HEALTHCARE PROGRAMS NEED IMMUNIZATION
By Steve_in_KC on November 29, 2008 at 9:40 AM in Current Affairs
I’ve noticed a lot of Boomers in this crowd. Quoting Beatles lyrics, or reminiscing about where you were when you first heard John Kennedy had been shot. If this fits you, then I hope you remember President Lyndon Johnson’s “Great Society,” a collection of programs that had their roots in the Kennedy Administration. It was from John and Bobby Kennedy that came the seeds for Johnson’s hallmark achievements: the War On Poverty, the Civil Rights Act, and Medicare/Medicaid.
The Republicans still seethe about the “tax and spend liberals,” a phrase that harkens back to this period, and indeed to Franklin Roosevelt. If you take the combined programs of FDR’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society, you have the backbone of modern life in America, for which every American should be grateful and proud. It was a much under-appreciated era.
Democrats had planned to have another round of life improvement programs to implement after the elections. That’s unlikely now, with the economic crisis. Foremost among these programs was to have been a National Health Insurance plan for US citizens.
The Clinton Administration first tried to implement a national healthcare program, promoting it during the campaign of 1992, and making it nearly their first order of business in 1993. Bill Clinton stunned Congress and the media by announcing he was delegating promotion of the plan to his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton. I’m sure you all remember that!
“Rodham??? The First Lady of the United States is using her maiden name? Since when does the First Lady try to push a bill through Congress? Are you kidding me? Socialized Medicine!?!?”
Yes, NQers, despite our differences with the Democratic Party this year, there have always been valid reasons most of us are not Republicans. This is one of them.
For an easy-to-read timeline about the original Clinton Healthcare Plan, see http://www.pbs.org/newshour/
A National Healthcare plan has long been Hillary’s primary political issue, and of course Obama stole it from her and made it part of his campaign. I seriously doubt he can make it happen. Frankly, I doubt she could either. With record deficits and the economic meltdown, this country just can’t afford the luxury right now.
The need for a National Healthcare Plan lies primarily in assuring coverage for those who cannot afford private health insurance. The closest thing we have to fill that need is Medicaid, financed jointly by the federal government and the states, providing health insurance to more than 50 million low-income people. Obviously, if we don’t have a Universal Healthcare plan, we should at least expand Medicaid. But, just this month, after the election, there have been further cuts to Medicaid.
On November 8, this article appeared in the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
A few highlights from that article:
The Bush administration on Friday narrowed the scope of services that can be provided to poor people under Medicaid’s outpatient hospital benefit.
Public hospitals and state officials immediately protested the action, saying it would reduce Medicaid payments to many hospitals at a time of growing need.
The new rule conflicts with efforts by Congressional leaders and governors to increase federal aid to the states for Medicaid as part of a new economic action plan.
Matt D. Salo, a health policy specialist at the National Governors Association, said, “The new rule is consistent with the administration’s effort to squeeze, shrink and flatten Medicaid spending.”
Then, this article appeared November 26 in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
Highlights:
A new federal rule gives states sweeping authority to charge premiums and higher co-payments for doctors’ services, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to low-income people under Medicaid.
The rule, published Tuesday in the Federal Register, is expected to save money for the federal government and the states. But public health experts and even some federal officials predicted that many low-income people would delay or forgo care because of the higher charges.Under the rule, states can, in many cases, deny care or coverage to Medicaid beneficiaries who do not pay their premiums or their share of the cost for a particular item or service.
The administration acknowledged that “some individuals may choose to delay or forgo care rather than pay their cost-sharing obligations.”
Public health experts said such delays could cause serious health problems, requiring more expensive care at a later date. Many Medicaid recipients have chronic illnesses, use numerous prescription drugs and frequently visit doctors, so the burden of even modest co-payments can become substantial.
Some of the strongest arguments against initiating a National Health Insurance, or as the Republicans call it, “socialized medicine,” have been nonsensical declarations like “you won’t be able to choose your own doctor.” No, that would be HMOs. They always try to make it sound like all health institutions will be reduced to the level of the free clinics in slum neighborhoods. The truth is that the insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and associated businesses have a nice little cash cow going with the current system, and they don’t want it disrupted with government interference.
If we can’t have a national healthcare system, then we need to broaden the coverage of programs like Medicaid, and bolster programs like Medicare. If we can at least put more money into these, we can leave the private system alone, and those of us enjoying health insurance paid by our employers can continue unabated. We don’t need to overhaul the whole system immediately, but we do need to ensure that the poor, the disabled, and the elderly have affordable options for their healthcare needs. Medicaid and Medicare, along with Social Security, should be at the top of our lists as Sacred Cows, to be nurtured and expanded, not destabilized and reduced.
This is the first part of a longer article I am still working on. The next part will be about my experiences with poverty, and the debacle of how GWB’s Medicare Prescription Plan was rolled out in 2004, the pain and suffering it caused to many people as they lost the Medicaid Prescription Assistance, and my experiences playing a small role in trying to help those people who were most affected.
I look forward to reading your comments on this, and I am bracing myself for another barrage of OT posts about lawsuits over Obama’s birth certificate, Larry Sinclair, and Michelle’s awful taste in clothing.
by Ronald Scott
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