Friday, June 26, 2009

side by side healthcare proposal comparison

This site has a side by side comparision of the major competing healthcare proposals:

http://www.kff.org/healthreform/sidebyside.cfm


The Kaiser Family Foundation does a lot of good work in this field. Unfortunately, they are not a supporter of HR676

Thursday, June 18, 2009

GOP 4 page healthcare brief of June 18th, 2009

Below is the document that the talking heads are making a fuss over from yesterday. I urge folks to read.

http://camp.house.gov/UploadedFiles/House_GOP_Solutions_Group_Outline_Health_Care_Plan.pdf

I believe GOP is mistaking insurance reform (very much needed) with healthcare reform. I do not believe this plan is a good one, but read for yourself and this will be gone over at next meeting in July.
--------------------------------


House GOP Solutions Group Outlines Health Care Plan
to Increase Affordability, Accessibility, Availability

Commonsense Health Care Reform to Lower Costs and Increase
Access and Quality at a Price Our Country Can Afford

Republicans believe there are a number of potential areas for common ground to work
with President Obama to improve health care for all Americans. Republicans are
promoting commonsense reforms that make health care more affordable, reduce the
number of uninsured Americans, and increase quality at a price our country can afford---
while making sure that Americans who like their health care coverage can keep it.

The House Republican Health Care Solutions Group has been working for months on a plan, listening to the American people, talking to doctors and patients, collecting input, and studying and debating ideas. This process has resulted in the broad outline of a health care reform plan that the solutions group hopes will receive bipartisan support.

The health care reforms outlined are designed to:

1. Make quality health care coverage affordable and accessible for every American,
regardless of pre-existing health conditions.
2. Protect Americans from being forced into a new government-run health care plan
that would: a) eliminate the health care coverage that more than 100 million
Americans currently receive through their job; b) limit your choice of doctors and
medical treatment options; and c) result in the federal government taking control
of your health care.
3. Let Americans who like their health care coverage keep it, and give all Americans
the freedom to choose the health plan that best meets their needs.

4. Ensure that medical decisions are made by patients and their doctors, not
government bureaucrats.

5. Improve Americans’ lives through effective prevention, wellness, and disease
management programs, while developing new treatments and cures for life-
threatening diseases.






Making Health Care More Affordable for All Americans:
More Americans will gain access to quality health care once its costs are brought under control. The first step in lowering health care costs is to eliminate the unnecessary overspending in our current system.

Doctors order unnecessary tests to avoid being sued and every insurance company has its own codes and forms patients and doctors need to fill out. The Chief Counsel to the
Health and Human Services Inspector General even went so far as to say that “building a Medicare fraud scam is far safer than dealing in crack or dealing in stolen cars, and it’s
far more lucrative.”

To lower the costs of health care, the Republican plan:
• Brings greater fairness to the tax code by extending tax savings to those who
currently do not have employer-provided insurance but purchase health insurance on their own. This provision would provide an “above the line” deduction that is equal to the cost of an individual’s or family’s insurance premiums.
• Provides immediate substantial financial assistance, through new refundable and
advanceable tax credits, to low- and modest-income Americans.
• Recognizes that many Americans who have not yet hit retirement age but may be
changing jobs or have lost a job often face higher health care costs. To help those
aged 55 to 64, the plan increases support for pre- and early-retirees with low- and
modest-incomes.
• Recognizes that one of the largest obstacles for many small businesses when it comes to
retaining current employees or creating new jobs is the cost of health insurance. The
plan allows states, small businesses, associations, and other organizations to band
together and offer health insurance at lower costs.
• Implements comprehensive medical liability reform that will reduce costly,
unnecessary defensive medicine practiced by doctors trying to protect themselves from overzealous trial lawyers.
• Provides Medicare and Medicaid with additional authority and resources to stop
waste, fraud, and abuse that costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year.
• Creates incentives to save now for future and long-term health care needs by
improving health savings accounts and flexible spending arrangements as well as creating new tax benefits to offset the cost of long-term care premiums.
• Gives financial help to caregivers who provide in-home care for a loved one.

Making Health Care More Available & Accessible for All Americans:
The Republican plan reduces the number of uninsured Americans by wisely targeting this population and helping Americans keep health care coverage regardless of a change in or loss of a job.






To expand availability and accessibility of health care coverage, the Republican plan:

• Makes it easier for Americans to keep health care coverage regardless of a change in
or loss of a job.
• Encourages states to create a Universal Access Program by establishing and/or
reforming existing programs to guarantee all Americans, regardless of pre-existing conditions or past illnesses, have access to affordable coverage.
• Strengthens employer-provided health coverage by helping the 10 million uninsured
Americans who are eligible, but not enrolled in, an employer-sponsored plan get
health care coverage. The plan does this by encouraging employers to move to opt-
out, rather than opt-in rules.
• Helps employers offer health care coverage to their workers by reducing their
administrative costs through a new small business tax credit.
• Recognizes that not all high school and college graduates are able to find a job that
offers health care coverage after graduation. By allowing dependents to remain on
their parents’ health policies up to the age of 25, the number of uninsured Americans
could be reduced by up to 7 million.
• Provides flexibility to Medicaid and SCHIP beneficiaries by allowing them to apply
the value of their benefit to a health plan that better meets their needs than the one-
size-fits-all government program.

Promoting Healthy Living and Quality Care for All Americans Now and Tomorrow:
Innovations in treatment and access to quality health care information are critical to
ensuring Americans receive the best possible care. It’s no secret that patients in other
countries are often denied care or die waiting to get access to the top treatments.
To promote prevention and wellness while ensuring every American has access to high quality health care, the Republican plan:

• Promotes prevention and wellness by giving employers and insurers greater flexibility
to financially reward employees who seek to achieve or maintain a healthy weight,
quit smoking, and manage chronic illnesses like diabetes.
• Rewards high-quality care, instead of encouraging health care providers to order more
and unnecessary services.
• Uses new and innovative treatment programs to better coordinate care between health
care providers, ensuring that those with chronic disease receive the care they need and
do not continue to fall through the cracks.
• Encourages the creation of health plan finders to provide patients with the tools to
easily find the right health plan that best meets their needs.






• Gives patients access to health care information so that they can identify and select
health care providers who deliver high-quality care at a lower cost.
• Makes health care more convenient by eliminating bureaucratic red tape to expand
access to Community Health Centers that are so critical to underserved areas, both in
large cities and in rural America.
• Encourages home care and independence for patients rather than forcing individuals
into institutionalized settings.
• Promotes seniors' access to the doctors they need by modernizing Medicare
reimbursements.
• Provides incentives to physicians who enter the field of primary care, helping to
ensure all Americans have access to the doctors they need.
------------
note, the picture did not copy, but Roy Blunt is listed atop. Also, one might note the number of Frank Luntz's talking points included in their short work. Frank's piece is on our blogs by the way

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Beware of stats and facts on healthcare uninsured

-------------------------------

I know that many of you folks argue politically some of the points brought forward at our meetings.

I wish to say, no one really knows how broken the healthcare system is in the nation. Most of the studies have one or more flaws and the stats vary. For instance:

Right now, some on the right are saying that the 45.7 million estimate of folks having no healthcare included 10 million illegial aliens. Others argue that there are 50 million, not 45.7. Estimates vary by 30 million.

Technically speaking, anyone who has any sort of insurance (no matter how limited) is counted as having insurance. No real estimate of how many Americans are underinsured but guesses range from 25 million to 80 million.

I would argue that folks on "present" canco insurance and or Medicare/Medicaid are underinstured compared to the "old time" Canco insurance. Beware the source of the information, beware how the spin the "facts".

Personally, when I answer the census; I am going to truthfully say I have partial insurance if there is a box for that. If not, I am going to list myself as uninsured because I cannot afford to use the insurance unless there is an emergency.
I suggest others do the same

This is from CNN (and before the destruction of the auto industry and related folks)

-------------------------------------
Study: 86.7 million Americans uninsured over last two years
Story Highlights
Study: One out of three Americans without health insurance at some point in 2007-08

Study is released day before White House health care summit

U.S. Census Bureau reports lower numbers, only counts those uninsured for full year

Critic says Families USA exaggerated numbers to make a political point

By Jennifer Pifer-Bixler
CNN Senior Medical Producer
(CNN) -- One out of three Americans under 65 were without health insurance at some point during 2007 and 2008, according to a report released Wednesday.

The study, commissioned by the consumer health advocacy group Families USA, found 86.7 million Americans were uninsured at one point during the past two years.

Among the report's key findings:

• Nearly three out of four uninsured Americans were without health insurance for at least six months.

• Almost two-thirds were uninsured for nine months or more.

• Four out of five of the uninsured were in working families.

• People without health insurance are less likely to have a usual doctor and often go without screenings or preventative care.

"The huge number of people without health coverage is worse than an epidemic," Ron Pollack, executive director of Families USA, said in a press release. "Inaction on health care reform in 2009 cannot be an option for the tens of millions of people who lack or lose health coverage each year ... the cost of doing nothing is too high."

The study came out the day before President Obama plans to hold a health care summit at the White House. The President says reforming health care is one of his top priorities.

The number of Americans without health insurance reported by Families USA is much higher than those reported by the U.S. Census Bureau. According to the census numbers, in 2007 there were 45.7 million uninsured Americans.

Families USA says those numbers tell only part of the story. The Census bureau counts only people who were uninsured for the full calendar year. For its own study, Families USA commissioned The Lewin Group to analyze data from the Census Bureau and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Its study includes people who did not have health insurance for all or for part of the past two years.

Critics say the number of uninsured Americans cited in the Families USA report is misleading. "No one disagrees we have a problem with the uninsured," says Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who advised Sen. John McCain on domestic and economic policy during the 2008 election.

But Holtz-Eakin thinks Families USA is exaggerating the numbers to make a political point the day before the White House summit. "They are simply choosing to report over a two-year window a measure that always gives you a larger number."



Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/04/uninsured.epidemic.obama






© 2008 Cable News Network

--------------------
this is a copyrighted article and I will withdraw if objections made

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

interview with Bill Maher

You folks might find the CNN Situation Room interview with Bill Maher of interest. Again, this is copyrighted stuff and I shall withdraw if objections made:


More reps join Hr676

Seven More Reps Sign On to HR 676; House Holds Single Payer Hearing

Since May 20 seven more US Representatives have signed on to HR 676,
national single payer health care sponsored by Congressman John Conyers
(D-MI), bringing the total, including Conyers, to 83. The full list is
here: http://unionsforsinglepayer.org/ Click on 111th Congress

-----------------------------------------------------

H.R.676
Title: To provide for comprehensive health insurance coverage for all United States residents, improved health care delivery, and for other purposes.
Sponsor: Rep Conyers, John, Jr. [MI-14] (introduced 1/26/2009) Cosponsors (83)
Latest Major Action: 1/26/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, and Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COSPONSORS(83), ALPHABETICAL [followed by Cosponsors withdrawn]: (Sort: by date)

Rep Abercrombie, Neil [HI-1] - 2/11/2009 Rep Baldwin, Tammy [WI-2] - 1/26/2009
Rep Becerra, Xavier [CA-31] - 3/17/2009 Rep Berman, Howard L. [CA-28] - 1/26/2009
Rep Bishop, Sanford D., Jr. [GA-2] - 2/23/2009 Rep Brady, Robert A. [PA-1] - 2/11/2009
Rep Brown, Corrine [FL-3] - 3/3/2009 Rep Capuano, Michael E. [MA-8] - 2/23/2009
Rep Christensen, Donna M. [VI] - 4/21/2009 Rep Clarke, Yvette D. [NY-11] - 1/26/2009
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 1/26/2009 Rep Cleaver, Emanuel [MO-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 1/26/2009 Rep Costello, Jerry F. [IL-12] - 2/3/2009
Rep Cummings, Elijah E. [MD-7] - 2/23/2009 Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 1/26/2009
Rep Delahunt, William D. [MA-10] - 1/26/2009 Rep Dicks, Norman D. [WA-6] - 6/15/2009
Rep Doyle, Michael F. [PA-14] - 1/26/2009 Rep Edwards, Donna F. [MD-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Ellison, Keith [MN-5] - 1/26/2009 Rep Engel, Eliot L. [NY-17] - 1/26/2009
Rep Farr, Sam [CA-17] - 1/26/2009 Rep Fattah, Chaka [PA-2] - 2/11/2009
Rep Filner, Bob [CA-51] - 2/11/2009 Rep Frank, Barney [MA-4] - 1/28/2009
Rep Fudge, Marcia L. [OH-11] - 6/2/2009 Rep Green, Al [TX-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Grijalva, Raul M. [AZ-7] - 1/26/2009 Rep Gutierrez, Luis V. [IL-4] - 1/26/2009
Rep Hare, Phil [IL-17] - 6/11/2009 Rep Hastings, Alcee L. [FL-23] - 2/23/2009
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D. [NY-22] - 1/26/2009 Rep Hirono, Mazie K. [HI-2] - 2/23/2009
Rep Holt, Rush D. [NJ-12] - 6/12/2009 Rep Honda, Michael M. [CA-15] - 2/11/2009
Rep Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. [IL-2] - 3/5/2009 Rep Jackson-Lee, Sheila [TX-18] - 1/26/2009
Rep Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [GA-4] - 2/3/2009 Rep Kaptur, Marcy [OH-9] - 1/26/2009
Rep Kennedy, Patrick J. [RI-1] - 2/23/2009 Rep Kildee, Dale E. [MI-5] - 2/23/2009
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C. [MI-13] - 1/26/2009 Rep Kucinich, Dennis J. [OH-10] - 1/26/2009
Rep Lee, Barbara [CA-9] - 1/26/2009 Rep Lewis, John [GA-5] - 3/17/2009
Rep Loebsack, David [IA-2] - 3/24/2009 Rep Lofgren, Zoe [CA-16] - 5/20/2009
Rep Lujan, Ben Ray [NM-3] - 3/24/2009 Rep Maloney, Carolyn B. [NY-14] - 2/23/2009
Rep Markey, Edward J. [MA-7] - 6/12/2009 Rep Massa, Eric J. J. [NY-29] - 1/26/2009
Rep McDermott, Jim [WA-7] - 1/26/2009 Rep McGovern, James P. [MA-3] - 3/3/2009
Rep Meek, Kendrick B. [FL-17] - 3/24/2009 Rep Meeks, Gregory W. [NY-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Miller, George [CA-7] - 3/19/2009 Rep Moore, Gwen [WI-4] - 2/11/2009
Rep Nadler, Jerrold [NY-8] - 1/26/2009 Rep Napolitano, Grace F. [CA-38] - 1/26/2009
Rep Norton, Eleanor Holmes [DC] - 5/20/2009 Rep Olver, John W. [MA-1] - 1/26/2009
Rep Pastor, Ed [AZ-4] - 3/19/2009 Rep Payne, Donald M. [NJ-10] - 3/3/2009
Rep Pingree, Chellie [ME-1] - 1/26/2009 Rep Polis, Jared [CO-2] - 1/28/2009
Rep Roybal-Allard, Lucille [CA-34] - 3/30/2009 Rep Rush, Bobby L. [IL-1] - 2/23/2009
Rep Ryan, Tim [OH-17] - 3/5/2009 Rep Schakowsky, Janice D. [IL-9] - 2/23/2009
Rep Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" [VA-3] - 2/23/2009 Rep Serrano, Jose E. [NY-16] - 6/9/2009
Rep Thompson, Bennie G. [MS-2] - 2/23/2009 Rep Tierney, John F. [MA-6] - 1/28/2009
Rep Tonko, Paul D. [NY-21] - 1/26/2009 Rep Towns, Edolphus [NY-10] - 3/31/2009
Rep Velazquez, Nydia M. [NY-12] - 2/23/2009 Rep Waters, Maxine [CA-35] - 3/19/2009
Rep Watson, Diane E. [CA-33] - 1/26/2009 Rep Welch, Peter [VT] - 2/23/2009
Rep Wexler, Robert [FL-19] - 2/11/2009 Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] - 1/26/2009
Rep Yarmuth, John A. [KY-3] - 2/23/2009

Monday, June 15, 2009

more congressional testimony

This is another two vids of health-labor committee single payer hearings. Well worth watching:

-----------------------------


-----------------

M Moore's new movie

This is a preview of M Moore's new movie coming out in October. It is a novel approach and one worthy of watching. Info from press today is that in some theatres, folks put money in the cans as the ushers came down the aisle. So much the critical thinking ability of some folks.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

House labor and health committee hears from Single Payer Healthcare folks

Yesterday, the House committee on Labor and Health heard from single payer folks and folks whom do not agree with them. Here is some of the testimony:


Full committee meeting vidio on C-span and is one hour and 45 minutes. Odd that the national media said almost nothing about this committee meeting and its significance.

Of course, many pundits have proclaimed "single-payer" dead in the past. Single-payer folks were of course excluded from most of the Obama healthcare summits and most know single-payer folks were excourted from the Senate in handcuffs last month.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Move On Org and healthcare

This is a recient MoveOn.org short. I find it interesting.

Sad, these folks do not support single payer healthcare and are "Obama" folks.


--------------------------------------------

Obama open to taxing benefits

Obama, in his greatness is going to help with our overflowing wallets. He is open to taxing our meager healthcare benefits.

Yes, instead of considering single payer options like HR676; the idea to tax folks on healthcare benefits to pad the pockets of healthcare industry is gaining ground.

------------------------------
Obama said to be open to taxing health benefits
June 02, 2009 8:15 PM EDT
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama is leaving the door open to taxing health care benefits, something he campaigned hard against while running for president, according to senators who met with him Tuesday.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., raised the issue with Obama during a private meeting with the president and other Democratic senators and later reported the president's position: "It's on the table. It's an option."

The White House said later that Obama did not want to go that route.
"The president made it clear during the campaign that he has serious concerns about taxing health care benefits," Obama spokesman Reid Cherlin said in a statement. "He stated again his belief that health reform can't wait another year, and that while all options should be considered, those options should include the revenue proposals that he included in his budget."
The federal government would reap about $250 billion a year if it treated health care benefits given to employees like wages and taxed them.

Baucus and others are eyeing that money as they search for ways to pay for a costly health care overhaul that would extend coverage to 50 million Americans who are now uninsured. That could cost some $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The president adamantly opposed health benefit taxes during the campaign, arguing they would undermine job-based coverage, and he criticized Republican presidential rival John McCain for proposing a sweeping version of the same basic idea. But since taking office he and members of his administration have indicated openness to almost all suggestions from Congress on health care, including taxing benefits.

Obama has made some suggestions of his own for paying for a health care overhaul, including cuts to Medicare and limiting tax deductions wealthy people can take, but they've run into opposition from Congress. And, they only add up to about $630 billion over 10 years.

Some experts think limiting the tax exclusion for health benefits is the only way to get the necessary money to pay for a sweeping health care overhaul.

But there's opposition from organized labor and from many Democrats, including House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., who said recently there was "no way" he would support the approach.

Baucus wants to look at limiting - but not entirely eliminating - the tax-free status of employer-provided health benefits.

"It was not in our plan, it was not in our budget," White House budget director Peter Orszag said earlier Tuesday. "We are saying we want the legislative process to play out, and that's all we have to say on that right now."

Obama is leaving the details of crafting a health care bill to Congress and used Tuesday's meeting to urge senators to swift action.

"This window between now and the August recess I think is going to be the make-or-break period," Obama said before the meeting was closed to reporters. "This is the time where we've got to get this running."

Baucus' Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Labor, Education and Pensions Committee, chaired by the more liberal Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., are both producing sweeping health bills, with some differences emerging between the two committees.

At their weekly luncheon Tuesday, Senate Democrats got a first look at Kennedy's proposals, which would include a new public insurance plan to compete with private providers. The Finance Committee is also considering a public plan though some options being reviewed are more limited in scope than Kennedy's.

Obama brought Democrats from both committees to Tuesday's meeting, urging them to get a single bill through the Senate by early August despite their differences, and telling them they might not all get everything they want, according to senators who attended. Kennedy, who's been diagnosed with brain cancer, did not attend.
---
Associated Press writers Philip Elliott and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.

(note, this is a copyrighted story and I shall withdraw if objections made)

http://my.earthlink.net/article/pol?guid=20090602/4a24a3c0_3ca6_1552620090602-410695111

news on the Employee Free Choice front

This is from the Hill: http://thehill.com/business--lobby/card-check-compromise-foes-to-meet-feinstein-2009-05-30.html

Note: this version is a watered down version of the original EFCA. Yes, it will help labor; but it is not the big victory labor wished if it passes. Although details are scant, several items will be stripped from this bill. Manditary arbitration is one.

Note in the article "centerist democrats worried about angering business". Yes, our buddies the dems are yet undermining labor once again. What else is new in the last 50 years.
------------------------------
'Card-check' compromise foes to meet Feinstein

By Kevin Bogardus

Posted: 05/30/09 03:25 PM [ET]
Business leaders are scheduled to meet next week with a prominent Democratic senator who has proposed a compromise on a contentious union bill that industry has heavily lobbied against

.According to a schedule obtained by The Hill, executives are visiting Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) next Wednesday as part of a lobbying push against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), legislation that would make union organizing much easier if passed. Business leaders from 12 different states, organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are flying into Washington next week to lobby against the bill.

Feinstein has emerged as a key voice on the legislation. At first, her support for EFCA wavered since she is not a co-sponsor of the bill this Congress, unlike two years ago when she also voted for cloture on the bill. But now, Feinstein has floated a compromise for one of the bill’s provisions to help garner support from Senate centrists who are worried about angering the business community by voting for the bill.

EFCA is often called “card-check” because one of its provisions would allow workers to form unions not by secret ballot elections called for by management but by a majority of employees signing petition cards stating their intention to organize.

Feinstein’s compromise would replace that provision with a requirement that union elections be decided by mail-in ballots with the design that workers, not employers, would have a choice on when to form a union while their privacy would be protected from labor organizers.

Along with Feinstein, business leaders are also scheduled to meet with Sens. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) — centrists who could decide the fate of EFCA. They both co-sponsored the bill last Congress but Bayh is not doing so this year.Union officials have been somewhat open to changes in the bill but business groups have lobbied against any compromise, saying the legislation would hurt industry revenue by leading to more strikes and work stoppages.

They have hammered Feinstein’s proposal because they believe it would still lead to intimidation of workers by union organizers.Labor groups disagree and campaigned extensively for the bill last election.

Unions believe the legislation will boost the economy by allowing workers to collectively bargain for better wages and benefits, increasing their spending power.Introduced in both the House and the Senate in March, the bill later lost momentum as Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, then a Republican, announced his opposition to the bill.

But with his recent party switch, Specter has been involved in negotiations on an EFCA compromise, giving new hope to union leaders.They will still have to win over centrists who have shied away from the bill. Support will be needed from senators like Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) — who has come out against the bill — if it is to pass this year.
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