Bucks
Health Reform Murphy Clymer
Dear Friends,
Good morning. The debate about health care reform is dividing America. You can see the ugly partisanship at work right here in Bucks County. In the last two weeks, Congressman Patrick Murphy got his ears filled by anti Obama protestors at meetings in Perkasie, Quakertown, and Lower Bucks.
In addition a few days ago, State Representative Paul Clymer (R-145) organized a town hall meeting whose participants were evenly divided. Fortunately, they were civil. Clymer brought an area resident, Dr. Brian Priest, who opposes the Democrats’ plan. A thoracic surgeon, Priest told the audience that the Democrat proposal calls for mandatory end of life counseling; health care needs will be rationed; and the new bill does not limit malpractice claims.
At the Murphy meetings, Obama opponents predicted that the Democrat bill would fail unless there is tort reform plus more competition among insurance companies. “In the United States,” Murphy countered, “the private [insurance company] sector hasn’t been doing right by the patients or the doctors.”
Dr. Todd Alderfer, a cardiologist at Grand View Hospital spoke at the Murphy meeting in Perkasie. “Defensive medicine is partially responsible for the high cost of health care,” he said. “Tort reform (a cap on damages for pain and suffering) would help. The money spent on defensive medicine has been grossly underestimated.”
“I’ll vote against any [health care] legislation unless it meets these four basic principles: (1) an independent analysis determines it is revenue-neutral for the federal budget; (2) that it includes health insurance reform; (3) that it addresses the Medicare “doughnut hole” for prescription drug coverage; and (4) that it includes a tax credit for small businesses that provide health insurance coverage,” Murphy told his audience.
Sorting out the pros and cons of Health Care reform as touted by the Democrats is not easy to understand. And the Republicans haven’t offered a plan of their own.
Mighty Betsy and I have a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania Health Care system. Dr. Kelly Anne Spratt is betting that health care reform is doomed for two reasons.
“It doesn’t address tort reform and until it does, doctors are forced to practice defensive medicine [ordering unnecessary, expensive tests to protect them against law suits],” Spratt began. “And second, health care reform must make patients’ medical records electronically accessible to all medical providers [hospitals, research centers, pharmaceutical companies, etc].
Spratt told me that health care centers like Penn, Mayo and Cleveland Clinics, Harvard, and the like, do not routinely share medical records. She argues that all providers should do so. To protect the individual, Spratt would identify the patient by her/his Social Security number and only with the patient’s permission.
Most Americans believe that the cost of health care is out of control. I do.
Nicholas Kristof is a columnist for the New York Times. He wrote a fascinating piece (Aug. 30) about how divorce may save the day for a married couple’ nest egg.
Kristof told a true story about two happily married people who faced a terrible but typical dilemma. The elderly husband had dementia. His incurable disease would eventually erode all the family’s assets and, worse, fail to cure her husband. The only way the wife could protect herself and her family’s assets was to divorce her husband…which, in desperation, she reluctantly did.
“The American Journal of Medicine this month found that 62 percent of American bankruptcies are linked to medical bills,” Kristof continued.
Here’s what I think the President’s health formula should include: (1) Dr. Kelly Spratt’s two points…tort reform and medical records access. (2) All Americans should have the option to acquire health insurance that congressional people receive. (3) A public option plan to keep insurance companies honest.
I agree with the New York Times editorial’s assessment about the need for a public insurance plan. “All of the current versions of health care reform would create insurance exchanges, where tens of millions of uninsured Americans, people who lack group coverage and workers in small businesses could buy policies from either private insurers or a new government-run program,” the editorial began (Aug. 18). “While a public plan has been demonized by opponents as a big-government takeover of health care, the idea is to increase competition among insurers and give consumers more choices.”
Driven by its far right, the Republican Party has one mission…to bring President Obama to his knees. The GOP sees the Health Care debate as the best way to push Obama over the brink.
But the Republicans have proposed no plan of their own. Instead, the GOP relies on conservative talk radio entertainers like Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity to run a program of slash, burn and destroy.
To better understand what has happened to political civility in America, you might read “America’s Right Turn” by Richard Viguerie and David Franke. The book explains the four parts of what is known as the alternative media (direct mail, talk radio, cable news TV, and the Internet). “America’s Right Turn” answers how the far right has captured the Republican Party.
The GOP far right won’t compromise, just as the far left wouldn’t compromise during the Bill Clinton years. By the way, I refuse to call the far-right conservative. In my opinion, that’s an honored, Barry Goldwater term meaning: keep the government small; out of our private lives; and fiscally responsible. That’s the exact opposite of the George W. Bush years.
Where have the moderates gone? The GOP threw them out of their party several decades ago. And it’s hard to find them among the Democrats.
Alas, with the exception of the two-term limit for the Presidency, U.S. Senators and Congress people have no restrictions. Beginning with the Carter administration to the present, both parties have one mission…destroy the opposition.
Finally, I believe that the only way Americans can restore reason to government is to insist upon term limits. Give federal and state legislators no more than 12 years to serve. We should have reformed health care, illegal immigration, and other thorny problems decades ago.
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith