America's Healthcare, at the nexus of need and politics

I watched a little of the Sunday talk shows this morning, and I was forced to retreat to the AMC cowboy movies, because the entire fare was Newt Gingrich, little dick Cheney, his daughter, and the endless discussion of Rush Limbaugh's, "with talent on loan from God," blowhard commentary, Yawn, stretch, look out the window. Somewhere in all this baloney, I did see some comments by Robert Reich, former Clinton administration Secretary, voice some dire warnings about about health care reform. He is well connected in Washington and he is warning that we must take action now on the tremendous opportunity we have to literally shake the tree and reconfigure the self/profit serving healthcare apparatus that we have presently. He says that the Big insurance and big Pharm fix may be in and now is the time that we need to rock the legislators and demand that a single payer system and a public option be available. Big lobbying money says that a public option will create unfair competition. I am a perfect example of why that claim is false or at best self serving. I have what amounts to a public option: Medicare. It was a Godsend when it was enacted in 1967. I am grateful for the coverage. It turns out that Medicare is not quite enough coverage given my income level and health condition, So, I have the option to purchase, on the free market, supplemental insurance. I have done so and I am OK. In my view, that is a fairly healthy marriage of public and private. Big Insurance loves Medicare because it takes all the unprofitable people out of their production and profit equation. A sound and viable public option is absolutely critical to the forty six million people in America that have no medical insurance. We should be ashamed of ourselves; that is, our legislators. As we speak, there are millions of dollars pouring into the anti-public onslaught, and the majority has gone to or will go to those legislators. The question is this: Profit or solid Medical Care? Given what we can observe and the cold hard facts, profit is winning. The real answer is not at all difficult. Do any of the legislators have the courage to say no to the big money cabals?

A concurrent question is the "Single Payer" objective. Of course the Republic meme is "Government can't do anything efficiently and correctly. There are numerous historical examples that simply trash that stupid claim. TVA, Federal Highway program, Nasa........ I could go on, but why, the bought and paid guy won't accede to example and the reality blind conservatives are so inculcated in their dogma that it is a hopeless case to make any attempts towards them. (But, I guess that is what I am doing. We have to try.)

Of course big insurance, big pharm, and to some extent big medical do not want single payer. Frankly, a single payer will cause them to dismantle a very awkward, bulky, and expensive billing and documentation system that each of these entities and their affiliates have in place. Humm! Where is the bad in that? Uh Oh, common sense is coming to bear. Why don't we reduce medical costs by tens of billions of dollars by invoking a single payer system? Same old answer of course, profitability, Income would be lost. In the whole "anti" herd, there is never any mention of the number of people who could be treated by dramatically lowering those costs. In fairness, we even hear, to a lesser extent, objections to placing present medical records into an electronic format. Something about privacy, yada yada and so on. That's fine, but lets get back to the real answer. Yep, it will save billions, but will cut existing profit kingdoms.

Let me give you an example of the cost cutting writ small. I have medical records at three different Doctors offices. I am trying to get into a clinical trial with UC Davis med center. The med center needs the records from the other Doctors. I have had to use my time to initiate this, but that is OK, I have the time. I will say the multiple telephone calls verifying what I had asked for when I signed the release forms were annoying. Now, inturn each office spends some time and a small amount of resources obtaining, compiling, and sending the records. There is cost involved. For a single transaction, the cost is not much, but of course, multiply that by millions and that is a pretty good piece of change. Remember now, this process starts up again at the recipients office. Now, I ask you which is simpler, the rigmarole I just mentioned or if the administrator obtained my records, with my permission, on line. I rest my case. So again I ask why are we getting guff even on something as straightforward and obvious as this. Up jumps that word again, Profit! There is in place infrastructure that deals with this medical evolution. Oh, lets not forget Republic intransigence.

The time is right now, everyone! If we lose the grip on this slight handhold in the wall and it will be many years before it will present itself again if the tamping down process succeeds. Come on folks, I mean everybody, call the legislators daily. Apparently, we don't do torches and pitch forks any more, I guess we will have to rely on shaking up the legislative branch. I am not convinced we, the populous have the guts to start and stay with a campaign. Remember, my countrymen, the hot air from the halls of Congress, the big money from lobbyists,and the rants from the operator of this little keyboard will continue unto resolution, satisfactory or not. What I want all of us to do is keep a daily count of the lives bright with promise and deserving we lose each day because of inadequate or no health insurance. The number is significant. Please check into it and you will be as dismayed as was I.