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WHY WE NEED HEALTHCARE REFORM

demettehaksever@haverhillforobama.com (Demette) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:58:00 GMT

Eva is making great points in her comments about why we need Healthcare reform. Can you imagine that within a generation, healthcare costs could comprise 32% of GDP if there is no reform? This is exactly one of the important points President Obama is making, that is, status quo/ no action is not sustainable. And I agree wholeheartedly with Eva's statement: “To those who cry about government involvement, let me remind you -- we are the government!”

There is a very good article in the latest issue of “Economist” about healthcare in America. They did a great job in summarizing the problems with our system. Here are some quotes from the article:

Even though one dollar in every six generated by the world’s richest economy is spent on health—almost twice the average for rich countries—infant mortality, life expectancy and survival-rates for heart attacks are all worse than the OECD average.
Meanwhile, because health insurance is so expensive, nearly 50m Americans, an obscene number in such a rich place, have none; those that are insured pay through the nose for their cover, and often find it bankruptingly inadequate if they get seriously ill or injured.
Since half the population (most children, the very poor, the old, public-sector workers) get their health care via the government, the burden on the taxpayer is heavier than it needs to be, and is slowly but surely eating up federal and state budgets.
Private insurance schemes are a huge problem for employers: the cost of health insurance helped bring down GM, and many smaller firms are giving up covering employees.
Expensive premiums are depressing workers’ wages.

I do not agree, however, with Economist’s conclusion that Mr. Obama should just use “public option” as a threat, rather than implement it now. We shouldn’t not need to wait for another 10 years for triggers etc. for public health insurance, and a healthcare reform without it would be totally meaningless.

HEALTHCARE REFORM DISCUSSIONS

demettehaksever@haverhillforobama.com (Demette) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:58:00 GMT

I like to share some discussions we were having with Dana about the healthcare reform and invite everyone to join to these discussions.
Dana's concern: “The “public insurance option” is really a trick to drive the for profit insurance companies out of business and set the wheels in motion for a single payer system. How will for profit insurance companies compete with a government subsidized business."
My View:
Thanks again for expressing your concerns about the healthcare reform with a "public insurance option". Let's be first clear that President Obama's proposal do not include a single payer system. I think we all should have an open mind about the health care reform options and not disregard the "public insurance option" because it is assumed to lead to a "single payer" system. There are some countries which uses both private and public systems, such as Netherlands, Canada and Switzerland. I believe that the fear of transition to a single payer system is promoted by the insurance companies, who are afraid that they will no longer be able to maintain their monopoly over the healthcare system, overcharge employers and employees alike for their services or deny coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
Dana's Concern: I think the group needs to explore the horror stories from some of the countries that have a single payer system before they think that option is so great. There are waiting lines for MRI’s and surgeries. People die waiting or are denied services that they need. I am not looking forward to this option. It is not perfect, but I feel we have the best health care system in the world. I do not think we need to trash the whole thing to fix it.”
My view:
Again, President Obama's proposal does not include a single payer system. US is the only industrialized nation that do not provide universal health care for its citizens, which makes it impossible in my view to say that we have the best healthcare in the world. The facts based on the cost, quality and coverage show that US is behind many countries, including some of those with a lower per capita income than US. These facts are discussed in so many books and websites. Here are some of these facts as complied by www.wikipedia.org and some of the reasons why we must have a health care reform.
      1. The U.S. health care system is the most expensive in the world on both a per-capita basis and as a percentage of GDP. Despite this expenditure, the current U.S. system fails to provide universal coverage. More than 45 million Americans, about 15 percent of the population, lacked health insurance in 2007. The lack of universal coverage contributes to another flaw in the current U.S. health care system: on most dimensions of performance, it under performs relative to other industrialized countries. In a 2007 comparison by the Commonwealth Fund of health care in the U.S. with that of Germany, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, the U.S. ranked last on measures of quality, access, efficiency, equity, and outcomes.
   2. The U.S. ranks 42nd in the world for low infant mortality 46th in life expectancy, between Cyprus and Denmark and 37th in health system performance, between Costa Rica and Slovenia.
   3. The U.S. system is often compared with that of its northern neighbor, Canada (see Canadian and American health care systems compared). Canada's system is largely publicly funded. In 2005, Americans spent an estimated US$6,401 per capita on health care, while Canadians spent US$3,326. This amounted to 15.3% of U.S GDP in that year, while Canada spent 9.8% of GDP on health care.
   4. A 2007 review of all studies comparing health outcomes in Canada and the U.S. found that "health outcomes may be superior in patients cared for in Canada versus the United States, but differences are not consistent."

More discussion will be coming. Please send your comments and stay tuned for more discussion on this topic.

Welcome

demettehaksever@haverhillforobama.com (Demette) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 01:02:00 GMT

In a participatory democracy individuals play a more direct role in their own governance, through "the power of citizen-to-citizen communications" which benefit both themselves and their community.

Hello everyone,

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