| Gillibrand described the forums as a way to bring experts on national issues to the community for "an open forum, a conversation I can listen to and participate in."
She said the United States pays the most for health care, by far, than any other First World country, and gets the worst health outcomes.
She argued that we need "a lower-cost system focused on prevention care, not emergency room care."
Gillibrand added that opening Medicare to everyone, at a premium of 5 percent of income, would be a basic, sensible reform, with first consideration being given to families with children and people from 55 to 65 years old who have difficulty finding affordable individual insurance.
She noted that Medicare's administrative expenses are about 3 percent, much lower than insurance companies, because Medicare does not have to pay for advertising, large CEO salaries and profits.
Gillibrand neglected to mention that Medicare does not employ legions of claims denial specialists that commit, in nyceve's apt phrase, murder by spreadsheet.
She said she thought that comprehensive reform bills, like Conyers' single-payer bill and Stark's AmeriCare bill, were unlikely to make it to the floor this year.
Gillibrand said there was money available to deal with this vital problem -- coming from "the extraordinary amount of waste (most of it in government contracts), the extraordinary amount of subsidies to industries which are doing very well, and the $200 billion in uncollected taxes."
Perhaps the most surprising comment was by Glens Falls Hospital CEO David Kruczlnicki, who said he now supports single-payer, mostly because of his administrative costs in trying to get 200 insurance companies to pay claims.
He said that those office costs would be much better spent on patient care.
Dr. John Rugge, head of the Hudson Headwaters network, said that his group has to send claims to 1,160 insurance claims offices.
Gillibrand said that she supports requiring all insurance companies to use a universal, one-page claims form, and that the federal government should encourage greater use of information technology to reduce administrative costs.
Most of the questions were about the high costs of private insurance coverage for small businesses and the self-employed.
No one had an awful "murder by spreadsheet" story to tell, but all testified to the tremendous insecurity people feel about health care.
My question, which no one could answer, was why the state allowed the insurance companies to charge such exorbitant rates for those unlucky enough not to be in an employer-supported program.
Rugge explained why it was that way, that insurers consider the individual policy holders as a separate pool, with higher risk.
I knew that, but it did not address my point that I'm insured through work at $300 or so a month, though it would cost me, the same person with the same health risks, at least three times as much (which would be unaffordable) to get similar individual coverage.
It was a rhetorical question; I knew that the insurance industry has blocked community rating, primarily through their friends in Boss Bruno's state Senate.
Back to the larger question, I understand that, absent vigorous executive leadership, Congress will only work incrementally on reforming our sick health care system.
It's like giving aspirin and chicken soup to a cancer patient, but that's the political system we are stuck with.
There are clearly not 60 votes in the Senate for, nor a president who would sign, the Conyers or Stark bills. Indeed, those bills may not even get 218 votes in the House.
So, much work remains. The polls show substantial majority support for major reform -- single-payer or Medicare-for-all, paid for by higher taxes -- but our representatives in Washington are not getting the message yet.
And, be assured, the corporate media will not be on the people's side on this one -- billions in insurance company advertising will trump doing the right thing to stop murder by speadsheet.
But freshmen like Gillibrand, who are hearing from their constituents that this is a vital issue and are not corrupted by K Street, will be an important force in Congress, saying that the people have waited too long for what the richest country in the world can and should do -- provide low-cost comprehensive health coverage for everyone. |
