The Public Wants an Option

Just read this article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091028/pl_nm/us_usa_healthcare_option

Here's my favorite part:

"Opponents argue that a public option would hurt competition because the government program would have a cost advantage by virtue of a huge member base, but supporters of the public option say there is no real competition without it."

Ok, let's hand on a minute. The public option would HURT competition because it would have a cost advantage by virtue of a huge member base. But I thought that the government was incapable of running the health care industry because costs would spiral out of control. If the government is so wasteful, private companies should have absolutely no problem competing with them.

My recommendation to everyone who's against healthcare reform: chose your arguments carefully. If you're going to be wrong, you might as well just be wrong on one thing, not too.

Did We Win?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091026/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_overhaul

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but it looks like we're getting a government run public option for health care in the plan that is going to the senate. It provides a provision for states to opt out, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

Now if we can just enact tort reform and rein in the pharmaceutical industry, we might actually start ::gasp:: helping people . . .

New Recruitment Tactic

Well here's a new one for ya:

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/64677772.html

A father in Wisconsin has decided to enlist in the Army at age 39, because it's the only way he'll be able to provide for his wife's cancer treatment. The good news is that the Army medical plan (which btw is provided by the same government that many would have you believe is incapable of providing medical care to everyone) will cover her. The bad news is, he'll be gone for four years while his wife goes through chemo. And oh yeah, they've got a 14 year old daughter.

Go read that, and tell me that we don't need a public option.

The Lone Crusader?

Have a look at this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091019/ap_on_go_co/us_health_care_burris__relevancy

Apparently Roland Burris, (the Illinois Senator appointed by now disgraced form Governor Blagojevich) is refusing to vote for any health care legislation that does not include a public option.

You know what's amazing about this? The most corruptly appointed Senator is the only one taking a stand against the giant insurance lobby. By all rights this man shouldn't even be in the Senate. Unfortunately, Blagojevich got caught selling Obama's Senate seat before the bidding on Ebay could end. And there's a clause against it in their Terms of Use Agreement. But now, this unelected Senator, appointed by a corrupt criminal, might wind up becoming the champion of the public option this country has sought after for so long.

Now, if he could also just demand that they completely reform malpractice law, and enact sweeping changes and controls on the pharmaceutical industry, he just might have something here . . .

Health Care Bill Passes Senate Finance Committee

Today the Senate Finance Committee voted 14-9 to pass the so called "Baucus Bill", another step toward so called health care "reform" in this country. The bill was introduced roughly a month ago by Senator Baucus of Montana. I remember my thoughts the first time I read through the details of his proposal:

What. . . the. . . fuck?

The Baucus Bill is almost laughable in what it proposes. Essentially, it forces American's to buy health insurance from private companies, with no guarantees that costs will be controlled. It has some suggestions in it for setting up non-profit health care "co-ops" to keep prices competitive. But what if these co-ops fail? Will I be hit with a $1,700 a year fine for not being able to afford an $800 a month policy? Under the Baucus Bill I will. It amazes me that after all the talk we've heard over the years on health care reform from the Democrats, that they would actually push through a bill that benefits HMO's more than it does the American people.

There's also talk in this bill of providing subsidies to people in lower income brackets to help them purchase insurance. Let me tell you right now, here in New York, we already have these subsidies. And they do NOT make health coverage any more affordable unless you are in the LOWEST income bracket. For example, here in New York we have two subsidies health care plans. Both offer access to a number of private insurance companies. Family Health Plus is for individuals living below the poverty line. Basically, as a single adult, if your income level is below $200 a week, you can get free coverage from a number of providers. Then there is Healthy New York. To be elegible for Healthy New York, you can earn up to about $550 a week. Then, you have a number of plan options, ranging from $320 a month for full coverage with a prescription drug plan, to $218 a month for a high deductible plan with no drug options.

Now, if you're at the upper end of that spectrum, making $550 a week, you might actually be able to afford one of those subsidized plans. I mean, so long as you aren't paying rent. However, if you're making less than $550 and more than $200 (and this is all pre-tax income btw.) you're pretty much shit out of luck. The idea that an individual can afford to spend up to 25% or more of their income on health insurance is completely ludicrous. And if you're making more than $600 a week, you can pretty much bet you're going to have to pay somewhere in the range of $800 a month and up for an unsubsidized plan. And my bet is that when the details of the Baucus Plan currently before congress are finalized, we'll probably see figures very similar to these as subsidies for low-income individuals.

At the end of the day, the government can spend as much time arguing and drafting resolutions for insurance reform and federal subsidies, and it's not going to change a damn thing. Health Care reform needs to start and end with lowering the cost of care. And there are only two things that need to be fixed in order to significantly lower the cost of care:

1. Malpractice Law Suits: High malpractice coverage is the number one thing that has raised the cost of a visit to the doctors office to obscene levels. Instead of letting the courts and lawyer handle issues of malpractice, a government review board made up of physicians needs to be set up. A nationwide malpractice insurance policy run not for profit, by the federal government must be instituted. And lastly, the government review board will need to make a standardized, reasonable rate of payment for all malpractice claims. Basically, anything that can go wrong needs to have a number attached to it, and as long as the claim is valid, it will be paid out. No more frivolous law suits, and no more wasting court resources on malpractice suits.

2. Prescription Drugs: This is an industry that needs to be HEAVILY regulated. The prescription drug business in this country essentially creates it's own market. Why the hell are prescription drug companies advertising on TV? Shouldn't your doctor be the one telling you that you need to take Avodart? We need to change how the drug companies do business, which includes eliminating advertising, stopping drug reps from spending insane amounts of money to schmooze doctors. I know people who work in doctor's offices, and every day of the week, their lunches are catered by a different drug rep, in an effort to get the doctors to push their product. As patients, we should all be outraged by these practices.

More importantly though, it's about time we started curing stuff again. I propose a change in patent law for medications. Essentially, if you create a cure for a disease, you will receive a 50 year patent on it. However, treatments and medications, will only receive a one year patent, after which other companies will be able to produce the medication generically. Basically, you create a vaccine for AIDS, you can sell that at a premium for 50 years. However, if you create some little pill that someone has to take to keep their HIV under control, you're not going to get to keep making large amounts of money on that forever. The idea is to shift the focus of research and development away from creating expensive treatment programs that must be maintained.

Anyway, that's it for my rant today. Sorry this post wasn't as entertaining as the last one, but there was a lot of info to get out.

First Post

My name is Steve Dispensa.

I am a 26 year old white male.

And I am uninsured.

There is plenty of debate going on right now on the issue of Universal Health coverage, and expect me to be citing articles and arguments here in the future as I provide continuous blogging on this topic. But let me just start with a simple story.

Last April I woke up one day, and I had a funny taste in my mouth. It was like half my tongue tasted like I had slept with a copper penny or a battery in my mouth. I went to look in the mirror, and discovered half my face was asleep. Hmm. . . this isn't exactly normal.

I start to freak out. I head immediately to my primary care physician, a certain Dr. Web, M.D. After careful review of my symptoms, Web M.D. concluded that I had developed Bell's Palsy, a condition likely brought about by stress.

I concurred.

The condition causes paralysis of one side of the face, and usually goes away in time. I compare my findings with everyone I know in the medical field: nurses, Physicians Assistants, and my barber (trust me, back before HMO's, they used to do EVERYTHING, didn't even need to refer you to a specialist.)

They all came back with the same diagnosis: "Go see a doctor you idiot, you may have had a stroke, it could be cancer, and 'How about a nice leaching? No? Maybe just a shave a face massage?'"

I do not concur.

Besides, Doctors cost money, and in case you haven't heard, we're in a bit of a recession. I can barely afford my daily shave and facial massage, let alone an emergency room visit. So I wait a week.

Finally, my sister intervenes, she works at a hospital and convinces me to go. She tells me that they have programs for people who can't afford to pay, so just go and get it done. So I take her advice, and after the sedatives wear off, I find myself in a hospital bed surrounded by friends and family. So after a cat scan, an ekg, full blood work, and about 6 hours of waiting around, it turned out that I had, wait for it . . . Bells Palsy. Whew!

So with a skip in my step and a slant in my smile, I head on out of the hospital. My only instructions were to wear an eye-patch at night to prevent my paralyzed eye from crusting over. The news that all I had was Bells Palsy was such a relief, it felt as if the entire weight of the world had been lifted off my shoulders.

Until the bill came.

Until the NINE THOUSAND DOLLAR bill came.

My God, I could spend another month vacationing around Europe for that kind of money. Let's look at the breakdown:

Triage Treatment: $500 (They took my name and my temperature.)

Hospital Room Admittance: $2000 (They took my name again and told me to go wait for an hour)

Emergency Room Bed: $2000 (It was quite comfortable and had a TV, unfortunately it was stuck on the Islander Game.)

EKG: $1500 (And I didn't even get to run on a treadmill with my shirt off.)

Cat Scan: $3,000 (That thing was the real deal, no jokes here.)

Protective Eye-Patch: $95 (This was in actuality a cotton ball and a piece of medical tape.)

Instructions on application of said Protective Eye-Patch: $25 ("What you want to do is tape this to your eye."

More to follow. . .