Oregon senator [Wyden] prepares universal health coverage plan

[antigop]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-12-13-wyden_x.htm?csp=34

>>
A dozen years after Congress rejected a Clinton administration plan for universal health care, Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden is readying a proposal to provide health care coverage to all Americans through a pool of private insurance plans.

"Employer-based coverage is melting away like a Popsicle on the sidewalk in August," said Wyden, a Democrat and member of the Senate Finance Committee's subcommittee on health care.

Wyden's proposal, which he planned to unveil on Wednesday, is an outgrowth of work by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, a 14-member panel that went to 50 communities around the country and heard from 28,000 people about how to reform health care.

The group, created in 2003 by legislation sponsored by Wyden and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, recommended that the government take steps to guarantee all Americans have basic health insurance coverage by 2012.

Wyden said his plan would allow workers to carry their health insurance from job to job without penalty and would cost the federal government no more than it's paying today for health insurance coverage. It would cover all Americans except those on Medicare or those who receive health care through the military.
>>

[Gormy Cuss]

1. Follow the money

"The Lewin Group, a Virginia-based health care consulting firm that reviewed Wyden's plan, said it would reduce health spending by private employers by nearly three-quarters..."

Not surprisingly, the intent of "Healthy Americans" is to cut costs for employers while tossing a moldy old carrot to workers.

[ForPeace]

2. We don't need health insurance

we need health care. Health care would cost far less if we cut out insurance company profits.

[buddysmellgood]

7. I agree. If everyone has it, we are basically, self insured. Welcome to DU.

[burythehatchet]

11. Precisley

Get rid of the "Universal" and replace with "single payer". Anything else is just another gift to the corporate machine.

[theophilus]

13. Exactly right imo. All of that money tied up in the "middle man"

bureaucracy would about fund the deal. Run it through medicare. It is established and pretty effecient. Make it more effecient and allow Doctors to benefit as is right. Hospitals must hold the line and cut costs while still providing good care with an eye to improving it to bring us into line with countries who are doing it better. (Yes there are!)

[pokercat999]

25. Exactly, we need a system with a National Health Service

free to all and paid for from the US Treasury. Like wise car insurance, paid at the pump by an additional "gas" tax with claims handled by the gov't.

[Shakespeare]

3. Meh. Universal coverage will not work until we get rid of private insurance companies.

Bain of our society.

[annabanana]

4. Sorry. . If it's being arranged through a "pool of private

insurance plans", it's just another sop to the Insurance Industry. They will offer a patchwork of diverse plans, the details of which will require an MA in Health Administration to decipher. And the Insurance companies will acquire another layer of protection from lawsuits for Denial of Service claims.

It does not really sound like a big improvement.

[antigop]

5. I agree -- doesn't sound like a big improvement

A lot of large companies are self-insured. I'm not sure what this would really mean for companies that self-insure.

Plus, who is going to audit the companies so that the money previously going to health insurance will now go into employee pockets?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

6. I'm not one of the millions of Americans without insurance

I'm one of the millions who have it. However, it is over-priced, has such a large deductible that if I stay reasonably healthy I'll never use it up, and will probably result in massive premium increases if I ever DO need it.

[Katzenjammer]

8. Another example of how the MSM rooks us: this is NOT about health CARE

it's a "Guaranteed Profits For Insurance Companies" plan. The same one that Romney and the Dem-owned legislature stuck Massachusetts with. So the headline and the article are lies, and what else is new?

[brentspeak]

9. Nixon wanted the USA to have a national health care system

Then Watergate happened. It's been countless families and individuals losing their life-savings ever since.

[hughee99]

10. We've been making health care a campaign issue

(and by "we", I really mean many in the Democratic Party, I haven't been personally running for anything) for many years. I haven't read the details of Wyden's plan, but does it seem to anyone else like we should have some big plan already written up and ready to go, at least as a point to start the discussion? Is there an official or even "unofficial" party plan for health care?

[acmejack]

12. I was at a company rated among America's very best places to work

I had their best Health Plan. When I became catastrophically ill it ran me deeply into debt in short order. It is the 10% deductibles here and the 5% there and the 25% in that other place that add up quickly. The 10% items are often big ticket hardware items, such as medical implants (priced a pacemaker lately?) which can quickly deplete one's bank account. Financial pressures along with one somewhat naturally freaking out over the physician's inability to stop the of or even identify the malady makes for a quite lot of stress.

I don't know where I would be without the VA. The VA has a lot of efficiency and provides a good look at what a Nationalized Health care System would probably look like, IMO. The insurance industry and Pharma are simply too powerful they have too much money, money that influences the financial sectors to lobby with them. It's a no win as long as we don't have publicly funded elections, that is th ebattle we need to fight and win. For the time being they can buy the votes of our legislators with "Campaign contributions". As a wise man once said "There is a very fine line between a campaign contribution and a bribe"...

[brentspeak]

15. How are you doing now?

I hope you're better, health and financial-wise.

[acmejack]

18. We're recovering, thanks.

[karichisholm]

14. Be sure to check out StandTallForAmerica.com

Thanks for the post. I'm helping Senator Wyden with his netroots site on this - <a href=http://www.standtallforamerica.com>Stand Tall for America.</a>

Obviously, there are going to be a lot of questions. Anything this big is going to be pretty complex.

I'd encourage everyone to actually head on over to the site and read about the plan.

As you can imagine, there's definitely a lot of misunderstanding already appearing on the net... not to mention the usual trolls bad-mouthing everything in sight.

Here's the bottom line: It's a universal plan, that gives everyone a generous benefit equal to that of Members of Congress. No one can be denied or charged a higher rate because of their age, gender, genetic makeup, or pre-existing conditions. Low-income and middle-income folks get meaningful subsidies. There's some tough cost containment for the insurance companies (saving $1.48 trillion over 10 years) - and the plans will all get report cards so that Americans can compare plans on price and on how well they do in keeping people health.

Anyway, I encourage you to dig in to the details... You'll be happily surprised.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. will the insurance Co's all change to non-profit?

will they promise to reduce admin costs from 30% to 5%?

if not... it will not work.

[Divernan]

21. "Non-profit" simply means the top execs keep the profit instead of stockholders.

We have a "non-profit" big health insurer headquartered in my town. The execs have offices with private baths and gyms, marble walls, original art and hand carved desks made of rare woods. The same is true for the "non-profit" nationwide chains of nursing homes. They have senior staff conferences in the Caribbean. The term is a misnomer.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

24. wow. so how do we tell a real non-profit from a fake?

greedy people suck. :(

[antigop]

19. psst...don't tell anybody

The country is broke. We can't afford anything.

[antigop]

20. There is no need to be complex == there is a simple answer really

The answer is Medicare for All. We extend Medicare.

There is no need to do anything else.

Wyden's plan should be SHOT DOWN immediately.

[jwirr]

23. Medicare does not pay for drugs or nursing homes. That is a

big gap.

[jwirr]

22. I am one of the people who has to deal with plan D and the

rest of the reforms in recent years. Is your plan going to send me books 2 inches thick to read so I can understand the rules? Many of us do not read them and when we try we do not understand them. Why is it that congress can never pass a simple law?

I also want to know why it is that congress does not consolidate the programs that already exist under the best program rules and save money by getting rid of the overhead costs? Has anyone counted the number of health care programs that each have their own administration?

[newyawker99]

27. Hi karichisholm!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[cosmicdot]

17. Wyden voted for the Medicare Rx mess

Senate vote on Medicare Rx
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00459

He should give either John Conyers or Dennis Kucinich a call to get their thoughts on how Democrats might approach this critical issue, i.e. H.R. 676, introduced in the House in February 2005. http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_health_care.htm ... or even touch base with We the People. http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR00676:@@@P

Guess he'd rather consult with Orrin Hatch and Big Insurance.

We can't wait until 2012. "The world can't wait."
I'm certainly not getting any younger.

I'm know of tired of corporate-based government.

[eridani]

26. Warmed over Clinton 1993 n/t