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.

We live in a Crazy World

Ok, so this is just nuts. Sarah Palin is claiming that the current health care reform legislation contains a 'death panel' that allows a committee of doctors to decide to euthanize patients who are sick. So this means that Palin's youngest child, who has Down Syndrome would have been killed if this were enacted. Terrible, right? Except NONE of the current legislation contains any type of 'death clause'. Sheesh, it must be good for Alaskans that she is no longer governor. This is all part of the inane rumors about the government 'rationing care'. It won't ration care. Our care is 'rationed' right now, by what health insurance you have and what your coverage is. This rumors are crazy, crazy, crazy.

Now, to call out to Obama, who seems to have completely lost control of the health care debate and might in desparation to get something passed, make things worse than they are now. Where is the Accountability? Is Big Pharma just too powerful to push around? Is Obama going to sellout just like every other politician? That is not what I voted for. This is like Bush Administration, part II.

So now neither party is good. I don't know if either party ever was good, but this is just bad and bad.

Letter to my Congressman, Adam Smith

Dear Mr. Smith,

In a short time, you will be voting on the health care reform package that the House has been working on during the past couple of months. I strongly urge you..no, I demand that you give your full consideration to and vote in favor for Congressman Andy Weiner's single-payer plan that Speaker Pelosi has agreed to debate over and vote on the House floor. I am assuming that this plan was given floor time for a debate and vote because Speaker Pelosi believes that it does not have a chance at getting passed. Please be one of those courageous Congressman who stand up for what is right, for what you know in your heart is the right thing to do. I want to be able to look my son (who is18 months-old) in the eye someday and tell him that yes, in some small way we did the right thing and we fixed health care.

You are probably getting all sorts of views from our fellow citizens on this issue. Let me help you with some facts. A single-payer system is socialized medicine. What is wrong with that? Medicare is socialized medicine, although many of our citizens don't realize that. Bill Moyer's Journal ran an excellent interview of Wendell Potter, and I urge you and your staff to take time out of your busy schedule to watch his program. It is a lie that our current health care system is the best in the world. It is not. The US Healthcare system ranks as #37 on the World Healthcare Organizations list of 191 countries. According to a study done by the American Journal of Medicine, in 2007, 61% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. were because of medical related expenses. All the talk about the Canadian healthcare system as being a 'bad' idea that limits choice is simply false. Most recently, a Canadian doctor wrote about the differences between the two systems in an LA Times op-ed. I encourage you and your staff to read it. My company recently switch from an HMO to a PPO health care plan. That means I can no longer see the doctors in the HMO without paying higher deductibles and co-pays. How is that not limiting my choice? Our current fee-for-service payment system to doctors and hospitals means that it is more important to provide as many tests as possible to patients even if some of those tests are not necessary or even needed. This system is very strong because in addition to making more money from doing more tests, this system also provides cover to doctors who fear malpractice suits. That is the American system.

How is our current system even remotely fair? I am lucky that both my wife and I are employed and I am able to get health insurance through my provider. But I live in fear that if I lose my job, I will either have to go on COBRA which would be financially devastating, or I would have to chance the private insurance market. Private insurance is even more scary because my 18-month-old son has a congenital heart defect that could require surgery down the road. Unless I am employed at the time my son needs the surgery, or we have managed to get my son added to my wife's plan during the enrollment period, my son could, COULD go without the medical care that he may need. Now that scenario isn't certain, but it could happen.

President Obama has been very disappointing for me since he entered office. He has not allowed the single-payer debate to be discussed, saying that our current system is too complex and it would be too disruptive. My response to that is "isn't that the point?" Our current health care system IS too complex. It needs to be disrupted. Healing sick people should not be a Wall street for-profit business. If politicians insist on using fear tactics, the truth should be the most fearful thing being said. What isn't true is that the free market system is the best way to contain costs. This is simply not true. Free markets contain costs to increase profit, but when cost means treatment like in health care, the best way to contain costs is to deny treatment, which is what we see in our system today. If the bottom line in the system was to provide the best care and not highest profits, then the free market system works. But that is not how the free market system works.

I applaud your legislation to streamline healthcare IT for chronic medicare and medicaid patients to reduce cost and improve patient care, but a lot more must be done. Simply keeping the current system in place while subsidizing the 47 million Americans who don't currently have care might win you points in the next election, but it will certainly lead our country to economic ruin before my lifetime is up. It's time for you to serve your constituents in the best interest. It is obvious that some of your collegue's are nothing but parrots for the private health insurance industry. Take Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas who boasted:

We ensured that if there is a government option, it will be just that -- an option -- and it won't be mandated on anybody. If it had been based on Medicare rates, I can assure you that it would have eventually ended up resulting in a single payer-type system, because Medicare has really good rates, because they're negotiating for every senior in America. Private insurance companies could not have competed with that.

In summary, the best way to provide universal health care and rein in spending is to go to a single payer health care system. Now it is true that there are other ways to provide universal health care through private industry, but none will be as effective at reducing costs and saving jobs. Please give single payer your full consideration.

Thank you

Angry mobs and losing hope + Links

So I saw a couple clips on CNN which showed crazy, angry, and yelling mobs at a couple of Congressional town halls yesterday. What saddened me the most is that most of the outraged people were white and older. I interpreted this as people who will or already are eligible for Medicare. So why are these folks so upset? Not one of the proposals currently in Congress talks about cutting benefits or changing plans for Medicare or Medicaid. I'm saddened because most of the folks in these town halls seem as misinformed as the gentleman who told Obama to "keep the government hands off my Medicare." Paul Krugman takes a stab at the town halls in his op-ed piece today.

Then there's this article in Businessweek that makes the very strong case as to why any "reform" coming out of Congress is just another windfall for the insurance industry.

My hope for acutal reform is dwindling day by day. And where is Obama in all of this? Nowhere. Obama has been more and more disappointing to me. I think he blew it on the bank bailouts, the environment, and now health care.

UPDATE: Here is a really awesome new perspective on the whole employer health care coverage idea.

UPDATE II: Planet Money talks about health care in their podcast.

UPDATE III: Please don't ever tell me that government run programs are worse than the private sector. I know government can really screw things up, and our politicians are crap, but what year are we in again, 1908? From the video linked here:

Rep. Mike Ross of Arkansas :

We ensured that if there is a government option, it will be just that -- an option -- and it won't be mandated on anybody. If it had been based on Medicare rates, I can assure you that it would have eventually ended up resulting in a single payer-type system, because Medicare has really good rates, because they're negotiating for every senior in America. Private insurance companies could not have competed with that.

Must Reads

So I have a couple of great book recommendations:

Supercapitalism by Robert Reich, former labor secretary under Clinton. He gets pretty wonkish, but his ideas on why we are all to blame for our current mess is hard to argue with. He also has a lot of good ideas on how to get our financial and government systems on the right path again.

Bailout Nation by Barry Ritholtz. This book is a terrific read. I think I have talked about it on the blog before, but it's worth mentioning again. Read this book.

The Two-Income Trap by Elizabeth Warren and Amelia Warren Tyagi. I am a huge fan of Mrs. Warren, and here she and her daughter lay out the case as to what caused the middle class to get into such a bind along with some ideas on how to get us out of it. What is the trap you ask? Here's a hint: How do you get your kids a good education and keep you and your family healthy?

Bankruptcies are UP

Hey, look at that. Bankruptcies are at an all-time high. So that means bankruptcy critics will start crying foul again. The credit card companies and their congressional friends already won a huge battle in 2005 when they changed the bankruptcy laws, making it harder for people to file for Chapter 7 and instead file for Chapter 13. That means that debts that would get wiped out, debt like credit cards now has to be paid back in a 3-5 year period. More money for the credit card companies! Congressional proponets claimed that bankruptcy was being abused by people who would run up debt and then use bankruptcy to escape their obligations. This has been proven to be false. So get ready to hear a bunch of blow hard congress people scream about rampant abuse, even though we have high unemployment. These critics think that people going into bankruptcy are irresponsible people who just go into bankruptcy like it's a trip to the grocery store. A trip to the store that you can only make once every 7 years. A trip that follows your credit report for the next 10 years. A trip that will have lasting effects on people and their families for a far longer time than 10 years. These critics are people who will never experience the fear and shame of being unable to provide for their family even though they did follow all the rules. These critics are wrong.

Putting the nail on the head

Paul Krugman

Uniquely American

Canadian doctor talks about the differences between US and Canadian healthcare

Holy Smokes! An honest approach to fixing Social Security!