More Ideas on Health Care Reform...

Here are some more ideas from my wise cousin (the health care professional) on health care reform.  This was VERY informative to me and I plan to check out more...

Health Care needs to be Universal- available to everyone. That would cover the problem of people who are able to purchase insurance but the insurance companies turn them down due to pre-existing conditions or drop them due to pre-existing. It must be affordable. We paid nearly one thousand dollars per month for private insurance for many years. Neither of us working in a position with benefits. We are luckily able to pay that but what if our income couldn't support such a high policy. And neither of us are high risk for insurance purposes. So, Universal includes that it is available and affordable
Neither the Senate version nor the House version calls for any cuts or changes to Medicare. NEITHER Version calls FOR CHANGES IN MEDICARE. The House version is more liberal and will cover more people but does include increased taxes. The Senate bill has more "pork" and special interest allocation but is more conservative. Neither bill is perfect, but it can be tweaked as areas are identified. I would have preferred the House bill, even if it increased taxes as it is more comprehensive but either will start the process. Ironically losing the ability to break a filabuster may cause the Dems in the house to pass the Senate bill rather than lose all efforts at reform. So, the Rebublicans may shoot themselves in the foot if they refuse to act on anything.

There has been a lot of hype about rationing care...it is already happening daily. Drs are definitely quicker to order expensive tests like MRIs or CT scans on insured persons than on non-insured persons (research supported statement but I don't have time to find citations). And most of the time a good old fashion, cheap x-ray would give them the info they need. Not as good but unless the patient is getting worse why use it as a first line of dx. The answer malpractice. Now that is a place for reform but lets not go there today. Practicing defensive medicine costs huge amounts of money and limits on malpractice should be part of healthcare reform.

I saw a poll that said 50% of Americans were against the reform, 47% were for it, and basically the other 3% didn't know. The number of didn't know should be much higher. Have you read either of these monstrously long bills? I have read parts but the average American only knows what they have seen on TV. So, if you watch Fox you are going to think one way and NBC the opposite. I am 100% for people being active in telling their representatives what they want but in issues that require specialized knowledge it is difficult for people to understand the real issues at hand.

47 million Americans without healthcare. And when they do get sick, our rates go up to cover their bills. Typically the uninsured do not get preventive healthcare so when they present it is usually to an ER with a costly plan to help them. We definitely need reform in this country-our leaders know that and have been talking about since the 60's. Are we going to talk about it and do nothing for the next 50 years? Lets start with something and then make changes to get it right.