If you are wondering why it is that every conservative solution to health care reform is more the same, it's because the RNC has no innovative ideas for making health care both more affordable and accessible to everyone.
They agree with us and say that the U.S. health care system is too expensive and doesn't work well. Then they proclaim their innovative solution, which is to be keep the current system pretty much the way it is.
Catch phrases like "Market Driven", "Choice" and "Health Care Rationing" frame the conservative mind set's attitudes toward health care reform. The RNC is only too happy to spew the same bankrupt ideas that have led to 47 million uninsured and 25 million underinsured people. It's led to people paying $12,000 per year for a family policy and then finding their deductible is so high they pay out of pocket for their health care anyway. They are clueless as to what they can counteroffer and are desperate to delay health care reform until they can get their act together.
The RNC fails to effectively address these issues:
The Market has driven health care costs beyond what the market can bear.
Insurance Companies (not the patient or their doctor) choose what care we receive.
U.S. health care is rationed solely by the health care consumer's income.
Cost Control
This is the single, most contentious point of health care reform. Virtually every group, including the RNC agrees that costs are too high, but how to lower them? Oh, there is no consensus at all on that point. The RNC cannot allow the Democratic Party to totally eclipse them on health care reform, so they came up with lots of words with little or no substance. At least they look like they are proposing something.
The RNC's idea of lowering health care costs is by getting the consumer to seek less care. They do this by promoting the idea that most chronic conditions can be prevented by "wellness" programs. They also want to "empower" the consumer to make wiser health care choices, (which I'll write about tomorrow) but they offer absolutely no details of how this can be done. All these ideas with no details adds up to diddly squat.
The entire RNC platform is phrased plausibly, but if past history of Republican action is any indication of future performance; their ideas offer up more the same dysfunction we have now. Starting today, I'll cover the RNC's health care platform planks on Chronic disease and continue tomorrow and throughout the week on the rest of what the RNC has to say on their web site about health care cost control and why their ideas are tired and useless.
:::: ::::
Chronic disease
According to WHO, chronic disease care comprises over 50% of health care costs. True, if you limit chronic disease, you will reduce health care costs.
Links to lifestyle
Seven leading risk factors - high blood pressure, tobacco, alcohol, high cholesterol, overweight, low fruit and vegetable intake and physical inactivity - account for almost 60% of all ill health in the Region. The leading risk factors are high blood pressure for death, and tobacco for ill health. Alcohol is the leading risk factor for both ill health and death in the Region's young people, experts stress.
These items, together, lead to poor health. Ok, we need to prevent chonic disease, but what are our public policies? More importantly, what is the Republican response to encouraging health and wellness? What public policy changes do they promote that will lower tobacco, alcohol and fat intake? What public policy changes do they promote to encourage personal exercise and higher fruit and vegetable intake?
The CDC has a chronic disease statistics, tracking tools and a cost calculator. They have publicized peer-reviewed evidence that working long hours is correlated with higher rates of heart disease. They also have studies on depression and anxiety. The CDC also promotes the idea that employers can have a great influence on preventing chronic conditions from the work place. (They must have done this while Bush wasn't looking.) We know what chronic disease is doing to our population, but we aren't stopping it.
We don't have an education policy that promotes physical fitness. Our educators don't require recess and we don't have effective physical education. We don't have enough, safe public exercise areas that are free or cheap to use. Our food stamp programs don't promote healthy eating habits. The Republicans will not propose a government program that will cost tax dollars to promote healthy living habits. It's against their "core principles" and part of their "Just say no" strategy.
The truth is the RNC is loath to suggest anything that would impinge upon business promoting their unhealthy products or restrict their unhealthy business practices. They also want to avoid having the government pay for effective chronic disease prevention programs. The RNC doesn't want to impede tobacco, alcohol or processed food companies from business as usual. The RNC doesn't want to create any restrictions that would require businesses to support their employees with getting adequate exercise, reduce stress or obtaining healthy food at the work place because that would go against their beloved, core principles.
The RNC is not about to negotiate with health insurers or pharmaceutical companies for drug pricing, which is how most chronic conditions are controlled, because that would impede the "free market". They will, however, negotiate with other countries to get them to pay more for their drugs.
The RNC's ultimate solution to reducing chronic condition care costs is to avoid having a chronic condition, which is good. If the choronic condition can't be avoided, then the sufferers should get the least possible care for full market prices and the consumer needs to pay for a significant portion of it themselves, which is the ineffective status quo.
:::: ::::
The reality is the the RNC wants to look like they agree that health care reform is important to do this year, when the reality is they would prefer to delay the reform until they can come up with a counterproposal that will sound good to their base; but ultimately will preserve as much of our current, costly system as possible. The RNC has no problem with the fact that the U.S. health care system rations care by your income. They will do whatever they can to keep our murder by spreadsheet private insurance companies intact and pharma free to charge us what they will. The RNC offers a shameless sham for health care reform. I wonder if their base will notice? I did.