More Health Reform Q&A
by Tex Norman(121)
Q: Can't a liberal like you see anything wrong with socialized medicine, the thing you call a single payer option?
A: I do feel that single payer national health care is the option I would prefer, however, I do admit that there are potential problems.
1. It would be impossible to pass a single payer option, because so many people with employer insurance will just not want to give that up for a single payer option.
2. There is always be the danger from a government monopoly. There are government monopolies throughout our system of government, and we generally function fine with these single option service providers. Under one administration I have no fear from the single payer option being unfairly administered, but under a repressive administration it is possible that the medical coverage provided in a single payer option could become restrictive.
For example: if the administration objected to sex education must be restricted to abstinence only birth control, then
Q: Doesn’t the Obama health reform plan contain a provision that says the government will go to people Medicare age, and force them to pick how they want to die?
A: This idea that the health reform contains a provision for killing elderly people seems to be spreading. Even members of Congress have said out loud, in front of cameras that Health Reform is going to kill old people. The answer to these fears is this: “NO! and such a suggestion is not just frikin’ crazy!”
I hate to say it, but those in Congress spewing this fear filled misinformation are doing so on purpose. The Republicans that love big Insurance are telling lies designed to frighten senior citizens. There is language in some of the versions being hacky sacked through various legislative committees that talks about hospice, and doctor advice regarding a living will, but that’s it. There is no elderly euthanasia clause and anyone who says differently is a frikin’ liar.
Q: I don’t want Health Care reform, a public option, or a single payer option because I don’t want the government to dictate my medical decisions, I don’t want Uncle Sam to stand between us and our doctors.
A: This is another frighten assumption, or a scary conservative lie, but the truth is that the intity that stands between people and their doctor right now is the Insurance Industry. For example: Allstate, which spent less than $900,000 in lobby dollars through March, increased its lobbying spending to more than $1.5 million in the last three months. That’s a big increase. What could possibly be the motive for increasing their lobby spending so dramatically? The Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association spent $1.8 million in the first quarter. Drug maker GlaxoSmithKline spent $2.3 million in lobbying activities, Now you may think maybe GlaxoSmithKline always spends that much in lobbying activities, but you would be wrong. GlaxoSmithKline had been spending $1.8 million but recently they jumped to the $2.3 million dollar mark. Biotechnology firms, like Amgen, Inc. — spent $3.4 million last quarter, but now they are spending $2.8 million. Insurance is spending a million dollars a day to kill the public option. If their products were so excellent and adored by their customers then what would they have to fear from a public option? No, clearly Big Insurance seems to be highly motivated to kill health care reform.
The truth is we already have some entity standing between us and our access to health care, and that entity is Big Insurance. Already, right now, Big Insurance denies as many claims as possible, and at the same time Big Insurance does everything possible to avoid covering those people who are most likely to need health care. Do a little Googling and you can find hundreds of Insurance Denial Horror Stories. There are dozens of examples where Big Insurance has refused to pay for urgently needed cancer surgery because of ridiculous questions like the patient’s acne treatment, or that they worked in a break shop while in college. There was one story about a healthy young woman denied coverage because she briefly saw a psychologist after breaking up with her boyfriend.
Big Insurance has a term for paying medical bills. They call it, “medical losses.” Much of the premium dollars Big Insurance takes from us is spent not on medical treatment, but on “underwriting.” The term “underwriting” means screening out those people likely to use their insurance. Only around 70 cents of each premium dollar actually goes to pay for our health care.
Q: What Health Reform Plan would you like to see passed by Congress?
A: Since I see too many problems with a single payer plan I would like to see something similar to what has been outlined by Obama, but with one big difference.
I would like to see a combination of private insurance plans with a public option, but I would want all the private insurance companies to be not-for-profit insurance companies. If private insurance companies not-for-profit then their decisions on what to cover, and how decisions are made would be based on something other than their board of directors, stockholders, and the bottom line.
Article submitted Friday, July 31, 2009 & read 79 times.
Leave Your Comments:
2-0-0-0-1-ADSO