Booman Tribune

Bush's Response To Health Care

by Street Kid
Fri Jan 20th, 2006 at 09:47:33 PM EST

This last diary described the democratic and the republican responses to the problems that Medicare D has caused for people.

Now, here is how gwb intends on addressing the subject:

...the Union address will attempt to shift focus from the polarizing war in Iraq to a more popular domestic priority: taming health care costs.

This appears to be just another ploy to help out the republicans that may have voted for the Medicare D Plan in the mid-term elections.  Also, it is pointed out that health care costs are rising faster than inflation, and that more and more people now do not have health insurance due to the changes in the economy (job loss) and  the fact that fewer employers are offerring health insurance.

According to the Democrats,

the president is undertaking a campaign to transfer much of the cost of health care to the consumer, which discourages people - particularly the poor - from seeking care they need.

Al Hubbard, chairman of Bush's National Economic Council stated,

"The American people are very, very frustrated with the health care system, for good reason."

The following will be mentioned in the State of The Union Address:

-Raising the dollar amount allowed to accumulate in existing health savings accounts. In these accounts, people shoulder more of the responsibility for the costs of care. They deposit money tax-free into a dedicated account while purchasing a high-deductible policy to cover catastrophic expenses.

-Additional tax breaks to help people who do not have employer-provided insurance coverage buy their own.

-More portability for health insurance when people switch jobs.

-A way for people to get more information about the price of the care they get and the performance of the doctors they see.

-A switch from paper medical records to more cost-effective, error-reducing electronic records.

-The ability for small businesses to pool the purchasing of health insurance coverage across state lines.

-A cap on malpractice verdicts other than actual economic damages, something Bush has been able to get through the House three years in a row, but not the Senate.

more below

Now, taking a look at these individually, the following questions arise:

*  First, the purchasing of yet another policy--wonder who will benefit by that?  Answer:

In a nutshell, those who control it now - - mainly insurance and pharmaceutical companies.  The insurance and pharmaceutical industries are the largest stake holders in health care and they set their own (outrageous) prices. Other Americans who don't want single payer coverage (like the current President of the United States are either clueless about the issues, afraid of change or are in the pockets of these industries.

  •  Second, how will this address the problem of those who are presently uninsured?

  •  Third, switching jobs?  The economy is in a shambles now!!

  •  Fourth, many do not see a doctor on a regular basis, other than go to the emergency room--how would information re:  prices and a doctor's perfomance assist them?  Are emergency rooms going to be rated also?  (Waiting time?  Decor?)

  •  Fifth, error-reducing electronic records?  
    local pharmacists said that problems continued yesterday, with computer software glitches and long delays in reaching insurers who are managing the new Medicare D program.

  •  Sixth, (and I won't even bother w/a question here, just the answer) the following are identified as wanting universal health care:
Many large corporations, medium and small businesses, organized labor, unorganized labor, entrepreneurs, doctors, nurses, medical students, a diverse group of associations and clubs, individual U.S. residents, married couples, single people, many Democrats and Republicans and the City of Philadelphia even voted for it.

*  Seventh, a cap on malpractice verdicts?   If Bush hasn't been able to geth that thru for 3 years, why does he suddenly think he will during a mid-term election year?  (Am I missing something here?)

This goes back to the point I made in the comments section of yesteday's diary:  

States now spend more on health care for the poor than they do on elementary and secondary education, a policy group said Thursday in its annual review of efforts to deal with the growing problem of the uninsured....

This is nothing but more divide and conquer: first it was education, now it is health care between the "haves" and the "have nots".  Definitely not a Christian/moral value!!!



Display:
Notice that Medicare D is being ignored by gwb.  No suprise there, if he ignores it, it doesn't exist!

(BTW, I am planning a diary devoted soley to a single-payer health care system...give me a few days to go thru all the info that I found!!)  

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi

by Street Kid on Fri Jan 20th, 2006 at 09:50:31 PM EST
I can't wait to see it.  We've got to ditch this current mess.

Eat 4 Today: Just today I'm not going to take seconds & not eating between meals
by katiebird (katieremovebird@everestkc.net) on Fri Jan 20th, 2006 at 10:46:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
You got that right!  (BTW, I was suprised at some of the info that I found...)

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
by Street Kid on Fri Jan 20th, 2006 at 10:54:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
My dad designed a single-payer health-care plan.  He spent years researching it and developing it.  But, every official he showed it to treated him like a quack.

Eat 4 Today: Just today I'm not going to take seconds & not eating between meals
by katiebird (katieremovebird@everestkc.net) on Fri Jan 20th, 2006 at 11:02:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I want to say I'd like to see it, but my head is still spinning from all the info I saw today!

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
by Street Kid on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 02:08:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
He says the research is too out of day for me to show it around.  And he doesn't have time to update it.  And I never will.  It's on the one-of-these-days piles.

I like it, though.  And I wonder if we could publish just the structure without the supporting documents.  Someday.

Eat 4 Today: Just today I'm not going to take seconds & not eating between meals

by katiebird (katieremovebird@everestkc.net) on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 09:10:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I'm just planning on going thru what I have found and trying to summarize it/tie it all together...Keep your dad's plan on the things to do pile.  Like you said, maybe, someday...

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
by Street Kid on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 04:17:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
is laughable and it sounds like he's going to mouth a lot more empty rhetoric-if only we could make him have to live under this D Plan himself and see how far he gets with it..then again he doesn't read so he'd be one of the first casualties of the Plan.

The money wasted on this down the rabbit hole plan is beyond obscene and I can't really begin to imagine how this is effecting so many of those it was supposed to have helped and wonder how many will no doubt quite literally die because of this greedy pharma/insurers dream come true to make money off the backs of taxpayers...while providing jack shit.

'Poverty is the worst form of violence'--Gandhi

by chocolate ink on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 12:30:09 AM EST
..President of the United States are either clueless about the issues, afraid of change or are in the pockets of these industries.

I think that Medicare D fits the last description!  

"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi

by Street Kid on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 02:11:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]
http://tinyurl.com/9mq99 link to NYT article..how the new 'plan' is adversely affecting the mentally ill. ...really disgusting.  How people couldn't get pills who were mentally ill and ended up trying to get help in hospitals or at the assisted living places where they have no money but were now supposed to pay up to 50 or more dollars or more monthly as they all have about 9 prescriptions they take every month..

Trying to make any stop gap measures like the dems want to do is going to be like pissing in the wind. This is such a screwed up mess that it would take another 500 pages of legislation to 'fix' what is wrong with this mess...

'Poverty is the worst form of violence'--Gandhi

by chocolate ink on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 01:06:38 PM EST
Sponsors of the 2003 Medicare law wanted to drive down costs by creating a competitive market for drug insurance. They focused on older Americans, not the disabled. They assumed that beneficiaries would sort through various drug plans to find the one that best met their needs.


"First, they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win." Mahatma Gandhi
by Street Kid on Sat Jan 21st, 2006 at 04:14:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]


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