Rank10
Idea#4
There has been a lot of discussion about universal health care in the Democratic primary, but little word from those in Congress regarding the future of such legislation. Do you think Congress will be able to pass universal health care with a Democratic President in the White House, and how long will it take to make that happen?
Tags: health care congress
I should hope it would not be modeled after the Massachusetts plan of mandatory health insurance which sees zero regulation by the government. United HealthCare sued in New York under the RICO statue for routinely and systematically denying benefits and short changing health care providers.
Should revise this to specificy or reference in context of support for John Conyers HR-676 (since that is the real universal health plan that also happens to be the plan in the House with the most co-sponsors), and combine votes with other lower-voted similar please for real universal health care.
Representative John Conyers is the lead sponsor for the only real universal health plan that provides coverage that is truly universal, comprhensive, affordable to inidviduals and families and controls overall costs.
http://www.house.gov/conyers/news_hr676.shtml
That plan also has more co-sponsors then any other plan in the House.
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR00676:@@@P
Please make sure that it is an active part of the discussion as we move forward to real health care reform.
There are many proposals for “reform” of the U.S. health care system out there. For the newcomer it can be very confusing. Here are the four simple questions to ask of any health care proposal.
1. Is it Universal? Does it cover all people? This would seem to be pretty basic, insofar as all other developed countries do it. But just being, or claiming to have, universal coverage is not enough. It is a common error to claim universality and then let it go at that. When thinking about a so-called health care reform proposal you must also explore how the proposal deals with items 2, 3 & 4:
2. Is it Comprehensive? Does it cover all needed conditions, prevention, treatment? What care is included under the proposal? What care is not covered?
3. How much is it going to Cost Individuals? Is it affordable year-in and year-out. How much does it cost you and your family if you are not sick? Can you afford to get sick. What is the total cost of the system to you and your family including taxes, premiums, deductibles, copays, uncovered conditions/expenses, coverage refusals. What is your total out of pocket costs? If you get sick are you going to go bankrupt?
4. How much is it going to Cost Overall? What is the cost to the system, to the country, for example as a percent of GNP? How does it control costs. How is it paid for, and who is paying, all the pieces, direct and indirect?
Too many folks fall for the trap of hearing “reform” or even “universal” and don’t realize that it is not really Universal Coverage, IF that Coverage is really “coverage” because it leaves you with too much legitimate care not actually covered, leaves you and your family with bankruptingly high out of pocket expenses when somebody
Any bona fide universal health-care system must be single-payer by definition, lest the profit orientation of the insurance industry has free reign to deny coverage for anyone with pre-existing conditions or other arbitrary factors to preserve their bottom line for their shareholders. We do not have any "health" care system in the technical sense, as our present structure revolves around reactive approaches to ailments and diseases that have already occurred. Health care, as opposed to sickness care which is the nature of our profit-oriented approach, focuses on preventive medicine, which starts with a healthful vegan diet, ideally raw and organically grown as much as possible. Anyone eating the Standard American Diet based on flesh, dairy and eggs cannot ever hope to achieve optimal health or avoid becoming a drain on public health resources. Medical school rarely if ever teaches nutrition, so very few MD's have any integrity in promoting nutritionally adequate or life-promoting habits to their patients. Second to 100% vegan diet in priority is regular exercise as a daily routine. One's physical and mental muscles must be constantly exerted to prevent them from dying and disease. Furthermore, a true single-payer universal health-care system must include naturopathy, homeopathy, holistic massage therapy and other non-invasive forms of so-called "alternative" medicine to effectively treat patients in contrast to allopathy, which only treats symptoms as SOP.
I was middfle class till my wiufe became ill. She lasted 5 years, and cost me everything I ever had including my house, furniture, clothing and even the respect of my own kids (who kept their distance, so they would not loose any money,) I lost all of this over medical bills and prescriptions even though I had a grouip plan health insurance. UI have lost all respect for my country, the only one where this happens over medical bills. I cannnot even restart because I had to file a bankruptcy, and ther Federal Judge listed it twice for the credit bureaus. You cannot even imagine what that did to my credit score, and the possibility of my finding another employment at my age of 72. This is a criminal act committed by my government against myself, and I resent it. I am very saddened that this couintry has stooped this low, and noone in government has stepped in to help. lThis is disgraceful. I cannot even obtain food stasmps because my social secuirity check ias too big?
Second. This has to be about single-payer healthcare. Our healthcare system is no longer competitive on the world market. It sucks money out of companies, making it difficult for them to compete on the world market, while setting up a situation where many people lose their livelihoods over healthcare problems. It's heartbreaking to read what garyehowe wrote; and I have to believe this is only one of hundreds of thousands of such stories, based on the statistics. We need to know that at least one single-payer plan will come to a vote in the House. Will you make sure that happens?
There are only a few Democrats who seem to support universal single-payer health care. And the presidential nominee is NOT one of them. His plan is to subsidize insurance companies. Kucinich and Gravel both supported universal single-payer. Congress won't do a damn thing about this. Health care is to the Democrats as Abortion is to the right-wing republicans. They will both use these as carrots to get their constituents to the polls each year but neither will follow through. It's time to vote third party. Nader supports universal single payer.
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