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Posts Tagged ‘Congress’
Proposed Health Reform
Monday, August 17th, 2009
With all U.S. economy problems -surging bank failures, rising foreclosures, and high unemployment, you would think that the resolution for these crises would be focused on by Congress. The legislators may have believed in a spin because they started new initiatives like cap-and-trade bill. Now, they passed the health care reform (H.R. 3200).
Under the proposed law, there is a requirement for employers to offer a health plan and pay the premium (at least 72.5%) for their workers. In addition, those citizens without insurance will be penalized by 2.5% tax. Rich people will be punished further with surcharge - they wouldn’t be able to deduct the fee.
However, some bill critics claim that this will deny medical treatment that’s supposedly for the elderly and disabled. When you look at pages 425-432, the bill authorizes conference payments between health care providers and patients to create “advanced care directive.” Physicians will receive higher reimbursement rate when they participate, although this is not a mandatory plan. This medical order may include hospice care, health care proxies, living wills, and other intervention details that the patient wants before the end of his life.
For most health care providers, they want to comply and boost revenue. Incentive payments require data sharing with government under Physician’s Quality Reporting Initiative.
Tags: bill, Congress, crises, foreclosures, health care reform, health plan, high unemployment, legislators, living will, medical treatment, physicians
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Preparing for your Final Hours
Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
For the moment, forget about health-reform debates. You should have a living will that specifies the kind of care for your life if you are unable to speak for yourself. Ethicists, lawmakers, and doctors have been urging the Americans to do this but in nursing homes, less than half have done so. Overall, less than one third of American adults also have a living will.
According to a report from Rand Corp. in Congress, many people are baffled by legalities and don’t understand the consequences and options. In addition, patients and doctors alike are reluctant to bring up the subject of death.
Advance directives are truly for the living as well as for the dying. Without your specific instructions, your family members may not be able to decide if they would keep you artificially alive, let you die when you have no hope for recovery, or what level of disability you would like to live with.
A registered nurse at Inova Hospital (Falls Church, Va.), Audrey Seeley, said “Everyone knows they will soon die, but it’s scary to think how. I see many incapacitated patients say that they don’t care what happens to them. But their family really does.”
Tags: American, Audrey Seeley, Congress, death, die, disability, Inova Hospital, lawmakers, legalities, living will, Rand Corp, Wills
Posted in Wills | No Comments »