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U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell<br>PHOTO:Star file

U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell
PHOTO:Star file

McConnell: Time to 'Start Over' on Health Care

By AP

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The top-ranking Republican in the Senate calls the Obama health care law the first step in "Europeanizing America" and says Congress should "start over" if the system is ruled invalid by the Supreme Court.

Kentucky's Sen. Mitch McConnell says Republicans believe Americans want to "repeal the whole thing." McConnell tells "CBS This Morning" the GOP is ready to try again for a "grand bargain" with Democrats to federal deficits. But he charges that President Barack Obama hasn't been willing to deal and says, "I understand full well that our friends on the other side live every day to raise taxes."

McConnell says Congress must find a way to slash the cost of entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, which he says are on an "unsustainable path" toward bankruptcy.

Published 08:01 AM, Tuesday Jun. 19, 2012
Updated 09:53 AM, Monday Jun. 25, 2012

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- Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/25/2012 3:40:18 PM
  
  Judy T, my point wasn't that we should all start eating a Hebrew diet, and you are right about genetically engineered food, the side effects are just starting to show up. My point was that there are better choices we can all make that would promote wellness and help fight against sickness. My daughter in law was not able to get pregnant. Doctors had her on all kinds of "fertility drugs", she was a nervous wreck from the side effects and my son thought that it was just normal to work all day and then come home to a crying shaking wife who started yelling at you as soon as you came through the door. We finally got them to give the drugs a break and focus on wellness. After some research I bought her a wild yam product and within two weeks she was calm, focused, and happy again. Within two months she was expecting. Again, the drugs were covered, the natural product was not.
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/25/2012 8:05:25 AM
  
  Chuch w: The problem is that we don't exactly have what the Hebrews ate. We have God's food made better by Monsanto, at least they think so. Many foods are GM foods with no labels so you can avoid them. We know that GM foods are safe because Monsanto says so, the scientists say differently but who cares what the facts are. One of the first things we did in Iraq was to make it illegal to gather the best seed for next years crop, you had to buy Monsanto to be able to grow the crop.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/25/2012 12:25:18 AM
  
  I agree. The best way to keep cost down is our personal choices. Our over processed western diet, along with "foods of convenience" is the cause of much of our heath problems. Saw a study about 10 years ago that showed how uterine cancer was almost non existent before 'white bread". The graph showed the cancer going up at almost the same rate of the growth of process (bleached) white bread. In 1929 a doctor in Canada came up with an egg based protein supplement that did wonders for his cancer patients, then it disappeared after he died. About ten years ago researchers at Dalhousie University in Canada said were paid to check it out and stated that it could hold the potential for a cancer vaccination. But then the money ran out and the research stopped again. A health food company has bought the patent on the product and the process. I am waiting on some information on it. So much of what God told the Hebrews to eat and do we now know was to help keep them healthy. I will try the natural remedies first.
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/25/2012 12:00:57 AM
  
  Chuck W: I sort of mean both. Sick grandkids get Sambucus and Kid-e-Care which usually cures them in a couple of days and if only one is sick the other two get the treatment to prevent them from catching it too. Chiropractor use to take care of the stomach problems (doctor just gave medicine) and to keep away the symptoms of the beginning diabetes (doctor was going to wait for full blown diabetes). Heart and Body extract for irregular heart beat. Homeopathic medicine at times, colic, allergies, etc. Basic household philosophy is doctor when other stuff doesn't work. There are a lot of herbal, homeopathic and other alternatives that actually work are much less costly and no side effects. The problem is the drug companies have been trying for years to get the alternatives off the market.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/24/2012 10:35:48 PM
  
  Judy T, as I read your posts on alternative medicine I wonder if some of what you mean is preventive medicine? That is another area where Medicare really sucks bad. Example, a few years back my wife and I were working for a local Chiropractic office. We (the Practice) was the first to bring a form of therapy called spinal decompression to our part of the state. It was new and we had to educate people on what it did. We had a patient who was already seeing local Neurosurgeon and was scheduled for surgery. He asked his doctor if he thought it would be ok for him to try the decompression. The doctor asked for him to bring some information on the process, so we explained how it worked to the patient, and sent information with him back to the MD. The doctor told our mutual patient that it looked like it might help, or at the very least give him some much needed relief until the surgery (which was still two month off) happened. As the patient was treated and started improving, the doctor referred a few more patients to us for decompression. Within the next 12 months, that patient and 3 others who were scheduled for surgery improved so much that the MD cancelled the surgery, and there were others who the doctor sent to try the decompression first before he would schedule a surgery. In most of the cases the surgery was never scheduled. Not every case, but most. Point is, every surgery that was cancelled or never scheduled in the first place saved either Medicare or the insurance company about $40,000. More when you consider that most who have back surgery end up having more back surgeries over the years. The down side is that neither Medicare or Insurance would pay for the decompression. The patients had to cover the cost. Many could not. We helped as many of those as we could with deep discounts or a few free treatments, but we could not give it away to everyone for free. The decompression bed cost us around $100,000 and then there was the added expense of having someone to put them on the bed, program it, and take them back off. This is just one example of how inefficient Medicare is. Would not pay $1500 (or less) to try to prevent the surgery but would pay $40,000 to have the surgery instead.
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/24/2012 10:18:26 AM
  
  Charles m: Those were the days. We paid for our medical bills and Major medical covered the big costs like the hospitals. We paid the dentist bills for all 6 of us and could afford it. Now we all stay away from the dentist until the pain hits. Greed seems to have played a big roll in our medical costs, that of doctors, dentists, drug companies and insurance companies. Worst of all is the drug companies, if you notice very little is cured, it is mostly take this stuff for the rest of your life at an astronomical cost with up to 300,000% mark up. I just found out recently that someone bought up a technology that could detect cancer cells potential up to 5 years ahead of time. They bought the patent and killed the idea. I think the headline of this article is really correct. We need to start over with health care. Quit taking alternative medicines which work off the market. Quit letting the drug companies put stuff on the market that causes so many side effects that you have to take 3 other drugs to counteract the side effects. They have us brainwashed about taking drugs for every little problem and we buy in to it. It would probably help if there was a charge for all services according to what you could afford. That might keep the diaper rashes out of the emergency room (I was there and saw it happen) and help keep the cost down. Education on alternative medicine would also be a good thing. Oh, and my husbands mother didn't even go to the hospital to have a baby, mine did because she worked there.
  
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  Name: charles m.
  
  6/24/2012 9:43:13 AM
  
  Judy T., I think that things started getting out of whack because the government DID take over a lot of things that should have been left to free enterprise. Do you remember when you were a girl and your parents and grandparents paid for medical services out of their own pockets? It didn't cost several hundred or even thousands of dollars when your mother or aunt went to the hospital to have a baby. It didn't cost a few hundred dollars to go to a dentist's office to have a crown put on a bad tooth. Then we got health insurance, and the steady supply of money in it made health care start going through the roof. It's almost like insurance was somehow responsible for making doctor bills go crazy. I know this is a pretty simplistic look at health care, but when big money gets in the middle of something, everybody wants to get it and the middle class winds up paying all the bills. Keep competition in health care; keep insurance companies competing with each other and don't let the government get in to it. The government will go through mountains of our money to make things worse, not better. Let it set prices and set standards, or pay for the poor's medical aid, but don't let it handle the money.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/23/2012 10:24:30 PM
  
  Dean S pretty much summed up the biggest problem with this whole social medicine thing. The more our Federal Government gets involved, the higher the inefficiency gets. It is the government. Give them money for one thing, it goes to another. Both sides play that game. The government shelled out 9 Billion of OUR $ to create a total of 5500 jobs in Green Energy. That means the cost per job was $1.63 Million. Plus, it is in a field that is a long way off from being cost efficient enough to sustain itself. That means those jobs will have to be subsidized with more tax money. Even a grade schooler would call that a bad investment. Either way, I think we may all be over looking the biggest problem with healthcare. People can not afford it because people do not have jobs. It has always struck me as odd that Obamacare was the first thing Obama did. How you going to tell someone that has no job that they have to buy insurance? If you tell them the government is going to pay for it, how can it when it is going broke. First thing first. If we all want good healthcare coverage, it does not matter if it is private or social, we can not pay for it until we get job creation back on top of the priority list and then we have something to work with. Then, we need to put business people in charge, not politicians.
  
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  Name: m t.
  
  6/22/2012 5:56:17 PM
  
  There are time when government must protect the rights of the minority. On a similar note congratulation to Mary Cheney daughter of former vp Cheney she was married to Heather Poe a long time life partner. Accoriding to reports the vp and daughter Lynn Cheney are overjoied.
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/22/2012 7:43:29 AM
  
  Isn't the behavior of private enterprize usually the reason government has to step in, many times to protect the people? Free enterprize will sell you insurance and gladly take your money but just don't get sick or old. Once that happens you will either be dropped or your premiums will go up so high you will have to drop the insurance.
  
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  Name: Dean S.
  
  6/21/2012 7:52:29 PM
  
  No! The government can just stay out of health care and let private enterprise have free course. Everything the government touches it botches up big time. Have we not had enough examples?... Huh? Get the government out of the health care business. Get the government out of our diets. Get the government out of our homes and private businesses. Government is an incompetant bully. What do you not get about that fact, Senator McConnell?
  
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  Name: m t.
  
  6/21/2012 5:51:16 PM
  
  Judy T your point is well taken it's obvious Mitch was willing to put aside the best interest of all American for the last four years a chance to retake power for his right wing interest. While it's true there are many people who share Mitch's views his leadership role in the Senate should lead Mitch and Harry, to work for all Americams. I know I know I'm dreaming.
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/21/2012 4:08:53 PM
  
  Maybe one of the reasons to single McConnell out would be if he was making our life difficult just to make Obama look worse. You know lack of co-operation, etc. If the republicans had really wanted to lead the country at this time they would have given us a decent candidate in the last election.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/21/2012 3:59:30 PM
  
  MC, yeah, I know that Obama's former law professor wants Obama defeated for different reasons then I do, but the point was that it isn't just McConnell that is determined to make Obama a one term President, It's all the people on the right, and a growing number of people on the left that want the same thing. The LA Times, (hardly a conservative paper) ran an article last week that the number of young people (18-29) that support Obama has declined 11% in the last two months, and expected to decline much more. As for the 60 Million number,(which is not just the Catholics) I bet it goes even higher. Remember that they do not all have to vote to defeat Obama, the ones that voted for Obama last time can just sit this one out and produce the same result. The Christian Right put Reagan in the White House. A disorganized fragment of the Christian Right put Bush W in the White House. Obama has forced us to start getting organized again and watch what we do this coming November!! God Bless America.
  
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  Name: M C.
  
  6/21/2012 3:33:19 PM
  
  Chuck, Obama's former law professor said he must be defeated because HE FAILED TO BRING ENOUGH PROGRESSIVE CHANGE. You are against him because Obama's a Marxist and THAT guy is against him because Obama isn't. That's beautifully Machiavellian of you. I also think you are making a big leap in assuming all 60 million Catholics are behind you thinking this whole birth control things is "an attack on religious freedom". A lot of the ones I know see that as as much bull hockey as I do. Maybe not the League of Mary and the Opus Dei members, but you know, the reasonable ones.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/21/2012 10:59:25 AM
  
  Joe B, you do not work in healthcare do you? As for Mitch's goal of making Obama a one term president, there are 60+ Million Catholics, Evangelicals, and Jewish people (along with millions of Mormons, Asians, and even some Conservative atheists joining in) that now have the same goal, why single McConnell out? Even his own former Harvard Law professor said that Obama must be defeated.
  
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  Name: Joe B.
  
  6/21/2012 9:26:17 AM
  
  Mitch is wrong again but that's nothing new he's always wrong when it comes to helping the working class.In one of the latest polls over 70percent of people say they want a one pay health plan but not Mitch that doesn't help his billionaire insurance buddies.Mitch's theme song is help the rich and to heck with the people who need help because Mitch himself said his NUMBER ONE PRIORITY IS TO make President Obama a one term president,there has never been in history a more ignorant statement than that one from a United States Senator.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/20/2012 7:45:49 PM
  
  MC, I said in my post that some republicans voted against it. Geeeeze. m t. Yep talking about Rand, and he did what he and his father agreed was best for advancing the Libertarian agenda. Obama out first, then more Tea Party candidates in over the next four years. Get with the program. Losing a battle does not mean the war is over. They are both still on the same page.
  
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  Name: m t.
  
  6/20/2012 6:17:24 PM
  
  Chuck I sure hope you are not including Rand as a man who does what they promise now that he has turned his back on the Libertarian party.
  
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  Name: M C.
  
  6/20/2012 1:46:06 PM
  
  Maybe it had something to do with the 32 Republicans who opposed boy wonder Paul's amendment, Chuck. But you keep believing its all the Democrat's fault. I'll continue to believe that reality is a little more nuanced than your grand generalizations.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/20/2012 11:05:32 AM
  
  MC, nope, not talking about the same thing. The amendment proposed by Rand Paul did a much better job of protecting farmers, while removing the opportunity for the program to be abused by the wealthy. But, you are telling me that your party had the chance to push it through last year, and didn't. Then had another chance this week, and again didn't. How is it then you think it is justified? There were some Republicans that did not support it, those are the ones we are replacing. The DNC controlled both houses for two years, and did nothing. Absolutely nothing. You guys have some people that need to be replaced too. Get started on that and we just might end up with a government that can and will work together again. In the meantime, there is an amendment that has been written and is in the waiting that has gathered support from both sides of the house. It already has enough sponsors to pass, but is waiting to see what the court does with Obamacare first. Seems the blatant attack on our First Amendment against Freedom of Religion and pushed a lot of Democrats over the line. The Contraceptive Mandate to force Religious Institutions to violate their beliefs seems to be bringing people of all forms of Christianity, and other religions, and even some atheist groups together. Democrats and Republicans are joining as Americans to stop this destruction of our Constitution and protect our Freedoms. After all, if Obama is allowed to ignore the part of the First Amendment that says there can be no restriction of religious liberty, then he can also ignore the other part that says there can be no government sponsored religion. Seems the King has pushed even his own serfs too far.
  
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  Name: M C.
  
  6/20/2012 10:12:25 AM
  
  Gee, Chuck are you talking about the same thing Obama suggested in February of last year? Are you turning Marxist, Chuck? The same thing that Senator Pat Roberts, a REPUBLICAN from wheat-growing Kansas, said that Obama "has once again dusted off old proposals aimed at pitting farmers against farmers"? I wish my world view was so simple that I could just blame everything on the other party for everything that is wrong with the world.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 6:48:08 PM
  
  m t, I was just looking at he vote to remove or limit the farm subsidies to the wealthy. A third of the farm aid goes to the wealthy (Scottie Pippin, Ted Turner, Larry Flynt, David Rockefeller, are an examples of the wealthy who get or have gotten farm subsidies). It would have saved the taxpayers 9 Billion $ and closed a loop hole to the rich. Who shot it down, yep, the democrats. When you guys start electing new players who mean what they say, like we are doing, then you have something to complain about. Until, your point is pointless.
  
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  Name: m t.
  
  6/19/2012 6:02:57 PM
  
  The last paragraph explains Mitch's plan except he failed to mention lowering tax rate for upper incomes. But we we all know.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 4:22:03 PM
  
  Well Keith, he is only one man who is in one of the three branches of our governmental system. Not like he has the freedom to do as he wishes like Obama does. Bill Clinton worked with a republican senate, Reagan worked with a democratic congress, Obama has not worked with anybody. He didn't even work with the democratic controlled houses when he had them. Let's get someone back in the White House that leads and see what happens. We just might see both sides working together on fixing this.
  
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  Name: Keith S.
  
  6/19/2012 4:03:23 PM
  
  If congress needs to fix it, what have you been doing for 27 years? Nobody can do anything right but you, and all you do is complain. Of course all we see on this website is anti democrat so it is not surprising.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 2:47:30 PM
  
  rali I, you are right, there is abuse of the system. Probably not as much as most think there is, but it is there. Unfortunately part of the problem is connected with the unemployment. The number of vets filing for disability has shot way up. Many of them admit it is because they had jobs, left those jobs to serve, then came home and now can't take care of their families. The number of people filing for disability in the private sector has also shot up, again part of the reason is that they can not find jobs and have to buy groceries. The biggest reason is that the average age continues to move up. The more elderly we have, the more disability we have. I also have known people who have gotten disability and should not have. (I reported one, but nothing was ever done about it). It only hurts those who should get it, and makes it harder to qualify.
  
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  Name: rali l.
  
  6/19/2012 12:38:19 PM
  
  There is alot of abuse in the system. "Some" are on disability benefits, that are completely capable of working. And no, I am not talking about everyone on disability-just the ones that managed to pretend illness to get a disability. And several on Medicaid are playing the "system" also.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 12:06:44 PM
  
  Judy, you touched on something that is important. Providers and facilities are paid off a scale that is called Reasonable and Customary (basically another name for retail). It is not the doctors or facilities that decide what that charge is (see my earlier post). Pharmaceuticals is another story. Insurance companies (and Medicare/Medicaid) pay a percentage of that listed charge. A much lower percentage. For example, if you are charged $100, Medicare and BCBS will pay around $30 for that. Medicaid will pay around $26 or less. That is based on averages. However, if you are without insurance, or self pay, then you are charged to whole amount. Always remember that you can negotiate that charge and they can settle for a lot less and still be within acceptable collections. The biggest problem is this, so many people without insurance are having their income garnished by courts based on a higher fee which the facility would never have gotten in the first place. That is not right. If you are sent to collections for medical bills, first negotiate with the collections agency to bring the charges down (don't let them tell you they can't do it, they can), then offer to pay anything you can (even just $10-$20 a month) so it does not get to court. If the collections agency gets to court, you will end up paying a lot more (and they will find a way to make you pay it) then you should have in the first place. If you have insurance, especially if it is a group policy, then always shop around. Remember that Insurance companies are in business to make a profit, and it is actually in our best interest for them to do so. If an insurance company is hit with something like another tornado outbreak, another Katrina, or some new fast spreading sickness, then that profit will be required to pay their claims. Still, shop around, you may be surprised, and if not , at least you know you are getting the best deal you can.
  
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  Name: J A.
  
  6/19/2012 10:54:40 AM
  
  What have you got in mind Mr. Senator?
  
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  Name: Judy T.
  
  6/19/2012 10:54:03 AM
  
  Since when has Social Security become an entitlement program? Was it when social Security was moved from a separte account to the general fund or was it whe Bush signed the social Security Totalizaition Agreement with Mexico? Isn't medicare taken out of the SS checks? The drug part is extra and also an extra charge. It seem to be that medicaid is the only actual entitlement of the three. If they really want to cut costs why don't they put in government run 24-7 medicaid clinics run by nurse practitioners to diagnose the small stuff and refer the ones who need doctors. How many people go to the emergency room for reasons that are in no way an emergency? I wonder why the government didn't dicker about the price of drugs for medicare instead of paying the full price. Kinda makes you wonder whose campaign the drug company donated to and how much. Forty years ago a doctors visit was affordable but now the cost has outrun the earning ability. I wonder if the doctors and labs have to charge astronomical prices just to get the insurance companies to cover cost. I think that someone needs to do something with the insurance companies because the first time I used my medicare drug coverage it was for two prescriptions both old drugs, they covered only one of them then I got a letter later saying they no longer covered that one. Government intervention may not be good but aren't regulations usually caused by the behavior of those who are regulated?
  
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  Name: M C.
  
  6/19/2012 10:40:53 AM
  
  Don't worry too much about Medicare Chuck. You'll be in front of the death panels Sarah Palin tried to warn us about before too long anyways.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 10:39:42 AM
  
  creek j. LOL, you are probably right.
  
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  Name: Chuck W.
  
  6/19/2012 9:37:21 AM
  
  As for SS, it was flawed from the very beginning. There were too many variables that effect it that were never considered from the start. There are readers here who will continue to put in money they will never see. As for HealthCare, it needs to be looked at from two separate angles. Private insurance is one, and social medicine is the other. Insurance companies were allowed to get away with too much. Did you know that organization that decided what a doctor or facility should be paid was actually a branch of one of the insurance companies? That is like putting the fox in charge of guarding the hen house. The NY State attorney office started going after them during the Bush administration. Other states started doing the same. Challenging not only the amounts they were setting, but their right to even decide that amount. As a result of the legal scrutiny of this practice, premiums started to come down while benefits were going up. Then along came Obamacare and it was like the insurance companies went off the radar. Let's get back to making sure that insurance companies are transparent, realistic, and timely with their compensations. Competition will be the best way to lower healthcare cost and raise benefits with the private insurance companies. Now, social medicine (Medicare and Medicaid) these are the poorest run organizations ever. If they were a business, neither would last more then a year. Examples; we (wife and I) have gotten a MD credentialed with the clinic we were working for in as little as two weeks. Credentialing is connecting the Doctors ID with the practice or clinics ID. Not a complicated thing. Then the next doctor we tried to credential took 7 weeks. Nothing was different except the desk that our paper work landed on with Medicare. The second doctor was native born and educated, Board Certified and Fellow-shipped, with no past legal problems. The only problem was a Medicare employee that had not idea what he/she was doing. In the meantime, we had to pay that doctor, and the assistant, and pay for the supplies and room and everything else, for two months before we could even bill out the procedures. Then wait another 2-3 weeks before the money started coming in. Tell me you do not think that has an impact on costs. Did you know that someone could log a complaint with Medicare, they can come in and audit your files, and then if they find anything like a dot missing or a date put in wrong or anything that was not 100% absolutely perfect, then they can stop your payments from Medicare for as long as they decide, then if you are able to prove that there was no wrong doing or even intent of wrong doing, they can take years to refund your money. Tell me that does not raise costs. Did you know you can call (assuming you are lucky enough to even get somebody) Medicare for clarification on a new compliance issue three times and get three different answers? Tell me that does not raise costs. I haven't even gotten to the massive amount of useless codes that they constantly come out with, that takes time and causes more rejections which in turn raises costs. Monitor the insurance companies, make them keep it right and legal. Then put actual business people in charge of Medicare and Medicaid. Get politics out of the equation, then watch the costs of both start coming down.
  
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