Gotta Talk About Healthcare

I know, I know - two posts in one day?! All my readers out there (chuckle, chuckle, I think I have three readers) I'm just whirling with how much there is to talk about right now in our crazy effed up world.

Healthcare and the proposed reforms in Congress and being put forth by the Obama administration is a huge topic that has direct (and immediate!) consequences for all of us, but of course is so convoluted sometimes it's hard to understand what's going on (at least for me). I found this article in Tikkun, a great leftist Jewish publication, which basically explains the difference between single-payer and public options for the new healthcare program, and makes a convincing argument for the single-payer plan. Even if you disagree, it's full of really important explanatory stuff so check it out.

Also from Tikkun -- I read this Op/Ed by Michael Lerner arguing basically for the abolition of the system as it exists today and a complete overhaul. My father told me that it's not realistic, we have to work with what we have and we can't just change it overnight --- I don't buy it. I love the idea of the government subsidizing medical education (med school, nursing school, chiropractic school) and then doctors etc being paid less. It seems to me that the quality of care WOULD go up, rather just the quantity, and that it would be a step towards a more equal society in any case. I also appreciate Lerner holding us all accountable for fighting for this change, and debunking the Obama-does-no-wrong mania that seems to have spread over our country. Anyway, the Op/Ed is long but worth reading, for sure.

Racewire also reported yesterday on the "Uncharitable compromises" that the emerging health plan is making:

The hospital lobby has generously agreed to more than $150 billion in “cost savings” to help lower the cost of the health care overhaul—a buy-in from industry that, like the overtures of Wal-Mart and Big Pharma, could make the compromise legislation much easier for interested parties to swallow.

But a chunk of the savings will come at the expense of charity care—free services that hospitals provide to people too poor to afford treatment otherwise.

Bloomberg News reports:

"The deal also calls for a phasing in of $50 billion in cuts to payments the hospitals get for treating a large number of uninsured patients, starting in 2015, according to the lobbyist. The White House, without giving precise figures, said those reductions would be “more than offset” by the increasing number of people who will be insured after the overhaul."
Charity care folds into the tattered safety net serving marginal, underserved and uninsured populations, in which people of color are dramatically overrepresented. Some states have special mandates for hospitals to provide charity care, but studies show that the implementation of these policies has been spotty.

As they work to slash charity care payments, hospitals are also lobbying against tighter standards for providing these services, opposing a proposal to make them commit a certain amount to charity care as a condition of tax-exempt status.

Jonathan Cohn at TNR wonders, “Insofar as the savings come from reduced payments for charity care--payments that now flow through Medicaid--is this a case in which suburban and speciality hospitals actually do just fine but charity hospitals take a hit?”

For the complete Racewire article read here.

WHAT A MESS. That's the only thing I know for sure. I can't help but be pessimistic that our government will once again find a way to make this a giant failure that doesn't lead to real change or help the people who need it most - this seems to be a trend in Obama policies thus far. I'm also concerned that the American people seem so uninformed about what's going on... WE are the people who will this reform will impact. Congress already has GREAT coverage. So why are they making these decisions again?