Kennedy creates healthcare working groups

Going to be tough for Hillary to talk to all those insurance companies from Israel, Gaza, Kenya, South Africa, China, Japan, Mexico, Canada...... That Secretary of State job is really going to intefere.

I hope they keep it simple -- if we all have basically the same coverage, all the doctors will know what's covered and what's not, as will we. A big part of the frustration with things (I think) is that doctors order this and that, then it gets submitted to insurance, who either pay it or (more likely) do not. Then the battle begins over who will, and can. Just keep it simple and let everyone know what is and is not covered, and keep the insurance entities responsible to the insured, not their shareholders (who naturally want the company NOT to pay, to preserve assets or whatever.) This is a conflict in the whole mechanism. Health insurance should be non-profit -- an organization to streamline and manage.

A landmark day for the people when this happens!!!

Insurance is predicated on shared risk. With modern genetics, risk can be predicted. In order to eliminate pre-existing-condition and high -risk exceptions, everybody must be in the pool.
In other words, universal single-payer is the only viable strategy.

This is terrific news. It is great to see an explicit focus on public health and prevention.

There could be two health systems. One could be the one we now have, where the user chooses to have insurance or not. This would be regular capitalistic.

The other system would be government run: there would be no insurance involved. Forced insurance is fascist. Insurance just siphons money needlessly. Doctors have to spend needless administrative hours on insurance and they don't have the final say as to what treatment is given to their patients. If not enough doctors want to work for the government run system, they would first be drafted from those who graduated from public medical schools.

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Ted and Hillary have been working on this for 15 years and have never been able to get it through, maybe it's time Obama picked someone else to head it up so they can get it done.

Oh no!! A farewell present for Ted Kennedy. Harkin, Mikulski, Clinton--UGHH!!!!!!! Focus on the economy, stall health care until Kennedy leaves the Senate and then work on a market/government health care compromise with the Republicans. Please!!!

Why are Canadiens who have free universal healthcare coming to the US and paying for healthcare? Why are UK citizens, who have universal free care, taking healthcare "vacations" to India and Pakistan for surgical procedures? When you make healthcare (or anything else) universal and free, the demand for the service skyrockets, including among those who dont really need it.

At the same time, government is attempting to avoid bankrupting itself, so it imposes cost controls and regulations. These worsen the situation because healthcare providers leave that business and find something else to do. Most Doctors arent all that altruistic and entered the profession in large part to make money. They will leave the field (or the countre) and others will be reluctant to enter medicine and those that do will be inferior to those who preceded them.

This in turn results in severe supply shortages. In order to deal with these, government must impose some form of RATIONING. This takes the form of long (18 mos or more) wait lists for surgical services and government decisions to allocate the limited resources by denying expensive treatments to any and all persons that the government deems to be less WORTHY. More likely to survive are favored over the less likely. Young are favored over old. Non-smokers over smokers. Thin over fat.

This is simple economics. But it is more than that. It is a proven FACT. These systems dont work. Be careful of what you wish for, you might just get it.
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Isn't it ironic that the very Health Care system Kennedy, et al., are pushing would have denied him the health care that has kept him alive! Because of his advanced age, he wouldn't have qualified for the procedures that he underwent if he lived in Canada or Great Britain, and even if he had, it would have been months before he received the treatment, which would have been too late to do any good!

All the myths about Canadian and Britsh health care are just used to frighten Americans. I have relatives in both places who not only get all their health care free (including medicines), but who actually get doctors who make house calls to the elderly and infirm in England. Yes there is a wait for elective surgery, so what?
As an American visiting Ireland and England my daughter and myself have recieived free medical treatment as well- and it was fast and excellent service by doctors who actually care for their patients. If Americans weren't so easily conned by the propaganda from insurance companies, they would insist on universal health care and never regret it. As far as not getting available treatment, I have had friends die in the U.S. because their insurance wouldn't cover the cost of a liver or kidney transplant. Or their insurance was dropped when they developed cancer. Wise up, America!

I smell a rat. Teddy chose Obama over Hillary after she backed him in tough times; dissed Hillary as a choice for Obama's VP; and now he's looking forward to working with her to fix the healthcare mess?? More like he's plotting to keep her from taking the SoS position.

Universal Health Care works in most of Europe. In Scandinavia works quite well, I can say as I live in Finland. No need for John Edwards type lawsuits to repay cost of medical procedures. Or filling insurance claims for every visit to doctor.

I see all the ACORN and obama bloggers are trying to sell the universal health care garbage. Why does the government want to take over another part of the free market. No thanks. Socialism does not work.

I agree with Irtk. Socialism has failed every time it has been tried. But the lib democrats think they are smarter than the last guy who tried it. WRONG!! If you think things are bad now for healthcare, just wait for the socialized medical care. People will die waiting for treatment. The corruption will be 10 times worse. And, yet again, the American taxpayer will be left holding the bag. The free market is not perfect, but it is miles above socialized anything.

I have friends in Sweden, Canada and England and they all say the healthcare is terrible!!!!!! NO THANKS!!!!

We are already imposing 'forced healthcare' in Mass... and the costs to the state are well over what they expected!!!!! And of course, WE will be the ones to pay. So those of us who have healthcare pay the costs for our own and THEN the costs for those who don't pay or are subsidized. There are already people dumping their employer insurance or not getting it because the Mass insurance is cheaper for them.

AT LEAST in Mass they are holding the individuals responsible for their own healthcare.

Obama's plan is to FINE business with tax penalties if they do not provide health insurance. (yeah that'll work on top of his completely ridiculous plan to raise taxes on business... ).

Besides all of the above... the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT couldn't run a LEMONADE stand efficiently OR effectively... like I want them running healthcare?????????

The government is now going to decide who lives and dies. Welcome to the change we were promised

I'm intigued by all these strong opinions about what will and won't work in national health care. To actually get reliable information about the health systems in the U.S. and many other nations, check out The Commonwealth Fund. Many of the above myths about Canada, socialism, etc. will be exposed for what they are by the facts. Look at the mortality data, the satisfaction rates of citizens, the costs, etc. You'll then see how hard it is to justify the U.S. health MARKET(a better name for our non-system). I'm a family physician with 30 yrs. experience and have watched through the decades as the health care of my patients has gotten steadliy more distorted by insurers. These companies, on which people's health and lives partially depend, are the masters of deception, which is why 59% of U.S. physicians now support a national health insurance plan.

If universal healthcare is really a bad idea, why do those against it feel the need to propagate so many lies and so much fear to defeat it? If it were really a bad idea, wouldn't actual facts be enough to make the case? One only needs to get first hand information from patients and doctors who live in countries which have it, to know that it works way better than the system we have here. (No, we do NOT have the best healthcare in the world. We are actually way...way down the list.)

It would almost certainly also be much LESS expensive. We are already paying the cost to insurance companies and direct out-of-pocket costs. With universl coverage, those costs would be gone, and the very same money paid into the universl fund. The big savings that enables everyone to be covered is the fact that insurance company overhead, counting costs and profit is over 23%. Medicare's overhead is 3%. 20% of current insurance costs would likely cover everyone not currently covered, with money left over.

Universal health care, socialized medicine, national health insurance---call it what you will, it’s already here. For individuals who are over 65, it’s called Medicare. For the poorest among us, it’s called Medicaid.

For low-to-middle-income workers it’s called State Children’s Health Improvement Plan (SCHIP). SCHIP goes by different names in different states but is the plan Hillary, if you can believe her autobiography, did all the work on behind the scenes during the Clinton White House years and got Kennedy to co-sponsor the legislation to create in 1997, and which Bush refused to expand to cover more people, claiming that in four states SCHIP already covers more adults than children.

With Kennedy and Hillary in charge, and a Democrat Congress and administration, I should think an expansion of SCHIP to cover everyone is all but a done deal.

I lived in government healthcare and it does not work. Both my grand fathers and grand mother died because of socialized healthcare. All three were waiting on treatment for ailments they had because it is the government who decides who gets treated and who doesn't and when that treatment will occur. The choice is taken away from the patient and doctor. WE DO NOT WANT THIS!!!

Medicine is not a market. At the bottom of this is the ugly fact that a for-profit insurance company makes money by denying health care services to sick people. We need to take out that basic conflict of interest and let doctors do their jobs. We also need to include complementary and alternative healthcare approaches, which for many conditions, can be more effective, cheaper, less invasive and less toxic than biomedical approaches. For example, in Canada a doctor can prescribe massage therapy for lower back pain, and it will be covered with a participating therapist. Please also note that in countries with universal healthcare, private insurance doesn't disappear. It is often offered as a benefit of certain professional jobs, and supplemental insurance can be purchased. We CAN get a working system. We have models from all over the world to choose from. And we don't stop participating in the process when the system gets put in place: as will all government, we have to stay involved and active, and make sure we get what we're supposed to. We CAN.

Please stop referring to single payer coverage as free universal healthcare.

There is nothing free about it.

Every single person who foams at the mouth against universal health care brings
up the specter of wait lines, rationed care, etc... yet they don't explain how people
in countries who have had it for decades have a much longer life expectancy than
we do in this country. People in Italy, France. Germany, Holland, etc get all the
care they need and they are happy about. And they live longer too.
These same detractors are also the ones who usually change their mind once a
health crisis has struck them or someone in their family: by then, between a denied coverage on one side, and long fights with insurance adjusters
on the other, it's too late... To these people, as cruel as it may be, I wish that a
health crisis may soon touch them, so they can find comfort in the "free
market system" they so adamantly advocate. Nothing short of that will make them
see the light.

Very few Canadians use American healthcare only some very rich where they want immediate action. Ask 95& of Canadians if they like the national healthcare system and you will get a resounding yes. If any Canadian politician dared to cut it they would be out on there asses. While not perfect Canadians use less than 10% of their GDP and most other industrialized countries. USA uses 16% plus for lousy healthcare. Yes people take medical holidays including lots from USA to China & India for cosmetic surgury and major dental work even with flights much cheaper.

The insurance companies have no useful purpose in a Universal Health Care system. A government mandate forcing the people to pay for some CEO's million dollar salary does not benefit our health in any manner. The insurance companies supposed compromise benefits their wallet, and beats any amount of advertising they could have ever invested in. This is an absolute scam that amounts to nothing more, or less, than blatant corruption. The only useful service the insurance companies have ever provided is a place to hold our money until we need care. The profit margin required to pay all of the people who's sole job is to maintain that profit margin is of absolutely no benefit to the people it claims to serve. Without a doubt the best way to cut costs in this area is to eliminate the profit. A government run system, to hold our money until we need care would allow the people a voice that we will never have in the insurance industry. The insurance industry has always, and will always, be a drain on our health care system, until we the people make a conscious decision to take control and utilize our democracy for the benefit of the people and stamp out corruption once and for all. H.R. 676 is the closest thing we have in the works to accomplishing that goal. Contact your representative, tell them our health care dollars should pay for health care, not another private jet.

Lots of lies and misconceptions about universal healthcare posted here. The facts are that social insurance works well in other nations and costs far less than the U.S. non-system. Afraid of government bureaucrats making healthcare decisions? Consider that some insurance company cube dweller with no medical training currently makes them! We already extensively ration access to treatment here, we just do it on an economic rather than a scientific basis. Keep opposing UHC and keep watching American jobs vanish to nations that have such arrangements.

Obviously we need to offer those with the financial need and who are working 40 hrs./wk. some sort of universal plan, similar to what the military or certain governmental positions now have. Every other developed nation on this planet does, so what is the big deal? There should always be good private insurance for those who can afford it, but with greater regulation and restructuring of the approval process. A "Free Market" cannot be successful without some essential guidelines based upon fairness and common sense. A professor I had, and hated, called them "rigors and standards". "Free=Reign" in the minds of the selfish and oblivious, yet "Free=Responsible" to those of us who have more of a well-developed conscience.

Right now if a patient needs very specialized treatment or surgery-- as seen in Neurosurgery, Spine Surgery, Neurology, Opthamology, Cardiothoracic and other specialties/subspecialties-- the insurance company physician in charge of approving the modality is often very under-trained and lacking the skills, education, experience and salient knowledge needed to make such crucial determinations. This is a stall tactic used by the insurance companies to save money.

Before we can go forward with anything, nationalized and/or privatized, the "Insurance Cartels" have to be put in check and told with no uncertain terms to quit practicing medicine without a personal face-to-face evaluation of the patient or with the proper licensure. They should be held 100% liable for any chronic physical/emotional/mental detriment incurred by the patient as a result of withholding treatment(s).

Here's what many of you don't understand. A General Surgeon cannot do Spine Surgery legally, heck most Spine Surgeons aren't even good at their craft, yet they often approve or disapprove treatments for insurance companies based upon flow charts and outdated or even faulty literature. IOW, how can a "gut surgeon" with no real Opthalmology training ever legally tell an opthalmologist if a treatment for the eyes is called for or not? He can't unless he/she works for an insurance companies procedure approval section. Ridiculous.

Physicians were weak and preoccupied when things flipped on them. As a result they lost control of their profession, because they didn't know how to keep the vampires from snatching control of their "industry". A few of their colleagues helped to sell them out, and the Reaganites and Clintonites now side with the money makers and controllers for obvious reasons ($$$).

In the 1980's a typical Family Practice Physician could make well over $400,000/yr. working about 70 hours a week (and with twice the schooling and 100 times the knowledge of a typical MBA'er). Now that the business types and lawyers have wrested control from the doctors, the average current salary for a Family Practitioner is about $150,000/yr.. Wow. How many of us can say we've taken such a huge drop in pay from the 1980's until now (especially accounting for inflation)?!

In addition to that, the quality of care has gone way down as have the scruples and ethical considerations of a bigger percentage of today's physicians. For example, surgeons will often purposely botch surgeries in order to have the patient(s) return for multiple "revisons" and hence pay days. This recoups the money lost to partial insurance payments and low reimbursements for costly procedures.

Half-stepping gets you half-stepping. Evil intent begets evil intent. We all got took again. Do they make these sociopaths in a hidden nazi factory somewhere? Is the sadism, masochism, narcissism, malice chip put into their pea brains before or after they leave the warehouse? Why are they so replete in politics, law and the business world? We all need to get smart or lose it all. Keep striving for righteousness. We clarified our might with this last presidential election. Let's take out the rest of the trash. Fight the sickness which fights the cures.