Conyers Universal Healthcare Bill Picks Up More Labor Support

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.laborradio.org/node/5326

Conyers Universal Healthcare Bill Picks Up More Labor Support

By Doug Cunningham

The single-payer universal national health care bill sponsored by Michigan Democratic congressman John Conyers has picked up more labor support. The Monroe/Lenawee County Michigan AFL-CIO Central Labor Council has endorsed the bill. A UAW local representing workers who build the Corvette in Kentucky is also endorsing the bill. The Conyers bill would essentially expand Medicare to cover everyone in the U.S. for all medically necessary procedures. It has nearly 80 co-sponsors in the U.S. House.

AUDIO story here: http://www.laborradio.org/files/lo/winsheadlines.ram

[Trillo]

1. How does Conyer's plan address

current health care costs versus costs under his plan?

[Warpy]

2. Dunno, but just kicking out the for profit insurers

would kick out a lot of the overhead costs, especially those platoons of high paid people whose job it is to figure out how the companies can avoid paying for necessary care.

Our insurance system is broken. Bandaids won't work.

The only thing that will work is expanding Medicare like first Johnson and then Nixon fully expected to happen.

[Trillo]

5. What has been bothering me about the label "Universal Health Care"

is the degree to which the term is being hijacked by so-called moderates to right wingers who want to keep the for profits in biz and which seem to always include additional costs.

As I understand it, we currently have the most expensive healthcare system in the world, "per capita", which means that we're being ripped off as health care consumers, any system of Universal Health Care system based even loosely on any other countries system should cost us "less overall".

Therefore, as a voter, I'm extremely skeptical of anything currently labeled "Universal Health Care" when it makes claims that it will cost more than it already costs us. Such as the governator's plan.

Reducing overhead seems like the right action, also, making any involved entities totally non-profit seems another. Each plan being offered has its nuances. That was the basis for my question.

[Expat Sue]

12. different versions of universal health care

Universal health care is getting a lot of press right now and SimpleTrend is correct that we have to be cautious about the overuse of the word and carefully examine the plans that are being proposed. Many of the plans at the state- and Federal-level are crafted to keep the for-profit health care insurance industry in the loop. Obviously, any anticipated savings in health care must address the huge sums that are being diverted from direct health services into the pockets of middle-men insurance providers. In addition to the profits skimmed from consumers and health service providers, the insurance companies waste huge sums of money on everything from complex schemes to deny coverage to advertising targeted to attract only healthy consumers.

Paul Krugman has some excellent articles about health insurance in general, Medicare and various versions of universal health care. Some of his recent articles can be found here: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020907E.shtml and http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/011207G.shtml. The second article discusses how Schwarzenegger killed a plan last year that would have been based on expanding the Medicare model and is now getting favourable press for proposing a model that retains the insurance providers as the middle men.

The US desperately needs universal health care for a variety of health and economic reasons. However, we need a true overhaul that will reduce the unproductive expenses that go to insurance companies and instead convert this to actual deliverable health services.

[Wwagsthedog]

16. Welcome Sue and thanks for your input.

[sandnsea]

14. Not really

Universal Health Care has always meant a plan that covers everyone, with the method open to debate. Single Payer has always meant Single Payer and it is the left that ought to stick to that term and not co-opt other terms that would include giving people the choice that is so important in moving forward with any health care plan.

[Trillo]

25. "Single Payer." That's the keyword I've been looking for.

Thank you.

I guess I hadn't been paying as close attention as I could have been. This plan is also cosigned by Kucinich!

Seems like one of the better ones, though a 3.3% payroll tax is somewhat higher than, say, what some government employees pay for insurance. (I think)

[seasat]

8. Not to mention the mess of dealing with all those different plans.

Doctors have to employ clerks just to deal with the dozens of different insurance plans with all the different payments, requirements, and exemptions. I imagine that there will be tens of billions saved with all the reduced paperwork.

As a parent with with two kids with medical problems, it would save me a ton both in money and time. I've spent many frustrating hours dealing with insurance companies that are pulling every dirty trick in the book to keep from paying for services that they clearly are under contract to do.

Doctors could also get paid on time. I've talked with doctors where they'll insurance companies will lie and claim that paper work wasn't filed so they can avoid timely payments. The longer they hold onto their money and not pay the doctors the more interest they accumulate on it.

I heard numbers reported a while back that medicare runs a 2% overhead while standard health insurance runs a 8% overhead and HMOs run a 11% overhead.

Private insurance companies are some of the most corrupt and underhanded corporations in this country. They need to be sent to the dustbin along with other bad ideas like neoconservatism and supply side economics.

Oh and a recommend for this thread.

[sandyd921]

13. Eliminating private insurers will also rid us

of the multi-million dollar salaries of insurance CEOs who are leeches on the system.

[harun]

23. Right on. So many are saying the answer is to get INSURANCE

for everyone and it is the INSURANCE system that is the problem. No need to have the middle men looters in the system at all. Just a huge waste of money and grounds of corruption.

Insurance companies are the ones PAYING the doctors. That is the only reason you don't hear the doctors complaining about them.

[Omaha Steve]

3. I found this

http://www.calnurses.org/media-center/in-the-news/2007/february/page.jsp?itemID=29388848

Starts at the third paragraph.

The California Nurses Association and the Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) promoted the legislation at a press event in Washington Jan. 24. Later that day, Conyers reintroduced the legislation with the same bill number as the national health care bill he sponsored in 2005 (H.R. 676).

The legislation seeks to move away from private, employer-sponsored health care plans to a government-run system. The national health care program envisioned in the bill would be modeled after the Medicare program and would extend benefits to all U.S. residents and those living in U.S. territories, according to a bill summary. The conversion to a not-for-profit system would take place over a 15-year period.

"My plan... guarantees every resident of the United States access to a full range of medically necessary services," Conyers said in a statement Jan. 24.

No co-pays or deductibles would be paid under the bill, and patients would have their choice of physicians, providers, hospitals, clinics, and practices.

Revenue From Payroll Taxes

The program would be partly paid for through a "modest" payroll tax on employers and on workers of 3.3 percent each. Other sources of program revenue would come from taxes on the wealthy and taxes on stocks and bonds, and by closing corporate tax shelter loopholes and repealing the Bush tax cut of 2001 for the highest income earners, the bill summary said.

The bill sponsors contend that their government-run health insurance system could reduce the nearly $2 trillion in annual health care expenditures in the United States, providing more than $286 billion a year in total health care costs.

[Trillo]

7. Thank you.

That seems to make sense, especially the last paragraph. However, if the expenditures go from $2,000,000,000,000 to 286,000,000,000, the savings seem well overstated compared to costs in other countries, such as Germany. Of course, a careful read of that last paragraph says "more than" 286 billion, so it's a poorly edited statement, that when read precisely as written doesn't really say much at all logistically. 5 trillion is more than both 2 trillion and 286 billion, after all.

In other words, they're not saying the graft will be eliminated, only inferring it with an imprecise statement.

[seasat]

10. Other savings in addition to overhead.

Conyers plan would eliminate the need for the uninsured working poor to have to go to an emergency room when their child has the flu. Emergency room care is extremely expensive and hospitals sometimes have to pass those cost on to paying patients or they have to take them from an indigent care fund supported by local taxes.

People would be more likely to visit a doctor before a problem escalates. This would mean that serious illnesses could caught early instead of waiting until they require costly life saving treatments.

The poor would be more likely to get preventive care eliminating major problems later on in life. A check up that the uninsured poor don't have access too could point out high blood pressure levels and proper diet and exercise could lower the blood pressure instead of treating a heart attack victim later.


Sorry about all the rambling posts on this subject but this something I really feel passionate about and have a personal interest in. My family actually has supposedly great health insurance in United Health Care but I've had tremendous problems in dealing with them. We've actually had to contact them to notify them that they were overpaying a hospital because of a clerical error they made.

[librechik]

26. I believe Conyers plan simply expands Medicare to all eligible citizens

administration costs are about 2%, compared to the rest of the industry at 21%.

[Benhurst]

4. Recommended #1

John Conyers :thumbsup:

[BayCityProgressive]

6. Keep an

eye on who votes for this. These are the people on our side. Everyone else is a corporate tool. We need socialized medicine like the rest of the developed world has.

[Benhurst]

15. I couldn't agree with you more.

[oasis]

9. Conyers for president. (eom)

[w4rma]

11. I wholehartedly support this bill. (nt)

[UrbScotty]

17. Proud to say he's from Michigan. (nt)

[aaronbees]

18. Fantastic

Go Conyers!

[Hawkowl]

19. Conyers...a true national treasure!

This man is a true hero!

[AnOhioan]

20. Is the bill mentioned HR 676?

If so then it is being co-sponsored by Rep. Kucinich. Just giving credit where credit is due.

[Omaha Steve]

21. Yes it is H.R. 676

And you are right.

http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_health_care.htm

Major Issues - Health Care
Universal Health Care

Congressman Conyers has been a leader in Congress for universal health care for 40 years. In the 108th Congress, Mr. Conyers, together with the Congressional Black Caucus and the Progressive Caucus, has spearhead efforts to place universal health care access and eliminating health disparities as a major priority in Congress. He also has been actively engaged in soliciting support from fellow members of Congress to substantively address the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. Mr. Conyers is working to improve health care in America and around the world in a number of ways.
National Health Insurance Legislation
The “United States National Health Insurance Act,” H.R. 676
Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force

In April 2000, in the 106th Congress, Congressman Conyers established a new non-partisan "Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force." The Task Force will (1) work to develop and pass legislation to achieve comprehensive, affordable, and high quality health care for all, (2) eradicate disparities in our health care system; in particular those impacting the African American, Hispanic, Asian, and other communities of color.

Objective: To form a broad-based and diverse universal health care task force that will discuss ways to achieve universal health care coverage in America. The ultimate goal of the Task Force is the passage of universal health care legislation in Congress.

[Vidar]

22. Applauding Conyers yet again.

[denverbill]

24. I wish all Democrats would get on board with this.

I know Stupid-Ass would veto it, but it could spark enough interest that it could become a major campaign issue in '08. And if we get a Democrat into the Oval Office in '08 and keep both houses, we might FINALLY get a decent health care system in this country.