Health Care Reform
updated 2010-07-12
2010-07-12: As of March 2010, President Obama signed into law the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. The congressional vote was down party lines. The final laws were essentially a Repulbican plan from years earlier despite the RNCs labeling it as socialism. As expected, President Obama and the Democratic party claimed the laws were a success since at that time any bill was considered a political success.
Overall, I consider the new laws as a failure to address fundamental changes in a poor healthcare system that that drainins as of 2008 about 16% of GDP, versus 11% or less for other countries that have better health outcomes.
From Wikipedia-- In spite of the amount spent on health care in the U.S., according to a 2008 Commonwealth Fund report, the United States ranks last in the quality of health care among developed countries.[21] The World Health Organization (WHO), in 2000, ranked the US health care system 37th in overall performance and 72nd by overall level of health (among 191 member nations included in the study).[22][23] International comparisons that could lead to conclusions about the quality of the health care received by Americans are subject to debate. The US pays twice as much yet lags other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy, which are among the most widely collected, hence easily compared, international statistics. SEE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_reform
America's primary health care problems are lack of quality and low cost health care. These new laws by means of susidies to corporations will increase insurance coverage to Americans, but not by enough. Further, our lawmakers chose to ignore approaches, including technological changes, that that would cut costs and improve care. This failure is a result of undue lobbying influence where key players in insurance, pharmaceuticals, and hospital chains essentially wrote the legislation behind closed doors. In private, the president made clear that the public option and other changes would be kept from becoming law.
Republicans and Tea Party supporters see the repeal of this law as a rallying point while their party refused to negotiate in good faith. On the other end, many progressives and mainline Demorcrats realize that this new law isn't what they wanted. If the law turns off enough citizens, it could shift power toward the Republicans, and further degrade a democratic process where many feel betrayed. And then there is the question as to how much this law will add to our future debt while restricting future health care reform efforts...
2009-11-02: Currently the plan making its way through Congress is not Health Care Reform but a plan to protect the existing system & players, avoiding real reform & adding an additional burden on the lower to middle class to subsidize the insurance industry through forced private-government payments.
DSymonds sent in the following from a MoveOne Post: Senate Democrats are in intense negotiations over the health care bill right now & apparently they're inches away from having the votes to include a public health insurance option.
But according to CNN, The Washington Post, & others, key White House officials are instead pushing a "trigger," a mechanism that could indefinitely delay or kill the public option. So we're asking people like you, who worked to get President Obama elected, to join in an emergency photo petition to remind the President that we fought to elect him & now it's time for him to fight for us. Will you put on an Obama t-shirt or button, print out our petition sign, & take a photo to send to President Obama? We're creating a rapid response web video with the photos, so the sooner the better.
Click here to get started: http://pol.moveon.org/wh_photos/index.html?id=17681-4552015-YpXZIpx&t=3
Submitting a photo is easy, & we provide step-by-step instructions. We'll send the photos to the White House, share them with the media, and use them in a new video urging President Obama to fight hard for the public option during this critical phase.
Whether President Obama decides to fight for the public option right now will likely mean the difference between winning real reform, or not.
But instead of standing up for a public option in the Senate bill, the President is at best neutral, & according to most reports, actively pushing Senate leaders toward a "trigger." Jacob Hacker, the Yale professor who originated the public option proposal, calls the trigger "an inside-the-beltway sleight of hand that would protect private insurers from the real competition that a strong public health insurance option would create...[The trigger proposal] is unworkable in the current Senate bills, unwise as public policy, and unwanted by the substantial majority of Americans who say they want a straight-up public option." So why would the White House push a trigger? Republican Senator Olympia Snowe wants one, and some sources say the President thinks getting her vote will make the bill "more bipartisan."
Others say the White House is afraid the public option doesn't have enough support in the Senate.
This is a leadership moment. Let's remind the president that seventy million of us voted for him last November because of his promise to challenge politics as usual, and show him that we'll fight right alongside him if he stands strong for real progressive change. Click here to start: http://pol.moveon.org/wh_photos/index.html?id=17681-4552015-YpXZIpx&t=4.
Thanks for all you do.
Health Care Reform
According to the 2005 census, 47 million Americans (15.9%) were uninsured. Even more disturbing, the data shows a trend toward increased polarization of wealthy & poor.
- The uninsured rose from 14.9% in 2001 & 15.6% in 2004.
- Children uninsured rose from 10.8% (2004) to 11.2% (2005), an increase of 360,000.
- Lack of insurance is much more common among people with low incomes.
- 24.4% of people with incomes below $25,000 were uninsured (2005), almost triple the rate of 8.5% among people with incomes over $75,000.
- African-Americans (19.6% uninsured) & Hispanics (32.7%) were much more likely to be uninsured than white, non-Hispanic people (11.3%).
National health care reform is being driven by several factors that affect Americans, both individually & as a nation. First off, Americans spend too much for health care, about 16% of GDP (more than any other county) versus 6-11% for other countries. Health care expense contributes to the U.S. being less competitive in the world as our goods must cost more to offset this cost & helps driver wagers lower.
One key is that our system focuses on specific procedures (those that are covered by private insurance companies) & prescription pills to treat symptoms. A ten minute office visit often results in a test, procedure or prescription, whereas a better approach would be to address the overall health with preventive care that addresses developing issues such as cholesterol, lack of adequate muscle strength, melancholy & others before they become full blown diseases.
Another cost driver is the 1,300 private insurers that have specific coverage according to plan & different procedures to file. Because of this, doctors & hospitals must maintain large staffs whose purpose is to call & fax to determine coverage & seek reimbursement. Private insurance bureaucracy & paperwork consume 1/3 (31%) of every health care dollar. (Frontline did an excellent job of comparing this in their show listed below.)
Cost is just part of the equation. Our system fails at providing basic health care. This occurs when businesses do not provide coverage or have dropped coverage. It is also occurs when individuals are between jobs & have an accident or develop a disease. In these cases, private health care coverage is almost impossible to get. Also, even if you have had coverage & you switch private carriers, Americans often find that preexisting illnesses are not covered. This adds to ones' stress & puts that person & his or hers family at potential high financial risk. One last concern is how insurance companies have repeatedly refused to cover surgeries & other coverage- even when it was valid. This makes many Americans question the value of their insurance at some future point when they may need it.
Another reform driver that is never mentioned is the health insurance & pharmaceutical companies are in financial risk as the number of insured Americans declines due to high cost or seeing little value in it, their future business is at stake. They have agreed to support President Obama's effort in part to rectify the situation they helped create & in hopes of staving off real health care reform that could see their profits slide or there whole business eliminated.
The current solution is to force uninsured Americans to buy coverage from private insurance companies. For some that can't afford it, taxpayers will help subsidize these payments- & the insurance providers. Presently the public option does not exist, having been replaced by a non-profit plan, despite support by a majority of Americans. Yet, not one of the 41 witnesses called before the Senate finance committee supported this option. The witnesses included America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Aetna, Blue Cross & other industry groups. Chair Sen. Max Baucus denied testimony from doctors from the Physicians for a National Health Program. After that refusal, eight single-payer activists asked to be included were jailed after one of them declared, “We need single-payer health care now.” Note: Sen. Baucus has accepted $2.9 million in campaign contributions from the health care industry.
Health care reform is really a question of whether the American government can function effectively. Without real campaign finance reform, powerful lobbying interests control the discussion, keeping effective options from being openly discussed. Successful legislation requires our politicians to understand the complex issues involved. Further, they must be willing to work for the common good of the people, when such efforts may doom their reelection. Also, conservative shock jocks have misled some, fanning their fears, resulting in a circus atmosphere where some carry protest signs saying, “Keep the government out of my Medicare.”
Yet, despite the anger at town halls, the vast majority of Americans are committed to real change but do not know what that is- because the details remain hidden in some 1,900 pages that even the president has not read or reviewed. Unless this health care reform effectively addresses both the cost & availability of universal coverage, it will have failed. The current effort being pursued fails to achieve both objectives. Some legislation may result as a result of Democrats fearing the next election cycle, but will it be health care reform?
What Can You Do?
- Educate yourself. Click on the links below. Read & listen to the podcasts & shows. Question what you come across in relation to your own experience. Talk with others & compare stories. There is a lot of misinformation out there.
- If you favor a single-payer health care system, sign a petition now-
salsa.democracyinaction.org - Contact your representative (U.S. House of Representatives & Senate). Call them about your concerns. Demand real change.
- Educate others about what you've found & encourage them to get involved.
References & Suggested Reading
- Find out more about a single-payer system from- Physicians for a National Health Program- a non-profit group.
www.pnhp.org/facts/single_payer_resources.php - Sick And Wrong: How Washington is screwing up health care reform and why it may take a revolt to fix it, by Matt Taibbi.
Excellent, the behind the scenes maneuvering.
www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2009/08/19/matt-taibbi-on-health-care-reform-sick-and-wrong/ - The Number of Uninsured Americans Is At An All-Time High: The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities discusses the
census & its results.
www.cbpp.org/cms/ - Five Capitalist Democracies & How They Do It: Frontline examines how others have better health care.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/ - What's Ahead for Health Care?: Examines the health care subject quite well. Guests include: Rep. Michael Burgess,
Republican & obstetrician, Dr. Stephanie Woolhandler. She’s a practicing physician, an associate professor
of medicine at Harvard, and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, & Jonathan Oberlander,
associate professor of social medicine and health policy & management at the University of North Carolina–Chapel
Hill, & author of "The Political Life of Medicare" (2003).
www.onpointradio.org/2009/07/whats-ahead-for-health-care/ - U.S. Health Spending Breaks from the Pack: 2009-09 NYT's article shows how America's system began to get much more
inefficient in the late 1970s.
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/us-health-spending-breaks-from-the-pack/ - The 'Public Option' Debate: Guests include: Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, Gail Wilensky, economist and senior fellow at Project HOPE, an international health education foundation, & Howard Dean, former presidential contender, physician & author- "Howard Dean’s Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform."
- 2009-10:20 UPDATE- Videos, images, recordings & letters were delivered to the U.S. Congress: "Bearing Witness: A Pilgrimage for Health Reform" will culminate in a display on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C in mid-October. The exhibit, which visits seven cities across the country and collects thousands of stories from families in need of health reform, will be displayed at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church Parish Hall on Thursday, October 15th, 7p to 9p, see the flyer at the back of the sanctuary.
