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TechnoratiOver 5,000 U.S. physicians have signed an open letter calling on the candidates for president and Congress "to stand up for the health of the American people and implement a nonprofit, single-payer national health insurance system."
WASHINGTON - Noting that the nation's private-insurance-based model is failing by denying needed medical care to millions, wasting resources and driving up costs, the doctors say that a publicly financed system is "the sole hope for affordable, comprehensive coverage."
![[A protester in San Francisco holds a sign at a rally in June, 2008. Over 5,000 U.S. physicians have signed an open letter calling on the candidates for president and Congress "to stand up for the health of the American people and implement a nonprofit, single-payer national health insurance system."(Photos by Luke Thomas and John Han - Fog City Journal)]](http://www.commondreams.org/files/article_images/singlepayer1008.jpg "singlepayer1008.jpg")
"A single-payer health system could realize administrative savings of
more than $300 billion annually -- enough to cover the uninsured and to
eliminate co-payments and deductibles for all Americans," they write,
adding that it would also slow cost increases.
Dr. Oliver Fein, a professor of clinical medicine and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and a signer of the letter, said today, "With the sudden economic downturn, more people than ever before are worried about how to pay for health care. A single-payer system -- an improved Medicare for all -- would lift those worries, provide care to all who need it and require no new money. It's the only morally and fiscally responsible approach to take."
In their letter, the physicians express disappointment that most U.S. political leaders still cling to the private health insurance industry model of financing care and "seem intent on reprising failed schemes from the past" like mandates or tax incentives.
"The incremental changes suggested by most Democrats cannot solve our problems; further pursuit of market-based strategies, as advocated by Republicans, will exacerbate them," they say. "What needs to be changed is the system itself."
The letter is being circulated by Physicians for a National Health Program, a single-payer advocacy group. Fein is the group's president-elect. Excerpts from the appeal are being published in full-page advertisements in the Oct. 13 editions of The New Yorker and The Nation magazines, which arrive on newsstands this week.
Signers of the letter include some of the most prominent figures in U.S. medicine, including leaders of professional societies in internal medicine, pediatrics, family medicine, psychiatry and public health. Among them are Marcia Angell, M.D., senior lecturer at Harvard Medical School and past editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, and Bernard Lown, M.D., professor of cardiology emeritus at Harvard and Nobel laureate.
Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a co-author of the letter, said, "Physicians have a responsibility to get to the root of a patient's medical complaint, to make a diagnosis based on evidence. Only then can we confidently prescribe a cure, rather than offer a consoling placebo.
"Given the repeated failure of incremental reforms like the one under way in Massachusetts, which is already facing cost overruns and leaving many residents uncovered, and given the increasingly obvious failure of unfettered markets, it's clear that neither of these traditional prescriptions for reform will work," she said. "What's needed instead is the only treatment that has proven its effectiveness -- a single-payer plan." (Woolhandler co-wrote a piece published late last year in the New York Times that scrutinized "mandate" proposals like those currently backed by Obama: LINK.)
The letter's release follows a survey in the Annals of Internal Medicine this spring that shows 59 percent of U.S. physicians support national health insurance, a jump of 10 percentage points from five years ago
Single-payer plans typically involve a single, publicly administered social insurance fund that guarantees health care coverage for everyone, much like Medicare presently does for seniors. Patients go the doctors and hospitals of their choice; health care providers largely remain private. Private health insurers are eliminated or their role is substantially reduced.
A bill in Congress, the U.S. National Health Insurance Act, H.R. 676, embodies the single-payer model. Sponsored by Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), it currently has over 90 co-sponsors, more than any other health reform proposal.
Related Link
The full text and initiating signers
"Open Letter to the Candidates on Single Payer Health Reform" - www.pnhp.org/letter.
Complete list of signers - www.pnhp.org/letter/signers.
PDF of the full-page, four-color ad - www.pnhp.org/ad
67 Comments so far
Show AllMy doctor does not file claims or accept any insurance. He does give you a form to file with your insurance if you so desire, but does not belong to any HMO or network. The result? Office visits cost about half the going rate (he is a top notch doctor and graduate of Duke University), and he seems happy and relaxed and never rushed, and prescribes the LOWEST costing drug first. Additionally, his costs are posted for all to see, so there are no surprises. If doctors want to make a statement in favor of universal coverage, they should follow his example. While he does not live in a mansion, he lives quite comfortably (I know, I am his friend and computer technician). Individually, he is doing more than most to break the stranglehold Big Insurance has over medical care in this country.
Unfortunately, this means all his patients have to pay out of pocket, which is fine if one can afford it, but too many folks, and more every day, cannot .....
I wonder if the lady holding the sign supported DENNIS KUCINICH before he was "dismissed"?
"Crack open a cynic and you will find an angry idealist!"
Well, I signed the petition and I did .....
NativeSon October 8th, 2008 1:20 pm had a very good point about the model of the VA system and how single payer really works already in our country.
He forgot to mention that their system is already on computer and I believe you can walk into any VA in the country and they can pull your records up immediately. No filling out paperwork every time you go.
ezeflyer October 9th, 2008 1:04 pm
"Socialize medicine without socializing any other professions and businesses?"
I believe Single Payer is the only way to go. Socialized medecine doesn't work as well I believe. I don't think Canadians would trade their single payer system for Englands socialized system. Any Canadians disagree with that? This is opinion on the two systems, not first hand knowledge.
Socialize medicine without socializing any other professions and businesses?
Well, if its good enough for Wall street ......
So let's get a citizen's initiative started.
Online petitions turn out to have no legal merit (as they do not contain enough legally required info or "valid" signatures) - But if everyone who cares about this issue gave one hour a week toward getting a citizen's initiative going... Far more than the required numbers would be on board! We don't have to wait for the politicians to fall in line - The people have the right to create initiatives too. What Senator or Congressman would deny a clear majority of their consituency's will? The Beauty of such an undertaking would be that the numbers would be documented and there would therefor be no wiggle room for denial!
These doctors started the ball rolling by breaking the silence from the medical community - let's combine our efforts to make it a reality.
The form must be simple and clear. We the Citizens of the USA demand single-payer universal health-care, (and I would love to add that we also demand that it be funded in the national budget by an amount equal to whatever amount is budgeted annually for defense. Divide the pie equally. Defense of Our Health = Defense of Our Nation)
Since Michael Moore's 'Sicko' was released in Nov 2007, the MPA estimates it's been seen in theatres by at least 33 million Americans.
According to Moore, 'Sicko' was supposed to be, if nothing else, a "conversation starter" about: [1] the abysmal US health care system, and, more generally, [2] the fear and passivity most Americans have developed toward their government.
I give Moore due credit for all of his efforts.
But he's clearly beating a near-dead horse with his standard approach; uselessly trying to jolt indignation and reform energy from a public that has lost its will to make democracy work.
If Moore hasn't lost his own will to continue making such films as he does, I hope he'll try to probe deeper into the USA's manipulated mass psychology in his next flick.
Moore isn't the deepest of thinkers, but I think he increasingly sees that something is profoundly wrong with the USA's people well beyond healthcare systems and exported jobs, etc.: a deepening existential illness which none of us in fact adequately understands enough to turn around as yet.... ...but which might benefit from more penetrating artistic light.
Whether Cinema Art or any form of consciousness-raising communication can at this point ignite useful political conversation among a people who've lost interest even in discussing why they've lost interest, seems a Catch-22.
Still, I hope Moore and other mass-art communicators like him will keep probing, prodding -- but deeper.
We already know more than enough about the surface.
The problem is that Michael Moore is himself a perfect example of that existential illness of which you speak. He makes a movie demonstrating the need for and the advantages of a single payer system, then endorses a Pres. candidate who refuses to endorse it, meanwhile denigrating a Pres. candidate who does endorse it. He talks the talk, but he doesn't walk the walk.
He had better keep making movies, he'll need it to pay for his healthcare. I have an idea for the next one. It's about a phenomenal "He can't win syndrome" that totally debilitates and devastates a town. This fatal metastatic disease slowly kills its victims by deluding them into believing "there is no alternative" to eating garbage, and thinking otherwise "spoils" it for the garbage men, which is something, for some bizarre reason, the townspeople must never do. The hero attempts to save the town by giving them - an alternative. The suspense is provided by the battle between the hero and the garbage men. Will the townspeople awake from their malaise in time, or will they continue eating the garbage and choke to death on rotten fruit? Stay tuned ........
As a doctor myself, what a bunch of sillyasses these doctors are!
Who in their right mind would actually think that 5000 doctors would make a damn bit of difference to policymakers who determine national health policy?
With the brigades of lobbyists that are at the disposal of deep-pocketed, insurance companies, my sillyass, idealistic colleagues don't have a chance.
Doctors should stop this foolishness. They should worry more about their own "employability" than they do the health of their fellow Americans. For, as some doctors heard from the HMOs who owned, er, employed, them, doctors no longer work for patients; they now have a higher calling: they work for insurance companies.
"Stopping losses" - that is, not providing care to the needy - is their most important job these days. For, as we know, the 'business of America is business.'
And, whether it's taking care of deathly ill children with asthma or manufacturing ball bearings, the 'hired help's' most important job is to protect the corporation's bottom line. That's what's so fabulous about the "free market!"
G
Granted the bail out of the money lenders has put a hitch in the drive for single payer health care, are you saying there is no way or that there simply has to be a demand from a vast majority? Do Doctor's really favor single payer universal health?
What if you had a demand like last year to stop the Illegal Alien Bill, stopped in its tracks. Wouldn't that do it?
Doctors sold their soul to insurance companies. The insurance company practices medicine with phone banks and policies designed to get you to die when you are no longer a cash cow.
Every insurance company functionary should be arrested, charged with practicing medicine without a license, and punished accordingly.
Let us cut to the chase. If we do not draw a line in the sand…first this bail out will not work. It is money going down a rat hole and we all know it. We are just waiting for the other shoe to drop.
When this money is gone, then they privatize everything that the people hold in common. That means for one thing, things like Social Security. They know we are weenies and won’t fight back and they will get away with it.
See what happens when you get thirsty and go to your water faucet and you need a barrel of money for a glass of water. God bless Bolivia!
How long are we going to wait for a miracle?
365 days---20,000 people. For, at least , four moer years. That is 80,000.
Oh, how I long for the kind of health care that I got when I lived in France! Trust me -- you want single payer health care! How simplified it all is. Almost all my doctors operated without ANY support staff at all -- that's right, they even answered their own phones and set their own appointments! They were paid adequately, so they didn't have to try to see 4 patients at a time, running from room to room. And the claim forms were filled out right then and there and mailed off. It is probably all automated now. When I moved back to the US, I worked in a Dr. 's office and there were 3 times as many administrative staff as there were doctors, just to keep the place running! Everything you saw in Sicko was so true!
In France, I had a doctor pick up the phone, call across town to a surgeon at 5pm and schedule a surgery for my son for the next morning -- and he spoke directly to the doctor and no one else. No preauths, no nothing. The surgeon just said "sure, send them over, I'll wait for them here." And he did-- he waited for us to cross town in rush hour Parisian traffic to examine my son and said come back at 8am and we'll take care of it. And when we left, no bill, no copayment, no nothing. Not a cent. This was a very minor outpatient surgery - not an "emergency" other than the fact that we were getting ready to leave on vacation to come to the US. They were worried we might get stuck in the American health care system with this problem, so that by itself "elevated" it to an emergency!
Everyone thought I was crazy because I kept asking "How much is this going to cost?" They couldn't imagine why I wanted to know (because everyone knows you don't pay anything when you go to the hospital). It took me a long while to get used to the idea that you could get health care and there wasn't anything trying to make it difficult or prevent you from getting it.
Would the French system serve anyone that walked in to a doctor? Did you have to be a citizen of France? How does that work?
Is there anything else that has occurred to you?
I ran into the same thing in Scandanavia, when I was living there in a Work Study program!! Although this was more than a decade ago, when I first went to a doctor in Korsor , Denmark, the doctor practiced out of a building on his house. He came into the office to see me, everythihg was fast, free and excellent (I had to see if an ankle was broken), and, at the end, I got out my money and said, "How much do I owe you?". (I had a Danish friend with me, and he looked at her--they both laughed and said something in Danish--then the doctor says, "You Americans just dont get it do you? What would I do, turn someon away for health care, and just let them be sick or die?".
Most people on this planet DO think that health care is a human right, not a "for profit" venture. The rest of the "free" "rich" woprld thinks that our health care is atrocious--and it is! I just cannot believe that the US has gone on this long weithout it! All the problems are greatly exagerrated, and, the health insurance cos. (a disgusting idea in the first place!) just lOVE ot that some "Merkins stil believe their bullshit.
Thank you for these first-hand stories from other countries that have not-for-profit universal health care.
In the last month, I personally know of 2 women in their late 70's who were literally sent packing out the door when they arrived at the hospital in congestive heart failure. My aunt was brought in, and they announced, "There's nothing we can for you. Good bye" and off she went to writhe for the next 5 weeks in a nursing home until she died. No medication, no help. She cried out for 5 weeks why anyone wasn't helping her. Why could she have the surgery? Why couldn't they give her a medication that worked? I would have fought for her but I'm 3,000 miles away.
Now my boss's mother is in the exact same situation. They wanted to send her right back home until my boss screamed and yelled and DEMANDED that his mother get admitted to the hospital. He won out, and she has been in the ICU. There's a surgery to fix a valve and the surgeon said he feels confident he can get her through the surgery. But the rest of the hospital staff is insisting there is "no hope" and trying to scare my boss (her son) that she could be on a respirator for the rest of her life -- and is that what he wants? But he stands his ground. Now he is fighting tooth and nail to get this life-saving surgery for his mother. She wants the surgery.
They are literally DOOMING senior citizens in this country to DEATH when they can be treated and saved to live longer. It's so so sick.
I am so sorry about your Aunt. It's unforgivable....this is one thing I think everyone asgree's on, what we have now, won't cut it any longer. We really have to fix our system.
God Damn! Does anyone here remember that healthcare is a human right?
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Adopted and proclaimed by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948
Article 25.
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.
(2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.
This is what we fight for. This is what our banners say. This is what we shed blood for.
I recall at least ONE candidate that had a plan for single payer universal healthcare, John Edwards. But you guys through your inactivity allowed the Zionist Jew controlled Media to isolate him and 3 or 4 others who REALLY wanted change for we the people.
I supported John Edwards from the moment he entered as a candidate. I sent donations, too. Oh, well. Maybe, if by some miracle, Obama beats McCain in November, Edwards could perhaps be selected as Attorney General.
I have sent this story to all of my friends. I told them to print it out and give it to their doctors. Discuss it with their doctors too and make sure they know that they can sign on to it if they agree.
I know that most doctors that take Medicaid are all for it! They are completely overwhelmed. there are so few that take it anymoer, my urologist is PACKED on a Friday night at 7:00 PM! People are there for treatment of diabetes, flu and arthritis--they cannot find a specialist who will take their Medicaid HMO.
Both of the candidates' "plans" suck. McCain's will make it worse. Obama's will just end up giving a bunch of revenue to the big hMOs.
Dont buy the crap that the "Merkin people are not ready for it". Here in Ohio, (not exactly a bstion of liberal thought!!), 67% of people say that they want a single payer health plane, evn if it means raising taxes. The people who already have it (UK, EU, Canada), do NOT want to give it up. As you saw above, it will actually save money--but, only if we throw the "insure your early death" companies out of it. If not, insurance will sink any olan to cover more sick people. They want nothgn to do with sick people.
"Dont buy the crap that the "Merkin people are not ready for it". Here in Ohio, (not exactly a bstion of liberal thought!!), 67% of people say that they want a single payer health plane, evn if it means raising taxes."
I think thats the absolute truth. And as the economy slows I think more people will change their minds. Single Payer health care is the way.
Anyone notice neither candidate in last night's debate had a single-payer plan? But McCain is by far the scarier one, who supports putting your medical records online. Great, I want someone to be able to hack into that personal information.
Obama want to put the records online, too. But, never fear! If your dr. has a modern office, he probably has your records online already! (It might not be "hackable")
And, the uSA Patriot Act, let Ashcroft investigate the records of everyone in the uS who has had an abortion--he said he wanted to hand them over to CDC, to do a "study to see if abortions caused breast cancer". I couldnt make this up!
misstexas kitty: I have spent some time looking at health care systems in other developed countries, our is by far the worst. PBS did an excellent in depth review of our system and compared it to others, again we fail. The idea that a free market, free enterprise system is ideal for health care is outrageous, and has proven itself a failure. McCain's claim that people will have a government official involved in their health care is frankly, stupid. We have bureaucrats involved now, insurance companies whose approval is stingy and infrequent. Obama's plan will lead to same failure we have now. We must have a comprehensive and complete single-payer system. As HR 676 is already in Congress and so is the fair tax proposal, we can bring this to fruition by inundating our representatives with letters, phone calls and e-mails. Contacting and convincing everyone you know to help support these initiatives can make them happen. If you do not know what fair tax is I strongly recommend you go to the site and read about it. fairtax.org
I guess you have never seen SICKO.
Just to clarify, I am not in favour of one single payer like Medicare, although it would be much better than the non-system the US has now. I am in favour of a Canadian-style system in which the federal government mandates that the provinces implement single-payer according to certain criteria in order to receive federal transfer payments. Every province covers far more services than would be required by a strict reading of the Canada Health Act, and that coverage varies from province to province according to a) what the people want and b) what they're willing to pay for. Given that resources aren't limitless, it makes sense to allow regions to insure additional services that their populations particularly need or want: for example, regions with a large percentage of elderly could choose to cover orthotics and home health aides, and regions with a more youthful population might cover post-natal home visits. Those are just examples. And of course in an economic downturn, some of those "extra" services might be cut. But you get the idea.
That leads to , in the provinces, many fewer health care workers in more isolated regions. The US is also trying to force private health care clinics (approved by the conservative Harper), into Canada. I hope that it does not succeed, for the Canadians peoples' sake. I saw all this on a debate among the Canadian candidates the other night. People were sending in video questions.
In the uS, how could you ever expect Mississippi (or, now, Ohio!) to provide services, when they have so much lses revenue?
You either believe that health care is a human right, or you do not. The 'Merkin people have been swindled enough by this shitty system. I completley support HR 676. It is the most cost-effective, humane, decent thing a candidate can do. Unfortunately , the duopoly is putting the needs of its citizens aside, again, to receive money from health insurance and some drs,. organiaations. If all they care about is money--how can they fulfill the Hippocratic oath?
If they refuse to live a middle class lifestyle, like in Europse or Canada, then, they shoudl go live somewhere else or go into another field. Canada is also considering paying off the student loans of drs. who will serve in remote provinces. We coudl do this also.
Of course, I believe in free states universities for everyoen who can go--but that is another story.
An "economic downturn" is just when people need social services the most! Make some of thsee rich people, having $15,000 drinks and facials on us--pay for the Medicare! I'm sick to death of these rich basterds. Many people lost their homes over health care bills. It is just immoral.
Medicare is great.It only takes 3% of its budget to run. It is already in place. Do not try to reinvent the wheel. Some of us do not have that kind of time.
So 41% of physicians are in for the money. Bastards.
Not for long. Doctors have to play the insurance companies rules or do not be paid. They have to take what they give you, usually less than what you put in or get out. Also, if you do not play the game, you will not be given access to any patients.
So when your doctor sees you coming and he knows that he will not get paid very well for your care…..ha..ha
Do you think that you will be getting quality care then? If you do, then you are deluding yourself. A doctor just has to say to you, go home and take an aspirin instead of having you get a diagnostic x-ray that could save your life.
I had a major surgery done at Cleveland Clinic , when I was still on COBRA from my PERS job. So, when my hip/leg started bothering me (from a motorcycle wreck), I went to a pain dr. at CCF, when they used to take Ohio Medicaid. I did not want pain pills, and Medicaid would never pay for orthopedic surgery, so he had been giving me cortisone shots. He was yelling to (his wife?) on the phone when i got there. He was saying,. (right in front of patients!) "Well,f*ck, Nance, I dont know where the hell they are! Check the attic! I'm working!" .He hung up and looked at his secretary and said "F*ckin' bitch!". I was amazed. The receptionist looked down at her paperwork. I could not maek this stuf up. I shouldve left, I guess.
I went into his office, and he had given me shots many times before,(the shots were allowing me to work--you guys couldve saved money there!) but he says, "Are you still on Medicaid?". I said I was.He said, "Do you realize that Med HMOs dont even pay the fu*king light bil around here?! You know who taught me to do this?! A dr. in Dayton, where you LIVE!! OK--lets go." I said that I did not know that , and that, he coudl refer me to that dr. and he said, "Oh he probably doesnt like to take this crappy medicaid either" (It is true that there is one pain dr on the list here in dayton--he only give out Oxycontin). I told him that he did not have to seem , of course. The Oxycontin is about $350 a mo. The shots would be about $150. I get neither now.
But, he really did "have to see me".--he worked in indigent care. You want to get REALLY sick, have bad surgeries,. etc. get indigent care. When i was to have the major surgery, I was in the hsotpial after, and a young man';s mother and I were sitting outside and she said, "Are you on Medicaid>? " I told her I was. She siad, "You know,when I wanted to get him taken care of so he could go back to school, they told me to wait until he was 21 to get Medicare so he coudl get 'superior care'". !!!!
It was so reeasurring!!
It was all so conducive to the healing process!! We need to stop the barbarianism!!
Health care is NOT a choice.
.
http://www.votenader.org/issues/
VOTE NADER 2008… You’ll be glad you did and so will I…
single payer national health insurance:
Nader: On the table; Obama/McCain: Off the table
.
HR 676! We NEED a universal heatlh care plan
The two candidates are, neither one, offering universal care, and Michael Moore was a putz to not insist , after "Sicko", that anyone he backed should have single payer as their policy.
If you dont make enough money to take a tax credit--fuck you. The average single plan costs about $12,000 a year. How is $2500 or $5000 help with that??
There is only ONE reason neither candiate is proposing single payer---$$$$$$$$. From HMOs and insurance companies. Hell, even AARP is supporting an HMO based plan.
If you are truly a progressive, I dont see how you cannot admonish any candidate who does not propose single payer. Keeping the inaurance cos in it will bankruopt it, It just wont work.
Maybe that is what they want.
HR 676--at least.
Hey! Got a news flash for you. There are more than two candidates running for President of the United States. And Ralph Nader is supporting SINGLE PAYER!! You suggest we "admonish any candidate who does not propose single payer". I go you one further - DON'T VOTE FOR ANY MEMBER OF CONGRESS WHO DOES NOT SUPPORT SINGLE PAYER. That means you don't vote for either a Democrat or a Republican. These politicians who don't support single payer do support the $840 BILLION bail out for the scoundrels in the banking 'industry'.
Wake up. Isn't it clear to you yet? The two corporate parties owe their rotten souls to the corporations. Don's vote for the lesser of two evils (if you could figure out which one that is), VOTE NADER!
Are you replying to ME? Where did you get the idea that I'm a loyal Democrat?
I guess I shouldve said, "Now, among the non-major party candidates , like Independetn, Libertarian and Green--Nader and McKinney support single payer care, and Barr does not."
The Socialist Party USA is on the ballot in 14 states, with candidates Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander. They support single payer health care also.
Having for-profit insurnace companies selling health insurance carries an inherent conflict of interest.
Corporate CEOs and Boards of Directors have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to maximize profit and the shareholders may sue them if they fail to maximize profits. This rule may work for widget manufacturers, transportation providers and the like, however it cannot possibly work if you want 100% of the population covered by equitable health insurance. If I am a shareholder I don't want the company jeopardizing profits by selling insurance to high risk policyholders.
A Single payer system in a pool of more than 300 million policyholders is a financially sound way to provide equitable health insurance to all Americans.
I agree and would like to add that competing private health insurances do not result in lower costs, but rather in Balkanization and chaos of the system. Lower costs might result if health care were an optional purchase. But it is not. People have no choice but to take care of their health, so "market forces" do not prevail. Costs remain high and the pressure to deny benefits on the one hand and to give profitable treatments over preventative treatments on the other hand is intensified.
Neither major candidate supports single payer. McCain's $5000 plan is halfhearted and shabby in too many ways to discuss here. Obama's plan. as discussed in the debate, is full of holes, being almost exclusively tied to employment. What about the fact that often illness leads to or goes along with unemployment?
Obama mentioned computerizing the medical record as a way to save money. As a person who worked for years on health systems computers, I say the chaos of different formats and proprietary systems makes unifying the data into one record far from cost efficient. It requires intensive and ongoing programming and implementation. Further, as insurers drop coverages and doctors drop insurers, the patient is forced to go from place to place, leaving bits of his or her medical record scattered about. (Because of this I recommend that patients get copies of their medical reports, x-rays etc. as they are issued and keep them all in a folder at home.)
A unified national health system would provide the opportunity for simplifying insurance matters and building one lifetime medical record per patient. It would also allow for community health stations to provide ordinary low tech care in an efficient manner. Nurses and nurse practitioners could be fully utilized in such settings.
We spend more money per person on health care than any other country in the world, and yet it is not delivered in a rational or humane way.
Joe
$5000 dollars would not get me a good ambulance ride.
Fivecorners October 8th, 2008 2:11 pm wrote:
"I definitely see the logic of ID cards, instead of building separate VA hospitals. The reason why these separate facilities get built is for the same reason why the government had high-rise slums built to "store" poor people: To award big, juicy contracts to construction company tycoons who have the best political connections."
No, no! The reason that McCain supports ID cards that vets could use anywhere is that he wants to gut the VA. The reimbursement for non-VA providers would be so low (because it would reflect the much lower VA costs) that many private providers would refuse to accept veterans as patients.
Besides, even if every American were covered under a national insurance plan, which McCain adamantly opposes, there would still be a need for specialised services for veterans in areas such as multiple severe trauma, amputation/protheses, mental health, and traumatic brain injuries, among others. The VA does these things very, very well; under the McCain proposal, there would be less funding, fewer facilities, higher administrative costs (the VA would have to hire a small army of administrators to process claims by private providers), and much poorer integration and continuity of services. It's just a horrible proposal, and that's why veterans are overwhelmingly opposed to it.
Thanks for enlightening me, Realdim. It's amazing how eloquent I can be when I'm missing the point!
I should have known this about McCain--just more of the usual ideology about "improving" the country by ripping off individual citizens who need help.
Well if VA care is so good, why can't the rest of us have it?
lets not forget the savings generated by not having the shysters lining their pockets on litigating coverage disputes between patients and providers.
My Gosh - some Doctors have finally, after half a Century and said the obvious. Congrats to these Doctors with 'heart & soul' still in working order. However, as said before, the AMA ITSELF has been the major stumbling block in the quest for National Health care from the beginning, along with Big Pharma and the "insurance" racket. Let's Go, Politicians ---> National Single-Payer Health care for all Americans. Then, we may again join the ranks of the 1st world countries.
I'm with the doctors -- and the nurses. I'm a single payer fan. HR676 is the way.
Donna Smith, American SiCKO
You were in the movie, "Sicko"?
What do you think about Moore endorsing a candidate who is not offering single payer?
GREAT question! I have been having an extremely hard time reconciling Obama's refusal to support health care justice and my ability to vote for him.
I don't believe it matters right now what they endorse. We'll get what the majority demand.
The majority of what? The insurance companies? We already know what the majority of PEOPLE want, but neither "major" candidate supports it, nor will they. They and their campaign coffers are already quite well insured. As Obama says, if you like your present insurance, you can keep it. He oughta know ......
Remember the Clinton plan...went no where because they convinced the majority of Americans it was bad. The President doesn't have the authority to put in place any plan, campaign BS.
The majority of Americans. When they decide it gets done. The hard part is getting them all on the same page.
No, but the Pres. has a "bully pulpit" and the power of his signature to sign/veto legislation.
It will make it much harder to get it done with a Pres. who doesn't champion it, as neither "major" candidate has done.
Clinton's plan was just as crumby as those of the two "majors", and, I do believe, he never spent any political capital to get it done in any case.
In the state of Tennessee, health care that is considered "horrifying" is also considered "acceptable". We are being infested with disease due to the health care profit machines love of money. http://www.wisecountyissues.com More Americans died of MRSA last year than AIDS and we are asleep at the wheel.
Yes, good ol' Tennessee, home to Bill Frist and HMA.
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Bill Frist doesn't give a rat's ass about the People of Tennessee. He's made off with their money and since ran down a rat hole where he belongs.
The Government (and business as well) need working models to compare the present system with. Unfortunately, for most politicians, who pander to a public that is most often more interested in "personality" instead of substance they also need a working model. The irony is that there exists a working model, that with a few major changes could serve as a "working model to modify"---that is the Veterans Affairs hospitals/clinics.
Presently those systems offer what is comparable quality---with negative examples of administration techniques that need only a small modification.
For sake of this posting this would be an example postulated here for examination.
Currently, the Veterans Affairs Medical system is budgeted for 90billion which is serving 7.8 million vets receiving medical services---what a joke.
This seems ridiculous to imagine but the US Government/Tax payers are spending 90 billion to serve 7.8 million recipients but if examined closely here is the working model that could serve as an example---in most cases a negative one but---"if you know what does not work you are on your way to finding what does" (Thomas Edison was credited with stating this when asked about the 1100 different materials he had experimented with for the filament in his incandescent light bulb) and even though the VA system is basically a large tick on the rectum of a large pig---it could be modified to work properly.
One approach that would eliminate the need to build "facilities" (going to a VA Facility is a "dog and pony show" at best---if you have not visited one recently do so), a "credit system", with federal money to back it---be established so that the person with the "medical card" could present the card to the doctor or clinic or hospital of THEIR choice to cover the expenses of their medical needs.
Even John McCain in one of his early "running for the nomination speeches" made the suggestion for Vets that "they have a Veterans card that they present to their doctor and receive needed treatment"......(or words to that effect).
There would be no need to build new facilities. No new "system" needed to handle the needs.
The one and only thing that would be needed would simply be the DESIRE to accomplish the task.
For all of those "die hard capitalists out there------when the "congress" of elected officials "voted" to "bail out " the wealthy "capitalists" who had made a disaster of the public's economy, and so far have suffered nothing for that damage---they put the argument that the USA is a Democracy to sleep----for eternity. The USA is not a Democracy it is an Oligarchy---and so far the wealthy and the influential are the ONLY Americans who benefit the most from the US Tax payer.
Another example would be to place in a "national account" one million dollars for each citizen of the USA----310 million dollars-----and use the same "card system" as above......
But then, GW Bush and his supporters would rather spend that much per week to bring "Democracy" to people who never asked for it.
You've made some good points, NativeSon. I definitely see the logic of ID cards, instead of building separate VA hospitals. The reason why these separate facilities get built is for the same reason why the government had high-rise slums built to "store" poor people: To award big, juicy contracts to construction company tycoons who have the best political connections. There's no money to be made by printing a stack of ID cards.
However, I need to point out a math error: $1 million for 310 million citizens equals $310 trillion. No insurance company or government could cover that. But the important point is this: not everyone will ever need a million dollars' worth of medical care--and that's why a pooled system of resources and risks that is spread out over 310 million people will work.
I support H.R. 676.
as long as health care is run only for the profit of insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies we are screwed.
If a HMO (policies) commits murder and torture (by delay - denial) why is it no one goes to prison? If they commit murder and torture by putting medical care out of reach - why is it no one goes to prison? Why is it that Corporations have all the rights of persons, but none of the accountability. and they are privileged how? By being rich by switching our money from health to their pockets? The harder it becomes to survive, the tighter the middle men squeeze! party, party - party forever
Evil has only one tool - that is the disruption of peace - it is applied in infinite ways but it is always the same tool - JC
Single payer is also the most effective way to keep to health care costs down. Thats what the theory of the free market tells us, anyway.
Nader/Gonzales 08
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http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/06-0
Under the single-payer system, doctors' offices and hospitals remain private for-profit or non-profit institutions. But the federal government covers the bills for patient services, with funds coming from taxes. The patient gets the health care they need. Paperwork and billing are kept to a minimum. Employers no longer have the difficult task of choosing, administering, and paying for health insurance for employees. Everyone is covered.
VOTE NADER/GONZALEZ 2008… You’ll be glad you did and so will I…
http://www.votenader.org/index.html
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For 100 years, the American Medical Association has been, and continues to be, the biggest stumbling block to the adoption of a civilized health care system in the United States. Doctor income has always come first, with the result that American doctors are among the highest paid professionals in the world, even as our health care system is a laughing stock to people from other 1st world countries.
American doctors have a lot of death to answer for. Until they get their primary organization, the AMA, to support single payer, the US will not adopt it.
But . . . but . . . but . . . the market is the the best solution to every problem. Right?
Apparently, corporate medical institutions treat their physician employees just as all corporations treat theirs - like shit.
Unfortunately, this article will most likely provoke the usual litany of complaints about nationalized health care citing cooked statistics to show that people really are happier in a system which can - and will - deny them care when they fall ill. There will be heart-rending (get it?) anecdotes about thousands of Canadians who die on waiting lists for emergency surgeries and children whose broken bones heal crookedly because government-paid orthopedists are just incompetent.
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