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Al Franken smackdown video re US health care causes

martzj
0 Recommendations

Click on link, then on Franken video to hear a long overdue enteraction between a member of congress and a medical lobbyist (doctor)

Al Franken, like many Americans, is sick and tired of listening to conservatives throw up strawman arguments about health care reform intended to scare Americans into accepting 47 million uninsured fellow citizens, increasing out-of-pocket costs and skyrocketing personal bankruptcies due to health care costs--all the while decrying "socialized" medicine. Below, he schools Diana Furchtgott-Roth of the Hudson Institute--which until recently employed disgraced health care "analyst" and serial liar Betsy McCaughey--on how people in other "socialized" countries don't go bankrupt trying to stay alive

http://airamerica.com/politics/10-25-2009/watchfranken-schools-shill-medica l-bankruptcies/

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Surgery Heart attack

9 replies

ceebee

love it love it love it. it's time progressives grow a pair and then some. thanks for sharing!

IngridK

This was great! Thank you for sharing. I'm sending the link to all on my list. Way to go Al!!! It's about frickin time someone stood up for ME and not my insurance company. And yeah, I'm one of those statistics he's talking about, so my family is feeling this added suffering first hand, and we're mad as heck about it.

LeahS

The idea of socialized medicine scares me. A few years ago I tore my ACL. While I was in surgery, my husband was speaking with a mom and dad waiting for their son who was having the same procedure. They said their son played hockey and if he had the procedure done in Canada, where they were from, the waiting list was over 8 months. They flew to Cincinnati, stayed in a hotel, and paid out of pocket to have this surgery done in a timely manner. What part of this sounds like a good idea. I am aware some people have major issues with medical bills, now, so do I. I feel for them, I feel for myself. But I have a hard time believing that a government that can't handle whats on its plate now will be able to handle all that comes with governing medical anything. I've read on here about ladies being misdiagnosed, and it scares me to think about what is going to happen to the quality of care, is that number going to rise? and what would and probably will happen when Washington gets its hands involved.

IngridK

Hi Leah,

I understand your fears about socialized medicine. The ideas can be scary. We already have government run insurance our country right now. Medicare and the military insurance, Tricare, are both run entirely by our government. Both are very good systems. Ask anyone on Medicare how they like it. I've never heard anyone who's said they would prefer private insurance over their Medicare. It's portable. If you loose your job or move to another state, you still keep the same coverage. Tricare has been rated by their customers as the best health insurance. They get the best care and never have to wait, and as long as they stay in the military, it's just like Medicare in that it's portable. You can go anywhere in the world with it, and you're covered.

We do have two really great systems in place already. It's just that a lot of big companies would loose money and are spending millions per day to keep you from believe anything could be better than what we have now.

Maybe someone can post some links that could help. I have to dash off now, but good luck in your research!

corby

Thanks for the information. I am sending the link to all I know. This is an important issue and I believe it is a human rights issue. The people in Minnesota are lucky to have a voice that speaks for all, not just the fortunate few with a fistful of dollars. Medicare is socialized medicine - why don't people understand that. Why is it ok to insure those over 65 and let everyone else go without? Yes there a issues with fraud and misuse as in any governement agency. I believe we finally have an administration that will look into those problems. It all narrows down to thinking about our nation as a whole and not just our own individual security. When the nation is healthy we all are better off. Bankruptcy and homeless families could become the norm rather than the exception. This is what scares me.

martzj

"But I have a hard time believing that a government that can't handle whats on its plate now will be able to handle all that comes with governing medical anything. I've read on here about ladies being misdiagnosed, and it scares me to think about what is going to happen to the quality of care, is that number going to rise? and what would and probably will happen when Washington gets its hands involved."

Ladies,

These are 2 entirely separate issues; access to care and quality of care. Gov't can only control access to care for now. In the US, it is the profits that are being given #1 priority in this health care reform battle...which follows the long-standing industry standard of profits as #1 priority, patient care effectiveness #4. (males first, children second, women last). The health care reform battles are ALL about the $ at this time.

Universal access to care will offer huge savings long term as children are able to get treated quickly and easily fixed problems never get the chance to escalate into something outrageously dangerous, complicated, expensive, chronic, deadly. There is no downside to universal health care access in the US. Dental care is extremely important for children and currently, the least accessible. Our unfortunate forebearers had no access to dental care with antibiotics...millions never survived abcesses. The biggest cause of death in young adults was impacted wisdom teeth. And yet, here were are 21st century, with all the necessary and very easy to repair medical fixes....and greedy doctors and dentists withholding treatment to patients who can't pay their outrageous fees.

I had excellent insurance and it had zero to do with 'quality of care'. We'll have to keep the coals to the feet of medical industry regarding progressive updating of their cultural practices. They will never do it on their own. My excellent insurance richly rewarded 11 doctors to drive me straight into massive heart attack with irreversible damage by 41. I never had a chance and there was not one single thing I could do about it, except keep paying those insurance premiums, copays, deductibles and out of pocket medical bills to try to survive the aftermath.
My excellent insurance covered cardiac rehab, I spent 7 days in hospital, 5 very critical condition in intensive care.....no rehab was ever mentioned by my doctors. Ever...in 13 years.

So when I hear people bemoaning fears that bringing everyone on board (this just means everyone is in, not that everyone is rushing to your doctors at the same time) might put their own quality of care in jeapardy, it makes me sad. Are you kidding me? It will be a medical bonanza with new doctors opening up practices all over.

There are so many front lines to keep pressuring... quality of care is always going to have a better chance at climbing up to #1 after universal insurance makes the old exclusionary practices moot. In the meantime, we do our best to extract the best #4 priority care from our doctors in the 7-13 minutes allowed per exam.

Let's be really clear about something: The '47 million uninsured' are mostly people who've been (legally) driven OUT of insurance by the industry practices of calling everything 'pre-existing' and then jacking up rates so high they are unaffordable. Can you pay $700-1500 month in premiums + $5000 deductible out-of-pocket cost before insurance kicks in at all? I couldn't get accurate life saving care while I had excellelant coverage, then after the heart damage was discovered from all that 'care' I got prior, I was uninsurable as 'pre-existing heart attack patient' once I could no longer work and COBRA ran out. Everybody squeezed every penny they could out of me, left me barely alive and then tossed me into the '47 million uninsured' as soon as my group coverage ran out.

grace5

47 million uninsured, that's almost as many people as inhabit the entire UK, mind boggling.
I have to stick my tuppence worth in as usual, being extremely lucky to have the National Health Service. True, non urgent ops have a waiting list but hey, if it's not going to kill you you can afford to wait, if you don't want to wait and can afford to pay you are free to do so.
I'm ashamed to admit that before I found WH I did my fair share of complaining about our health care, frankly, I deserve a slap, how ungrateful and complacent, not any more. The mere fact that it's there, it's free (aside from National health insurance contributions which are proportionate to earnings) I have never had to spend so much as a nano second worrying about the cost of my family's health care.
I can't begin to imagine what it must be like not to be able to afford health care, to worry about losing my job, to not being able to afford medication, oh yes, we're definitely the lucky ones.
Lidia xx

ceebee

Well said ladies...now if you have a moment...read Bob Herbert's call to action.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/27/opinion/27herbert.html?_r=1

corby

Great article. I shared it with friends. We all need to speak up and speak out if we want things to change.

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