Fear of a Black President

You tend to make personal attacks when you get in over your head.
I understand this is a liberal left wing trait, but you are better than that.

If it's not universal government health care, what is it and who pays for it?

The ProblemToo little is spent on prevention and public health: The nation faces epidemics of obesity and chronic diseases as well as new threats of pandemic flu and bioterrorism. Yet despite all of this less than 4 cents of every health care dollar is spent on prevention and public health.

Barack Obama's Plan
Quality, Affordable and Portable Coverage for All

* Obama's Plan to Cover Uninsured Americans: Obama will make available a new national health plan to all Americans, including the self-employed and small businesses, to buy affordable health coverage that is similar to the plan available to members of Congress. The Obama plan will have the following features:
1. Guaranteed eligibility. No American will be turned away from any insurance plan because of illness or pre-existing conditions.
2. Comprehensive benefits. The benefit package will be similar to that offered through Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), the plan members of Congress have. The plan will cover all essential medical services, including preventive, maternity and mental health care.
3. Affordable premiums, co-pays and deductibles.
4. Subsidies. Individuals and families who do not qualify for Medicaid or SCHIP but still need financial assistance will receive an income-related federal subsidy to buy into the new public plan or purchase a private health care plan.
5. Simplified paperwork and reined in health costs.
6. Easy enrollment. The new public plan will be simple to enroll in and provide ready access to coverage.
7. Portability and choice. Participants in the new public plan and the National Health Insurance Exchange (see below) will be able to move from job to job without changing or jeopardizing their health care coverage.
8. Quality and efficiency. Participating insurance companies in the new public program will be required to report data to ensure that standards for quality, health information technology and administration are being met.
* National Health Insurance Exchange: The Obama plan will create a National Health Insurance Exchange to help individuals who wish to purchase a private insurance plan. The Exchange will act as a watchdog group and help reform the private insurance market by creating rules and standards for participating insurance plans to ensure fairness and to make individual coverage more affordable and accessible. Insurers would have to issue every applicant a policy, and charge fair and stable premiums that will not depend upon health status. The Exchange will require that all the plans offered are at least as generous as the new public plan and have the same standards for quality and efficiency. The Exchange would evaluate plans and make the differences among the plans, including cost of services, public.
* Employer Contribution: Employers that do not offer or make a meaningful contribution to the cost of quality health coverage for their employees will be required to contribute a percentage of payroll toward the costs of the national plan. Small businesses will be exempt from this requirement, and will receive a new Small Business Health Tax Credit that helps reduce health care costs for small businesses.
* Support for Small Businesses: Barack Obama will create a Small Business Health Tax Credit to provide small businesses with a refundable tax credit of up to 50 percent on premiums paid by small businesses on behalf of their employees. This new credit will provide a strong incentive to small businesses to offer high quality health care to their workers and help improve the competitiveness of America's small businesses.
* Mandatory Coverage of Children: Obama will require that all children have health care coverage. Obama will expand the number of options for young adults to get coverage, including allowing young people up to age 25 to continue coverage through their parents' plans.
* Expansion Of Medicaid and SCHIP: Obama will expand eligibility for the Medicaid and SCHIP programs and ensure that these programs continue to serve their critical safety net function.
* Flexibility for State Plans: Due to federal inaction, some states have taken the lead in health care reform. The Obama plan builds on these efforts and does not replace what states are doing. States can continue to experiment, provided they meet the minimum standards of the national plan.

Lower Costs by Modernizing The U.S. Health Care System

* Reducing Costs of Catastrophic Illnesses for Employers and Their Employees: Catastrophic health expenditures account for a high percentage of medical expenses for private insurers. The Obama plan would reimburse employer health plans for a portion of the catastrophic costs they incur above a threshold if they guarantee such savings are used to reduce the cost of workers' premiums.
* Helping Patients:
1. Support disease management programs. Seventy five percent of total health care dollars are spent on patients with one or more chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure. Obama will require that providers that participate in the new public plan, Medicare or the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) utilize proven disease management programs. This will improve quality of care, give doctors better information and lower costs.
2. Coordinate and integrate care. Over 133 million Americans have at least one chronic disease and these chronic conditions cost a staggering $1.7 trillion yearly. Obama will support implementation of programs and encourage team care that will improve coordination and integration of care of those with chronic conditions.
3. Require full transparency about quality and costs. Obama will require hospitals and providers to collect and publicly report measures of health care costs and quality, including data on preventable medical errors, nurse staffing ratios, hospital-acquired infections, and disparities in care. Health plans will also be required to disclose the percentage of premiums that go to patient care as opposed to administrative costs.
* Ensuring Providers Deliver Quality Care:
1. Promote patient safety. Obama will require providers to report preventable medical errors and support hospital and physician practice improvement to prevent future occurrences.
2. Align incentives for excellence. Both public and private insurers tend to pay providers based on the volume of services provided, rather than the quality or effectiveness of care. Providers who see patients enrolled in the new public plan, the National Health Insurance Exchange, Medicare and FEHBP will be rewarded for achieving performance thresholds on outcome measures.
3. Comparative effectiveness research. Obama will establish an independent institute to guide reviews and research on comparative effectiveness, so that Americans and their doctors will have the accurate and objective information they need to make the best decisions for their health and well-being.
4. Tackle disparities in health care. Obama will tackle the root causes of health disparities by addressing differences in access to health coverage and promoting prevention and public health, both of which play a major role in addressing disparities. He will also challenge the medical system to eliminate inequities in health care through quality measurement and reporting, implementation of effective interventions such as patient navigation programs, and diversification of the health workforce.
5. Insurance reform. Obama will strengthen antitrust laws to prevent insurers from overcharging physicians for their malpractice insurance and will promote new models for addressing errors that improve patient safety, strengthen the doctor-patient relationship and reduce the need for malpractice suits.
* Lowering Costs Through Investment in Electronic Health Information Technology Systems: Most medical records are still stored on paper, which makes it hard to coordinate care, measure quality or reduce medical errors and which costs twice as much as electronic claims. Obama will invest $10 billion a year over the next five years to move the U.S. health care system to broad adoption of standards-based electronic health information systems, including electronic health records, and will phase in requirements for full implementation of health IT. Obama will ensure that patients' privacy is protected.
* Lowering Costs by Increasing Competition in the Insurance and Drug Markets: The insurance business today is dominated by a small group of large companies that has been gobbling up their rivals. There have been over 400 health care mergers in the last 10 years, and just two companies dominate a full third of the national market. These changes were supposed to make the industry more efficient, but instead premiums have skyrocketed by over 87 percent.
1. Barack Obama will prevent companies from abusing their monopoly power through unjustified price increases. His plan will force insurers to pay out a reasonable share of their premiums for patient care instead of keeping exorbitant amounts for profits and administration. His new National Health Exchange will help increase competition by insurers.
2. Lower prescription drug costs. The second-fastest growing type of health expenses is prescription drugs. Pharmaceutical companies are selling the exact same drugs in Europe and Canada but charging Americans more than double the price. Obama will allow Americans to buy their medicines from other developed countries if the drugs are safe and prices are lower outside the U.S. Obama will also repeal the ban that prevents the government from negotiating with drug companies, which could result in savings as high as $30 billion. Finally, Obama will work to increase the use of generic drugs in Medicare, Medicaid, and FEHBP and prohibit big name drug companies from keeping generics out of markets.

If it's not universal government health care, what is it and who pays for it?

Read the above post to yours on Obama's plan. You might learn something, although I doubt it.

Half-Black? Incompetent voters? I find those comments racist!

I have a feeling that you find everything racist.

His comments however, are not.





That being said, I don't agree with his post.

Well, she has waved her afro-topped wand over Cyclo on another thread and proclaimed him NOT racist. Waiting for the rest of the proclamations...

Universal health insurance does not need to involve government health care.

You can run a system where private insurance companies provide everyone with coverage. Everyone is obliged to take out insurance, but those who earn less than a certain income get it for a subsidized price. The insurance companies are obliged to insure them for the lower price at the same standard package others can get, but receive subsidies from the government to cover the losses involved. The rest pays market rates. (You could have a graduated system rather than a two-tier one too).

That way you still have a large free market, with competing insurance companies, so the standard market incentives where competition increases service etc would still work. Yet everybody would be covered, and the subsidies still wouldnt be as expensive for the government as running a nationalised health care system.

Systems like that work and have worked in other countries.

H2O, President Bush just signed a bill that will pay to help those with HIV/AIDS - all over the world. That's really "universal" health care in the literal sense, and our taxpayers are paying for it, even though most of the benefit will go to the people in Africa.

Do you understand what "inconsistent" means?

Maporsche,

I do hope you're referring to something more than Snood's posting 3337710, which sits two back from this posting of yours.

Bush signs historic global AIDS bill

Published: Wednesday, 30-Jul-2008


Disease/Infection News

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), hailed President Bush for signing legislation to re-authorize PEPFAR (the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief).

The measure, which was signed in a formal signing ceremony earlier today in Washington, increases funding for the successful global AIDS program from $15 billion up to $48 billion over the next five years. As a result, PEPFAR, which is likely to be among the President's most successful and lasting legacies, will save five to seven million lives over the next five years.

"Passage of this historic legislation is a crucial turning point in the battle to control AIDS around the world," said Michael Weinstein, President, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which provides medical care and services to more than 79,000 individuals in 20 countries worldwide. "Over the past several months, AHF worked diligently to persuade legislators to restore PEPFAR's priority on treatment. We take our hats off to everyone who helped ensure that this lifesaving global AIDS bill became a reality."

Standing O for President Bush. Good for him!

Agreed. I can't wait for the conservative response.

If they condemn Bush for it, they look stupid after trying to convince the left to think positively of him.

If they praise him, they are praising him for choosing non-conservative ideals.

*gets popcorn*

Of course, I guess the conservatives here on A2K can stretch "conservativism" to be everything good in the world and nothing bad. Typically with little regard for continuity.

I believe somebody (okie, fox or ican) thought that if you get what you need, if you don't deserve it, then even that is "greed." This of course was a rant about class envy or some other rubbish.

T
K
O

Yes, good on him.

Fear of a black HOAX for president?

You bet your ass!

I think that him signing it is a good idea, but I am wondering how you on the left can praise him for it and still be honest.

Many of you have said that Bush doesnt care, that he supports death, that he doesnt care about other people, etc.
Now, with him signing this bill, he has shown you to be wrong.
How do you reconcile the 2?

Mystery Man - It's easy. I care more about something good getting done than about any dislike for a person. It's never to late to start doing the right thing. For what it's worth, I've been following Bush's work on the AIDS issue in Africa for about a year now. He's actually done some pretty fine work there.

I like to think back to the Daily Show, and Jon Stewart made a pretty good joke.

He said he was very impressed with Bush's efforts, but was so conflicted inside: Am I excited, he's doing good things, or upset that he could have been doing them all this time?

For me it's simple. Bush still can fix his legacy. I'll be watching him after his presidency to see what he does. Maybe he will do some real good. Maybe this international program can begin to heal the rift he made between the rest of the world and the US.

It was simply a good thing to do as president. He doesn't need a reward, but I'll recognize him for it.

T
K
O

Honest? Who gives a damn whether the devil himself does good for the world? It still helps the people most in need for whatever their motivations.

I've always believed in universal health care for all Americans. I care less whether the folks in Washington DC are good or bad people, democrat or republican, who ply our floors of congress if they approve a universal health care for our country, because it benefits all of us.

I don't expect any less criminals in our government as in our general population; that would be unrealistic. I expect them to pay the penalty for crimes they commit. But I still expect them to care for the American People who votes them into office, and pay their bills. I don't think that's asking too much!

But the USA Constitution does not empower the Congress or the President to give away income from taxes to individual Americans. However, there is nothing wrong with private charities helping individuals buy health insurance they cannot otherwise afford.

If the federal government establishes a mandate that all who appear in the hospital emergency room must be served must also fund that mandate. When they create laws without the proper funding, hospitals go bankrupt.

What is it that is so difficult to understand?