Jack & Jill Politics

Do any of you work in healthcare or hospitals? I do and there are so many underlying issues that are impacting patient health. Rushing to spend billions of dollars before foundational issues are fixed will create or extend more problems. This is not all about insurance companies. For example CPT codes-the forms/bills filled out by providers are behind the times. Some professionals, like audiologists, don' get properly paid or reimbursed for their time spent with patients (by Medicare or Insurance companies). Hospitals then clamp down on certain procedures, pay is not good for certain professionals, so they leave and hospitals hire part timers to cut costs. This all directly affects patient care. Another ridiculous example is when medicare approves a cochlear implant surgery (a device for profound hearing loss) but then does not approve payment of the processor, the part that makes it work. How can Obama be an "expert" on all of these medical issues when he is not consulting any medical professionals-just ask Mayo?

AFTERNOON OPEN THREAD IS UP!!

The public option. Do you not realize this is the moment of truth, Mr. President. It was what, 1994, when this was last debated? How many people have died between that failure and now that could have been prevented IF we had universal healthcare. How many people went to a premature death because of inadequate healthcare? What do you possibly think you could do for the American people that is more important than Universal Healthcare. Whose side are you on - the American people's or the insurance industry's? There is no in between. There is no middle ground.

Your question should be directed towards Congress because Obama is on record saying that he wants a public option.

Hey, Rikyrah

While I've expressed my frustration with the administration's handling of the debate thuse far, I don't question his commitment. He's drawn the line in the sand on the issue of public option. I think it's more fair to ask whose side are we own. Where are the soldiers from the campaign? Where's the damn fight from our side. Yes, it's appalling what has happened to Skip Gates and the precious little kids in Philly, but that should not be our focus right now. We should be pouring our time and passion into the survival of health care reform! As someone posted on daily kos today, calls for Dick Cheney's head and all that other shit won't mean a damn thing if health care reform fails. Game over!

Good point, NMP. During the campaign, there was campaign info permanently posted in the second column of this site so that we would know who to contact. Where is something similar for the healthcare reform fight?

I'm constantly getting emails from the "Week in Action" (in California-the same people who led the fierce call to action for us to get out the vote). To act on Health Reform. Obama is working this thing all by himself. So, your question is right. Whose side are WE on? It's obvious the senators opposing him are accepting big money from these insurance companies. Who in the hell fighting with him? Tell me?

In my best squeaky Erkel voice, "Did I do that???"

Sorry for the triple post. I have no idea what happened...

NP - I removed the dupes. Thanks to you and everyone for your questions & insights. I wish I could ask them all.

The weakest and most vulnerable among us are people with disabilities and special needs, especially children.

How will the public option and the overhaul of the current system address the needs of people with disabilities?

Specifically, there are providers who currently bill upwards of $200+ hourly, but pay the service provider $10/hour, sometimes less. Insurance companies are allowed to provide minimal visits, or totally deny, much needed therapies (e.g., speech and physical therapy) on the premise that improvements are not being made - Especially habilitation and rehabilitation services.

How will family centered care principles be integrated in to the care of children and adults with disabilities?

There are children living in nursing homes, because community options have not been explored. Because different states have different services, people move from state to state (sometimes county to county) in search of the location that has the least amount of redtape re: the condition that they are dealing with.

Type your comment here.Will individuals who have health care insurance through their employer which they either find un-satisfactory or which essentially renders them underinsured have the option to partake in the public option?

Why was a single payer option taken off the table?

Is it possible for the White House and their allies in the Congress to provide more information on how effective health insurance systems in Canada, the UK and other nations are, to counteract lies about their inefficiency and the wait times to receive coverage?

Recently, there have been news reports of private insurance companies piloting programs to have individuals go to India and other nations with effective but less expensive health care in order to have certain medical procedures performed. What impact will this have on the healthcare system in the US and will insurance programs ever be permitted to make this mandatory and it is possible to prevent this from occuring

As someone who is taking care of a Senior, I'd like to know how the new Health Care plan is going to offset/augment medicare?

I don't have a question, but if you don't mind I'd like to vent. Is it possible to be both surprised and not surprised at the same time? On the one hand I'm damned surprised by how badly the President has handled the health care debate (if you want to call it a debate b/c the GOP has been completely controlling the conversation and news headlines, with the exception of reporting on liberal griping about the public option). He promised that he learned the lessons of '93, and I believed that. But why would I?...

He brought the same team from the Campaign to the White House with one big exception, David Plouffe, which means he brought their limited strengths and enormous weaknesses. We all know their strengths: grassroots mobilization, embrace of new media, yadda yadda yadda, but not enough attention has been given to their weaknesses, which I might add ALWAYS got in their way of their success, only to be saved with a great speech. The weakest link: Communications. Yes, the President is a great communicator, but his team as a whole is the absolute worse. And may be what ultimately kills health care reform and the Obama presidency:

1. They always appear surprised by but never prepared for the always to be expected opposition. Let's see, the President won the election in part by beating the GOP up over deficit spending. Did he really think cries of hypocrisy would stop them from using the same weapon against him?

2. They have yet to figure out how to get ahead of a bad news story. Really, did the White House not expect the CBO head's testimony not to make headlines? Did they think the AMA endorsement would trumpet itself? What about the big but largely unreported news that Wal-Mart endorsed an individual mandate? When the President was studying the failure of the '93 reform effort, did he not read the chapter on the complicity of the media in helping to defeat it? Did he really think the media was going to take an even-handed approach? Come the fuck on!

3. Continuously on the defensive but never on the offense with a sustained defense of theirpolicies. Not only does this team seem to refuse to acknowledge this is a failture but they appear to think it's a damn strategy.

The larger mistake the President made was not heading the advice of a former Clintonite: LEAVE YOUR FRIENDS IN CHICAGO. I understand the need to surround yourself with people you trust, but I say surround yourself by people you trust to be able to do their jobs.

My last point, who the hell would argue now that Hillary wouldn't have been a far better pick than Biden? Don't get me wrong, I was one of those cheerleading old Biden getting his much deserved 2nd chance. I had dillusions of him being Obama's LBJ. But it's more than clear now that he, the administration and the country would have been better served with him in the Senate and Hillary in the White House, at least on this issue.

Bluntly sir FUCK the lawyers. Why not end medical malpractise suits in the same manner we look at abortion, i.e. seek to have less? We can have less by having free care for mistakes. Their are few real mistakes given the numer of operations, births and other procedures that take place every year. This furthers your goal of reducing costs because tests to cover against every last possiblity of a diagnosis to protect against lawsuits will end

Wonderbar! Give him hell ... I mean HELP!

My question is similiar to AroundHarlem's - Will self-employed individuals be able to enroll in the public option? Every year, for at least the last 6 years, my premiums have increased at least 20%. The only way to keep the cost affordable is to increase my deductible. It is now at $5,000, in order to have a premium of $546 monthly. No pregnancy benefits. I turn 53 this year and have hypertension and high cholesterol which are controlled thru daily medication.

Thanks J&J Politics! Back to work for me ....

Iam a member of a credit union and I LOVE and TRUST their services (self serviced mortgage, competitive credit card rates, sensitive credit bureau reporting, etc.) Why not offer a health insurance alternative similar to the credit union model? Yes, it will need seed money but not involve the government on an ongoing basis.

Given that people do the easiest thing why will you not admit that the public option will become how everyone will receive medical care if the bill passes w/ a public option? I ask this because no employer will pay for medical care given for their employees given that rates are set by group plans, most plans will cover small numbers of employees and are therefore more expensive than public coverage.