Enlightenment Thinking Could Bring Health Care For All Americans
by Stephen F. GambesciaThe Bulletin, July 25, 2007
Link to article
“Many health groups are giddy about the prospect of real national health care reform following the Democrats’ takeover of both congressional chambers. Taking this cue, front-runners for the Democratic presidential nomination prioritize health care reform and are, therefore, slowly divulging their plans. Recalling the Clintons’ efforts of 15 years ago, they perceive this as an opportunity to advance a Democratic “core value”: universal health care.
President Bush and Republican congressional members understandably have their own ideas regarding how to slow the increase in costs of health care, to insure more people, and (generally) to assist the system to “heal thyself.”
Getting health-care reform onto a “national agenda” is a vital first step to improving the health care of all Americans, but keeping it there is of far greater import. Thus, if it disastrously follows the political stream, the result will be yet another set of incremental policy changes that add more complexity and little improvement to a system in distress.
Using health-care reform as a means to test how the change of power in Congress will make a difference, or the promise of a presidential candidate, or how our checks and balances system works for the minority party is not what we need, if we are serious about health-care reform. So, let’s get serious. …”
Click on link to read entire article
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:03 am
Although many of you may not be aware of it, America recently made a big step towards providing coverage for the uninsured (and serving another national interest at the same time) through the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007.
Under the Act, all members of the Selected Reserve (which includes every drilling member of the Reserve of any branch of the U.S. military and the Coast Guard, as well as National Guard forces) will as of October 1 become eligible for TRICARE Reserve Select (TRS) at a common premium rate. TRS is a military health insurance plan which functions similarly to a Preferred Provider Network (PPO) and has been available to reservists for years; what has changed is that instead of their being a complex premium structure that made it prohibitively expensive for anyone who was returning from Active Duty, all reservists now pay just $81 per month (or $253 per family).
For the millions of military reservists in the United States, this legislation means that they and their families will now be able to afford coverage. Moreover, the coverage offered by TRS is quite good, with a $50 annual deductible and a catastophic cap of $1000, beyond which TRICARE covers all costs rather than splitting them 80/20. (Many civilian PPOs place this cap much higher, at least $2500.)
Does this change eliminate the healthcare crisis in America? Of course not. But it does two things:
(1) It demonstrates, after years of benefit cuts, a renewed committment to American troops who make incredible sacrifices in support of our national policies; and
(2) It demonstrates that the U.S. Government IS capable of taking action to address healthcare when voices are raised and demands are made by constituents.
So, there’s hope. And with a strong membership in organizations like UP, we can leverage that hope to lead healthcare reform across the board.
September 7th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
I’m new to the UP site, but found the topic I want to add my voice to.
I feel that the last few decades’ development of health care as an industry, as opposed to a national issue related to the welfare of its citizens, is the core of the problem. While these comments may seem only rhetorical, as opposed to sugggesting an immediate solution, I mean to acknowledge a political will of revolt against an industry we’re all paying for.
When the “costs” of health care are involved in the calculus of business expenses, government and non-profit expenses, then it is at the core of every sector of our economy and our society.
The American Revolution was sparked in large part by “taxation without representation” — and when literally every sector of society is paying for exhorbitant health care costs, yet endless advertising for pharmaceuticals costs millions — we’re all being taxed…through our health care premiums. Drugs are more expensive because there’s a lot of marketing costs. We’re all paying the costs.
So next time you hear, read, or see a drug ad, realize that you’re being taxed without representation to pay for that ad through your health care premiums.
This is why there has to be revolt.
Reject the pharmaceutical executives, their profit margins, and stock prices…which all of our mutual funds have invested into. Reject the
health care plans that seek profit by limiting costs (usually human beings and services … those are “costs”)
Reject the reality that the Health Care industry represents at least 14% of our GDP.
So I hope UP and the rest of the country plays hard ball with elections in the near future. If what’s wrong get’s enough light, and national leaders can be brave enough to stare down the super-rich from this industry, we might get somewhere. Imagine if all this money went straight to providers of services, and not profit margins…we could all get a nice “tax” refund then. Take about half of what we pay now, and fund a national program of health service funding for physicians and other providers, fund a national pharmaceutical lab that develops drugs with independent professional and scientific monitoring, and give all the profits back to the people. Now that’s a tax refund!
Steve Pitkin