Katherine Kersten: Bipartisan health care? Yes, we can. | StarTribune.com
Kersten suggests there are ways to create a bipartisan solution. I agree but I do not agree with her suggestions as to how to do so. The suggestions miss the primary areas causing our health care payment system to fail. Sounds like a party line but the party isn't Republican. The party being followed hook, line and sinker is the big insurance company line. They have bought too many politicians and they have way too many lobbyists in D.C. Health care payment needs to be changed and it must be done first by terminating the failed experiment of for-profit health insurance as the way it is paid. The laws and rules they have gotten government to enact only protect them. We pretend the red tape is somehow done to them by bureaucrats. It is done by them to protect themselves. We need a hybrid of how we provide utilities and how we provide fire, police, roads and education. We need the docs to stay private and not become employed by government (except where it makes sense like Vets and County Hospitals). We need hospitals to all be non-profit and to be put on a budget instead of those expensive itemized bills. We do NOT need to continue the escalating ownership of provider clinics and hospitals by insurance companies. If we must have insurance in health care (which is the single biggest problem causing cost overruns), we MUST legally separate and outlaw ownership of a provider by an insurance company. They who pay for the care shall not be allowed to own the care provider. Our own United Health (with their 15 million per year CEO) runs huge insurance industries, providers and has their hands in administrative pieces of many providers and supposedly non-profit insurance companies in Minnesota. Kick out the Middle Man!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Hospital chain, UnitedHealth in standoff over costs, rules | StarTribune.com
Hospital chain, UnitedHealth in standoff over costs, rules | StarTribune.com"Minnetonka-based UnitedHealthcare says the proposed rule is meant to improve the quality of care and cut costs by allowing insurance case managers to jump in right away. The hospitals say that having their reimbursement cut in half is too much to pay for a clerical error, and that the drain on their revenues would ultimately hurt their patients."
It is not OK to even hint that government is invovled in health care payment decisions but not enough people seem to care that a for profit company paying their CEO over 15 million can start to dictate what hospitals and doctors and patients can and can not do. Keep it up Unidted Health Care -- maybe enough people will get fed up and we can actually overcome all that money you throw at our elected officials.
It is not OK to even hint that government is invovled in health care payment decisions but not enough people seem to care that a for profit company paying their CEO over 15 million can start to dictate what hospitals and doctors and patients can and can not do. Keep it up Unidted Health Care -- maybe enough people will get fed up and we can actually overcome all that money you throw at our elected officials.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
George F. Will: Health care, afoul of the Constitution | StarTribune.com
George F. Will: Health care, afoul of the Constitution | StarTribune.com
This argument against making insurance mandatory is interesting. A State can make car insurance mandatory but then we can choose to not drive. Is getting health care like buying a car or like buying car insurance? Actually I think it is not like either and I sure hope the Judges see it that way. It is in the public's best interest for sick and injured to get care. It is not a public issue whether or not I buy a car or get a driver's license. If you determine that in this great Country health care is a right and not some privegige for those with money, then don't you have to open up access to all? If you remove the whole concept of insurance from the mix, isn't a single payer system the best way to provide universal access?
This argument against making insurance mandatory is interesting. A State can make car insurance mandatory but then we can choose to not drive. Is getting health care like buying a car or like buying car insurance? Actually I think it is not like either and I sure hope the Judges see it that way. It is in the public's best interest for sick and injured to get care. It is not a public issue whether or not I buy a car or get a driver's license. If you determine that in this great Country health care is a right and not some privegige for those with money, then don't you have to open up access to all? If you remove the whole concept of insurance from the mix, isn't a single payer system the best way to provide universal access?
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Why markets can’t cure healthcare - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com
Why markets can’t cure healthcare - Paul Krugman Blog - NYTimes.com
We can forget these basic facts so well spelled out by Krugman. We always hear about how the free market will solve it and that if we just shopped for health care the way we do for a car, everything would take care of itself. Well, it won't. As Krugman says there are "....no examples of successful health care based on the principles of the free market, for one simple reason: in health care, the free market just doesn’t work. And people who say that the market is the answer are flying in the face of both theory and overwhelming evidence." This link to his July '09 article should be re-read often.
We can forget these basic facts so well spelled out by Krugman. We always hear about how the free market will solve it and that if we just shopped for health care the way we do for a car, everything would take care of itself. Well, it won't. As Krugman says there are "....no examples of successful health care based on the principles of the free market, for one simple reason: in health care, the free market just doesn’t work. And people who say that the market is the answer are flying in the face of both theory and overwhelming evidence." This link to his July '09 article should be re-read often.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Healthcare Spending and Life Expectancy
FiveThirtyEight: Politics Done Right: Healthcare Spending and Life Expectancy
A great chart on cost versus life expectancy. Click on the chart to make it readable.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Some foes of health-care bill hope courts will stop legislation - washingtonpost.com
Some foes of health-care bill hope courts will stop legislation - washingtonpost.com
not sure if this would be good or bad. If the focus was on guaranteeing access to health care for all, as we have for education, I am guessing the constitutional issue would not apply.
not sure if this would be good or bad. If the focus was on guaranteeing access to health care for all, as we have for education, I am guessing the constitutional issue would not apply.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Wii helps the cause in bidding war for patients | StarTribune.com
Wii helps the cause in bidding war for patients | StarTribune.com
What's Wrong With This Picture? Handing out video games! Electronic records making it harder to switch clinics?? Marketing health care like used cars??
What's Wrong With This Picture? Handing out video games! Electronic records making it harder to switch clinics?? Marketing health care like used cars??
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