Comments on: Moveon.org’s 10 Things Every American Should Know About Health Care Reform

By: MikeB

MikeB — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 18:17:20 +0000

As a Brit, like the Canadians here, I’m amazed there’s so much fuss over such small steps, but its a start. Perhaps the best way to think about it is to paraphrase Churchill – ‘its not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning’.

Gwen – I had to find out if Reeves really was the grandson of the greatest ever Canadian, but alas its Kiefer Sutherland instead. On the other hand, Reeves’s father was a heroin dealer, so he was interested in pharmacology…

By: Mike Haubrich, FCD

Mike Haubrich, FCD — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 13:40:31 +0000

Nice try – still not satisfied that we don’t know how the bill will keep adjusters from denying payment until you run down to their cubicles and threaten to wring their necks. Had too many threats of being put into collections for charges I know and the insurance company knows they will pay. Eventually.

By: lawguy

lawguy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:23:54 +0000

I have been involved with politics for at least 40 years on the left. Sorry, I disagree with your analysis. What is happening is a major transfer of wealth from the middle class to the corporations that run our health “care” system. What happened was a decision by Obama to give mass amounts of money to these industries (secret deals anyone).

I’ll come back in a couple of years when the mandates and taxing of adequate empoyer benefits kick in. Tell me then how we are going get all these goodies improved upon when we had massive majorities and the momentum last year and got this. The nicest thing I can say about Obama is that maybe he isn’t a liar and corrupt maybe he is just incompetant.

It ain’t the cold water of reality, it’s the fru fru of wishful thinking. Real reform has been prevented for at least a generation.

By: kittywhumpus

kittywhumpus — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 12:08:49 +0000

Thanks, Greg. Just watched the signing ceremony, so we’re on our way. I agree that we rarely start with a perfect bill and then go on to run barefoot in a meadow of flowers. It’s a beginning.

Unfortunately, of course, America will be just a smoking hole in the ground soon as our democracy crumbles and the republic disappears due to this law, according to some very insightful white men with television and radio programs.

By: Rich Wilson

Rich Wilson — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:54:13 +0000

The punchline, gwen, is that health care in Canada costs HALF as much per capita as it does here.

Granted, part of that is due to the single area in which the US does stand out, and that’s in top of the line cutting edge stuff, which tends to be very expensive. Just think what would happen to those Canadian waiting lines if they DOUBLED their health care expenditures.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:37:03 +0000

catgirl: the pre-existing conditions thing will be phased in. Starting in 2014, pre-existing conditions can not be a factor. Full stop. Starting within three months of signing, pre-existing conditions for “children” can’t stop insurance. There are one or two intermediate steps from the initial state to the final state.

By: RodM

RodM — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 11:11:47 +0000

As a Canadaian I will agree Whole heartedly that I would not give up our Health care system for the one in the US. That being said, The US has now started to take the steps to potentially have a system that could be better then ours.

The Biggest complaint in Canada is the Wait time, Emergency Rooms have long waits and the time to see a specialist and get certain Tests take a long time. But in general this is with Non-Life Threatening conditions. The More serious something is the less wait there is. They key being that No-one gets turned away! Have there been instances that the long waits have caused problems? Without mentioning specifics I am sure that there has, but it is the exception not the Norm.

By: catgirl

catgirl — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 10:11:55 +0000

Health insurance companies will no longer be allowed to deny people coverage because of preexisting conditions

From what I understand, this only applies to children under 19. Can someone clear this up for me? Either way it’s a step in the right direction.

However, it is a huge relief to know that if I get cancer or some other expensive disease, I won’t get kicked off my plan.

By: bcoppola

bcoppola — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 09:55:27 +0000

Greg, thanks for throwing the cold water of reality in my face. Being one who sometimes whinged about the inadequacy of the bill I needed that!

It is, after all, a start. And as I like to remind myself, there’s more than one way to skin a cat. Disappointed that we don’t have a public option or single payer? As a recent NPR series on health care systems around the world pointed out, neither does (gasp!) “socialistic” France – their system is all private but highly regulated, and not based on fee-for-service. The French are quite happy with it.

Doesn’t control costs? Maybe the government doesn’t need to. Already, some large private, for-profit health care companies are putting their doctors on salary and paying only for successful outcomes, just as most health care economists say we should. So the much-vaunted “market discipline” might actually play a constructive role in killing the ruinous fee-for-service model that is the main driver of the cost spiral.

Now, if we can just fix that corporate welfare clause in the Bush prescription drug benefit that the Gov’t. can’t negotiate for the best deal. Hm…maybe if we did something to lessen corporate influence in government like…visit MoveToAmend.org.

Yeah, abolishing “corporate personhood” is my thing, and would strike at the root of a lot of problems.

By: gwen

gwen — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 03:53:25 +0000

The person who set up the Canadian system is the father or grandfather of Keanu Reaves (I believe I have the correct actor). This man was named ‘man of the century’ for this accomplishment. As much as Canadians complain about their system, they would not give it up for ours. Canadians live longer and healthier lives than we do, have a lower infant and maternal death rate. In fact, they beat us on nearly every bench mark on health, despite all of our superior technology.