago shouted down the ineptness of the administration now say its newer incarnation is the only answer?

Geez, Rick....your only contribution to the dialog is to parrot Fox News?

I keep forgetting that you think Soylent Green is the model that Obama is striving for.

I realize that you want a magic pony solution - but you're not going to get it. People want insurance, not some crappy HSA or co-op, and they want insurance that doesn't drop them the moment they get sick, or charge an arm and a leg and then deny every claim that you make.

So, given the system we have today, what are the changes we can make? We can try and force the insurance companies to play fairly and honestly. The public option (which ISN'T single payer btw) is one way to achieve this, and it does so in a quasi-market friendly manner.

The purpose of an insurance company is the same as Wal-Mart. To make a profit for shareholders. The difference is the profit margin in discount and grocery is fairly small while the profit margin for insurance companies can range up to 40%.

The goal of an insurance company is to take in the maximum amount of money and return the minimum. The health of their clients is of no interest to them beyond how profitable that client is. If you were to give them all your money and die with a minimum of medical care, say, being eaten by a bear and found a month later, it would be fine with them.

The most important thing to remember in health care reform is that insurance companies care about PROFIT. Nothing else. Same as any company. They are in it for money. Show them how to make more money and they are happy. Show them how to provide better service at less profit and they will ignore you.

Just thought I would make one small little correction to a previous post. Rick should have corrected it himself. The poster wrote "your employer" when refering to Rick. Rick no longer works for Holy Rosary Healthcare or the Sisters of Charity. He has taken a new position with Victory Insurance. Gives you a new perspective on his view points but maybe everyone already knows this and it is a mute point.

Concern trolling? on mc.com? I'm shocked!!! Shocked, i tell you.

Oh no....not Victory Insurance! The evilist, evilist company in all of Miles City!

Have they been bankrolling the purchase of any ambulances lately?

but maybe everyone already knows this and it is a mute point.

I had to laugh out loud at this....before anyone accuses me of Wendyism, I have a client who for the first 5 years always spoke of "mute points". He being my client, I never corrected him. about 5 years ago in a meeting, he said "mute point" again.....and one of the attorneys in the room said, "Dammit, I have been listening to you say "mute point" for years...its "moot point!" moot! not mute! moot!" He never pronounced it wrong again.

To see it typed that way instead of mispronounced....well, I had to laugh.

Gunnar: There are eviler companies in MC than Victory Insurance - Wally World for one.


Good luck with your new job, Rick.

Shoulda freakin' known.

I'm now an "ism"?

Hey Wendy - it could be worse. Believe me... Signed, Crapduck

For Crapduck....

Mission
We will, in the spirit of the Sisters of Charity, reveal God's healing love by improving the health of the individuals and communities we serve, especially those who are poor or vulnerable.

This is St. Vincent's mission statement. Rick! How could you ever work for these evil people?

Poor crapduck. Yes, I guess it could be worse.

Do you have any idea how much these 'Sister of Charity' are worth ?

They seem to be preety much 'for profit' to me.