Health Insurance Industry - Putting Quarterly Profits before Patients' Health

If you care about health care, you owe it to yourself to check out what a recently retired health care executive, turned whistle blower, says about the industry and why it opposes our having the choice of a public health insurance option. Here's a place to start - a post on the Washington Monthly blog with some video clips an interview conducted by Bill Moyers.

Long story short: For-profit health care is focused on making quarterly profits that satisfy their investors. The more money spent on patient care, the less available for profit. In the trade, this is known as the Medical Loss Ratio - and it has decreased from 95% during the early 1990's to ~80% today. That means LESS of the money taken in by for-profit health insurance companies is being used to pay for health care for those they insure.

In contrast, the overhead cost of government-administered health plans is about 3%. No wonder for-profit health care with its 20% overhead (administration and profits) doesn't want to be in competition with a public option!

Please make sure our 7th District Representative and Michigan Senators listen you instead of the health care lobbyists. Call or write them while there's still time and tell them you want to be able to choose from among insurance options that include a public one.

Rep. Mark Schauer at 202-225-6276

Senior Senator Carl Levin at 202-224-6221

Junior Senator Debbie Stabenow at 202-224-4822

National Day of Health Care Service - June 27

The fight for health care reform isn't something that will just happen in Washington, D.C. We know that for so many people in our communities, America's broken health care system is a daily crisis -- and there are ways that we can help right now. Join the National Health Care Day of Service on Saturday, June 27th. Sign up to serve here.

If there is no service event near you on Saturday, you can still help by talking with family, friends and neighbors about the importance of our having the choice of a public health care option in any reform bill that comes out of Congress. For an informed opinion about why the critics of a public option for health care are wrong, please read this article by Robert Reich, a former US Secretary of Labor.

We Care About Health Care

Yesterday morning I spent two and half hours talking about health care reform with vendors and visitors at the Chelsea Farmers' Market. I must have approached 40 or 50 people, most of them local residents, to find out what their concerns are. The theme that ran through all my conversations was "our health care system is broken and needs to be fixed - now!"

Thirty people signed a petition to our US Congressional Representative, Mark Schauer, and Michigan's US Senators, Levin and Stabenow, urging them to make sure legislation for quality, affordable health care passes this year and that it includes a public health care option. About a dozen more asked for printed information so they could look it over and decide what action to take. I was happy to oblige.

The public health care option (think of something like Medicare, or the plan that covers US Senators and Representatives) will reduce costs, be reliable and would test the idea of a single-payer system. It is being opposed by health insurance lobbyists. Only the concerted action of lots of Involved Voters can counter their considerable influence.

For information: www.healthreform.gov and www.healthcareforamericanow.org

Health Care Reform - Get Informed

Today Organizing for America is holding kickoff activities around the country to help Involved Voters get up to speed about what's needed to get health care reform passed this year and why.

For a good summary of the economics of health care, I recommend reading this article: "Health Care Reform is an Economic Necessity".

Local elections are elections, too.

Did you participate in your local school board election on May 5? According to the Washtenaw County Registrar's Office, Elections Section, less than 5% of registered voters did.

Involved Voters have a lot of work to do to keep informed about these local elections. It's often the case that decisions made at the local level have the most direct impact on us and our families.

The demise of the print version of local daily newspapers is going to make keeping up with local government even more difficult. We've got to come up with creative, effective ways to gather information about what's happening in our communities and share it with others.

In the 2008 General Election, we proved we could get out the vote. We need to apply what we learned then to our local elections.

Four Principles for the Federal Budget

In case you missed President Obama's weekly address on March 21, here is a transcript of the part that lays out the four principles he expects the Federal budget to meet. (I've added the bold type to highlight a few key points.) The President needs your support to make sure the budget measures up to these standards. As an Involved Voter, you can pledge your support at Organizing for America.

...I expect a budget that meets four basic principles:

First, it must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable energy future. There is no longer a doubt that the jobs and industries of tomorrow will involve harnessing renewable sources of energy. The only question is whether America will lead that future. I believe we can and we will, and that's why we've proposed a budget that makes clean energy the profitable kind of energy, while investing in technologies like wind power and solar power; advanced biofuels, clean coal, and fuel-efficient cars and trucks that can be built right here in America.

Second, this budget must renew our nation's commitment to a complete and competitive education for every American child. In this global economy, we know the countries that out-educate us today will out-compete us tomorrow, and we know that our students are already falling behind their counterparts in places like China. That is why we have proposed investments in childhood education programs that work; in high standards and accountability for our schools; in rewards for teachers who succeed; and in affordable college education for anyone who wants to go. It is time to demand excellence from our schools so that we can finally prepare our workforce for a 21st century economy.

Third, we need a budget that makes a serious investment in health care reform - reform that will bring down costs, ensure quality, and guarantee people their choice of doctors and hospitals. Right now, there are millions of Americans who are just one illness or medical emergency away from bankruptcy. There are businesses that have been forced to close their doors or ship jobs overseas because they can't afford insurance. Medicare costs are consuming our federal budget. Medicaid is overwhelming our state budgets. So to those who say we have to choose between health care reform and fiscal discipline, I say that making investments now that will dramatically lower health care costs for everyone won't add to our budget deficit in the long-term - it is one of the best ways to reduce it.

Finally, this budget must reduce that deficit even further. With the fiscal mess we've inherited and the cost of this financial crisis, I've proposed a budget that cuts our deficit in half by the end of my first term. That's why we are scouring every corner of the budget and have proposed $2 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade. In total, our budget would bring discretionary spending for domestic programs as a share of the economy to its lowest level in nearly half a century. And we will continue making these tough choices in the months and years ahead so that as our economy recovers, we do what we must to bring this deficit down.

I will be discussing each of these principles next week, as Congress takes up the important work of debating this budget. I realize there are those who say these plans are too ambitious to enact. To that I say that the challenges we face are too large to ignore. I didn't come here to pass on our problems to the next President or the next generation - I came here to solve them.

The American people sent us here to get things done, and at this moment of great challenge, they are watching and waiting for us to lead. Let's show them that we are equal to the task before us, and let's pass a budget that puts this nation on the road to lasting prosperity.

President Obama's Address to a Joint Session of Congress

Listening to the President's speech last night reinforced my conviction that American voters selected the right leader for the times. It left me hopeful and determined to do what I can to help the country meet its challenges.

The full text of President Obama's speech can be found here. One of my favorite commentaries on the speech is this one by Steve Benen at The Washington Monthly blog.

In my opinion, the Republican response by Louisiana Governor Bobbie Jindal fell flat - no new ideas, same old "government bad, taxes bad" rhetoric.

I was inspired by the words the President used to conclude his address to the joint session of Congress:

We are not quitters.

...(E)ven in the most trying times, amid the most difficult circumstances, there is a generosity, a resilience, a decency, and a determination that perseveres; a willingness to take responsibility for our future and for posterity.

....I know that we haven't agreed on every issue thus far, and there are surely times in the future when we will part ways. But I also know that every American who is sitting here tonight loves this country and wants it to succeed. That must be the starting point for every debate we have in the coming months, and where we return after those debates are done. That is the foundation on which the American people expect us to build common ground.

And if we do - if we come together and lift this nation from the depths of this crisis; if we put our people back to work and restart the engine of our prosperity; if we confront without fear the challenges of our time and summon that enduring spirit of an America that does not quit, then someday years from now our children can tell their children that this was the time when we performed, in the words that are carved into this very chamber, "something worthy to be remembered." Thank you, God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.