It has been a bruising few months as special interests have spent millions of dollars and countless hours battling over how to fund children’s health care. And if the House votes as expected today to uphold the president’s veto, insurance and tobacco companies will emerge victorious. 

"It's the economy, Stupid!"

And in this case it's Sensenbrenner's and Ryan's economy. It's pretty hard to track the individual campaign contributions, but Sensenbrenner has owned over $500K in Philip Morris stock for years. In any case, they argue "taxes," and in the case of SCHIP it's tobacco taxes that were to fund the program. And, yes, as fewer people smoke the taxes go down, but the savings in the health care system then becomes even greater.

A Roadmap to Health Insurance for All: Principles for Reform -

See the web introduction HERE and complete report HERE

An excellent report by George Lakoff of the Rockridge Institute (thanks to Dr. Don McCanne for the link)

Excerpt: "American insurance companies make money by providing as little treatment to as few individuals as possible and by offering coverage to as few sick people as possible, while collecting premiums from as many healthy people as possible. That's why people with pre-existing conditions have so much trouble finding insurance—it costs too much to care for them. That’s why the insurance companies require pre-approval of treatments and why they may authorize less expensive, rather than more effective, means of medical care. That’s also why insurance companies benefit from high co-pay policies: they push patients toward avoiding costly visits to the doctor. This is how our health system works to guarantee profits to insurance companies."

See the complete article HERE and web site HERE
 

Why shouldn't pharmacists be prescribers?

See the complete article HERE
 

Medicare Advantage: The worst of it.

Three must-read reports.....

Congressional Budget Office report on Medicare Advantage (privately owned HMO healthcare) HERE

Asclepios - Getting Our Money's Worth HERE

Testimony of Paul Precht, Deputy Policy Director, Medicare Rights Center HERE

 See complete story HERE

Unless Congress acts now, scheduled doctor payment cuts will give you fewer doctors to choose from, making it harder to see the doctor you want and get the care you need. Your health care future is in jeopardy, and it's up to you to save it.

Right now, Medicare doesn't even reimburse your doctor at a level equal to the cost of treating patients. And recent reports predict that the government will cut the rates even further--by 10%--in 2008, and by a whopping 40% by 2015!

If nothing is done to stop the doctor payment cuts,

• 67% of doctors will defer investments in their practices, including the purchase of new equipment and health information technology;
• 54% of doctors will be forced to reduce their practice staff; and
• 60% of doctors will limit the number of new Medicare patients they treat.

Doctor payment cuts put all Americans at risk, not just Medicare subscribers. Future cuts will make it harder to find medical and surgical specialists, will force seniors to travel greater distances for needed medical care, and may further crowd hospitals.

The future for patients' access to care is bleak, unless you take steps to turn the tide. Now is your chance to protect yourself and your family--the future of your health is in your hands. Click here to stop doctor payment cuts.

Medicare is not perfect, but it is a hell of a lot better than the private system. I've dealt with both over the last 35 years and trust Medicare over CEOs beholden to their salaries and bonuses and shareholder profits. This is a clear cut effort on the part of the Bush administration to force physicians to drop their Medicare patients. Don't let it happen.

About WhatIfPost.com: WhatIfPost is a website that works to help others understand health care in America.

On WhatIfPost.com you will find:

• A History of American Health Care - an extensive timeline of health care in the US which reveals some fascinating information and trends
• Health Care Definitions - a glossary of terms that are used in the discussion of Health Care Policy
• What's Wrong with American Health Care - a summary of the challenges of US health care today

Tinkering won't do; the time is ripe for real reform

A recent report from a national business panel underscores the need to overhaul health care. And Healthy Wisconsin is as good a place to start as any.

Many if not most Assembly Republicans probably figured - with no small amount of relief - that a wooden stake had been driven through the heart of the Healthy Wisconsin plan after one of the Senate's Democrats, Jim Sullivan of Wauwatosa, publicly pronounced it dead.

But that turned out to be premature, and not just because one of Sullivan's colleagues, Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton), said so. The clincher may have come when an unlikely group, the Committee on Economic Development, which includes business executives from some of the country's largest corporations, recently concluded that the current system of providing health insurance through employers is failing and should be scrapped for one that provides universal coverage.

See the complete article HERE