90 day challenge, day 56: Real Health Care Freedom for All

If you knew that you didn’t have to worry about health insurance, would you stay in the job you are in? Would you stay in the marriage you are in? What choices have you made in your life just so you can have health coverage?

Have you ever had to pay for insurance for you or your family?  Sure you are entitled to Cobra, but at what cost? Have you been turned down from an insurance company because you or someone in your family has a previously diagnosed “condition?” Have you been rejected by an insurance company for asthma, depression, anxiety? Did they show an openness to working with you when you pointed out that the you were taking the medication for a brief period of time? How empathic were they. If they approved of you, how many riders were attached to cover them and not you?

If you are a woman, how much more have you paid for premiums if you want maternity coverage? If you’ve had a miscarriage or difficulty getting pregnant, how understanding was the insurance company about working with you? So at the point you are feeling like crapt, how responsive were they to your concerns?If you have a long track record of paying your premiums and then miss a premium due to any number of reasons, does the insurance company give you the benefit of the doubt or begin sending you letters informing you “if payment is not received immediately, your coverage will be terminated.”

I know insurance companies want you to know they are in a risk-reward business. If they take on too many risks, then everyone will pay more in premiums. But miraculously, they have the money to pay outlandish CEO salaries, and sales forces. There is absolutely no reason to work so hard to appease these guys.

Create a single payer health plan. Everyone pays in. The costs are less. Medication is less. And you won’t be denied for health problems. How many people have suffered or died because of this jerks wanting to profit from health care. Force them to compete with a government plan. Make them work harder for our business.

90 day Challenge, day 55: Democratic Senators Should Push For Single Payer Health, Not Worry About Private Insurance Companies!

The facts are in. According to a NY TImes/CBS poll, Amerians overwhelmingly want a government run insurance plan. More specifically, 72% endorse a plan similar to Medicare for people under 65. Moreover Americans are willing to pay the bill so everyone has health coverage. In fact 6 in 10 said they would do so, while 4 in 10 would be willing to pay as much as $500.00 a year. So the question as raised, by Paul Krugman, is why are a handful of Democratic senators determined to kill the public option?

Why are they wasting their time talking about health cooperatives and state public health  plans? Americans have indicated they are more concerned about the  rising cost than they are about the quality of healthcare. As Krugman points out,these alternative plans don’t “ have the financial stability and bargaining power needed to bring down health care costs.”  Why are these senators so concerned with responding to the needs of the insurance companies more than us?

It is time for the President and Democrats to take charge and push for true reform- single payer health plan. If you don’t believe me, check out what the facts from the American Journal of Public Health.

Key Features of Single-Payer

• Universal, Comprehensive Coverage
  Only such coverage ensures access, avoids a two-class system, and minimizes expense
• No out-of-pocket payments
  Co-payments and deductibles are barriers to access, administratively unwieldy, and unnecessary for cost containment
• A single insurance plan in each region, administered by a public or quasi-public agency
  A fragmentary payment system that entrusts private firms with administration ensures the waste of billions of dollars on useless paper pushing and profits. Private insurance duplicating public coverage fosters two-class care and drives up costs; such duplication should be prohibited
• Global operating budgets for hospitals, nursing homes, allowed group and staff model HMOs and other providers with separate allocation of capital funds
  Billing on a per-patient basis creates unnecessary administrative complexity and expense. A budget separate from operating expenses will be allowed for capital improvements
• Free Choice of Providers
  Patients should be free to seek care from any licensed health care provider, without financial incentives or penalties
• Public Accountability, Not Corporate Dictates
  The public has an absolute right to democratically set overall health policies and priorities, but medical decisions must be made by patients and providers rather than dictated from afar. Market mechanisms principally empower employers and insurance bureaucrats pursuing narrow financial interests
• Ban on For-Profit Health Care Providers
  Profit seeking inevitably distorts care and diverts resources from patients to investors
• Protection of the rights of health care and insurance workers
  A single-payer national health program would eliminate the jobs of hundreds of thousands of people who currently perform billing, advertising, eligibility determination, and other superfluous tasks. These workers must be guaranteed retraining and placement in meaningful jobs.

from the American Journal of Public Health January 2003, Vol 93, No.1