I have written extensively here about health care, and tried like hell to get to the bottom of why we continue to make this so hard to reform. We can blame the blind ideology of Republicans. Their utopian vision of free market capitalism, with it’s history of inhumane treatment of citizens and poverty, is something they think they’ll get right.
From Moneyed Politicians, Jack E. Lohman wrote this consise and revealing look at Medicare, “U.S. Senate Blocks Medicare Fix.” I couldn’t have said it better.
HR6331 passed in the U.S. House but failed in the U.S. Senate, thanks to the financial contributions from the insurance industry to our esteemed politicians.
Isn’t democracy great?
Although the House voted 355 to 59 to preserve Medicare payments to physicians, Wisonsin Republicans Jim Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan voted with the insurance interests and against Medicare. It gives a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that they (a) voted against Wisconsin seniors and (b) voted against an efficient health care system that not only works well, but should become our national standard. Good guys.
There were two aspects to the defeated HR6331…..
It would have retained the payments to physicians treating “traditional” Medicare patients. George Bush and his followers want to eliminate public Medicare altogether, because “private” Medicare can give campaign contributions and public Medicare can’t. By reducing payments to physicians by 10.6%, which becomes effective July 1st, fewer physicians will accept traditional Medicare patients, and those patients will have to seek out “private” Medicare companies instead.
From Moneyed Politicians, Jack E. Lohman wrote this consise and revealing look at Medicare, “U.S. Senate Blocks Medicare Fix.” I couldn’t have said it better.
HR6331 passed in the U.S. House but failed in the U.S. Senate, thanks to the financial contributions from the insurance industry to our esteemed politicians.
Isn’t democracy great?
Although the House voted 355 to 59 to preserve Medicare payments to physicians, Wisonsin Republicans Jim Sensenbrenner and Paul Ryan voted with the insurance interests and against Medicare. It gives a warm and fuzzy feeling to know that they (a) voted against Wisconsin seniors and (b) voted against an efficient health care system that not only works well, but should become our national standard. Good guys.
There were two aspects to the defeated HR6331…..
It would have retained the payments to physicians treating “traditional” Medicare patients. George Bush and his followers want to eliminate public Medicare altogether, because “private” Medicare can give campaign contributions and public Medicare can’t. By reducing payments to physicians by 10.6%, which becomes effective July 1st, fewer physicians will accept traditional Medicare patients, and those patients will have to seek out “private” Medicare companies instead.
We will now continue the taxpayer-paid subsidies to private insurers. In 2003 Bush signed a law allowing private insurers to “compete” with public Medicare. Roughly 20% of Medicare beneficiaries have chosen the private systems and 80% have remained with traditional Medicare. Problem is, private Medicare companies are paid (by taxpayers) up to 17% more than it costs for traditional Medicare!
So much for private being less costly than public. It is puzzling that conservatives who oppose high taxes tolerate this corrupt system, but that’s the way it is.
The best, simplest, least costly, most efficient thing we could do is expand what has been working so well for years, Medicare. You get sick, you get care, and the caregiver gets paid. Nothing could be simpler.
Every individual in America is paying for our health care system already, either through cost shifting, bankruptcy costs, or when employers add their costs to their product and we reimburse them at the cash register. We ought to simply extend Medicare to everyone and eliminate the 31% insurance bureaucracy waste. This would be a boon to U.S. businesses and would keep jobs in the country. But admittedly, the insurance industry that is enjoying the 31% waste wouldn’t like it a bit, and they are helping to fund the politicians’ campaigns. Political corruption at its finest!
The best, simplest, least costly, most efficient thing we could do is expand what has been working so well for years, Medicare. You get sick, you get care, and the caregiver gets paid. Nothing could be simpler.
Every individual in America is paying for our health care system already, either through cost shifting, bankruptcy costs, or when employers add their costs to their product and we reimburse them at the cash register. We ought to simply extend Medicare to everyone and eliminate the 31% insurance bureaucracy waste. This would be a boon to U.S. businesses and would keep jobs in the country. But admittedly, the insurance industry that is enjoying the 31% waste wouldn’t like it a bit, and they are helping to fund the politicians’ campaigns. Political corruption at its finest!
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