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"...working to fight healthcare..." When I heard those words come out of the mouth of the moderator for today's Republican healthcare roundtable titled "The Future of Healthcare in America," it was difficult to stifle the laugh. Now I know what you are thinking. The next word out of her mouth must have been reform. But no, you would be wrong. In fact the moderator made it very clear that they were doing everything they possibly could to fight healthcare. It is truly amazing, if more than a little predictable, that the Republican solution to the healthcare crisis is tax cuts and deregulation. The first speaker of the day kept repeating that "the Left doesn't believe that markets work." Apparently, these yahoos learned absolutely nothing from the stock market rollercoaster ride last year. The idea of a public option was repeatedly attacked. One presenter gave his reasons why it would be unfair to private insurers on a slide presentation that included the following gems: - The government would be able to set rates, but private insurance companies must negotiate rates.
- Private plans will be forced to accept all comers. They would be unable to manage risks.
Let's examine these one at a time. The first claim that private insurers must negotiate rates is just patently false. Ask your doctor or dentist if they have any control over what insurance companies pay them. The answer will be no. I had a recent experience with this one myself. My son needed his wisdom teeth pulled. I felt sorry for the receptionist as I watched her spend hours on the phone with my insurance company just trying to find out if the extractions would be covered and if so, at what rate. After several fruitless calls to my insurance company, she made an estimate based on another patient. Her guess was that my share would be around $1500. She called me later that day to let me know that it would only be about $500. Private insurers completely control what they pay to providers. Not only that, but each company pays a different amount. Insurance companies also dictate to the doctors and dentists what procedures they will and won't cover. For dentists, some types of fillings are covered, while others that are more effective and last longer aren't. The second claim (it was a long list, but I'm only going to address these two) was that private plans will be forced to accept all comers and won't be able to manage risks. What they are saying here is that private health insurance companies will have to cover sick people. That is kind of the point isn't it? I realize that is going to cut into their bottom line. But that is the real problem with the current system. Our current system is based around the idea of lots of people making lots of money off you getting (or not getting as the case may be) healthcare. This is one of the reason that the price keeps going up. Another reason our current system is so expensive is that providers now need whole teams of employees to process all of the different forms and filing procedures for all of the different insurance companies. A single payer plan that has been taken off the table would have addressed this problem. But, I guess we have to take baby steps or the heads of some of these Republicans will just explode. Speaking of exploding heads, the audience's questions were also quite entertaining. One woman was so hysterical that I thought she might have a heart attack before she got her question out. The gentleman sitting next to me who was clearly one of our guys whispered to me that she was one of those that obviously wasn't getting mental healthcare covered under her plan. Another guy on the front row made the comment that President Obama was trying to push through healthcare this summer before he gets killed. That one was kind of scary. It was especially scary considering recent domestic terror attacks like the assasination of Dr. Tiller and the shooting at the Holocaust Museum. So there you have it. For those of you who were wondering what the Republicans are saying about healthcare reform, I have just given you a summary of their thoughts. And as I said before, their solution is tax credits, deregulation, and of course privitization of Medicaid, Medicare and S-CHIP. You have to give them credit with sticking with the same solutions that have so horribly failed every time they have used them. Our moderator said it best when she said, "We're working to fight healthcare."
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