Re: POLITICS national healthcare? see how it is in canada (the model for the proposed system)

July 19, 2009

The part of the VA system that is usually lauded is the fact that they

demand price discounts from drugmakers, whereas the Medicare Part D

drug benefit law explicitly forbade HHS from negotiating with

drugmakers for better prices. The VA is otherwise NOT being held up as

a model except by people perhaps confusing it with Medicare.

The single-payer model that is usually cited as an overall model is

Medicare. The advantage would be one payer, less overhead, greater

volume discounts (assuming the ability to negotiate discounts is left

in such a law) and including *everyone.* Still, the quality and cost

of care under Medicare vary depending on where you live, for some

reason there are great discrepancies between the states.

You want to start citing sad tales of patients denied care? Welcome to

our world, private for-profit medical insurance running the show in

America. There's no end of sob stories, unfortunately. Whatever system

we end up with, we need to make sure that neither the drug companies

nor the insurance companies, nor the doctors even, have a monopoly on

medical decisions, because when they do, the patients get screwed.

Among other changes, what we need is a more expansive understanding of

health and wellness, as opposed to just disease management. Nutrient-

dense foods must be the foundation, in my opinion.

Jeanmarie (former health-care industry journalist)

On Jul 18, 2009, at 5:02 AM, haecklers wrote:

>

> Some others say the US medical care system should be based on the

> one neationalized system that works - the VA hospital system. Odd, I

> don't remember vets liking it. One vet I worked with was suicidal

> but they told him he had to wait 6 months for a psychiatrist with

> high enough security clearance to see him - I said " But he's

> suicidal NOW! " and their reply was " He hasn't killed himself yet,

> has he? He can wait. "

>

> -.

>

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