Health Care Reform in Central Kitsap
June 29th, 2009 by jeffbrodyWarning: constant() [function.constant]: Couldn't find constant TT_TH8US_LEN in /home/psblogs/public_html/wp-content/plugins/tweet-this/tweet-this.php on line 1821
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It’s interesting to me that we haven’t heard much about health care reform in Central Kitsap or Kitsap County. Not even that many letters to the editor in the Kitsap Sun.
Perhaps the strident debate over whether to have a public option for health care is missing a spark in an area where many people already get government provided health care. Over the years, I’ve head my share of complaints from acquaintences who were covered by the Navy health plans and got their treatment from military clinics and hospitals. But I never heard any of them complain about the cost of their coverage, that they were being kicked out of the plan, or being denied coverage. I’ve heard complaints about some doctors that had served at Naval Hospital, but seldom heard complaints about the military program that I’ve heard about private programs the rest of us depend on.
For years, our nation has fallen behind in health care. Every other developed nation in the world, and some that aren’t so developed, have some kind of national health care program that covers every single person for their medical needs. In some cases, those plans are totally government run, such as Britain’s National Health Service, where most of the doctors are government employees. In many other cases, those national plans are build into a system with private doctors and private insurance companies. But in every case, the government takes the attitude that health coverage is a right of every citizen and those who can’t afford to pay their share get subsidized.
In America, there are still some people who receive Cadillac health insurance coverage with their jobs. For those people, our system provides quick, mostly high quality care using the most up-to-date procedures and drugs, at relatively low cost to the people who are covered. Count the members of Congresss who will vote on any health care reform among this group. They pay very little for very extensive, and sometimes very expensive, coverage that we subsidize as taxpayers.
However, fewer and fewer people today are covered by those Cadillac plans. What do you think the bankruptcies at Chrysler and GM were about? When they were talking about realigning their cost structure, they were talking about shedding health care costs for their employees and retirees. To be honest, I’m surprised that our major businesses haven’t demanded health care reform and some kind of national plan long ago. In the world marketplace, they are put at an immediate cost disadvantage because American businesses have to pay for most of the cost of their employees’ health insurance while their foreign competitors do not.
As this round of the health care reform debate gets started, we’re already seeing the scare tactics about the public plan and “socialized medicine.” I just saw a scare ad on television this morning asking why you would want a public health plan option from the government that gave you $400 hammers and $600 toilet seats. The question I have in return is this: Why are these people (primarily the health insurance companies and the doctrinaire free-marketers who haven’t realized the “free” market disappeared with the Industrial Revolution) so scared of the idea of a public plan if they are so convinced the government is incapable of delivering quality services at an affordable price? If that were the case, no one would choose the public plan because private plans would have more benefits or be more affordable.
The real questions are these: Do we accept that everyone should have health care, or not? Do we recognize that while we spend more per person than any other national on health care already, America covers a smaller percentage of its population (that’s really rationing health care) and gets worse results for what it spends? Are we willing to buck an entrenched industry that profits in the billions from this system to figure out something better?
— Jeff
Tags: health care
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
July 14th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I hope you are not suggesting that folks against ‘socialized medicine’ are against folks getting quality health care, Jeff.
Do you really trust the same government that has cleaned out Social Security to manage our nation’s health care?
July 22nd, 2009 at 6:19 am
Jeff, I think you’re right on with your comments. As a nation, the United States is well behind most countries of the world in providing health care to its citizens. We spend more money on health care and cover fewer people than the other nations that cover everyone. However, just because others are doing something doesn’t necessarily mean that we must do it also. All United States citizens deserve to be covered under some sort of health care system, either private or public, because it’s the right thing to do. We live in the greatest nation in the world – it’s about time we start treating our own citizens right.
July 22nd, 2009 at 7:01 am
Sharon:
I’m suggesting the claims of “socialize medicine” are a red herring. If the government can provide a plan that works for people and provides access to health care at a price people can afford, then why would you complain. There would still be private options. And, if as some people suggest, the government is incapable of providing a competitive plan at a competitive price, then people will still choose the private option. This is the competitive marketplace that people say they want to see … and maybe the competition from a government plan would push the private providers into finding ways to cut costs, like reducing their administrative overhead and narrowing their profit margins, because of the competition.
— Jeff
July 22nd, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I wouldn’t complain, Jeff, if the people were served and the physicians weren’t subjected to the same unfair practice they are subjected to now…the only profession I know about that our government dictates the amount of money they can earn through the unfair caps through Medicare and Medicaid.
My mother took care of her elderly and ill uncle’s medical billing and payments for years.
When the billing showed frequent double payments and billing through Medicare she called Medicare to straighten it out.
Most of the folks she spoke with thanked her for her diligence, but one annoyed person she spoke with couldn’t understand why she was so concerned,…”after all, it isn’t YOUR money.”
When Medicare’s employees are so indifferent of taxpayer dollars that paying twice or three times for the same service to the patient doesn’t matter to them, we should all be concerned.
Last night a ‘canned’ male voice called and said they were (a major senior citizen organization) having a phone conference over the upcoming health care reforms and gave instructions how to ask questions of the officials. I switched to speaker phone and listened. Within minutes I grabbed a pen and scribbled notes to myself and had questions to ask.
One of the things I wanted to know was once the drug companies were capped at what they could charge for their drugs, who was going to pay out the billions of dollars drug companies pay to develop drugs.
Another question I had when California was cited as the best example of a good health care system…well gee whiz, California is Bankrupt, no money… BANKRUPT.
How can they use that state as a good example of a good health care system when it is not prosperous, it is broke?
And then, generic drugs were mentioned…that our country wouldn’t allow the cheap generic drugs into the country.
Not True!
I know people who get cheap drugs from India without custom problems…no problems….and they buy a years supply at a time.
Another question is on their plan to eliminate the age factor. Age SHOULD be a factor in who gets what. Why give a 70 year old person a lung transplant when a 50 year old would get more benefit from it?
Age should most certainly be a factor in determining medical considerations.
The people I’ve talked with over the years of socialized medicine haven’t liked it in their country. The wait for services was extraordinary and one fellow in London said the government took 70% of his income for the government supported programs.
Sharon O’Hara