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How Health Care Reform Efforts May Affect You (Corrected)

February 8, 2010 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

This was published yesterday with a different headline and slightly different text. Today I also changed the phrase “local and state” to “state and federal.”

Last week the Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reported that health care spending was 17 percent of the U.S. economy last year. By 2012, according to the report, state and federal governments will pick up more than half the tab. The recession has increased the number of people who qualify for state-funded Medicaid. As baby boomers retire, the Medicare rolls will swell.

Most people agree that health care reform is not an option. This video includes interviews with business leaders who support as well as those who oppose the current health care bills. Please watch, listen, and contact your legislators to share your opinion.

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Health System Ignores Effective Treatments (Corrected)

December 25, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones 3 Comments

Opponents of single-payer health care and early access to Medicare have said they fear the costs will increase the federal deficit. Those fears are based on Medicare’s track record. Costs for the program in 1990 were 10 times higher than projected in 1964.

Opponents and supporters alike seem unaware of how much modern treatments have added to that projection. Opponents are fighting to protect those treatments. Supporters champion evidence-based medicine and want to make it the standard.

Medicine since the 1970s has become more dependent upon expensive tests, machines, prescription drugs, and years of extensive research to prove their effectiveness. Research and treatment methods have not always been so complicated or so profitable with such questionable results. [Read more...]

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Put Citizens in Charge to Reduce Health Costs

October 22, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones 3 Comments

Forget my last post on health care reform. Since then I’ve seen the light. The editor of another site has developed the best plan I’ve seen yet.

Every plan presented in Congress so far has led to charges that a public option would increase the federal deficit, cause rationing of services, or require tax increases. “Citizens in Charge,” by Mike Adams of NaturalNews.com, would combine universal coverage with total health care freedom to slash costs for everyone. [Read more...]

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Angry No More (Update)

September 14, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones 2 Comments

Update to a post that first appeared on 8/26/07. The last update appeared on 2/3/09.

Anger drove my life for almost 20 years. The cause: trying to find help for a chronic illness, a disease that develops slowly and lasts a long time. Our medical system is unmatched in its treatment of acute illness, which starts suddenly and ends quickly. Until about 10 years ago, medical professionals didn’t recognize the difference.

Many providers still don’t understand chronic illness. They call patients hyperchondriacs or cyberchondriacs, terms for people excessively worried about their health. [Read more...]

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Let’s Grow Up and Pass Health Care Reform

September 7, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones 2 Comments

Updated September 29, 2009

Try to picture the American economy permanently stuck in the same place it is right now or in worse condition. That’s what could happen if extremists on either side of the health care debate have their way. [Read more...]

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Time to Get Real About Health Care Reform

July 30, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

The health care debate has taken a step in the right direction. Democrats and Republicans have agreed to actually talk with each other for the first time in years. If we can get them to be real, we might get somewhere.

The Republicans are too busy playing mind games to effectively explain that our social obligations have played a part in destroying the economy. Europe’s economy has fared even worse than ours. A larger percentage of its gross domestic product (GDP), the measure of a country’s economic performance, goes to social programs.

On the other hand, Democrats and most independents understand that the unregulated free market pushed us to the edge of economic collapse. Skyrocketing health care expenses played a major part. [Read more...]

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Natural Care Reduces Health Care Costs

July 21, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

Though House Bill 3200 is a giant step in the right direction for American health care reform, those who oppose it have a valid point. It’s focus on improving access to mainstream care is much too expensive.

Medical insurance does not open the door to quality health care. I know because I lived on the edge of disability for more than two decades.

Mainstream providers insulted me for years before they understood that I was sick. By then I was too weak to stand in the shower or put dishes in the dishwasher. My muscles ached so badly I literally wanted to die. When my doctors finally listened, they didn’t know what to do.

Such providers have limited understanding of what it takes to prevent or reverse chronic disease. They rely too heavily on making referrals to colleagues who specialize in advanced damage to a single body system.

The systems approach to health care is ineffective and too expensive because the body is a unit. Even mainstream providers have some understanding that health is the result of proper interaction between all systems of the body.

Natural care providers have a more cost-effective holistic approach. A 2004 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, for example, reported a four-year study of 21,743 patients. The study demonstrated that care directed by doctors of chiropractic yielded the following savings:

  • 51.8% in pharmaceutical costs
  • 43.2% in surgeries and procedures
  • 43% in hospital admissions
  • 58.4% in hospital days.

Functional medicine (FM) practitioners, another of many natural care providers, base their treatments on research that has appeared widely in peer-reviewed journals. Providers in my area charge just $375 for comprehensive testing that addresses the common roots of chronic illness. A nearby FM provider recently rescued a friend of mine from certain death.

Natural practices are also less invasive and, therefore, less dangerous and less expensive, which will reduce the cost of malpractice insurance. Insurance companies have begun to recognize this fact and to include natural care in their coverage.

I shudder to think what condition I’d be in without alternative providers. Their expertise has saved our family, insurance companies, and the nation from the costs of treating irreversible chronic disease and a life of dependence upon disability benefits. I feel better than I have in about 20 years, and I’ve developed a plan to support myself. Health care reform as planned could not produce those results and will not solve our health care crisis.

For more information visit the sites of The American Chiropractic Association, The Institute of Functional Medicine, and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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Jacqueline Laurette Jones is author of Unmasking a Diagnosis: How to get Help for a Confusing Chronic Illness Without Filing for Bankruptcy.

Filed Under Health Issues Unmasked™

Fear Mongers Won’t Stop Health Care Reform

March 12, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

They’re at it again. The fear mongers who have few positive ideas to contribute to the debate are rounding up a posse to take shots at the health care reform train. The internet is the latest weapon in their arsenal.

In addition to the blogs that seem to multiply like gerbils, a friend forwarded an email from an unknown source. It was based on a blog post by Betsy McCaughey that appeared on Bloomberg.com. McCaughey is an adjunct senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a non-partisan policy research organization supposedly dedicated to innovative research and analysis.

McCaughey’s post criticizes the section of the stimulus bill that establishes a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. This council will pinpoint treatments that are most effective.

McCaughey claims the council’s work will lead to limitations on treatments for serious illnesses and shift funding toward younger patients. Her post fails to mention the $1 billion set aside for prevention and wellness programs, which should reduce the need for expensive treatments by preventing disease. The bill channels an additional $8.2 billion into research to find cures.

The Council has not been granted authority to establish guidelines for private or public plan payments or coverage. It will establish a database where professionals can easily access the latest information. McCaughey seems unaware that proven treatments often take several decades to reach the consumers who desperately need them.

Now the email I received is spreading claims that Democrats want to ration health care for the elderly and that those efforts need to be stopped. Doesn’t the author realize we’re already rationing care for everyone under the current system? The list of doctors who won’t take new Medicare patients in my area seems to grow daily, and out-of-pocket expenses are rising for everyone, including Medicare recipients. How many people do you know personally who can afford the care they need, with or without insurance?

Every health care consumer in this country, whether satisfied with the system or not, should watch the film Critical Condition, which aired on PBS last year. It highlights the struggles of four people whose lives were totally disrupted when they couldn’t afford the care they needed.

The story I will never forget followed a man who opted to have his foot amputated so he could return to work before he lost his benefits. He thought the treatment his doctor preferred would take too long. When his recovery period was longer than expected, he lost his job anyway, and the insurance company retroactively denied his claim for a prosthesis. He was forced to have his ill-fitting temporary prosthesis repaired after it broke because he couldn’t find work. He received severance pay and found a new job after a year, but was concerned that his new employer’s insurance would not cover a pre-existing condition.

Most of the people I know have experienced some nightmare in the system or know someone who has. Health professionals, insurers, advocates, business leaders, and patients agree that change is inevitable.

The fear mongers won’t succeed this time. The question is no longer if but when and how.

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Jacqueline Laurette Jones is author of Unmasking a Diagnosis: How to get Help for a Confusing Chronic Illness Without Filing for Bankruptcy.

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Health Care Reform Train Moves Forward

March 5, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

With several key announcements this week, the words and actions of President Barack Obama show he understands the economy will never recover without health care reform. He also understands the public must be educated about the urgency of needed changes.

The president touted today’s health care summit as a step toward creating a bipartisan consensus on workable solutions that address the concerns of everyone involved. More than 150 leaders in politics, labor, and business, joined representatives of doctors, hospitals, insurance companies, and consumer organizations. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell delivered a letter to the president that stated even Republicans are willing to consider reforms that don’t include establishing a single-payer system. Democratic Governor Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, the president’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), has the skills to keep the momentum going.

Earlier this week, when the president announced Sebelius as his choice, I thought he had made another mistake in this area. His initial pick, Senator Tom Daschle, withdrew because of problems with his taxes. Sebelius was unsuccessful at attempts to provide coverage for the residents of her state.

But in spite of a Republican-dominated legislature, who feared the cost of expanding state insurance coverage and blocked her efforts, Sebelius successfully initiated major and minor changes that put the needs of consumers first. Those changes included standing up to HMOs that interfered with private medical decisions and helping senior citizens save money on prescription drugs. Prior to her election as governor, she became the first insurance commissioner in the nation to deny a takeover of her state’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield program by a for-profit health care conglomerate. The state has also expanded preventive care for several at risk populations during her tenure.

With the help of Nancy-Ann DeParle, who now heads the White House Office of Health Care Reform, Sebelius may be able to get the job done. DeParle brings experience with a wide variety of health care issues facing citizens, businesses, non-profit organizations, and government at the state and national levels. Among other positions, she served as director of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) and as representative for health care reform in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) during the Clinton administration. Especially important is her experience with serving the poor as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Human Services.

Earlier this week, President Obama announced plans to address the needs of the nation’s uninsured. His budget includes $155 million for 126 community health centers around the country to provide care for approximately 750,000 people and create up to 5,500 new jobs. The centers will provide mostly primary care and preventive services, which will reduce the number of taxpayer-financed emergency room visits for non-emergent conditions.

But recent reports show that 87 million Americans went uninsured in the last two years. That’s up from the widely-reported figure of 47 million because so many people have recently lost coverage along with their jobs. Some experts say the number is growing by 14,000 each day. This lack of access to care will cost the nation even more as those people become disabled by conditions that could have been prevented by early intervention.

If the health care reform train doesn’t continue to move forward, it could easily derail all other plans to get the national and world economies back on track.

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Jacqueline Laurette Jones is author of Unmasking a Diagnosis: How to get Help for a Confusing Chronic Illness Without Filing for Bankruptcy.

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Bredesen Could be HHS Secretary – CORRECTED

February 11, 2009 By Jacqueline Laurette Jones Leave a Comment

Updated 2/11/09

The rumor mill is circulating with possible names for the new Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Among those names is Tennessee’s Democratic governor, Phil Bredesen. Despite what Republican opponents and MoveOn.org say about the matter, he would be an excellent choice.

Bredesen knows what it’s like to insure a large population of unhealthy people who have low incomes. He understands the needs, and he has found a way to provide coverage with little support from the federal government and much opposition from state Republicans and idealistic health advocates.

When faced with cutting scores of chronically-ill patients from the rolls of TennCare, the state plan for the poor and uninsurable, Bredesen flew to Washington more than once. The past administration denied his repeated requests for changes to the Medicaid waiver that covered the plan.

Around that time, some Republican candidates for the state legislature openly campaigned and won seats on a platform of reforming the plan. They claimed it was rife with fraud and blocked Bredesen’s efforts to change and save it. The office that investigates such matters has since found little evidence to support those claims.

Republicans and health care advocates, who didn’t understand the big picture and refused to compromise, then smeared Bredesen’s name in the press and blamed him for the cuts when voters who lost their coverage became angry. But Bredesen was faced with competing challenges. He faced those challenges as total federal contributions to the state budget decreased.

Health care costs in Tennessee were taking money that was needed for education and other priorities. Bredesen understood that a person with a good education could afford private insurance or get one of the few jobs that still offered a group plan. He used the money he saved to expand pre-kindergarten programs in the state.

He also understands that education is important because the good jobs of today require highly-skilled workers. Having more workers with good jobs expands the tax base that is needed to support vital services and lowers the tax burden for all.

Tennessee has lost many of the manufacturing jobs that supported middle class families in the last few decades. Most of those jobs have been replaced with low-paying jobs in the service and retail sectors that don’t offer health insurance.

Governor Bredesen has personally experienced the high cost of not having insurance. His own brother died because he was uninsured. Since then, Bredesen has created a plan to cover the people who were cut from TennCare with a combination of public and private funds. Additional plans cover small businesses, children, and those who have lost their jobs.

Before the current economic crisis, Bredesen did all these things with a balanced budget and without raising taxes. Like everywhere else, sales and property tax revenues have plummeted.

Tennessee also doesn’t have a state income tax. Republicans almost incited a riot the last time Democrats tried to enact one.

Republicans once again distorted these and other facts and took advantage of low information voters (LIVs) to gain control of the state Senate in the last election. They are one vote short of controlling the House. Republican Deputy Speaker of the House Steve McDaniel has openly admitted that funding services in the current situation will be the most challenging task he has faced in his entire tenure in the legislature, and he doesn’t know where to start.

Governor Bredesen deserves the nomination. He’s a big boy who knows how to get the job done in a hostile political climate like the one in Washington.

An earlier report stated that Republican Tennessee State Senator Steve McDaniel was Speaker Pro Tem. He is Deputy Speaker of the House, and soon may be named temporary speaker. The speaker, Independent Kent Williams, is away tending to his sick mother, and the Speaker Pro Tem, Democrat Lois DeBerry, is recovering from an unspecified illness.

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Jacqueline Laurette Jones is author of Unmasking a Diagnosis: How to get Help for a Confusing Chronic Illness Without Filing for Bankruptcy.

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