Insurance companies are already trying to define services that are not actually real care, to reach the 80% ratio, and must be watched carefully

Seniors will benefit from the provision in the law that reduces the Medicare Part D “donut hole” in which seniors who used to reach a point in their expenditures when they paid 100% of the cost of prescription drugs will now get a 50% discount on brand name drugs and in ten years will get a 100% discount. They will also now have free annual checkups, screenings and other preventive care.

Some reforms that have already taken effect, such as a ban on discriminating against children with pre-existing conditions and the right to keep children on family plans until the age of 26.

A very long list of other reforms is available on the Kaiser Family Foundation web site, Kff.org or Kaiserhealthnews.org

The following was posted on the White House blog this afternoon:

This morning we launched a new section of WhiteHouse.gov dedicated to health reform, a key feature of which is the interactive map with 50 stories from 50 states, giving a snapshot of the kinds of working people all across American who are just starting to get benefits from the President health care reform.  A lot of these people, like Gail from New Hampshire whose surprise call from the President was caught in the video below, are benefiting from a series of changes going into full effect this week that have been called the Patient’s Bill of Rights.  These changes include things like ending discrimination based on pre-existing conditions in kids, allowing kids to stay on their parents’ plans until they’re 26, making sure y don’t lose coverage just for being sick, an end to lifetime lifetime limits and much more.

The following video is one of 50 stories on how Health Care Reform has and will continue to benefit Americas from all walks of life:

Be sure to check out the White House’s new website WhiteHouse.gov/HealthReform to stay up-to-date on the reforms and learn the facts about the law so you can sort through all the distortion.

The political conservatives are working to influence the work of the Commission. They falsely assert that Social Security is going broke; they are promoting ideas such as raising the retirement age, changing benefits formulas, changing cost-of-living adjustment formulas, creating personal savings accounts within Social Security.

They also will not support new taxes to help balance the budget. Instead they are advocating cuts in social programs.

Imagine the world they want, in which Social Security contributions would be subject to the vagaries of the stock market (and provide enormous profits for Wall Street) and social programs would be cut back drastically, depriving the old, the sick and the poor of already diminished help.

Forces to counter the efforts of the conservatives are already working to block bad ideas, promoting letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, raising payroll taxes modestly for upper-income workers, and raising the limits on earnings that are taxable to fund Social Security.

Make your opinions known to those who must protect our entitlement programs by legislating with compassion and honesty.

Thank you,
Esther
esther@yeswecanli.org

The following are excerpts from Saul Friedman’s article that discuss the current state of health care in America.

While we await the hoped for improvements in the health care reforms, the latest news about the irrational, fragmented and profit-driven American health care system is not good.In a report released last month by the respected Commonwealth Fund, the United States, which spends twice as much money on health care than other advanced nations, ranks lower than all of them on the quality, efficiency and the cost of care for their citizens.

Most important, the care given and available in these countries is more equitable than in the U.S. The disparity in the care available here for more affluent whites, compared to the poor, blacks and Hispanics is too obvious. There are no uninsured in the countries cited.

The report ranked the United States last when compared to six other nations – Britain, Canada, Germany, Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand – all of which have some form of universal, nationalized or socialized health care.

Continue reading Saul Friedman’s article at TimeGoesBy.net

These findings about people not seeing a doctor early, which means that they go when their health problem is serious, and much more difficult and expensive to treat, means that private insurance is impacting their health care and outcomes. These findings point to the need for adequate coverage under a single payer (Medicare for All) system would serve us all much better.

85.1% women and 50.1% of men don’t even think to call their doctor when they think something is wrong

90.6% of women and 75% of men believe trying to get in to see the doctor is a waste of time

81.5% of women and 71.6% of men think seeing their doctor will be too expensive even with insurance coverage

71.3% of women and 64.2% of men say hidden costs and fees not covered by insurance keep them from seeing their doctor

Read the full report at Time Goes By.

A group of prominent American and Canadian physicians debated, in Toronto, the question: “Be it resolved that I would rather get sick in the U.S. than in Canada.” If you don’t have two hours to watch the full debate, you may want to watch the opening statements, and then slide the time bar forward to catch the closing statements (though I watched the full debate live-streamed, and it was well worth my time).

Howard Dean was interviewed before the debate on his views of Health Care in America. Here is a brief excerpt of what he had to say:

You were a strong proponent of the public health-care option in the U.S. Why?

A public plan allows people more choices. The truth is we have a social system for veterans, we have a single-payer system like Canada’s for people over 65 and we have a private enterprise system. I think the best way to get reform [is] to give people more choices and let them do the reform.

But one of the principal criticisms of a public system, a single-payer system like Canada’s, is that it robs consumers of choice.

Well, the U.S. system is not the same as Canada’s. What I was proposing is a choice: a socialist system, a single-payer system or a private enterprise system.

Would a Canadian-style system work in the U.S.?

It would certainly work in terms of delivering good health care for less money – because that’s what Canada does now. But from a political point of view, it would be very difficult to implement a single-payer system.

Read the rest of Howard Dean’s comments by clicking here.

The importance of this message is that this is a crucial debate that has not gone away in spite of the enactment of Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. We should all do our part to see that everyone in the United States becomes fully informed on the facts on health care.

Congratulations to Nancy Pelosi and the House of Representative on passing the legislation. Onto the Senate for reconciliation to make the law even better.

One way or another, the fate of health care reform is going to be decided in the next few days. If House Democratic leaders find 216 votes, reform will almost immediately become the law of the land. If they don’t, reform may well be put off for many years — possibly a decade or more.

And he concludes with…

Can you imagine a better reform? Sure. If Harry Truman had managed to add health care to Social Security back in 1947, we’d have a better, cheaper system than the one whose fate now hangs in the balance. But an ideal plan isn’t on the table. And what is on the table, ready to go, is legislation that is fiscally responsible, takes major steps toward dealing with rising health care costs, and would make us a better, fairer, more decent nation.

Read the whole Krugman Column @ NYTimes.com