tagged w/ Health Insurance Reform
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As throngs of protestors formed along the four corners of a busy Scottsdale intersection Saturday morning, cars honked in response to signs asking them to do so, if they didn’t agree with President Barack Obama’s health care bill.
Another sign read “Obama’s Care Leads To Rationed Care.”
Another, “Where’s Harry?”
Protestors pointed their signs toward Congressman Harry Mitchell’s office, 7201 E. Camelback Road .
A cacophony of car horns and chants like “Waiting is death... Waiting is death...” punched the morning air at 9 a.m.
Leading the chant with a bull horn and standing on an elevated platform as a soap box was Tom Jenney, the director of Arizona ’s chapter of Americans For Prosperity, a national nonprofit group that supports less government involvement.
He was getting the crowd involved.
“My message is freedom,” Jenney told a swelling crowd that organizers described to have peaked at about 1,000 protestors.
Protestor Mark Stephenson of Phoenix said at 56 he did not support revamping health care the way the current administration is proposing. To Stephenson, he said the only choice was choice, “don’t restrict my health care options.”
Later Saturday morning, the crowds of protestors that packed four corners surrounding the busy intersection slowly began to break up.
Many were headed to a town hall featuring Congressman John Shadegg scheduled to start at 11 a.m. at the Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center , 4330 N. 62nd St .As throngs of protestors formed along the four corners of a busy Scottsdale... more
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In "The Cost Conundrum," his latest article for The New Yorker, staff writer Dr. Atul Gawande reports from McAllen, Texas, a border-town with the dubious distinction of spending more per person on health care than almost any other market in America.
But higher spending doesn't necessarily correlate with better care, as Gawande discovers when he compares health outcomes in McAllen with those of El Paso, Texas — a city with similar population demographics, but where Medicare spending per enrollee is half that of McAllen.
Gawande writes that his findings, based on Medicare's 25 metrics of care, indicate that: "On all but two of these [standards of care], McAllen's five largest hospitals performed worse, on average, than El Paso's. McAllen costs Medicare seven thousand dollars more per person each year than does the average city in America. But not, so far as one can tell, because it's delivering better health care."
As the national debate about health care heats up, Gawande's article has become a must-read for President Obama's staff.
Gawande is an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and at the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2006 he received the MacArthur Award for his research and writing.
Here's that article:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/06/01/090601fa_fact_gawandeIn "The Cost Conundrum," his latest article for The New Yorker, staff writer... more
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They admit the "profit model" of private insurance mandates the denial of care to those who need it most.
Yesterday the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations decided to investigate the practice of recission. This is when you pay your premiums for years to a healthcare insurer, then get sick, and then have your insurance cancelled. The insurance industry executives at the hearing did not exactly cover themselves with glory:They admit the "profit model" of private insurance mandates the denial of... more
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The Obama administration and Senate Democrats are debating a health care reform outline that will insist upon a public option for insurance but leave open the possibility for it to be kicked in via triggers.
Multiple Democratic sources tell the Huffington Post that the White House and key members of the Finance and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committees are in the process of hammering out key principles on health care reform -- with a meeting scheduled at the West Wing this afternoon. One of the components will be music to progressive ears: that any bill includes an option publicly run health insurance coverage. But it also comes with a caveat that could engender opposition from that very same constituency.
A trigger would pave the way for public option to come into place only after certain market conditions are met -- mainly if private insurance companies are unable to achieve various metrics for coverage within a certain time frame. The proposal would placate many of the private health care actors who consider a public plan the first step towards a single-payer system. Progressives, however, view it as reform in name and not substance.The Obama administration and Senate Democrats are debating a health care reform... more
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Lobby your city or school board to endorse Healthcare for all as a way to save big bucks in difficult times!
In a nutshell, the employer payroll tax that will be required for health coverage under HR 676 is considerably less (usually one-third to one-half) of what government entities now pay in health insurance premiums for their workers. Set asides to cover health benefits for already retired government workers will no longer be required. HR 676 will mean savings for public employees, too.Lobby your city or school board to endorse Healthcare for all as a way to save big... more
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