Our country has been debating universal health care for over six decades. The chambers of Congress and the halls of the Whitehouse echo with endless reasons for or against. While this has perpetuated the mega-insurance companies have steadilly taken over the control of health care. Profit is their major motive. The Hippocratic Oath has been hijacked by corporate greed. Our health care management system has run amuck just as our financial and banking system. Unabated greed has taken over from dedicated medical practicioners. The family doctor who welcomes house calls is as extinct as the polio virus. Insurance companies will not pay for such frivolity.
As management greed and prices for health care have skyroceted many millions of Americans are unable to obtain even rudimentary care when needed. The millions of Americans who are too young to benifit from Medicare and work for the minimum wage or are unemployed are ignored by a Medical insurance system that essentially fattens the pockets of multi-millionaire executives while allowing the poor sick to get sicker. The voiceless in America who are overrepresented by the millions of poor people are never heard by those who buy off the votes of our Congress to protect the status quo. The loyal members of Congress suck up the moola from the Insurance Company lobbyists by the hundreds of millions while thumbing their collective noses to the majority of American people.
President Obama has the opportunity to eliminate the profit-oriented medical management system if he listens to the people of the USA and not the powerful corporate executives who determine who is eligible for health care and at what price. The voiceless in America must now let their voices be heard above the din of self-interest that seems to control Wachington, D.C. Be heard America and let the voiceless become empowered to secure non-profit management of health care made available to all of our citizens as a fundamental right.
National Health Care System - Part 2
Yes, to all of you who has responded to my letter on National Health Care Plan, your points are so valid and real. Thank-you.
I still say to you all and to our President and Congress that it is not that hard to implement a National Health Care System in these United States.
Because it already exists; Its called Medicaid and Medicare.
You only need to revise the policies on membership, on salary requirements, on assets, on whatever rule is blocking others to become eligible and to include All people.
That’s it. That is so plain and simple. No exceptions to the rule.. Leave out the exceptions and grant Medicaid and Medicare across the Nation to All People.
Deduct some amount from All Worker’s salary to pay into the Medicaid and Medicare System. Small Business would only need to be concerned with implementing a payroll deduction for the National Healthcare Plan just as they withdraw Federal and State Income Tax payments.
It is not that complicated. It really is not that complicated but people seem to want to make it complicated.
No, HMOs or Private Clinics or Private Practices would have to close down. They only need to ACCEPT the new Medicaid and Medicare patients.
Yes, Blue Cross and other Insurance plans will have to scramble to create a way to become inclusive and join the National Health Care System.
I SUGGEST THAT They do this by contracting to the Federal Government to assist with Oversight and Management.
IT IS NOT THAT HARD FOLKS. Please stop adding to the deficit by creating more insurance plans, more health care systems. STOP!
Make the administrative revisions to Medicaid and Medicare and let’s get on to other issues in the community.
As an organizer for SEIU's Change that Works Campaign, I am working on building a network of community members who will engage in the Health Care Reform conversation here in Grand Forks.
I'm interested in hearing your take on one of the principles essential to successful Health Care Reform
#1: Ensuring Patient Choice of providers.
Do you have a story about your experiencs during a change in HMO or Health Insurer? Do you understand what needs to happen to ensure that there are no gaps in coverage or access to doctors?
I personally have attained health coverage through three different insurance companies over the past five years. Fortunately, I haven't felt like I needed to go to a doctor during the times that I was uninsured, with one exception. (A dog bite forced me into the ER when I lacked health insurance.) I'm not sure how I would have got through that situation had the dog's owner not had homeowner's insurance to pay for my lost wages and my hospital bills. I suggest you avoid breaking up fights between dogs, in general, although I was worried that my dog was going to seriously harm the other dog (who bit me while I was pulling my dog off him.) For those of you who are wondering: my dog was on leash, the other dog had dug under a fence and escaped its yard.
Since I haven't had a regular doctor for so long, I really don't know what it would be like to have a family doctor forever and then need to find a new doctor because of a change in HMO policy. What kind of complications arise? I'm interested to hear from you if you've ever found yourself in those circumstances.
Regards,
Aaron Quaday
Grand Forks Organizer -- Change that Works
aquadaynodak0470@gmail.com
Nixon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QkgUkM0o6Q & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYoFBn5I5g4. Though medical benefits did exist as a result of WWII wage freezes. (I know that the wage freeze fact was mentioned in one of the earlier debates, either in IA, NH, NV, SC, or even before the primaries, if someone can link it for me.) The clips are from the film Sicko, which I do recommend watching.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
EMK
YES WE CAN!! Three words filled with hope, possibility, and strength. YES WE CAN!! Three words that can do more for this country than any one candidate if We The People truly believe in them. YES WE CAN!! Three words that we need to hold in our hearts and minds as we work together to find answers to the real issues we face.
One of the biggest concerns on my list is healthcare. Push all the rhetoric and noise aside - YES WE CAN!! - and what we have is a less than adequate system that will soon be flattened by the mass of aging Baby Boomers who will require more and more care. This is a mass we as a nation want to see enjoying their "Golden Years" to the fullest since they are the fuel that will drive this economy for decades to come. The last thing we want is for Boomers to be stressed out and cash-tentative due to uncertainties with the healthcare system.
So why don't we fix it? Why doesn't this country lose its status as the only major nation WITHOUT some form of a nationalized healthcare system?
Because to do so is un-American. First, opponents of a nationalized system claim it will "impede the ability of doctors to make a decent living." Granted, UK and Canadian doctors are not obscenely comfortable like some U.S. sawbones, but that's the problem with a "Super-Size It" culture - enough is never enough. In these "alternative cultures" where taking care of one another is just as important as bottom line profit, it does appear that a hard-working doctor's life can be a comfortable one. Heck, here in Florida we are now targeting these poorly paid Canadian and UK medical professionals to come buy vacation homes with their powerful pounds and loonies and bail us out of our real estate mess.
The second un-American reason we don't fix things is that by going nationalized, we will eliminate choice. Eliminating "Freedom of Choice" in healthcare would fly in the face of everything the children of Aquarius stand for.
I contend there's only one choice we need when it comes to healthcare: it be prompt, competent, and thorough. All citizens want the best, and the government has the absolute capability and responsibility to provide a quality healthcare system. The health and welfare of its citizens is what the founding fathers declared with the birth of our nation - "no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions", the words of English philosopher John Locke whose theories provided the foundation for our Declaration of Independence.
Such declarations, however, shall be met with a volley of "Spite you, pinko! Privatization is the salvation!" That cry has squelched us long enough, so to it I respond, "Oh, really?"
If privatization in healthcare is so wonderful, why then do we spend twice as much for healthcare in the U.S. and rank in the middle of the pack? Studies done in 2000 (World Health Organization - http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html) and 2004 (as reported in the Christian Science Monitor - http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0505/p02s01-uspo.html) confirm this. By the way, for those who saw "SiCKO," it is apparently true - Costa Rica ranks above the U.S. in the 2000 W.H.O. study (we're #37 to their #36).
Why are we spending more and getting less? Because open market economic theory should not be applied to a nation's healthcare system. The theory that gets me cheaper socks should not be the basis for the medical system entrusted to treat our parents, children, veterans, and less fortunate. Healthcare should be available to all citizens, it should serve everyone, and it is in our national interest to offer such a system since a healthier nation is a more productive and effective nation.
We have successfully socialized our military, parks, highway system, public works, postal service, police force, and fire services to name a few programs that successfully work despite sweeping, unsubstantiated claims that "Big Government" only means problems. If the British were able to nationalize their healthcare system on the heels of the decimation that nation suffered in World War II, I think the greatest nation in the world can do so now.
It starts with eliminating the "private tax" you and I are paying for health insurance out of every paycheck. Instead of that money going to bankroll HMO fat cats, it should be invested into a national healthcare system that is not about generating big bonuses for an executive crust and profits for investors, but caring for people.
If you're "lucky enough" to have a healthcare benefit through your job, how much of your paycheck goes toward this insurance? How much of your coverage do you actually use? When you do use your insurance, do you still get nickel-and-dimed with co-pay charges? Would you prefer to see your money go toward providing every citizen with quality healthcare versus multi-million dollar bonuses to HMO CEOs? "We The People" are financing the system, and as the investors we should demand a human return for the many instead of a bankroll for the few.
"Yes We Can!" eliminate all this insurance red-tape, and in doing so, increase the quality of care patients receive. Without all the bureaucracy, doctors will be free to simply practice medicine and not have to also act as business executives and legal experts.
And whether it is managed at the state or federal level, whatever works best is what should be done. President Barack Obama will work WITH leaders and thinkers to implement the best solutions and show the wisdom to study and refine as we move forward. He will not stick his head in the sand once the legislation is passed and blind himself to the reality that children are getting left behind despite the catchy slogan.
He is a leader open to progressive ideas such as the UK model where doctors receive incentives for getting people to lose weight, quit smoking, lower blood pressure, and live healthier - in my mind that beats the current U.S. system where docs can get more cash from pharmaceuticals for the more pills they pump into patients. How about an idea as simple as applying unclaimed Frequent Flier miles to transporting someone across the country to see a specialist because they live in a rural area? Taxpayers have helped subsidize airlines in the past - it is the least they can do in return.
YES WE CAN!! I may be over-simplifying things, but I contend "they" tell us it's too difficult and too impossible because "they" don't want us to try. YES WE CAN!! Perhaps it is naive, but I do believe that if We The People work together, there is nothing we can't do as long as we keep an open-mind and common purpose for the best interest of our country. YES WE CAN!!
I'm not going to post too many pro-Edwards pieces because he isn't my candidate but in fact he does a darn fine job of calling Romney on his healthcare B.S.: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/24/20134/7999
Edwards Evening News Roundup: Taking on Romney! Hotlist by sarahlane Fri Aug 24, 2007 at 06:12:52 PM PDT Hey all, I'm back again with another installment of Edwards Evening News Roundup. I was thinking I would cover all the lies Fox News spread about Edwards last evening, but I decided there were more important things to cover. For instance, how are the Democrats going to take on the private industry loving Republicans like Mitt Romney? Well, there's one Democrat who won't stand by and let Romney get away with worsening our crumbling health care system and that's John Edwards! I will also be talking a bit about the growing problem of nurse shortages in America and how Edwards plans to address that problem. Here we go..... Today Mitt Romney announced his health care plan. Maybe you were optimistic since Mitt and the Democratic legislature in MA passed health care reform that he would follow suit nationally. Well, not so fast, Romney is courting conservatives and he's not about to offer up a government program like Edwards. Here's a few gems from Romney's website: "It's a conservative idea," says Romney, "insisting that individuals have responsibility for their own health care. I think it appeals to people on both sides of the aisle: insurance for everyone without a tax increase." Hmmmm. I'm an American on the other side of the aisle and I am smart enough to realize that there are many Americans who don't have the ability or funds to be "responsible" for their own coverage. Here's another gem that just bleeds love and compassion: "We can't have as a nation 40 million people -- or, in my state, half a million -- saying, 'I don't have insurance, and if I get sick, I want someone else to pay." Yuck. These comments were made by Romney back in 2005, but they aren't outdated because they are front and center on his health care issues page. Do you still believe that Romney will release at least a semi-good plan? Think again, here's another gem from his website: Gov. Romney's plan will decrease costs by expanding the growth of the private health insurance market. I think I finally convinced you with just a few talking points that Romney's plan is not just horrible but will absolutely worsen our already crappy system. Edwards is not sitting idly by and letting Romney get away with it. Here's what Edwards had to say about Romney's plan: "Mitt Romney's cure is worse than the disease. Not surprisingly, he's unwilling to take on the big insurance and drug companies. As a result, it will make a dysfunctional health care system even worse. Edwards is right, it will make our system worse, how will expanding the growth and PROFITS of the private industry do anything but raise our premiums, decrease coverage and result in more claims denied? Edwards doesn't stop there: "Governor Romney's tax deductions will help the high-income and healthy the most, at the expense of the millions of uninsured Americans who need help the most. It will encourage businesses to drop worker coverage -- forcing families into the dysfunctional individual market with high premiums and out-of-pocket costs -- and may even increase the number of uninsured Americans. Taking money away from emergency rooms is downright dangerous. And by turning his back on universal coverage, Governor Romney is also turning his back on effective ways to bring down health care costs such as check-ups, preventive medicine, and managing chronic diseases."
