Prescription for America
WASHINGTON -- President Obama's healthcare town hall meeting last night offered a preview of the debate this summer.
The hour-long ABC special reminded viewers of the sheer vastness of the legislative project now before Congress. In a single bill, lawmakers will attempt to regulate wasteful end-of-life spending, send more primary care doctors to medical school, prevent kids from getting fat, pay doctors in a more sensible way, eliminate inefficient treatments and cover 46 million uninsured Americans. Without increasing the deficit.
Obama was also forced to address one of the most difficult political obstacles he will have to confront: Americans' fear that changing in how healthcare is delivered could do more harm than good.
Millions of people can't get treatment now because they don't have health insurance, or they can't afford the out-of-pocket costs, or their insurers won't pay. As Obama pointed out, the ranks of the uninsured and underinsured will grow if Congress does nothing. Yet the majority of people have insurance now, and even if they sympathize with their less fortunate neighbors, some of them are scared that too much government tinkering could hurt them.
The president tried to reassure the 164 people in the audience at the White House and the millions more watching at home with his oft-repeated promise -- those who like their insurance will be able to keep it. Higher quality and lower costs can actually go hand in hand, he added, pointng to the world-class Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., which delivers care about one-third cheaper than the average provider.
But the human issues at stake are not likely to recede as the debate intensifies. The son of a woman in her 70s with terminal cancer told ABC producers that he wanted every possible treatment for his mom, no matter how much it cost: "I just don't think you can put a price tag on quality time with loved ones, especially at the end of their lives," he said, as his ailing mother smiled sweetly at her family from her hospital bed.
A woman in the audience told Obama about how her 105-year-old mother had a pacemaker installed, against some of her doctors' advice, at age 100. It had improved her life significantly. Would the president's healthcare plan ask doctors to take into account qualities in patients like love of life, she wanted to know -- qualities that helped convince her mother's doctors to try the pacemaker despite their reservations about her age?
Obama stumbled a bit. He was not sure whether subjective attributes like that could be measured. Then he moved to safer ground -- some waste, like duplicate tests, is just waste. When the woman added that that the pacemaker had actually spared her mother expensive hospitalizations, the president looked relieved.
Fear that grand strategies for saving money and improving quality will supercede individual circumstances are not new, of course. They helped kill President Clinton's healthcare bill 16 years ago. The town hall last night was hardly a clear reflection of the national mood, and there is plenty of evidence in polls that the sour economy and skyrocketing health costs have significantly increased public demand for change. But the town hall also underscored the fact that the old fears have not disappeared.
As the president said, Americans "know they're living with the devil, but the devil they know may be better than the devil they don't."
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It is untenable that the ailing people who need to take some rest are forced to keep working, due to the employment-based system with no other choice, and overly high health care prices. It may be one of the reasons that America spends over $2 trillion annually on health care, and today 75 percent of that money goes to chronic disease, there are 133 million Americans with one or more chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, arthritis, hypertension and diabetes.
As seen in the case of swine flu, most of the patients who took some rest and care at early mild stage have got recovery avoiding deadly outcome.
The employment-based system in the U.S. with no other choice and overly high health care prices is similar to an automobile without 'a brake' or 'a safety system', which come at at price, yet is even better than a fatal accident.
Public and private schools across the world help each other, and to date, private insurers have coexisted profitably with Medicare and Medicaid for many years. As we know, public health and education are essential parts of life, in my understanding, health comes first. That is why all of the industrialized countries have public policy in place, I guess.
I think COMMON SENSE is the answer and that is Congress really need to be firm with Insurance Companies in lowering their costs.What's the use of government bureaucracies such as FCC and the rest if they don't do their job.If government wants to control healthcare then eliminate all nonsense that exists within the government bureaucrats and give the money to help private businesses help pay for peoples healthcare insurances.Trying to change the system is costly than simply policing insurance companies from overcharging the public if the government really do its job with honesty and real concern for the people in an everyday basis. If we know what we're doing we will not suffer and burdening ourselves and most often it's the little things that really need the helps not the whole system.
This is the wrong time for our country to try and tackle this. We've already spent TOO much money. Before we attempt to give every American (what happens to all of the illegals) we need to solve our issues with lawsuits and all of the insurance doctors need, with real tort reform. Then we need to make it easier to approve new medicines and lower the prices of drugs. Our culture needs to tranform and parents need to stress better diets and exercise to thier children. This will greatly reduce Heart Disease and other illnesses that incur the largest costs later in life.
Do we continue to cover illegals? California is broke and illegal aliens are largely to blame (health, human services and education).
If what's being proposed "shoved down our throats" passes our economy will be "screwed". This is not the time!
We have the best system in the world. Why do you think people from all over the world come here for care. The Brits are going aware from the failed socialized medicine experiment.
ABC and the other major media outlets are so impartial, biased and lacking objectivity when it comes to anything regarding the Obama Administration, that I will no longer watch thier slanted versions of the news. True objective journalism in this country by the major old media networks/outlets is dead. You are all like the old Pravda of the former Soviet Union. You should be ashamed of yourselves for not reporting both sides, positive and negative of important issues. You are not true journalists, but Democratic Party hacks!!!! Shamke on all of you!
The fact is that we, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), rank 27th in medical care and 36th in life expectancy. All the other nations up ahead have a government health care system.
The greatest health fear we have (with due credit to the President Obama), is the comfort or lack thereof we have versus the devil we don't know.
Let's give it a try. There are no shortages pf [hysicians to back up the system.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.
"In a single bill, lawmakers will attempt to regulate wasteful end-of-life spending, send more primary care doctors to medical school, prevent kids from getting fat, pay doctors in a more sensible way, eliminate inefficient treatments and cover 46 million uninsured Americans. Without increasing the deficit."
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!
That is funnier than any sitcom ABC has ever aired.
I have lived in Europe.. The BEST hospitals there, are equal to our worst. This is just fact. Please go and visit a VA hospital to see what happens when the state runs medical care. Oh, in Europe the rich people all go to private hospitals, which is what will happen here also. This is so nuts, and you people who support this will find out after its too late.
The citizens of the USA think nothing of sending a drone missle into Pakistan. Spend, Spend, Spend. This is good for the soul and patriotic self engradizment. This is a fundamental element for many. Yet, some citizens would begrudge a fellow citizen health care. Phrasing it free health care, Socialism, Communism, I got health care and you don't deserve it because you don't have a job that provides healthcare.......say what you will, but, in the end we pay for most everyone anyway. The USA is way behind the curve by world standards. Stand up for the basics of life, live life, there is more to living life in the USA than a tax cut.
The President did not stumble on one question - he flat out refused to answer it.
He was asked if a family member needed care, would he accept what the national plan had to offer, or use his wealth to buy better care outside of it. He would not pledge to use the state plan.
And of course, since he chooses to send his children to expensive private school in DC instead of the public schools - well, I think we all know the answer to that question.
The health care debate misses the real issue while allowing the emotional 46 million uninsured statistic distract us. The uninsured are about 15% of the population. Meanwhile the US spends double what other modern industrial nations spend on health care. The health care industry, congress and their news media toadies are fond of scapegoating uninsured patients for health care inflation. It's a myth.
Excess profits such as those of drug companies and their constant prime time TV ads is where a big piece of the health care dollar is spent. The double red tape of insurance company administration (and profit) along with providers having to deal with insurance red tape sucks up additional dollars. Less visible are the doctors groups who own and profit from testing, laboratory and surgical facilities in a nation of over tested and over treated insured patients. The high cost of end of life care along with senior citizens who snarf a dozen pills a day add to inflation. Increasing and dubious "preventive" testing adds to the cost.
Considering that about a third of health care spending is wasted on paper shuffling, marketing, overpaying executives, profiting shareholders, defensive and greed driven over-treatment. overpriced drugs, treatments and devices, if we cut half of this bloat and fat out we could insure all the uninsured while still wasting about 18%.