Iowa!
Over the past few days the Des Moines Register has printed a series of articles that look at how "Iowans are struggling to pay for health insurance and worrying about losing government-paid care. Their stories show how the nation's dysfunctional health-care system creates hardships for ordinary hard-working Iowans." Today, the newspaper's editorial board squarely advocates a single-insurer solution as "A system that works for America."
The articles in this series provide a thoughtful and useful approach to the issues. According to "Four approaches to reform," the solution we in PHNP support would provide more than triple the savings of the other proposals. In "Canada's system offers lessons for Americans" Andie Dominick concludes that "America could learn a lot from countries such as Canada — what does work and what doesn’t. But mostly we could learn from the basic principle behind the health-care system in every other industrialized country: Provide everyone with basic health care."
The following is a sidebar to today's editorial in the Des Moines Register:
"MYTHS AND TRUTHS
Opponents to a taxpayer-financed system that covers everyone use scare tactics to resist change. Some of their common themes:
• Government-financed care would be socialism. America should rely on a free-market economy.
The truth: There is no true free market in many aspects of health care.
There is no free market when the government is a huge purchaser of services and when insurance companies do the buying for individuals. There is no free market when many workers can afford to purchase only the health insurance their employers offer. There is no free market when complex billing systems make it virtually impossible for an individual to shop for the best quality and price.
• There would be rationing of care.
The truth: That one isn't a myth. The myth is that there's no rationing now. Private insurance companies are the epitome of organizations that ration. They don't cover some drugs, some doctors, some services. And there's no greater rationing than leaving millions of people uninsured.
• Canada has universal care and its system is failing.
The truth: Every country has problems with its health-care system, and Canada is no exception. But nearly the same percentages of Canadians as Americans rate their health-care system as excellent.
• The government would be making my health decisions for me.
The truth: Medicare, a tax-financed system of care for seniors, allows enrollees to choose to visit doctors and hospitals that accept Medicare. People still have the right to make their own health-care decisions. Certain procedures aren't covered, but that's no different from private-sector health insurance."
The articles in this series provide a thoughtful and useful approach to the issues. According to "Four approaches to reform," the solution we in PHNP support would provide more than triple the savings of the other proposals. In "Canada's system offers lessons for Americans" Andie Dominick concludes that "America could learn a lot from countries such as Canada — what does work and what doesn’t. But mostly we could learn from the basic principle behind the health-care system in every other industrialized country: Provide everyone with basic health care."
The following is a sidebar to today's editorial in the Des Moines Register:
"MYTHS AND TRUTHS
Opponents to a taxpayer-financed system that covers everyone use scare tactics to resist change. Some of their common themes:
• Government-financed care would be socialism. America should rely on a free-market economy.
The truth: There is no true free market in many aspects of health care.
There is no free market when the government is a huge purchaser of services and when insurance companies do the buying for individuals. There is no free market when many workers can afford to purchase only the health insurance their employers offer. There is no free market when complex billing systems make it virtually impossible for an individual to shop for the best quality and price.
• There would be rationing of care.
The truth: That one isn't a myth. The myth is that there's no rationing now. Private insurance companies are the epitome of organizations that ration. They don't cover some drugs, some doctors, some services. And there's no greater rationing than leaving millions of people uninsured.
• Canada has universal care and its system is failing.
The truth: Every country has problems with its health-care system, and Canada is no exception. But nearly the same percentages of Canadians as Americans rate their health-care system as excellent.
• The government would be making my health decisions for me.
The truth: Medicare, a tax-financed system of care for seniors, allows enrollees to choose to visit doctors and hospitals that accept Medicare. People still have the right to make their own health-care decisions. Certain procedures aren't covered, but that's no different from private-sector health insurance."
posted by Andy at Wednesday, December 07, 2005
1 Comments:
Great blog I hope we can work to build a better health care system as we are in a major crisis and health insurance is a major aspect to many.
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