5,000 Doctors Challenge Private-Insurance System

[babylonsister]

5,000 Doctors Challenge Private-Insurance System

Over 5,000 U.S. physicians have signed an open letter calling on the candidates for president and Congress "to stand up for the health of the American people and implement a nonprofit, single-payer national health insurance system."

Staff Writers


WASHINGTON - Noting that the nation's private-insurance-based model is failing by denying needed medical care to millions, wasting resources and driving up costs, the doctors say that a publicly financed system is "the sole hope for affordable, comprehensive coverage."

"A single-payer health system could realize administrative savings of more than $300 billion annually -- enough to cover the uninsured and to eliminate co-payments and deductibles for all Americans," they write, adding that it would also slow cost increases.

Dr. Oliver Fein, a professor of clinical medicine and public health at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York and a signer of the letter, said today, "With the sudden economic downturn, more people than ever before are worried about how to pay for health care. A single-payer system -- an improved Medicare for all -- would lift those worries, provide care to all who need it and require no new money. It's the only morally and fiscally responsible approach to take."

In their letter, the physicians express disappointment that most U.S. political leaders still cling to the private health insurance industry model of financing care and "seem intent on reprising failed schemes from the past" like mandates or tax incentives.

"The incremental changes suggested by most Democrats cannot solve our problems; further pursuit of market-based strategies, as advocated by Republicans, will exacerbate them," they say. "What needs to be changed is the system itself."

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/10/08-4

[barbtries]

1. that's so true

encouraging to know that many doctors have come out in favor of a plan that would really make this country so much better.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Right. And any politician who dares address this forthrightly, or dares

put forth a single-payer plan, will instantly bring down the wrath of the healthcare and insurance industries, upon his head. These are not multi-billion dollar industries. They are multi-trillion dollar industries. And they will see themselves as in a fight for survival--or at least for survival of their lucrative profit structures.

[Donnachaidh]

5. Kucinich stood up to them.

Oh let's just LET them continue to make those whopping profits, because it's EASIER to bow our heads and not stand up for EVERYBODY. It doesn't matter -- the true American Way -- I've got MINE, F*CK everyone else.

what's the definition of spineless, anyway? :sarcasm:

[Jackpine Radical]

6. President-Elect Kucinich?

I think there's a way to do it and a way not to do it.

[nichomachus]

16. That's why Dennis is not president elect

He has sane policies to protect the middle class. The corporations will never allow anyone with those wacky ideas to even run for president. We are left to vote for the least obnoxious corporatist position.

[raccoon]

23. You got that right. nt

[cbayer]

3. Many physicians have come a long way on this issue.

Being on the front lines of this disaster has really changed a lot of minds. I think we will eventually get to single payer, but it will be incremental. Getting the docs on board is a really important early step.

Good stuff.

[OhioChick]

4. K&R

:kick:

[OHDEM]

7. Obama said at the debate that healthcare is a RIGHT!

I cheered for his answer because it is the 1st step to single payer healthcare in the U.S.

There are things we can do. First off, we have to educate ourselves about universal care around the world. Right-wingers love to bring up Canada, but there are many systems and good and bad points about all of them. I found a cool site with info to compare systems. Here: http://www.npr.org/news/specials/healthcare/healthcare_profiles.html

The more we know, the more we can counter the misinformation being spread by the right. Some important points to make would be that even Americans WITH coverage are being forced into bankruptsy when long or complicated procedures are necessary. ERs are not the same as seeing a doctor and they DO NOT have to treat you - they will keep you alive if possible, but they will not give you expensive tests or treatments if you don't have coverage. The cost of health insurance is skyrocketing. My husband and I pay ourselves and our premium went up 40% - that's to over $12K for us and 2 kids. The insurance industry is to blame for their GREED! They are pricing us out of the market. Even if your employer pays, you probably eventually will pay more of the share and their increased costs are put on customers so healthcare is raising the cost of EVERYTHING. Yes, some universal care involves waiting lists for non-life threatening surgery & such. Isn't waiting for assured care better than never getting it or going bankrupt for it? Everyone else in the world with universal care - PAYS LESS PER PERSON THAN US!

Sorry to ramble on, but this is a huge issue to me. My family is really feeling the effects of this greed right now and even my dad who is ready to retire is staying on for fear of not being about to afford healthcare!

[Beausoir]

8. How is that going to be paid for? Specifically?

[2speak]

9. Everyone in america has decided you are to pay.

That means you Beausoir. No one else. Just you.

[Beausoir]

10. OH! I didn't get that memo! You mean that no one else has to pay for this mess except me?

Wow.

I feel so special.

[2speak]

11. :-)

[OHDEM]

12. Most universal systems pay thru taxes or a mix..

of taxes and private funds. Think of it this way - instead of paying the insurance companies, we'll be paying government workers. The difference is that we won't have a bunch of people making PROFITS off of sick people or potentially sick people. I personally know some people in the commercial insurance business and they are millionaires. They provide NO healthcare whatsoever, but make money hand over fist off of us. That's just wrong and it needs to change.

The link I posted talks about how healthcare is funded in different systems around the world, lists pros and cons and costs per person and as a percentage of GDP. Interesting stuff! We actually have an advantage because if we're smart we can look at other systems and pick what works and what does not.

[2speak]

13. Yes, and Taiwan did that very same thing and

ended up with a system that cost very little. Sweden had the very same rhetoric that we will have if we would go to a nationalize medical system in that it will kill research and no new drugs will be created. Sweden did it anyway and guess what? The pharmaceutical companies are still making new drugs at the same rate they always created them. Now here is the clincher. The Swedish pharmaceutical companies make a drug and have to sell it in their country for $3.00 but they ship them to America and the suckers there pay $150.00 for the same medicine. In Japan a CAT scam costs $60.00 and here in the US it costs $600 or more. They tell the manufactures what they will pay for the machine and they make it within those cost constraints. America is the greatest! America is the strongest! America has the best workers in the world! and on and on and on.
Ego maniacs. Self inflated egos. It's not about being the best. It's about striving to be better.

http://www.hermes-press.com/egomania.htm

[OHDEM]

14. Right!

"It's about striving to be better. " We used to be the best because we were the most inovative and we did things with real quality and pride. Whenever I hear "USA is the best." at anything I wonder "At what? Using what measure?"

I love my country, but "best" is a subjective term particularly when we're talking about health. Are we better because we live longer? Nope - we don't.
Are we better because it costs us more for healthcare? Don't know why that would be it. You certainly don't always get what you pay for!
Do we have better doctors? Not sure how you measure that, but I doubt it.

People tell me we have the best healthcare in the world and I always tell them - So what if noone can afford it?

[2speak]

19. They don't know. These people have never been to and used

all the health care systems in the world. Programmed robots is all they are.

[tosh]

17. I cheered this answer, too, and your posts are bullseye, OHDEM.

It boggles my mind that right-wingers' stock response is "Do you want government making your healthcare decisions?"

Well, no! :sarcasm: I'd rather leave that to the BIG Corporate Health Insurance Greedmongers who are raping us all as we speak.

[AlphaCentauri]

20. Obama is right but his health plan is not the best

all he wants to do is give more business to the insurance companies, he doesn't want to touch the structure of the problem, the middle man aka insurance companies.
Most likely he just want to collect a tax and distribute it to the insurance companies to cover as many people as they want, his plan:

Make Health Insurance Work for People and Businesses - Not Just Insurance and Drug Companies.

Require insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions so all Americans regardless of their health status or history can get comprehensive benefits at fair and stable premiums.
Create a new Small Business Health Tax Credit to help small businesses provide affordable health insurance to their employees.
Lower costs for businesses by covering a portion of the catastrophic health costs they pay in return for lower premiums for employees.
Prevent insurers from overcharging doctors for their malpractice insurance and invest in proven strategies to reduce preventable medical errors.
Make employer contributions more fair by requiring large employers that do not offer coverage or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of their employees health care.
Establish a National Health Insurance Exchange with a range of private insurance options as well as a new public plan based on benefits available to members of Congress that will allow individuals and small businesses to buy affordable health coverage.
Ensure everyone who needs it will receive a tax credit for their premiums.

will anything change with this plan? I doubted.
structural changes are needed not patches

[Delphinus]

22. I attended a forum two weeks ago,

where the health care debate was front and center. Neither of the candidates' plans are good - HR 676: Medicare For All is the best plan. Obama has said that if it was put in front of him, as President, he would sign it.

[AlphaCentauri]

25. Hopefully when he get elected congress press for a better plan

[Laelth]

15. Hear, hear! n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[AlphaCentauri]

18. But the citizens are not challenging private insurance co.

they are all brain wash and stay quite

[philly_bob]

21. The government's "dose of competition" for healthcare has been TOXIC.

More for-profit companies competing for health care dollars have not lowered prices or improved quality. They've just created more high-paid executives in the industry, many of them devoted to finding ways to wiggle out of insurance obligations.

[OakCliffDem]

24. It is obvious that at this point of the Health Care debacle, only a single payer system can fix it

As much as we would like to see the private sector compete in Health Care, there is just to much at stake to trust this to people out to make a profit.

The Government needs to assume the roll of the single payer, and provide insurance plans to American citizens. Means testing for a payment schedule would be a primary requirement. The rich pay what it costs and the poor get what they have to have.