This video features a balanced discussion of the insurance industry’s role in driving health care costs. Both parties are right and both are wrong.
Welcome back. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't done so already. Come back again.How Health Care Reform Efforts May Affect You (Corrected)
February 8, 2010 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.
Health System Ignores Effective Treatments (Corrected)
December 25, 2009 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...]
Put Citizens in Charge to Reduce Health Costs
October 22, 2009 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...]
Fear Mongers Won’t Stop Health Care Reform
March 12, 2009 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.
Health Care Reform Train Moves Forward
March 5, 2009 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.
Bredesen Could be HHS Secretary – CORRECTED
February 11, 2009 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.
Daschle Withdrawal Won’t Stop Health Reform
February 5, 2009 Leave a Comment
Tom Daschle’s withdrawal from the process to become Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) won’t stop the health care reform train. That train left the station long before President Obama tapped the former senator to become the conductor.
The feedback Daschle received as he met with concerned citizens across the country underscores the urgency of the situation. Everyone is tired of supporting a system that doesn’t work.
The system doesn’t work because the way we live doesn’t support good health. Stress-filled lives that limit time for healthy practices are causing an epidemic of chronic illnesses that is bankrupting the system and those who depend upon it.
Spiraling costs will undermine the effects of the stimulus if we don’t implement a practical plan for addressing these issues. The head of HHS and/or the White House Office of Health Care Reform must understand what practical steps we need to take.
Joseph E. Pizzorno, Jr., founding president of Bastyr University, is uniquely qualified to develop such a plan. Students at Bastyr receive training to address the whole person, not the just the disease.
During Pizzorno’s tenure as president of Bastyr, the university received funds for alternative medicine research from the National Institutes of Health. He was appointed to the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy by President Clinton and to the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee by President Bush.
Pizzorno’s experience makes him uniquely qualified to work in an administration committed to major changes in public policy. If he is not willing or able to serve, he may know a colleague who is. Click here to read more about his accomplishments.
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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.
Parties Unite to Fight Medicaid Cuts
April 27, 2008 Leave a Comment
According to the New York Times, last Wednesday two-thirds of Republicans in the House joined with every voting Democrat to block a White House proposal that would cut $13 billion from Medicaid over the next five years. [Read more...]
Doctors Support National Health Insurance
April 10, 2008 Leave a Comment
Updated 4/21/2008
Reuters News Reported Monday that the majority of doctors in the U.S. would support a national health insurance plan. [Read more...]
