End of Life Counseling

So, the townhall shouters have made headway. They have actually succeeded in having the house remove the "End of Life Counseling" section from the healthcare bill. Here's a question for each and every one of those who I will refer to in the aggregate as "the opposition". How many of you have "End of Life Counseling" clauses in your private healthcare plans?

Let me repeat that.

How many of you have "End of Life Counseling" clauses in your private healthcare plans?

The answer is, close to 100%. Seriously, death panels?

The supposed evil that you rally against is precisely what you are risking life and limb to protect.

Huh?

Yes, that is right. You are fighting against what you are fighting to protect.

Your precious private healthcare plan offers you the same "End of Life Counseling" that President Obama is trying to extend to those with fewer privileges than you have.

Don't worry, your ill-informed rantings wield great power. The house has modified the bill for you. Keep up the good work, and for God's sake don't learn anything about what you are fighting for (or against).

Arrgghhh.

A Heartbreaking Story

Click here to read a recent tale of a successful, well insured man who had an accident.

And still people line up to demand that the great United States of America preserve its 37th best health care system in the world.

The Number One Cause of Bankruptcy

It has been pointed out to me, in rebuttal, that my previous assertion that Medical bills are the number one cause of bankruptcy in the USA is not true. This is debatable, but the debate does not change the point.

The furor is over a study that many are trying to put into disrepute. The major problem that the detractors have is that the study was a peer reviewed, joint effort between the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Law School.

I would like to handle this in two phases.

First I will take the detractors criticism at face value, then I will present some stats from the Harvard findings.

17%. That is the number that the detractors say is the true percentage of bankruptcies caused by medical bills. 17%.

Remember, the people who are presenting this number are politically and/or financially motivated (prove me wrong) to come up with the smallest number possible and the best they could come up with was 17%. Well, let's suppose they are right. I am not sure they are making their point. If almost 20 per cent of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills then there is a national crisis that requires immediate attention. End of argument.

Let me repeat. If the detractors are correct, there is still a national crisis that needs immediate attention.

Now here are some facts from the Harvard Study:

Medical Bankruptcy – Fact Sheet

David U. Himmelstein, M.D., Deborah Thorne, Ph.D., Elizabeth Warren, J.D., Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., M.P.H.

• In May 2009, more than 5,000 families filed for bankruptcy every business day. For all of 2009, the total is expected to reach about 1.4 million. The average personal bankruptcy involves 2.71 debtors and dependents. In total, an estimated 3.8 million Americans will be involved in personal bankruptcy filings this year.

• Illness and medical bills were linked to at least 62.1% of all personal bankruptcies in 2007. Based on the current bankruptcy filing rate, medical bankruptcies will total 866,000 and involve 2.346 million Americans this year – about one person every 15 seconds.

• Using identical definitions in both years, the proportion of bankruptcies attributable to medical problems rose by 49.6% between 2001 and 2007.

• Most medically bankrupt families were middle class before they suffered financial setbacks. 60.3% of them had attended college and 66.4% had owned a home; 20% of families included a military veteran or active-duty soldier.

• Most medical debtors had some health insurance, but many suffered gaps in coverage:

• 77.9% of the individuals whose illness led to bankruptcy had health insurance at the onset of the bankrupting illness; 60.3% had private insurance.
• 69% of debtor families had coverage at the time of their bankruptcy filing
• 60% of families had continuous coverage
• Only 0.3% of the uninsured went without coverage voluntarily, i.e. because they though they didn’t need it – most others couldn’t afford it.

And still people line up to demand that the great United States of America preserve its 37th best health care system in the world.

"We're number 37! We're number37! We're number 37!"

Let me see if I understand this correctly.

1. The USA has the 37th best level of health care in the world
2. The USA has the most expensive health care in the world
3. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA is medical bills.

So, The US has pays the most for nearly the worst and should a citizen get truly sick they will likely lose everything they, and perhaps their ancestors, have worked for.

That is the status quo.

Currently, if someone needs medical attention any action must first be approved by an employee of a for profit insurance company. This is scary: a company that profits from denying you treatment is in charge of deciding if you qualify for treatment.

The average bureaucratic cost of government health insurance (Western nations) is 4%. The bureaucratic cost of the current American system is 30%.

This is the kicker. An astounding number of very vocal Americans are demanding the status quo.

I always thought that Americans were, and were proud of, being number one. Not number 37.

Repeat after me, "We're number 37! We're number37! We're number 37!"

Why this is an issue is beyond me.

Okay, I hear the opposition saying they don't want some disinterested government employee standing between them and their doctor. Well, let us take this at its face value. I ask you, which would you rather have deciding whether or not you get an operation: a disinterested government employee or an employee of an insurance company which profits from your not having the operation.

Is it really that simple? Yes, it is. Let me repeat the three points I laid out at the top:

1. The USA has the 37th best level of health care in the world
2. The USA has the most expensive health care in the world
3. The number one cause of personal bankruptcy in the USA is medical bills.

Now, make your case for the status quo.