US Healthcare

  BY DEANE WALDMAN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 01/24/21 02:00 PM EST THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/535557-public-option-wont-serve-the-public Democrats now control the White House and both Houses of Congress, albeit with very slim majorities. What will they do with (or to) health care? “Medicare for All” or the  House bill  — Medicare for All Act of 2019 — is probably a non-starter. Introduced almost two years ago, the act has never been brought to a vote probably because of its price tag of  $32.6 trillion to  $40 trillion.  Worse, the Medicare-for-All bill, H.R. 1384, will  reduce access  to care. The centerpiece of the  Biden Health Care plan  is the public option. Polls show  support  for that approach though, not surprisingly, few know precisely what public option means or what it will do. According to the Biden health plan, a public op...

As the Pfizer-BioNTechvaccine is now  being shipped  out,and with  Moderna's mRNA vaccine  about to achieve FDA approval,Americans begin tobreathe easier believing that vaccination isthe answer to our prayers, an end to the CoViD-19 nightmare. Suchconfidence is misplaced. Vaccination is part of the answer but not the complete solution. The goal of vaccination is to make all Americans immune to the virus. This is impossible for two reasons. First, there is vaccine efficacy. The most optimistic, early reports suggest 94 percent effectiveness. Even if everyone were vaccinated, 6 percent or 19.8 million Americans would remain susceptible, i.e., could become infected. A second reason we cannot achieve anything close to 100 percent immunity is that many will not accept vaccination. A report in the Wall Street Journal (12/8/20) suggested as many as 40 percent of Europeans intend to refuse vaccination. The number of Americans refuseniks is unknown but is likely to be large. ...

  On November 3, it was not only CoViD-19 but ongoing failure of our entire healthcare system that was foremost in voters' minds. Close to 80 million Americans apparently believed Democrat promises they would produce a healthcare system we all want. Whether implementing  Medicare-for-All  (favored by Kamala Harris and Bernie Sanders), the  Biden Healthcare Plan  or some combination, Democrats promise they will accomplish the following. 1.All Americans, including more than  10 million  undocumented immigrants, will have government-provided health insurance: everyone will have coverage. 2.Patients can choose their provider and their care per Section 103, Freedom of choice, in  H.R. 1384 , the Medicare-for-All bill. 3. Care will be free at point of service. 4. Only the wealthy, those making more than  $400,000 per year , will see increased taxes. Before considering the evidence for or against future Democrat promises, one should consider the fat...

 ​   Do Americans still have the right to speak their minds freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment? Apparently not, as one 19-year-old can attest.  Newly professional bike racer  Quinn Simmons  lost his job when he supported President Trump with one word. A Dutch journalist, Jose Been, had tweeted that he hopes "this horrible presidency ends for you [referring to Americans], adding, "if you follow me and support Trump, you can go." Cyclist Simmons tweeted back, "Bye." Officials of cycling team, Trek-Segafredo, fired Simmons claiming his tweet was "divisive, incendiary, and detrimental to the team." When a different tweet accused Simmons of being "a Trumper," he replied with a picture of the American flag. Apparently, this added to the incendiary and divisive nature of his speech. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was intentionally placed at the top of the list of fundamental American rights. The founding fathers thoug...

  Our politicians do not learn from history, even our own. House Bill 100 ("New Mexico Health Care Access Wins Final Approval," Los Alamos Post, Feb 19) just passed is touted to "increase[s] access to high-quality health care."Sadly, this is not true. HB 100 will provide additional funds ("tools") to BeWellNM, New Mexico's ACA-created health insurance exchange, which provides subsidies to New Mexicans who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid and too little to afford private insurance and/or do not have employer-supported health coverage. Full closure: From 2013 to 2019, I was the "Consumer Advocate" onBeWellNMBoard of Directors. I support its mission to improve access to care, not merely insuring more people. Both our state representatives and the governor conflate the words insurance and access, implying they are the same. They most certainly are not! Read more... Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!!  

  Long, long ago (“in a galaxy far, far away”), I was a schoolboy near Liverpool, England. In 1960, I won the Old Wallaseyans Stumps Speeches Debating Trophy. It was nice to win, but the really good part was that in the final round, I beat my brother Stewart. He and I competed for everything from grades and awards to girls. Now fifty-five years later, I need to fall back on debating style to raise an important question about Medicare. Point No. 1: Entitlements Are Free An entitlement is a right to have or to do something. Such a right is granted to you by God or by the government. (Often, the latter thinks it is the former.) You pay nothing for an entitlement. Indeed, that is a hallmark of an entitlement — it is free. Read more... Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!! 

  Watch this video to learn five reasons why healthcare CANNOT be a federal responsibility.  Sign up for news and information at   How To Fix US Healthcare  

  Aphorisms like "the pot calling the kettle black" persist because they keep being proven relevant. Such is the case with politicians' outrage over Mylan Pharmaceuticals' price gouging for its life-saving EpiPen: their price has risen from less than $100 for a two-pack in 2007 to $600 today. The government ("pot") is loudly and very publicly calling Mylan ("the kettle") "black"-at fault-for something the government itself did. The solution to the exorbitant price of EpiPen is not public shaming, such as claiming that Mylan is "just the latest troubling example of a company taking advantage of its consumers." The solution is not Mylan's proposed coupon program or its introduction of a "generic." Most definitely, the solution is not more government controls through regulation. The answer lies in releasing market forces from government suppression. If government bureaucratic barriers were eliminated, sellers could co...

Democrats plan to make healthcare a defining issue in the 2020 presidential election. Their rallying cry is, "Build on the success of the ACA!" Is the ACA, in fact, a success, based on facts and evidence, not rhetoric and spin? Did Obamacare live up to its official name? Did it make health insurance "Affordable?" Did Obamacare make medical "Care" available to all Americans? No and No. The ACA did not make health insurance affordable. The ACA did not improve access to the medical care we all need. Most Americans believe that having insurance is the key to getting care: those with insurance get the care they need and the uninsured don’t. This is false, a myth. Commonly, the opposite is true.  Read more... Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!! 

The reason you got a prescription for the wrong medication is simple. Your doctor did not choose it, someone who never heard your name and doesn't know your medical history, that faceless person decided what medicines you take. These faceless, unseen doctors-without-licenses are government rule writers, insurance actuaries, and bureaucrats working for pharmacy benefits management (PBM). Every day thousands of Americans get the WRONG medication for their illness. It’s time to return decision-making authority where it rightfully belongs: with you and your doctor.  Read More:   Doctor Patient Relationship Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!!

Every day thousands of Americans get the WRONG medication for their illness. Find out why, and why it’s not your doctor’s fault.  Sign up for news and information at  Doctor Patient Relationship

Some say that health care is an entitlement in the U.S. Most Americans do not understand that when you accept entitlement, you give up FREEDOM.  Sign up for more videos and information here:  Fixing US Healthcare 

Former Chief of Staff of the Army and current Secretary of Veterans Affairs Secretary Shinseki "falling on his sword" won’t bring back a single veteran who died needlessly while waiting for approved medical care.  He is being used as a scapegoat. Singling out specific institutions such as  Phoenix VA Hospital  is a diversionary tactic — it won’t get veterans the timely doctor visits they need. Blaming never fixes anything, and tweaking the VA system won’t make things right, nor will throwing money at it. The problem with the VA system is the system, a  single payer  model. Newspaper headlines shrieked outrage over unconscionable wait times to see a doctor; inadequate operating rooms; and needed medicines not available. This should come as no surprise. That is the way single payer systems work. That is the norm, not the exception. Look to our north for proof, to the single payer system in Canada. Fifteen years ago, a Canadian surgeon named Dr. Ciaran McName...

The  Unfunded Mandate  is a legal contradiction and humanitarian nightmare that is also antibusiness. It needs a permanent fix, not a modification, adjustment, reconciliation, and most definitely not Washington style “reform.” What is the Unfunded Mandate? In 1986, Congress passed  EMTALA  (Emergency Medical Transport and Active Labor Act), colloquially called the anti-dumping law. Its ostensible purpose was to prevent one hospital from “dumping” (transferring without medical justification) a critically ill patient or women in labor to another hospital because the patient has no money or insurance. Dumping would allow the first hospital to avoid paying the costs of very expensive care for which it will get no payment. EMTALA created a new class of patients called the Unfunded Mandate. These patients receive very expensive care for which neither hospital nor providers will be paid. Of course they — institution and physicians — must still pay their own expenses...