Next week, President Obama will finally release his own health care reform plan — one that the Democrats promise will be specific, ending speculation about exactly what kinds of reforms Mr. Obama — and the Democrats — support.
Obama will also specify a “pay for” mechanism he prefers, and will specify an income level below which he does not want to see taxed.
A report to be released today says that Michigan pays 53 percent more for insurance for state workers and retirees than most states that have similar insurance arrangements.
“Michigan employees also contributed less to their overall health insurance cost — 10% of the total tab — than those in other states,” according to the Detroit Free Press.
A group of health care experts in the UK has expressed concern over the end-of-life care received by many in the British National Health Service system.
In an effort to reduce unnecessary procedures as patients’ lives come to an end, much of the NHS has adopted the “Liverpool Pathway Care” approach, which ends the administration of medication and fluids and substitutes sedation at the end of a patient’s life to make their passing more comfortable.
The Patients Association, a British charity, has reported that over one million have received appalling care under the National Health Service system in the UK.
The charity has disclosed a horrifying catalogue of elderly people left in pain, in soiled bed clothes, denied adequate food and drink, and suffering from repeatedly cancelled operations, missed diagnoses and dismissive staff.
We don’t talk about Medicare that often here, so in response to Dr. Donald May’s comments, I’ll point readers to what the Cato Handbook for Policy Makers has say about it. Here’s the summary table from the chapter (PDF) on Medicare.
Congress should
Cato makes a convincing case that a great deal of what’s wrong with health care today lies with Medicare. How can it be otherwise when it is the single largest “insurer” in the country, having not only market clout but the force of law?
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has already closed 20 state forest campgrounds. The state claims there are not sufficient resources to adequately operate the campgrounds. The department is now threatening to close additional campgrounds located in state forests, which are popular with campers who desire a more rustic and quiet camping experience than what is generally available in state parks. State forest campgrounds are often near lakes or streams popular with fisherman and boaters.
The Detroit News says there was a big party in Tripoli, yesterday…
Libya celebrates Gadhafi coup's 40th anniversary
Tripoli, Libya-- Libya staged a lavish spectacle Tuesday, parading white-robed horsemen and gold-turbaned dancers as jets streaked overhead to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the coup that brought Moammar Gadhafi to power in the oil-rich nation. The four-day festivities were designed to highlight the volatile leader's acceptance on the world stage, but were overshadowed by new controversies about the recent return of the only man convicted in the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland.
The Future of Health Care in America:
A Roundtable Discussion
Wednesday, Sept. 16
Roundtable Meeting
8:00 a.m. – Noon
The Oakland Center at Oakland University - Banquet Room A
2200 N. Squirrel Road
Rochester, Mich. 48309
The Mackinac Center for Public Policy, The Heartland Institute, Consumers for Health Care Choices, and Americans for Prosperity – Michigan, invite you to an exclusive roundtable discussion. “The Future of Health Care in America” will be held in Rochester, Mich., on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009. Discussion leaders will include some of the most innovative organizations and thought leaders in American health care today. The roundtable provides a forum for individuals from varied backgrounds to come together and work through the challenges facing consumer-driven health care in the new Administration.
By Jack McHugh
Gov. Jennifer Granholm has offered a rather odd proposal to involve four outside individuals as “mediators” in the process of her office negotiating a Fiscal Year 2009-2010 state budget with the Democratic House and Republican Senate in the face of a nearly $2 billion gap between desired spending and expected revenue.
The Michigan Legislature is this morning taking up House Bill 5275, a bill that authorizes a Michigan Economic Growth Authority business tax credit deal for a battery cell manufacturing facility. The new MEGA credit is intended to help convert a closed Ford Motor Co. property into what House Speaker Andy Dillon calls a “cutting-edge 21st Century energy park.”
The state has until the end of the month to pass a budget and a key figure, Mich. Speaker of the House Andy Dillon just stated that an agreement is "very close". While a number of the Mackinac Center's reform ideas are being discussed for this budget, the speaker is looking at more.
If we’re going to make health care more affordable, we need innovative business models. One such model is the retail health clinic, businesses that offer a limited menu of services with prices established up front, often provided by a nurse practitioner.
You’ve heard of the third-party problem in health care? Actually, it’s worse, say Charles Kroncke and Ronald F. White, who write in the journal of the Independent Institute. We’ve got a four-party system:
The authors argue that America’s “awkward flirtation with the marketplace” “more closely resembles corporate welfare than an experiment in free-market medicine.” The Independent Institute offers the following tease:
When can a raise mean a big pay cut? The Cato Institute passes along this information:
The current issue of Cato Journal contains an article by Craig J. Richardson looking at how Massachusetts’s mandates and subsidies have created perverse incentives for employers and employees. A $1,000 raise can actually cost workers more than $3,000, while employers face disincentives to expand and hire new workers. The current mess in Massachusetts “offers cautionary lessons for the United States.”
Where’s a separation-of-church-and-state crowd Democrat when you need one?
Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nevada) recently appeared at an event designed to gin up support for congressional plans to further inject government into medicine. “Health care is a moral issue,” he said.
In the September 1 Wall Street Journal, center-left columnist Thomas Franks sets up some straw-man caricatures of “the right’s” arguments against a federal government takeover of the health care market. One of them is this:
Consider the assertion, repeated often in different forms, that health insurance is a form of property, a matter of pure personal responsibility. Those who have insurance, the argument goes, have it because they’ve played by the rules. Sure, insurance is expensive, but being prudent people, they recognized that they needed it, and so they worked hard, chose good employers, and got insurance privately, the way you’re supposed to.
Give Gov. Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) partial credit for his understanding of what health care reform needs, and doesn’t.
He’s against Medicaid expansion, saying “We have a hard time living within our parameters now,” and “If it’s one-size-fits-all, then we’ve created an incentive not to be productive, not to contribute to society.” He has also expressed some sympathy for getting a grip on medical malpractice lawsuits, which contribute to the costs of defensive medicine.
A “public option,” according to one of its advocates, “is a free market choice.“
Bzzt! Thanks for playing “Free Markets 101.”
A “public option” [read: government owned health insurance company] will require, as any insurance company does, huge financial reserves just to get going. Where will those reserves come from? The taxpayer. If government decides to compete against a local McDonalds by spending a few million to buy the equipment for and set up a Burger King, the BK isn’t simply another a “free market choice.” It’s playing on an unlevel playing field, tilted in its favor.
The Freep this morning says Wal-Mart is adding stores to Michigan. Super-grocery competitor Meijer is doing the same thing…
That makes price-chopping Wal-Mart one of the few national retailers taking a chance on Michigan as the economy has worsened. Its main competitor here, Grand Rapids-based Meijer, also continues to expand in the state.
Is it possible for government to run health care, long-term, without resorting to either rationing or tax hikes? In some alternate world perhaps, but not likely here and now.
Consider Arizona. One in five citizens in the state are on Medicaid, a program that depends on both federal and state funding.
That’s Marta Mossburg, of the Maryland Public Policy Institute, on the use of language in the current debate on health care policy.
Cross-posted from State House Call.
Sally Pipes, speaking at the Cato Institute in July, told just some of the stories there are to tell about Canadian health care. You can watch her talk here.
Here’s an excellent video titled “Why we don’t need socialized medicine.”
It rebuts, claim-by-claim, a recent cartoon recently popular on YouTube.
Cross-posted from State House Call.
Howard Dean, ex-"of Vermont" and former head of the Democratic National Committee, recently spoke in Vermont to stump for the Democrats health care plans.
It’s not an argument about single payer versus insurance, the fundamental question is, who gets to choose. And the genius behind the Obama plan is that we believe instead of having the Congress and bureaucrats and the insurance companies and employers and politicians make this choice, the American people ought to be able to make this choice for themselves. … We’re not saying you have to be in it. There are a lot of people who like their employer-based system. But we are saying we ought to make that a choice,” he said.
John Goodman reports on a new poll on public opinion towards health care reform (not any specific reform, but the bill in general). The results show that Americans can see when they’re being led with a carrot on a stick.
Q: If the health care system is changed, do you think ….. will get better, worse, or remain the same?
