Vigilance, Perseverance, Justice
You are currently browsing the daily archive for August 16, 2009.
Tyson Gay, the guy in second place, “smashed the American record in the 100 meters by six hundredths of a second”. The 9.71 at the Olympic Stadium was the third fastest time in history! And he came in second…
Link to English version (embedding disabled).
It’s time to scuttle any attempt to “reform” health care in America.
From the President on downward, the White House now seems resigned to losing the fight over the “public option”, a government-run insurance plan that would compete against private plans. It’s time to re-assess the playing field in light of this development.
Is the public option really dead? Probably.
Perhaps the better question is whether the public option was ever really ‘alive’, meaning that it ever had enough votes to pass both the House and the Senate. We estimated based on committee votes that a bill containing a fairly weak public option — like the one approved by the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee — would be a favorite to pass the House but probably only by a slim margin, with between 220-225 votes for passage (a minimum of 218 are required). And arguably, the conditions have worsened somewhat for health care reform since the Commerce Committee’s compromise passed on July 31st.
It’s the Senate side, though, where the public option was encountering most of its difficulties. Only 37 Senators, according to the whip count at Howard Dean’s website, were firmly on board with the public option, whereas at least a few Democrats (Mary Landrieu, Joe Lieberman, Kent Conrad) had stipulated their opposition to it.
It’s a good idea who’s time has not yet come. Let’s move on to prosecuting Cheney, et al, global climate change and energy independence, and getting the frack out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
91) “Heard It Through the Grapevine”
Soloist: John Fogerty/Creedence Clearwater Revival
Album: Cosmo’s Factory (Fantasy, 1970)
Tags: Music
Here’s my idea for health care.
Create an entirely new system. Hospitals can choose to join it, or not, and doctors and other health care professionals can choose which system to work in (but can’t work in both). Medicare will only pay into the new system. Allowable prices will be set by a panel with the mandate that profit margins can’t exceed 100%. (No more $30 Tylenols.) “Experimental” treatment will be offered free, as an incentive to actual researchers to improve their product to the point where they can sell it.
Patients *must* sign an agreement to use the new system. Just like a ski area, they acknowledge that medical care can be dangerous and the results can be “less than perfect” (to put it kindly … people die). Therefore, they understand that by accepting treatment they are forfeiting their right to sue for malpractice.
Doctors could then decide whether or not they want to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical insurance to treat patients who’s treatment is denied by the insurance companies they’ve paid 10s of thousands of dollars to, or work in the new system.
Of course, there will still be incompetent doctors. Any patient or family member of a patient can make a complaint against them, knowing that they will receive *NO* financial reward as a result. The complaints will be reviewed by a “non-partisan” panel with the power to suspend the doctor’s license to practice medicine or admit patients to the new system.
By not having to cover their ass against frivolous lawsuits, and by not having to pay exorbitant premiums for malpractice insurance, doctors won’t need to order so much useless and unnecessary testing. They will “treat the patient” rather than “cover their asses”.
And yes, to the critics, I expect that this system would bankrupt the insurance companies. I also expect it would *IMPROVE* patient care.
I’m sure there’s more, and I’m open to suggestions to improve on the idea.
Tags: health
I’ve been watching CNN, reading some of the online US papers – regarding the astroturfing of the townhall meetings.
Well, they cover the effects, but conveniently overlook the source.
My conclusion? Forget it. Between the braindead “protesters” and the blind press (and the weak response by the Dems), the system is broken beyond repair.
Now On Think Progress Now On RealClimate.org Now On Truthout On DemocracyNow.org Now On Common Dreams
Recent Comments