Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel on Universal Health Care - White House OMB

[slipslidingaway]

Our new health care system???

This interview is from April 2007

http://www.pbs.org/now/news/315.html

"...I think the universal part appeals to the Democrats. The voucher part appeals to Republicans. And I think it should make us one big happy family," Dr. Emanuel tells David Brancaccio in a web-exclusive interview.


...DR. EMANUEL: Absolutely. I think—I think—some of the biggest supporters of this plan will be businesses. They want—their employees to have insurance, but the costs are becoming too high, too astronomical for them.

So they would get out of the game entirely. And I think that's a good thing. One of the benefits for employees would be they would probably see their wages go up. 'Cause, right now, employers—are playing whatever it is, ten, 15 percent, of—of their labor cost to health insurance. That money would be, if the economists are right, transferred as increases in wages...

...DR. EMANUEL: Right. Well, if the states aren't paying Medicaid anymore, and employers aren't paying for insurance, we would have to find the money to pay for this. We wouldn't add more money, but we'd—you'd have to get basically—recoup somehow how employers are paying for it and how the states are paying for Medicaid. And that would be—we've proposed to finance this by a value added tax. That means that, when you buy something, the added value is taxed. The tax would be about eight to ten of purchases—if you eliminate food and some other items that—poor people disproportionately buy. And, again—it—you're going to have to pay for this somehow. It is going to be a tax...


...Right now in America there are about 1,300 health insurance companies. Many of them very small niche players. They cater to very small companies, but they add a lot of administrative costs —in the sense of they've got a different billing system. And so people have to keep up with that. In our plan, we would estimate that we would cut that down to about 50 or 60 plans throughout the country..."


Rahm Emanuel’s Brother Joins White House Team

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/12/18/rahm-emanuels-brother-joins-white-house-team/

"Ezekiel J. Emanuel, a prominent bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health–and the brother of incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel–will serve as a senior counselor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health policy, two Democratic officials said Thursday.

Zeke Emanuel will work closely with Department of Health and Human Services secretary-nominee Tom Daschle to formulate a national health insurance program and to try to curb the swelling cost of health insurance without adversely impacting health care..."

[slipslidingaway]

1. Is this the basis for the Obama HC plan, it has been awhile since

I read his proposal.

[Dragonfli]

2. Why do we need insurance companies again?

It sounds like a step in the right direction (universal), but I would wonder if having a company in the middle that derives more profit the less care it delivers is a wise decision.

What part of the health service do they provide exactly? How much of the percentage of the cost of health care goes to them for this service? Important questions IMHO. Also, are they responsible to stockholder profits above all else (legally and ethically) as are other corporations? If so, they are not there to service my health requirements so much as their own profits. A vampirific model at best.

If they also have the power to deny a needed test or operation, they could cause harm as well. My wife died due to an operation that was denied for several months of negotiations with her doctors - time enough for a cancer to go from operable to metastasized. I no longer trust the vampires in the middle. In the end they allowed the operation, but as chemo had stopped prior to surgery (as planned), it grew 3 fold in those months of "debate" and attached to the chest wall. Such was not the case before they quibbled over how many surgeons should be in the room.

It is more than a discussion of right or left wing ideology, it is a question of where the money goes and what the business is - a Hippocratic model or a hypocritical "profit first" one.

[slipslidingaway]

3. Excellent points and questions, exactly what do the insurance

companies provide...profits for shareholders.

Nobody should lose a loved one while the insurance companies argue over how much money they will pay for treatment, I am very sorry to hear of your loss.

:hug:


"It is more than a discussion of right or left wing ideology, it is a question of where the money goes and what the business is - a Hippocratic model or a hypocritical "profit first" one."

Well stated :thumbsup:

[Cleita]

4. Absolutely not, but the insurance companies need us to get thier hands on those

health care dollars they need for Wall Street profits. So it seems that we are going to get the plan that is already proving to be a failure in states that it has been tried in like Massachusetts. I always love it when failures are repeated over and over again by our elected officials :sarcasm:

[slipslidingaway]

5. Any feedback on this HC voucher system discussed here? n/t

[slipslidingaway]

6. 8-10% added tax on most goods for a health care voucher...

trying to generate more discussion of this proposal.

:silly:

[Dragonfli]

7. Kick - needs discussion nt

[slipslidingaway]

8. Thanks, maybe my title should have read 19% sales tax in Ca.

for a HC voucher...would you be willing to pay that?

[Dragonfli]

9. More accurately: 19% Sales tax for "Basic HMO non-care" Good Care Extra!!

If you can afford it on top of the new regressive taxation.

This whole scheme sounds as if it were drafted by an insurance lobbying firm to me.

I also noticed that they would lessen the "incentive" to not cover unhealthy people, not require that they do. I can assure you that this is a recipe for denial. Insurance companies seek profit not our well-being.

This is a proposal to tax us for money for insurance company profit. Nothing more.

[slipslidingaway]

13. I like that title better :) As the HC proposal unfolds we'll have to

keep this plan in mind. In addition to the regressive tax, the idea of consolidating insurance companies could be troubling as well.

Appreciate your replies :)

[leftstreet]

10. This is bullshit.

They're going to let a handful of insurance companies become mega-killer corporations, and in turn make obscene profits of OUR healthcare.

Disgusting.

:puke:

[Dragonfli]

11. Sounds Like "the plan"

It should not surprise you. Kucinich was the only one advocating taking obscene insurance profits out of the middle as I believe most on the left knew (including you as well as myself).

What is their piece of the pie? 30%? 40%? For what - denials and paperwork?

[leftstreet]

12. Maybe this will create the 2 million new jobs: Claims Denial Specialist

And no, it doesn't surprise me at all.

sigh

[slipslidingaway]

14. Agree, that is a troubling aspect...thanks for the interest. n/t