Saturday, September 30, 2017
Monday, September 25, 2017
Sunday, September 24, 2017
Saturday, September 23, 2017
Friday, September 22, 2017
Thursday, September 21, 2017
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Four things to know about single-payer healthcare | Managed Healthcare Executive
Four things to know about single-payer healthcare | Managed Healthcare Executive
Some interesting comments....BUT....this is the time for dramatic change. Taking profit hound insurance companies out of it is necessary. The cost can be guaranteed to not be more than most folks & employers currently pay. Keep the Medicare payroll tax and up the income level for it and Soc. Sec. tax. Calculate how much of our current taxes go to support employee medical care, government medical programs, government workers at all levels health care coverage, etc. and recent five year average of what a family has paid out of pocket for health care other than premiums and they can determine a fair baseline guaranteed cost. With putting hospitals on a budget, making them public utilities and cutting the cost of all the bill processing at vendors and insurance companies we can do this at less cost -- not more.
Also, this article makes managed care sound good and rewarding positive results as a payment criteria. All that is horse hockey and not based on research. Our bad health results in the USA are due to how an average is affected by the terrible way we treat our poor citizens. That drives down the overall results. Universal access to care for all will gradually improve the results. MCO/ACO, etc. models are distractions and used to help justify what insurance companies bring to the table. I just want my doc and me at the table -- thank you.
Some interesting comments....BUT....this is the time for dramatic change. Taking profit hound insurance companies out of it is necessary. The cost can be guaranteed to not be more than most folks & employers currently pay. Keep the Medicare payroll tax and up the income level for it and Soc. Sec. tax. Calculate how much of our current taxes go to support employee medical care, government medical programs, government workers at all levels health care coverage, etc. and recent five year average of what a family has paid out of pocket for health care other than premiums and they can determine a fair baseline guaranteed cost. With putting hospitals on a budget, making them public utilities and cutting the cost of all the bill processing at vendors and insurance companies we can do this at less cost -- not more.
Also, this article makes managed care sound good and rewarding positive results as a payment criteria. All that is horse hockey and not based on research. Our bad health results in the USA are due to how an average is affected by the terrible way we treat our poor citizens. That drives down the overall results. Universal access to care for all will gradually improve the results. MCO/ACO, etc. models are distractions and used to help justify what insurance companies bring to the table. I just want my doc and me at the table -- thank you.
Monday, September 18, 2017
Sunday, September 17, 2017
Why single-payer is not likely our path forward - StarTribune.com
Why single-payer is not likely our path forward - StarTribune.com
See all the comments -- shows the variety of opinions....
See all the comments -- shows the variety of opinions....
Thursday, September 14, 2017
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Monday, September 11, 2017
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Thursday, September 7, 2017
Wednesday, September 6, 2017
Medicare for all? Let's copy what works with health care in other nations instead - The San Diego Union-Tribune
Medicare for all? Let's copy what works with health care in other nations instead - The San Diego Union-Tribune
What is Medicare for ALL
It’s now clear that creating a single-payer health care system is the top priority of the Democratic Party and millions of Americans.
In California, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, made the right call in June when he pulled the plug on a bill creating a state single-payer system. He did so because the measure, Senate Bill 562, didn’t explain how to cover its estimated $400 billion annual cost — triple the state’s general-fund budget. This reasonable decision led to national blowback. Now Rendon plans to hold hearings to discuss how to get to universal health care.
In Washington, the “Medicare for All” bill that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, plans to introduce this month is picking up support, including from Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California. It’s hard to imagine any Democrat winning the party’s presidential nomination in 2020 without backing single-payer.
But it’s time that Republicans started thinking big about health care as well — and stop equating any expanded government role with socialism. According to a study by the American Journal of Public Health, taxes already pay for 64 percent of U.S. health care. The study found that, “At $5,960 per capita, government spending on health care costs in the U.S. was the highest of any nation in 2013, including countries with universal health programs such as Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.”
It’s a stunning statistic. Here’s another: A 2015 Commonwealth Fund study found the U.S. spent per capita at least 47 percent more of its gross domestic product on health care than 12 other wealthy, First World nations — yet had among the worst health outcomes, with the exception of treating cancer. The U.S. had the lowest life expectancy.
Any CEO would look at this picture and say the U.S. must do better. Republicans must do the same. Instead of tinkering with — or gutting — the Affordable Care Act, the Trump White House and congressional GOP leaders should consider setting up a commission to examine how to emulate other nations which deliver better outcomes at a lower cost.
Some answers are obvious. In 2009, journalist T.R. Reid chronicled how 20 percent of U.S. health spending goes to “marketing, underwriting, administration and profit,” compared with 4 percent in France and 2 percent in Taiwan. This bloat is created both by the profit motive in insurers’ provision of essential care — which Reid says is unique in the developed world — and the vast complexity of U.S. health care, with dozens of government systems and hundreds of private systems. Simple is better.
“Given our remarkable medical assets ... the United States could be, and should be, the best [at health care] in the world,” Reid argues. “To get there, though, we have to be willing to learn some lessons about health-care administration from the other industrialized democracies.”
Amen. This is why Democrats who want universal health care should look for inspiration from the rest of the world, not embrace “Medicare for all.” The same holds for Republicans who don’t like how much U.S. health care costs and who think Obamacare is a clunky mess. Americans’ national pride shouldn’t include reverence for a flawed, costly and eminently improvable health care system.
What is Medicare for ALL
The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board 9/5/17
In California, Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, made the right call in June when he pulled the plug on a bill creating a state single-payer system. He did so because the measure, Senate Bill 562, didn’t explain how to cover its estimated $400 billion annual cost — triple the state’s general-fund budget. This reasonable decision led to national blowback. Now Rendon plans to hold hearings to discuss how to get to universal health care.
In Washington, the “Medicare for All” bill that Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, plans to introduce this month is picking up support, including from Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California. It’s hard to imagine any Democrat winning the party’s presidential nomination in 2020 without backing single-payer.
But it’s time that Republicans started thinking big about health care as well — and stop equating any expanded government role with socialism. According to a study by the American Journal of Public Health, taxes already pay for 64 percent of U.S. health care. The study found that, “At $5,960 per capita, government spending on health care costs in the U.S. was the highest of any nation in 2013, including countries with universal health programs such as Canada, Sweden and the United Kingdom.”
It’s a stunning statistic. Here’s another: A 2015 Commonwealth Fund study found the U.S. spent per capita at least 47 percent more of its gross domestic product on health care than 12 other wealthy, First World nations — yet had among the worst health outcomes, with the exception of treating cancer. The U.S. had the lowest life expectancy.
Any CEO would look at this picture and say the U.S. must do better. Republicans must do the same. Instead of tinkering with — or gutting — the Affordable Care Act, the Trump White House and congressional GOP leaders should consider setting up a commission to examine how to emulate other nations which deliver better outcomes at a lower cost.
Some answers are obvious. In 2009, journalist T.R. Reid chronicled how 20 percent of U.S. health spending goes to “marketing, underwriting, administration and profit,” compared with 4 percent in France and 2 percent in Taiwan. This bloat is created both by the profit motive in insurers’ provision of essential care — which Reid says is unique in the developed world — and the vast complexity of U.S. health care, with dozens of government systems and hundreds of private systems. Simple is better.
“Given our remarkable medical assets ... the United States could be, and should be, the best [at health care] in the world,” Reid argues. “To get there, though, we have to be willing to learn some lessons about health-care administration from the other industrialized democracies.”
Amen. This is why Democrats who want universal health care should look for inspiration from the rest of the world, not embrace “Medicare for all.” The same holds for Republicans who don’t like how much U.S. health care costs and who think Obamacare is a clunky mess. Americans’ national pride shouldn’t include reverence for a flawed, costly and eminently improvable health care system.
Friday, September 1, 2017
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