« Nurse Bloggers - New Links | Main | The PBDS Test for Nurse Travelers »
March 22, 2008
John McCain and Healthcare
As Election 2008 moves forward, I decided to read up on John McCain. The only 3 things I know about the man are: he’s a senator from Arizona, he’s a former POW released in 1975, and he’s had a bout with skin melanoma (I won’t admit to the fact that his wife does like she stepped out of Vogue magazine each week! She never has a hair out of place.) But I know nothing about his political views, especially those surrounding our healthcare system.
John McCain is bolstering his reputation as a maverick by encouraging Americans to buy lower-priced drugs from Canada, a plan that may cost Pfizer, Inc, and the drug industry $40 billion over 10 years. Isn’t that a lot of monetary revenue? Enough to rebuild the Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans! McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, says crossing the border for less-expensive drugs will increase healthcare access by lowering costs. Spending on physician services can be cut too, he says, by paying set fees for disease treatments, not on the amount of care provided. He also wants to encourage the purchase of insurance by offering a tax credit paid for by taxing workers' health benefits for the first time.
Supporters say that by attacking health costs, the Arizona Senator can make care more affordable for the 47 million Americans without insurance coverage. Opponents say the ideas are unrealistic. To me, it all seems rather confusing….To save money, McCain wants to give physicians a so-called bundled fee for treating a condition such as heart disease instead of reimbursing each procedure as they do now. Now, I wonder how that would affect private practicing nurse practitioners.
What are your thoughts? Should we be going to Canada to buy our prescriptions?
Health Matters in the 2008 Election
March 22, 2008 in Beka | Permalink
Comments
I'm begiining to feel rather disappointed with the way this Election is going - the Republicans seem focused only the War in Iraq and National Security; The Democrates seem to be only scrabbling and annoying one another with their " Who did what when " schemes.
We are in a sorry, dismal state- I don't think Healthcare will be a focus at all for either Party.
beka
Posted by: beka | Apr 7, 2008 11:54:30 AM
The enormous cost of maintaining the Medicaid system is passed on to the rest of America. That is where the real skyrocketing cost are. Yes drug companies charge alot for new drugs because they have to recoup their research investment in just a few years before patents expire. Yes people on Medicare have to pay alot for coverage and care because politicians are too scare of the Medicaid crowd to ever dream of reforming Medicaid to force recipients to be responsible users of the system. The same is true for private health insurance
the cost are high because of passed on losses from Medicaid.
Medicaid regulators aggressively look at reimbursement claims for the smallest excuse to deny payment for the entire treatment cost. These cost are passed on to the taxpayers. Medicare does not get the same level of scrutiny because providers are accustomed to denying and
limiting care and regulators seldom contest claims.
In short none of the current political candidates has any idea worth considering on how to provide the best care to the greatest number of Americans. Calif. Dem.
congressman Henry Waxman and the NIH just did a study on why the nation's EMS systems are in critical meltdown. They danced around the issue of where the greatest abuses were and just proposed more beaurecratic regulations for health providers.
The real answer is very simple; Far too many people who dont pay anything and dont care about anyone else can just walk into any hospital and demand almost anything they want and usually get it because everyone is scared to tell them; "NO that is an unreasonable and abusive demand." When these people feel a vested interest in what happens to our health care system maybe then medical cost will start to become more affordable.
Posted by: William | Apr 2, 2008 5:29:06 PM
No, I don't think going to Canada (or Mexico) to get cheaper drugs is a valid "solution" to our health care crisis. Requiring insurance and then turning around and paying MD/NP/PA less reimbursement is not where it is at either. What good is insurance if you can't find a provider to accept it?? Every day, yet another provider is "opting out" of contracting with "BIG BLUE" due to super dismal reimbursement rates here in CA. Is the answer going to be easy?..NO! Will it be free health care for all?..NO AGAIN! Will it need to rein in skyrocketing insurer premiums and drug costs? YES! Will we ALL have to participate in some way for the cost? YES AGAIN! How about a real HEALTHCARE plan instead of the ILLNESS plans we have now. Prevention and utilization of NP/PA for primary care.. easy solutions?? NEVER.
Posted by: Brenda Johnson | Apr 1, 2008 6:37:07 PM
Here's a recent interview McCain did regarding his views on Healthcare... Nicotine as a drug and more...
Http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/John_McCain_Health_Care.htm.
Some good reading, different perspectives.
Posted by: beka | Mar 31, 2008 12:01:01 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
