Obama Administration Taking Wrong Approach on Health Care Reform
Just as I think Obama has made a mistake in selecting Tim Geithner as his Secretary of Treasury, I think his choice of Governor Kathleen Sibelius as Secretary of HHS might be counterproductive and the exact opposite of what is needed to reform the health care disaster in this country.
Half measures are not going to work.
I wrote this about Governor Sibelius last month before she was selected: "While she may be a good nominee, her consensus building and go slow approach used in conservative Kansas is not the answer to this national health care crisis which has become a dire emergency. The next 18,000 people who die every year in this country because of lack of health insurance may not be able to wait that long.
Now it appears that an organization that is part of the health care problem heartily approves of the selection of Governor Sibelius. "an insurance industry lobbyist as saying that she'd be a great pick: "Karen M. Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, said Ms. Sebelius would be 'a very smart choice' for health secretary."
That alone should send a warning.
This is one of the groups whose lobbyists have been meeting secretly with Senator Ted Kennedy regarding health care "reform"; meetings that have excluded those organizations that support single payer, universal health care like HR 676, Medicare for All, but are filled with Big Pharma and insurance corporations.
One of the big items on the table is requiring all Americans to have health care coverage.
Some Democrats, unfortunately, are going along with this illogical, idiotic demand that is the antithesis of all industrialized countries that have single payer universal health care for all as a human right, not a commodity.
These tunnel visioned Dems point to the failed Massachusetts plan as a model, which continues to maintain health care as a commodity that enriches health care corporations.
From Dollars & Sense comes this informative article about the ignorant fallacy of Massachusetts required health care as a shining example.
Some excerpts:
"Massachusetts members of the Physicians for a National Health Program released a report today faulting the state's experiment with health reform for failing to achieve universal coverage, being too expensive and draining funds away from safety-net providers.
"The doctors' punch line is that the reform has given private insurance companies more business and power without eliminating vast administrative waste. In fact, it says, the "Connector" in charge of administering the reform adds about 5 percent more in administrative expenses.
"In summary, nothing less than single-payer national health reform will work, according to authors Drs. Rachel Nardin, David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, all professors at Harvard Medical School.
"The PNHP doctors' report says health plans people are forced to buy are not affordable and often skimp, making the mandate that individuals buy them regressive. And moreover, it says, peoples' experiences have shown that insurance does not guarantee access to care. The Boston Globe chronicled the long wait for primary care last September.
"A final criticism the 19-page report offers is that the reform is financially unsustainable, as it does "nothing about a major driver of high health care costs, the overuse of high-technology care such as CT scanners and surgeries, and the underdevelopment of primary care."
"Last winter, Himmelstein spoke about health reform to students at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. I asked him if single-payer advocates would work against any national reform effort that wasn't single-payer, as the single-payer camp did in California.
"Himmelstein said that if the reform plan looked like the Massachusett's reform he probably would prefer the status quo. He believes the reform has made most vulnerable patients in Massachusetts worse off."
As I wrote last month: "While Obama is in Canada today, he should study and emulate its excellent health care coverage for all."
And those secret meetings Kennedy is holding? He might want to include single payer advocates and health care officials from France, Germany, etc. who also have successful single payer, universal coverage as a human right that the US should imitate.
Half measures are not going to work.
I wrote this about Governor Sibelius last month before she was selected: "While she may be a good nominee, her consensus building and go slow approach used in conservative Kansas is not the answer to this national health care crisis which has become a dire emergency. The next 18,000 people who die every year in this country because of lack of health insurance may not be able to wait that long.
Now it appears that an organization that is part of the health care problem heartily approves of the selection of Governor Sibelius. "an insurance industry lobbyist as saying that she'd be a great pick: "Karen M. Ignagni, president of America's Health Insurance Plans, said Ms. Sebelius would be 'a very smart choice' for health secretary."
That alone should send a warning.
This is one of the groups whose lobbyists have been meeting secretly with Senator Ted Kennedy regarding health care "reform"; meetings that have excluded those organizations that support single payer, universal health care like HR 676, Medicare for All, but are filled with Big Pharma and insurance corporations.
One of the big items on the table is requiring all Americans to have health care coverage.
Some Democrats, unfortunately, are going along with this illogical, idiotic demand that is the antithesis of all industrialized countries that have single payer universal health care for all as a human right, not a commodity.
These tunnel visioned Dems point to the failed Massachusetts plan as a model, which continues to maintain health care as a commodity that enriches health care corporations.
From Dollars & Sense comes this informative article about the ignorant fallacy of Massachusetts required health care as a shining example.
Some excerpts:
"Massachusetts members of the Physicians for a National Health Program released a report today faulting the state's experiment with health reform for failing to achieve universal coverage, being too expensive and draining funds away from safety-net providers.
"The doctors' punch line is that the reform has given private insurance companies more business and power without eliminating vast administrative waste. In fact, it says, the "Connector" in charge of administering the reform adds about 5 percent more in administrative expenses.
"In summary, nothing less than single-payer national health reform will work, according to authors Drs. Rachel Nardin, David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, all professors at Harvard Medical School.
"The PNHP doctors' report says health plans people are forced to buy are not affordable and often skimp, making the mandate that individuals buy them regressive. And moreover, it says, peoples' experiences have shown that insurance does not guarantee access to care. The Boston Globe chronicled the long wait for primary care last September.
"A final criticism the 19-page report offers is that the reform is financially unsustainable, as it does "nothing about a major driver of high health care costs, the overuse of high-technology care such as CT scanners and surgeries, and the underdevelopment of primary care."
"Last winter, Himmelstein spoke about health reform to students at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. I asked him if single-payer advocates would work against any national reform effort that wasn't single-payer, as the single-payer camp did in California.
"Himmelstein said that if the reform plan looked like the Massachusett's reform he probably would prefer the status quo. He believes the reform has made most vulnerable patients in Massachusetts worse off."
As I wrote last month: "While Obama is in Canada today, he should study and emulate its excellent health care coverage for all."
And those secret meetings Kennedy is holding? He might want to include single payer advocates and health care officials from France, Germany, etc. who also have successful single payer, universal coverage as a human right that the US should imitate.
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