Healthcare History

Accidents of History Created U.S. Healthcare Industry

Favorable Report Moves Health-Care Reform in the Senate

Tell Your Legislators What You Want In Health-Care Reform

There is an alternative for those Americans who in the past have gone without health insurance. The answer is to have health-care reform that offers a health-care exchange with the public option.

Under this health-care reform a health-care exchange would be available for small businesses that have trouble providing insurance for their employees, to the self-employed and to the uninsured. This health-care marketplace would offer a choice of several private plans as well as another plan called the public option. Individuals are free to choose whichever plan is best for them.

The public option is a nonprofit plan that will support itself with member premiums only and will have to compete with the private insurance plans to give us out best health-care value. Unlike the other options proposed, only the public option would have the size needed to negotiate prices with the health-care providers and offer a competitive alternative to private plans.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates show that the public option is being unnecessarily vilified by the reform critics. The CBO forecasts that the private insurance plans have the opportunity to gain 16 million new customers under health-care reform. Approximately 1 in 10 Americans are expected to the enter health-care exchange and only approximately 11 to 12 million -- or just over 3% of Americans -- will actually choose the public option. With the public option we will have fair market competition while at the same time controlling rising health-care costs.

Congress must act now to pass this health-care reform. Let's all email our legislators and tell them what we want.

***** Robert Reich Public Option Video *****

HEALTHCARE BOOK NOT TO BE MISSED

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The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Healthcare

By T. R. Reid

(Penguin Press; 277 pages)

This is an informative and enjoyable book to read. The author states that national universal healthcare is the only moral thing for a country to do. But just as importantly, the other developed countries of the world prove that it is the economically sensible thing to do. These other countries do not have perfect healthcare, but they are far closer to finding a solution to this serious problem then we are. If the United State sticks with our current national health care what we will get is a guarantee of disaster for all.

Senator Kennedy Speaks for Healthcare

Senator Edward Kennedy speaks passionately about trying to get health care reform passed during his career.

PBS Newshour - T. R. Reid Interview

PBS Newhour interviews T. R. Reid author of the new book, 'The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care.' He contends that The United States needs healthcare now and we can learn from the success and failures of the healthcare reforms that have occurred throughout the world.

Transparency at Recovery.gov

Do you want to know how the federal government is spending your money? There is a government site that gives you the answers.

link to: RECOVERY.GOV