Comments on: Health Care Reform that Doesn’t Fix the Problems

By: selise

selise — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:26:25 +0000

Meanwhile, doctors/nurses and hospitals working for Medicare/Medicaid would be paid less per person, but be asked to care for more people in Medicaid.

when the docs and hospitals are squeezed for costs without having there being plan on how to lower costs, it causes a ton of problems even for people with private insurance. long waits to see a doc, v short rushed appointments, etc. this is a big problem where i live.

By: selise

selise — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:15:09 +0000

For my part, in a time of slack in the labor market, the fraction of our GDP that we devote to healthcare, a labor intensive activity, seems somewhat irrelevant.

i have no problem with increasing fed budget to pay for healthCARE (not to subsidize private insurance companies). in fact i advocate that we do just that.

however, i disagree at least in part because when individuals, households, employers and states (for example) have to pay more for healthcare they are going to have less available to pay for other necessities. that’s why it’s so important that we find a way, in the long run, to control total costs.

By: selise

selise — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:02:35 +0000

thanks v much scarecrow. i think this is an extremely important post.

By: Kassandra

Kassandra — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:13:58 +0000

Why hasn’t this been Dugg? I can’t do it because I canceled my account for privacy reasons. This needs to be dugg…

By: montanamaven

montanamaven — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 01:52:46 +0000

Taibbi nailed what is going on. Congress passes a bill written by the industry and finance guys. Then Goldman Sachs and other predators make a killing. That just happened with the so-called energy bill. Now it will happen with a so-called health reform bill. We are so screwed, but we need to go down fighting. I will be marching in the largest Montana parade tomorrow in the Single Payer entry. They made sure we had a high number so that we are nowhere near Baucus and the other politicos. But with any luck we could make the news with our ailing statue of liberty in a hospital bed and scores of doctors and nurses trying to save her through single payer. And we have following her, a Fat Cat and his minions in a convertible throwing money.

Chris Hedges says we must make an emotional appeal through theater, art, photography to get the word out that we are being screwed. This is a parade so it has a “fun” aspect to it. But next should be a protest with us all dressed in black and carrying coffins of those dead, dying and about to die from our brutal insurance for profit based system.

By: Hugh

Hugh — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 18:42:28 +0000

The whole current healthcare debate is as far as I can tell about a series of cons. The only thing they have in common, a hallmark of the Obama Presidency, is that they don’t work and enrich the already rich and powerful.

By: Kassandra

Kassandra — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:03:22 +0000

So, all this will do is make a bad situation worse, which seems to be the case in nearly every bill coming out of the Congress these days.
But it WILL give the insurance corporations the same stranglehold over our society and government that the mega-banks currently enjoy.

I think the part of the bill that concerns me the most, if I had to pick one among the endless choices, is the “requirement” that small business insures its’ employees, at $750.00 a pop…that was the one Walmart et al had them put in there. It will, essentially, kill off what’s left of small enterprise in this country.

By: art3

art3 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:45:09 +0000

excellent write. needs to be cross psoted on dkos etc.. so many are thrilled that help cam e up with this optionless opt. but now its sinking in-there is no choice with this. msot will remain trapped with private ins by their employers and will still go broke tryign to pay mandated premiums. at least dean’s way is clear-the pub opt should eb like medicare and open to any american. we msut work to get folks to understand that having a pub option is only good if anyone can opt into it. its not a thrill to have one that excludes most fo america.

By: wigwam

wigwam — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:30:35 +0000

I strongly recommend the following 17-page article: “It’s the Prices Stupid’: Why Americans Pay More for Health Care” by Gerard Anderson, PhD, August 24, 2005: http://content.healthaffairs.o.....2/3/89.pdf

There is a short interview that summarizes the paper at http://www.jhsph.edu/publichea.....rices.html

For my part, in a time of slack in the labor market, the fraction of our GDP that we devote to healthcare, a labor intensive activity, seems somewhat irrelevant. Statistically speaking, we have nothing better to do than to care for each other’s health. But, of course, healthcare requires lots of training, but again, statistically speaking, we have nothing better to do than to train each other to take care of each other’s health. But, of course, someone has to teach those teachers, etc.

So, one of the bottlenecks that keeps the supply of trained personnel low and therefore the prices of healthcare high is the scarcity of capacity in medical schools due to lobbying on the part of those who are profiting from the shortage of medical personnel.

And right now, the states lack the funds to build new medical schools and/or expand existing ones. For example, California cannot move forward with the establishment of a planned medical school in the UC System.

An alternative would be to import MDs from other countries. IIRC, the Philippines, for example, has a surplus of MDs. Possibly Cuba as well.