Health care woes cannot continue

The system is, if not completely broken, severely damaged. If you pay for your own health insurance, you know exactly what I am talking about. The average single American pays around $500 to 600 a month for coverage and usually with a high deductible. Insurance and healthcare costs have sky-rocketed in the past few years. If we, the American public, want change, we must be the change.

I urge everyone to contact their representatives of both the House and Senate and voice their support for H.R. 676.

Have you written a letter to the editor?

Linda Mulka wites for the Rocky Mountain News Read more…

The NewsHour interviews couple who pay $800/month for insurances, yet even after co-pays have hundreds of dollars a month in expenses. Doctor explains how patients can't afford medicine.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette has an article about Kennedy's effort to form a "concensus" on health care, filled with fluffy quotes from special interest lobbyists.

Special attention is given to the role of John McDonough, who is described as a former law maker and head of Health Care For All. Sounds like a nice guy huh?

Let's review who McDonough really is: Read more…

Comments on improving health care collected in Portsmouth

Day was among many at the forum who said the insurance system seems fueled by "greed" rather than the desire to keep people healthy.

"It's a disaster in this country ... we need a complete overhaul," Day said.

Many attending the forum said they support a more centralized "single payer" system that would have the government offering guaranteed coverage, like in Canada or many European nations.

Gene Fenderson writes for the Great Falls Tribune

We don't really have a "system." What we have is a confused maze of coverage types and providers — Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, SCHIP, military, veterans administration, Indian Health Service, federal employee coverage, health savings accounts, community health centers, private insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, medical coverage in auto insurance and more. Read more…

Clark Newhall writing for the Salt Lake Tribune

The price of our privately run, profit-driven medical-industrial complex has caused this famine. About one-third of every dollar going to health care pays for administrative costs -- for utilization reviewers, for computer programmers, for advertising, for sales managers, for executives of all kinds, for billing clerks, for coding clerks, for CEO bonuses in the millions and hundreds of million -- and for profits.

We are not talking about government waste. We are not talking about the cost of actually treating the sick and nurturing the healthy. We are talking only about the cost of running our profit-making health insurance industry. Read more…

Fort Wayne Journal Gazzette interviews Edith Kenna

What was the most interesting comment you heard at the meeting? Read more…

Medicare works and should be made available to us all

Here is my suggestion: Instead of months of head scratching and position papers, simply extend Medicare to everyone, a 40-year-old program that works.

There is a bill (HR 676 in the last Congress with 90 members of Congress as cosponsors) that will be offered to do exactly that -- Medicare for everyone -- and more. The total cost will be less than what is being paid out now.

Have you written a letter to the editor yet?

Single-payer health care system can help America Read more…

Greg Sargent

I can't believe I'm writing this, but for the foreseeable future this is my last post at TPM.

I'm heading over to The Washington Post, where I'll be writing the lead blog on a new site that WaPo is launching. This will drive you mad with curiosity, unfortunately, but the details on the new site and blog will only be forthcoming when it launches the week after next.

Let's take trip down memory lane: Read more…

Le Pistoir

Basically, there is a proven model for reducing health care costs that we could use "off-the-shelf" to fix the broken American health-care financing system.
NPR has taken a look at polling (which supports NHI over the status quo by 2:1) and concluded that it is impossible. Even with vast public support, a Democrat president and Congress, and proven results in other countries, NPR says the new President Obama will not be able to make NHI happen. Read more…

Public Single-Payer: Health Insurance Done Right

As we see from the case of of the couple paying bills for breast cancer and a heart transplant, it doesn't make sense to tie health insurance to jobs. You don't deserve health care because you are a good employee. You deserve health care because you are human.

Residents to send health-care statement to Obama

PORTAGE -- Residents concerned about the state of the nation's health care gathered at the Westminster Presbyterian Church Monday in Portage to construct a statement to send to the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama.

The group of about 15 people agreed that the United States is in need of a single-payer health-care system.

Back national plan for health insurance

In 2007 the average annual premium for families covered under an employee health plan is roughly $11,000, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. A study by leading national economist Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research concluded that under H.R. 676, a family of three making $40,000 per year would spend approximately $1,900 per year for health coverage, representing a savings of 80 percent.

National health plan a necessity to some

We gathered in response to Barack Obama's invitation to all Americans to hold health care discussion groups and report back to him. Our input, Obama said, will inform his health care reform agenda. ...

... Everyone raised a hand when asked how many like the idea of a national health plan that would cover all Americans, no exceptions. Congressman John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, is pushing legislation (H.R. 676) to create such a plan.

Wish we had a way to know how many of these parties turned into rallies for single payer.

Letter from Healthcare-Now!
Dear Healthcare-NOW! Members and Friends,

Until December 31st, 2008, we have the opportunity to use the Obama web site to vote your support for the single-payer position. The Obama transition team is soliciting questions from the public via their web site [Some are listed below]. Visitors may "vote" for the best questions, which will then be responded to by the Obama team.

As of this writing, single-payer questions have been voted #2 and #3 under the "health care" section. Please help us vote them to the top and send a strong message to the Obama team and the new Congress that the American public favors single payer, not incremental band-aids. Read more…

The single payer's strength is its focus on the general practitioners who are the backbone, blood system and brains of the medical community.

There was unanimous support for the sort of single-payer system, publicly funded and privately delivered, that would guarantee health care for every American

Tell Obama to Push for Single-Payer Health Care

Please use the Obama web site to vote your support for the single-payer position. Read more…

Our Ailing Health Care: A film by an emergency physician

AARP’s Stealth Fees Often Sting Seniors With Costlier Insurance

The group, formerly called American Association of Retired Persons, collects hundreds of millions of dollars annually from insurers who pay for AARP’s endorsement of their policies.

The insurance companies build the cost of these so-called royalties and fees, which amounted to $497.6 million in 2007, into the premiums they charge AARP members, according to AARP’s consolidated financial statement for that year. Read more…

AHA, AMA object to Medicare “never event” policy — The American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association objected to Medicare’s plan not to reimburse hospitals for medical errors such as operating on the wrong patient or the wrong side of a patient’s body. The groups argue the policy is vague and needs to be better defined, such as by determining exactly which medical services it won’t pay for in such cases. [Source: Modern Healthcare]

Experian buys Maple Grove health data provider

Experian is spending $90 million to acquire Maple Grove-based SearchAmerica Inc., which provides data services to health providers.

One of SearchAmerica’s top businesses involves using credit bureau and other financial data to help health care providers gauge whether patients will be able to pay. Experian, an Irish company with U.S. headquarters in Costa Mesa, Calif., is one of the largest credit reporting companies in the United States.

Do you think medical decisions should be based on your credit history?

Insurers advance health-care reform plan, but critics blast it

Rose Ann DeMoro, executive director of the organization, says the plan pushed by AHIP would amount to a “massive public bailout of one of the wealthiest private industries in America.” Read more…

Join the Labor Campaign for Single Payer Organizing Committee in St.Louis Missouri, January 10-11th 2009

The Health Insurance Game

Data from the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy show that:

1. The top seven U.S. health insurers earned a combined $10 billion dollars - nearly triple their profits of 5 years earlier (Wall Street Journal, August 2006).

2. In 2004 top executives of the 11 largest health insurers made a combined $85 million per year in one year (Weiss Reports).

3. The 20 largest HMOs in the U.S. made $10.8 billion in profits in the fiscal year 2005. 12 top HMO executives pocketed $222.6 million in direct compensation in the fiscal year 2005. Read more…