If you read just one article regarding health care reform...

[SHRED]

...then this would come close as being the one.

:patriot:

The Best Health ‘Reform’ Money Can Buy
by Dave Lindorff

When the White House or Democrats in Congress talk about health care reform, and about wanting to preserve the central role of the private insurance industry in health care, it pays to look at just what it is that they they're so anxious to preserve.

According to the Health and Human Service's department's National Health Expenditures report, private insurers will pay out $854 billion in medical claims for health insurance policyholders this year. That represents about one-third of the nation's estimated $2.5-trillion medical care bill for this year. But that's not the whole story. The premiums paid for those claims payments will total $1.2 trillion, which includes $179 billion in "administrative" costs (21% or over $1 out of every $5 dollars spent on health care) and another 150 billion in profits (a tidy 15% return). That is money that was paid out in premiums by individuals and by employers (who every year are shifting more of the cost of health coverage onto employees).

A big part of that $179 billion you and your employer pay for insurance company "administrative expenses" (none of which is for actual patient care) goes to fund private "death panels" whose job, as insurance company whistleblower Wendell Potter has testified in Congress, is to deny coverage to sick policyholders.

And that $179 billion wasted on administration (Medicare, a federally-run program, only devotes 4% of costs to administration by way of comparison), isn't all. Doctors, hospitals and pharmacies also spend a similar sum on administrative expenses, much of it devoted to fighting to get paid by those same insurance companies. How many of us have spent hours struggling over claims forms, and getting signatures from physicians in order to get reimbursed for care, or on the phone arguing with insurance company "customer service" people on the phone, either to get reimbursed, or to get a pre-treatment authorization? Doctors, hospital administrators and pharmacists do the same thing. That's why your doctor's office has such a large staff of people who aren't there to take your pulse or blood pressure-just to work with paper.

LINK TO FULL ARTICLE

[flyarm]

1. Pelosi Says “F*&k You” to Trumka and the AFL-CIO

Pelosi Says “F*&k You” to Trumka and the AFL-CIO
By: Jane Hamsher Saturday September 26, 2009 11:17 am
please read this in it's entirety............
http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/26/pelosi-says-fk-you-to-trumka-and-the-afl-cio/
snip;

It's notable that among the Change to Win unions, only the Teamsters came out against the Baucus bill. (Whoever sold Hoffa on ditching the public plan is no doubt talking fast and trying to explain why he is now being kicked in the face.)

Incoming AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has been outspoken in his insistence on the inclusion of a public option in any health reform bill, and has threatened to withhold support from Democrats who won't vote for it. Over the past week there was a lot of winking in reports that the White House was leaning on progressive groups to drop their support for the public option. It absolutely did happen, but the use of the word "groups" is probably misleading -- the organization they are talking about, the only one that matters, is the AFL-CIO.

Since other unions outside the AFL-CIO are working the yo-yo on the trigger, Trumka is the lone holdout. He's the mainstay, and there is tremendous pressure building within the AFL in response to arm twisting from the White House for him to cave. And if he falls, it's going to be difficult for the rest of the veal pen not to follow suit. So, he's being directly threatened.

The message is clear: "Get in line or we pay for your precious 'public option' by fucking you on health care benefits."

If Trumka suddenly starts singing the praises of triggers (even if they instantly "yo-yo" it back and insist he was misquoted), you'll know it worked.

[laughingliberal]

2. If we could get HR 676 some face time

there would be overwhelming support for it. Just look at recent polling about the public option. Now that the dust has settled from the August astroturf wars the public option is more popular than ever. Our dilemma is getting any kind of accurate reporting out of the corporate biased media. Even without that we are winning the opinion polls on public option. Imagine if HR 676 actually got out there in front of people.

[SHRED]

5. Based on who buys commercial time...

...during the evening news...that will never happen.

Sad.

[RC]

3. Another argument for why socialized health care works better than private

run health care. The money saved from not having any death panels should be incentive enough.

[flyarm]

4. Senator Sanders Unfiltered: US Congress Bought & Paid For?

http://sandersunfiltered.com/

Senator Sanders Unfiltered: US Congress Bought & Paid For?


Who Owns Congress?
Over a year ago, we suffered the most significant financial collapse since the Great Depression, and the result of that is massive unemployment and underemployment. People lost their savings. People lost their homes. Now, despite the greed and illegal behavior of Wall Street, there is a massive effort to make sure that Congress does nothing about it. You know what? That might end up being the result.
How does it happen that Wall Street was able to convince Congress to deregulate their industry, to be in a position to bring the economy down? How does it happen that they are able to fend off serious efforts in Congress to try to re-regulate the financial institutions to protect the American people? Here’s the answer: In the last 10 years, Wall Street and big financial institutions have spent over $5 billion in campaign contributions and in lobbying activities. It doesn’t matter whether you are a Democrat or a Republican; if you have any influence they are going to go after you.

[flyarm]

6. Chamber Of Commerce Attacks Schumer’s Public Option Amendments

Chamber Of Commerce Attacks Schumer’s Public Option Amendments
By: Jon Walker Friday September 25, 2009 1:52 pm http://campaignsilo.firedoglake.com/2009/09/25/chamber-of-commerce-attacks-schumers-public-option-amendments/

Live Pulse has a letter from the US Chamber of Commerce attacking four amendments that have yet to be voted on in the Senate Finance Committee. (Rockefeller C1 – Applying new rating rules to the large and self-insured (ERISA) market, Schumer C1/C2 – Public Option Amendments, Wyden C1 – Healthy Americans Act)

The Chamber attacked the two public option amendments from Schumer, but did not bother to mention Rockefeller's more robust public option amendment. The letter indicates that the Chamber must believe that Rockefeller's robust public option is already DOA.

The fact that the Chamber did feel the need to publicly go after the two Schumer public option amendments at least leads me to believe that they have some concern that the amendments might have a chance in the Senate Finance Committee or on the full Senate floor. The lobbying on both sides of the public option issue should get very heated over the weekend.

[slipslidingaway]

7. knr nt

[WeCanWorkItOut]

8. Interesting article. But there is so much wrong with medicine, besides admin costs

Most people, to their detriment, know so little about health.
That could change,but it would mean cutting into
the monopoly power of doctors.
(It's not difficult for a patient to know more
than the GP does about one particular disease.
This fact seems to irritate some doctors no end.)

We could make far better use of nurse practitioners,
that's another very good possibility.

We could require simplified paperwork: I seem to recall
George Halvorson (Kaiser CEO) saying there are about 85 forms
the average doctor's office may have to cope with;
that number, he thought, could be brought down to 3,
leading to considerable savings.

Oh, and one reason Medicare is cheaper is because they don't do much
about fraud and abuse, so a good bit of money is lost that way.

I bring this up because I'm afraid that an overemphasis
on administrative costs as the main driver of health costs (it's not)
may lead to the abuses of Medical Homes, or Accountable Care Organizations,
where doctors will have an incentive to undertreat.
So the more knowledge and choice, the better.