Health care reform
- by: Michael Ostrosky
- recipient: U. S. Senators and Representatives
1. Working people should have equivalent or better health care than non-working people.
2. The public option should act as a secondary insurance for those that have insurance through employment.
3. Health care reform should be paid for by funds currently allocated to welfare (public, corporate, and international) with the remaining welfare funds going to improving job skills of displaced workers and former welfare recipients. Any funds still remaining should go to paying down our national debt.
4. Reform should include:
4.1. Incentives for more people to become doctors / nurses.
4.2. Elimination of state boundaries on health care companies to encourage competition.
4.3. Replace inaccurate and archaic animal research and training with adaptive human models.
4.4. Conduct disease statistics reporting and perform root cause analysis on statistical anomalies. Such as:
4.4.1. Fossil fuel emissions cause and exacerbate many illnesses; western Pennsylvanians are 300 times more likely to have respiratory problems, such as asthma and allergies, due 2 of the top ten most polluting and 3 of the top 20 coal fired plants in the country.
4.4.2. The Apollo, PA area in South-Western Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of Type 2 Diabetes, as well as various cancers, in the country, due to tanks of unknown chemical contents buried in backyards.
4.4.3. Pollution has lead to chemical compounds being found in our drinking supplies that have been shown to change the sex of fish from one to the other. This is believed to be a major cause of homosexuality and gender identity issues.
4.5. Voluntary purchasing pools: Give individuals and small businesses the opportunities that large businesses and the government have to seek lower insurance costs.
4.6. Portability: As people change jobs or move across state lines, they change insurance plans. By allowing consumers to "own" their policies, insurers would have incentive to make more investments in prevention and in managing chronic conditions.
4.7. Lawsuit reform: It makes no sense to ignore one of the biggest cost drivers in the system -- the cost of defensive medicine, largely driven by lawsuits. Worse, many doctors have stopped performing high-risk procedures for fear of liability.
4.8. Require coverage of preexisting conditions: Insurance should not be least accessible when it is needed most. Companies should be incentivized to focus on delivering high-quality effective care, not to avoid covering the sick.
4.9. Transparency and payment reform: Consumers have more information when choosing a car or restaurant than when selecting a health-care provider. Provider quality and cost should be plainly available to consumers, and payment systems should be based on outcomes, not volume. Today's system results in wide variations in treatment instead of the consistent application of best practices. We must reward efficiency and quality.
4.10. Electronic medical records: The current system of paper records threatens patient privacy and leads to bad outcomes and higher costs.
4.11. Tax-free health savings accounts: HSAs have helped reduce costs for employers and consumers. Some businesses have seen their costs decrease by double-digit percentages. But current regulations discourage individuals and small businesses from utilizing HSAs.
4.12. Reward healthy lifestyle choices: Providing premium rebates and other incentives to people who make healthy choices or participate in management of their chronic diseases has been shown to reduce costs and improve health.
4.13. Cover young adults: A large portion of the uninsured are people who cannot afford coverage after they have "aged out" of their parents' policies. Permitting young people to stay on their parents' plans longer would reduce the number of uninsured and keep healthy people in insurance risk pools -- helping to lower premiums for everyone.
4.14. Refundable tax credits (for the uninsured and those who would benefit from greater flexibility of coverage): Redirecting some of the billions already spent on the uninsured will help make non-emergency care outside the emergency room affordable for millions and will provide choices of coverage.
We the undersigned support the following Health care reforms
1. Working people should have equivalent or better health care than non-working people.
2. The public option should act as a secondary insurance for those that have insurance through employment.
3. Health care reform should be paid for by funds currently allocated to welfare (public, corporate, and international) with the remaining welfare funds going to improving job skills of displaced workers and former welfare recipients. Any funds still remaining should go to paying down our national debt.
4. Reform should include:
4.1. Incentives for more people to become doctors / nurses.
4.2. Elimination of state boundaries on health care companies to encourage competition.
4.3. Replace inaccurate and archaic animal research and training with adaptive human models.
4.4. Conduct disease statistics reporting and perform root cause analysis on statistical anomalies. Such as:
4.4.1. Fossil fuel emissions cause and exacerbate many illnesses; western Pennsylvanians are 300 times more likely to have respiratory problems, such as asthma and allergies, due 2 of the top ten most polluting and 3 of the top 20 coal fired plants in the country.
4.4.2. The Apollo, PA area in South-Western Pennsylvania has one of the highest rates of Type 2 Diabetes, as well as various cancers, in the country, due to tanks of unknown chemical contents buried in backyards.
4.4.3. Pollution has lead to chemical compounds being found in our drinking supplies that have been shown to change the sex of fish from one to the other. This is believed to be a major cause of homosexuality and gender identity issues.
4.5. Voluntary purchasing pools: Give individuals and small businesses the opportunities that large businesses and the government have to seek lower insurance costs.
4.6. Portability: As people change jobs or move across state lines, they change insurance plans. By allowing consumers to "own" their policies, insurers would have incentive to make more investments in prevention and in managing chronic conditions.
4.7. Lawsuit reform: It makes no sense to ignore one of the biggest cost drivers in the system -- the cost of defensive medicine, largely driven by lawsuits. Worse, many doctors have stopped performing high-risk procedures for fear of liability.
4.8. Require coverage of preexisting conditions: Insurance should not be least accessible when it is needed most. Companies should be incentivized to focus on delivering high-quality effective care, not to avoid covering the sick.
4.9. Transparency and payment reform: Consumers have more information when choosing a car or restaurant than when selecting a health-care provider. Provider quality and cost should be plainly available to consumers, and payment systems should be based on outcomes, not volume. Today's system results in wide variations in treatment instead of the consistent application of best practices. We must reward efficiency and quality.
4.10. Electronic medical records: The current system of paper records threatens patient privacy and leads to bad outcomes and higher costs.
4.11. Tax-free health savings accounts: HSAs have helped reduce costs for employers and consumers. Some businesses have seen their costs decrease by double-digit percentages. But current regulations discourage individuals and small businesses from utilizing HSAs.
4.12. Reward healthy lifestyle choices: Providing premium rebates and other incentives to people who make healthy choices or participate in management of their chronic diseases has been shown to reduce costs and improve health.
4.13. Cover young adults: A large portion of the uninsured are people who cannot afford coverage after they have "aged out" of their parents' policies. Permitting young people to stay on their parents' plans longer would reduce the number of uninsured and keep healthy people in insurance risk pools -- helping to lower premiums for everyone.
4.14. Refundable tax credits (for the uninsured and those who would benefit from greater flexibility of coverage): Redirecting some of the billions already spent on the uninsured will help make non-emergency care outside the emergency room affordable for millions and will provide choices of coverage.
Thank you for your swift action.
By signing, you accept Care2's Terms of Service.
You can unsub at any time here.
Having problems signing this? Let us know.