Government could be a good thing if politics were removed. Partisan politics. That’s the four letter word. Its why we have almost unanimous agreement among congressional members that health care needs reform yet not enough of a majority of them to do anything about it. Compromise, as in partisan politics, renders any attempt (to date) to reform ineffective.
The left hook to health care reform is all about tort or limiting of medical malpractice suits. The special interest groups wealthy enough to matter to today’s Democrats In Power (DIPs) don’t want the politicians messing with their status quo. But in order for a top-tiered attorney to make a salary in the ballpark of one of the Wall Street CEOs we can’t place a limit on the amount of money a lawyer can make on a successful malpractice suit.
Malpractice insurance rates are so high heart surgeons aren’t paid enough for the time commitment required of them to meet the demand for their life saving services. Recently, I required emergency open heart surgery. I owe my heart surgeon my life. I owe him a lot of money, too. Mine was his first of that day. It lasted seven hours. He got a few minutes of a break before going to his next surgery that same day. Median salary for a heart surgeon is around $500,000. Those malpractice rates must be high.
The bipartisan solution would address medical malpractice to at least removing cost barriers that prevent the willing from becoming the qualified and the qualified from providing needed health care services for all.
The right cross to health care reform is there is evidently more trust in corporate insurance companies than in the government. Even though in the minority of both houses the RIPs can get away with catering to the special interest groups wealthy enough to matter to them — who don’t want the politicians messing with their status quo either.
Currently if you are among the working uninsured, the program dependent under-insured or have certain preconditions you really can face the proverbial Death Squads of Corporate Insurance America. In that circle those with potentially life threatening diseases must often be in serious enough condition to warrant an emergency room visit or have cash in hand for any procedure required. But that’s better than trusting the government with any public option?
Bipartisanship wouldn’t promote the fear of government to the extent that the insurance industry is more trusted.
The great compromise of the Obama administration’s attempt at health care reform is likely the public option. Even conservative Democrats in Congress trust insurance companies more than they do their employer.
The ineffectual result of such a compromise is the so called non-profit option. The problem with that is, when it comes to health care, non-profit status can really raise some honest eyebrows: The nation’s highest paid nonprofit CEO, J. Mongan (Partners HealthCare Systems in Boston), took home $2,729,076, in 2008, including nearly $1.3 million in deferred pay. His package included nearly $700,000 in benefits, which pushed his total compensation to nearly $3.5 million.
Hospitals have the highest median non-profit CEO pay at more than $830,000. DeKalb County’s local non-profit hospital group pays its CEO more than $600,000 per year or $200,000 more than President Barack Obama.
Health care is busting budgets from Wall Street in New York to Oak Street in DeKalb. Partisanship requires each party to let loose of their sacred cows.
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5 Comments
Good to read you again, Mac. I think you've hit the nail on the head here. Too many entrenched interests to allow anything meaningful to happen. Everyone agrees the system, if not out-and-out broken, can't sustain itself for any length of time. A clearer problem in need of fixing would be hard to find, and yet it seems that many of our "leaders" have other priorities.
The blogosphere isn't helping much either (current blog excepted!). It's apparently more important to score cheap political points by spreading fear, hatred, and lies than trying to hold a meaningful debate. I'm with you, Lynn. Sigh.
The American political system was, as the saying goes, “designed by geniuses so it could be run by idiots.” But a cocktail of political and technological trends have converged in the last decade that are making it possible for the idiots of all political stripes to overwhelm and paralyze the genius of our system.
Those factors are: the wild excess of money in politics; the gerrymandering of political districts, making them permanently Republican or Democratic and erasing the political middle; a 24/7 cable news cycle that makes all politics a daily battle of tactics that overwhelm strategic thinking; and a blogosphere that at its best enriches our debates, adding new checks on the establishment, and at its worst coarsens our debates to a whole new level, giving a new power to anonymous slanderers to send lies around the world. Finally, on top of it all, we now have a permanent presidential campaign that encourages all partisanship, all the time among our leading politicians.
I would argue that together these changes add up to a difference of degree that is a difference in kind — a different kind of American political scene that makes me wonder whether we can seriously discuss serious issues any longer and make decisions on the basis of the national interest.
IMO this has been duplicated to some extent at the state and local levels, too. But particularly at the national level, we somehow have yielded the floor to the loons and the barbarians.
Even more disturbing, Mr. Friedman likens the "poisonous political environment" to that of Israel just before PM Rabin was assassinated. I am having a hard time doubting this, having seen yesterday the Facebook poll that asked, "Should Obama be killed?" I reported the poll but not before noticing that nearly 800 people had responded.
I am the political middle and, when given the chance, a joyous problem-solver. But now, I grieve.
Glad you're back, Mac! Also glad you had the doctor with the training and experience to keep you with us.
In my travels, this subject comes up often. There are three major bones of contention I hear over and over. First is tort reform. We lost our family doctor a couple of years ago due to the high cost of malpractice insurance, especially in his role in delivering babies. Second is the elimination of refusal due to pre-existing conditions. Problem with this is that it will raise costs to whatever provider, private or public, involved. This can be compensated thru cost controls including the salaries like you mentioned. Cut those and there will be a shortage of talent but only for a short time. Heck, I would run Partners Health Care for 25% of that salary or maybe less. Finally, there is an earned distrust of anything run by the government except for the military (which has a whole nother story regarding management, discipline and talent pool) that has the general population rising up and making themselves heard like never before. Washington, Springfield and countless other governing bodies have forgotten what their jobs are and are completely out of touch with the world in which you and I live, work and play. A massive clean up from White House to City Councils is grossly overdue. Government needs to get back to the basics of the Constitution! Until the use the Missouri Plan (Show Me) they can once again be trusted to work for US, that distrust will only increas.
Wow, I could go on for volumes!
Keep up the good work, my friend!
HEY MAC
GLAD TO SEE U BACK IN ACTION
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Sal… Good to hear from you!
Mike… it is essential for our elected leaders to rebuild trust and they can through accountability.
Lynn and Paul… I think the blogosphere is going to have a wonderfully positive effect on government reform… once the weeds are pulled and the dust settles. Transparency is now a buzzword — thanks to bloggers. Anonymous blogging, not to be confused with whistle blowing, is holding progress back, imo.
I didn't see the poll but of course I read about it. Good job for turning it in even if other(s) may have beat you to it, Lynn. And kudos to the secret service for visiting the Genoa kids — even if it was only to scare the b'jeebers out of them.