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Name:
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Barneget
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Subject:
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They Will NEVER UNDERSTAND...
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Date:
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8/3/2009 7:02:16 PM
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...why we wish certain initiatives of the current administration will fail. Check out the article, written by the lead Alabama Democrat. Pay particular attention to point #5.
Joe Turnham: Reform is only way to save health care system in America
Joe Turnham
Alabama Democratic Party Chairman
Published: August 3, 2009
In less than a decade, the Medicare Trust Fund will be out of money. Health care costs and the private premiums for insurance are rising much faster than real wages.
Today, more than 50 million Americans have no health care insurance and bankruptcies associated with the lack of health care coverage are rising exponentially. More and more seniors are being forced to take on credit card debt to pay drug bills. Rural hospitals and clinics are closing at alarming rates. The contingent liability of entitlements and federal obligations now tops a whopping $54 trillion.
Denial of insurance to a citizen based on pre-existing condition and the overall lack of portability of your health insurance dooms many families. Being laid off from a job not only means loss of income; but more especially, it catapults a worker into an unaffordable COBRA; or, more likely, means loss of a family’s insurance altogether.
Health care spending as a percentage of GDP is approaching 30 percent and is eating more deeply each day into America’s industrial competitiveness. While America still offers the best health care and medical research in the world, it is costing more and more to deliver. In short, our system is broken and to maintain the “status-quo” or to “nibble around the edges” of reform will likely paralyze our economy long-term and force dramatic rationing of care.
President Obama and many diverse leaders of Congress today are pushing a comprehensive health care reform package that will keep our system from collapsing and give our country a way to balance our budget within a decade and allow universal coverage. There are five committees (three in the House and two in the Senate) with legislative jurisdiction over health care. President Obama has set forth primary objectives for reform but legislative efforts are being made as Congress goes into its August recess to reach broader consensus on a package for September consideration.
I support overall health care reform and the Presidential and Congressional efforts. The broader principles of reform are as follows: 1) Front load investment in health care prevention and wellness instead of only on treatment. 2) Intensively manage chronic disease groups such as diabetes/obesity that account for the bulk of health care expenditure. 3) Make health care coverage universal without eliminating some for pre-existing condition. 4) Create cooperatives, or insurance pools underwritten by the government for those individuals that cannot qualify or afford private coverage. 5) Demand personal accountability and responsibility from each American relative to achieving and maintaining healthier lifestyles and habits. 6) Close loopholes in drug coverage for seniors and allow competition to lower overall health care costs. 7) Utilize technological innovation by computerizing medical records and bringing drugs to market faster. 8) Guarantee choice, portability and universal access to affordable coverage.
Polls show the vast majority of Americans believe that we cannot afford to do nothing on health care reform. When fully informed about the President’s plan, a solid 58 percent of them support his initiatives.
Blue Dog Democrats, Republicans and others will offer modifications that should be considered. The costs of implementing health care reform must be spread out and become revenue neutral through savings, innovation and new fees.
Recently, our state passed mandatory automobile liability laws. In the past, those of us with car insurance paid a line item for those who did not have it. We changed that policy requiring everyone to purchase coverage.
Those without coverage or with poor coverage are costing the system every day already. Shared responsibility through health care reform is our only way to save the healthcare system.
Joe Turnham lives in Auburn and is Alabama Democratic Party Chairman
Barneget's thoughts --
This is yet another example of Prius drivers writing the rules for the road. Like Mr. Turnham, I too support overall health care reform. Included among my concerns with the Presidential and Congressional efforts, is the broader principle of reform, highlighted by the Democrats, and included by Joe as point #5) “Demand personal accountability and responsibility from each American relative to achieving and maintaining healthier lifestyles and habits.“
At the risk of sounding like some right wing extremist, I am left with the following question—where do the Democrats begin to define intrusion? How much government intrusion is too much?
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