A periodic compilation of news items, diaries, videos, rants and outrages from Daily Kos and around the web to keep you abreast of developments in the movement for Single Payer Health Care.
Chart of the Day:
Most Inefficient Healthcare system in the world
This chart is from SocGen's Albert Edwards. As you can see, the US has the same life-expectancy of Chile at 7 times the cost.
More News, diary links, and updates below the fold.
In The News:
Senators Ron Wyden and Scott Brown have
introduced legislation that would move up the date for state to be able to apply for waivers of the Affordable Care Act from 2017 to 2014, so that "states, with a history of innovating new approaches to health care – like Massachusetts, Oregon and Vermont – could continue those efforts, while other states would have an opportunity to start innovating their own approaches."
Single-payer health legislation on the move in Vermont: The House Health Care Committee is scheduled to vote Friday, March 11 on H. 202, a bill that would set Vermont on path toward a single-payer health care system.
Meanwhile, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Strike Again:
Blue Cross announced they are once again raising their rates for Californians holding individual plans:
A year after Anthem Blue Cross created a public uproar by proposing rate hikes as high as 39 percent, the health insurer is at it again.
Many Anthem policyholders who buy their coverage as individuals say the company has notified them to prepare for another rate increase effective May 1. This would create a cumulative rise in rates in excess of 40 percent for some consumers in less than a year.
Note: Our own individual plan is increasing by 24% on May 1st, making our health insurance cost more than our monthly mortgage payment. Middle class squeeze, anyone?
In an audit performed by their own consultant, Blue Shield affirms their rate hikes of up to 59% are reasonable in the light of rising health care costs.
California's Insurance Commisioner Dave Jones disagrees, while March 3rd interview with NewsHour correspondent Spencer Michels Jones explains some of the difficulties:
DAVE JONES: Yes, medical costs are going up, but the national average increase in medical costs has only been about 5 percent per year annually. We’ve had 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 percent and more rate hikes year after year after year. It’s ultimately unsustainable.
SPENCER MICHELS: As California insurance commissioner, Jones has the authority to review rate increases for factual errors but doesn’t have the power to deny them, as in some other states. And that has sparked a big debate.
DAVE JONES: I think most Californians are appalled to learn I don’t have that authority, and that’s authority we’re trying to get through the legislature. What we have is, essentially, health insurers dominating the market, able to dictate whatever prices they want. And imagine if the same thing were able to happen in the electricity market.
Rant of the Week
In the entertaining and infuriating The myth of choosing your own doctor, Decrepit Old Fool challenges the pervasive trope that you won't be able to choose your own doctor under universal health care, noting that most insurance plans you already can't choose your own doctor, and if you don't have health insurance you won't be able to choose ANY doctor. The Decrepit Old Fool suffered an accident in which his injuries were covered-- except for four broken teeth which were considered "dentristy," leading him on one of those all-too-familiar odysseys through the rat holes and denials of the insurance-for-profit system.
I do wish someone would explain to me why teeth are not considered part of your body for health purposes. The connection between periodontal disease and heart disease, for example, is well-known... Your eyes are not part of your body either, apparently. Except my eye doctor does a number of general health screening tests when he looks at my retina. It’s very complicated, I guess we can’t be expected to understand.
Diaries You May Have Missed
You can always visit our home page
Single Payer California for a review of the latest diaries. While you're there, click the heart to follow us-- it's in that box over in the right hand column. If we missed a good diary just republish it to the queue of our page!
In
Why the Chamber of Commerce HATES Single-payer Healthcare, pmc6 wonders:
I've worked in (or near) manufacturing for more than twenty years and something has always puzzled me: why would a business want to pay for the healthcare of its employees?
In How Can I Help California OneCare? activist Daniel Roche lists steps you can take both online and offline....and one of them even involves beer!
Blue Cross Blue Shield CEO cashes in on resignation by Joan McCarter will raise your blood pressure as you contemplate this:
Cleve L. Killingsworth, who abruptly resigned last March as chief executive of the nonprofit Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, collected $8.6 million in compensation from the state’s largest health insurer in 2010.
In California message to insurers: Game over, bloodsuckers nyceve introduces us to California's recently elected Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. Jones describes the absurdity of the medical loss ratio:
"Every cent of every premium dollar that is spent on healthcare is actually viewed by these companies as a loss, which is not available to cover administrative expense, executive salaries and profits. The very term medical loss ratios which is used to assess the relative share of the premium dollar that goes to healthcare, is itself an extraordinarily sad commentary that it is being treated by an industry as a loss."
Daniel Roche offers A Lutheran Perspective on Single Payer.
james321 confronts another root cause in Greed: Why We Don't Have Single Payer Care.
Obama backs Wyden-Brown state waivers for Affordable Care Act by Joan McCarter gives us hope that states like California, Massachusettes, Oregon and Vermont will be allowed to adopt a public insurance system or single payer health care system by 2013 instead of 2017.
What Can YOU Do Right Now to Help?
Sign the Petition
urging California's Legislature and Governor to enact SB 810
and
Make a Donation
to California OneCare.