Universal Healthcare

Barack Obama kicked off his general election campaign in Raleigh, NC on Monday, an indication that North Carolina will be a targeted state in the fall. Obama delivered a major speech on the economy at the NC Fairgrounds, marking the beginning of a two-week tour through the state, focusing on Economic Policy.

During his speech, Obama went into full general election mode, launching a direct hit on McCain’s Economic policy, calling it a “full throated endorsement of Bush’s Policies.”

Obama Slams McCain's Economic Policy

As today marked the 30th anniversary of the “War on Cancer,” Elizabeth Edwards and Lance Armstrong appeared at a US Senate Committee Panel to push for a renewed fight against cancer.

Elizabeth Edwards, one of the nation’s most outspoken and effective advocates for universal healthcare coverage, takes this issue very personally. A survivor of breast cancer, Elizabeth told a panel led by Senator Ted Kennedy, “…we’ve chosen as a nation to turn our backs on some of us who have the disease. I urge you to reform health care responsibly, morally, and aggressively.”

Yesterday, I packed up my laptop, tripod and videocam and headed over to Chapel Hill to vLog John and Elizabeth Edwards' appearance on the Ed Schultz Show. It's always a double plus to see those two together! (It's apparent why their marriage has lasted 30 years). ;)

We need some activists to lend support to this issue in this legislative season.
I hope BlueNC bloggers will lend a hand.

From the Washington Post.

Welcome to the new dark ages, the beginning of the time after the Age of Oil and the Empire of the United States.

For can we really be a superpower when children die from tooth decay?

That's Deamonte Driver, 12, late of Prince George's County Maryland in the foreground with his mother behind him.

"I certainly hope the state agencies responsible for making sure these children have dental care take note so that Deamonte didn't die in vain," said Laurie Norris, a lawyer for the Baltimore-based Public Justice Center who tried to help the Driver family. "They know there is a problem, and they have not devoted adequate resources to solving it."

So do we, Laurie. So do we.

I first saw this story over at Ezra Klein's place, but it is also reported in the  Washington Post.  The "non-partisan" McKinsey Group sought to determine how much we overpay for healthcare by constructing an "Estimated Spending According to Wealth" index, that takes into account not only how much a country spends on health care, but also its per capita earnings.  The results?

In this new report MGI finds that the United States spends approximately $480 billion ($1,600 per capita) more on health care than other OECD countries and that additional spending is not explained by a higher disease burden; the research shows that the U.S. population is not significantly sicker than the other countries studied.

The reason why we pay $1,600 more per capita, even when you figure in that we make much more per capita than many countries, is because of....the free market.

I received a disturbing email from NC Spin, indicating that Gov. Easley, was working in Universal Health Care.  Wait, you might be thinking, R.P. likes Universal Health Care and is V.P. of a non-profit that is focused on Universal Health Care - so why the "disturbing"?  The email, unfortunately, makes it clear that our "Democratic" governor is falling for the Republican-lite version of Universal Health Care that I like to call "Forced Health Care".

Governor working on Universal Health Care Plan
We also learned that Governor Mike Easley has asked the Department of Health and Human Services to crunch numbers regarding a proposal for an individual universal health care plan to cover all our citizens. The goal, we heard was to include this plan in the Easley budget proposals to be submitted to the legislature soon. The sketchy details we get are that the coverage will be mandatory and will be financed by employer payroll taxes. Massachusetts and California are currently working on similar plans.

Another reason to ditch the For Profit Medical System that we have now....

Let's say you're self-employed, maybe running a small company like many of my friends. Maybe running a web-design company, or a you are a free-lance writer, or whatever. Things are going well, you're thinking of maybe expanding, maybe taking "that" vacation with your spouse, maybe being able to send the kids to college. Then, this happens.

Hundreds of actors, artists, musicians and writers in California are facing massive increases in their health insurance premiums, a situation that could face other consumers who don't have employer-sponsored health plans, advocates and lawmakers said.

Cigna Corp., which has sold insurance to members of the entertainment industry through their professional associations for 25 years, is raising premiums for actors and others by an average of 82%, with some hikes as high as 254%.

Under the Cigna increases, premiums on its point-of-service plan will rise to $1,022 a month for single members in the Los Angeles area beginning Jan. 1. Family point-of-service coverage would jump to $2,485 a month.

What was the social issue that drove Bill Clinton into office and then drove the wingnuts into nuttiness?

Universal Health Care.

It's the liberal, progressive issue that no one has been willing to talk about since then. It's taboo. It's scary. It is not at all CENTRIST or an issue of TRIANGULATION. Indeed, Hillary Clinton, once the hero of UHC is now AGAINST the idea. So, who is the 800 Pound Gorilla that is bringing this issue to the forefront again? Who is it that is mentioning the uninsured at every event as a moral issue that America has to face?

In other words, who is it that is running a truly Progressive campaign?

Greetings all. The following is an opinion piece that was declined by the N&O. I asked for permission to publish it here and the two authors agreed. The short bio on the two authors:

Jonathan Kotch, MD, MPH, FAAP, Professor of Maternal and Child Health at UNC-CH’s School of Public Health, is president of the NC Committee to Defend Health Care, the state chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, and author of Maternal And Child Health: Programs, Problems, And Policy In Public Health, 2nd Edition
Frank Keary, MD, MPH, is chair of the Health Committee for The Ethical Culture Society of NC.
Affiliations for identification only.

The article titled "NC Needs New Health Commssion -- Now!" is below the fold.