Health

House Democrats' Health Proposal Inadequate

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The proposal unveiled on July 14 by House Democratic Party committee leaders is already under attack by the Right, and most commentators believe it will be changed to make it less progressive once it has to be meshed with whatever (if anything) comes out of the Senate. Unfortunately, the plan itself is inadequate and for precisely the reasons that a Single Payer Plan makes most sense. Any plan that relies on a mix between private insurance companies and a “public option” will face the reality that the costs of such a plan will dramatically raise overall costs for health care and require some source of revenue to pay for it, and so the debate will be about “raising taxes.” Sure, liberals and progressives can and should yell about the fact that no such concerns are ever raised when the militarists decide on invading another country (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and who knows what’s next). The assumption that we can always afford that is there.

Christianity

How Sen. Blanche Lincoln Shifted on the Public Option

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In a well-named post, PRESSURE FROM THE LEFT CAN HAVE AN EFFECT, the Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen reports that Senator Blanche Lincoln (Democrat, Arkansas), who “has been one of the least likely Democrats to support the public option endorsed by most Democratic lawmakers, the president, and the public” is coming round to supporting it after all. TPM and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (in an email, not on their site) ascribe this to the TV ads run by Blue America. And as TPM noted, Senate leader Harry Reid is hot for Democratic uniformity on this issue. But in a phone call with me this morning Jennifer Butler, the Executive Director of Faith in Public Life, wondered if a further influence had come into play: Rev. Joyce Hardy, archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Arkansas and deacon of Christ Church Episcopal Church in Little Rock, AK. Hardy was the voice of the religious coalition for universal, affordable health care on Christian radio in Arkansas during the July 4 Congressional recess.

Health

Aaron Roland on the Tikkun Phone Forum

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What would it take for our health care system to prioritize our wellness instead of (at best) reacting to our illnesses? Aaron Roland, the author of “The Health Care Battle Lines” in the most recent issue of Tikkun, convincingly argues that a single-payer system is a structural precondition for a health system that prioritizes the prevention of sickness. “Preventive health care does stop disease but it doesn’t necessarily save money,” he explained Monday night on our phone forum, a weekly opportunity for Tikkun subscribers (as well as members of the Network of Spiritual Progressives) to discuss pressing issues of the day with Tikkun authors. You can listen to a recording of this week’s call here. I’ve never understood why insurance companies don’t invest in preventive care, so I was interested to hear Dr. Roland’s explanation of why preventive care only makes financial sense in a single-payer system:
To the extent that prevention is helpful, it’s only helpful in the long run, and insurance companies don’t care about that because clients don’t last that long with a single insurance company.

Christianity

Prophetic Voices in the Health Care Wars

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I participated in a fascinating press conference on Tuesday, organized by Faith in Public Life (FPL) to promote a campaign in which “local pastors are taking to the airwaves in five key states over the Independence Day Congressional recess, urging their Senators to support health care reform.” If you are Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, Nebraska, or North Carolina you may hear ads on Christian and mainstream radio featuring local pastors from each state asking their Senators to support reform. This is great. The progressive religious folks are stepping up to argue for affordable health care for all. But I wish they would read Michael Lerner’s editorial on health care in our current Tikkun: now that’s prophetic.

Health

G-D, Please protect me from the SUPERB health care my father receives….

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My mother had died in October and my father was acting a bit strange. He was seeing people that weren’t there and driving to his bank at 3am…… His doctor figured he was just depressed, sent him to an HMO psychiatrist, and she prescribed some pills. Soon, Dad was crawling around searching the bushes for my mother, who he was convinced had just jumped from the third-floor balcony…….. Emergency mental health professionals got him back into the apartment, and after examining him were convinced that the drug he was on was the wrong drug.

Health

Alaskans for Single Payer

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Bonnie Nelson in Alaska sent my post and her comment about the Atul Gawande article in the New Yorker around to a number of activists saying she agreed with my take. (I had written that while we at Tikkun are fully in favor of single payer, Gawande “makes a very strong case that it is not ultimately who pays (private or public insurance) that matters: it’s whether the delivery of health services is coordinated for the good of the patient, and with accountability. It’s actually about putting the care back into healthcare”). Jim Sykes responded to Bonnie that he disagreed, and gave me permission to quote him. Jim was the founder of the Alaska Green Party and has done very well as both a candidate for Governor and US seats.

Health

Stress

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My eye was caught in the paper yesterday by the happiness of this young woman graduating. I was curious about her relationship with the older woman. Turns out she is a Ugandan who lost both parents to AIDS and was adopted by an affluent US family at age 12. She says she finds it hard to see her friends leave food on their plates because she recalls so well going out to the garden every day with her mother in Uganda to see what there was left to eat, and sometimes finding nothing. Her personal journey and struggle is an extraordinary story of our current world.

Health

More Important than Single Payer

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This article by Atul Gawande in the New Yorker is the single best thing I have read on how we should do healthcare. He makes a very strong case that it is not ultimately who pays (private or public insurance) that matters: it’s whether the delivery of health services is coordinated for the good of the patient, and with accountability. It’s actually about putting the care back into healthcare: in detail, with examples. Gawande compares the most expensive city for healthcare in the country (McAllen, Texas) with places that give equally good or better care at half or even a third the cost. The most distressing angle in the story is the degree to which doctors have identified maximizing their own income as a primary goal, and the discovery that this culture only really took off in McAllen 15 years ago.

Christianity

Pastors Push for Health Care Reform

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The Religious Left is alive and kicking! The latest evidence? A group of pastors and priests have launched a national radio ad campaign calling on the government to ensure affordable health care for all. The ads hit the airwaves today in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Missouri, and Nebraska, and they’re set to continue airing on Christian and mainstream radio stations throughout the Memorial Day congressional recess. The parties involved might not all self-identify as members of the Religious Left, but their rhetoric has distinct echoes of liberation theology’s call to attend to injustice and need in this world, rather than focus on the afterlife.