Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kennedy. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2009

Medical Insurance Issue in SPIN: Obama's Way Off the Fulcrum

UPDATE: 10 June - Interesting to note that Aetna has been cited for loss of records for 450,000 people as reported by UPI.
If this is the case for one of the top medical insurance firms, just think of how secure your electronic health records AREN'T.
If you missed Ralph Nader's talk on the Politics of Health Care aired on public radio recently you can find out more about how he is saying exactly what we have said for decades.
Though we are not as famous as Nader we concur with the majority of his findings.
Yes, 60 + years since reform in the medical industry was proposed as was single payer. I'll be posting more information shortly but consider that the universal claim form would save billions and this has been ignored for at least 30 years.
There's more to consider.
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The SPIN cycle is in overdrive and it is clear that those in the US get wrung out in the wash one more time as this insurance issue debate begins picking speed.

For one, I'd say Barack is too close to insiders based on his wife's former job as a hospital executive.

I'd say he'll waffle on this one and once again people will be the losers, Big Insurance and SOS will be the winners. It's all in the politics of "as if consituents don't matter".

If you read the reports on what Kennedy and Baucus are up to you can see clearly through the smoke and mirrors and know exactly what's on the block to be spun out the other end of the sausage stuffing machine. Remember it's small intestine that's stuffed with you don't know know what, then gets sold as sausage.

I know the medical industry and I know the history of "reform" over about the last 50 years. It has never worked. I am pretty sure that what is coming form the pundit's high priced mouth spilling out of congressional and oval offices is about as close to real change as a dead skunk in the middle of the road.

All this talk about electronic medical records is not worth the $20+ million or more destined to be spent on failed software that we know the government gets taken for in almost every agency. The cost of implementing this fiasco is much more that what ever will be saved. Real economists know this.

And, did anyone ask the question about how many people will opt out because of privacy concerns if electronic records are a mandate? I know I would.

The there are those of us that know the medical system in the US is failed and we do not want MOS. We want right of choice and coverage for natural care not provided by the hybrid NDs that are wanna be docs and want to hang on the same old Newtonian mechanistic model based on insurance reimbursement. Aye, there's that Idaho law I helped revamp that is a voice in the wilderness.

No talk yet on prevention. Can't be because there's no money in prevention nor is there money in keeping people healthy and well.

And just what was the problem 20-30 years ago with implementing the UNIVERSAL CLAIM FORM?

Haven't heard a word on this huge money saver. Obama could put it in immediate effect with the swipe of his hand. Being a "lefty" too I'd like to push him along this path, pronto.

Big Insurance was against it, all those different forms let the different companies add on to time and money in their pocket, less care delivered and no monitoring of real outcome.

Stay tuned for the next SPIN cycle. And in the interim, contact those idiots you elected to "represent "you and demand Universal Claim Forms NOW!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Health Lobby Still Plans to Stick with Health Reform

With Tom Daschle now selected to head HHS, don't think he won't be followed by a pack of lobbyists. Don't expect anything different in the House or Senate.

The pack of thieves are circling the wagons, and guess who might just be the target...

I suppose if you say reform you have to ask by whose definition and on whose standards.

Daschle has been in a lobby group lately and he is for vaccines and mammogram.

Surely we can't believe that his tenure in the US Senate led him to stay clear of the rafts of rubles handed out by the lobby groups, even under the cover of supposed change and reform.

What happens can cgange but only if you are wililng to stand up to the status quo and fight for your health rights, level the playing field, and get the agenda to truly be people first!
Health Care Reform Stays in the Picture; Health Lobby Probably Does, Too
By Andrew Green
Conventional wisdom had it that the current economic morass might temporarily sideline President-Elect Obama’s push to reform health care. But today brings news that a handful of influential Washington players might not be willing to wait.

Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat and the chairman of the Finance Committee, today released a 104-page position paper mapping his vision of health care reform. Meanwhile, Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy is convening a spectrum of stakeholders in hopes of getting legislation together by Obama’s inauguration, according to The Washington Post.

And health care reform advocates are likely not the only ones excited by this news. The health care lobby — one of Washington’s largest — is probably already gearing up for a fight similar to that of the early ’90s, when the Clinton administration unsuccessfully attempted to overhaul the health care system. The Center spent a year documenting the millions of dollars and thousands of hours spent lobbying various players in the health care reform effort, culminating in our 1994 report, Well Healed: Inside Lobbying for Health Care Reform.

The landmark investigation ripped the lid off the special-interest hijacking of the Clinton administration’s efforts to reconstitute our country’s health care system. Among its findings: At least 80 former congressional and executive branch officials had gone through the “revolving door” to work for health care interests. Almost a hundred public relations, lobbying, and law firms were hired to influence the debate. Hundreds of special interests cumulatively spent in excess of $100 million to affect the outcome.

Now, 14 years later, is there any doubt that those numbers will do anything but go up?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Big Insurance Seeking Spoils

While the Obama transition team wields the ugly power of spoils for the victor, all those with vested interests are jockeying viciously for position.

And while everyone seems to have been spoon fed on the idea of national health insurance, Big Insurance is seeking an eye on profits as it uses ploys that are trendy and seem to get them a big payoff for superficial pandering with their manipulated media statements in line with what their pundits think COngress will swallow.

Of course Hillary is back in this fray, trying to cut deals, hubby Bill trying to cut deals, and Teddy Kennedy seemingly blocking some of them.

Kennedy has been wheeling and dealing with the big players on a health plan, but you can be sure it isn't with Joe and Jane Six-Pack in mind.

Maybe its more like roulette, le juet sont fait!

I'm not against everyone having access to care, but the question has to be who really is controlling the care.

The Hillary Plan was dead before it started in her husband's administration. Has she really kept in touch with the "outside" over all these years to allow her to start on this with a clean slate?

We need reform on many levels. Reform requires new ideas and fresh folks who aren't mired in the Beltway Bandit band and their tunnel vision.

If you haven't been keeping up with the G8 that is now the G20, you do need to know what their plan is and how it will effect your health. If you dare to risk reading much more truthful interpretations of their actions than what you'll ever read or hear in the media as it is today start here.
Insurers make pitch for health coverage mandate
By KEVIN FREKING, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The health insurance industry says it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers regardless of pre-existing medical conditions.

In return, the industry said Wednesday, it wants Congress to require that everyone buy coverage.

Lawmakers have signaled their intent to craft health care legislation early next year, and the insurance industry's support would make passage much easier. That legislation is expected to closely track the proposals of President-elect Barack Obama.

Karen Ignagni, president of the board of directors for America's Health Insurance Plans, says she hopes the endorsement will help members of Congress fashion their proposal.

 
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