Tag: health care

A ray of hope in the health care world

September 21, 2012 at 1:37 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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From a new report by the the wonks at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

The share of residents without health coverage fell in 20 states last year, Census data released yesterday show, while rising in just one. This improvement largely reflect increased private coverage among young adults — helped by a health reform provision allowing them to stay on their parents’ insurance plans until age 26 — and greater enrollment in public programs such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

In North Carolina the uninsured rate fell from 16.8% to 16.3%. And despite population growth and hard economic times, the actual number of uninsured people fell by more than 44,000.  

Hopeful sign: Presidential candidates agree that America has much to learn from others

July 31, 2012 at 9:39 amCategory:Uncategorized

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As this morning’s edition of the Weekly Briefing argues, Americans have much to learn from other countries in a variety of areas and healthcare is one of the most obvious. Happily, there are some small signs that maybe – just maybe – this truth is beginning to dawn on political leaders of both parties.

President Obama, of course, has made repeated allusions throughout the years to the need for America to do a better job of matching the performance of other nations when it comes to providing healthcare to the many while controlling costs much more effectively. 

Now comes word that, yesterday, his chief opponent, Mitt Romney, is embracing a similar argument. According to this article in the Washington Post, Romney heaped praise on Israel’s heavily regulated health care system — some might even call it “socialized” — for its success in controlling costs. 

Could it be that our nation’s leading politicians are finally finding some common ground on this critical issue?  It seems certain that many will portray Romney’s comments as a gaffe, but let’s fervently hope that he meant what he said and that it opens to door to further dialogue across the political spectrum on this critical issue. 

 

 

The right’s new official message to the uninsured: “We don’t care”

July 27, 2012 at 9:44 amCategory:Uncategorized

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The evolution of the American right has been a fascinating (and occasionally terrifying) thing to watch over the last few decades. On subject after subject, the officially approved views handed down from the corporate plutocrats to their ”think tanks” and hand-selected politicians have gotten more and more extreme. Lately, it almost seems as if there’s a contest on the right to see who can outdo who when it comes to violating former taboos.

Thirty years ago, Ronald Reagan talked about combating and controlling bureaucracy. Today, groups on the right are talking about doing away with government altogether. Similar patterns have emerged on other issues. From the environment to education to immigrants to womens’ rights to guns, modern conservatives regularly give voice to ultra-radical views that betray a deep-seated contempt for the fundamentals of the American experiment and that would have shocked American conservatives of the 20th Century.

Here’s another amazing case in point: The new, officially-approved conservative line on the fact that America’s health care system leaves tens of millions of people without health insurance is an unabashed “we don’t care.”

Reporter Julie Rovner of NPR explains in this story that was broadcast this morning.

A health care reality check

July 16, 2012 at 8:05 amCategory:Uncategorized

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In his excellent book, Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans health care advocate Wendell Potter tells the story of how seeing average citizens standing in line for hours to receive volunteer health care in animal stalls at a fairground helped wake him up to the reality of the American health care crisis/tragedy. There’s something about confronting the reality of hard working people forced to beg for charity that sends a very powerful message.

Dr. William Blaylock has clearly experienced the same feelings as Potter. As a practicing dentist and the head of North Carolina Missions of Mercy, Blaylock gets to experience the same phenomenon all the time. And, as he relates in this morning’s Raleigh News & Observer, it’s a situation that cries out for attention.

The bottom line is that as Medicaid rolls shrink, more of us will be forced into that ugly limbo where Read More…

Medicaid’s “tremendous impact”

July 13, 2012 at 10:01 amCategory:Uncategorized

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Believe it or not, I agree with Pat McCrory. Completely.

At a campaign stop on Wednesday, gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory joined  the likes of Texas Governor Rick Perry and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal in pledging not to implement the two most important part of the Affordable Care Act: state health exchanges and the Medicaid expansion.

His reason for opposing the Medicaid expansion provision? He’s afraid it will have a “tremendous impact on our Medicaid in North Carolina.”

Yes Pat, of course it will have a tremendous impact – that’s the point.

Presumably, what Mr. McCrory meant to say was that the expansion would have a negative fiscal impact on the state, ala the claims of other Southern Republican Governors in recent days. He would, alas, be as wrong as everyone else who makes this claim. Read More…