President Obama needs to add a few more things to healthcare bill, and he needs to address the status quo assertions more directly - in the fashion of the rapid respone teams of the clinton era and call out the silly season items for what they are and instead of using his political action money for ads, he just needs to do a daily briefing on directly responding to the assertion of the message machine of the day. Or even better yet, create his own message machine.
I believe the problems of healthcare information system upgrades, the need for preventative healthcare thru a medical home model of primary care and many other aspects like these are addressed nicely in the current healthcare bills. Even the need to reform some aspects of health ins. are included. They have addressed: being dropped for pre-existing conditions, and not having to pay unbelievable rates on various disease states are included in the present bills. These reforms are not enough.
There are glaring holes in the healthcare reform which are making the whole thing less than paplatable to the public. There should not be any sacred cows.
The American public needs to hear DAILY forceful defenses of the current proposals, but, now the President needs to fill the void and gaps in ideas on healthcare reform while the congress is on vacation. Don't let congress being on vacation mean that the president should cool it. Even while vacationing, if he can respond to the daily crap being thrown from the status quo, he can firmly prevent the death of this bill by correcting their lies and half truths. More importantly, the president can put in some very effective reforms which go along way towards changing the culture of our healthcare system while not costing the system too much more.
- MANDATE ALL INDIVIDUALS TO BUY MINIMUM COVERAGE HEALTH DISASTER INSURANCE. IN RETURN FOR THIS LARGER MARKET, THE INSURANCES CANNOT REFUSE COVERAGE OR JACK UP RATES FOR PREEXISTING PROBLEMS.
- MANDATE ON ALL EMPLOYERS, SMALL AND LARGE, TO PAY A PORTION OF THE HEALTH INSURANCE PREMIUMS. IN OTHER WORDS, NO FREE LOADERS; IF YOU WORK, YOUR EMPLOYER WILL CONTRIBUTE A MINIMUM AMOUNT, ENOUGH TO HELP YOU GET THE REQUIRED DISASTER INSURANCE, DEPENDING ON YOUR VALUE TO THE COMPANY, THE EMPLOYER CAN CONTRIBUTE MORE, BUT NOT CADILLAC AMOUNTS AFTER CERTAIN LEVELS, THOSE HIGHER AMOUNTS WILL BE TAXED. THIS WILL NOT RUIN SMALL BUISNESSES, IN FACT, ALL EMPLOYEES WILL GET COVERAGE AND SECURITY, ALLOWING THE ENTREPRENUERIAL SPIRIT TO COME ALIVE AND LET NEW SMALL BUISNESSES TAKE OFF FROM THE GROUND BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE A FIXED/EQUAL CHANCE OF GETTING A LOWER COST INSURANCE. THE SAME PEOPLE WHO WERE JUMPING UP AND DOWN ABOUT FAMILY LEAVE ACT AND HOW IT WILL PUT SMALL BUISNESSES OUT OF EXISTENCE ARE STILL NOT OUT OF BUISNESS!
- ABOLISH GROUP DISCOUNTS IN FAVOR OF BEHAVIOR DISCOUNTS IN THE SAME VEIN AS AUTO DISCOUNTS FOR VARIOUS SAFETY PARAMETERS. IN OTHER WORDS, IF YOU DON'T SMOKE, DON'T USE ALCOHOL, EXCERCISE REGULARLY, ALWAYS GET PREVENTATIVE CHECKUPS, DON'T USE DRUGS, ETC... YOU GET DISCOUNTS AS EACH OF THE ABOVE HAVE SHOWN TO BE SIGNIFICANTLY ABLE TO DECREASE RISK AND HEALTH CARE COSTS. THIS SYSTEM WOULD STOP THE PERVERSE NEED TO NOT CHANGE JOBS DUE TO HEALTH CONDITIONS. IT WOULD TAKE EMPLOYERS OUT OF THE HEALTH INSURANCE BUYING BUISNESS AND ALLOW INDIVIDUALS TO BUY THE PLAN THAT BEST NEEDS THEIR NEEDS NOT JUST CHOOSE BETWEEN AN HMO OR PPO PLAN FROM THE ONLY COMPANY THE EMPLOYER MAKES A DEAL WITH. THIS ALLOWS PATIENTS TO GET MORE RESPONSIVE INSURERS AS WHEN THEY ARE NOT HAPPY, THEY WILL HAVE THE POWER TO CHANGE THE INSURANCE COMPANY! FOR SMALL BUISNESSES TO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT WHICH HEALTH INSURANCE TO BUY AND TO HAVE A FIXED/EQUAL COST FOR HEALTHCARE ,EQUAL TO THEIR LARGER COMPETITION, THEY WILL BE ABLE TO ATTRACT BETTER WORKERS AWAY FROM LARGER CORPORATIONS AND ACTUALLY CAUSE A SMALL BUSINESS BOOM IN OUT COUNTRY.
- MALPRACTICE REFORM IS NOT EVEN HEARD OF FROM EITHER SIDE, IT NEEDS TO BE A PART OF THE MIX TO PREVENT OVER TESTING AND CYA BEHAVIOR BY DOCTORS.
- PRESIDENT OBAMA NEEDS TO EXPLAIN TO THE PUBLIC HOW MOST PEOPLE'S HEALTHCARE COSTS ARE HIGHEST IN THEIR LAST ULTIMATELY FUTILE DAYS OF LIFE, AND THAT THEY UNFORTUNATELY PASS AWAY IN A STERILE ICU ENVIRONMENT WITH TUBES GOING IN AND OUT OF THEIR BODY AS THEY PASS AWAY IN PAIN. MOST PEOPLE ACTUALLY HOPE TO PASS AWAY IN PEACE AT HOME WITH THEIR FAMILIES AT THEIR SIDE. ASKING THIS QUESTION AS A MATTER OF HEALTHCARE REFORM WOULD ALLOW PEOPLE TO PASS AWAY IN DIGNITY AS THEY WISH OR IF THEY PREFER, THEY COULD GO OUT SWINGING IN THE ICU. IT IS AN UNCOMFORTABLE TOPIC WHICH ALL PEOPLE SHOULD REGULARLY HAVE WITH THEIR LOVED ONES AND THEY COULD LET THEIR DOCS KNOW. MONEY SPENT DISCUSSING THIS MATTER WITH THE HELP OF A TRUSTED FAMILY DOC IS MONEY SPENT WISELY AS THIS HELPS THEM IN THEIR HOURS OF MOST NEED AND GIVES ALL CONCERNED A PATH TOWARDS PEACE DURING EMOTIONAL UPSET WHILE STILL SIGNIFICANTLY SAVING THE SYSTEM SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF MONEY IN UNWANTED PROCEEDURES. THIS IS AN ISSUE THAT COULD BE EASILY EXPLAINED TO THE PUBLIC AND YET THE HALF TRUTHS SQUAD AND LIARS ARE ALL OVER IT.
WITHOUT SPENDING A TRILLION NOW TO FIX THE SYSTEM, THE CURRENT MESS WILL COST OUR COUNTRY MULTIPLE TRILLIONS EXTRA YEARLY. THE NAYSAYERS SHOULD BE CALLED TO TASK AND GET THEIR VOTES ON RECORD. IF POLITICS IS THE GAME AT PLAY, THE DEMS NEED TO BEGIN TO PLAY IT. ONCE ON RECORD AS BEING AGAINST IT SKEWERING THOSE WHO VOTE NO WITH COPIES OF THEIR FINANCIAL BACKERS LISTED IN ADS IN THEIR RESPECTIVE DISTRICTS WILL GO OVER WELL WITH THE PUBLIC. FRANKLY, I AM TIRED OF HEARING ABOUT THE BLUE DOG DEMS, I WANT TO HEAR A NEW PHRASE, HOW ABOUT THE RED CAT REPUBLICAN MODERATES WHO ARE BRAVE ENOUGH TO SPEAK UP AND VOTE FOR WHAT IS BEST FOR THEIR CONSTIUENTS!!!
IF MR OBAMA DOESN'T SPEND HIS POLITICAL CAPITAL ON THIS NOW, HE WILL NOT BRING ABOUT THE CHANGE THE COUNTRY NEEDS AND HE WILL WAKE UP WITH OUT ANY POLITICAL CAPITAL LEFT.