How unclear can things possibly get?? Every direction I turn there is a different discussion, different concern, a new point of interest, new topics, new programs, new ideas, new technology, different ways to use your personal health record, different insurance plans, different reimbursement rates… you get the picture. Trying to understand healthcare is exhausting.
So here is my attempt to clear (only a small portion) of this murky mess called “healthcare” and bring a couple things I feel are important to the forefront.
Bottom line: For the 6th year in a row the number of uninsured individuals has increased. We have yet to find a way to decrease this number… not at all… not one bit. Personally, I’m not looking for a solution that wipes this 40 some million uninsured off the map. I’m more interested in making 2007 (or 2008 if need be) the first year that this number decreases.
SCHIP: Unfortunately this program to increase the number of children with health insurance has turned into political party line propaganda. Nina Owcharenko from Health Affairs Blog summarizes the debate quite nicely in SCHIP: It’s Not Just About the Children, “One side in the debate is using SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) reauthorization to incrementally expand the role of government in the health care system. The other is trying to minimize the role of government and argues for a more market-based solution to the troubles in the health care system.” I have already given my opinion on SCHIP in another blog Learning to Value America’s Youth if interested.
Democrat or Republican?: Each party’s views can be summed up quite easily (all in my words).
Democrat Party says, “The healthcare crisis is real and needs a real solution. The only way this will happen is if the government gets involved and provides logical answers.”
Katrina says, “Umm ok like what? Universal Healthcare? HA!”
Republican Party says, “The government needs to continue to support programs like Medicare, keeping its role minimal and support private sector, economy fueling solutions.”
Katrina says, “HA! Because that has done Americans so much good in the past (note that I mentioned above that we are on year 6 of the number of uninsured Americans increasing).”
Consumer Driven Health Plans: Due to the increasing cost of healthcare many employers have been forced to minimize coverage for employees or offer more affordable alternatives. Enter the Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP), a high deductible (over $500) plan that emphasizes consumer engagement. These plans may or may not be accompanied by an HSA or HRA.
At first glance this alternative seems like a great idea. They save the employer money and have potential to save the employee money as well. However, many companies are forgetting that without the right tools and education a CDHP is like giving a 5-year-old keys to a car and seeing if they crash.
Beside my bad analogy, I think with preparatory education on the CDHP options and the healthcare marketplace - along with the proper tools to help employees gauge healthcare costs and quality - that CDHPs are a great solution, or at least a step in the right direction.
Lastly, I would like to applaud Presidential hopeful Mr. John Edwards for accidentally pointing out good things about his democratic competitor Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton. He was quoted in Clinton Edwards Tussle Over Lobbyists (AP Monday) “I think the lesson from that [her previous attempt at healthcare reform], my lesson, is not the same as hers,” Edwards said. “Her lesson is give them a seat the table. I think if you give the drug companies, insurance companies and their lobbyists a seat at the table, they’ll eat all the food.” Unfortunately (for him) he continued to say, “There’s a fundamental difference between Senator Clinton and myself about how we bring about the change we need,” Edwards said. “We have to take their power away from them. I don’t believe we can compromise with them.”
I do not know who I will vote for for president in ‘08, but I do know that cooperation and compromise are fundamental abilities of a good leader. So why does this quote from Edwards bring about my applause??
I am praising Clinton for recognizing one fundamental element of America’s healthcare system, that the insurance companies and drug companies have a lot of control. I must disagree with Edwards, if any change is going to be made compromise just must come first. Good luck getting yourself out of a hole with a little help from the men holding the rope and shovel!
Katrina,
Great article. I’ll keep reading!! Love, Mom
I liked your article. Keep up the good work. Mike’s Mom.
hmm. compromise. i like compromise, i think. concession is necessary at the healthcare table but so’s war when some *er is getting fat, cheating the host, acting like he’s the “govna” putting his two cents to the man of houses wife. food and drug administration, *, read that again. FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTERING. i’ve got a choice and some bloke serving rat can serve rat. let’s start there. now let’s put a reel on meds (drug co’s) and start healing people. that’ll take care of 90% of the sickness and disease in this country. hang the *ers for treason and start over. i’m not about compromising my wife, my kid, my kin, to some fat bastard indoctrinating and administering poison from the ground up: infants right on up and then back down to the grave. education is the key and we’ve got to start telling people the truth. there’s money to be made by the ADMINISTRATIVE body. they’ll never stop until we hang ‘em. think not? i’m not conspiracy theorist but read between the lines here. it’s about the dollar and when there’s bad * floating around a redeeming body must surface. that’s why we have alternative meds and food supplies. why does it have to be an alternative. oh ok! der! “here’s food that’s good for you and here’s food that’s bad. oh and we charge an extra dollar for the good stuff.” that’s called commerce! if the government wants to regulate something they can start with themselves and lock up half of congress for inside trading when tips roll down the pike for which new FDA drug is about to hit the racket. healthcare smealthcare. let’s just tell the truth. and as a side note: you rock katrina. you are powerful and you really really do give a *. that’s your kindness talking.
doogie howser m.d.,
Thank you very much for you comment and compliment. I could not agree with you more about the importance of telling the truth… or maybe in this country the truth really boils down to being honest with one’s self.
The ways in which we go about seeking solutions seems to be a joke (or at least produce one). If we can’t even establish a target audience and gauge what they really need - not just what the men in suits in congress think they need - then we are not really providing anything (including a solution and the truth) at all.
As I can sense from your reply and I believe you can sense from my posts, something needs to change. Your opinion is always appreciated.
Thanks,
Katrina
fierce. you are fierce. wonderful!! and that’s the fight: fierce. keep it up! i’ll tone it down how about..:) no more explicits i promise…
suits. can i make a comparison? ever been to lifeway? ever seen a republican in office? ever seen a lifeway guy actually meet a real need other than one he and/or the committee he put into play mandated? ever been to parliment? ever seen an idiot? ever lacked “strategery”? ever seen a holy war? ever been to a baptist church? ever been in the oval office? ever distilled a solution? ever seen a biproduct of that solution more valuble than it’s counterpart? ever seen a church giving away the building fund? ever seen that churches leadership without something to benefit? ever seen the IRS give grace? ever seen a modern day pastor drive a beater? ever been on a deacon board? ever lived in a country where the offices of the church corrupted the very fiber of the government so much that it elected it’s members in the same manner and neglected its body, we the people, just as severely. oh wait, yes! ever fed the poor? ever healed the lame? ever cared for widows and orphans? ever bastardized their pain for votes? ever said “amen” with regard to the building fund? ever taken in the poor, tired and/or the hungry on the way to work or church? health care won’t right itself until we separate the modern day affiliates. the poor will always be among us. and the church is leading the way in so neglecting it’s body, we the people, dumbing down the freedom we preach with brainwashing fear based preaching, that so goes the vote: and voila! the most lifeway looking dude out there. high holy days are begun. the wake is the smell of a dying bureaucratic fat lard and the only real salvation, a young stifled hippy, who could care less about food when love and dignity are on the line. that’s why he became a doctor. now, please lifeway, make sure you contaminate his sunday school class with your propaganda and continue to disbar your churches for teaching any other discipline. make sure that you train up a middle to upper class who will vote you into office so that you can get your same dirty paws on that hippy and tie his healing hands behind his beautiful kind back with lifeway type hoops and piles of time consuming, people neglecting mandates so that the cost of healthcare skyrockets to meet fatty’s rising interest in the insurance bed. lets crossbreed lifeway and the suit and make a superinhumanoid called “one nation going under.” the church has got no manners. therefore neither does the government. they are twin sisters from the same mother. still not convinced? ok, so we’ve got mostly red states, 90% of the population maintains to be christian. the numbers large also work small. if the church can’t meet needs why could the government who’s 90% comes right out the same stock pile system. the same system what can’t meet a single solitary need without going to committee about it, putting up scads of paperwork or flipping the bottom line, “how will this benefit #1.” BULL! don’t let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. when the church lost that, so did the government. now the government must purge the church and find another way or the church has to start stepping it up. the latter won’t probably happen anytime soon so, go government. blow up the old system, and bring in the new. water is the cleanest burning fuel there is and hydrogen peroxide is a miracle drug. can’t make any money with them because they are so cheap, but seriously let’s bend over the next generation a screw up their earth irreparable. i mean really screw it up! lets avoid the heart and treat superstitious symptoms. lets go primitive and burn it all up instead of introducing truth into the equation. great presidents my eye. we are burning a two ending candle 50 years in the making. there’s a gremlin on the wing. shoot his ass!!! er, i mean kick him in the ra ra! and let’s start over..