PIED TYPE
health care reform
Stupak: canary in the coal mine
On the Chris Matthews Show this morning, the panelists seemed to think the Stupak Amendment is not a big deal because a relatively small number of women have abortions every year and the Democrats are trying to bring health care to millions. What planet are they living on? Who are they listening to? Stupak is … Continue reading
Health reform: Big Pharma escaping again
I’ve written before about the evils of Big Pharma and expressed my outrage at President Obama’s behind-the-scenes deal to leave Big Pharma’s big profits out of the planning for health care reform. But until now, I’d only seen bits and pieces of the total picture. Now comes David Evans at Bloomberg.com, with his excruciatingly detailed … Continue reading
Late amendment strips abortion coverage
The Stupak-Pitts Amendment, an eleventh-hour addition to the health care reform bill passed yesterday by the U.S. House, prevents any plans in the proposed health insurance exchange from receiving federal subsidies if they cover abortion, and prohibits abortion coverage in the new public option. In other words, millions of women will be denied coverage for … Continue reading
Antitrust laws: health insurance exempt
I was surprised this week to learn that health insurance companies and medical malpractice insurance companies have a special exemption from federal antitrust laws. Say what? For at least the second time in my lifetime, Congress is turning itself inside out grappling with the health insurance / health care crisis, and the whole time this … Continue reading
Reconsidering health care reform
Health care reform has dominated the headlines for months and frankly, I’d pretty much burned out on listening to the furor. After all, when push comes to shove, I have no vote on the final bill anyway. I’d decided that yes, some reforms were certainly in order, and maybe a public option was a good … Continue reading
Obama speaks, nothing changes
Tonight Pres. Obama delivered his make-or-break speech on health care reform to a Joint Session of Congress. While it was a good speech, concluding with a previously undisclosed letter he’d received from Sen. Ted Kennedy, I doubt it changed any minds in Washington. And, after witnessing the idiocy of some American adults in regard to … Continue reading
Huckabee is despicable
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, a moderate Republican presidential candidate last year, has been running hard to the right ever since. He seemed like such a nice, reasonable guy back then. He almost had me suckered, until I found out he was a creationist. Anyone who believes that is an immediate no-go with me. Now … Continue reading
Do it right the first time
I’ve been watching the Sunday morning talk shows, and naturally health care reform is the favorite topic. Ideas swirling today: Doctor Shortage On Andersen Cooper, they got around to the shortage of primary care physicians. Sanjay Gupta noted that even in Massachusetts, where something like 97% of the people now have health care coverage, there … Continue reading
But where are the doctors?
Health care reform talks are ignoring a basic problem — the worsening doctor shortage. Continue reading
Obama backs off public option
The latest news on health care reform seems to be that Obama is willing to drop his plan for a public option. Call me cynical, but my first thought was, “Terrific. It wasn’t enough that he sold out to the pharmaceutical companies. Now he’s caving to the insurance industry, too!” The insurance companies, you see, … Continue reading
Health care reform: Mass fail
Mitt Romney appeared on one of today’s Sunday morning talk shows and was bragging yet again about the great success of the state health care plan instituted when he was governor of Massachusetts. Considering the current debate in Congress over health care reform, his comments were particularly galling and more than a little misleading. The … Continue reading
Psst, want to buy a bridge?
*** Rant Warning *** What to do about health care costs. What to do … I got an email today from Senators Leahy, Durbin, and Schumer asking me to sign their petition supporting a public option for health insurance. (Apparently the DNC just cannot accept that my buying an Obama bumper sticker last fall does … Continue reading
Health care reform? In your dreams
So now the American Medical Association has come out against public health insurance. They were, if you’ll recall, one of the groups that rushed to sign a letter to Pres. Obama saying how supportive and helpful they planned to be during this latest effort to reduce America’s health care costs. And a public health insurance … Continue reading
McCaughey off the mark on stimulus bill
Monday I wrote about Betsy McCaughey’s Bloomberg commentary on health care provisions in the stimulus bill. Based on what she said, I grew quite concerned about the future of my health care in particular. Since then, I’ve tried to confirm what McCaughey said, primarily by looking up text of the bill so I could read … Continue reading
Health care reform hiding in stimulus bill
[Note: Apparently the link to the McCaughey story referenced below was broken when this entry was posted. The problem has been corrected and I apologize to my readers.] Barack Obama and I may be about to part company over the stimulus bill currently being debated in Congress. Not all of it. Just the parts that … Continue reading
Beware playing games with our health care system
At last, a sensible approach to the health care crisis in the U.S. City Journal has posted an article, “Mandates Are Not the Answer,” by David Gratzer, a physician, and Paul Howard, a medical editor, who understand the fix we need is not as simple as the presidential candidates propose. Our health care system didn’t … Continue reading
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