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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (13161)	1/22/2010 3:52:01 PM
From: Lane3	2 Recommendations Respond to of 42652

If you talk Medicare "cuts," you get an immediate and violent reaction. So far trying to whittle down Medicare has been done by squeezing the providers. There's only so much you can do with that and I don't think there's any more opportunity there. There are things you can do to Medicare that won't come across as cuts. One is the old fraud and abuse chestnut. There's opportunity there. Another is what I think of as rather like featherbedding. Would you believe I have had three EKGs in the last year and will be getting my fourth soon? Would you believe that there's nothing wrong with my heart and never was? At least three of them were a total waste of money, seems to me. Medicare required two of them as a prerequisite to other procedures. Stuff like that can be stopped. If you want to politicize them you can like they did with the mammogram thing but if the sides can agree to restrain themselves from making political hay, there's opportunity there. You'd need a genuine bipartisan effort to do that. The other opportunity I see is to move the approach away from fee for service. Medicare Advantage could offer HMO type programs at a reduced cost. Lots of people would go for the value of that. Right now the premiums remain the same so there isn't much incentive to shift. And then there's the automation thing. Someone should know that I had 4 EKG's sans heart problem and be able to exercise some judgment.

To: TimF who wrote (13161)	1/22/2010 11:22:03 PM
From: Little Joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 42652

It is amazing to me that despite the fact that there is 60 billion dollars a year in medicare fraud. cbsnews.com there is no attempt by either party to address this problem. It boggles my mind. If either party put forth a bill to address the issue, it woud be popular, really help to bring down health care costs, help to reduce the deficit, etc.. What are they thinking? lj

To: TimF who wrote (13161)	3/15/2010 8:55:37 AM
From: Peter Dierks	2 Recommendations Respond to of 42652

Swing Districts Oppose Health Reform Sobering poll news for 35 key House members. MARCH 15, 2010. By HEATHER R. HIGGINS AND KELLYANNE E. CONWAY House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she plans to bring health-care reform to a vote this week. Democratic leaders cite national polls that show support for individual provisions of the bill as a reason to pass this reform. Yet vulnerable politicians should be warned: Responses to questions about individual benefits, particularly when removed from a cost context, are different from those on the whole bill. Voters in key congressional districts are clear in their opposition to what they have seen, read and heard on health-care reform. That's one of the findings of a survey that will be released today by the Polling Company on behalf of Independent Women's Voice. The survey consisted of 1,200 registered voters in 35 districts represented by members who could determine the outcome of the health-care debate. Twenty of those members voted for the House bill in November but now may be reconsidering. Fifteen voted against the bill but are under tremendous pressure to change their vote. The survey shows astonishing intensity and sharp opposition to reform, far more than national polls reflect. For 82% of those surveyed, the heath-care bill is either the top or one of the top three issues for deciding whom to support for Congress next November. (That number goes to 88% among independent women.) Sixty percent want Congress to start from scratch on a bipartisan health-care reform proposal or stop working on it this year. Majorities say the legislation will make them and their loved ones (53%), the economy (54%) and the U.S. health-care system (55%) worse off—quite the trifecta. Seven in 10 would vote against a House member who votes for the Senate health-care bill with its special interest provisions. That includes 45% of self-identified Democrats, 72% of independents and 88% of Republicans. Three in four disagree that the federal government should mandate that everyone buy a government-approved insurance plan (64% strongly so), and 81% say any reform should focus first on reducing costs. Three quarters agree that Americans have the right to choose not to participate in any health-care system or plan without a penalty or fine. That translates into specific concerns with the Senate legislation—and none of these objections would be addressed by the proposed fixes. Over 70%—indeed in several districts over 80%—of respondents, across party lines, said that the following information made them less supportive: the bill mandates that individuals purchase insurance or face penalties; it cuts Medicare Advantage; it will force potentially millions to lose existing coverage; it will cost an estimated $2.3 trillion over its first 10 years; and it will grant unprecedented new powers to the Health and Human Services secretary. Should members from these districts and those like them be concerned? Yes. Walking the Democratic line now means walking the plank. Sixty percent of the voters surveyed will vote for a candidate who opposes the current legislation and wants to start over. What about passing the Senate bill and then fixing problems via reconciliation, a process that could allow Congress to pass a second health-care bill with a simple Senate majority? Sixty-three percent (50% strongly) think reconciliation is at best a political promise and their congressman shouldn't vote for the Senate bill if he doesn't agree with it as written. But the survey does provide a little good news for wavering Democrats. A congressman can buy himself a little grace if he had previously voted for health-care reform but now votes against it. Forty-nine percent of voters will feel more supportive of that member if he does so, 40% less supportive. More dramatically, 58% of voters say they will be more supportive of their congressman's re-election if he votes against the bill a second time. However, for those members who voted against it in November and vote yes this time, 61% of voters say they will be less likely to support their re-election. Over a third of respondents say they will actively work against a candidate who votes the wrong way or for the candidate who votes the right way. Perhaps that's because dramatic pluralities of both sexes—young people, seniors and independents, regardless of whether John McCain or Barack Obama carried the district in 2008—say that if the legislation doesn't pass they will be relieved. These are the constituents of the members whose votes will matter most this week. Perhaps, if this republic is still the people's, those members should heed those they claim to represent. Ms. Higgins runs Independent Women's Voice. Ms. Conway is president and CEO of the Polling Company, inc./WomanTrend. Poll results will be available after 11 a.m. Monday at www.iwvoice.org. online.wsj.com