When it comes to the debate on Health Care reform we’ve been hearing from the Pundits on Cable News, the neo-Conservative politicians in the back pocket of the HMO’s, the Grandparents at town hall meetings who don’t want to share, and of course – me. But there are other voices out there who are chiming in on this debate, and some of them write letters to the editor of the local fishwraps.
Yesterday there were some of those letters that appeared in The Idaho Statesman and I thought it would be interesting to re-print them here along with a few of my comments.
I’m worried about health care rationing and rising costs. I’m scared of others making health decisions for me. I’m terrified about the misinformation I hear every day related to the proposed health care reform. The current health care proposals will help take rationing and health care decisions away from the insurance companies and put them in our hands, the consumers’.
Read the various proposed plans rather than taking any commentator’s word for it. The proposed plans will not have so called “death panels” or nationalized health care. The proposals will keep insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions when we switch jobs. They will make insurance companies pay for health care after we have paid our premiums. They will move the incentives for treatment toward proactive care. The insurance companies will have to keep out-of-pocket expenses reasonable and keep sick people covered as long as they pay their premiums.
Look it over, and you, too, may see how the proposed health care changes can help all of us.
CINDY GROSS, Boise
Well said Cindy, let’s put the HMO’s “death panels” out of business once and for all!
God knows what’s in the House version of health care reform, but all the rhetoric zeros in on “cost.” Whatever the result, it will be more “cost effective” with bloated bureaucracies determining “most efficient practices.” This is counter to the entrepreneurial process that has brought medical practice to its current state of the art.
Never has a government bureaucracy ever been entrepreneurial. Ergo, the proposed outcome translates into an effort to convert American health care into a rationed system where one’s care will be subject to a cost-benefit analysis. If bureaucrats determine that it costs too much to keep one alive as they do in the U.K., further treatment will be denied except for the euthanasia needle.
Since, in Obama’s own words, cost control is an imperative to maintain American competitiveness, the plan is to put the screws to doctors to where many will give up and whack the drug companies to the extent that funding for practical R&D will evaporate. Nor does this allow for capital expenditures on medical equipment.
Ironically, the proposed plan does little to solve the uninsured problem (in reality, roughly 12 million), but liberals have demonstrated that they confuse insurance coverage with the actual receipt of medical care.
CRAIG P. BOULTON, Boise
Spoken like someone who has tipped back one too many glasses of the neo-Conservative Kool-Aid Craig. Your opening sentence gives you away meaning that you yourself have not read the Health Care bill, nor do I believe that you ever will. It sounds like you prefer to get your information from Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Riely and the other hacks at FOX for your propaganda.
A rationed system with bureaucratic interference in health-based decisions is what we have now, only its not the Government who is doing it – its the HMO’s who routinely deny us needed medical care when its most needed. That’s why I will never buy health insurance again – it is a total waste of time and money that is better spent elsewhere. At least that’s been my experience having watched what they have done and said to Wifey over the years. When you need the coverage it will just not be there, and you’ve paid all of those premiums for nothing.
Liberals aren’t the only ones who confuse coverage with actual medical care there Craig – Conservatives do it all the time to shill for their HMO overlords. I hope for your sake and the sake of your loved ones that you never have an accident or come down with a catastrophic illness, because if that happens you may find you and your family left out in the cold this winter – literally.
Political opponents of health care reform are showing they’ll stop at nothing in their efforts to block proposals for comprehensive reform. Recently, they’ve started taking up arguments about small businesses to advance their anti-reform agenda. As a small business owner myself, I resent that.
Nobody has as much to gain from serious health care reform as small businesses. We’ve been paying more for less coverage for decades, and we have no bargaining power and few choices in the current system. That’s why things like a health insurance exchange, a competitive public health insurance option, and new rules that prevent insurers from discriminating based on health status or gender – all of which are included in the House of Representatives’ proposal for health care reform – are so important for small businesses.
Make no mistake: The best way for our members of Congress to demonstrate their support for small businesses is to pass a strong health reform bill this year.
ROBIN LANNING, Boise
He’s right, that would be a sign that they actually cared about small businesses. But the only problem with that is that they only care about big business. Remember those Capital One commercials where the tiny business person walked into the giant office of the bank President looking for a loan, and the little guy always got shoved aside? Well that’s how Republicans in Congress really feel about small businesses.
Some other solution may have to happen in order for things to change.
As physicians who worked for 26 years for Indian Health Service (IHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and community health centers, and as small business owners and recipients of federal health care, we have strong opinions about health care reform.
Even though it’s underfunded, IHS greatly improved the health of American Indians. IHS pays for diagnostic tests, hospitalizations, medications and specialist care. In contrast, community health centers deal with multiple insurance companies, each of which covers different diseases, tests and drugs. The single-payer system was superior, less costly and more physician/patient-driven.
As retired U.S. Public Health Service officers, we receive excellent care through the VA or through Medicare with Tricare military supplemental insurance. Do those who oppose “socialized” medicine oppose the VA, Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare?
As owners of an assisted living facility, we want to subsidize our staff’s health insurance. Some insurance companies offer six-month plans for cancer or for heart attack or other illness. How can anyone choose which disease they want to be covered for and then possibly lose coverage after six months?
Why not expand current federal systems to all citizens, promote optimal care and prevention, and offer additional coverage through private insurance?
THOMAS K. WELTY, M.D., AND EDITH R. WELTY, M.D., McCall
That’s the thing that all of these Grandparents don’t get – they are taking advantage of a “Socialized” medical plan and don’t even realize it!!! Medicare, Medicaid, The VA – all Government run health care plans. Now as far as the right is concerned, any Government run health care system is by their definition – Socialist. Since the VA, Medicare and Medicaid are all Government run then that makes them all – by neo-Conservative Republican definition – Socialized Medicine!!!
I have a challenge for all of you seniors out there who maintain that Socialized Medicine is evil. If you think that no one in this country should have Socialized Medicine then it is time for you to put your money where your mouth is. If you hate Socialized Medicine so much then I challenge you to prove it right now – burn your Medicare cards.
That’s right, you heard me – burn your Medicare cards along with your Medicaid cards and your VA cards if you want to stamp out Socialism.
Otherwise sit down and shut the fuck up!!!
I am a retired physician. Many years ago, I belonged to the American Medical Association. When the government proposed Medicare, I was strongly opposed, stating that it was the first step toward socializing medicine. The AMA provided little to no resistance, so I cancelled my membership and never rejoined.
At the time, I predicted that the AMA and other physicians would some day regret their lack of resistance. That day came some time ago, and now there are untold numbers of physicians who will not accept Medicare patients.
Are we going to repeat the error or are we going to throw out the socialistic fiascos? Be aware!
CHARLES H. HOWARTH, M.D., Eagle
See, here’s one doctor who wants to abolish Medicare as Socialism!!! So, who’s first to burn their Medicare cards? Come on, it’s not like you’ve never burned a Government-issued card before!!! Some of you burned your draft cards back in the day, so what’s the problem?!?!?!?
It is amazing how the right wing can get the masses to vote against their own best interests by utilizing the politics of distraction – like gay rights, flag burning and now health care reform – to get their attention as they ship their jobs overseas and strip them of decent wages and benefits at home.
Employer-based health care is like buying groceries at the over-priced company store of a coal mine. The practice keeps employees beholden to their employer, minimizing individual mobility and further stifling entrepreneurship by more experienced workers with preexisting conditions who cannot afford private insurance or fund the cost-prohibitive COBRA clauses.
This practice is thoroughly un-American and contrary to our free enterprise economic system.
The biggest danger to America is not the rise of threats from outside, but the erosion of the middle class from within.
ROY V. CUELLAR, Eagle
Unfortunately Roy, that’s the way the neo-Conservative, upper-class, Republican likes it. The mainstream Republicans know that the system is broken but right now they have been made outsiders in their own party. The schoolyard bullies have taken over and they are beating up anybody they feel like.
But my favorite letter of them all has to be this one:
In these difficult times, someone must stand up for health insurance companies. Health care should be about profit, not people, and their profits are down right now. One company recently saw profits go from $1.2 billion down to a paltry $900 million!
How will CEOs of these companies cope if the selfish majority gets its way with a single-payer plan? The average salary for the top seven health insurance companies is only $14.2 million per year – hardly enough to support a third summer mansion, much less yachts and European vacations. And it may even cut into the billions they spend to lobby Congress to tip the playing field in their favor.
With a single-payer system, health care would be rationed. Instead of insurance company executives telling doctors what they can’t do, it might be some medical expert who has no profit motive at all. Instead of millions of Americans going without health care because they can’t afford it, a few may have to wait to receive the care they couldn’t afford before.
If we make health care more fair and affordable, how can U.S. health insurance companies continue to smirk at those pathetic systems in every other first-world country that are not based on profiting from human misery?
DALE FISK, Council
Well said Mr. Fisk, well said!
Now how does this apply to those of us who are out of work right now? Well, can any of you who are Unemployed, Underemployed or Underutilized honestly say that you feel secure in the knowledge that if it came right down to it, you would be able to get in to see a Doctor right now?
Yeah, I didn’t think so. The job search is so bad right now, and when you pile on our medical situation right now, I’m seriously considering looking for work in Canada. At least there Wifey might be able to get some Heath Care while I keep looking so that would be one less thing on my mind.
Look the reason that neo-con Right Wingers are fighting this so badly is that the HMO’s are some of their biggest campaign contributors along with the Wall Street Banks, Big Tobacco and the NRA. That kind of caysh buys a lot of favors in The District, and screws the people who voted them into office in the first place – us.
What they are all really afraid of is Universal Health Care like they have in Canada, Great Britain or France because it would put the HMO’s out of business and they know it. So they fight any chance at reform in order to keep their cash cow going while the true Americans in this little drama – yo and me – get sicker and sicker and start dying off. Meanwhile they are lighting up their cigars with $100 bills and having a good laugh at our expense.
You know how we are going to get Universal health Care? You know what the only way for us to get a health care system that isn’t going to turn away a gunshot victim from an ER because he can’t pay or dump off an elderly woman in Skid Row because her family can’t pay the bill? Ok, I’ll tell you, and it is very, very simple…
…re-instate the draft.
No your eyes are not deceiving you I actually wrote that. The only way we will get Health Care Reform in this country is if President Obama re-instates the draft. After doing so then he should immediately draft every Doctor, every Nurse, every health care practitioner, every records clerk, every billing coder, every janitor who mops the halls, every single person who works in every hospital and clinic in this country into Military service. Then to top it all off he should seize every Hospital, every clinic, every health care office in this country, every Chiropractor’s office, every dentist’s office, every Lens Crafters location should be seized by the United States Government through Eminent Domain.
Bingo, instant health care reform! No more HMO “death panels”, no more having to fight with insurance companies for life-saving treatment that they label “unnecessary”, no more bankruptcies due to spiraling medical debt, no more of HMO’s killing people so that a chosen few can make a profit while the rest of us lay dying in the gutters. Just free medical care for anyone who needs it, no matter their age, gender, sexual orientation or financial situation. No more not being able to get care because of a “pre-existing condition”, no more being thrown out into the street because you can’t pay, no more of people losing their homes because they got swamped by their medical bills – no more.
The only losers in this might be the HMO’s themselves, but I’m sure that we could find Government jobs for the support staff since we really don’t want to leave them out in the cold. The CEO’s on the other hand would be on their own as would their Executive Staff and Boards of Directors. If they want to get a haircut and put on a uniform, then fine – but they’ll have to start out as a Buck Private and work their way up through the ranks just like any new recruit. Well, except for the Doctors and Nurses of course – they would be made officers right away.
That may be the only way we do get Health Care reform in this country – is if the Government does the unthinkable and makes the neo-Conservative Republican paranoid fantasy come true and just does what they are making people so afraid of.
The Health Care Reform bill is on life support now anyway…
…so Mr. President, what have you got to lose?
First off, there is no death panels. Secondly, this country’s health care is already ran by the Government involvement in Medicare and HMO’s. We need a system of health care that is based on the care of the people. Not what will benefit the insurance companies or politians. Every person in america should have some care, whether they are being seen by a doctor, going into the hospital. There is no excuse for anyone being turned away for financial reasons, no insurance or otherwise. Healthcare needs to be reformed where everyone is treated both with care and with professionalism, reguardless of status, income, race, religious views and insurance policies. Without healthcare, many people will suffer, and die. If someone loses a job, he should be intitled to the best care possible. Insurance companies are just out for the dollar. Their prices are not as affordable for everyone. If one is not working, they can’t afford the price of many. So they go without. If anything, the insurance make a profit when they charge a family prices they can’t afford, and sometimes, the care they get isn’t as professional or worth the care. They set limits on certain care they will cover and God forbid one should have to cover the cost for tests they do not cover. Medicines have a price, too. Sometimes insurance companies don’t always cover them. Yes, we all need care. But at what price. Most of the people in Congress are bitching because of this or that. But they are already covered. The average person isn’t and who is to pay? Us. Whether we work or not, need care or not. Something needs to be done and fast. Politians need to do what it takes to see that every person in American is covered, if it means Government involvement or not.
You know I really don’t know what the solution is going to be that will make everybody happy. It seems like no matter what we finally come up with someone, somewhere is going to find a reason to complain about it – even if it works out for everybody’s benefit. Just not doing anything at all is no solution because it might make things worse than they are already. I can imagine the HMO’s and the Pharm’s jacking up their rates if reform doesn’t happen – then we’re all screwed.
The thing I can’t understand is all of the people at these town halls screaming, throwing tantrums and acting like children. How could they be against someone like my wife having access to a doctor without having to go into debt like we are now? It sounds like the reform that has been proposed is taylor-made for someone like my wife, whose “pre-existing conditions” disqualify her from getting covered.
Maybe a combination of public and private, like they’re talking about now, is what’s needed to keep the HMO’s honest? I don’t know. I just wish that people who are in need are just not left out in the cold and abandoned. Wishful thinking, huh?
Wishful thinking has nothing to do with it. Either actions have to be made or we are all going to be in a fine mess. We can hope that something is done soon, very soon, or people like your wife, will be without care altogether for lack of being able to pay both for medical and meds. Before, the ones protesting had medical and were bitching about tax dollars. In realtiy, our taxes have been going up for years to pay for this and that. Now that so many are out of work, and insurance companies can offer prices, sometimes out of the norm, we are the ones to suffer. They need to quit their gripes and get their acts together and get something done! This country can’t afford to let people die on procrastination and it is happening. People who can’t afford to see a doctor now, are sick, dying and in need of treatments they can’t get. How many more, depends on the time limits that people in private sectors and Government fight over this debate. I don’t care either if it is Government funded, or private, as long as it is affordable for all, and everyone can get the care they need, no matter what it is. Griping to Senators and the like isn’t going to help the situation but now you have the officials in office fighting among themselves. They act like children, instead of the professionals and the adults they are suppose to be. They need to make a decision. Either health care like other countries or come up with a solution to the problems at hand, instead of contributing by procrastination.
If they’re going to be acting like children, can’t we just put them in a corner of the country somewhere and give them a “time out?” I mean give them back their pacifier, or someone put them down for their nap – they’re getting cranky!!!
I think that all of these people who are against reform should have to live our lives for a few days – without insurance, without a job – and then figure out how to make it all work. God forbid that someone they care about either gets sick or hurt and they have no money to see a doctor.
Then they should have to watch “Sicko” – several times – to see how people from other countries actually do under their national health care plans. I actually watched that for the first time last week and it is amazing to me how few things have changed since the last time reform was tried.
ANd another thing surprised me about that movie – it wasn’t as preachy as I thought it might be, or at least as much as Farenheit 9/11 was. All he did was ask some very pointed questions and let the people on camera give him the answers. I didn’t cry until he took the 9/11 rescue workers who were denied care in the U.S. down south where they were able to get treatment. Afterwards some local firefighters wanted to meet the rescue workers to salute them for their efforts on 9/11, telling them that they wished they would have been allowed to help. How far south did they have to go where all of this happened?
Would you believe, Cuba?
Yeah, freaking Cuba!!!
I also know that sometimes this is hard to say especially because I don’t want to move – but Canada keeps looking real good to us.
I actually did a search for jobs in the Vancouver area and compared it to Boise. I found three jobs advertised in one day for the Boise area. For Vancouver on that same day – I found 30!!!!!!! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! Like I said, I don’t want to have to leave the country to get work, but somewthing like that just makes me go hmmmmmmm…
I know. I was raised in Canada. My father was Canadian, mother American. I know things there are somewhat different but had my father lived, my husband would have been running his buisness by now.
Other countries have a health system that works. Why not here? It is hard for me to comprehend that a country turns it’s back on it’s own people when everyone should have access to healthcare, reguardless of income, finances and the ability to pay.
I don’t think I willever understand it.
Cuba? Well, somehow that does not surprise me. I guess anything is possible in this day and age, except for people who want to fight over issues, who have the “ME” mantality and the hell with the other person kind of feelings.
It is sad that we all need it but many can’t get it because insurance companies charge so much and then some have to be on assistance. I am not talking about those who have coverage, who can afford it. Seems like a lot of those people are the ones who wine the loudest. I am talking about people who are not working, who have no health care and who desperately are in need of it.
Maybe other countries can set some sort of example. Makes one think they have it together more, and maybe moving elsewhere is a possibility…
Weeell I looked into Canada a little more, and as it turns out it wouldn’t be easy.
First off apparently you have to already have a job up there in order to get into Canada. But it is possible to go up there without a job, it’s just that you have to jump through a million and a half hoops in order to do it. Then there’s no guarantee of eligibility for the Health Care system – unless you want to become a citizen.
Apparently this has been tried before…
I know. A lot of red tape. If you are lucky to have a sponsor as well, it might be a bit easier but then red tape is everywhere. there are always work Visas but no it won’t cover medical, unless you are permenantly there and have citizenship. there are other places of course, but then it is a wait situation. First, you need someone willing to hire you. Jobs aren’t readily available anymore. I don’t care where one is. The statistics are all over the board. U.S. has a majority of job loss from what I can tell. Companies are hiring oversees more to cut costs and increase productions of items. It doesn’t say much for our country when they turn their backs on their own to hire people from other countries for less than minimum wages and such. I just want a job, something that makes me feel productive and gives me a sense of accomplishment but the economy might as well be standing on it’s head and shaking out their pockets for change because pretty soon, if one hasn’t already, they soon will be….
Awesome images! I adore the post so much! xoxo