Wednesday
Jun242009
Ambulance Called In: Health Care Reform In Serious Condition
By Courtney Ann Jackson-Talk Radio News Service
Senate Democrats are pushing to get a health care reform bill moving forward and closer to passage. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) held a press conference Wednesday to discuss the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s efforts to improve the healthcare system. Dodd is leading the committee’s mark-up of the health reform bill and said over 200 amendments to the bill have been made in the past five days.
The Senators appeared in front of an ambulance that featured the words "Pass Health Care Reform." The ambulance from Families USA included a ticker of the number of families losing health care coverage.
“The present situation on health care is not just unacceptable, it’s unsustainable from an economic standpoint. You cannot have as much of our gross domestic product be consumed by health care costs [that are] mounting everyday in this nation and expect our economy to thrive and prosper in the years ahead. This is the issue that makes our economic recovery, in the long term, the most difficult,” said Dodd.
Murray said reform is not just for the uninsured since families with health care coverage are having to pay for those without. The current system is not working, according to Murray, who assured that Congress will “do what’s right for America.”
Dodd said he would like to have the bill out of the committee before the Senate’s July 4th recess, but noted that doing so may pose a challenge.
“I would love to complete all of it but realistically it may be impossible to get all of that done,” said Dodd. “I hope during the 4th of July break what we have done already could be melded with what the Finance Committee is dealing with so they don’t lose the opportunity of time over the following week.”
Senate Democrats are pushing to get a health care reform bill moving forward and closer to passage. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Senator Patty Murray (D-Wash.) held a press conference Wednesday to discuss the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee’s efforts to improve the healthcare system. Dodd is leading the committee’s mark-up of the health reform bill and said over 200 amendments to the bill have been made in the past five days.
The Senators appeared in front of an ambulance that featured the words "Pass Health Care Reform." The ambulance from Families USA included a ticker of the number of families losing health care coverage.
“The present situation on health care is not just unacceptable, it’s unsustainable from an economic standpoint. You cannot have as much of our gross domestic product be consumed by health care costs [that are] mounting everyday in this nation and expect our economy to thrive and prosper in the years ahead. This is the issue that makes our economic recovery, in the long term, the most difficult,” said Dodd.
Murray said reform is not just for the uninsured since families with health care coverage are having to pay for those without. The current system is not working, according to Murray, who assured that Congress will “do what’s right for America.”
Dodd said he would like to have the bill out of the committee before the Senate’s July 4th recess, but noted that doing so may pose a challenge.
“I would love to complete all of it but realistically it may be impossible to get all of that done,” said Dodd. “I hope during the 4th of July break what we have done already could be melded with what the Finance Committee is dealing with so they don’t lose the opportunity of time over the following week.”
tagged 
Health Care, Patty Murray, chris dodd, economic in Congress, News/Commentary
Health Care, Patty Murray, chris dodd, economic in Congress, News/Commentary
Reader Comments (7)
My family has a small business in Indiana and cannot afford to give it's employees any kind of health care, that's why we agree with a large portion of Americans on the government single payer system. Born in Europe I paid for our health care with insurance stamps in a little book, so did the employer everybody worked for? Until the mass legal and illegal immigration into my country of birth all citizens had exceptional medical services. It insured us of surgery, eyes and teeth care for all the people. Today Europe is under considerable pressure from the millions of foreign laborers, who poured into my nation and other industrialized countries around us. Why American newspaper always seem to quote that European health care is free--is beyond me? Nothing is free! We paid for it through our employers, but we were--NOT--subsidizing for profit insurance companies?
Every health insurance company removes their pound of flesh, their co-pays, deductible, premiums and of course pre-existing conditions. THESE NEFARIOUS BUSINESSES ARE CURRENTLY SPENDING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS, SPREADING RHETORIC AND PROPAGANDA ON TV, RADIO AND IN MAGAZINES. They are truly worried that there mammoth profits are in jeopardy, because for once the majority of the American people are not listening to their lies. Yes! In Europe you do wait for surgical procedures, but no more than three months. Years ago, I had been out of the country visiting relatives in Australia. When I returned their was a letter waiting for me, for an appointment with a nose surgeon.
We must take into consideration that a American government pool of health care money, far exceeds European standards and would cover every citizen and legal resident--NOT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. Only the well heeled population don't care for it and the for profit trillion dollar business base have issues, because they have so much to lose? If nothing else we should have the ability to choose for ourselves. Those who think that for-profit insurance companies, should know that this avenue is available to them. Then the larger portion of the population should not have to beg, to be covered, as they should have access to government Universal health care. We should all know our enemies in this health care issue, who are right now undermining President Obama's plan. Like they sold you out to the wealthy special interest lobbyists on E-Verify and a near future AMNESTY. Be ready to throw those political puppets out of office, when their time comes around for re-election. Bombard your Senators and Congressman for a single payer Health care for all AMERICANS.
When a cheaper alternative with lower quality is made available, employers will opt to purchase those less costly insurance plans, forcing employees to accept this cheaper alternative which may or may not allow them to keep their current doctors. Employees may also be invited to purchase their own healthcare if they have their heart set on keeping their own physician after years of establishing a trusting doctor-patient relationship. This is the part you’re not told, that ultimately, it will be a luxury to keep your existing physician and your existing health plan.
It is untenable that the ailing people who need to take some rest are forced to keep working, due to the employment-based system with no other choice, and overly high health care prices. It may be one of the reasons that America spends over $2 trillion annually on health care, and today 75 percent of that money goes to chronic disease, there are 133 million Americans with one or more chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, arthritis, hypertension and diabetes.
As seen in the case of swine flu, most of the patients who took some rest and care at early mild stage have got recovery avoiding deadly outcome.
The employment-based system in the U.S. with no other choice and overly high health care prices is similar to an automobile without 'a brake' or 'a safety system', which come at at price, yet is even better than a fatal accident.
Public and private schools across the world help each other, and to date, private insurers have coexisted profitably with Medicare and Medicaid for many years. As we know, public health and education are essential parts of life, in my understanding, health comes first. That is why all of the industrialized countries have public policy in place, I guess.
"In Europe you do wait for surgical procedures, but no more than three months."
If I get diagnosed with cancer all I want is to wait 3 months for surgery? Get real. No offense but I am tired of paying taxes for lazy people who do not go out and get jobs. The government keeps using this large number of people without insurance. Half of these people can afford coverage and chose not to. I have never seen such a hot topic debate and such disparity between parties. I agree the cost of insurance premiums are high but has anyone looked at the doctors and hospitals who keep raising there costs for services. How are the non-profit insurance companies going to survive?
Health care reform will work when everyone participates. This needs to include trial lawyers. The tort system in this country is a joke, and no one is more affected than physicians. Doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine. They order tests to protect themsleves against lawsuits, thus driving up utilization and ultimatley rates. Law makers who will dicide how to fix the system, and cut cost are willing to make everyone suffer with the exception of trial lawyers. Why is that ? It's because so many of them have become politicians. Let's face it... Hospitals, docotors and everyone else making thier living in health care stands to lose revenue when we modify our present system. That's fine, we have seen it comming for years. It is just beyond me how one can talk about cutting costs and reforming the system without also including caps on malpractice and reform of the tort system when it comes to health care. Are we as a society that blind to what is happening to us ? The answer is no... We are just not informed. Trust me, a huge portion of health care expenditure is directly related to tests providers run to ensure they have covered their back side. Why not? I would do it.. The patient doesn't pay for it, as their insurance is on the hook for those costs. But guess what.. You do pay for it, and you pay for it through the nose in higher premiums.. You want reform health care Congress? Fine... No problem... You want to cut costs ? Great let's get it on... just make sure you attack all the problems and not just the ones that affect your profession and trial lawyer friends
Woops..
That last line should say... just make sure you attack all the problems, and not leave out ones that affect your profession and trial lawyers.
Mistakes are made when you type fast while being angry
The first priority in reforming health care is to control costs. The best way to control costs is to increase competition, especially in a health care market that consists mainly of state-level monopolies and oligopolies. The simplest way to increase competition is to introduce a "public option" along the lines the President has proposed. This is not about socializing medicine; it is about increasing competition.
TDC worries that a public option will cause employers to opt out of private plans. Isn't this another way of saying that the private plans simply are not competitive? And if they are not, then they need to GET competitive, and soon. The "public option" plans I have seen would maintain a reasonably level playing field; no one wants to push the existing plans out of the market. Republicans worry that any public option, by its very nature, will inevitably crush private competition. What about mail delivery? UPS and FedEx are respected, viable companies, and their product seems only to have been improved through competition with the U.S. Postal Service.
Obviously, health care reform is beset by a thicket of thorny issues, and we need our lawmakers to be at their pragmatic best. We won't get there if Republicans abandon the whole debate out of an ideological phobia of all government-inspired programs.