Density and Secrecy Will Defeat Democracy in Kennedy's Health Care Bill
The public finally got a look at Senator Kennedy's behemoth 615-page health care bill, a document so gargantuan that Huffington Post put out an SOS to readers to help the editors read it. During the lead-up to the health care war, Kennedy promised Americans that the conversation about their health industry would be a national one, unlike the debacle the first time when the Clintons tried to take on private health care. No more secrecy, Teddy promised. Except, this time the negotiations are -- once again -- happening behind closed doors, and the public's favorite option, single-payer, isn't represented at the table.
Kennedy has depicted this secret operation as essential to negotiations, but the popular single-payer option has been almost entirely shut out of the debate (59% of Americans believe the government should provide national health insurance). Meanwhile, according to The New York Times, lobbyists from "AARP, Aetna, the A.F.L.-C.I.O., the American Cancer Society, the American Medical Association, America's Health Insurance Plans, the Business Roundtable, Easter Seals, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, and the United States Chamber of Commerce," are all present at the Kennedy meetings.
You'd think single-payer advocate House Judiciary Chair John Conyers has the plague these days from the way his associates on the hill are dodging him. Conyers has been criticizing his fellow politicians for sabotaging the single-payer option.
"There is some notion that universal single-payer healthcare is off the table. Well, that raises a very important question. If you take the most popular healthcare reform measure and take it off the table, heaven knows what it is, I guess, you think you're left with. This is the most popular form, and it would be very unlike the party in the majority now to determine that the most popular system would not even be examined. I am asking for a hearing in every committee, every committee, and if they will let us into the Senate, as well."
Conyers, who -- once again represents what the majority of Americans actually want -- has been forced to chase the back of the health care bus like a crazed dog ever since March when he was not invited to President Obama's Health Care Summit. Ultimately, Obama invited him when Conyers threatened to take his case to the president himself.
Why does one of the only politicians truly representing a populist desire need to grovel, beg, and holler to be included in the Kennedy-Obama closed-door meetings?
One reason may be that men like Max Baucus are permitted to aid in health care reform. Baucus is a human version of a NASCAR race car except all his corporate logos advertise pharmaceutical companies. Great Falls Tribute reports that Baucus "received more campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries than any other sitting Democrat in the House or Senate, receiving $183,750 from health insurance companies and $229,020 from drug companies during that period." It's self-explanatory why a man who makes a living sucking from the teat of private health care wouldn't be the most enthusiastic advocate of single-payer representatives being included in negotiations.
Others, like President Obama argue that the single-payer option isn't (his favorite word) "pragmatic."
"If I were starting a system from scratch, then I think that the idea of moving towards a single-payer system could very well make sense...We don't want a huge disruption as we go into health care reform where suddenly we're trying to completely reinvent one-sixth of the economy."
But now is precisely the moment when the system needs to be reinvented and purged of pharmaceutical and health insurance lobbyists. America's health care system is already a global embarrassment. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports the U.S. health care system rates 37th in the world in terms of quality and fairness. WHO Director-General Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland says: "The main message from this report is that the health and well- being of people around the world depend critically on the performance of the health systems that serve them. Yet there is wide variation in performance, even among countries with similar levels of income and health expenditure. It is essential for decision- makers to understand the underlying reasons so that system performance, and hence the health of populations, can be improved."
Dr. Julio Frenk, Executive Director for Evidence and Information for Policy at WHO says: "It is especially beneficial to make sure that as large a percentage as possible of the poorest people in each country can get insurance...Insurance protects people against the catastrophic effects of poor health. What we are seeing is that in many countries, the poor pay a higher percentage of their income on health care than the rich."
The message seems lost on the US government. Secret meetings with healthcare lobbyists, a 600+ page, dense bill offered without a summary cover page, killing the popular single-payer option? Kennedy's bill appears to be extremely undemocratic.
President Obama has promised to bring his message to the people soon. Starting in the Midwest, he'll try to convince the American people that his public-private hybrid health care is best for the nation. The single-payer option seems to already be a thing of the past. Instead of listening to what the majority of Americans want, Obama and associates are trying to convince the American people that a partially privatized system is best for them. This is the opposite of democracy. It's a privatized health care propaganda tour.
Cross-posted from Allison Kilkenny's blog. Also available on Facebook and Twitter.
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What ever happened to the politicians' favorite phrase when it comes to this health care circus: NOTHING IS OFF THE TABLE.
How about putting the single-payer option on that friggin table!!!!!
So much for transparency and change we can believe in. Open the damnned doors on the negotiations and let some normal people in to testify as to what those of us in the real world are trying to deal with in getting health care we can afford. The behind closed doors crap is insulting; but, worse than that is the number of Senators and House members making decisions who are just way too cozy with the medical insurance industry. Remove these people from the committee because not one of them is honest enough to recuse themself.
RLK McDonald
Key health care senators have industry ties
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090612/ap_on_go_co/us_senate_disclosures
This is all noise. It doesn't really matter how you get your health care delivered because the product being delivered is bad. What difference does it make if you eat Chinese at the restaurant or take-out if the food is going to give you food poisoning?
I'm disgusted with the medicalization of life in this country. I'm not going to argue these points, people can go do their own damn research. The medical industry is rotten because it is profit centered. Oncologists don't use chemo, cardiologists don't take statins (exceptions noted), and doctors are popping vitamins behind the scenes while Rxing you anything to make sure they don't get sued for neglect. So, go get your unnecessary tests and stop arguing where you get them. Remember this: where mammograms aren't used, less women die from breast cancer. Yep, it's true. Extrapolate to the rest of the medical industry and see why it doesn't matter how your toxins are delivered.
Well you could atleast provide a link for the mammogram statistic
Here's something. Probably more out there.
http://www.naturalnews.com/010886.html
Why don;t you just come out and call it allpoathy. Oncologists don't use chemo, as most of them don't have cancer. Those who DO, USE IT. Likewise with statins. These things are supported by science. Vitamins are the far bigger hoax. And you mammogram statement is equally absurd, Even were it true, what does it prove? That mamogram's CUASE cancer? Gee, it couldn't be some OTHER factor that industrialized couytnries have that 3rd world countries don't? Prosessed foods, industrial chemicals or some other contaminant? You whole post is absurd.
STUPIDITY, TIMIDITY and FEAR on the part of the public
will defeat the health care bill.
The rabidly PROFITEERING REPUBLICANS will make sure that happens.
The question seems to be emerging: just what is the American body politic going to do about the health care situation at hand. Is it going to complacemtly sit on its collective ass while BObama, the sincere, suave and politic man that he is, apparently tries to mollify both the public and the for profit health ware vultures into accepting some sort of hybrid medical policy that still manages to consume dwindling resources at the expense of the middle and lower class?
Or, is the American public going to do whatever it has to do (writing, emailing, demonstrating, protesting) to spell it out loud and clear, so that there is no room for doubt amongst the lilly livered lawmakers who sway with the most powerful political winds of the time, that what the public wants is a universal single payer health care system, and that the health for profit lobby, as powerful and justified as it is in defending its position to benefit from the suffering of others, is out of line, way out of line, and needs to get into some other line of business that exploits less fundamental needs of an emerging cooperative society.
Senator Kennedy's bill at BEST only includes the misleadingly named "public option".
The "public option" is not a "public plan". It is in fact yet another way to foist the costs of a system (poorer, older, sicker people) off onto the government while driving the healthier, wealthier, patients to private companies. The "public option" as it is currently being discussed would require the poor to submit to a financial audit to prove their need, only to be taxed additionally in order to get health care. The rest of "the public" would have no option but to buy from one of the private plans currently at the heart of America's Health Care Crisis. This is neither a "public option" nor a "public plan".
A real public plan is universal single payer health insurance run by the government. This is a proven plan that can achieve all the stated goals of health care reform. The only thing it doesn't provide is massive profits for the health insurance industry and bribes for congressmen which is why it's "not on the table" now.
If you would like a REAL public plan then contact your congressional delegation, state governor, and the white house and tell them this nation NEEDS single payer health insurance!
Go to sanders.senate.gov to sign the petition for single payer.
The world is full of people, mostly women, who sacrifice themselves to others. They take care of children unpaid, they change grandma's diaper unpaid, they drive grandpa to the doctor unpaid and their days roll around like this taking care of people. It is the way of women and we are letting these angel's of mercy die because they don't draw a paycheck or a big enough paycheck.
Ask a sociologist or an anthropologist and he will tell you that this is work society can't function without. Women like this have been holding it together for people since the dawn of time. We cannot measure people by the digits on a paycheck. Society can't make it without these people and we are letting our angels of mercy die everyday because in this society to serve this way means to be worth nothing on paper and that translates into not being able to pay a medical insurance premium.
Our current system demonstrates a complete and total lack of understanding of the reality of living and indifference to the realities of life. It is absolutely unforgivable and it must end.
If they dump Single Payer and put in some funky option that still costs a chunk of change the same people will be left out. Our leaders are apparently really unaware what pay checks look like in this country for millions of Americans.
People are gonna go postal as they get more of the same inhumane and indifference from the health care community that is killing and maiming us. This is all about our leaders pacifying the Medical Insurance Industry Elites who have lined their pockets and everyone in the entire world knows it. The medical insurance industry serves NO purpose. They absolutely provide no service and their only function is to bill us for nothing. America is no longer a great place to live and it is actually a deadly place to live with the way the medical insurance industry has been allowed to extort the people. We are being forced to live with inhumane monsters who care not for humanity at all. These useless Elites hold our health care in their hands and disenfranchise those without enough funds to satisfy their never ending greed-lust.
Their evil is in mythic proportions and we are being told to accept it as normal and okay. It is not normal, it is criminal, and people all around the world are shaking their heads. For-Profit health care is illegal in other industrial nations and their is a reason, it kills people.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=1216
The prime argument from the Right concerning healthcare reform has to do with protecting the healthcare insurance industry. As an alternative to any plan we on the Left offer, they assert that costs can be controlled by creating better opportunities for greater competition between existing healthcare insurers [without a public plan, thank you very much, as that would be UNFAIR competition].
So can anyone answer this very basic question for me:
Can you give me an actual example of a situation where competition has ever really driven down prices on anything?
I know that we here in the US accept this mantra without question for the most part, as such has happened in the distant past and with smaller community-oriented businesses [and maybe it does still happen with small businesses].
But for the life of me, since 1980-forward, I can't think of a single instance of anything done to increase competition in large-scale US businesses that has actually resulted in prices decreasing.
Perhaps in some instances, I'm sure I could find some examples. However, generally speaking you're absolutely right. And the reason is there really hasn't been any true competition in the major industries. The theory of competition driving down prices usually depends on a large number of competitors, not 3 or 4.
Check my example of Lasik Surgery. Its a real-world example of how the marketplace makes the procedure faster, safer, more effective, and cheaper, all without big brother dictating who's going to do the procedure or whom I have to choose to do it.
More broadly: cell phones, PDAs, computers, video games, Internet service, Hi Def programmming, flat screen TVs, automobiles, hybrid automobiles,
Should I go on? BTW, I had one of those Motorola brick phones. Without competition, I'd still be stuck with it. Hey it worked, what's the point of improving it? Somebody wanted me to shuck my phone for something better so they could (gasp!) make money.
You think private companies engage in unfair competition? Try coming to Texas and starting you're own lottery in competition with the government's. You'll be put in jail.
Well, my point [as discussed in mutual posts below] is that in practical application [particularly with any large-scale service industry], the most obvious trend is that ultimately, prices still trend higher.
And for basic service, preventative healthcare--with the insurance-driven scenario we now are mostly stuck with--opening the market for greater competition may briefly, initially offer some savings, but within a very short period prices will regain their previous levels and once again trend higher.
I think with highend, ever-advancing procedures, there will always be a struggle to contain costs at a reasonable level, even within a truly universal system. But we are being raped right now, and without a significant move to drive prices down [essentially making healthcare largely non-profit], we might as well accept the notion that even moderate socio-economic advancement is out of reach for the vast majority of Americans because of the costantly increasing healthcare cost burden.
And I think most US citizens are unwilling to accept that notion when we see other nations doing a better job at overall healthcare cost management.
I'm going to add Congressmen Conyers' name to my list of "congressmen on our side". So far there are two of them with Senator Sanders being the second.
If you want universal single payer health insurance and not the seriously misnamed "public option" (not public and not an option) then contact your congressional delegation, your state governor, and the white house, tell them why you want it, and ask them what they are doing to bring this proven solution to the American people.
Huffpo is fun but it's not a branch of the government! Write where it will do you some good!
Your entire corrupt government has sold you OUT.
Angry enough to protest yet?
Been ready. Im just waiting for the rest to show up with their pitchforks and torches.
http://www.michaelmoore.com/mustread/index.php?id=1216
I AM IN THE PROCESS OF WRITING MY LETTER OF RESIGNATION FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY!!!!
I HAVE BEEN A DEMOCRAT FOR 45 YEARS, BUT NO MORE!! THEY DO NOTHING BUT TURN A DEAF EAR TO THE PEOPLE'S WISHES!!
60% OF AMERICANS WANT A PUBICLY FUNDED HEALTHCARE SYSTEM.....NO PRIVATE INSURERS INVOLVED!!! WHAT IS SO HARD TO UNDERSTAND HERE????
I WANT A PONY AND A 24 CYLINDER FERRARI..... I WILL TURN IN MY LIBRARY CARD IF I DON'T GET WHAT I WANT NO MATTER HOW POLITICALLY IMPOSSIBLE THAT TASK MAY BE,
WHERE IS MY PONY ?
My best friend died June 01, 2009. She worked her entire life in thankless jobs. She got her first health care insurance at age 46. It had a 2K deductible. She put off seeing a doctor when she was feeling bad because she didn't have the money. She went to the hospital finally after becoming really ill. She was chucked full of cancer and died in less than 15 days.
So why don't you just shut up. You are sickening and stupid.
They only care about themselves. it doesn't matter to them how many young twenty something people go without. How many woman who take care of family members unpaid shrivel up and die. How many people who are disabled and can't make big bucks suffer with rotten teeth and other problems. The only thing that matters is that people like Bill Maquire makes billions of dollars because these people are the only ones that count. Apparently the rest of us are just cattle.
I encourage you to do some reading on the public option and it's implications. If it is done right, it is basically the same thing as single-payer.
If they can get an honest public option as the centerpiece of the bill, I assure you that will be the most drastic positive reform our government has done in 40 years.
The administration's proposal is a disguised sell-out. The Medical and healthcare services, Social Security and Medicaid need to be expanded not rationed while the U.S. economy is worsening. The expansion policy of Medicaid and Social Security will act as a stimulus. Stop Re-inflating the monetary financial bubble. The Government needs to invest in the people not paper fantastical vapor assets. Stop revitalizing the HMO system and the insurance companies. Go back to the Hill-Burton designed General Hospital System, the best system in the world.
And with whose freshly printed, devalued dollars are you going to do all this 'expansion'?
The dollars aren't devalued yet, first of all. Second of all, all government deficit spending is not equal. If the deficit spending goes toward producing value (like healthcare for the middle class or a jobs program), then it actually stimulates demand in the rest of the private sector economy. The future tax revenues from the new robust, shared growth will pay down the debt acquired to finance the growth.
Politics of change or politics as usual.
President Obama and the democrats care about getting re-elected, thats all.
Why can't they be more like Republicans with all of their Frank Luntz penned talking points and good gubermenting and stuff.
You don't understand the implications of the public option they're proposing.
I strongly disagree. I am quite certain that my Senator, Evan Bayh cares very much that his wife Susan makes $850,000+ per annum from sitting on the board of Eli Lilly and nine other boards..
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