universal health care

Don McCanne writes the Quote of the Day over at PHNP, which one of the best quick reads on single-payer and its opponents. It is sent as a almost-daily email update if you are interested. This short video features Dr. McCanne talking about what is wrong with the Presidential Candidates' health care plans, and a Harvard business school professor talking about why she likes them (choice). Dr. McCanne's written comment is available after the break.

The AP is reporting that the universal health care plan put forward by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Robert Bennett (R-UT) could be operational by 2012 and be budget-neutral by 2014. A budget-neutral item brings in as much revenue as it costs. The kicker to this plan and one of the reasons it has a host of Republicans as co-sponsors is this:

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., one of the plan's co-sponsors, said the report showed it is possible to provide health care coverage for all Americans — including the estimated 47 million people who are uninsured — without a large tax increase. "We can get everyone in America health care coverage without breaking the bank," he said.

Universal Health Care without tax increases? How is it possible and where is the catch?

Today's Quote of the Day, from Physicians for a National Health Plan (PNHP) deals with two types of markets and their relationship to health care. It is based on an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The theory of the various market systems is not my specialty, however, this articles does a good job of simplifying the competing market models.

Individual resources and choices determine the distribution of health care, with little sense of collective obligation or a role for government. Known as market justice, this approach derives from principles of individualism, self-interest, personal effort, and voluntary behavior. The contrasting approach, social justice, allocates goods and services according to the individual's needs. It stems from principles of shared responsibility and concern for the communal well-being, with government as the vehicle for ensuring equity.

Now, I actually think that Ayn Rand did a good job of "imagining" the worst case scenario in the social justice market in Atlas Shrugged. If you are looking for the worst-case scenario in the market justice model, look no further than health care in America.

Software development - I believe in market justice. Auto manufacturing - I believe in market justice (more so than many Democrats and Republicans that feel we should prop up Michigan's failing auto industry). A system which decides the very life and death of people - not so much.

...Social justice in health care requires universal coverage and ensured access to care, whether through social insurance, private insurance, or some combination.

Have a smoke kids, it's good for the economy.

Michael Moore hands Wolf Blitzer his ass

A Raleigh emergency room physician wrote a column in the News and Observer today that covers a topic I’ve been planning to write about as well: Health care reform. Here’s my version, outlined in a series of principles and action steps.

Principle: Basic health care is a basic right for every human being.
Action: The General Assembly should pass an amendment to the NC Constitution that puts health care on par with public education as a right for all North Carolina citizens.

Principle: Our national government is broken and incapable of taking the bold, imaginative steps required:
Action: North Carolina should lead the nation in a new approach to providing health care services to all.

Cross posted from The Progressive Pulse

I’m sure most of you have either seen Michael Moore’s latest release, SiCKO, or you have read the numerous reviews. It is an excellent piece of work on many different levels. Mostly, it is an indictment of the private for-profit health insurance industry. As such, he is advocating for government sponsored universal health coverage and contrasts the American healthcare system with those of Canada, England, France, and Cuba.

1.Suspend some elements of the Patriot Act and Detainee Bill for Congressional review.
“The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. “For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all”. - H. L. Mencken

2.Deny any additional funding for US Combat roles in Iraq. (This will require the often absent backbone and integrity, but I feel we can do it).”Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare”. Japanese proverb

3.Increase funding for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. They actually did facilitate an attack on our country. Osama Bin Laden is there, maybe.

4.Prohibit torture in any and all of its forms to include the President’s approved “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques”. "What we must face squarely is this: whenever we torture or mistreat prisoners, we are capitulating morally to the enemy-in fact, adopting the terrorist ethic that the end justifies the means." Rev. Kermit D. Johnson, Chaplain (Major General), U.S. Army (ret.)

Enter Senators Rand and Jones who introduced a bill that would experiment with privatizing Medicaid in North Carolina:

March 21, 2007

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT TO DIRECT THE Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Medical Assistance, TO ESTABLISH A PILOT MEDICAID HMO PROGRAM.

A Medicaid HMO is a very bad idea.

The state's managed care approach for Medicaid works very well. We have saved millions of dollars and are delivering better services. Community Care Network of NC is a network of 14 non profit agencies the state contracts with to hook Medicaid recipients up with primary care doctors to so the recipients get regular check ups and ongoing care as needed.