Advancing a Bipartisan Plan for Health Care Reform

I know we live in a society that has a short attention span - 140 characters or less thanks to Twitter - and is concerned more about Michael Jackson (and God Bless his soul and family - a very sad story to be sure) than about Social Issues.  BUT - As a Congressional vote nears after the July 4th break, we need to pay better attention to the things that will actually affect OUR lives and not that of Jon & Kates! 

The Great American Health Care Debate is one such issue....

Now, there are actually many "good" points that both Political Parties agree with when it comes to Health Care Reform.  The point isn't does it need to be done. They just don't know how to do it.  The sad thing is these law makers will no longer have to worry about health care because they have coverage - why don't they spend time actually speaking to those in need? Or the small business paying for insurance for their employees? Or look at why many in Mass. would rather pay a fine than pay for their health insurance - where are the flaws, what can be done differently and better? Use it as a guide and improve?  Look at our overall flaws in tort reform, insurance and pharmaceutical reform and then work from there?  We have so much wasted money in our system now that if we would just "rearrange" some of it....

Sometimes I believe we just make issues harder than they really are - way too many opinions I guess to agree on what is right vs. what is political? I also believe if we'd quit wasting money on media ads promoting / objecting to and billions on think tanks to "decide" what is a good idea - WOW - look at the extra funding we would have to ACTUALLY DO something....JMO....

But here are the things that seem to be agreed upon by both parties and it is a good start - unfortunately, it's taken us years to get our system into this mess it's in - it's going to take more than one vote to get us out of it...

Some common ideas include:

• Providing government subsidies to help low-income Americans buy health insurance. Lawmakers differ on how the subsidies would be designed and who would benefit, but Wyoming Sen. Michael Enzi

, the ranking Republican on one committee considering health care, said there is "broad bipartisan agreement" for the concept.

• Creating a "marketplace" where consumers can make side-by-side comparisons of health insurance options. Both Democratic and Republican plans, including the House GOP outline, call for the feature, which is similar to what is in place in Massachusetts

• Allowing older dependents, up to age 25 or 26, to be covered by their parents' insurance.

• Requiring insurance companies to provide coverage to people with pre-existing conditions and making it easier for employees to keep health benefits if they lose their job.

"You're starting to see ... agreement not only at the level of broad principles, but at the level of major features for implementing those principles," said Mark McClellan, director of the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform at the Brookings Institution, a think tank.

Some interesting facts about our Health System - include:

In 2007, the U.S. spent $2.2 trillion on health care, about $7,500 per person. By way of comparison, the federal budget (before deficits) was $2.9 trillion. Another way of looking at it is that every person in the U.S. spending about $1,300 more on health care than an average person in China earned, period.

So it’s kind of important we look at this.

Insurer practices

For example, let’s talk about rescission. That’s the term used when insurance companies cancel a policyholder’s coverage by turning up a previously unknown pre-existing condition.
Now, when somebody’s lying and trying to rip off their insurer, rescission’s justice. But there are a number of disturbing reports, including testimony before Congress earlier this month, that indicates it’s a way some insurers drop coverage for sick policyholders to dodge paying for costly medical care.
The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations found three insurers had cancelled coverage of more than 20,000 people, thus avoiding the inconvenience of having to pay some $300 million in claims over five years. Among the horror stories told to the committee: A nurse who was diagnosed with serious breast cancer who lost her coverage over visiting a dermatologist for acne; a man who has died of lymphoma lost coverage for not reporting gallstones and a possible aneurysm, a finding his doctor noted but didn’t discuss with him; and one company’s practice of putting the rescission bulls-eye on individuals with 1,400 different medical conditions.

I didn’t even know there were 1,400 different conditions.

Fun fact: Executives of the three firms were asked if they’d rescind the practice of rescission unless they could prove intentional fraud. The committee got three “nopes.’’ Rep. Joe Barton, R-Tex., who asked the aforementioned question, said, “I think a company does have a right to make sure there’s no fraudulent information. But if a citizen acts in good faith, we should expect the insurance company that takes their money to act in good faith also.”

Apparently that’s crazy talk.
But it’s a crazy situation. Let’s face it, health insurance doesn’t work under the rules of normal capitalism, where you make more money when people use more of your product; in fact it’s pretty much the opposite.

Despite that, health insurance more or less worked for years, but the field on which consumers and insurers played is now seriously tilted. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation reports average insurance premiums went up 120 percent from 2000 to 2007, while average wages went up 29 percent. In the same period profits for the 10 largest publicly-traded insurers went up 428 percent.

Then there’s this: A 2007 study by the American Journal of Medicine noted that in 1981, around 8 percent of families who filed for bankruptcy “did so in the aftermath of a serious medical problem.’’ By 2001 that number was about half. In 2007, the estimate was 62.1 percent, and “Most medical debtors were well-educated, owned homes and had middle-class occupations. Three quarters had health insurance.’’
These are trends that just can’t continue. If something isn’t done, just imagine all this on top of double-digit unemployment, a housing market on the rocks and gutted or nonexistent pensions/401(k)s and it sure looks like a roundhouse punch winding up to KO the middle class.

The amazing thing is there are so many people out there who think things are just dandy the way they are.

Your Thoughts on what needs to be done with our American Health Care System?