"We don't want the government to do anything."

That's the mindset of some folks, despite the fact the U.S. Constitution actually calls for government to manage things such as defense, domestic tranquility, etc. In a way, it's interesting - it's utopian:

I don't need anybody regulating the food I buy, I don't need anybody checking the efficacy of the drugs I use, I'm never going to need a fire-fighter or a policeman, I don't need roads and bridges maintained by some big agency, no not me, I'm fine with private "free market" solutions to everything, including education, defense, and immigration.

Call it a little naive, maybe, but... the sound bites seem appealing until you ponder little things such as: who deals with pollution in the streams you fish in, or how a family living in a hut copes with forest fires, hurricanes, or immigration (at least there'd be no more illegal immigrants.)

Read more... and Digg it!

Tom Hayes - Let's talk about euthanasia and abortion

Abortion is a proven "wedge" issue, in the finest tradition of Karl Rove's masterful divisive politics, and it's arguably being used that way again right now in the health-care insurance reform debate. The mainstream media is commercial, so they're far from immune from the effects of the money being spent to spin, shape, frame, and control this debate.

Most of us, frankly, have "good enough" insurance, and we all get to make the choice to keep our current system. In fact, of the 5 out of 6 covered Americans, fully 3 out of 4 of them say they're mostly satisfied. So let's be clear: this isn't about the majority, this is about the 1 in 6 Americans who aren't covered. 1 in 6 - that's not quite 50 million Americans.

Now, nobody's proposed socialized medicine - if they had the doctors wouldn't be mostly in favor of reform. But it's a tested sound bite that shaves off a few votes. Did you know they need more billing clerks at Duke Medical Center than they have nurses? Does that get through to the opponents of reform at all? No, apparently they're happier with it spun by lobbyists and CEOs than sticking with reality.

They dragged in euthanasia (which then echoed through the media) because "socialized medicine" didn't make as big a dent as they had hoped. So, too, with abortion. It's being dragged into the debate for the express purpose of derailing the whole package - undermining an honest debate about our values, and shaving off a few votes here and there. It's classic Rove/GOP/special interest "divide and conquer" in the face of Obama's attempts to make real improvements.

They hope we'll ignore that the leading cause of personal bankruptcy filings is medical expenses. Never mind that the number of uninsured Americans grows by over 10,000 people each and every day. No, no, don't fret about your neighbors who aren't as well off as you, that's not your problem - just keeping listening to the $pecial interests as they spend millions of dollars per day, raised by bureaucrats at companies who decide your premiums and what they'll cover or not cover, all to influence congress and public opinion. The bureaucrats who control our access to health care right now live rich, lavish lifestyles with no incentive to change the system, let alone to cover those who need it most.

More than half of personal bankruptcy filings are triggered by medical costs. Really.

Do you think this is about somebody else? Do you think everybody you know is really covered? Do you mind that most of the raises in the last three decades for low and middle-income earners have gone right into the pockets of health insurance profiteers, because premiums have been rising at triple the rate of inflation?

Lots of special interest money is being thrown at this debate, and it's up to us to keep the truth out there, because when people hear things like abortion, socialized medicine, or alleged euthanasia for senior citizens, many have a visceral reaction and stop thinking, let alone listening. Obviously, profits are at stake or the insurance companies wouldn't be spending all that money that might otherwise be going to control costs.

Are you still thinking?

Health insurance industry red tape hurts - it adds no value

It's time to put doctors and nurses back in charge of medical decisions. If you think government can't get anything right, ask yourself: has big insurance been getting health care right? No way.The insurance industry profits by taking roughly 1/3 of the money going to health care to pay for overhead while they overturn the decisions of doctors to pay executive bonuses.

Big insurance companies make so much money that they spend millions of dollars on lobbyists every year in DC, yet costs are outrageous and a disgraceful number of people don't even have coverage. Obviously there's big money working to keep the status quo or this would have been fixed decades ago. Instead of reform, instead of the kind of continuous quality improvement they apply to their internal functions, we get red tape - we get misinformation trying to label any reforms as "socialized medicine" while medical decisions are made by bureaucrats.

read more | digg story

Obama's single-payer health care beats socialized medicine.

Why all the fuss about single payer? Because nearly 1/3 of the health care dollar goes to overhead, currently, while Medicare keeps costs in the 2-3% range. Administering health care is something the U.S. government can do VERY efficiently compared to private insurers, partly because ad campaigns, salaries & bonuses aren't allowed to be outrageous.

The only ones who stand to lose are insurance companies and their overpaid execs - even doctors are on-board with this concept.

Do you know what the estimate is for the money that could be saved on paperwork alone? $350 BILLION per YEAR. On paperwork to keep the plethora of insurance forms filled out. All so non-medically trained bureaucrats can make decisions about how much to pay for medical procedures versus how much to pay the insurance executives.

Duke Medical has a ratio of one billing clerk PER hospital bed in their system just to cope with all the insurance forms and rules. That's plain got to stop.

read more | digg story