Check in if you went to an Obama health care house party.

[peace13]

I just got home from meeting with folks about the question of health care in America. What an afternoon. We really had some good discussion. I hope that the Obama team spends some time reviewing the responses. Eight people talked for over four hours about health care. It was exciting and exhausting at the same time. The wrap up questionnaire from the Obama team was a bit lame, I hope next time they complete the exercise themselves before designing the wrap up. We worked hard and it would be a pity if they don't take time to look at the body of work. I was interested in anyone else's take on the three question survey at the end. Peace, Kim

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Doc and I are going to one this Monday

We plan to represent the idea of wellness and prevention and the use of proper diet, supplementation, and exercise to help keep people well. We plan to point out that right now insurance companies are practicing medicine by denying some forms of treatment/prescriptions/testing not because it is medically sound but because of cost benefits to their shareholders, and how this is very WRONG.

[peace13]

2. That is interesting!

In our wrap up we voted on the top four things that we felt needed to be addressed and the mind /body connection to wellness was number one. We touched on yoga, message, and nutrition and the overuse of medications. Our group was very diverse on many levels. We also discussed the 24 hour news cycle and the 'be afraid' message that the media has been feeding us for eight years. Good luck but don't be bummed by the questionnaire at the end. I am planning on following up on that one. Peace, Kim

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. I'm glad to hear that

Doc heads a health education foundation that is based in integrative medicine, which is using all forms of medicine to help heal. The mind/body connection is definitely part of it all. Glad to know someone else is passing along the same message. Check out the Foundation and its work at

http://www.futurevisionsfoundation.org

Especially the Article Archives. Think you'll find them very interesting.

[peace13]

4. Thanks! n/t

[patrice]

10. There was strong interest in our group of appx. 30, amongst people even

relatively unfamiliar with the issues, in including licensed preventative and alternative services in the kinds of health care that would be covered. I think this is going to lead us to considering somekind of "health accounts" arrangement, to allow people to choose the types of services they want according to what their needs are.

[peace13]

11. You had a great turn out.

Good job!

[patrice]

12. I'll keep an eye on them. There's another, older, one related to one

of our medical schools, that I've been sitting in on too. They're med students and such who started getting active when Sicko came out.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. That's a good idea

think I'll bring it up at our meeting if you don't mind.

[ecstatic]

5. Thank you for going. It appears you will be speaking

for the vast majority of us. I can't go because I haven't had enough run ins with the current healthcare system to have any meaningful input.

[peace13]

8. Thanks for that! n/t

[patrice]

6. Went to one Monday.

We spent appx 1.5 hours making a list of changes we'd like to see in Health Care, all of which made it more expensive. I made this observation toward the end of the meeting: We're here to reform something because it's too expensive and all we did is make it more expensive and I asked what cost cutting measures the group would consider. No one had any suggestions for cost cutting. A little later I pointed out how, without cost cutting measures, given the expansion in services we want, one of the main ways costs will be controlled will be the kinds of decisions that are made for those without, or with uninformed, advocates, such as the elderly.

[peace13]

7. We can start by cutting out the middle 'man'.

We also discussed making people more responsible for their health by putting PE back in the schools with a big helping of nutrition education. Helping people stay healthy will offset some of the expenses that you were discussing. We talked about physicians prescribing less medicine and more exercise and diet options, also a savings for the system. I hope that you forwarded your results to Obama.


Thanks for participating. It will be interesting to see how the administration uses this type of input. It is definitely a labor of love for those who take the time to contribute.
Peace, Kim

[patrice]

9. We did talk about how doctors should not have to get permission from insurance companies.

So that's one set of middle-men we talked about getting rid of.

Two or three of us (including myself) spoke about the cost efficiencies of Single Payer Health Care.

[justgamma]

14. I need to vent about the meeting I attended.

There were 2 pharmacists, a CPA who does collections for an anethesialogy group, one who worked for the elderly and one who worked for states' children insurance, one who had been on the hospital board for years and he was in the insurance business. Then there was me. I told them that I must be a rep for the uninsured. (I have insurance, but my SIL doesn't. It is too expensive, because on his medical condition)

The pharmacists were for single payer, as am I. The others spent the better part on the time complaining about how people just refuse to pay up. They just refuse to pay the copays. It's so hard to collect money from the lazy bums out there, don't you know. How the elderly give away their money, so they won't have to pay for long term care.

I tried to speak up, but I'm not very good at it. I was just getting so annoyed. They had no idea how people have to struggle out there.

One person just kept harping on the need to educate people. I just wanted to shout about what the heck good is it to educate people if they don't have the money to pay.

I got a few good points in in favor of single payer. About simplification of the language so normal people can understand. I also pointed out how doctors in England get rewards for improving the health of their patients. (Thank you, Michael Moore). That we were paying for Universal Health Care and not getting it.

We only had an hour and a half and it was not enough time. I saw no solutions being brought up.

At the end of the meeting, I was so frustrated. I just stood up and said that if the US had the best system in the world people would not be losing their homes because of medical bills. I also said that donations cans on the store counters is not a good system. People shouldn't have to have bake sales when they get sick.

I've come to the conclusion that I don't want anyone in the health care business trying to "fix" the problems.