Tuesday, October 21, 2008

anti-universal healthcare argument

Although I do not agree with the following and support universal healthcare in the United States, folks should be aware of the "anti" arguments for some do have valid concerns. The following is from the National Review, a conservative concern.

I am reproducing this under the fair use provisions and will withdraw if copywrite holders object:



October 21, 2008, 4:00 a.m.Universal Coverage KillsDon’t resist innovation.By Michael F. Cannon
In the final presidential debate, Barack Obama and John McCain continued to slug it out over health-care reform.

McCain accused Obama of wanting to put all Americans in the type of single-payer system that exists in Canada and England.

“Senator Obama wants to set up health care bureaucracies, take over the health care of America,” McCain warned.

“As he said, his object is a single-payer system.”McCain, Obama, and the voters would do well to keep in mind what this month — October 2008 — has to say about the quality of medical care when government is in charge.

Federal bureaucrats have announced that, as of this month, the Medicare program will no longer provide financial rewards to doctors and hospitals who harm patients. That is not a typo.

For more than 40 years, Medicare has provided financial rewards to providers when a patient requires follow-up care following a medical error.

Medicare is America’s experiment with universal coverage. Operated by the federal government, it provides health insurance to more than 40 million elderly and disabled Americans.

When Congress created Medicare in 1965, physicians feared the new program would reduce their incomes and autonomy.

To reduce physician opposition, Congress adopted the dominant way of paying physicians at the time, known as “fee-for-service” payment.

As the name suggests, when a physician provides a service, he collects a fee.

Provide another service, collect another fee — ad nauseam.

Physicians like fee-for-service payment, and have lobbied to preserve it.Yet providers often make mistakes that harm patients.

A nurse allows an air bubble to enter a patient’s bloodstream. A patient receives a transfusion with the wrong type of blood. A hospital fails to prevent pressure ulcers in a bed-ridden patient, or allows a patient’s surgical site to get infected. A surgeon operates on the wrong body part, as recently occurred at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Indeed, medical errors have reached epidemic proportions in America’s health-care sector. The Institute of Medicine estimates that as many as 100,000 Americans die in hospitals every year due to medical errors. That’s more than 20 times the number of Americans who have died in the five years of the Iraq war. Medication errors occur at a rate of one for every day a patient spends in a hospital, and injure an estimated 1.5 million Americans each year.

When a patient requires follow-up care to repair the damage done by a medical error, how does Medicare respond? It pays providers for the “care” that injured the patient, and then pays them again to repair the damage.

Imagine paying your contractor more because he knocked down the wrong wall.

Since Medicare is the largest purchaser of medical care in the nation, private insurers typically follow its lead, which means that all providers pay much less attention to medical errors than they should.Starting this month, Medicare will fix that. Sort of. After 40 years of rewarding providers who harm patients, Medicare will now force providers to bear some of the cost of their own mistakes.

Yet Medicare will still reward hospitals for many medical errors, including infections and medication errors, and will continue rewarding physicians for even more types of error.It doesn’t have to be this way. More than 60 years ago, markets devised health plans that discourage medical errors by forcing doctors and hospitals to bear the financial costs of all such errors. You know them as plans like Group Health Cooperative and Kaiser Permanente.

Doctors and patients who choose those plans tend to like them, and the plans receive high marks for quality, which suggests the financial incentives they use serve patients better. Why does it take Medicare more than 40 years to take such baby steps? Especially when the market developed a solution to this problem over 60 years ago?

The answer is that Medicare — like all universal-coverage schemes — is operated by the government, and government resists innovation. In this case, resistance to innovation kills

.McCain and Obama should remember what October 2008 symbolizes.

Especially Obama, who has voted to make it harder for seniors to choose private plans that reduce medical errors, and who wants to put everyone in a single-payer, Medicare-for-all program. That’s a frightening thought considering that Medicare — America’s experiment with universal coverage — has caused much unnecessary suffering.— Michael F. Cannon is director of health-policy studies at the Cato Institute and co-author of Healthy Competition: What’s Holding Back Health Care and How to Free It.

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although this article does raise valid concerns, those could be easily corrected by congress. The article does not in fact make a case that the "proposals" could be modified to change some of these woes.

Interesting? These folks wish to limit legal "damages" and lawsuits against malpractice; which seems rampent.

Upcoming elections

I know most of the group intends to get out and vote (their families as well). Soar has a good turn-out in the past several elections with close to 100% of our group reporting that they indeed voted.

How am I going to vote? Simply put, democrats have a much more impressive cast running and I am going to vote democratic for state and federal offices.

For the admendments and props? There are five statewide constitutional amendments or petition initiatives on the Nov. 4 ballot. Here are some facts about each and my recommendations for votes on some of them (and if you would like a longer explanation of any of these, I have full briefing documents available - simply reply with your request):

Amendment 1: This would add a new section to Article I of the Missouri Constitution – the state’s Bill of Rights – establishing English as the official language of Missouri government proceedings. Please join me in voting NO. This is yet another bull-sh** attempt to amend the state constitution for no good reason. State statutes already acknowledge that English is Missouri's common language. There is no history of government proceedings in Missouri being conducted in languages other than English. This initiative plays on anti-immigrant fears and would make Missouri a less welcoming place for global business and global tourism.

Amendment 4: This would make it easier for water and sewer districts to obtain tax-free grants and loans from the state. The Metropolitan Sewer District has many expensive jobs ahead to make sure our drinking water is safe, so I will be voting YES.

Proposition A: I'm sure you've seen those beautiful blue billboards with the shiny apple saying Prop A is for our schools and for our economy. Well, there's more to it than that. Prop A would remove Missouri's unique in the nation loss limit at casinos ($500 per two hour "cruise"). It would also cap the number of casinos at 13 (the 12 we have now and one more that is under construction), and it would increase gross receipts tax on casinos to 21 percent from the current 20, thus making more money available to education.

However, Prop A was written by the gambling industry, and they have raised at least $8.6 million to secure its passage. It is dubbed within the statutory language of the proposal as "The Schools First Elementary and Secondary Education Funding Initiative." That name has been criticized as misleading because it creates the appearance that the focus of Prop A is education measure rather gambling. It also should be noted that bills filed in the legislature to remove the loss limits offered a better deal to the state, raising gross tax receipts to 22 or 23 percent.

Finally, a group of superintendants are questioning whether Prop A does what advertisements claim, and they also suggest that no new funds would be allocated to St. Louis Public Schools through the ballot measure. Read more at: http://www.semissourian.com/article/20081014/NEWS01/710149907

Unless I hear better arguments, I'll vote NO on Prop A. I prefer an alternative - negotiate a better deal with the gambling industry in the Legislature and increase funding for our schools by making our income tax system more modern, fair, adequate, and sustainable ("the Tax Justice for a Healthy Missouri plan").

Proposition B: This initiative would create a Missouri Quality Homecare Council, an eleven-member public authority to ensure the availability and improve the quality of home care services by recruiting, training and stabilizing the personal care attendant workforce. The Council would consist of a majority of governor-appointed consumers and consumer advocates, providing them with a real voice to improve the home care system in Missouri and would fall under the Department of Health and Senior Services.
The Quality Home Care Council would recommend minimum qualifications and offer voluntary training for workers. It would also prepare Missouri’s long term care system for future growth and help contain Medicaid costs. In addition, it would allow workers to have a voice in the system through a union, if they elect to do so.
Similar councils have been created in several other states with positive results. Academic studies of one state’s program found that workforce turnover fell 57 percent over a five-year period. The supply of workers also increased by 54 percent, and consumers reported greater satisfaction with services following the wage and benefit improvements. I urge a YES vote on Prop B.


Proposition C: This is the Clean Energy Initiative which would require Missouri investor-owned electric utilities (Ameren, Empire, Aquila, and KCP&L) to get 15% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2021. Renewables are defined as clean sources of energy like wind, solar, landfill gas, biomass, and small hydroelectric projects. According to Missouri Coalition for the Environment, 26 states have passed a similar policy often known as a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES). Instead, Missouri has a voluntary standard that does not hold utilities accountable to use clean energy.
Currently, 86% of Missouri's electricity comes from coal, and pollution from these plants has been linked to asthma and lung disease. Coal fired power plants are also the biggest contributor to climate change, so finding cleaner ways to produce electricity is very important to our planet’s future.
Are you saying, "Sounds good, but what will it cost me?" The other states with this policy have not experienced rate increases. Instead, diversifying the power supply by developing America's homegrown renewable energy resources can help shield consumers from spikes in energy prices over time. And there’s an insurance policy for voters in the ballot language - the Clean Energy Initiative includes a 1% rate increase cap. I urge a YES vote on Prop C.

Diversifying energy needs with renewables would be good policy nationally
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Reminder for Election Day: Choose the Paper Ballot
Choose to use the Opti-Scan paper ballot. Overall it can save time, and we're expecting huge turnout on Nov. 4. In addition, the paper ballot offer more information and stand up better to a recount if one is needed.

There is a real possibility of recounts in varied areas and in the varied areas that many of our members reside.

Monday, October 20, 2008

November, 08 meeting

Nov is our election time. Election for Soar officers will be at our business meeting first Wendesday of month.

Few other items on agenda. Will talk about politics if we know who is clear presidential or state winner. Insurance: no new news on any front at this time.

Yes, I am running again as VP.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

local soar bylaws

We also will submit to the international the following local bylaws for the Soar group: Note, these are not valid until ratified by International.
Bylaws were oked by International (2-07 addition)

proposed bylaws for our group Soar 11-3, St. Louis chapter of Soar.
NOTE; NO LONGER PROPOSED. INTERNATIONAL HAS OKED AS WRITTEN; JUNE, 2006
Preamble
We believe that the welfare of our members is paramount and our organization is dedicated to the advancement of their intrests and the working man's intrests.
Our aim will be to promote and protect the interest of the membership, to elevate the moral, intellectual, political and social conditions of all retired men and women, to assist each other in sickness and distress. Although retired, social and political events have endangered our rights and benefits as retired working persons and our families.
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ARTICLE ONE - Terms of Office
a) terms and conditions of office are specified in SOAR manual.

b) Eligibility for Elected Office
Section 1. All other candidates standing for elected office of the Local Union must be members and have been in continuous good standing for ninety (90) days prior to accepting nomination. The requirement for continuous good standing will be effective . This includes members of SOAR 11-3, PACE and Alliance for Retired Americans whom are in the SOAR 11-3 group.
Section 2. No member may run for or hold more than one elected office simultaneously, with the exception of chairs of standing committees. The President shall be member of all committees.
Section 3. For usage "proof" of good standing, sign in sheets provided at the meetings shall constitute proof as well as paid membership in SOAR 11-3.
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Article TWO- Recall
Section 1. A SOAR 11-3 officer, against whom charges have been filed, in accordance with the procedure established by of the International Constitution, may be suspended from office pending the outcome of the trial, by a two-thirds (2/3) vote at a membership meeting
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Article Three - General
Section 1. All Local Union officers (Soar 11-3), committees and other members handling funds or other property of the Union shall at the completion of their duties, turn over all papers, documents, funds, and/or other union property to the properly constituted Local Union officers.
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Article Four- Death of member/Next of Kin of member
Section 1. A bible will be provided to the surviror of the next of kin in the event of the death of a current SOAR 11-3 member or their immediate next of kin residing with the member.
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Article Five - Emergency Fund
Section one a) A minimum of $5.00 ($5) per member shall be kept in the local emergency fund.
b) Monies paid out of the emergency fund shall be paid only to or on behalf of SOAR members
c) A Notice of Motion shall be posted for 7 (seven) days in all units before a vote on any withdrawal of more than $ 300 ( 300 dollars) from the emergency fund.
d) the president can authorize expenditures of less than $100 (100) dollars for expenses one his own authority for SOAR meeting expenditures and emergencies upon consulation with the executive board. Between membership meetings or membership votes, the Executive Board shall be the highest authority of the Local and shall exercise general administrative authority and shall be empowered to act on behalf of the membership to the extent urgent business requires prompt and decisive action, subject to subsequent membership approval, but the Executive Board may not take action affecting the vital interests of the Local Union without prior membership approval
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Article Six - By-Law Changes
Section 1 a) Local union by-laws may be amended by two-thirds (2/3) majority vote at any meeting providing that Notice of Motion giving details of the amendment has been posted at least sixty (60) days prior to the vote, admendment changes can be proposed at a local level in writing to the president of the local chapter of SOAR for submission at next meeting (s). Posting shall be done on Soar website in event of such submission.
b) All provisions of all chartered local union by-laws not contained herein shall be of no effect until approved in writing by the national executive board nor shall they conflict with federal, state or local laws.
c) The national constitution shall take precedence over these by-laws.

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Article Seven- Additional duty of Treasurer
Section 1) The treasurer will, upon request of the individual Soar 11-3 member or spouse submit due payments to the international. Appropriate records shall be kept of such transaction.
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with elections next month and with our accepting nominations at the breakfasts across the state, keep in mind that only members in good standing can run for office and only "due" paying members in good standing can vote. If you owe, please submit to SOAR payment.

Thanks