Government Fail: The Health Care Crisis (Updated)

(Proudly Cross-Posted to ComputerQueen.Net and MyDD)

In the continuation of our "Government Fail" series, I'd like to take a moment to highlight how Senator McCain would be just as bad, if not worse, than the Bush Administration has already been in regards to health care.

What I find the most troubling, is McCain's stance on Bush's veto of the Children's Health Insurance Expansion. Bush's reason for the veto was that he felt it was a step towards "federalizing" medicine.

McCain's response to CNN's John King:

"Right call by the president.

In short, because they don't want to look like they're federalizing medicine, they have left 10 million children without health care through the vetoed expansion of the State Children's Health Insurance Program. What a great way to stand up for our children!

NEXT! ...

McCain is proposing a health plan that is nearly indistinguishable from President Bush's, including dislodging State insurance regulations:

McCain's plan would allow companies to offer national plans based in states that don't have requirements passed by the vast majority of other states, including emergency care, required by 44 states. "Mr. McCain would also allow people to buy insurance across state lines." [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]

Some of the State Mandates that would be overridden would include :

• Emergency Room Care (currently required by 44 states)
• Direct Access to OB/GYN (44 states)
• Diabetes (47 States)
• Colorectal Cancer Screening (23 States)
• Mental Health Parity (45 States)
• Post-Mastectomy Breast Reconstruction (33 States)
• Off-Label Prescription Drug Use (36 States)
• Chiropractors (46 states)
• Clinical Trials (20 States)

The McCain plan would also move away from an Employer-based system.

"The existing tax break for employer-sponsored insurance would be eliminated, taking a step away from the work-based model in place for the last half century and toward an individual market." [Wall Street Journal, 10/11/07]

The NY Times also weighed in:

Health Care

Mr. McCain’s proposal to eliminate tax breaks that encourage employers to provide health insurance for their workers is very similar to one that Mr. Bush pushed last year, to little effect. The Bush plan offered a $15,000 tax deduction for families buying their own insurance, while the McCain plan would give a refundable tax credit of $5,000 to families for insurance whether or not they pay taxes. Both men opposed a 2007 bill to expand a children’s health insurance program for lower- and middle-income families.

I've shopped for insurance - I know that most comprehensive plans for a healthy individual start around $150 per month. And the price increases exponentially for those with pre-existing conditions. McCain wants to claim he's doing this for the little guy, but what little guy can afford to insure his family wihtout the breaks of a group insurance plan, such as the ones that many employers offer. While the current system isn't the best, this plan would only further disadvantage the lowest of wage earners, and give money back to the corporate monster.

And the newest piece to the puzzle - adding ideology into policy.

The Bush Administration recently floated a draft rule to the Department of Health and Human Services redefining how monies are spent. While the basis cited by the Administration was to prevent discrimination in employment based on a medical provider's aversion to abortion, it also gave some new language to what falls under the category of abortion.

Again, from the New York Times:

The proposal defines abortion as follows: “any of the various procedures — including the prescription, dispensing and administration of any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action — that results in the termination of the life of a human being in utero between conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation.”

With all of McCain's quotes about America being founded on Judeo-Christian beliefs, it takes little conjecture to see where he will land on this issue.

While I can understand the point of not wanting to bar medical providers from employment based on their personal beliefs, I have to be reminded that Roe V. Wade guaranteed that the Right to Choose rested with the woman, not the doctor.

Additionally, the Hippocratic Oath in short requires a doctor to do no harm, regardless of their personal convictions. If a woman might die without an abortion, the doctor is ethically bound to perform it, regardless of their personal beliefs. Bush's plan would effectively give them a policy based exemption that is ethically and morally wrong.

Also, I'm sure I don't need to go into detail, again, about how Bush has (and McCain will further) tear away at the Ryan White CARE Act.

These are just a few examples of how, in the vein of health care, McCain would seriously be McSame, and how the Republican Controlled Government (read President Shrub) has Failed the American People.

[UPDATE]

Someone just e-mailed me a link to this video that MORE than underscores my previous article in the Government Fail series from C4O ...

So, A BIG thanks to Liberty Balls for the following video:

Just my 2 Cents - comments always welcome

Dizzy

America's Health Care Crisis

Cross Posted from Obama--Criticism and Support

Instead of being ignored, one of my pet issues has become a proverbial Third Rail of this election cycle. It has become one of a small core of issues that candidates will live or die by. However, to many of the candidates, this issue will only be important in the abstract. For myself, and millions of uninsured and under-insured Americans, this issue is not abstract ... it's an unfortunate part of life. For many of us, affordable health care is just out of reach.

Let me preface by saying I work as a Contractor for one of the largest Technical Staffing firms in the continental US. As an employee, I am offered medical coverage, which would be best characterized as ineffective. In short, the plan covers office visits at a decent co-pay . . . but that’s about it.

I’m not used to this low level of coverage. Having been in the IT field for the past decade, I’ve been accustomed to having a compensation package that includes a decent medical plan. I’m not used to having to pay retail for prescriptions. It’s a rather humbling experience when you work 40 hours per week at what most would consider a good wage, and still cannot afford your medicines. And while I’ve got a good job, having a long-term chronic condition has really opened my eyes to how the uninsured live.

It makes me wonder how we, as Americans, can allow so many of our fellow citizens to live in these deplorable conditions. We, as a society, allow our elderly to go without care due to the cost. We, as one of the richest economies, watch our children grow up without the preventive care that they so desperately need. And yet our elected representatives choose to debate rather than act. This is an issue that transcends partisanship, ethnic background, economic status, truly all the concepts we use to call each other different. This issue hits at the core of what makes us all the same … we are ALL part of this rock we call Earth, and blessed enough to be part of the idea that is America.

I’ve always mulled about this issue, but have not been very outspoken. That changed the other night when I went to karaoke at a venue here in Sacramento. I spent a few minutes talking to Alice, one of the best bartenders in the city, about this issue. She spoke of the cost of her health care, and how it’s almost too expensive for her to afford. She also lamented that her out-of-pocket costs would increase later this year as she turns 50.

She floated an idea to me that I found amazingly simple, and yet a way we can begin to effect change. I’d like to float that idea here, and hear feedback from everyone as to their impressions.

Alice’s idea was simple – to mandate that Doctors of all stripes be required to give 2-3 days per year to treating the masses. Her concept is to have health fairs in communities large and small where these doctors give away their services. As long as a financial need is demonstrated, no-one would be turned away due to the inability to pay. This would take some of the strain off the public health clinics and the Emergency Rooms, which are grossly overtaxed. This would help insure that everyone has access to quality health care at a potentially lower cost to the taxpayer. And this would ensure that we are keeping our promise to our children to give them better than we got.

Her idea is an idea of first impression, as she saw a documentary about Doctors Without Borders and thought it would be an idea that would help Americans with the health care crisis. I agree with her that it would at least help improve the situation, even if in a small way.

If nothing else, however, we need to raise the level of public debate on this issue. We need to find creative solutions coming from government, NGO’s, CBO’s and FBO’s alike to better serve the needs of our entire population. And we need to impress on our legislatures, both state and federal, that this is an issue that needs to get pulled out of the muck. We need to shed our partisan blinders and take up a truly inclusive stance. We need to come together to solve one of the toughest social issues of our day.

Just my 2 Cents – comments and suggestions welcome!

Dizzy