Trump's "The Art of the Deal" shattered by Paul Ryan

In November of 1987, Donald Trump's book, The Art of the Deal, was published and received well by the public. Today on Amazon it is 2,662 overall in books, #2 in biographies and memoirs, #13 in business and money and #22 in biographies and memoirs. That is good, considering the number of books published these days and the reviews are mostly positive. But in the book, he warns his readers "Never seen desperate." Well, he blew that theory during the recent blowout of Ryan’s American Health Care Act proposal. It went down in flames in spite of Donald John's disparaging begging.

The Progressive reports that although Trump pledged not to cut Medicare, Ryan's bill cut it $880 billion from the program, and the Freedom Caucus members wanted to cut much more. Ryan's bill which favors the wealthy and large corporations would...

 "...devastate care for the most vulnerable ACA beneficiaries like the poor, disabled, and elderly. The Ryan plan would produce more deaths by swelling the ranks of the uninsured whose untreated conditions prove fatal."

From as far back as his tax-cutting proposals, to his American Health Care Act, Paul Ryan has been one of the most callous politicians toward the poor and needy of anyone I can remember. I can see why the man gets reelected by looking at the demographics of his 1st District in Wisconsin. Median income over $50,000; 91.1% white; 4.7% black; 5% Hispanic; and 57.7% white collar. Although his last election was close, and the next, well, we'll just see. Here's a stark statistic from the health care industry itself, published in the American Journal of Public Health...

"The Republican plan to replace the ACA would leave 52 million people uninsured in 2026. We know that will lead to many deaths—at least 41,969 and perhaps many times that number."

That isn't just callous. That is cold-blooded greed by Republicans to line the pockets of their constituents. And although the Freedom Caucus had a big hand in defeating the AHCA, Bernie Sanders says "Democrats should take credit for killing a really, really bad piece of legislation." Commenting further "Poll after poll showed that's exactly what the American people did not want." On the other hand, Donald Trump said...

"The best thing we can do, politically speaking, is let Obamacare explode. It is exploding right now," Trump said, adding that the 'losers' in the health care battle were Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer."

And Trump continues to blame the Democrats for the GOP bill's failure, which, of course, is fully agreeable to the Bern. Trump, who refused to blame Ryan for the failure of the American Health Care Act The Guardian said this...

"Speaking afterward in the Oval Office, Trump blamed Democrats for the failure of a bill to repeal the signature achievement of Barack Obama. 'If [Democrats] got together with us, and got us a real healthcare bill, I’d be totally OK with that. The losers are Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, because they own Obamacare. They 100% own it,” he said.'"

And then, after the melee was over, Paul Ryan proceeded to blame everything on the fact that the Republicans are now the governing Party, and that "...comes with growing pains and, well, we’re feeling those growing pains today. I will not sugarcoat this: this is a disappointing day for us.” What Ryan isn't saying is what is wrong with the entire U.S. government right at this moment, is the fact that Republicans are the governing Party. It was also what was wrong with the U.S. government in Geo. W. Bush's tenure from 2001 to 2009. A disaster that almost brought the country down.

So apparently Obamacare is okay for the time being but isn't it interesting just how volatile this piece of legislation is and the effect it has on a certain percentage of the public. Just a week after the 2016 election, the Kaiser family Poll came up with these findings...

"One-fourth, or 26 percent, of Americans favor a full repeal of the health care law, while 17 percent say scale it back, according to the Kaiser poll. On the other hand, 30 percent favor expanding the law and another 19 percent want lawmakers to move forward with the law as it is."

The Kaiser report also found that there was a decline in the percentage of Republicans who want the Act repealed, something that must have had an effect on Paul Ryan's withdrawal of his bill. And here's another insight from Vox into how some Republicans really view the Affordable Care Act...

"Republican leaders and conservative intellectuals, for the most part, didn’t really believe nonsense about death panels or that Obama was personally responsible for high-deductible insurance plans. What they fundamentally did not like is that the basic framework of the law is to redistribute money by taxing high-income families and giving insurance subsidies to needy ones. The details matter enormously to everyday people, but the broad principle is enough to make conservatives reject it."

Wasn't aware there were that many intellectuals in the GOP ranks, but this is a real crowd stopper. Anything republican always comes down to just two factors: 1) How it affects the wealthy; 2) How it affects large corporate business. There is no in between for the average American and until average Americans understand this, voting accordingly, this country will continue to be mired in mediocrity. 

‘World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017’ stinks

While millions risk losing their health insurance, perhaps dying as a result, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX), chairman of the powerful Rules Committee, thinks he has the perfect replacement for Obamacare in his POS ‘World’s Greatest Healthcare Plan of 2017.’ Sessions thought he would slip his legislation in as a model for what Speaker Paul Ryan  and the rest of the House plan to do. "Instead, Speaker Paul Ryan and his team modeled their initial bill on legislation authored by former
Rep. Tom Price." This is what Price had to say...

"...that that bill as currently written is a “work in progress,” and that future legislative and regulatory fixes will be necessary to address all of the health-care policies that Republicans hope to implement."

But the health care industry doesn't want anything to do with any of it. Seven groups speaking for hospitals, health systems and medical colleges collectively added their “significant concerns,..."

"...to the growing opposition, focusing on the prospect of sharply lower numbers of insured Americans if the GOP plan becomes law. Separately, the American Medical Association, a powerful lobbying group for physicians, rejected the bill for the same reason."

Based on health care specialists who have analyzed the Republican House bill, millions will lose coverage with Americans in their 50s and 60s as the most likely to not be able to afford the coverage. By 2020 the premium subsidies based on income would be gone, according to the New York Times. The current system would be replaced by tax credits of $2,000 to $4,000 per year, based on age. But this would leave a significant deficit from current coverage plans under Affordable Care Act requirements. Meaning, many would have to give up their health insurance.

Here's a statement from a major health care provider...

The central issue is the tax credits are not going to be sufficient, admits Dr. J. Mario Molina, chief executive of Molina Healthcare who offers coverage through Obamacare marketplaces in California, Florida and several other states. 

One unhappy Trump voter says she thought he would make her health insurance more affordable not more expensive. Under the House Plan, she would get $5,188 less each year than she did under the Affordable Care Act. "I'm scared," she says. Although there are no official figures yet, a report from Standard & Poor's claims that somewhere from 2 million to 4 million people will leave the insurance because, in their 50s and 60s, aren't old enough for Medicare but can't afford the new Republican House Plan. Brookings Institution estimates even higher losses.

With this new round of opposition nationwide, the GOP is finding new resistance at every corner. The health care groups also challenged the proposed changes to Medicaid...

"...warning that they would mean lost coverage and funding cuts for a program charged with caring for vulnerable children, elderly and disabled Americans."

"AMA chief executive James L. Madara, a doctor, wrote a letter to congressional leaders released Wednesday expressing the same sentiment: 'We cannot support the AHCA as drafted because of the expected decline in health insurance coverage and the potential harm it would cause to vulnerable patient populations.'”

How many more of you get the feeling, and this dates back for years, that Republicans don't give a shit about those in need of assistance from others? I'm betting plenty. Yes, there are those who take care of the welfare system but that is limited based on expenditures by welfare recipients. And here are 7 lies about welfare that many people believe are fact. AARP has come out against the GOP bill, and even some conservative advocacy groups like Heritage Action for America, FreedomWorks and the Club for Growth have also rejected it. It's proving a bummer, hands down.

Let's talk the Republican Healthcare Plan...

The Republican Plan will have a huge effect on Alan Lipsky of Arden, N.C. Lipsky is 60, his wife in her 50s, and they would lose $13,664 annually under the new plan. He thinks that Obamacare could be improved on, as do most of the Act's supporters, but at least it's baseline. And the GOP bill is taking this away from him with what's left unaffordable, he says. Bu the healthcare wrecking crew are determined to do it their way...

"House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) expressed confidence the bill would eventually pass, even though some conservative House GOP members have railed against it, complaining it does not undo the ACA aggressively enough."

Also on the chopping block, he financial assistance available to low income people with out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-payments. There are some large deductibles under the Affordable Care Act but the cost-sharing reductions that are available are a big protection for low income people that end up with huge medical bills that would otherwise cause financial disaster. The insurance market itself could be in harm's way by the elimination of the individual mandate, hated from the beginning of the ACA, but evntually found to be practical.

In 2016, The Washington Post called Paul Ryan's health care plan, "flimsy." Here's their commentary...

"IT HAS been more than six years since the Affordable Care Act passed and nearly three years since its major provisions began phasing in. During that time, the rate of uninsured Americans has plummeted to a historic low. Also during that time, Republicans have blamed the law for practically every problem with the health-care system, the economy and more. But they have infamously not united behind a credible alternative."

Then Paul Ryan, who should just go back to Wisconsin and stick to making cheese, came out with his version which has ended up, along with Tom Price's version, as what Republicans are going with. But listen to this, two weak points that are pointed out by WP in the 2016 rendition...

The proposal does not say how valuable the credit would be, nor the rate at which it would increase.

The document also does not predict how many people it would cover, nor how much the plan would cost.

Whether these weaknesses were addressed in the latest bill that just cleared the first hurdle in the House and is now being debated in Committee, hasn't been revealed. Ryan, who is beginning to mirror Donald Trump in misinformation, stated "Because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke." NPR says, "In fact, the opposite appears to be true — Obamacare may actually have extended the life of Medicare."

This year's Medicare Trustees Report says the program would now be able to pay all its bills through 2028, a full 11 years longer than a 2009 forecast — an improvement Medicare's trustees attribute, in part, to changes in Medicare called for in the Affordable Care Act and other economic factors.

What is occurring here, from the top down, is the use of lies and deception from the Republicans to

sell their programs, with healthcare just the latest issue. It rose to popularity in the days of George W. Bush and Karl Rove when prevarication was the norm. It hasn't changed. But apparently Paul Ryan hasn't differed as much as he thought in his bill with Obamacare. Here is what the experts are saying...

"And the irony of the Ryan Medicare plan, say some health policy analysts, is that it would turn the government program into something that looks very much like the structure created for insurance plans sold under the ACA."

"'The way it works is comparable to Obamacare,' says physician and conservative policy analyst Avik Roy, founder of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity." 

There is no way to predict just where and how far the Republicans will take their drive to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, or what they will come up with as a replacement, if they are successful. What we do know is that the American public will not be the beneficiary. It will be the wealthy and big business.

The assault has started on Bernie Sanders 2

LBJ on Medicare

Yesterday I posted on Hillary Clinton's attack that Bernie Sanders couldn't match up to Barack Obama's drive for the Presidency in 2008 because he "can't galvanize the African-American vote and he will not dominate caucus contests." I went on to show how he was well on his way in both cases. And then we talked about the Democratic establishment and how the hardliners are fighting him in favor of Clinton. Like Debbie Wasserman Schultz handling of the debates.

Today it's the media and its attack of Sanders' single-payer plan for universal healthcare which says he is  "...proposing sweeping policies that defy political realities." Further, it calls his approach on immigration incomparable. The MSNBC piece does give Bernie credit for getting his message on revolution across and almost bringing Hillary Clinton to her knees. Further, "But the substance of his proposals easily crumble under scrutiny."

Sanders senior policy adviser Warren Gunnels admits, “It’s going to take a political revolution to pass single-payer {health care} for all Americans.” But didn't it take something of a revolution for Lyndon Johnson to pass Medicare and for Harry Truman to bring us social Security? No one says the single-payer plan is perfect, but, then, Obama didn't pass the Affordable Care Act thinking it wouldn't need tweets. All great welfare programs have gone through this scrutiny.

And don't we know why there has been no immigration reform passed? A GOP Congress that has ideologically blocked every program President Obama has put before them just because it is...Barack Obama. Bernie's plan for immigration is considered overly optimistic when it comes to immigrant coverage for healthcare, but many believe making at least some coverage available will alleviate emergency room visits and could bring health care costs down.

Obamacare beats sign-up expectations but GOP Congress wants to repeal

More than 8 million people signed up for coverage via the federal HealthCare.gov health insurance exchange marketplace as of Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, according to Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell on MSNBC. She added, "Today, we have more sign-ups, more new enrollees and a younger population than we did last year.” Didn't Pres. Obama caution that we must give the healthcare act time and the young people would begin to participate?

Our new esteemed House Speaker, Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), was quoted at the same time on "Meet the Press," "It’s a law {ACA} that is not working.” So much for improving the new Speaker's intelligence over Boehner and working across the aisle.

If that wasn't enough, yesterday "The House voted almost entirely along party-lines, 240 to 181, to repeal the Affordable Care Act and defund Planned Parenthood." Obama has already said he was going to veto any of this Republican bullshit, which makes it perfectly clear to me what a mockery the GOP is and has been making of the Congress in pursuing their stupid ideology. It's a proven fact that the more the public knows about the ACA, the more they approve of it. 

It is also obvious that much of the original and ongoing disapproval of ACA is due to Republican negative advertising and promotion since its inception in 2010, much of which was and continues to be totally untrue. It's all a matter of whether or not we want to provide coverage for every citizen of the U.S., some who can't afford it, like many of the industrialized countries in the world. Or do we continue to let the covetous, greedy Republican population keep America in the dark ages? 

It's pretty much your decision when you go to the polls in November. 

Just another republican hypocrite

Yes, this would be Marco Rubio, who has repeatedly tried to sabotage the Affordable Care Act, yet is insured with his family under the program. He even "benefits from a taxpayer-funded subsidy offered only to members of Congress and their staff valued at $10,000, far greater than the subsidies offered to most Americans who purchase insurance on the exchanges." And he's not alone. Other phonies in the GOP who are covered by Obamacare include, Sen. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. It's bad enough to seek coverage under a program you have fought hard to repeal but taking a subsidy of $10,000 on the backs of tax paying Americans, including his own Florida constituents, is downright obscene. 

When the Cards are Stacked Against you OBAMACARE Comes Through

The GOP has been trying to repeal OBAMACARE since it was first passed into law. But the number of uninsured Americans has dropped by 16.4 million since the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, and the rate of uninsured Americans decreased by 35 percent, the largest drop in 40 years. The Atlantic adds, if people have good information they make good choices. And this is just what lifelong Republican Luis Lang is doing after failing to sign up for the Affordable Care Act, previously priding himself on covering his own medical bills. Lang commented that, "thanks in part to a flood of media attention that led him to learn more about health care policy, he doesn’t identify with the GOP anymore." This was all prompted by thousands of dollars in medical bills he couldn't afford to pay. He did try to navigate the AFC website with its numerous technical glitches with no success. Lang said, “I put the blame on everyone — Republican and Democrat. But I do mainly blame Republicans for their pigheadedness. They’re blocking policies that could help everyone."

FLORIDA GOVERNOR MORE EVIDENCE OF GOP BRAINLESSNESS

These Republican fruitcakes just keep popping up. Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) has decided to sue Obamacare for a deleted program the Affordable Care Act made unnecessary. He wants the money the ACA can provide for Florida's low income population but refuses to accept it in the name of Obamacare. The former policy, “Low Income Pools” (LIP), designed by Bush/Cheney to help hospitals actually funneled some money to Florida and now Radical Rick wants more of it, but only in the name of LIP. Kansas GOP Gov. Sam Brownback recently cut educational budgets in that state literally putting the future learning of that state's kids in dire jeopardy. Now Florida's Scott wants to do the same thing to his state's low income constituents needing healthcare. Pathetic!

Obama increases lead by 6 points-Romney drops 2 points

While the GOP convention did little for Mitt Romney—no doubt because neither he nor Paul Ryan had anything to say—it pushed Barack Obama to a new high of 52% to Romney’s 46% in a CNN/ORC poll.  The poll, taken Monday, shows who had the strongest convention, providing the most substance in what they plan to do for the country.  Obama was tied with Romney prior to the conventions. 

Obama also exceeded Romney in fundraising bringing in $114 million compared to $111 million in recent contributions.  Following the Republican convention, Romney’s favorable rating increased to 53%, dropping right after Charlotte to 48%.  51% of likely voters felt that Obama has the best outlook for running the country compared to Romney’s 41%.  There was a switch of who had the most targeted plan to help America; after Charlotte, Obama now 45%, Romney 39%.

OK, polls are like people, they are fickle as all get out.  But what I have heard from most political pundits is that at least they measure the pulse of the moment, and we are talking about a well-known pollster in CNN/ORC.  And the “moment” this poll recorded was how the American public felt after two conventions, each representing an opposite side of the political spectrum.  It would indicate that the voters, at least for the moment, think Obama is best for the country.

Just before the convention, Obama and Romney were tied at 48%.  That shows there was little enthusiasm for the GOP candidate following Tampa which would indicate to me that Romney and Ryan either didn’t get across their message or they conveyed the wrong message.  Either way, it means that Republicans are stumbling down the homestretch with a campaign that is beginning to sound like the shallow charade it is, particularly to Independents and undecideds.

As an example, all the way back to Paul Ryan’s dismantling of Medicare and a national budget that even George W. Bush said was irresponsible, to the current Medicare version from Romney that still throws Seniors under the bus, so many details are left out that most have no idea what he would really do.  It is that uncertainty that is driving many undecided voters over to the Democrats.  In President Obama’s case he would stick with the plan but with some revisions.

On the personal side, the Democrats in Charlotte tanked Romney’s gains from Tampa sending them from a post convention number of 53% to 48% after the end of the Dems convention.  Obama also came away with a better comfort zone on leading the country in the future with 51% compared to Romney’s 41%.  And men were more supportive of Democrats in the poll most likely due to the fact that Obama saved the auto industry and was responsible for bin Laden’s death.

The Bloomberg National Poll in June measured how the public feels Obama is doing in the running of the country.  45% said they were better off compared to 36% who said they were worse off.  The balance remained the same or were just undecided.  Just before President Obama was elected in 2008, 89% of Americans thought the country was on the wrong track compared to 62% today.  All these figures are a mandate for the job Barack Obama has done in office.

Back in July Romney said he would repeal Obama’s Affordable Care Act to make way for real healthcare reform.  Today the candidate says he would keep parts of “Obamacare.”  Yet more flip-flopping on healthcare dating back to his passage of a very similar law as Gov. of Massachusetts, then to the repeal of Obama’s Act, to now keeping certain provisions.  The man obviously has no idea what he really wants to do as President and it is beginning to show up more in the polls.

Leslie Elder died because she didn’t know Obama’s health care law was there?

I find this hard to understand with the deluge of information available on Obama’s Affordable Care Act that is available in the media, particularly with just simple question searches on the Internet that, if the answer isn’t complete, there is normally some direction to where you can find it.  If you were depending on your doctor or insurance company to know and they didn’t, hell, I would have called the White House and explain that my wife is dying and I need help.

Leslie Elder

The health care law is complex and can be confusing but if a loved one is terminally ill you go to any extent to do something about it, especially when you are sure that proper health care will save her life.  It’s almost as if Leslie Elder was in complete isolation.  Where were her friends and relatives? They should have been combing the countryside for answers.  It is obvious that Elder’s husband was under severe pressure and needed help which he didn’t get.

For this kind of problem there are high risk pools called the Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) designed as a safety net for people like Leslie Elder.  In a CNN article, it was reported that of the “…200,000-375,000 people expected to enroll in PCIP in the first year, less than one-third have done it, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.”  This is partially due to confusion over the act but also due to inadequate promotion of benefits.

Video on how to apply for Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP):

Jim Elder, Leslie’s husband, admitted knowing little about the program.  He was thinking of the official year of 2014 when the pre-existing rule goes into effect, not knowing there was an emergency section available that could have saved his wife.  Elder said that conversations over health care had been confusing.  Much of that can be attributed to Republicans who have attacked the Act repeatedly with threats of repeal and astonishingly false interpretations of it benefits.

Leslie Elder’s friend, Liz Jacobs, a nurse and advocate and spokeswoman for the group National Nurses United said: “In a humane health care system, as much of the rest of the world has, no one would have to know the arcane minutiae of how to apply for a high risk pool.  Everyone would have (coverage) that qualifies you for health care when and where you need it."  Precisely President Obama’s plan, which is fought vehemently by conservatives, especially the Tea Party.

Elder’s health care professionals and her insurance company certainly have a stake in her unnecessary death.  The family and friends did play an integral part by not uncovering every stone out there.  Obviously, there was one that would have worked.  My wife has a background working for doctors and has taken several classes on medical issues.  I guarantee you that she would not have stopped searching until she had uncovered a solution to Leslie Elder’s problem.

Will Obamacare decrease health care costs?

The short-term answer is sort of.  Long-term, well, in 2014, when the program begins to expand, it jumps 7.4 percent, then, drops significantly in 2015, gradually rising to $4.8 trillion in 2021, 19.6 percent of GDP.  In 2010 it grew by only 3.9 percent, the same rate as the GDP.  This, according to The Economist, which reports that health care spending will grow modestly up to that 2014 spike.  The question is how Obamacare will eventually reverse upward spending.

Americans spent just under $2.7 trillion on healthcare in 2011, almost 18 percent of GDP.  That’s more than the feds spent on defense, Social Security or any other single item in the budget.  Jill Horwitz and Helen Levy, writing on CNN, say the Affordable Care Act has many provisions that are designed to force the health care system to evolve into a more frugal approach in the future.  Here are some of them.

“Accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes, value-based purchasing in Medicare, incentives for hospitals to provide better, safer and more efficient care, an excise tax on "Cadillac" health plans, and better information about treatment effectiveness to help patients and providers make informed decisions.”



President Obama



The two mention the plan of Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Wis), which simply unloads the healthcare problem on the states and individuals.  Not as good as the Affordable Care Act, they claim, adding that shifting these escalating costs to those who can least afford them will deprive them of the care needed.  Obama’s health care reform addresses the most effective approach to spending problems.  But are voters ready to accept this ultimatum just decided by the Supreme Court?

David Gergen, senior political analyst for CNN thinks the American public is ready to move on.  GOP contender Mitt Romney must appease the Tea Party by forcefully coming out against the Affordable Care Act, but that’s no longer what most voters are interested in.  It will take more than this kind of rhetoric to win in November, but it could help a Republican voter turnout.  It’s jobs and the economy that Americans want solutions to.

Gergen said that public response to the Supreme Court healthcare decision for a couple of weeks following would be significant.  According to a Gallup poll taken on July 4, less than a week after, the reaction was an even split.  It was 46 percent for and 46 percent against; 79 percent of Democrats agree while 83 percent of Republicans disagreed.  The question is, just how much of that 83 percent on the right disagree enough to make it an issue in November?

Supreme Court upholds majority of Obamacare…and just in time

The Affordable Health Care Act has been recognized by the Supreme Court as being constitutional.  The one factor not upheld was requirements of Medicaid expansion within the states.  The Court basically ruled that this involved too many conditions that seemed unreasonable to demand.  Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the majority but took the position that the mandate requiring all Americans to have health insurance is a tax, contrary to the President.



Demonstrators for Obamacare



And the reason this decision comes “just in time” is a new report by Families USA confirming that 26,000 Americans die prematurely each year because they don’t have health insurance.  That breaks down to 500 per week, 2,175 each month.  For those of us paying dearly for our insurance coverage, and who are tired of supporting those who elect not to have health insurance, Obamacare rectifies this by making it affordable for this group.

The law’s mandate to buy health insurance was confirmed, but because the fine against those who do not comply is administered by the IRS, Roberts deemed it a tax.  Nancy Pelosi, Obama’s staunchest supporter of the legislation said you can call it anything you want to now that the law is upheld.  Republicans say they will work vigorously to repeal Obamacare and this may pass the House but most analysts say it will never get out of the Senate.

If the Supremes had no other reason to uphold the law, the 26,000 annual premature deaths would be reason enough, although this has no legal grounds.  What the figure does establish is the depth of crisis this nation is in when it comes to providing affordable healthcare to all its citizens.  Another staunch supporter of The Affordable Healthcare Act since it passed is Ron Pollack, Executive Director Families USA.  He said:  

"The fact remains that for the millions of Americans without health coverage, only the Affordable Care offers the promise of access to affordable coverage and to a longer and healthier life."

In the 26,000, above, every state is affected, Vermont with the fewest deaths and California with the most.  The numbers for those without health insurance have a broad range from 21 million to 50 million, and the figure being thrown around most recently is 30 million.  Apparently included in this aggregation is 9.7 million who are not citizens.  In addition to these numbers, an additional study reports that another 38 million have inadequate health insurance.    

Other points in the Families USA Report are:

“…in the past 2 years, uninsured women older than 50 were half as likely as insured women to get mammograms.”

“Low-income uninsured adults were 5 times less likely to get screened for colon cancer in the past 5 years compared to insured adults.”

“Cancer patients without insurance are five times more likely to delay or even skip treatment because of the cost.”

“…uninsured adults are more often diagnosed with advanced stage disease and they are 25% more likely to die prematurely than those with private insurance.”



Stage 4 kidney cancer



As an example of the latter, Frederick and Regina Holliday had no health insurance for 16 years while working multiple jobs part time.  They had 2 small children and paid all the medical bills out of their pocket.  They did not go to the doctor until it was, as they described it, “…couldn’t get out of bed sick.”  Another obstacle for affordable coverage was Frederick’s pre-existing condition of a urinary tract stricture.  In 2008, things started to change.

Regina got a job but they could only afford health insurance for her.  Then Fred got a full time job teaching and they had family coverage.  But it was then that Frederick was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer which had metastasized to his stomach, bones and lungs.  Several months later he died at age 39.  His wife remarked:

“I believe that if my husband had consistent health care during his adult life he would still be alive today,”

Enough said?

48 million people without health insurance in the U.S. spells disaster

The Supreme Court will decide this month just what to do with President Obama’s health care reform law.  Predictions range from a complete repeal to dropping certain parts, to simply a modification.  I have talked to several people, including doctors and other health care professionals, and the general consensus is that the medical community doesn’t like the bill.  But when pressing these folks further on specifics, I question if some of them really understand the law.

At the end of May, a CBS/New York Times poll asked some pointed questions about Obama’s health care reform.  First, do you approve?  34% do, 48% don’t.  Another, how should the Supreme Court rule?  24% keep entire law, 27% overturn mandate (must buy insurance) but keep rest of law, 41% overturn entire law.  55% of respondents feel that political positions will play a part in justices’ decisions compared to 32% who think decisions will be decided on a legal basis.

37% think the health care bill went too far; 27% not far enough; 25% about right.  So in this category we have a total of 52% that either wanted more law or thought it was just right.  That sort of flies in the face of the above figure indicating an approval rate of only 34%.  It would seem that the undetermined figure of 18% who don’t approve or disapprove, might lean toward approval.  28% claim knowing a lot about the law and 62% of them disapprove, 58% strongly.

Meanwhile, back at the emergency room, 26% of the U.S. population had a health insurance gap in 2011.  That’s 48 million warm bodies that probably went without preventive care, and ended up in the ER when there was an emergency or less in some cases.  This study, the Commonwealth Fund Health Insurance Tracking Survey of U.S. Adults, also found that factors impacting this problem were losses or changes in jobs by either the individual or his or her spouse.

Out of this 48 million, 69% reported being out of a job for a year or longer, 57% two or more years without coverage.  Although I don’t have the figures to back this up, it is clear to me that some of the reasons for so many bankruptcies and home foreclosures could be attributed to medical costs in lieu of insurance.  The savings were drained which resulted in giving up health care coverage, then the other two undesirable options.

Obama explaining his health care law:

The Commonwealth Fund discovered that between 2008 and 2010, 9 million people became uninsured after losing a job, meaning that without employment, health care may become a luxury.  By 2014, and due to the Affordable Care Act, insurance plans can’t charge higher premiums, or drop you for pre-existing conditions.  State insurance exchanges would be available for those who lose their coverage to go.  There would be tax credits and expanded Medicaid.

There are 123.8 emergency room visits each year; 42.4 million are injury related.  That’s 41.4 visits per 100 persons with 13% of the 123.8 million resulting in hospital admission.  The Amaranth Group says that approximately 80% of the 123.8 million ER visits annually are “non-emergent.”  Emergency rooms are already overloaded in some cities, and once the 48 million without health care coverage are without it long enough, things are bound to start going wrong.

Yes, I am proposing a scenario where if even a small percentage of the 48 million start to experience serious medical problems, some probably life-threatening, the system will be unable to handle it.  And many of these people can blame their lost jobs, bankruptcies, foreclosures or a short sale on the insane corporate anti-consumer practices of big business.  Like the financial industry that almost brought this country to the brink of disaster.

But some of these people don’t want to buy health care insurance as the law mandates so what do you do?  Deny them medical services in an emergency?  Why not, it was their prerogative to proceed without insurance?  But we know we wouldn’t, so we’re right back with the same dilemma, meaning there must be some regulation to insure that everyone pays his or her fair share.  Maybe health care reform isn’t at its very best yet with this law, but it’s better than nothing.