Health Care Forum

Healthy State

Legislators Tour State, Unveil Health Care Solutions

Duluth • Hibbing • Bemidji • Brainerd • Mankato • Winona • Northfield

YOU’RE INVITED TO A

HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL MEETING

Saturday February 9th at 9:30 am

Great Hall, Watkins Manor

175 E Wabasha (7th) St. Winona MN 55987

FFI: Craig Brooks • 507-457-6255 •Craig.brooks@gmail.com

Host: Rep. Ken Tschumper

With co-signers of the Minnesota Health Care Act, Minnesota State Legislators Senator John Marty & Representatives Ken Tschumper, David Bly, Carolyn Laine & Shelley Madore. Local officials invited.

Minnesotans Have Spoken

We have heard from you: our health care system is broken. Even with insurance, many have trouble affording necessary care. Losing insur­ance coverage is a very real concern. And for those who are without health insurance, the stories get even worse.

Legislators Must Act

We have proven solutions to our health care mess in hand. Come join us in the town hall meeting. We will tell you about the Minnesota Health Care Act that would provide quality, affordable, comprehensive health care to all Minnesotans through all stages of life.

REAL HEALTH

CARE REFORM

Serious health care reform means:

• All Minnesotans covered

• Pre-existing conditions covered

• Deductibles, co-pays eliminated

• Choice of doctors, hospitals, clinics

• Guaranteed for life

SOLVING OUR HEALTH CARE CRIS WASTE, MORE VALUE & BETTER HEALTH

*For general questions or additional meeting locations call Rep. David Bly 651-296-7065 or see www.mnhealthplan.org

Tempering Health-Care Goals - WSJ.com

Tempering Health-Care Goals - WSJ.com
This Wall Street Journal article outlines the politics of this debate. A recent poll (seems to be a solid scientific one) one says :

Is there a doctor in the house?

Sixty-five percent of those polled said the United States should adopt universal health insurance that covers everyone under a program such as Medicare that is run by the government and financed by taxpayers. Fifty-four percent went where politicians dare not tread, saying they supported a "single-payer" health system whereby all Americans would get their health coverage from a single government plan financed by taxpayers.

…

The Associated Press-Yahoo News survey of 1,821 adults was conducted from Dec. 14-20, and had an overall margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.3 percentage points. Included were interviews with 847 Democrats, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.4 points, and 655 Republicans, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.8 points. The poll was conducted on the Internet by Knowledge Networks.

****

The survey question:

Which comes closest to your view?

The United States should continue the current health insurance

system in which most people get their health insurance from

private employers, but some people have no insurance 34%

The United States should adopt a universal health insurance

program in which everyone is covered under a program like

Medicare that is run by the government and financed by

Taxpayers 65%

Refused / Not Answered 2%

Do you consider yourself a supporter of a single-payer health care system, that is a national health plan financed by taxpayers in which all Americans would get their insurance from a single government plan, or not?

Yes 54%

No 44%

Refused / Not Answered 2%

The Lessons of '94 | The American Prospect

The Lessons of '94 | The American Prospect
Interesting article on lessons from the Clinton era reform efforts.

WSJ Interactive Map on Health Care Proposals

This link on the Wall Street Journal site shows the national opinion polls supporting change and shows some statisics for the states. It also specifically mentions some state proposals including Doyle's recent one for WI.

Minnesota - Two panels will propose big shifts in state health care

Two panels will propose big shifts in state health care
The link is to the story (mentions WI proposal) and here's a summary of what again is a proposal to give insurance to all -- much of the suggestions are unproven and not likely to save money unless the red tape of screening applicants and processing insurance bills is dealt with.

CHANGING MINNESOTA'S HEALTH CARE SYSTEM

Key proposals emerging from Gov. Tim Pawlenty's Health Care Task Force and the Legislature's Health Care Access Commission:

• Spreading insurance to all Minnesotans by 2011.

• Designating a "medical home" for people with chronic conditions such as diabetes to coordinate care and promote prevention to improve care and drive down costs.

• Paying providers to prevent illness, rather than by office visit, test or procedure.

• Creating programs to reduce smoking, obesity, alcohol abuse and drug addiction to drive down costs from associated health problems.

• Requiring providers to set a single fee that individuals would pay for the same service, no longer negotiating different prices with different insurance companies.

• Giving patients ways to easily compare costs and quality of competing providers.

• Ensuring that patients could stay with their chosen health providers, even if they change jobs or health insurers, and could move their health insurance from job to job.

Our Fear of Socialized Medicine

This pretty well summarizes the uphill battle we have ahead of us. But, the hill is getting easier to climb!

Brattleboro Reformer - Worried sick

Brattleboro Reformer - Worried sick
Vermont has a single payer bill and this article shows much of the good arguments for why it is needed.