Health Care For America Now

When I first started studying health care inequality as an undergraduate, one of the first facts I learned was that, "the U.S. is the ONLY major industrialized nation in the world without a universal health care system." I was shocked! How was it possible that in my twenty-three years of life I had never learned this fact? The more I studied the more I realized that the reason I never heard this … and worse yet, the reason that I took for granted that getting health care is difficult for everyone, is due to the same, out dated archetype that has been afflicting many other disparities upon this country; our overbearing culture of individualism, and the belief that the United States is too "unique" to model ourselves after other countries.

With all of these thoughts in mind, I was overjoyed when the PBS series Sick Around the World came out.  Reporter T.R. Reid travels to five countries (the U.K., Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland) each democratic, each capitalistic, and each with very different health care systems. He specifically notes three major things: the positive aspects of the system, the negative aspects of the system, and what aspects could possibly apply to the United States.

The United States spend 17% of its GDP on health care (making it the most expensive system in the world, and yet everyone is not covered.  This statement on it's own just seems like another statistic floating around about how much we consume.  However, when you look at the fact that France (the country that is ranked the best health care system in the world by the World Health Organization, the United States is ranked 37th) only spends 9.6% of its GDP, that statistic seems a lot more drastic doesn't it? WHO's country rankings are decided by three main factors: attainment and performance, goodness and fairness, and goals and functions. Clearly if we are spending so much money more money on health care than nations that are providing access to everyone, we are doing something wrong.

NEWS

What worries you most about the healthcare system in our country? - The Obama Transition Team

Our policy teams will be sharing new developments with you, the American people, and asking for feedback. It's up to you to respond. Watch the latest video, and join the discussion below.

Fewer young uninsured, more poor - Boston Globe

The number of American children without health insurance declined by about 6 percent last year, according to a new report by Families USA, a nonpartisan organization representing healthcare consumers. But that's largely because the child poverty rate increased, so more children qualified for government-sponsored insurance, the report found.

Orszag Will Be Director of OMB - Washington Post

Not long ago, the men and women minding the federal budget were pure number crunchers. But in choosing Peter R. Orszag to run the Office of Management and Budget, President-elect Barack Obama indicated yesterday that the job will have a more expansive portfolio in his administration.

A Fall Through Insurance-Coverage Gap - The Philadelphia Inquirer

Phil Venezio worked for 30 years selling laboratory equipment to schools and industry. He supported a family, paid taxes, saved what he could.

Foundation Starts Health Policy News Service - New York Times

Seeking to fill a niche left by the decline of the traditional news media, the Kaiser Family Foundation is starting a news service to produce in-depth coverage of the policy and politics of health care, both for an independent Web site and in collaborations with mainstream news organizations.

Health Care for America Now held a retreat last week. Via Greg Sargent at TPM:

I'm told that dozens of the heaviest hitters from the health care reform world met for a private retreat in Virginia last week and spent two days girding for a major battle with the insurance industry, hashing out specific messaging, discussing organizing goals and planning a major fundraising drive to blanket the airwaves with ads next year.

At the retreat — which was organized by Health Care For America Now, the major umbrella group of unions, reform advocates and providers — the group agreed that they were aiming to start next year with at least $25 million for ads and field organizing, with the hope of raising many millions more.

Lots of elements of health care reform and how to win were discussed, but one of the most important was taking on the opposition. Specifically, if we want to win health care reform, we have to not only prove the insurance industry and the right-wing of this country wrong, we have to make them untrustworthy.

Case in point, as I wrote yesterday, conservatives and the industry will use all their resources to "kill" health care reform to preserve their own interests:

As this debate moves forward, keep a close eye on who's making arguments. If it's the insurance or pharmaceutical industry, you can bet their argument helps or protects their bottom line. If it's conservatives, you can bet it helps their political viability. Don't ever assume these groups have the public's interest at heart.

Having arguments is one thing, and yes, reasonable people can disagree on issues like health care. But it's important that the general public understand who's pushing arguments like "We can't afford health care in an economic crisis" or "big government health care is not the solution we need" and why they are pushing those arguments. As conservatives are making clear, they aren't against health care for ideological reasons so much as for partisan reasons:

Amidst the usual scary phrases like "government takeover," "Marxist," and "Obamacare" (what does that even mean?), Pethokoukis comes clean about his real problem with health care reform - people will like it and they'll like Obama for making it happen. Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute agrees. His message to Republican lawmakers: Blocking Obama's Health Plan Is Key to the GOP's Survival.

The country needs to understand why the right-wing is against health care reform. You can help make that happen.

SEIU has put together an online letter writing tool for folks to write letters to the editor to their local paper. All you have to do is input your zip code and write a letter and it will be automatically submitted to all the local papers in your area.

So, please take a moment and write a letter to your local papers. Expose the reasons why conservatives oppose health care reform. Make their arguments untrustworthy. That way, we'll be able to win quality, affordable health care for all in 2009.

NEWS

Facing a Choice Between Home And Health Care - Wall Street Journal

Housing Rout Cuts Off Source of Funds to Pay Medical Bills; Chemo, and Then Foreclosure

Medicare’s private insurers await impending cutbacks - The Hill

Congress and the incoming Obama administration are poised to slash subsidies to private insurers under Medicare, a move that could significantly change the landscape for health plans in the entitlement program — and their beneficiaries.

Health Care CEO Council Roundtable - Wall Street Journal

The U.S. spends $2.3 trillion per year on health care — almost twice as much per person as other industrialized nations — but we aren’t getting what we pay for. Studies show that fully a third of spending is wasted on treatments, drugs, and tests that don’t improve Americans’ health outcomes and that adults receive recommended treatments for many illnesses only 55% of the time.

As the health care debate moves forward, both in Congress and out in the public square, it's going to be important to keep two things in mind.

First, businesses that have an interest in the outcome of health care reform, specifically the prescription drug industry (PhRMA) and the insurance industry (AHIP and others) will argue against any health care reform that threatens their profits. Every single time. Period.

So, whenever you see statements from these industries, or whenever they come out with a "concession," as they did this week saying they would begin covering pre-existing conditions, keep the profit motive in mind. AHIP was shrewd to come out with their new position; they know not covering pre-existing conditions is one of the top reasons the public has such a low opinion of the insurance industry. But they are not actually interested in solving the problem. As Think Progress points out, nothing is mentioned about AHIP helping to control costs (read: lower their rates):

But while the insurance industry has shrewdly co-opted the rhetoric of universal coverage, they have not adopted the necessary affordability measures that progressives typically advocate for. For instance, while most progressives support community rating — everyone pays the same prices for coverage, regardless of health status — and a new health care exchange in which private plans are forced to compete with a public option, the insurance industry would be happy to see the government subsidize coverage for those who can’t afford it.

These costs remain the #1 cause of bankruptcy for Americans, but cutting those costs (by creating a public plan to compete with the insurance industry) would cut into insurance industry profits. And so, the industry continues its single-minded opposition to a public health care plan, because they know they can't compete on the level playing field.

Same goes for conservatives. Their opposition to health care reform will be based on one thing - political survival.

Back in 1992, Bill Kristol distributed a hugely influential memo to conservatives arguing that if Bill Clinton succeeded in passing health care reform, the right-wing in America would suffer a near fatal blow. In Kristol's words, conservatives should seek to "kill," not amend health care reform.

A similar feeling is echoing now through conservative circles, as James Pethokoukis reports in US News:

The GOP strategist had been joking about the upcoming presidential election and giving his humorous assessments of the candidates. Then he suddenly cut out the schtick and got scary serious. "Let me tell you something, if Democrats take the White House and pass a big-government healthcare plan, that's it. Game over. Government will dominate the economy like it does in Europe. Conservatives will spend the rest of their lives trying to turn things around and they will fail."

So, as the "legislative fireworks" start flaring up, keep that in mind. Whenever conservatives oppose health care, it's not because they think it won't work, or because they think it'll be unpopular. It's actually just the opposite. Conservatives will oppose health care reform precisely because it will prove so effective and so popular that they will lose power in this country. Conservatives oppose health care reform for their own political survival. Period. End of story.

As this debate moves forward, keep a close eye on who's making arguments. If it's the insurance or pharmaceutical industry, you can bet their argument helps or protects their bottom line. If it's conservatives, you can bet it helps their political viability. Don't ever assume these groups have the public's interest at heart.

NEWS

Studies Say Private Medicare Plans Have Added Costs, for Little Gain - New York Times

Private health insurance plans, which serve nearly a fourth of all Medicare beneficiaries, have increased the cost and complexity of the program without any evidence of improving care, researchers say in studies to be published Monday.

Kennedy set for major push on health bill - USA Today

When he endorsed Barack Obama for president in January, Sen. Edward Kennedy said it was because his young colleague "understands what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called 'the fierce urgency of now.' "

America's Looming Health Care Disaster - ABC News

Rising Unemployment Threatens Health Care of Even Those Who Keep Their Jobs

Three Dem sens, three healthcare plans - The Hill

A bipartisan group of senators led by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is pushing its own proposal in the healthcare debate, potentially rivaling two powerful Democrats who are also working on comprehensive plans.

Health News Coverage in the U.S. Media - Kaiser Family Foundation

The Kaiser Family Foundation and the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism conducted this study of how the U.S. news media covered health issues over an 18-month period from January 2007 through June 2008. The study finds that news about health and health care made up less than four percent (3.6%) of all news content from January 2007 through June 2008.

Health Status, Poverty Linked: Study: Black Kids Are the Most Affected By Inequities in Care - Richmond Times Dispatch

Black children in Virginia are 12 times more likely than white children to experience the double disadvantage of being poor and living in neighborhoods with a high level of poverty overall.

CNN: Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle told CNN Thursday that he is excited about the possibility of heading Health and Human Services.

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SEIU's President Andy Stern is here with us live, discussing his testimony this morning before the Senate Finance Committee on health care and the economy, and he'll be taking questions! So head over to UStream and tell him what's on your mind.

Live Streaming by Ustream.TV

Oh, and an update. You've sent over 40,000 emails and faxes to the members of the Senate Finance Committee as of today. Trust me, they heard your message!

NEWS

Americans Skip Care - New York Times

More than half of Americans with chronic health problems like diabetes, heart disease, cancer and depression skip pills and doctors’ appointments because of their costs, according to a new survey by the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.

Kennedy creates healthcare working groups - Boston Globe

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, who made clear that universal healthcare is his top priority when he returned to work Monday in the Senate, announced today that three working groups of the committee he heads will explore key issues.

Health Care Group Holds Obama To Promises With Ad - Huffington Post

The push to pass the Obama agenda has begun, months before the president-elect even takes office.

Emanuel Sets a Challenge - Wall Street Journal

President-elect Barack Obama's incoming White House chief of staff challenged chief executives and other business leaders Tuesday night to join the new administration in a push for universal health care, saying incremental increases in coverage won't be acceptable.

Employer Sponsored Health Insurance – A Comparison of the Availability and Cost of Coverage for Workers in Small Firms and Large Firms - Kaiser Family Foundation

The majority of businesses in the United States are small businesses. Of the over three million firms with three or more workers, roughly 98% have between three and 199 employees. Small firms employ about 40% of all workers and about 34% of workers who receive health insurance through their own job.

Obama Is Said to Have Chosen a Budget Director - New York Times

President-elect Barack Obama is set to hire Congress’s budget director, Peter R. Orszag, to be his own as he seeks to quickly build an economic team with the experience to deal with the recession he will inherit.

ABC News: "You have to seize on these opportunities in history to do something big," said Jacki Schechner, national communications director for Health Care for America Now.

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