I Get Tired Of Band-Aid Health Proposals (Chirolas)

[Tace]

William Chirolas -- World News Trust

Feb. 15, 2007 -- I get tired of band-aid health system proposals that prop up the insurance companys' profits and a dying employment based health benefit.

Only single payer universal health -- as in Medicare for everyone, paid for by ending tax cuts for the rich -- solves the top five health problems we have:

1. Medicare's massive deficit now, and incredible deficit in the future.

2. The health system subsidy of medical procedures with high cost and low benefit. Defining what is -- and what is not -- covered Medicare for all would stop this subsidy.

3. Health needs of the very poor. Medicare for all by definition takes care of the health needs for the very poor, ending the Federal/State/local fight to contain rising Medicaid costs and the problem of who is going to pay those costs.

4. The needs of the very sick. Medicare for all will by definition define what is available for the health care needs of the very sick -- a very harsh decision that only Oregon has tackled so far, but a decision that must be addressed lest health care costs become greater than the economy can support. The "overuse problem" can not be ignored by those on the left, if costs are to be contained.

5. Income inequality of access to care. Medicare for all makes ends the debate about how income inequality makes health care an easy purchase for the rich and a postponable expense for the middle class -- destroying public health improvements made over the last 50 years.

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http://www.worldnewstrust.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1179&Itemid=9999

[Misskittycat]

1. I'm sick of them, too. Dem politicians need a backbone on this issue, too. n/t

[Tace]

4. Chirolas Is An Expert On This Stuff

He's a career actuary at a big insurance company. He knows what he's talking about.

[Warpy]

2. Medicare was supposed to be a quick hop away from

universal, single payer health insurance. The industry has successfully fought it tooth and nail for 40 years. The system they are sucking profit out of is irretrievably broken. There is no way to fix a for profit insurance industry that is passing the burden onto people who can't afford it, which denies care to the sickest, and which refuses to cover the people who need it the most, people with chronic illness. The time for bandaids like Hillarycare is long over.

Congress has to realize that their gold plated socialized medicine is not the norm and that the system the rest of us must confront is killing us. Literally. Congress has to learn that their generous campaign contributors have totally fucked up, failed in their original purpose, and have become a nest of blood sucking parasites who must be dealt with by ridding the country of them.

Single payer NOW. Expand Medicare and fund it fully. Don't allow the rich to opt out. Nothing else is acceptable.

[antigop]

6. 100% agree with you, Warpy! Medicare for All n/t

[Phredicles]

3. Enthusiastically agreed - Recemmended.

[antigop]

5. Woohoo! Go, Chirolas! K&R DEFINITELY! n/t

[truedelphi]

7. Excellent post= I am in full agreement n/t

[knitter4democracy]

8. Amen and amen to that!

We need a single payer system so badly I can't believe it's not a top priority for this Congress. Wait until they have a loved one die due to poor care or lose her insurance because of cancer and complications from the treatments. Our system is so horribly broken that only the government taking it over and getting it to be a single payer system with a lot of regulation will come close to fixing it.

[Cleita]

9. Hurrah for Tace!!!

A stellar post and so on topic and factual.

[Matariki]

10. I am with you 100%

add to this list ridiculous ideas such as making insurance mandatory the way car insurance is. That's a brilliant solution.

As for paying for it - the savings to businesses and individuals will more than offset tax any increases. I would think that every corporation in the country would be behind this - how can they possibly compete with foreign companies located in civilized countries?

edited to add: the current system is a benefit ONLY to insurance companies - and maybe pharma companies that can bilk the insurance companies. It certainly doesn't benefit people in need of health care, or hospitals & doctors dealing with so many uninsured patients, or corporations who have to pay huge amounts in insurance benefits.