Health Care Stuff

[chilimuffin]

or: why I like Obama's health plan more then Clinton's. In medicine, it is my moral obligation to advocate for patients in the larger arena - it's part of my code as a doctor, and as a person. Health care reform is perhaps the biggest area I could try and tackle, but why not? It's important.

Comments

[chilimuffin]

The key difference for analysts (but not me, per se), between the two plans is that Obama's does not include a mandate while Clinton's does. Clinton requires all individuals enroll in health coverage, with unspecified punishments (she has recently hinted at wage garnishing) for those who don't obtain health coverage. Obama's plan assumes that making affordable insurance available will capture most of the uninsured. I believe Obama's a little naive in this point, but I also think it's a point upon which both candidates will wiggle as needed. I don't have anything against a mandate per se (since we don't give people options about other social services), but I do have something against a mandate that is based around a tax refund to those who can't afford it rather than a tax-based subsidy. Most people who can't afford health insurance currently probably wouldn't be able to wait around for a refund to help with the costs, and would have to make the difficult decisions between things like food and compliance that I don't want anyone

[chilimuffin]

Doyle is sort of a tool, yeah.... and I don't think either of the candidates would know enough about IT to even begin to address the needs of health care computing beyond the vague handwaving they've both done.

[gefiltyfish]

Any idea on how they stack up on stem-cell research?

[chilimuffin]

no, but if I hear anything, I'll let you know. As far as I know, they're both pro, but maybe not.....

[gefiltyfish]

Stem-cell research has in recent years become one of two issues that my family bases its votes on...Israel, of course, being the other one. If you hear anything, let me know - they've been so vague on the specifics.

[trygve]

"Improving mental health care. Remember what happened when Reagan emptied the institutions? Ever been to Athens, Ohio? yeah......"

What's up with Athens?

[chilimuffin]

Athens had a huge institutionalized population, who all were discharged on the streets (Yellow Springs had more, however, so perhaps I should've used that as my reference). There are a disproportionate number of schizophrenic homeless in both Yellow Springs and Athens. I wish I had a citation for you.........

Thanks

[jacesan]

I remember Reagan's brilliant idea to cut care for mentally disturbed people.

I'm not in favor of mandating anything.

Companies will hire employees for a short period, let them go, then rehire them to keep them from becoming regular full-time employees to exclude them from recieving medical benefits from the company. Mandating a person to come up with their own insurance coverage frees these companies up from ever having to provide insurance for their employees. Lowering the cost of insurance will help out individuals as well as smaller companies that have to provide insurance for it's employees.

Re: Thanks

[chilimuffin]

I hadn't thought about it from that angle, but yes, I agree - there would be a big element of that, and if coupled with a punitive mandate, people would be really caught between a rock and a hard place.

Re: Thanks

[chilimuffin]

In thinking, I suspect this will be a problem no matter what bandaid we slap on the health care issue, Clinton's or Obama's. However, I suspect there will be less incentive for the companies to do this if there's no mandate because they won't be assured of a healthy staff, and public pressure will factor in.

[trygve]

Thanks again for this really great read!

Is there any particular reason the post is locked? I keep thinking how great it would be to share this one with a few friends.

[chilimuffin]

I keep my journal locked just on principal. However, for you, I will unlock this one post ;) (I used my mafia voice for that line, can you tell?).

[trygve]

Have I mentioned that you rock? Because you definitely rock! Thanks! =)