Posted on 01/16/2008 12:36:55 PM PST by CedarDave
SANTA FE— Gov. Bill Richardson launched his personal campaign for universal health care Tuesday.
Some of his key arguments, advanced in an in-depth interview with the Journal:
* Health care is a basic human right.
* Universal health care is doable this year and it won't break the bank.
* Physicians are too greedy and need to give a little.
* A so-called single-payer system is out of the question.
* New Mexico has been historically cautious; now is the time to move boldly to make sure every resident of this state has health insurance.
Richardson, fresh off his abandoned presidential campaign, appeared ready to jump back into the fray in Santa Fe. He said the state has the money and lawmakers have the time to enact universal health care coverage in their 30-day session.
Richardson said covering the state's 400,000 uninsured people is both a human rights issue and an economic development program. And it's good politics, he said.
The governor said he would not support new taxes to pay for universal coverage and they aren't needed.
The plan developed by administration staff says that new spending on public coverage programs would be offset by increased economic activity in the health care sector, by funds collected from employers who don't pay employees' health insurance, and through more premium tax collections as more people buy insurance.
The governor said legislators have told him his Health Solutions plan is too expensive and that an election year is no time to consider universal coverage.
He discounted those arguments. "That was their objection to everything," ... he said.
~~snip~~
The governor called health "a human right of every citizen" and access to care similar to a citizen's right to public education. "Everybody deserves the best possible health care," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at abqjournal.com ...
Not THIS US Doc....
I saw this coming years ago, and saved whatever I could.
I'll quit, no doubt about it...even though I'm only 50. Won't live great, but I won't starve...and I'll be damned if I'm going to be someone's slave.
what if all the doctors took their football and went home.
That would be the sweetest FU to the Democraps ever! Doctors are all welcome here in Texas! Comeon over ya'll!
Just lazy!
Looks like Bill Clinton,s mexican pimp is branching out with his so called expertice.
It's all cost and no benefit. So far about 12-14% recovery and a bare 2,500 riders. When the Santa Fe route is completed, it will be 7-9% fare recovery and an estimated $21 million per year deficit.
I've continued to think that the only answer to that is some form of universal mandatory insurance, operating at various competitive qualities, even if it requires attachments to entitlements for the deadbeats. Something like auto insurance, and something like medicare. And where there is still some hardball competition, on level of service versus cost.
That being said, the third party insurance thing certainly can be dangerous. But what other choice is there, other than to turn broken necks away at the emergency door?
Maybe a way to do it is to support "lawsuits" in the other direction, like small claims in business, where the doctors and hospitals attach liens against the user. There would still be deadbeats but a whole lot of people would fall in line (get insurance), when their Lexus was confiscated, who otherwise would not.
There are of course other things that certainly can be addressed: lawsuits, living will in place of "keep alive at any cost", and, like one comment above, the ludicrous, inflated institutionalization of the centralized hospital,(with which I am directly familiar).
Also I certainly advocate it being a state by state thing, as many have stated above. To their credit Romney and Schwarzenegger have faced the problem, regardless of faults.
Yep, more slight of hand from the Burrito King. It frosts me that my boss is going to have to pay for the health care of others on top of providing it as a benefit to us employees. It means that he will take a pass on giving us deserved salary increases or just pass the cost through to us with a more costly employee heath care plan.
MetroMexican thank you very much
Something happened in the past 30 years, and I suspect part of it is the fact that most people do not pay their own dr visit fee. Back in the olden days (late 70s and on) I paid $15.00 for a dr visit to the pediatrician. We did have health insurance, but we paid for the visit and then had to file with our insurance. Later our insurance changed to co-pay, and we pay that, but we don’t see how much the dr. visit is. I had to go to a dr (one I had been using for a number of years) when I was between health insurance a couple of years ago. It was $110 to see the dr to get a refill for a prescription I had already been taking! I walked out rather than pay $110, just on principal.
I guess my only point is that if people had to pay for their own dr visits, prices would be lower. I think insurance should be for catestrophic illnesses. And I’m sure there’s more I don’t understand, however if people pay their own bills, they look at costs more closely.
susie
Actually, I just didn't want to think about King Bill!
Hmmm, universal health care, but with understaffed facilities and underpaid doctors and nurses due to ridiculously low reimbursement ... I can't see any potential problems with that plan.
Now now, let's not be cruel. The doctor should just ask for his fee up front ... then boot Richardson out if he can't pay for the service he's demanding.
Well then, he'll be glad when they all leave the state!
Funny how neither Richardson nor the media seems to have noticed a little news item a couple of days ago: we're facing a dire shortage of doctors in the next 10-20 years.
Why? Read this: we were told there was going to be a glut of doctors, so they closed med schools and cut back federal funding for doctor training. Also, baby boomer docs are starting to retire in huge numbers. The AMA admits this week that they were spectacularly WRONG. And these are the same people who want to "fix" medicine.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2005-03-02-doctor-shortage_x.htm
FRiend
A word to the wise: find an Internist, pay whatever copay/$ you need to pay for the first visit so that you have a chart in the office, and he has all of your medical info.
Why? I speak as a true old-fashioned primary care Internist: There won’t be good, competent AMERICAN doctors taking much in the way of insurance plans (absolutely tied to Medicare fees) within 5-10 years, on the current course. Even if you are intrinsically healthy, you will need certain screening procedure at certain ages. Regardless, we already have a dearth of primary care docs in the US, and all indicators are that it is going to get much worse. I promise you, even if you don’t like going to the doctor (and don’t), you should do it as an investment. Not just health, but $$$: Healthcare is going to get more expensive, and much of the cost will be borne by those that do not have a “medical home.”
Primary care docs love to have healthy people who are aware of the value of services. They will accommodate patients that they like — same day (emergent) visits, referrals, etc. Hell, they’ll even negotiate the expenses, if you are in a pinch for whatever reason. You don’t know how many times I say in a week upon receiving a phone message from a patient, “Oh yeah, that guy. He doesn’t bust my nuts, takes care of himself, and is responsible. Let’s help him out ASAP.” Conversely,I don’t care if you pay me in gold bullion: If you are a Troll/Troglodyte who specializes in making everyone around you miserable, or are irresponsible about medications/appointment, you’ll get “next available.”
Any doc who says differently is lying to himself or is a fool. Any potential patient out there who doesn’t at least weigh what I am saying here... well, let’s just say, your in for an eye-opener on down the road, as you’ve already segregated yourself.
Amen brother.
It’s the elephant in the room that nobody wants to acknowledge...
Doctors may be bad businessmen, but they aren’t idiots...everyone thinks that we’ll all just go along to get along, and that will not be the case especially for those I’d say 50 and over.
Of course not. The Rats don't call them taxes anymore, the new lingo is FEES!
great thanks and great points....I took them all seriously
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