D. Duck, M. Mouse or J. Biden and the Answer is?

Which would you rather have representing us in the Middle East trying to find peace between Israel and Palestine? With foot in mouth continually, never accomplishing a thing for all the time in the Senate, giving away defense secrets, and generally a player in another world I can tell you who I don't want!

This administration has been against our best and only real friend in the that region of the world. Since 1947 when established Israel has had the backbone to stand and fight countries much bigger and stronger. And, today faced with an even bigger threat Iran the administration is sending two losers the biggest being Biden.

Folks it is time to speak up and face the fact that this administration is inept at domestic and foreign policy. So, what is it good at? Nothing, other than trying to take our freedoms away, re-write history, take our children, apologize for NO reason to the world and screw over all of us. I'm sorry I shouldn't be so crude but Obama and his thugs from Chicago bring out my worse side. Obama now has a fool's approval rate in the forties and dropping and well it should. But, to send a fool like Biden to the Middle East is like sending a gas tanker to a fire. Some "great person of wisdom once said," "Stupid is as stupid does" and Mr. President you demonstrate this so well.

Keep talking, stay upset and let's get rid of them all in November! If by some SICK chance the idiots in the Senate push through "Reconciliation" then it is open season on all of them come November and the voting booth. Each of us should make each Senator's life miserable when they recess and come home. If these fools can hear 82% of the population saying, "We don't want ObamaCare" then give them hell and let them know the free ride is OVER! Then let's really push to MAKE both houses of Congress live as they force us to!

In my opinion Donald or Mickey are both better options for peace than Biden!

Until
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It's Your Health!

6 Ways Your Health Insurance Company Makes It Hard For Your Doctor To Take Care Of You

By: Dr. Elaina George

There is a major misconception about the reasons for the rise in the cost of healthcare. Procedures and the practice of defensive medicine have been described as the main reasons for the exponential rise. However, the reality could not be farther from what is portrayed on TV series like Nip/Tuck. The medical insurance industry has fueled the campaign of misinformation to enhance their divide and conquer strategy. As long as people spend their energy on blaming doctors, they have less energy to pay attention to rising deductibles, premiums and co-insurance. In short, the insurance companies benefit by keeping doctors and patients at odds. In reality when a doctor charges for a procedure or performs a surgery what is paid is no where near the amount that was charged. In short, the increase in patient premiums, deductibles etc… have gone to pay administrative costs and CEO salaries.

These are 6 things you need to know so you can understand the barriers your doctor has to navigate to take good care of you:

1. Insurance companies change what they will pay for

Through the pre-certification process, insurance companies will change what services they will reimburse. This list can change yearly. It is driven by insurance company costs and not by medical necessity as determined by the doctor and the patient.

2. Insurance companies have gatekeepers that look for reasons to deny recommended services

Insurance companies have physicians and/or nurses on staff that can deny services. The person that reviews the procedure may not even be someone familiar with the medical procedure (for example, a psychiatrist reviewing the records of a surgeon).

3. Insurance gatekeepers get bonus compensation when they save the company money

This is pretty self explanatory – it pays to deny care.

4. Insurance companies discount payments for surgery and other procedures.

This is a process called bundling. If the procedure has a left and right side like knee surgery or has several steps. like sinus surgery, the surgeon will be paid a steeply discounted rate that can be as high as an 80% discount. For example, a surgeon will be paid the discounted insurance allowed amount for the 1^st side and 50% for the second side. If it is a multi-step procedure, the surgeon will be paid the allowed amount for the 1^st step, 50% for the second step and 25% for 3-5^th step then nothing for anything beyond the 5^th step.

5. Insurance companies make a bigger profit by delaying payment to doctors

A study showed that an insurance company can make as much as $84,000 in bank interest rates each day they pay

a claim late. By law an average clean claim (with no errors) should be paid from 14-30 days after it is submitted

by a doctor’s office. The average claim is paid anywhere from 30-45 days. Some claims, after multiple appeals,

can take up to a year to be paid after the service was given.

6. Insurance companies can ask the doctor for reimbursement of paid claims indefinitely.

A doctor has 120 days to submit a claim, after that time he/she may not submit a charge or charge the patient. However, an insurance company can ask for reimbursement with no time limit.

Get Sick Read Health Care Bill

We've all heard of a "crock" well here it is http://www.thefoxnation.com/health-care-bill/2009/08/13/shocked-read-what-heath-care-bill-actually-says
This is from FOX and it "is what it is" a CROCK and OUR congresspersons wrote this BS that first is so misleading, hard to read, and with so many hidden or "to be interpreted" sentences it makes it unbelievable. How can we keep any of OUR "so called" representatives? They sure don't seem to represent me and I doubt you.

WE the PEOPLE must get representatives that will live under the same laws, rules and policies that they want us to. There is NO one in any public office that would want this "CROCK" of health care plan and have to live with it OR maybe I should say DIE with it. You're not going to see my representative begging to go under this plan but he'll say it's good enough for you, me and our families. I say if a person running for public office, particularly federal, won't sign a pledge to eat off the same plate they want to serve us then WE should NOT support the hypocrite. Do you honestly think Pelosi or Reed would stoup so low as to go under this so called health care plan?

Please ONLY support the candidate that will pledge to live like you and me!

These are the views of Radio Sandy Springs and America's Web Radio we invite you to comment AFTER you've read the bill.

Health Care - More to Talk About

The health care debate has morphed into open season on doctors

By Dr. Elaina George, M.D.

When I read that the president had met with CEOs and other top representatives of the largest health insurance companies, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies before healthcare reform was crafted by Congress, I had my doubts about the direction of health care reform confirmed.

I already had reservations about whether we would get true reform when the very members of Congress who were tasked to lead the crafting of the bill had received hundreds of thousand of dollars from the very entities that were the major cause of the problem - the health insurance industry, big PhRMA, and for profit hospitals.

No wonder we have been seeing commercials sponsored by big PhRMA in support of the current health reform bill. It appears it is quid pro quo for the administration's deal to cap their concessions at 80 billion dollars over 10 years. NY Times Article

If I were a drug company executive or stockholder, I would be happy to support a bill that keeps the government from importing cheaper medication from Canada, and locks it into buying brand medication instead of cheaper generics. (The discounts that Big PhRMA is willing to extend only apply to brand name drugs - the most expensive choice.)

The health insurance companies who also support the healthcare reforms proposed by the President also stand to gain. Although they did not promise to make any concessions, they benefit by receiving more people to pay premiums since there is a mandate that everyone carry insurance (public or private) or face monetary sanctions. Market forces will draw people who are sicker and don't have the economic means to the public option leaving private insurance companies with members who are younger, healthier and have the ability to pay the premiums.

The argument that the public option will drive down costs is disingenuous - how can a program designed to cover about 10 million people (as per the Congressional Budget Office) really exert any pressure on the health insurance industry when a company like Blue Cross and Blue Shield has over 30 million members and United Healthcare is even larger? Even the President's health adviser Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel admits that although small insurance companies would likely go out of business, those private insurance companies left standing would support a reform plan that would bring "45 million new paying customers to the industry".

Hospitals have been given a pass. There has been no discussion on cutting the costs associated with hospital care. I have performed surgeries that where the hospital was paid 20-30 times what I have been paid. Is that fair? The hospital makes a profit on every item charged (e.g., per aspirin given, per IV placed or per box of tissue). It is this practice that has led to the astronomical costs and the prevalence of health care related bankruptcies. Initially there was talk of changing payments to a system where the payments could be bundled, but that has disappeared.

The physicians and other healthcare providers on the front line who actually deliver care have been demonized as the cause of health care costs run amuck. That is simply not true. The fact is no physician can just order test after test. Each time a test is ordered or a surgery is recommended, there has to be a medical indication for it. Furthermore, the test or surgery requested must be pre-certified by the insurance company after patient records are submitted. There are medical indications and standards of care put in place by a medical or surgical board for whether a test or surgery should be performed. This is in addition to the pre-certification process of the insurance company. The reality is insurance companies have routinely superseded this and have denied care that is medically indicated to save money and boost their profits.

My question still remains unanswered. How can a reform bill that clearly serves the interests of the health insurance companies, big PhRMA and for profit hospitals possibly be a good thing for patients or doctors?

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Radio Sandy Springs Programming

Blogging is still sort of foreign to me but I just have to take this opportunity to mention the great programming on Radio Sandy Springs and America's Web Radio all .com!

Today we started with E.D. Hill re-play but she's so good who cares. Then we have Dr. Elaina George and Medicine on Call, followed by Chris Ballard Century 21 Click It all about real estate in Georgia, the David Rosengarten the internationally known food critic hosting Taste Buds, Margot Swan and Divorce Resource, Women's Spririt, Education Forum, the Steve Gross and Gross Reality all about the current economy, then Jean Creech and Bold Ventures with her guest discussing being an entrepreneur, followed by Dr. Scot Bay and Psychiatry Today and then Dan and Instant Replay all about sports. Now is that a great line up or what?

The only thing America's Web Radio is missing in programming is an Indian Chief and we're working on that with many new shows coming soon that are all of interest to you. Keep checking and listening to the best in Chat Radio - www.americaswebradio.com and www.radiosandysprings.com