Health care: The stealth revolution (US 37th below Cuba, Slovenia and

[rodeodance]

Costa Rica )per WHO.



http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/04/19/quiet.revolution/index.html

Health care: The stealth revolution
An odd coupling of governors and CEOs lead the charge

Thursday, April 21, 2005 Posted: 9:43 AM EDT (1343 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lost in the fray of the public debate over Terri Schiavo, steroids and Social Security, a political revolution may be quietly taking hold this year, far away from the halls of Capitol Hill.

......A little more than a decade ago, Bill and Hillary Clinton famously tried and failed, at significant political cost, to change the health care system with a broad congressional program.

Since then, despite skyrocketing costs that have yielded relatively poor results (the United States spends almost twice per person what Canada spends, but Americans have a shorter life expectancy and mortality rate) and a staggering 45 million uninsured, presidents and the Congress have refused to take coordinated, comprehensive action......

[formerrepuke]

1. This should have been a campaign point- I recall hearing none of this...

[AndyTiedye]

2. After the Job They Did On Clinton's Health Care Plan, Nobody Will Touch It

[customerserviceguy]

3. I see light at the end of the tunnel

Someday, very, very soon, you will have to give a sample of DNA before you can get health insurance, because they will only want to cover "perfect" people. Then, the right wing, who find it too late to correct their genetics, will finally see that we're all in this together...

"You may say, I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

[AValdoux]

4. Problem with Medicare

I work for a company who does annual medicare cost reports for Home Health Agencies. We review year end cost to report to Medicare. It is not unusual for the administrative salaries to be three times what they pay the actual providers (rns & aides). There are people who are making 6-figure salaries 'running' these agencies. I know of one who owns 2 agencies that if you add his two w-2's he makes over a million in wages. He does no work in the field. Some try to write off over $50,000 in advertising/promotion. These items include armani suits, victoria secrets items, etc.

If you want to fix health care take out the profit motive for private companies to abuse the system. The cost reports we do set the rates of future reimbursement. So the more they mark up their expenses the more money the government pays them in the future.


AValdoux

[rodeodance]

5. "outsoursing" is obviously NOT the solution!!

[NewJeffCT]

6. wow, what an ominous article

11 million more uninsured by 2013, for a total of 56 million.

Those that are insured will likely have lesser benefits and higher premiums.

Great time for that bankruptcy bill to go into effect!

[young_at_heart]

7. Serious health problems......what are your choices?

What will the uninsured do if a serious illness takes all their money? Even going to the dentist these days costs a fortune!

[MountainLaurel]

8. You die

At home, in a world of pain.

The poor often don't get the chance to have their money used up by a serious illness. Quite simply, they don't go to the doctor, until the very last. By which time the cancer has eaten up their insides, or it's too late to save that gangrenous limb caused by failing to treat your diabetes.

[KT2000]

9. that's right

we have health care rationing. ER's are now for stabilizing life threatening situations. People are under the impression that those without insurance just go to the ER for treatment - not so. They are required to stabilize the patient and that is it. Then they are sent away to deal with whatever their illness is on their own.

The ethos that has captured this country says " I never get sick - I don't see why we need health insurance!" or
"I have insurance, I don't see why we need Universal coverage!"