Comments on: President Obama's proposal to pay for reform http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/06/15/president-obamas-proposal-to-pay-for-reform/ PNHP's official blog Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:04:31 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: alanbcantor http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/06/15/president-obamas-proposal-to-pay-for-reform/comment-page-1/#comment-1420 alanbcantor Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:55:14 +0000 http://www.pnhp.org/blog/?p=312#comment-1420 We need to impress upon the Obama administration and the Congress that now is the time to achieve the inevitable single payer system, which also offers the only way to "pay" for universal healthcare without imposing net additional costs. Only with the single payer can we eliminate the 30% (or higher) cost in the current dysfunctional system which is devoted to: 1-administration of excessively complicated reimbursement in a system whose first question is always "What is your form of payment?" instead of "What is wrong with you [the patient]?/How can we best treat you?" 2-insurance company case management/denial systems 3-massive and unnecessary (under single payer) billing and collections systems All approaches currently contemplated in Congress are certain to fail for several reasons: 1) They all retain and are implicitly built upon the current private insurance for-profit system; 2) They all look for "savings" and "financing" by further squeezing and starving the hospitals, physicians and other providers; 3) they all continue to accept the status quo favored status to protect excessive profits for prescription drug producers. We need to shine a light on the Congress and Administration and force them to reject their healthcare insurance and pharmacology industry benefactors who are perpetuating the ongoing $2 trillion dollar swindle of the American people. We must persuade them to demonstrate that they are not lackeys of the industry that perpetuates a situation which supports the continued deaths of tens of thousands of Americans whose necessary health care is delayed or denied, in order to support lavish salaries and bonuses. We must end the untenable situation of allowing the benefit of the few at the cost and suffering of the many. The fictional phrase that "Single payer is a non-starter" must be exposed. For those who thought is was impossible to elect a black president, we now all know and should acknowledge and embrace the fact that nothing is impossible. Fixing the healthcare system will dramatically improve America's competitiveness and help every enterprise in America because we will no longer fight over the dominant component in benefits packages, whose costs have skyrocketed over the past 20 years. By simply extending Medicare in a system that will cover all Americans under age 65, we will eliminate 30-35% of the waste in the current system, which will itself be able to readily finance the entire system. Remember, we currently pay much more per capita for healthcare than any other "developed" country, and that for a system which knowingly unnecessarily kills tens of thousands per year, leaves 1/6 of the population totally uninsured, 1/3 to 1/2 underinsured, and "insurance" which for most who even have it can go away at any time when you actually get sick. UNder these facts, for anyone in or out of Congress to claim that we cannot provide universal healthcare under a single payer is no longer acceptable or tenable. And the political climate for change has never been better. We need to impress upon the Obama administration and the Congress that now is the time to achieve the inevitable single payer system, which also offers the only way to “pay” for universal healthcare without imposing net additional costs. Only with the single payer can we eliminate the 30% (or higher) cost in the current dysfunctional system which is devoted to:
1-administration of excessively complicated reimbursement in a system whose first question is always “What is your form of payment?” instead of “What is wrong with you [the patient]?/How can we best treat you?”
2-insurance company case management/denial systems
3-massive and unnecessary (under single payer) billing and collections systems
All approaches currently contemplated in Congress are certain to fail for several reasons: 1) They all retain and are implicitly built upon the current private insurance for-profit system; 2) They all look for “savings” and “financing” by further squeezing and starving the hospitals, physicians and other providers; 3) they all continue to accept the status quo favored status to protect excessive profits for prescription drug producers.

We need to shine a light on the Congress and Administration and force them to reject their healthcare insurance and pharmacology industry benefactors who are perpetuating the ongoing $2 trillion dollar swindle of the American people. We must persuade them to demonstrate that they are not lackeys of the industry that perpetuates a situation which supports the continued deaths of tens of thousands of Americans whose necessary health care is delayed or denied, in order to support lavish salaries and bonuses. We must end the untenable situation of allowing the benefit of the few at the cost and suffering of the many. The fictional phrase that “Single payer is a non-starter” must be exposed. For those who thought is was impossible to elect a black president, we now all know and should acknowledge and embrace the fact that nothing is impossible. Fixing the healthcare system will dramatically improve America’s competitiveness and help every enterprise in America because we will no longer fight over the dominant component in benefits packages, whose costs have skyrocketed over the past 20 years.

By simply extending Medicare in a system that will cover all Americans under age 65, we will eliminate 30-35% of the waste in the current system, which will itself be able to readily finance the entire system. Remember, we currently pay much more per capita for healthcare than any other “developed” country, and that for a system which knowingly unnecessarily kills tens of thousands per year, leaves 1/6 of the population totally uninsured, 1/3 to 1/2 underinsured, and “insurance” which for most who even have it can go away at any time when you actually get sick. UNder these facts, for anyone in or out of Congress to claim that we cannot provide universal healthcare under a single payer is no longer acceptable or tenable.
And the political climate for change has never been better.

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