Benefits Age Insurance Blog

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 15:50:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaDnWY8EyOQ

my letter to Bill O'Reilly and Fox News

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:54:00 +0000

Hi Bill

I love your show. I truly believe you are independent and give a fair balanced point of view. I am coping this email to all your colleagues that I watch regularly. Fox has a great team! I have been watching it virtually every night. After watching Greta’s show last night, it compelled me to write this letter.

I am a medical insurance broker that specializes in group insurance programs. I am one of the few people in my business that believes insurance companies need to be reformed dramatically in order to do the right thing with healthcare. They are a big part of the problem with rising costs. The issue I want to bring to your attention though is something that I have never seen anyone talk about:

I live in Cook County (CC). In (CC) as in every major city in the US, local governments must support a tax payer public health system. I understand it is a federal law. Being in my business there are times when someone will call my office and not have medical insurance. My office asks if they live in CC and they are referred to CC hospital. They receive treatment for just about everything imaginable usually at no cost. In fact I know of people who live in very affluent suburbs of CC that have had surgeries done at no cost. What I never ever hear anyone talk about is if and when the US system goes in place, what happens to the public systems already set up? I mean I as a tax payer in CC pay to support the system. I believe the budget for CC Hospital is around 1,000,000,000,00 annually. The hospital treats about 1.4 million patients a year. CC has a population of around 7,000,000.00 so approximately 20% of the CC population are treated at CC hospital. We could do a whole segment on the waste at CC hospital, but follow me for a minute here. So taxpayer of major cities around the US are already supporting through their local taxes, a public health system. The US government wants to make all citizens purchase medical insurance. Besides the fact that we are adding another layer of administration of medical claims on the system at a very high rate (Medicare administrative costs are approximately 4% of dollars collected, insurance administrative costs are believed to be 30 to 35%) I have a few questions that I would love to have some of our elected officials answer.

Why don’t we fix the current public health system in the major metropolitan cities around the country? We have a public taxpayer system, in fact many of them around the country . Why doesn’t the federal government take over those local systems and run them more effectively? Change the state controlled charter and take them over? You want to take waste out of systems!
For all the criticism the VA gets, it is considered one of the best medical outcome faculties in the world. Let them run the local systems

If and when the US requires everyone to purchase medical insurance, what will happen to all the taxes people in CC and everywhere else pay?

We are using billions of dollars of public money outside of Medicaid and Medicare and I don’t hear anyone discussing it. Medicaid and Medicare are funding systems. Cook County hospital and the like are actual facilities. Doctors, medical staff, testing equipment, surgical equipment, beds, bed pans etc.

I do not understand why in the world we would take taxpayer money that is being used to pay for healthcare outside of Medicaid and Medicare in large part and not include that in providing health care for everyone?

Every time I ask local politicians about this they avoid the issue. There is a ton of money not only for Cook County but other local governments around the country being spent on healthcare that is never mentioned.

I am not naïve, but it would be great if my local taxes would go down once the US government starts funding private insurance.

On a personal thought, I believe healthcare is a right, medical insurance is not. Everyone legal or illegal should receive healthcare. Until this government wants to deal with the illegal alien issue people should be covered. We are paying for them now. Whether it is the doctor/hospital that gets stuck with the bill or the public systems that treat 3rd stages of curable cancer, we are paying for them. Medical insurance is something you purchase. Example abortion, Nose jobs Rhinoplasty etc are for the most part elective procedures. They should be covered under insurance programs, not basic healthcare.

One last thought, I do have many more though. Politicians need to realize that healthcare and health insurance are two different things?

Thank you all for taking your valuable time to read this email. I know I ramble but I feel very passionate about what is happening in this country and have a ton to say.

Please keep up the great work you are all doing!

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:37:00 +0000

I had met Senator Simon on a few occasions. The one thing I remember about him is that he always did the right thing. I don't ever recall him folding under political pressure. If fact I remember 2 years into his second term as our US Senator from Illinois, he decided not to run again in 4 years and he announced it publicly. In his statement, he said that there were a number of things he wanted to get done that were not very popular, but were the right things to do. Since he was not going to run for re election and didn't have to raise money he was going to get some things done that needed to be done. We need elected officials today like Senator Simon.

We miss you Senator Paul Simon

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 11:23:00 +0000

New Radio Talk Show

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 20:37:00 +0000

On Feb 28, 2011 Paul Edwards and Tim Elenz started a new talk show 1430 AM chicago

missed meeting

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:26:00 +0000

Was I the only one that woke one day and realized that we went from healthcare for everyone in March 2009 to everyone must buy medical insurance or face stiff fines?

I love this

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 15:56:00 +0000

The... patient should be made to understand that he or she
must take charge of his own life. Don't take your body to
the doctor as if he were a repair shop."
— Quentin Regestein: Psychiatrist and associate professor

Good Morning America

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 17:39:00 +0000

The price we pay
Any legislation that passes is bound to be costly -- but no one knows how costly it will be. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the Senate version will cost $1 trillion over the next decade.

But then, when Medicare was originally passed in 1967, it was estimated that the hospital insurance (Part A) would cost about $9 billion annually by 1990. By 1990 the actual cost to the government was $67 billion! Since then, Medicare has been expanded to include catastrophic coverage and also Part D, prescription drug benefits.

why now

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:25:00 +0000

Over 75% of the medical insurance in this country is paid for by employers.Forty years ago or so employers had turned over the administration of heath care plans to insurance companies. Apparently it didn't work as well as people had thought. So why is our government now turning to insurance companies? Maybe I missed an important piece here?

did anyone notice?

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:18:00 +0000

Six months ago we went from Health care for everyone to everyone is required by law to purchase medical insurance? Health care and medical insurance are two different things

Healthcare reform made easy

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:41:00 +0000

I have been in the medical insurance brokerage business for 20 years. Below are an outline of my ideas to fix our current system. I hope it helps

Prescription drugs

Currently prescription drugs make up 17% of insurance premium costs

In virtually all other countries the patient pays for their prescription and the government subsidizes medicine only for people that cannot afford it and qualify for assistance Make pharmaceutical companies compete for business from the consumer. In this country, the government currently pays for 36% of the costs and it is raising. If we made pharmaceutical purchases truly consumer driven, we would see a major drop in prices. Currently for the most part it is a closed system. Doctor gives you a prescription and under the current system the insurance provider requires that you fill prescriptions where they contract with their vendor. Let the consumer call around for the best deal and you will see the cost of prescriptions drop dramatically in a very short amount of time.

Malpractice reform

Doctors should be left to practicing medicine

-there are one hundred thousand deaths a year as a result of medical malpractice. The number one reason for malpractice claims, Misdiagnose.
Evidence supports that over the last decade doctors and patients do not communicate properly. We need to become better patients and more informed as to our health care options.

-there is a need to focus on restoring Doctor/Patient relationships that have been destroyed partially by managed care. Patients need to start interacting with their medical providers. With the Internet and other technology available, the tools are there.

In Illinois general practice physicians spend on average $150,000.00 per year on malpractice insurance.

My suggestion would be that all states have a Medical Malpractice review panel. Ninety three percent of medical malpractice law suits go to trial in Illinois as compared to a much less percentage in states that have medical malpractice review panels. Fourteen states currently have such systems. They weed out a lot of non sense suits. There are several things they can do almost immediately:

-federal government can require that states enact their own review panel and/or tort reform in the next 2 years. That is plenty of time to discuss in the legislative sessions.

-change the insurance contract that allows doctors not to agree to claim settlements. Let the malpractice insurance company make business decisions on settling claims. Insurance companies do it so well with other professional liability coverage. Let doctors practice medicine.

-we have risk pools for auto insurance in states why not a risk pool for excessive claims on malpractice?

-states also have regulation on Workers Compensation awards

Public Health systems

Most major cities have public health systems run by local government.

My suggestion:

In cities and towns where there is an existing public health care system use the Veterans Administration (VA)as a standard model to improve the inefficiencies. The VA has some of the best medical practice outcomes that rival virtually any health care system in the world. There is a little argument from anyone on the VA's medical outcomes.

Cook County serves 1.2 million uninsured currently. Los Angeles serves over
2 million and NY close to 2 million. Fix the current public systems in place now.

One thing I would do is if someone is in a government program, they should be required to participate in a program to reduce potential medium/high ongoing medical conditions i.e. health care screenings directed on recommendations from the AMA based on age/sex factors.

Example: you sign up for the public system, you are required to see a doctor within 90 days to establish a relationship and have a health care screening if the system calls for it. If you don't there is a consequence.

Insurance companies

Recently information released by insurance companies claim that insurance premiums are inflated $1600.00 on average annually to account for the uninsured. As more people are covered under the system, premiums should be driven down.

Electronic medical records would reduce administration. Virtually everyone has a portable media device in their homes today. Almost all medical providers offices have windows based systems

Tax on medical premiums

Instead of requiring income tax on employer sponsored medical insurance plans, why not require a flat tax of 5% of individuals that receive such a benefit. i.e. employer pays $6000.00 annually for an employee's medical insurance, it costs the employee $300.

Undocumented aliens

To even suggest that undocumented aliens should not receive health care is not even an option that should be considered. Everyone should be entitled to health care.

My feelings are that everyone should have access to quality health care and the money is in the system to provide it. I don't believe that undocumented people should be denied medical care. But on the other hand, if you are here illegally and happen to be convicted or pending trial for a criminal offense, I suggest we contact their country of origin and either:

Extradite them to face prosecution at home country and the cost of providing health and other care to those individuals will be billed to those countries or deducted from the financial aid we provide to that country.

I believe health care is a right and no one should have to worry unnecessarily about paying for their medical. I think the biggest issue in this country is that people don't know the difference between

Health care and health insurance. Health care should be a right medical insurance should be considered a privilege.

Medical inflation

Health insurance costs rise at a higher rate than anything else because Americans over use the system. Patients want all services and medical providers don't want to be sued. A lot of tests are not necessary. Better informed patients would reduce over usage. The expansion of the Internet over the last decade makes it a lot easier to access information.

Medical inflation

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:56:00 +0000

Health insurance costs rise at a higher rate than anything else because Americans over use the system. Patients want all services and medical providers don’t want to be sued. A lot of tests are not necessary. Better informed patients would reduce over usage. The expansion of the internet over the last decade makes it a lot easier to access information

Undocumented residents

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:54:00 +0000

Undocumented aliens
To even suggest that undocumented aliens should not receive health care is not even an option that should be considered. Everyone is entitled to health care.
My feelings are that everyone should have access to quality health care and the money is in the system to provide it. I don't believe that undocumented people should be denied medical care. But on the other hand, if you are here illegally and happen to be convicted or pending trial for a criminal offense, I suggest we contact their country of origin and either:
Extradite them to face prosecution at home country and the cost of providing health and other care to those individuals will be billed to those countries or deducted from the financial aid we provide to that country.
I believe healthcare is a right and no one should have to worry unnecessarily about paying for their medical. I think the biggest issue in this country is that people don’t know the difference between health care and health insurance. Health care should be a right medical insurance should be considered a privilege.

Public Health systems

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:52:00 +0000

Most major cities have public health systems run by local government.
My suggestion:
In cities and towns where there is an existing public healthcare system use the Veterans Administration (VA). as a standard model to improve the inefficiencies. The VA has some of the best medical practice outcomes that rival virtually any health care system in the world. There is a little argument from anyone on the VA’s medical outcomes.
Cook County serves 1.2 million uninsured currently. Los Angeles serves over 2 million and NY close to 2 million. Fix the current public system in place now.

One thing I would do is if someone is in a government program, they should be required to participate in a program to reduce potential medium/high ongoing medical conditions. i.e. health care screenings directed on recommendations from the AMA based on age/sex factors.
Example: you sign up for the public system, you are required to see a doctor within 90 days to establish a relationship and have a healthcare screening if the system calls for it. if you don’t there is a consequence

Step 2 Prescription Drugs

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Currently prescription drugs make up 17% of insurance premium costs
In many all parts of the world the patient pays for their prescription and the government subsidizes . for people that cannot afford it and qualify for assistance Make prescription drugs free market. In this country, the government currently pays for 36% of the costs and it is raising. . if we made pharmaceutical purchases consumer driven, we would see a major drop in prices. Currently for the most part it is a closed system. Doctor gives you a prescription. Under the current system the insurance provider requires that you fill prescriptions where they contract with their vendor. Let the consumer call around for the best deal and you will see the cost of prescriptions drop dramatically in a very short amount of time.

My cure for health Care in the US

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 12:12:00 +0000

First Step

Malpractice reform (a must)
In Illinois General Practice physicians spend on average $150,000.00 per year on malpractice insurance. So before they even open their practice 150k?
Almost every state controls Workers Compensation awards. Why can’t they put some type of controls on Malpractice? Ninety three percent of medical malpractice law suits go to trial in Illinois as opposed a much less percentage of states that have medical malpractice review panels. Fourteen states currently have such systems. They weed out a lot of non sense suits. There are several things they can do almost immediately:
-federal government can require that states enact their own review panel and/or tort reform in the next 2 years. That is plenty of time to discuss in the legislative sessions.
-change the insurance contract that allows doctors not to agree to claim settlements. Let the malpractice insurance company make business decisions on settling claims. Insurance companies do it so well with other professional liability coverage. Let doctors practice medicine.
-we have risk pools for auto insurance in states why not a risk pool for excessive claims on malpractice? If the doctor is a real butcher he or she will lose their license any way and probably end up in jail? Or they should?
-we have to remember that this is “practicing medicine” and for the most part doctors are healers and should be allowed to do what they do best. “Practice medicine and not practice paper work jumping through hoops for insurance company’s paper work
-there are one hundred thousand deaths a year as a result of medical malpractice. The number one reason for malpractice claims? Misdiagnose. Evidence supports that over the last decade doctors and patients do not communicate properly. We need to become better patients
-we need to focus on restoring Doctor/Patient relationships that have been destroyed partially by managed care. Patients need to start interacting with their medical providers. With the internet and other technology available, there is no excuse

Health care the way it should be

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:56:00 +0000

I will be celebrating my 47 birthday this year. I grew up on the Northwest side of Chicago my father was a Chicago policeman and mother was a registered nurse. I remember a Dr. John Meyenburg around the corner form my home. If you were very sick, Dr. Meyenburg would see you immediately. If you couldn't see him he would walk through the alley and come to your home. It was very nice because as soon as you saw him , you felt better. And if he touched you what ever your issue was it went away. That was because Doctors are healers and when I was growing up Doctors practiced healing and treating people to make them better and restore their quality of life.
We spend so much time as a society developing a sense of community in our neighborhoods, but we somehow allowed one of the most important part

Proposed Government Health Plan

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:53:00 +0000

I can tell you how many phone calls I have received inquiring about my views on the Presidents health care plan.

I have yet to see what the President's plan? The only thing I have read is the proposal Congress has drafted. It is the best program I have ever seen. Actually I think it is better then the plan our elected officials enjoy now as members of the legislative branch of government. The way I understand it is that the "qualified program" that employers can either mirror (in a private insurance arrangement) or participate in has more coverage then any program being offered by any medical insurance company or employer today. The proposed program has coverage for just about any medical treatment that is available. I know of no employer program in the country that offers the extreme comprehensive coverage being proposed. So if an employer offers the same type of coverage as proposed by Congress they don't have to participate in the government program? But as far as I am able to find, there is no program available to be comparable to the qualified plan? So does that mean that everyone has to join the program? Who will pay for such a comprehesive program?

I thought it was interesting that a reporter asked the President last week if all members of Congress were going to be included in the government option. He really didn't answer the questions accept to say that he had a physician follow him everywhere he went and that he had the best health care program in the world.

President Obama's Healthcare plan

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:55:00 +0000

Wow! I was pleased to see the 3 objectives on the President's health care plan. I agreed with points that he is trying to accomplish. How we are going to pull it off is another question. I have for the longest time believe that the money that is spent on health care in this country is more than enough to cover everyone. The issue is the way we fund the system.

Medical care for everyone

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:55:00 +0000

I think people confuse medical care with medical insurance. Countries that have national health care don't let insurance companies dictate the system..or do they? What do you think?

HSA Health Saving Accounts Are they good for me?

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:50:00 +0000

My office most receive a few dozen phone calls a week requesting information on how Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) perform. I have to confess that I am a big fan of the way it works. Almost all of the major health plans offer this type of plan. The first company to actually offer them and understand what the government was trying to do was Assurant Health Plans. They seem to have a handle on how, what and why HSAs were about. What is really nice about Assurant Health Plans is the flexibility that they offer. If you are an individual they have a plan that works for just about any one's need. I think the biggest resistence to moving to an HSA is that people dont understand how it works. People that call us get a full detailed explanation and the large majority of them select this type of coverage.

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 15:49:00 +0000

All in no one out

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 02:08:00 +0000

I recently attended an 85 th birthday party for a gentleman by the name of Quintin Young. I had a fantastic time and I thank my good friend Ray Werntz for inviting me. Dr. Young is a very impressive man and told a story of the health care system I had never heard before. I have to say that it was one of the most interesting events I had ever attended. The message I got from the evening is that there should be a single payer health care system in this country. I personally think that we should provide medical care to all citizens of the US as do almost all civilized counties do. I don't have an answer for foreign nationals, here legally or illegally but I do know that most countries provide health care for their citizens. I had a conversation with a man who was a bg supporter of the event and questioned what all the passion was when in Cook County and almost all large Metro areas in the US they have a public health system? If you live in Cook County (there are approximately 7 million people out 12 million in Illinois) that have access to a public healthcare system based on a no charge or an ability to paybasis. so essentially it is free. My friends response was that the care was terrible. I thought it probably is. Bt it is care. I know of several friends of mine that had surgeries at CC Hospital and were very happy with the way they were treated and especially happy about the cost....FREE. One of them gave his address in South Barrington and didn't pay a dime. So I guess my question is that if the care at CC hospital is so bad, what happens when we have a national system? I know that the Veterns Adminstration has a very well run system and the doctors are paid. Medicare pays for seniors and the providers get 100% paid at a reduced rate, but they get paid. Medicaid, well 2 out of 3 isn't bad I guess. Well what would a national health care system look like?

Tim Elenz

Why do we pay taxes

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 13:11:00 +0000

I have heard from a number of people lately that there seems to be a firearms shortage in America the last several moths. Personally I am not a hunter and have no passion about the 2nd amendment with the exception that the Supreme Court ruled after two hundred years and has said Americans can own firearms. Although, there appears to be a lot of politicians that don't want Americans to possess guns. There is a huge movement to change the law of the land so the government can limit citizens access to guns.
What really got me thinking lately is the financial melt down we are going through. I think the bottom line is that we have been robbed by a number of different sources. Large corporations, mortgage companies, banks, stock brokerage, insurance companies, legal and illegal immigrants, etc As I began to start thinking about it, it occurred to me that we pay taxes to be protected from bad forces. We have laws and our governement is suppose to protect us. If my neighbor steals my property I am to call the police (government) and they are going to take the proper actions to retrieve my property. We pay taxes for services but most importantly for law and order; to be protected.
Well the way I see it, we were not protected. The government let their people get robbed. We pay large amounts of money in taxes and apparently it didn't protect us? A few bad apples, some who paid large amounts of money to a number of politicans in what we can campaign contributions were able to take advantage of the system and rob the American people. What surprises me the most is that Congressmen Pelosi , Franks and Senator Dodd, Reid, Durbin and Obama.... no we promoted him, are still running the show. Well in fairness to President Obama, he was a freshmen Senator and busy running for President. I have met him and I personally like President Obama and believe we should give him all our support and see what he does as our leader. He inherited a lot of stuff and a bunch of people I would not want to be on a sinking boat with. Politics is a game and to a certain degree those who get elected have to play it.

I guess I understand why there is a run on guns in this country. Our current government doesn't seem to possess the ability to protect us. They allow our citizens to be robbed and have done very little to protect us. I guess we will have to see if other people are brought to justice when the dust settles.

So I guess I wonder.....Why do we pay taxes?

Universal Health Care

Telenz@gmail.com (Tim Elenz) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:25:00 +0000

Wow! President Obama inherited a lot of stuff. People say well George Bush is gone so now let the healing begin, but we still have Rep. Pelosi, Franks and Senator Reid running a branch of Government and they don't seem to be working with President Whole heartily. Pelosi's mouse represents the old pork belly attitude that these leaders still possess. A couple 30 million dollar mouse projects would be a good start to addressing healthcare issues. President Obama has his work cut out for him to be able to get this branch to un learn and re learn a new way of approaching America's issues. We as a nation need to support our President and give him a chance to try his recipe. We elected him and he needs to be given the opportunity.I as so many of my colleagues agree that the dollars spent on healthcare are more then enough to take care of all Americans. The money is just not being spent in an efficient way. We have one of the best healthcare if not the best in the world. We have allowed the system to be focused on profits not care. I believe that a form of Universal health care might be a solution. Reports show that Medicare runs at about 1 to 1 1/2 percent for administrative costs. And virtually all medical providers are paid for services rendered. The Veterans Administration has similar costs and is probably one of the best run systems in the world. Why is our system broken? One word......PROFITS.While I was not a big fan of Michael Moore, I have to say his movie "Sicko" was well done. I agreed with most but not all of the facts. He did a fantastic job on the majority of the movie.I believe that healthcare reform