The UK spends 1/3 less per person on health, has better University hospitals, better treatments in almost all areas of health provision and covers everyone. The battle for Healthcare will be difficult but Facts speak louder than lies.
Bloomberg the other day allowed a certain Betsy McCaughey to gabble on about healthcare.
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Republican Senators are questioning whether President Barack Obama’s stimulus bill contains the right mix of tax breaks and cash infusions to jump-start the economy.
Tragically, no one from either party is objecting to the health provisions slipped in without discussion. These provisions reflect the handiwork of Tom Daschle, until recently the nominee to head the Health and Human Services Department.
Senators should read these provisions and vote against them because they are dangerous to your health. (Page numbers refer to H.R. 1 EH, pdf version).
The bill’s health rules will affect "every individual in the United States" (445, 454, 479). Your medical treatments will be tracked electronically by a federal system. Having electronic medical records at your fingertips, easily transferred to a hospital, is beneficial. It will help avoid duplicate tests and errors.
But the bill goes further. One new bureaucracy, the National Coordinator of Health Information Technology, will monitor treatments to make sure your doctor is doing what the federal government deems appropriate and cost effective. The goal is to reduce costs and "guide" your doctor’s decisions (442, 446). These provisions in the stimulus bill are virtually identical to what Daschle prescribed in his 2008 book, "Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis." According to Daschle, doctors have to give up autonomy and "learn to operate less like solo practitioners."
http://www.bloomberg.com/...
Wow - they already have a website - that was quick
http://www.hhs.gov/...
and a Director.
Oh no it was not quick. The agency already existed. The whole basis of the story was a lie.
What she does not reveal and nor does Bloomberg, is that Betsy is a paid lobbyist for the healthcare industry. So there are obvious reasons why this Dirty Republican would be pushing scare stories.
Huffington & Keith O take her down a peg or three.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
This is what the Agency does
Health Information Technology
Health information technology (Health IT) allows comprehensive management of medical information and its secure exchange between health care consumers and providers. Broad use of health IT will:
* Improve health care quality;
* Prevent medical errors;
* Reduce health care costs;
* Increase administrative efficiencies;
* Decrease paperwork; and
* Expand access to affordable care.
Interoperable health IT will improve individual patient care, but it will also bring many public health benefits including:
* Early detection of infectious disease outbreaks around the country;
* Improved tracking of chronic disease management; and
* Evaluation of health care based on value enabled by the collection of de-identified price and quality information that can be compared.
Do the Republicans give up? No they twist the scare story to make it worse.
http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com/... /
This Republican claims that the Institute will make life or death decisions and that the old will be left to die. It presents the a very basic, although stupid, argument of what is to come when health care reform is going to be debated.
Treatments will be "monitored" to make sure you don’t cost the government too much money if you are sick, Comrade.
Especially if you are kind of old. You know how old and disabled people are just such a drain on communist societies. Some leaders even eliminated them in the past. What was that guy’s name again?
Why did I pick on this Republican, when there are so many others that could have been highlighted?
This one claims to have been a Hillary supporter and promotes itself as a PUMA. The irony is she got her story from is the Republicans that stopped Universal Helthcare so many years back and ran a campaign of lies and misinformation not just against universal health care, but also Hillary Clinton. Now this PUMA is doing the bidding of that very Republican.
Our Senators may do the same. The Insurance lobby must not be under estimated. They will lobby massively. We need to remind them that the voters gave us a Democratic Senate, House and President to solve a health care crisis that has left a population the size of a Nation, within a Nation without health
That part is secondary. The Republicans will argue that Universal Health Care leaves people with only basic health care and no access to the Doctor of their choice.
Lies.
Have a proper look at the UK NHS. The UK spends far less per person than the US Medicare system. Overall UK expenditure on health care is 1/3 less as a percentage spend of the GDP than the US and they have a higher life expectancy.
Preventative health care is provided.
Weight management clinics - check
chiropractic clinics - check
podiatry clinics (chiropodists)- check
smoking cessation (most definitely)
free flu jabs for the elderly - check
Choice in hospitals. Check.
A GP able to visit you in your home. Check
A target of 3month wait for the most minor of operation; soon to be reduced to one.
Not bad. And if you want private health care you can get it. For example www.bupa.co.uk and their comprehensive cover is far far cheaper than that of the US as they have to compete against free at the point of use.
As for what medical procedure is decided - Doctors decide. Always. There may be arguments about particular drugs, especially new ones, but a specialist body is responsible for resolving those. (Called NICE).
I would argue we have the better University Hospitals and better medical research. Competition between hospitals (patients are allowed to choose which hospital they want to go to) means machinery is advanced, not just up to date.
The NHS is a perfect example of good well run universal health care. When Republicans say that it will go bad, it means they will make it go bad as it is not Government that is bad, it is simply that they have no idea how to run good government.
As for any examples of Daily Mail scare stories they throw at you about patients being left on trolleys (these are mobile beds not supermarket trolleys), for hours, awaiting treatment. They are at least awaiting treatment. They will be seen. They will be treated. These stories come from Accident & Emergency Rooms. Where people have grazed their knee to hacked off an arm. Very serious injuries are seen immediately. Less serious injuries are seen within 2 to 4 hours. That is a much much better situation than someone not being treated AT ALL because they have no insurance.
Some final food for thought, should health cover be left to the Insurance Companies, when they themselves are in intensive care? How long should American companies have to provide health care for their employees, when other Nations see the provision of decent health care, free at the point of use as a function of general taxation. Look at how well the Car Industry is doing.