Health Care Reform ...

... is it to be???

In looking over some of what I wrote in the past year or so... or should I say in the few recent posts I made... seems that the health care reform debacle was a topic on my mind. It sure has made it to my Google "Shared Items" list a lot! Since I last wrote, both houses of Congress passed respective, internally conferenced and terribly flawed reform bills. In short, the GOP pretended to be in charge, had the various bills vastly compromised in the pursuit of "bipartisanship" and, like hookers when the dollars run out, left the johns sitting in the dark without even a kiss (or even the votes)!

Then again, given the pernicious influences of lobbyists (from the beginning!), big-time corporations and conflicted spouses, it is really hard to tell exactly who is the whore and who is the john during the entire health care reform process through the oh-so-dramatic Christmas Eve vote on the Senate floor. At this point, it seems the only people who are going to get screwed is everyone in this country who does not have health insurance now (legal citizens or not), those with modest employer-paid coverage (who are still bankrupted by a medical catastrophe), and, of course, the average taxpayer. Cui bono? Well, weep no tears for the fantastically wealthy who don't really need insurance anyways ("cadillac" plans or not) and will find a scummy ethically-challenged way out of any newly imposed taxes. Nor should one cry for the giant medical-drug-insurance corporations; they are already reaping outrageous fortunes for taking money, and guaranteeing profits by limiting payouts.

Naturally, John Stewart tells the sad saga in a much more compelling way than I could. Including the perfidious role our old friend "Droopy" has played.

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Of course, the existing health care "system" in the USA is an immensely complex, interconnected and sadly, profit-driven enterprise. It makes vast fortunes for a small number of Americans while delivering just about every possible health outcome. From stupendous life-saving emergency services, to equally miraculous life-extending surgeries and drugs, to stunning cosmetic makeovers and baby-making, our national health care system does it all. Yet somehow, it also lets some 4,000 Americans die each month because these people do not have the coverage necessary to partake in this wondrous "system."

Think about that. Four thousand a month! That's like September 11th every third week! And still our Congress serves up a melange of changes that will not fundamentally change the system that exists today (except perhaps to make every Citizen even more resentful of it).

Not so long ago, I discussed this whole health care issue with some friends. As part of that, I extolled the excellence of a couple of shows NPR's This American Life had done back in the fall. In the first (More Is Less), looked at why our country spends so much money on health care (because doctors are basically "pieceworkers"? Or because the patients demand unnecessary tests? Or because the hospital companies extort higher fees from the insurance companies?). It begins to flesh out for you, in a very easy to understand way (despite the David Frum cameo), just how multifaceted the health care "problem" actually is. The second show (Someone Else's Money) exposed the internal battles between big pharma and insurance companies (guess what, premiums go up to pay off pharma), the insanity of billing administration (and the overhead that must be paid), and the disgraceful dumping of insurance customers to protect the company itself (due to the cost-sharing predicament). Bill Moyers also did an episode called Money Drive Medicine which is well worth your time.

When you are done listening to these shows, you come away with the realization that complexity and unintended consequences is only part of the bigger problem -- and perhaps the result of what seems to truly be the problem. That is, the U.S. health care "system" is essentially ruled by three very large, monopolistic trusts (big hospital, big pharmaceutical and big insurance corporations). And, what is missing from any of the reform legislation awaiting conference in the Congress?? You guessed it -- regulation (or even busting) of these trusts.

Once again, everything old is new again. Unfortunately, unlike Teddy Roosevelt, our current President will not be taking up the mantle of trust buster -- he is much more of a McKinley it seems (does that make Rahm the new Mark Hanna?? he seems to fit the mold...)

So, is health care a "right" deserved by everyone?? Or is it a business, deserving its own freedom to generate profit?

This patriot pretty much comes down here: health care for everyone is a public good that requires public regulation. A utility so to speak. Everyone must have adequate health care to lead the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness bequeathed to us by our Founders. And, like having clean water or electricity, the "delivery system" is so expensive that it naturally tends toward monopolistic behavior which the forces of "free marketism" use to turn their customers into paupers if left unconstrained. Therefore, in the interests of all our good, health care "reform" should seek to push our present "system" towards the public-utility model. I will judge the merits of any final bill passed by Congress (this issue remains in doubt I think) based on the how much (or little) the reform does to move towards this model.

A New Post for a New Year

... or is it a new post for a new decade?

Whatever.

So those few of you who do stop by to read my ruminations know that I've been an infrequent commenter on the scene, a ghost who comments on what others write but rarely stands up and makes statements in their own blog. It's true; I've been pretty delinquent in posting my various thoughts about where we are today in our country, where we seem to be headed, and why we are on the course we are on.

The very interested wonder "why"?? Every now and then, I wonder the same thing. Is it too much work? Too many other commitments?? The burning out of the fires of "hope and (or for) change"??? Or simply boredom with commentary on the contretemps of the times????

Others simply shrug their shoulders and move on to the next blog.

The lack of activity here at this blog is probably due to all of the above and more. No doubt I am very unhappy, as are many, many other patriots, with where we find ourselves theses days. Heck, we can't even keep the few, mildly progressive and wholly patriotic appointments made by the new Administration. But yet, "Ben the Beard" Bernanke keeps his job and Wall Street tycoons fleece the rest of us (and each other every now and then). And we have to wonder what the heck this guy has been telling his boss in the wake of this abject failure.

Sadly, we've watched our new president stumble down the path of his predecessors, wading further into the big muddy of Afghanistan and failing to uphold his pledge to shutdown that embarrassing on us all, Guantanamo. To hear how unbelievable (or inevitable) these actions are, simply listen to how Bill Moyers brought to life LBJ's Path to War in a November broadcast. Sigh.

And don't even get me going on the debacle that is health care reform! It's even worse than it was when I last wrote. Apparently we have the best Congress that money and inherent conflicts of interest can buy.

I guess it is not surprising then that I've been silent. What victory is there to speak of these days? Heck, it is so bad that one has to take pleasure in the "morans" climbing to ever higher heights of astroturfed recognition -- so high indeed that they might complete the GOP's ideological purity firing squads in the fallout of the party's failure last year.

At least we've seen a couple of truly upstanding new Congressmen take the principled stands their constituents expect them to take.

And, I even hear Karl Rove is joining the rest of his right wing, family-values buddies in the ranks of the divorced! Maybe the next time he shows up on TV to extol family values, one of the punditry could ask him how long it will be before he marries again? Even that ever pompous windbag Rusty had some sort of medical problem while vacationing in exotic Hawaii that he doesn't want to talk about (too bad it wasn't fatal, but it would be karmic if it were Parkinson's; jus' sayin'). So, maybe things are looking up?

Anyhow, for those who do take the time to read this --- Happy New Year!!! Let's make 2010 a better one than last year --- whether we act individually, with our small circles of family and friends, or collectively. For, as I noted almost a year ago, we have a lot to do in our country and we are the ones who are going to get it done if its going to get done.

And you can bet I'm going to see this if it ever makes it to where I am at!


(PS - you'll note some admin changes to the look of the blog -- and several additions to my blogroll. I hope you'll visit those fine folks too.)