Letter to the President (and Others) Regarding Healthcare
Dear President Obama,
I am writing to you in support of, and in anticipation of, serious and true reform of the healthcare (i.e., insurance) industry. First, I should admit up front that I’m unabashedly in favor of abolishing the for-profit administration of healthcare, and replacing that broken model with a single-payer system. Reportedly, you are as well.
The elected officials (particularly Democrats) in the legislature are calling out for leadership and direction from you on this issue. Including my House representative (Allen Boyd) and Democratic senator (Bill Nelson), who are copied on this letter. You could start by making one thing clear to them, perhaps during your address to the joint session of Congress next week: The so-called “Public Option” IS the compromise.
The whole concept of for-profit healthcare is abhorrent. This isn’t an issue of using profit as a motive to spur innovation. What’s innovative about finding new ways to say “no” to people’s medical claims? The healthcare insurance companies are being paid more and more each year to provide less and less service. They decrease their reimbursements for routine treatments, narrow their lists of approved treatment options, increase deductibles, and minimize the rates they pay providers for treatment. Maybe this thinking is where their “innovation” comes in. And these issues only address people with health insurance. What about the tens of millions with no insurance at all (many of those likely with the stigma of “pre-existing conditions” that prevent enrollment).
The post-9/11, frontier mentality that America does everything better——be it ideas, technology, or general creativity——is holding us all hostage. No-one wants to be challenged with new ideas or possibilities, or troubled with facts. You’ve seen the polls; many Americans are wary of any “government option” but, upon learning the details of what’s actually being proposed, they’re overwhelmingly in support of it. Sure, your poll numbers are dropping. Perhaps it’s a combination of people (the ill- or under-informed) concerned that you’re going to take their healthcare away, and people (like me) concerned that you’re not going to do enough to fix the legion of problems.
You’ve also seen the stats:
• The United States has the highest medical costs, as a percentage of its GDP, of any industrialized nation. And, yet, 15% of its citizens have no health coverage at all.
• The United States has a lower life expectancy (lowest, actually) and a higher infant mortality rate (er, highest) when compared to the same industrialized nations.
• The United States is the only industrialized nation to have “for-profit” healthcare. Even supplemental insurance (over and above what’s provided by the government) in European countries must be (mandated) as not-for-profit.
The healthcare company executives and lobbyists are afraid of any reform that would cut into (or effectively eliminate) their profits. And that such reform would actually be proven far more successful and satisfying than the situation in which we collectively find ourselves. To be sure, these executives and lobbyists are privately surprised we’ve allowed them to operate like this for so long.
The “Public Option” is just that, an option. It’s not a government takeover. Hell, it’s not even an option for those of us with employer-provided health coverage. If it’s established and proven successful, the façade of superior health-management by the private sector will fall away.
Thank you for your attention, and good luck Wednesday night.
I am writing to you in support of, and in anticipation of, serious and true reform of the healthcare (i.e., insurance) industry. First, I should admit up front that I’m unabashedly in favor of abolishing the for-profit administration of healthcare, and replacing that broken model with a single-payer system. Reportedly, you are as well.
The elected officials (particularly Democrats) in the legislature are calling out for leadership and direction from you on this issue. Including my House representative (Allen Boyd) and Democratic senator (Bill Nelson), who are copied on this letter. You could start by making one thing clear to them, perhaps during your address to the joint session of Congress next week: The so-called “Public Option” IS the compromise.
The whole concept of for-profit healthcare is abhorrent. This isn’t an issue of using profit as a motive to spur innovation. What’s innovative about finding new ways to say “no” to people’s medical claims? The healthcare insurance companies are being paid more and more each year to provide less and less service. They decrease their reimbursements for routine treatments, narrow their lists of approved treatment options, increase deductibles, and minimize the rates they pay providers for treatment. Maybe this thinking is where their “innovation” comes in. And these issues only address people with health insurance. What about the tens of millions with no insurance at all (many of those likely with the stigma of “pre-existing conditions” that prevent enrollment).
The post-9/11, frontier mentality that America does everything better——be it ideas, technology, or general creativity——is holding us all hostage. No-one wants to be challenged with new ideas or possibilities, or troubled with facts. You’ve seen the polls; many Americans are wary of any “government option” but, upon learning the details of what’s actually being proposed, they’re overwhelmingly in support of it. Sure, your poll numbers are dropping. Perhaps it’s a combination of people (the ill- or under-informed) concerned that you’re going to take their healthcare away, and people (like me) concerned that you’re not going to do enough to fix the legion of problems.
You’ve also seen the stats:
• The United States has the highest medical costs, as a percentage of its GDP, of any industrialized nation. And, yet, 15% of its citizens have no health coverage at all.
• The United States has a lower life expectancy (lowest, actually) and a higher infant mortality rate (er, highest) when compared to the same industrialized nations.
• The United States is the only industrialized nation to have “for-profit” healthcare. Even supplemental insurance (over and above what’s provided by the government) in European countries must be (mandated) as not-for-profit.
The healthcare company executives and lobbyists are afraid of any reform that would cut into (or effectively eliminate) their profits. And that such reform would actually be proven far more successful and satisfying than the situation in which we collectively find ourselves. To be sure, these executives and lobbyists are privately surprised we’ve allowed them to operate like this for so long.
The “Public Option” is just that, an option. It’s not a government takeover. Hell, it’s not even an option for those of us with employer-provided health coverage. If it’s established and proven successful, the façade of superior health-management by the private sector will fall away.
Thank you for your attention, and good luck Wednesday night.
posted by Scott-san at 10:20 AM
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