"Some reform advocates have long argued that we can indeed [1] extend health care coverage to all citizens, with [2] significantly increased quality of care, while at the same time [3] significantly reducing the national (and individual) cost. A trifecta "Win-Win-Win." Others find the very notion preposterous on its face. In the summer of 2009, this policy battle is now joined in full fury. I will try to add some constructive argument to the fray..."

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Almost done. Link in my name

The health care reform debate is now unfolding in full fury. Democrats have introduced draft senate legislation comprising an inscrutable 615 pages of dense legalese.

Repbulicans know that Americans are fed up with this kind of unnecessary complexity, so they've just released their own, concise plan, one focusing on choice:

S.666: The GOP Consumer Choice Health Care Reform Act of 2009

[1] Stay healthy;

[2] Get sick or injured;

(2)(a)(1) Go bankrupt;

(2)(a)(1)(B) Die.

I just finished a lengthy post of the health care reform issue. Link in my name. Critical commentary welcomed.

"Some reform advocates have long argued that we can indeed [1] extend health care coverage to all citizens, with [2] significantly increased quality of care, while at the same time [3] significantly reducing the national (and individual) cost. A trifecta "Win-Win-Win." Others find the very notion preposterous on its face. In the summer of 2009, this policy battle is now joined in full fury..."

"Some reform advocates have long argued that we can indeed [1] extend health care coverage to all citizens, with [2] significantly increased quality of care, while at the same time [3] significantly reducing the national (and individual) cost. A trifecta "Win-Win-Win." Others find the very notion preposterous on its face. In the summer of 2009, this policy battle is now joined in full fury..."

"...Assume for the moment -- just for the sake of argument -- that the best we might manage is the status quo in our annual ~$2 trillion "health care" outlay (alternatively and more stably stated as ~16% of GDP). Assume further that the goals of improved quality and universal access might be effected within that budgetary constraint. You then have the circumstance of the "Zero-Sum Game" within which the aggregate allocation is necessarily re-apportioned.

It should be immediately obvious that the multimillionaire CEOs of our major for-profit "health care industry" players are not about to sit idly by and see their respective slices of the pie diminished. Hence the intense lobbying now underway to delve out smaller slices elsewhere, e.g., by legislative tactics such as [1] raising the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 70 or higher, [2] decreasing yet again Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals, [3] requiring that everyone buy private insurance, and [4] taxing employer-provided benefits. See (3)(D) above. Take the glaring hint..."

"...I have to admit at this point to a net leaning toward the Single Payer concept, potential warts and all. I do not see that happening anytime soon, however -- certainly not this year. We seem to be headed toward an inscrutably hyper-complex re-jiggering of our no-value-adding "health care" paper-pushing industry. I hope I'm wrong."

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Link in my name. As comprehensive as I could make it.

Another Gooper with a bootie problem. Why am I not surprised. Maybe Ensign can be his running mate.

no animals were harmed, and the bootie call involved an adult-age woman. Former senator Rick Man-Dog-Marriage Sphinctorum can rest easy.

who observed that celebrities all want "rehab" after being busted for dope. Prior to that time, they just want drugs.

"What's most striking about Kathryn Bigelow's "The Hurt Locker" isn't its action sequences -- which are low-key to begin with -- but its tense quietness: This is a war movie that rarely goes "boom,..."

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See "84 Charlie Mopic"

If you can find it. It's not on DVD. I have a VHS copy. Best Vietnam war movie ever made.

I posted this in my local paper on Saturday:

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AHRQ has reported that perhaps half of the population spends little to nothing on health care (I discuss these findings in my post). There's your major stumbling block right there. While it's not clear how they define "half," it suffices to observe that such a large proportion of an electorate is going to be an extremely tough sell when it come to arguing that everyone should pay something in order that all might be covered for the long-term clinical and economic good of everyone -- including those who now ostensibly pay little to nothing. The for-profit corporate "health care" entities (e.g., big insurance and big Rx) skillfully manipulate this demographic to make certain no substantive changes detrimental to their bottom lines happen.

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Big Insurance and Big Rx are sure to have their "conservative" legislative waterboys pander to this fear of "being forced to pay."

Details in my post. Link in my name.

Full stop for me. I see those 3 words, I need not delve any further.

LOL. Spot-on.

Governor Sanford, do the planet a favor. In six words: Make It Look Like An Accident.

Governor Sanford, do the planet a favor. In six words: Make It Look Like An Accident.

to be able to pay alimony and child support, and other legal expenses.

That is just bandwidth-wasting stupid shit.

Is that the best you can manage. That you Got No Game is getting more evident by the byte. Don't go into a battle of wits (or knowledge) unarmed.

"Why isn't something so inevitable dealt with properly and efficiently?"

Not what the current for-profit setup is designed to deal with.

"Why the fuck has the private sector so miserably failed at such an essential service?"

By their own "success" metrics, they're doing unbelievably well. But, of course, it has nothing to do with health care per se.

See http://bgladd.blogspot.com

Link in my name as well.

she's gonna need time to distance herself from whatever new dirt may be about to be unearthed. Maybe?

in a basketball game?

OK.

"2012 Red Right! 2012 Red Right! hut, hut..."

Point guard hoops audible.

Why, I've repeatedly used that one myself over at 24-Hour Fitness Sport during full-court pickup.