Howard Dean's Prescription For Real Healthcare Reform
Ah, August - allegedly the slowest news month of the year, according to general wisdom among the media and political junkies. Not so this year, despite Congress being on recess and Obama now on vacation. The battle for health care reform has never been hotter, with one side worried about death panels and socialism, the other fighting for the public option, and everyone in between commenting on the funding and breadth of proposed programs. See TPMDC for blow-by-blow coverage of the debate.
That said, we have a rather special and timely book club this week, with former DNC head, Vermont governor, and presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean joining TPMCafe for a discussion of what real health care reform means. He'll be joined by an expert panel of strong voices on reform to talk about his book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer. It's a discussion not to be missed - join us.
I don't remember who said it first, but it needs to be said again, and again. And again. It's NOT Healthcare that needs to be reformed. What needs to be reformed is the Financing of Healthcare.
Every complaint about the dangers of government involvement in the Financing of Healthcare is a problem in our currently system. Money is paid to insurance companies, and Insurance Companies DECIDE how to use those funds. Does anyone seriously believe that the highest priority of Insurance companies is the well being of patients. Do insurance companies ration care and get in between doctors and patients? What service do the insurance companies provide? What value is added by the role of insurance companies? How can the citizens of America spend our healthcare dollars more efficiently? Do we deserve more for what we are spending? We need real reform in the Financing of Healthcare.
August 24, 2009 11:12 PM | Reply | Permalink