Doctors Give Massachusetts Health Reform a Failing Grade - Only Private Insurers Profit

Source: PNHP RESOURCES

For Immediate Release

Contacts:
Dr. Rachel Nardin, 617.667.4382
Dr. David Himmelstein, 617.665.1032
Todd Main, 312.782.6006

Over 250 Massachusetts doctors have signed an open letter to the country warning that the health reform model enacted by Massachusetts is failing and that a single payer program is the only alternative.

“It is urgent that the rest of the country know that Massachusetts is a living laboratory for the health care reforms being pushed in California and by the Obama/Clinton/Edwards campaigns. Right now the Gov. Romney/Massachusetts’ plan gets a failing grade on the ground,” said Dr.Rachel Nardin, Assistant Professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School.





Read more: http://www.pnhp.org/news/2008/january/doctors_give_massach.php

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An Open Letter to the Nation from Massachusetts Physicians:
Early Outcomes from Massachusetts’ Health Care Reform

We write to alert colleagues and the nation to the disturbing early outcomes of Massachusetts’ widely-heralded approach to health care reform. Although we wish that the current reform could secure health insurance for all, its failings reinforce our conviction that only a single payer program can assure patients the care they need.

In 2006, our state enacted a law designed to extend health coverage to virtually all state residents. Political leaders in other states as well as several Democratic presidential candidates have embraced this model.

......more at the above link..........

Both are used by the right in emotional arguments that put ideology before human needs.

propaganda.

I respect PNHP, but I've wondered for a long time now why they don't seem to have a plan in place to overcome this crap!

Government doesn't own the docs or the hospitals or the clinics. AARP hosp ins is not socialism. A national system is the same as one big Hartford ins co for all. Calling it a National health care plan is just a matter of terminology.

involved it won't work. it's common sense. a third party involved has to make money.

That Edwards' plan was the best first step to moving toward single-payer?

buy private insurance (and help them millionaires buy a second yacht) or select to join the 'Medicare' federally run program. The for-profit companies will go out of business eventually (not soon enough for me).

so that we're not immediately fighting the companies, but people would see that they save money and get better sevice by using the gov't programs.

HR676 takes 10 years to complete the shift to single-payer, so there would still be that wrangle with the companies, and, if we don't have a strong leader in place to fight the battles, I'm not sure how those battles would come out.

At first, I was disappointed that Edwards didn't just come out in favor of HR676, but then I started understanding his reasoning in the shift.

It makes sense.

In the final analysis, it's going to take ALL of us fighting really hard to make it a reality, whichever plan is chosen!!

Are they working on strategery for getting the citizenry educated and backing a REAL health care plan??

They MUST develop a plan to overcome the massive propaganda from the profit-makers!

ordering people to buy health insurance didn't work? Mitt what went wrong with your perfect plan?

Romney's piece of crap health care scam mandates that I pay $3900/yr ($345/mo) in premiums with a $4000 deductible. Do the math....quite expensive. They can shove it up their keester, cuz I ain't paying into that Romney scam.

I'm in MA too and I'm lucky, I have good health ins through my company. But won't you pay a fine if you don't particpate?

But I have raised my deductions so less tax is taken from my part-time paycheck, and now I am forced into not filing a Mass income tax return. So now, they hopefully get enough from me to cover the state tax, because by not filing I avoid the fine.

I will file this year because the fine is only $250 or so, but next year it goes to about $1000, that's when I stop filing. In essence, I'm being forced into breaking the tax law to save my money from going into Romney's scam.

:evil grin:

Not that I am biased for having lived in both of them for years!

Please, that just isn't funny.

offensive also.

Deal with it.

it's an animated gif. If it was actually a smoking baby it might be less funny.

It would mean my monitor is on fire, which would absolutley NOT be funny.



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will have to be part of it.... that's the "big pool" part of it.

"Everyone in, nobody out." Kucinich

i'm against the insurance companies making profit. the mere words "health insurance" makes me see red. i mean WTF? health care should be a right the way it is in other developed countries.

that will also be true for HR676, should it be enacted.

my problem is being forced to pay into it. i don't have a problem with the higher taxes that we would need to pay. i'm speaking as someone who has insurance through my husband's employer. every year our premiums go up -- along with co-pays and deductibles. the same with the dental. hubby was able to get some expensive coverage for long term care through his employer, but i can't get it because of certain drugs that i take for chronic fatigue syndrome.

she's been paying $300 a month with a $10,000 deductible. it just went up to $320. she's thinking of canceling it and just taking her chances. if she lived in mass. she wouldn't have a choice. she'd have to keep it or break the law. correct?

I refuse to pay a penny to the insurers. This way I have money if I ever really need it and the rest of the time it's my responsibility to keep myself healthy. The whole medical establishment is an absurd ripoff.

100 K bypass operation or that 300 dollar prescription. Have you seen Michael Moore's "Sicko " movie yet.

100 K bypass operation or that 300 dollar prescription. Have you seen Michael Moore's "Sicko " movie yet.

If I run into a non-ambulatory situation like that, then I'm on the next plane to India or Thailand where the same quality care, and in some cases much better (especially the rehab), is about 15% to 25% of U.S. costs.

Until a reasonable national health care policy is developed, I'll pay for my own doctor visits.

THere have been news stories have considered sending their patients to places like Taiwan in securing a medical procedure. This is not a new idea. Blue Cross Calif. has already floated this baloon. Of course , if you are over fifty and a family of over 4, your premimum will still be over 750 dollars a month. Too bad. The story I recall reading in the Los Angeles Times. Blue Cross would only send the spouse.

I found out the hard way along with many other Americans that shit happens, but it rained on me. I went from a burst appendix and peritonitis (I think that's what the infections are called) to 2 incisional hernia repairs and finally to an emergency ulcer operation in less than a year and a half and all are interrelated. Over $1,100,000 and still counting. I had no insurance and now I have no credit either on top of being poor from it. You can't work when in the hospital or recovering from each operation for many months.

If you can't afford $4000 for insurance, you can't afford $120,000 for a bypass. Or chemo. Or any number of fairly common procedures.

If you need something really exotic, sorry 'bout that.

The "reasonable national health care policy" is medicaid for all. Choice, as you posts prove, isn't cutting it.

she only spends about $200 a year on medical and with the $10,000 deductible she doesn't get anything back.

Romney's piece of crap health care scam mandates that I pay $3900/yr ($345/mo) in premiums with a $4000 deductible. Do the math....quite expensive. They can shove it up their keester, cuz I ain't paying into that Romney scam.

That you qualify for that special rate because you're a leper, you have diabetes, a heart condition, and are precancerous.

Because if that's the reality of Mittens' program, then I do not understand why we haven't heard how awful it is before this.

Cher

is fortunate because we tend not to get sick until in the mid 70s, then heart failure or lymphatic cancer takes us away. I have maybe 15 good years left, and I'll be damned before throwing my rent money away on the Romney scheme.

You didn't hear about it until now because the bad effects have only become apparent in the past few months. It can only get worse from here on.

depending upon the state. Or else your premiums would likely be double that amount.

The whole fucking situation sucks - we need the whole system destroyed so we can start over again.

Supply and demand. You make everyone buy insurance, even taking taxes from the haves to give to the have nots, make everyone buy a crappy product and surprise! It costs more and is still crappy. Mission accomplished. The GOP welfare state in full bloom. If these idiots can figure out how to sell us air, it's ain't going to be cheap! Well, they're selling people life. People will pay anything for it. It's not exactly amiable to supply and demand. And speaking of supply and demand, there's a very good business going on in supplying hospitals and big bucks to be made in selling insurance. Anyone care to look into the cost side of the equation before they insist that we belly up to the pay bar?

And so many others still have not.

Like so many things, it's up to US to educate the citizenry.

Has any state succeeded with the 'universal mandate to buy private insurance from a bunch of well healed sharks' approach? It is nefarious crap. A last ditch effort to wreck the move to universal coverage with a win-win gambit for Big HealthCo. If the force you to buy our shit approach miraculously actually works - BigHealthCo gets more customers (victims) for their for profit crap-care, and if instead it predictably fails, why then the problem is those damn libruls with their socialized medicine, dint we tell you.

Thanks for the thread, RedEarth.

This is what Republicans like to call an unfunded mandate. They just exercise it on an individual level.

Working Mother with Two Jobs: I'd like to provide my kids with Healthcare, but Wal-Mart won't let me work 40 hours to qualify. I can't afford a private plan and pay my rent and feed/cloth my kids.

Mitt Romney: I have a solution for you. I'll require you to buy health insurance.

Working Mother (2 jobs): What part of "can't afford" do you not understand?

Mitt Romney: What part of "that's not my problem" do you not understand. See if I REQUIRE you to purchase health care insurance, than you cannot claim that you have no medical care.

Working Mother (2 jobs): Then I cannot pay for heat and electricity. I might not even be able to pay for my rent. It's like $600 per month.

Mitt Romney: We all have to make sacrifices. For example, my two boys sacrificed an entire month riding across Iowa in a Winnebago. Do your kids put in that kind of sacrifice?

Working Mother (2 jobs): They're 8 and 12 asshole.

Mitt Romney: That's a character assasination and it's unfair. My boys are working hard to support the war effort overseas and all you can do is complain about your kids. Maybe if you spent less time complaining, you could pay for electricity, gas and rent and still afford health insurance.

Working Mother (2 jobs): Asshole is as asshole does.

-------------------------

Seriously folks. The only way that required auto insurance worked was because you had a external liability issue to deal with. You cannot FORCE someone to buy care, especially if they cannot afford it. It is a said state of our society that peoples brains have become so spongified that they take an unfunded mandate for health care reform.

It used to be cover with county taxes, but I guess the rich were bitching about "too many taxes" so the county came up with fee-based wastewater removal.

So now I have to pay and extra fee to have done what my county taxes did...:grr:

a federal program. Just like Bush's Education No Child Behind! Come on Mass! Speak up NOW!

California just raised the fine for driving without insurance, as if people who can't afford to buy insurance are suddenly going to buy it because now the fine for getting caught is higher. Letting insurance companies dictate your laws is just stupid.

"The interest of dealers, however,... is a always in some respects different from, and even opposite to, that of the public... The proposal of any new law or regulation of commerce which comes frm this order ought... never to be adopted till after having been long and carefully examined, not only with the most scrupulous, but with the most suspicious attention. It comes from an order of men whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."
-- Adam Smith, Wealth Of Nations

They've watered the plans down to the point where I can't see any big advantage anymore.

They've let the profit motive triumph in their planning, and it could even be worse, if that's possible, than Mass.

I hope SOMEONE is listening in Colorado to this report!!

I had a complet "What The Fuck" moment when I learned about it.

solving the problem of homelessness by requiring everyone to buy a house. :-(

So, who's buying?

:hi:

Not many things do that these days.

A friend of mine works two part-time jobs, so she doesn't qualify for health insurance. She's in her 40's and is a breast cancer survivor. Everything's been fine for the last 3 or 4 years.

However, she needs to have the mammograms annually, and she's been having a hard time finding an affordable health plan. She thought she had found a deal last week, that was affordable and comprehensive, but the coverage excluded tests and office visits. We live in Wisconsin. I've been looking around the web, trying to use search terms (WI + health insurance + compare plan + consumer guide +....), but I haven't found any sort of useful comparisons, or guides.

There are lots of front-door, "new client/customer" finder pages, from different marketers, but nothing like an "epinions" rating service, that looks at different vendors for the benefit of the consumer, and includes comments about prices and level of satisfaction, from patients who have already purchased the insurance, and may no longer be clients or customers. (The back-door-and-out point of view.)

Does anything like that exist? If it doesn't, would it be worthwhile to try and compile something like it, or would it be too difficult, to try to compare level of service from so many different states, on the basis of limited, individual experience?

Since this question was originally posted in the Health forum, I've found out that Wisconsin does have a program offering free mammograms for women who qualify, but that's not a substitute for affordable health insurance.

I'd really appreciate any leads, or tips, or suggestions.

Shopping around on the internet totally seems like a rigged game -- all the web sites I've found are insurance companies, trolling for new customers.

(Even the sites that list multiple insurers are all basically, "Enter your personal information to complete the fields, lie back and enjoy as the information is downloaded and processed, and we give you our best take-it-or-leave-it offer.")

over a year ago. i did not take it because i have much better coverage under hubby's plan for less money. i just received a notice from medicare that for every year i do not take it starting with my eligible age, i will be charged 10% more a year when i do take it.

we had to do the math, but we figured with the supplemental policy and another policy to cover drugs, we'll worry about paying the extra 10% a year when hubby retires.

i ask you, is this fair?

its Universal Health one payer system

K & R

If you do not think so then go ask the Brits, French and the Germans about their NHC. And, even in that NHC system there are still private insurance companies, not very many but they do exist.

Of course the doctors/insurance companies in this country are going to whine and boohoo about NHC. "Oh no" they cry "If we have national health care, how are we to fuck the country like we have all along."

NHC is the only way along with shutting down a large percentage of private insurance companies.

the doctors -- maybe not so much if they can do away with paying outrageous amounts for malpractice insurance. i don't know about the europeans, but the canadian docs don't have that.

and of course, there are always plastic surgeons and cosmetic dermatologists. i doubt whether my face lift and my chemical peels would be covered under NHC.

Kucinich Plan.

but not kucinich for president.

it's a frickin' "middleman" racket! It's unnecessary, too expensive, and the service sucks!

During my absence due to a crashed hard drive, I heard a debate exchange between Huckabee and Romney. Romney was getting after Huckabee for criticizing our commandeer-in-thief's arrogant (Huckabee's word) foreign policy. Huckabee tried to downplay his criticism of Bush by telling Romney that he is running to be President in his own right, no to be Bush's surrogate for a third term.

Now that the racist Tancredo has withdrawn, Romney is at the bottom of my list of those running. He is running to be Bush's surrogate in a third term. Is there any failed Bush policy that Romney would not continue? He's for war in the Middle East, he would expand Guantanamo and his record on health care sounds just like Bush's and gets the same results.

I wouldn't give a jot about private insurers profiting from the system as long as more people were covered and fewer claims denined. But it doesn't work that way. By now, only an ideologue could believe the free market delivers health care efficiently.

Who didn't see that coming? No caps on premiums, state and consumers picking up the tab. It was a dream come true for the insurance industry.

Under these kinds of plans, private health insurance companies will become the new "no-bid" defense contractors. They'll tap into the public treasury and soak it dry while giving consumers as little as possible. Whatever gave these idiots they idea they could trust these crooks to regulate themselves?

And in case anyone tries to tell you otherwise, this kind of plan is even MORE EXPENSIVE to implement in states with larger populations. Imagine how costly it would be at the national level.

Vote for Kucinich since the other Democrats are pushing something very much like the Romney plan.

there is no way that kucinich is going to be elected. however, whoever is would be smart to adopt his plan.

As for us. We vote ideas, not personalities. Besides, I think Kucinich is the one with all the makings of an FDR. Maybe you just hear the side of Kucinich, that the US media wants you to see.

with some great ideas, but he'll never be elected president. it's your right to vote for who you want.

Who'd'a thunk it? :sarcasm:

What a stupid metric IMO

companies in MA. I guess they now own everything & everyone.

is broke.

Before any health care system will work.

1. An incentive for doctors for preventative care. This means having doctors teach their patients how to live healthier. Right now, doctors have an incentive to only see you when you are sick. As a result, preventative care is not really advised. (after all, why would docs want to cut into their own profits.... and really, docs are as bad as the ins comps)

2. Single payer system. Docs can still make money depending on where they work and whatever agreements they make with thier employers

But the first must happen before the second. Having people think seriously about how they treat their own bodies is essential to ensuring a quality medical experience.

Harry S. Truman's health proposals finally came to Congress in the form of a Social Security expansion bill, co-sponsored in Congress by Democratic senators Robert Wagner (N.Y.) and James Murray (Mont.), along with Representative John Dingell (D.-Mich). For this reason, the bill was known popularly as the W-M-D bill. The American Medical Association (AMA) launched a spirited attack against the bill, capitalizing on fears of Communism in the public mind. The AMA characterized the bill as "socalized medicine", and in a forerunner to the rhetoric of the McCarthy era, called Truman White House staffers "followers of the Moscow party line".* Organized labor, the main public advocate of the bill, had lost much of it's goodwill from the American people in a series of unpopular strikes. Following the outbreak of the Korean War, President Truman was finally forced to abandon the W-M-D Bill.

-Truman Library