Co-authored with Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee
Now we know why they've stopped calling this health care reform, and started calling it insurance reform. The current bills advancing in Congress look more like rearranging the deck chairs on the insurance Titanic than actually ending our long health care nightmare.
Some laudable elements are in various versions of the bills, especially expanding Medicaid, cutting the private insurance-padding waste of Medicare Advantage, and limiting the ability of the insurance giants to ban and dump people who have been or who ever will be sick.
But, overall, the leading bills and the President's proposal are, like the dog that didn't bark, more notable for what is missing.
Here are 13 problems with the current health care bills (partial list):
1. No cost controls on insurance companies. The coming sharp increases in premiums, deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, etc. will quickly outpace any projected protections from caps on out-of-pocket costs.
2. Insurance companies will continue to be able to use marketing techniques to cherry-pick healthier, less costly enrollees.
3. No restrictions on insurance denials of care that insurers don't want to pay for. In case you missed it, the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee uncovered data on the California Department of Managed Care website recently that found six of the biggest California insurers rejected, on annual average, more than one-fifth of all claims every year since 2002.
4. No challenge to insurance company monopolies, especially in the top 94 metropolitan areas, where one or two companies dominate, severely limiting choice and competition.
5. A massive government bailout for the insurance industry through the combination of the individual mandate requiring everyone not covered to buy insurance, public subsidies which go for buying insurance, no regulation on what insurers can charge, and no restrictions on their ability to decide what claims to pay.
6. No controls on drug prices. The White House deal with Big Pharma, which won bipartisan approval in the Senate Finance Committee, opposes the use of government leverage to negotiate real cost controls on inflated drug prices.
7. No single standard of care. Our multi-tiered system remains with access to care still determined by ability to pay.
8. Tax on comprehensive insurance plans. That will encourage employers to reduce benefits, shift more costs to employees, promote proliferation of bare-bones, high-deductible plans, and lead to more self-rationing of care and medical bankruptcies.
9. Not universal. Some people will remain uncovered, including those exempted, and undocumented workers, denying them treatment, exposing everyone to communicable diseases and inflating health care costs.
10. No definition of covered benefits.
11. No protection for our public safety net. Public hospitals and clinics will continue to be under-funded and a dumping ground for those the private system doesn't want. Public monies going to hospitals serving low-income communities will be shifted to subsidies for private insurance.
12. Long delay in implementation. Many reforms don't go into effect until 2013.
13. Nothing changes in basic structure of the system; health care remains a privilege, not a right.
We may be slow learners, but the rest of the industrial world has figured it out: Universal, single-payer or national health care systems. That's the reason why all those other countries cover everyone, have better patient outcomes, cause no one to declare bankruptcy or lose their homes because of medical bills, and spend less than half per capita on health care than we do.
We could do it too, by reducing the starting age for Medicare from 65 to 0. There's still time to act.
Call on your Congress member to support the vote coming up on the House floor on the Anthony Weiner amendment to protect, expand and improve Medicare for All. Senators have the same opportunity in a vote on Senate bill 703, being offered as a floor amendment by Senator Bernie Sanders.
Democrats must also ensure that whatever bill passes includes a provision enabling states to set up their own single-payer systems. These votes are the true litmus tests of the Democrats' commitment to guaranteeing health care for all, and finally solving our health care crisis.
Barry Sears: Why Real Health Care Reform Is Impossible
Health care providers are making too much money. So what is the solution? Less health insurance, not more, may be the answer. Fewer food subsidies, not more, might be a start.
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The people's lobby!!
The insurance companies will just pass on that cost in higher premiums. They will continue to deny treatment and refuse to pay our claims and then dare us to challenge them in court, where they know that their sharp lawyer sharks will eat us alive.
The Democrats need to understand
And it it's not, they should anticipate losing Congress in 2010 and the White House in 2012.
(1) As over 95% of illness is caused by a diet rich in fats, 50% fats being the average American diet, foods high in fats shall be taxed sufficient to repay the government for the damage it causes to our national economy.
(2) Healthcare paid by taxes shall be given to the poor, and to all with a blood test showing a low fats diet.
(3) Those with a blood test showing high levels of fats, they shall pay the medical expenses required to repair the damage caused by eating such unhealthy food.
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Note: In 30 years raised a family of five on a diet with 10% of calories fats, and not one penny on doctor bills. As a lifestyle educator everyone I helped had the same results.
DIET: For breakfast fresh fruit over oatmeal. For dinner a stew of beans, brown rice, vegetables
If you eat meat go low fats. No dairy products please.
If there were more cheap and convenient eateries offering beans, brown rice, veggies, salads, etc, a lot more of us would eat there. But burgers, fries and pizzas taste better to most people, cost a lot less, and are located everywhere
Nutrition is a big part of our health, no doubt. But Canadians, Europeans and Asians are eating those foods as well and they have much, much, much better health care delivery than we citizens of the USA.
I am afraid if we help this bill forward, we will not get a robust insurance option to make insurance compete, and we will have mandated private insurance payments.
What do you folks think? Should we kill this bill if the President does not stand up for us and demand a robust public option? I think it may be time to threaten it, and ask the President to finally stand for something.
I think the current bill, is a better-tha
Sometimes people taking to the streets, and actually demanding change, is the only thing that works.Perh
After surgery, I went back to work and later accepted a position at a large corporatio
I became unable to work twice; without an income/ins
A single payer Medicare plan would have prevented the hardships I experience
You almost have to have no arms, legs, teethe or nails to get SSDI these days, and it is horribly debilitati
Many times the insurance people pay into, is only needed for short amounts of time, while they rehabilita
I am lucky enough to be disabled and not need benefits (that I payed into for 25 years) even though I am technicall
No controls on drug prices. The White House deal with Big Pharma, which won bipartisan approval in the Senate Finance Committee, opposes the use of government leverage to negotiate real cost controls on inflated drug prices.
No single standard of care. Our multi-tier
No controls on drug prices. The White House deal with Big Pharma, which won bipartisan approval in the Senate Finance Committee, opposes the use of government leverage to negotiate real cost controls on inflated drug prices.
No single standard of care. Our multi-tier
Where exactly is the reform? The fact that I will be forced to shell out money for nothing?
I am an ardent supporter of the PO. After watching Michael Moore's new movie it made me wonder what will this really mean for us? We all know money talks in Washington and our voices are drowned out. I for one would like to know what is this going to cost the tax payer, who is going to be covered by the PO and who is going to benefit (besides the insurance industry and the pharmas) and by how much? When a politician says no one will be denied coverage, what do they mean and what will the premiums be? When they say coverage for all, who is the all. I hate to be cynical, but I am tired of being taken for a fool.
Micahel, as usual you are ahead of the herd.....
Call them and say this::::: I want you to cosponsor HR 676 and S. 703 and support the Weiner and Kucinich amendments for health reform.
If they ask you why, tell them that Medicare-f
It's that simple. Debate is wonderful, but it does zilch toward urging our Representa
A voice is a tiny thing against such power, but enough voices do wield power. An absence of voice does nothing but aid and abet the cause of the insurance/
Not good enough. EVERYONE can find the time to write a letter, just one, to each representa
From Commoncaus
Did you hear? Diebold is set to sell its voting machine division to Election Systems & Software – creating a company that would produce nearly THREE QUARTERS of our country's voting machine systems. (emphasis added b/c that is one company in control of 3/4 of the voting machines in the US!)
Please join us in calling on the Justice Department
Tweet This Action!One company dominating the voting machine market means it will be more difficult for election officials to negotiate for voting systems on limited budgets, and raises serious concerns about reliabilit
Take action today!
http://www
Paper trail only vote casting is the only way to insure your vote is counted. Put these voting machine people out of business.
The only reason medicare is running a deficit is because the amount of money the government deducts in fica taxes has not even remotely kept pace with the exponentia
The fact that private health insurance premiums have risen so radically, and that these corporate interests have sloughed off onto their customers more and more of the costs of health care, is due partially to this exponentia
Imagine how much we could have done on providing affordable health care for our own people had we not squandered over 2 trillion dollars on Iraq.