Obamacare

[regular.joe]

Highest infant mortality rates? Site please.

[regular.joe]

More on infant mortality rates.

[richlevy]

Someone still has to explain to me how we let it come to the point that Canada can purchase medicines from U.S. companies cheaper than the U.S. government can, because the U.S. government has been deliberately denied the ability to consolidate and negotiate better prices.

So that we must spend more of our tax dollars than is necessary.

Oh wait, I do know. It's called bribery.

[Lamplighter]

TW, Congratulations, that was great GMT timing in New Zealand

.

[classicman]

Originally Posted by richlevy

Someone still has to explain to me how we let it come to the point that Canada can purchase medicines from U.S. companies cheaper than the U.S. government can, because the U.S. government has been deliberately denied the ability to consolidate and negotiate better prices.

Its Bush's fault. no, really it is.

[Undertoad]

already posted in the "impeding changes" thread:

Spending more on health care increases the infant mortality rate

According to a 2002 analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least a third of all infant mortality in the United States arises from complications of prematurity; other studies assert the figure is closer to half. Thus—at the risk of oversimplifying—infant mortality in the United States principally is a problem of premature birth, which today complicates just over one in 10 pregnancies.

To reduce infant mortality, then, we need to prevent premature births, and if that fails, improve care of premature babies once born. (Prematurity is also linked to other problems; for example, it's the leading cause of mental retardation and cerebral palsy in children.) But modern medicine isn't good at preventing prematurity—just the opposite. Better and more affordable medical care actually has worsened the rate of prematurity, and likely the rate of infant mortality, by making fertility treatment widespread.

[Undertoad]

And infant mortality rates are measured by percentage of live births, not percentage of people:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...mortality_rate

And the question typically posed isn't "Why is the US worst?" it's "Why is the US 48th and apparently all other first-world countries better?"

Infant mortality as a benchmark of quality of health care for a nation made sense in the 1950s, before fertility treatment.

Today the benchmark is only used to bash the US system.

[TheMercenary]

As long as it is overturned it matters not who is at fault.

[Lamplighter]

SCOTUS decision today - WOW !

[Lamplighter]

President Obama came on national TV this morning and spoke about the SCOTUS decision.
I've not yet found a video source to post here.

Once again, he identified the politics of the situation, but for perhaps the first time,
he laid out the specifics of the law in layman terms.

Atlanta Journal Constitution
Thursday, June 28, 2012

The Associated Press

Obama response to Supreme Court on health care

Good afternoon. Earlier today, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act
- the name of the health care reform we passed two years ago.
In doing so, they've reaffirmed a fundamental principle that here in America
- in the wealthiest nation on Earth - no illness or accident should lead to any family's financial ruin.

I know there will be a lot of discussion today about the politics of all this, about who won and who lost.
That's how these things tend to be viewed here in Washington.
But that discussion completely misses the point.
Whatever the politics, today's decision was a victory for people all over this country
whose lives will be more secure because of this law and the Supreme Court's decision to uphold it.

And because this law has a direct impact on so many Americans,
I want to take this opportunity to talk about exactly what it means for you.
<SNIP>

His presentation of the specifics in the law and the remainder
of his speech are in the link... I highly recommend it to everyone.
.
.
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[classicman]

Here ya go...

[classicman]

There is a chart circulating of what the ruling means

[Lamplighter]

Thank's Classic, for finding the video...

[classicman]

It will probably go unnoticed in the grande scheme of things, but I thought he gave a great speech.


...and you're welcome.

[Lamplighter]

Here is the latest (new) issue coming up for Oregonians... and the US.
The headline is a little misleading about the real issue...

IMO, the Illinois law mentioned below seems a very good start.

The Oregonian
Nick Budnick,
11/3/12
Hospital charity care in Oregon sinks as debate over standards grows

In 2009 the recession was in full swing, and
as the number of unemployed and uninsured shot up,
Legacy Health System ratcheted free care to the needy
in the Portland area to a new high.

Legacy wrote off $67 million in area patients' bills last year,
a nearly 25 percent jump since 2009, more than 6 percent of revenue.
That may not have been a smart business move, but "we have a mission" to help others,
says Dave Eager, chief financial officer of the nonprofit.

Other tax-exempt hospitals in the state did not follow suit,
according to newly released state records.
From 2009 to 2011, 31 of Oregon's tax-exempt hospitals cut free care to the poor as a percent of revenue.

The numbers pushed Eager into the growing chorus across the country that says government
should set minimum expectations on not-for-profit hospitals that enjoy lucrative tax breaks
in exchange for community service, including Legacy itself.

<snip>

Oregon has one of the smallest for-profit hospital sectors in the country,
says Jessica Curtis, who tracks charity care for the Massachusetts-based
health watchdog group Community Catalyst.
She called Oregon's declining charity care numbers "curious considering the state of the economy."

In return for caring for people like Casey [a named patient example], Oregon's tax-exempt hospitals
-- both not-for-profit and government-affiliated hospitals like Oregon Health & Science University
-- receive significant benefits:
• money can be borrowed at a discounted rate, a privilege worth millions;
• tax exemptions from state and federal corporate and capital gains taxes, and property taxes collected by counties;
• any contributions to them are tax-deductible, which encourages giving.

Acquisitions by hospitals are a major reason municipal tax bases are "under siege,"
according to the November issue of Governing Magazine.

The Oregon reporting law was one of the nation's earliest.
In Texas, lawmakers required hospitals provide 4 percent
of their budget in charity care and other help for the poor,
and Illinois recently required that charity care exceed property taxes.

However, the federal health reform that kicks in 2014
is expected to make charity care even less common as the number
of uninsured is expected to drop sharply.

But under the new law, hospitals will be asked to submit plans
for how they will improve their community's overall health.