The fundamental question that should be addressed about national Health Care Reform is this:

[WCGreen]

Is it ethical and or moral to put a profit center that offers nothing to the overall efficacy of the health care system between the provider and the patient?

Perhaps an even more precise question: is it ethical or moral to continue to let a profit center siphon off needed funds from the providers of health care that ultimately diminishes the health of the people being treated by the American Health Care System?

And since these questions are not even on the pre-agenda that will takes us to the proverbial table, why bother.

President Obama, just make a break with the insurance companies. Stand outside and take a real good look at what we have. Better processing of paperwork isn't going to do the trick.

A great model to look at would be the way Bush/Cheney ran the Iraq War. They inserted profit centers into the Iraqi theater and we saw how efficiently and productively that turned out for the American Tax payer and the American Soldiers slogging their way to Babylon.

The true definition of insanity is to know something is wrong, messed up or inefficient and yet you continue on as if nothing is wrong.

President Obama, stop the insanity.

[msongs]

1. you talking about parasites n leeches like blue cross etc? nt

[WCGreen]

3. Of course....

[patrice]

2. Absolutely right! People MUST start thinking about the effects upon PEOPLE of profit based decisions

I think we need to develop public simulations of the sort that we used to use for discussing Nuclear Freeze proposals back in the 1970s.

Said simulations could be digital or staged with actual people and would walk an audience through the status quo care "plan" sorting that OCCURS NOW in profit based decision making systems, so they could see how more expensive and/or difficult pathologies are tracked out of the system permanently, as soon as possible, in order to protect profit margins. Then such simulations could do scenarios that project trends in the costs of care to show the effects on the care "plans" and subsequent sorting/tracking of people, without regard to outcome, but with regard to profits alone. People need to see this concretely.

Costs - NOT! PEOPLE! - ****ARE**** Absolutely Everything!!!!

[subterranean]

4. I've seldom seen it framed in terms of ethics or morals.

However, many Republicans (and some Democrats) seem VERY concerned about protecting the profits of the insurance companies. I can't imagine why. :sarcasm:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

5. You have put your finger precisely on the essential point.

The profit center offers NOTHING but rewards to the people who work in that industry. And it steals from the rest of us.

It is an insane system that does nothing to alleviate the growing problems we have in our country in regard to health care.

Well said...

K&R

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. .

[slipslidingaway]

7. K&R n/t

[AllentownJake]

8. A better model to look at is the way Part D was implemented

That disaster of legislation is wrong on so many levels.....

[bvar22]

9. I stand with Howard Dean and MoveOn.

If there is not a well financed, viable Public Non-Profit Alternative....There IS no reform.

America does NOT have to settle for LESS.
Every other industrialized nation in the World has managed to institute some form of government guaranteed HealthCare.
It is NOT "too hard" for America.
YES WE CAN have Single Payer HealthCare.

You can stand with Howard Dean too.

Stand With Dr. Dean for Health Care for All

Today, we draw a line in the sand. A public health insurance option is the only way to guarantee health care for all Americans. And to show that we mean business, we all need to tell Congress we won't settle for less.

http://www.moveon.org/