dagblog - Comments for "Single-Payer"

Governors stepping in and

artappraiser — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 17:26:40 +0000

In reply to Trump, anti-Medicare/Medicaid

Governors stepping in and doing the work of submitting proposal to Congress for the here and now, some things a decent White House should be doing if we had one:

Kasich, Hickenlooper release plan to stabilize ObamaCare markets

@ Politico.com, Aug. 31

.....Governors of six other states also signed onto the plan: Alaska, Louisiana, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The plan’s release comes ahead of a series of bipartisan Senate hearings starting next week on how to stabilize and strengthen the individual insurance market. Hickenlooper is expected to testify along with other governors at one of the hearings. ....

let's cross fingers and hope that Trump decides it's like a third rail and he should just shuddup on it.

The particulars in the article suggest they have a decent grip on what's needed and being bipartisan, it shouldn't alllow for much screamin except with nonsense blather from the Freedom Caucus.

What I am not clear about is how Dems.Bernie-Harris single payer bill(s) will or won't interfere with the work of stabilizing Obamacare for the next year. It's one thing if they are talking about implementing down the road, if they are talking about interfering with this process or making it a hostage, it's a whole nother thing.

Trump, anti-Medicare/Medicaid

NCD — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 02:51:14 +0000

In reply to Meanwhile surprise surprise

Trump, anti-Medicare/Medicaid/Obamacare HHS Tom Price Big Decision

Meanwhile surprise surprise

artappraiser — Thu, 31 Aug 2017 02:41:34 +0000

In reply to Single-Payer

Meanwhile surprise surprise (NOT) look at this Trump admin bullshit on Obamacare. What's going on here is they are going wait and see what comes out of the Congressional committee so they can play politics with whatever it is. Meantime they are anonymous, didn't say nothing bout no Obamacare! You can ignore most of the article, all you need to read is this one outrageous excerpted sentence:

Trump Administration Wants to Stabilize Health Markets but Won’t Say How

By Robert Pear @ NYTimes.com, Aug. 30

[....] The Trump administration official spoke to about 20 journalists on Wednesday on the condition of anonymity, evidently because major decisions had not been made.[....]

Most 100% national coverage

NCD — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 14:49:15 +0000

In reply to I really think a national

Most 100% national coverage nations have "government" doctors on "government" salaries in "government" hospitals. Salaried doctors at no point have an incentive to do any unnecessary referrals, procedures, diagnostic tests to pad their incomes. It works if you have a government that is competent at doing its job, and doesn't constantly play partisan politics, enhanced by a "horserace" corporate TV News media that makes more money from division, controversy, eyeballs and government chaos.......their worst nightmare being an informed unbiased electorate seeking reasonable government stability, compromise and effectiveness.

On the other hand, government paid universal fee for service would ramp up this stuff to the stratosphere.

Practical national health like Germany/Australia, Britain will never happen in "government is the problem" geographically, socially, politically and racially divided America.

Germany, by many measures, has one of the world's most successful health care systems — providing good care for everybody for much less than many other countries spend. Nearly all hospital-based doctors are salaried, and those salaries are part of hospital budgets that are negotiated each year between hospitals and "sickness funds" — the 240 nonprofit insurance companies that cover nearly nine out of 10 Germans through their jobs.

It's fine for Dems to run on anything that can get them elected, whether or not it's practical or will ever be implemented, as long as they do as big a thing as they can that moves things in the right direction like Obamacare did.

I really think a national

artappraiser — Tue, 29 Aug 2017 03:08:00 +0000

In reply to Two big problems:

I really think a national health system is the best of all possibilities for the reasons you cite and others. I would love to see it.

But do you really think it would be wise for Dems to push for that right now?

Even though there is the example of England's National Health Service satisfying the public more than any other system (yes, despite all the gripes and problems), most other countries decided it politically impossible to do it.

The article is about the Conyers bill, not about all possible health care systems. He's got 117 House Dems to sign on. I actually think that's in itself is a miracle in this climate. I think it's a smart move to keep the discussion moving forward at a time when people are understanding more. But given that it's Conyers, it is of course going to be considered what is far left at this point in time. I think it will help to move the Overton window. Then next year, the next Conyers can move on to the benefits of national health over single payer.

Two big problems:

NCD — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 19:25:49 +0000

In reply to Single-Payer

Two big problems:

1. US healthcare outside of VA and Indian Health Service, is almost all fee for service.

British NHS is salaried, doctors on salary. Government runs the actual hospital. The number and specialties of docs needed is coordinated through the national government medical education system. US medical education has no such linkage.

2. Fee for service with private doctors and tens of thousands of private groups, facilities covering the entire population with no copays would be rife with unending fraud as to number, type, need for expensive services, kickbacks to referring docs, phantom patients, patients getting kickbacks etc

The linked article does not mention either of these issues.

A smart idea to start pushing

artappraiser — Mon, 28 Aug 2017 16:45:28 +0000

In reply to Single-Payer

A smart idea to start pushing this right now. It will fail but it will help the progress. I am optimistic, I see progress. So many more people understand the complexity. Obamacare helped precisely because it was very imperfect change. Even the GOP threatening to screw it all up helped!

The main thing, though, that will make something big happen: providers are fed up, just fed up, ready to blow., dealing with the huge mess of all the insurance cos. (The few that aren't fed up aren't in real medicine but some big money making racket like dental implants.) Boomers will soon all be on Medicare and GenX and millenial providers will prefer them as patients because Medicare takes the complex nightmare away: one set of rules.