blue note

The writer of that piece, David Grazter, has a history of distorting opinions to suit his own political agenda. Mediamatters reported on how an op-ed piece of his falsely suggested that Canadian orthopedic surgeon Dr. Brian Day, a former president of the Canadian Medical Association, was in favor of the U.S. health care system. (source) Also, see my post here on more about Gratzer, plus a funny clip of him squirming while being questioned by Dennis Kucinich during a House HELP hearing.

I thought so too.

And now, for some health care reform humor, with charts! Courtesy of Ezra Klein from the WaPo. John Boehner's office tries to make the House Dems' plan look really scary, via chart! (click for larger version) Here's the Dems' response to Boehner's chart: Not to be outdone, The New Republic then made a chart of the current health-care system, in all of its convoluted glory!

Here you go: Side-by-side comparison of major health care reform proposals

U.S. Health Spending Breaks From the Pack The U.S. is the only industrialized country that doesn't have universal health care, and it spends a much higher percentage of its GDP, and much more per person, on health care than its peers. Since 1980, the percentage of GDP spent on health care in the U.S. has risen by about 7%, whereas the average for the other OECD countries has risen by 2.3%.

The former CIGNA exec, Wendell Porter, was on Bill Moyer's Journal recently. You can watch the video of the interview on the PBS site. From the transcript: On why he started speaking out: On Michael Moore's "Sicko": On a public plan:

Anti-public plan Sen. DeMint inadvertently concedes that public plan won't take over the market (source)

A Kaiser Foundation study found that many American companies do not offer health insurance to employees. Very small companies in particular are especially unlikely to provide such benefits: Even those that do provide benefits, of course, generally do not cover the full cost of the insurance premium. Most cover just a small fraction of that cost, and relatively few cover a majority of the expense:

CDC: Private health care coverage at 50-year-low

Getting a second opinion on healthcare reform: There are voices besides the AMA LA Times

New Report: Private Insurance Mergers Lead to Near-Monopolies Across the Country Full article here

who's afraid of public insurance? full article at national journal the writer discusses several recent surveys and polls showing high support for a public option - check out the consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems survey he mentions. cahps is an initiative of the department of health and human services that developed a standardized survey questionnaire used by virtually all health insurance plans -- public and private -- to assess patient satisfaction. most private insurers use the cahps questionnaire and disclose the data to the national committee for quality assurance in order to receive their accreditation. so thanks to cahps, we have a massive collection of data comparisons of how patients experience and rate medicare, medicaid and private insurance. those comparisons show the depth of medicare's popularity. according to a national cahps survey conducted by the centers for medicare and medicaid services in 2007, 56 percent of enrollees in traditional fee-for-service medicare give their "health plan" a rating of 9 or 10 on a 0-10 scale. similarly, 60 percent of seniors enrolled in medicare managed care rated their plans a 9 or 10. but according to the cahps surveys compiled by hhs, only 40 percent of americans enrolled in private health insurance gave their plans a 9 or 10 rating. more importantly, the higher scores for medicare are based on perceptions of better access to care. more than two thirds (70 percent) of traditional medicare enrollees say they "always" get access to needed care (appointments with specialists or other necessary tests and treatment), compared with 63 percent in medicare managed care plans and only 51 percent of those with private insurance. he also suggests two reasons why people are so easily talked out of expanding the medicare experience: first, younger americans not enrolled in medicare do not share the enthusiasm of seniors for the program. six years ago, the kaiser foundation asked a national sample of adults to rate the medicare program. medicare was hugely popular among those aged 65 or greater. eighty percent rated medicare favorably. similarly, more than half of seniors (62 percent) considered medicare "well run" compared to only 28 percent willing to say the same of "private health plans such as ppos and hmos that people get through their jobs." those under 65, however, had very different views. only 45 percent rated medicare favorably. only 36 percent considered it well run, as compared to 47 percent who said the same about private health plans. while 73 percent of those over 65 said medicare allowed patients to choose any doctor, only 28 percent of those under 65 agreed. second, the older americans who like medicare see little to gain from the public option since they like the coverage they have now. democratic pollster stanley greenberg finds "little support among seniors" for reform. a recent survey conducted by greenberg's democracy corps found a narrow plurality among all voters favoring "president obama's plan to change the health care system" (43 percent to 38 percent), but net opposition among seniors (34 percent to 50 percent). so, the americans experienced with "government-run" health insurance like what they have and don't want to change it, and younger americans enthusiastic for change don't know what they're missing.

We Must Stop the Rampant Fraud in the Health Care Industry by Sen. Bernie Sanders (a real health care reformer)

Even those with health insurance are going broke Full article at Seattle Times

Yet, they are adamant about not letting the government compete in a free market by offering a public option as an alternative to the private insurance companies.