Most agree we need to improve the health care system in America and the way it is financed.
We need MEANINGFUL HEALTH CARE REFORM. Not a patch, not a patsy, not a lie intended to sooth without addressing the core problems. We need a meaningful solution.
For myself, I worry about whether or not my daughter will one day be able to get insurance. The words "preexisting condition" hang out there like a death nell, ringing in the language some claim adjuster may one day use to deny her coverage and refuse to pay her medical bills.
[Knock on wood. Knock on wood. Knock on wood.]
Without other options, it is possible that one day Medicare may be her only hope for assistance with managing this expensive vasculitis condition, so how all these potential changes will affect Medicare and Medicaid is also a big concern for our family.
We who are collectively patients, caregivers, doctors, nurses, etc... could take action to save some expensive waste in the clinics and hospitals and bring that cost number down. It seems that multiple approaches will be necessary to tackle this big beastie.
One huge core issue right now seems to be trust. The patients could be more agreeable, communicate better so clinic double-booking is not considered necessary, etc. However, many patients basically do not trust that any potential savings will be shared on to them. The bookkeepers at the medical facilities still have to pay those bills to keep the lights on, provide myriad types of medical consumable supplies, and so forth. Some of them now seem to believe the patients are the enemy, and the cause of the problem. Both sides would be correct in different ways. In the absence of trust an adversarial atmosphere has arisen where people choose not to cooperate until they have some assurances of mutual gain.
So, who is going to put down their barrier first, and come to the table to work this out? Or will they both stand their ground and lose out on this historic opportunity to make changes that could leave both the patients and the medical care providers with a better system?
So, what about those insurance companies? I know I depend on health insurance through my employer to help pay for services that keep my daughter alive and in relatively good health, considering her vasculitis condition. I think I am one of the lucky ones so far, and I really have no idea how long that luck will last before the dark side emerges. It causes a lot of stress when I think of all the what ifs. Speaking out feels like looking a gift horse in the mouth, but I have to speak to the larger problem.
This thing is split right down party lines. Some republican folks out there are saying that the democrats led by the Obama Administration are leading us into too much public interest in health care. Read that, too much government control over health care, and too much tax payer money being spent on health care. I ran some numbers, and one $600 billion annual cost estimate turns out to be an approximate per capita tax increase of $2000.00 per year if we all divided it evenly among 300 million people. Wow. I mean really, Wow. It leaves me nearly speechless, but not quite.
One prominent insurance insider seems to be leaning the other way, by stating in a CNN interview that Obama's health plan is actually capitulating too easily to those special interests with a profit motive by removing the parts of the plan that provide alternatives to high cost private insurance and thereby actually help people in need of reform.
This would seem to be the dark side of the agenda promoted by certain powers that be who are ostensibly against health care reform, are actually trying to promote health care reform according to their own wish list. By killing the public plan option, they are actually promoting reform that puts even more money in their pockets.
They are the businessmen, not the medical care providers. There is a big difference between them. They serve the money, and they have lots of money to spend on lobbyists and advertising.
America, wake up. Get involved. Write your personal health care story and sent it to your congressmen. Let them know you need their help. Focus on your facts, and do it now.
Read the different opinions and learn what is going on and how this can and will affect you. The purpose for fear is to motivate you to action, but let your cooler head prevail when you write those letters. Be calm, be insistent, and let your voice be heard.
Wendell Potter's blog | Center for Media and Democracy
"Wendell Potter has served since May 2009 as CMD's Senior Fellow on Health Care. After a 20-year career as a corporate public relations executive, last year he left his job as head of communications for one of the nation's largest health insurers to try his hand at helping socially responsible organizations -- including those advocating for meaningful health care reform -- achieve their goals. "
http://www.prwatch.org/blog/35267
Whistle-blower: Health care industry engaging in PR tactics - CNN.com
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Wendell Potter knows a little something about the health care industry's practices and is not afraid of to speak out as the health care reform debate heats up around the country.
Wendell Potter once was a vice president in the public relations department for insurance giant Cigna.
Wendell Potter once was a vice president in the public relations department for insurance giant Cigna.
The former vice president of corporate communications at insurance giant Cigna, who left his post, says the industry is playing "dirty tricks" in an effort to manipulate public opinion.
"Words matter, and the insurance industry is a master at linguistics and using the hot words, buzzwords, buzz expressions that they know will get people upset," he told CNN Wednesday.
Now a senior fellow on health care for the watchdog group Center for Media and Democracy, Potter writes a blog on health care reform. He is focusing on efforts to defeat legislation supporting a government health care plan -- something he supports.
In early July, Potter testified before the Senate Commerce Committee, telling senators that "I know from personal experience that members of Congress and the public have good reason to question the honesty and trustworthiness of the insurance industry."
Potter described how underwriters at his former company would drive small businesses with expensive insurance claims to dump their Cigna policies. Industry executives refer to the practice as "purging," Potter said."
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/08/12/health.industry.whistleblower/
Wendell Potter Says 'The Fat Cats Are Winning,' This is A 'Pig of a Bill.' | Crooks and Liars
"Not only is Obama clearly ready to throw the public option overboard, he is embracing the requirement that we all be forced to buy insurance from private insurers. That means your tax dollars and mine will be used to pay subsidies to the big insurers to provide coverage to people who can't afford to buy their policies, because the big insurers charge far more than they should because Wall Street investors demand that they do.
One of the people who undoubtedly talked Obama away from the public option and into supporting this mandate is his new BFF, Aetna CEO Ron Williams. Williams, who made $65 million off of Aetna's policyholders' premiums over the past two years and who was the mastermind behind Aetna's shedding of eight million members a few years ago to meet Wall Street's demands, is the insurance industry's leading champion of requiring us all to buy insurance. And, of course, without a public option, we'll all be forced to buy coverage from Aetna or one of the other private insurers."
http://crooksandliars.com/susie-madrak/wendell-potter-says-fat-cats-are-winn
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