Medicare for All!!

Doesn't that title grab you as a good idea? That's how we should be framing the Single payer debate. Because then, if you say that, who is going to say that that is a terrible idea? Then you would have seniors against you and it would make opponents look even more foolish.

So here is a great explanation of just what the heck Palin and Gingritch are talking about:

http://politics.theatlantic.com/2009/08/the_death_panel.php

They're taking Emanuel's academic point about health care values, assigning it to Emanuel as if Emanuel were advocating for something he isn't, then jumping over the entire health care colossus, and they assign this distorted belief to Barack Obama by implying an argument that actually disproves the linkage they are trying to make.

And today in Portsmouth, NH Obama had this to say about rationing care:

"Right now, insurance companies are rationing care. They are basically telling you what's covered and what's not. They're telling you, 'We'll cover this drug but we won't cover that drug. You can have this procedure or you can't have that procedure. So why is it that people would prefer having insurance companies make those decisions rather than medical experts and doctors figuring out, you know, what are good deals for care and providing that information to you as a consumer and your doctor so you can make good decisions?"

As far as the debate goes about health insurance reform over health care reform, I want both fixed. It should be illegal for recission to occur unless something truly fraudulent has occured. An independant panel should be the one determining fraud. Fee for service should be abolished, as it justs wastes care. Critics are saying that medical school applications are down, and that proves that government regulation is scaring people away. What does that truly mean? Does that mean that only people who want to cure the sick are applying, while the get rich quick folks are leaving (perhaps going into finance?) or does that mean that people who want to help the sick are afraid that they won't be able to with the coming changes in health care? I've been googling that topic, and it doesn't sound like the Chicken Little scenario to me. Besides, I think that becoming a doctor or a nurse will be a great employment opportunity for the next 20-30 years as the baby-boomer generation goes into retirement. Health care and medical is still one of the fastest growing fields. How would this change in the next 20 years even with reform? Demand will continue to go UP, not down regardless of reform.

So now Minyanville has an article about why single payer won't work, but the article doesn't really say why it won't. It goes after wait lists, but then concludes that perscription drugs should have approval levels and screening clinics for drugs would be better to treat chronich illness and we are going to run out of doctors. OK, I like the clinic idea, but don't we have wait lists now?

And now, for something NOT called Medicare for All, but something that makes sense and keeps private insurance going: The Healthy Americans Act, a bipartisan bill brought to you by Senator Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, and Senator Bob Bennett, a Utah Republican.

Having a 'public option' is still popular, according to the latest polls. Analysis here.