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erieangel -> RE: 'Patriotic Americans' Will Wait Longer for Healthcare... (9/24/2011 10:09:35 AM)
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I view health care reform from what I know of the mental health system--a traditional government-run service delivery system. Until a few years ago, states gave counties a set amount of dollars for the treatment (in PA) of mental health and mental retardation. In turn, the counties allocated this money to service providers who were pretty much left alone to do what they did best--advance the recovery and treatment of their clients. But during the Clinton administration that all changed. Tax payer dollars for the funding of MH/MR was moved to the private sector. In PA, each country contracts with one insurance company to provide for the treatment of the clients' needs. These days it is more about billing issues and following strict recovery goals than actually treating the person. A client is upset because her dog died? Sorry, the caseworker can't help the client deal with it because the recovery goal states the client's goals as being "obtaining employment" or "learning how to manage money". But it worst, in that paying private insurance companies have also lowered the amount of money actually going to treatment--the private insurance company needs to make their profit (from constantly fewer and fewer tax payer dollars).
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