A State Finds No Easy Fixes on Health Care

The New York Times ^ | July 10, 2007 | KEVIN SACK

[Eric Blair 2084]

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Edward G. Rendell, an unapologetic big-city liberal who campaigned as a health care reformer, might have been expected to propose a plan to cover the 900,000 Pennsylvanians who are uninsured.

And he did so, after winning reelection last year in a landslide. But like other governors in the vanguard of health policy, Mr. Rendell also concluded that such a move would be unaffordable, and perhaps politically unattainable, without serious efforts to control costs.

As a result, Mr. Rendell’s “Prescription for Pennsylvania” included a ban on smoking in public places, a reduction in the rate of hospitalization for chronic diseases and an expansion of the role nurses play in treating patients. He even framed his proposal to provide universal access as “a form of cost containment,” emphasizing that 6.5 percent of every health-insurance premium in Pennsylvania went to subsidizing care for the uninsured, often in emergency rooms.

Mr. Rendell is learning, however, that to contain costs is eventually to pluck dollars from someone’s pocket. His plan has incited protest from hospitals, doctors, insurers and small businesses, each of them finding something to detest.

Mr. Rendell seems to be facing an uphill task. Once confident that his package would win quick approval, he now puts the odds of success at 50-50. Mr. Rendell says he is calling for shared sacrifice. “Everyone’s ox gets gored a little bit in this,” he said in an interview here. “If we’re ever going to have accessible health insurance for all Americans, we have to begin by containing costs. If costs continue to spiral out of control, there is no way the government can afford to pay for it.”

[Eric Blair 2084]

"If costs continue to spiral out of control, there is no way the government can afford to pay for it."

--Gov. Rendell

A major cause, he argues, is the more than $6 billion in unnecessary annual costs for the treatment of infections, injuries caused by medical errors and controllable chronic conditions like diabetes, asthma and heart disease.

Welcome to the brave new world of "public health" courtesy of Socialized Healthcare. This is the root cause of all nanny state government policies.

If you smoke and get cancer...the state pays. If you eat fried cheese curds and get type 2 diabetes...the state pays. If you drink and get cirrhosis of the liver...the state pays.

If it is their obligation to pay, isn't it their right (indeed duty) to intervene and tell people what they can and can't do.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Big Brother, Nanny State, Grant Junky, Bogus Study, Junk Science, Social Engineering, Sheeple Control, Health Nazi Ping!!!

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[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Eric Blair 2084]

You’re welcome. Doesn’t look like health care reform is a very sexy topic today.

[Alamo-Girl]

Indeed. LOL!

[Wiseghy]

Government already pays 65% of all healthcare dollars in the US, through Medicare, Medicaid, VA, etc. To blame costs on “private industry” and “corporate fat cats” is kinda silly.

Regulation and liability is turning medical care into a regional monopoly, especially for hospitals.

Third party payment and lack of competition is driving costs up at an unacceptable rate.

Note that the cost non-reimbursed care such are vision correction surgury has dropped by 40% to 60% in the last few years, as free market competition drives prices down and quality up.

[griswold3]

Thanks for the ping!

seems the dems in Congress are proposing a 60 cent tax on cigarettes to pay for SCHIPS.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Exactly. My concern (and all free people’s concern) is that the Gubmint has no hope of reducing health care costs on the supply side.

It appears that they are reaching for straws and trying to reduce health care demand by cajoling, coercing, nagging people to take better care of themselves through increasingly draconian measures.

[Eric Blair 2084]

I saw that yesterday. Once there is no meat left on that dead carcass, it’s on to fast food taxes.

[SierraWasp]

"Once confident that his package would win quick approval, he now puts the odds of success at 50-50. Mr. Rendell says he is calling for shared sacrifice. “Everyone’s ox gets gored a little bit in this,” he said in an interview here. “If we’re ever going to have accessible health insurance for all Americans, we have to begin by containing costs."

Yet CA's Dope Smokin, Gubernatorial Leftist, Arnoiled Suckswinegger, superior celebrity European-American bull-slingin cum-politician, still thinks he can force us to buy state run monopolized coverage just like they force us to use DMV!!! (or like they probably have in Austria and most of "old EUrope!")

At least with the Post Office you now have some alternatives like email, and the new merged companies Fed Ex and UPS, under the banner of Fed-UP!!!

[Give Piece A Chance]

“Everyone’s ox gets gored a little bit in this,” he said in an interview here.

Hospitals, doctors, insurers, small businesses..hmm...who we missing here?

Oh yes, the agressive malpractice plaintiffs' attorneys that have made PA one of most expensive states in the country to obtain malpractice insurance. Tort reform? Caps on punitive damage awards? Don't see that in Fa(s)t Eddie's proposal anwhere...

[Eric Blair 2084]

Good point.

[HoosierHawk]

"Everyone’s ox gets gored a little bit in this,” he said in an interview here. “If we’re ever going to have accessible health insurance for all Americans, we have to begin by containing costs. If costs continue to spiral out of control, there is no way the government can afford to pay for it."

There's the money quote.

[Wiseghy]

Exactly.

Polls show that voters favor plans that encourage “wellness”.

Polls also show strong opposition to plans which increase taxes, reduce choice and access to care, etc.; basically, any real restraint on supply or increase in gov. funding.

This is why nearly all “reform” initiates in MA, and proposed elsewhere, skip the cost containment aspect and focus ONLY on “mandating” coverage and access.

The existing safety net is a hodge-podge of state and federal programs, and is VERY poorly communicated and administered by the government. It is a direct reflection of the (mostly liberal) political interest groups that created it. Smart reform is possible, but government will need to go the industry and distributors, instead of insisting on micro managing every part of healthcare through programs and NGO's.

[Eric Blair 2084]

Translation: “Drop the chalupa, put down the beer, stub out the cigarette. Our money, our rules.”

[William Tell]

Rendell says: “Everyone’s ox gets gored a little bit in this,”

No. Only those who have accumulated sufficient wealth to own an ox. Everyone else will be sharing in the benefit of oxen for which they have sacrificed nothing.

[EQAndyBuzz]

“”Once confident that his package would win quick approval, he now puts the odds of success at 50-50. Mr. Rendell says he is calling for shared sacrifice. “

Recall!!

[SierraWasp]

Are Recall elections possible in PA? Just because we can do that in CA, or TX, doesn’t mean they have that option in PA.

[trimom]

Do the folks of PA really want the same people who run PENNDOT to be running healthcare?

[metesky]

If the state really wants to cut costs as quickly as possible, shouldn’t they be buying all our beer and cigarettes?