Budget and Health

1. Budget and Health

2. What two major problems are facing the U.S. government this month? • The closing of the Federal Government because no budget resolution to keep it going has been passed. • On Oct 17, the U.S. will not have enough money to repay loans preiously borrowed…DEFAULT…unless the ceiling on our debt is raised.

3. What 3 ways does the government get money to spend and which one is in jepoardy of not being able to be used. • Taxes • Borrowing • Printing Money: quantitative easing

4. What government entity controls the amount of money in U.S. money supply • The Federal Reserve Bank • The use a process called quantitative easing, which essentially prints money and adds it to the supply. It can also withdraw money if inflation becomes a problem. Currently inflation is below 2%, so not a problem.

5. What are the major objectives of the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party. • Smaller government doing less • Less Taxes (see number one) • Less government intrusion in American life (see number one)

6. Why don’t “old school” non-Tea Party Republican stop the Tea Party, if they think they are harming the country (many do)? It’s called by “primaried.” • Tea Party organizations will run Tea Party candidates, heavily funded, against them in Primaries, so they won’t even be able to run against the Democrats.

7. Who is Grover Norquist • A non-elected Republican activists, who organization “encourages” Republican Congressman to sign a “pledge” never, ever, ever to raise taxes for any reason. If they violate the pledge, they will be primaried.

8. What happens Oct 17? • Unless Congress raises the debt limit, the U.S. will default on repayment of loans it has received, harming the nation’s credit rating. John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, says he will not let it happen.

9. What is the U.S. currency, the dollar, backed up by • Confidence in the U.S. to be able to repay its debt, “the full faith and credit” of the U.S.

10. What catastrophe is predicted by many to happen if the U.S. defaults? • Lack of confidence in the U.S. will cause stock and bond markets to crash. Less demand in U.S. back loans will reduce demand for those bonds, crashing trillions in value. • Others believe nothing will happen, investors will just wait it out.

11. What is meant by Gross Domestic Product, GDP • It is the cumulative wealth of all aspects of an economy?

12. What Percent of the U.S. GDP is spent on healthcare? What do other developed countries spend? • 18% • 8-12%

13. How does U.S. debt to GDP compare to the rest of the developed world? • About the same, to a little less.

14. What part of the U.S. government is spiraling out of control and whose trajectory will cause great debt in the future? • Medicare: health care for older Americans as the largest part of the population of the U.S. gets older. Medicare costs mirror U.S. health care which is MUCH higher than the rest of the World.

15. How does the percent covered and health outcomes compare? • Most of all other developed countries cover 100% of their citizens, the U.S. has not covered approximately 50 million people until now. • The U.S. is generally rated in the mid 30s, according the New England Journal of medicine.

16. How do Canadians feel about socialized medicine? • A 2009 Harris/Decima poll found 82% of Canadians preferred their healthcare system to the one in the United States, more than ten times as many as the 8% stating a preference for a US-style health care system for Canada[14] while a Strategic Counsel survey in 2008 found 91% of Canadians preferring their healthcare system to that of the U.S.[11][12]

17. How has U.S. Health Care been structured since the ’60s? • Medicare: for elderly • Medicaid: for the poor. • Private: paid for by employers and employees. • Uninsured or underinsured: the working poor. Typically these people go to emergency rooms, where costs are shifted to the other groups.

18. How will the change under the AHCA: Obamacare (they hope)? • Medicare: Unchanged • Medicaid: expanded modestly (if states fund it) • Private: Unchanged. (some argue smaller business will stop offering forcing employees to “exchanges” • Uninsured: will be “mandated” to get insurance. Depending on their income, they may receive government subsidies to pay for it. • Emergency rooms will no longer be forced to “eat” costs for these people. • These exchanges will compete for customers, thus lowering the price.

19. How is Obamacare to be paid for? • Through cuts in other programs, government control, and competition in the exchanges, and by savingd in waste. (All has been accounted for on paper). • Because free “well care” is mandated as part of the program, hopefully the U.S. will get healthier and treated earlier, bringing down costs. (As about Zipcodes) • Many believe it will eventually have to be subsidized by taxes.

20. How are pre-existing conditions treated differently under Obamacare • Before, insurance companies could deny care to those who are the most expensive to treat, now they can’t. • Will that raise costs or will their be enough savings from emergency treatments to pay for it?

21. How much of premiums most be spent on Health Care? • Under Obamacare 80% of premiums must be spent on health care, not profit or administrative costs, like billing and advertising.

22. How might Obamacare affect young people? • They can now stay on parents policy until age 27. • Young, healthy uninsured now must buy insurance or be fined.

23. How might jobs be affected? • Employees now may leave jobs they stayed in for the health care. • Employers may lay off workers to get under the number they need to to not provide health care, or higher lots of part time workers, forcing them into the exchanges.

24. What do opponents not like about Obamacare? • Forcing people to buy what they consider a commodity. • Employers might reduce jobs so as not to have to provide insurance. • If over 50 employees, must provide. • Future costs. • Health providers being over-regulated.

25. How is it hoped that Obamacare will drive down the overall cost of healthcare in America. • Competition in the exchanges. • More healthy Americans as they get well-care. • No need for emergency rooms to raise prices to cover costs of uninsured. • Increased productivity in work force. • More participation in system. • More targeted and regulated approaches to health.

26. What is a single payer plan or government option and why wasn’t it included? • Single Payer: complete governmen takeover through increased taxes, most of developed world. • Government option: would allow people to buy into Medicare in some fashion. Some afraid the government would out compete the private companies. • Was not political feasible as some consider it socialist.

27. How do Americans feel about new law? • 38% think it goes too far. • 50% think its ok or didn’t go far enough. (CNN and Kaiser health tracking polls concurred)

28. U.S. compared to World in cost

30. Emotional Intelligence: Daniel Goleman • Ability to self-regulate • Introspection and self-knowledge: including what makes you feel good/bad, and maximize the good. • Empathy: understanding what others feel and how to handle it. • Optimism: strong correlation to happiness. • Perseverance