coyotesuspect

Leverage!

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It seems like the LibDems and the Blue Dogs have reached a compromise of sorts on healthcare. It bothers me that they've dropped the public option, but this proposal still has to be melded with last month's measure that did include a public option. C'mon Rahmy, get in there and fight!

Seems to me like there's two big problems with healthcare in this country:

1) Too many people are not covered by insurance.

2) Healthcare and healthcare insurance are really freakin' expensive.

And here are some links to articles about healthcare by people much more intelligent and informed than I.

Disruptive Innovation, Applied to Health Care
New York Times, January 2009

"Hospitals and doctors are paid by insurers and the government for the health care equivalent of piecework: hospitals profit from full beds and doctors profit from repeat visits. There is no financial incentive to keep patients healthy."

Heading for the Emergency Room
The Economist, June 2009

"Comparisons with other rich countries and within the United States show that America’s health-care system is not only growing at an unsustainable pace, but also provides questionable value for money and dubious medical care."

Hold the Mayo
Slate, July 2009

"It has been documented time and again that private insurance is much costlier, much less efficient, and much less able to boss doctors around. Altering fee structures in any meaningful way therefore requires expanding government's role in the medical economy beyond anything contemplated in the various health reform bills."

Health Reform Can Pay for Itself
Slate, July 2009

"The Senate bill, as passed last week by the health committee, would cost about $600 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office's most recent calculation. The health committee proposed no offsetting taxes. But that's because the health committee can't propose any taxes: Taxation lies outside its jurisdiction. "

And if you really get on a health care binge, my delicious account is here.