Hi! My name is Michele and I’m here to learn more about health care policy. This is my first Organize for America forum and I’m excited to hear what people have to say. We are just getting set up now.
Please share widely!
Reality-based commentary on politics.
There are a lot of people here. The crowd is larger than what I expected and everyone seems excited. There also seems to be a focus in the crowd. People are reading the materials handed out and already talking about healthcare.
This is my first time live blogging and I hope that I can give you some insight into what’s happening at this Healthcare Reform 101 Forum. I recently graduated from univerity (undergraudate) and am excited to become more invovled in community organization. I am here to learn more about healthcare policy.
Over 200 people are here! It’s a great crowd and speaks to the excitement that people are feeling about healthcare policy. The organizational team have been working hard and the people here are eager to ask questions.
Johnston starts out giving us some perspective on the fight to reform healthcare policy. “Imagine what this country would be like if we did not have Medicare or Medicade,” he says. This is not the first time that we have worked to accomplish sweeeping reform.
“Health policy is the middle east of domestic poitics” Johnston says. He is focusing heavily on the complicated and partisan politics that have prevented healthcare reform from happening in the past. He is explaining how the divide between Democrats and Republicans is quite deep on this issue.
Johnston says the Republican rhetoric that the Democratic policy will prevent you from chosing your own doctor is wrong.
Johnston points out that this is all about money. While many people like to talk about the moral or ethical responsibility our country has to provide healthcare, I think that to accomplish reform, we have to work through the economics. I think it is good that he pointed this out because we cannot forget how important the money really is.
Cutler continues talking about money. He points out that we are going to have spend more in the short term, and then we will have to spend less because every study shows that we are spending too much money for what we are getting.
Cutler explains how much money and time we waste in our healthcare system. Personally, I find it frustrating how many people are so worried about short term costs of making the system more economically efficient when we know that this will make it more cost effective in the long run. How do you think we can explain to more people how new policy will make our system more cost efficient?
Cutler ends with the point that there is no path to economic reform that does not go through healthcare.
McDonough points out that we are in a stronger position right now than we were in the 1990’s. In 1994, 3 house commities kept fighting over jurisdiction of each part of health reform while the entire thing was falling apart. The people working on the policy now are not experiencing as much in-fighting. I appreciate that he is emphasizing coordination and commitment to a similar sense of purpose within the political climate right now. It is easy to talk about the fighting, but I find that talking about our mutual commitment to change can help us overcome our differences.
How are we going to pay for healthcare reform? Rajkumar argues that we will do this through conversations like the one we are having today at HealthCare Reform 101 Forum. Our job is to understand and explain to others how reform will impact our families. I wonder how individuals understanding reform will translate to politicians.
“We need to pay doctors in a way that makes sense” Rajkumar says. While this sentence seems straightforward, this has been one of the most confusing aspects to healthcare policy for me. What makes sense? How do you impose incentives?
A recurring theme throughout all the talks is that in order to save in the long run, we have to spend in the short run.
I understand we will have to make some investments, but we should do that concurrent with reforms that keep the total price near constant, notwithstanding the many additional people being covered.
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p>”In order to save, we have to spend” sounds like another promise that goes unfulfilled.
“We cannot let pessimism stop this” (Wcislo). Wcislo points out that reform will improve affordability not just for the uninsured, but for the insured as well. This reform can benefit all of us and we are all stakeholders.
Wcislo emphasizes that we are all in this fight together. She asks us to be involved for everyone in this country.
I think everyone here has many questions. People wrote their questions on notecards that are read by the moderator so that everything stays organized. The speakers (except for David Cutler who had to leave) are answering the questions.
In many health insurance markets (ex. Montana) there is no competition. One of the ways that the public plan can reduce costs is to introduce competition. Also, a public plan will have lower administrative costs. The drive is not to push private insurers out of business, but to provide another option. – Answer by Rahul Rajkumar
beyond just reducing administrative costs.
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p>It’s goals should be universal, improved healthcare at reduced cost, whereas the private plans objectives are increased market share and higher profits. With such different goals we will have different processes, and different results.
Doctors need to be paid to give wellness and preventative care (Celia Wcislo). This topic has been coming up a lot.
Where do you go to buy health insurance? You expose yourself to a lot of uncertainty through health insurance. An exhange is a sponsored marketplace for health insurance. Insurers agree to abide by a number of rules such as not having different premiums based on gender. This is a way for people to trust that they understand what they are getting. -Answer by Rahul Rajkumar
There are a number of possibilities depending on which plan is put in place. There is a moderate amount of uncertainty regarding the impact of healthcare reform on individuals. I think that this may be one of the reasons people are apprehensive about reform. McDonough argues that employers should consider a healthier work-force a better one. Johnston thinks that the reform needs to help small businesses.
According to Rajkumar, members of congress are only hearing from people against healthcare reform. This surprises me but also points out how important it is for grassroot activists to make phonecalls and send letters.
There is not a critical base of support. It’s about finding the legislation that can go through the process and single payer did not have enough support from the House and the Senate. -John McDonough
Which BMG reader wants to pull up and post poll after national poll showing the overwhelming majority support–among the public, among doctors, among health policy experts–for improved Medicare-for-All aka “single payer” reform? I’ve done that too many times to do it again.
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p>McDonough should have been honest and stated that while the majority of the public wants SP, the moneyed politicians and their campaign contributors (the insurance and drug industries and thei Wall St financial backers) do not want SP/improved Medicare-for-All and that’s why it is not “on the table” (GMAFB).
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p>If you want substantive content about the health reform process instead of (or in addition to) the BS of McDonough et al, I highly recommend articles posted at the Columbia Journalism Review at this link. Excellent critiques of the Mass. Plan included.
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_de…
As mentioned above, over 200 people were here and hardly anyone left during the 2.5 hours of talks and questions. People are very dedicated to this cause.
The organizers are now talking about how individuals can act. A number of actions such as making phone calls and visiting congressional representatives are being organized.
For more information visit HealthcareForAmerica.org
The combination of the informative talks and specific ways to take action is motivating. The organizers are not simply talking broadly about action but providing specific ways to take action and asking people to get involved. I hope that people follow through with whatever actions they are motivated to do.
McGovern points out that nothing good happens on its own. He says that right now “all the stars are aligned” to make healthcare reform happen, so we must get together and push this through. There is a real sense of urgency to everything being talked about today.
McGovern needs the bill to support quality affordable healthcare or it is not worth supporting. In order to keep this bill true to its principles, we have to pressure everyone in politics to push through a good bill. We need to pressure politicians who generally support heatlh care and those who don’t. McGovern says that if there is not a grassroots movement on this issue, reform will not happen.
http://www.massforchange.org; http://www.neaction.org; http://www.drsforamerica.org; Visit these websites to learn more!