On the issue of Obama-care...
I cannot even beging to stress the importance of the healthcare decision now facing our elected officials and the US population. While some measure of reform is absolutely needed, Obama-care WILL NOT correct what ails of hospital infrastructure, and that threatens each and every one of us.
In response to the RNC's daily spam mail, I responded as follows, and forwarded the same to our Governor and Senators:
RNC:
I agree that Obama's plan is probably not the "best" plan. In fact, it may exacerbate the problem but, all BS and politicing aside, there is a healthcare crisis in this country, and some effective reform is desperately needed at this time.
The problem is essentially three fold:
1) Because of a grossly disfavorable reimbursement system, and the burden of providing care to the growing uninsured, our hospitals are on fiscal life support. More than half in NJ are insolvent -- running in the red, and many are facing closure. Without an effective, solvent hospital infrastructure, we are a third world country.
2) The States, already in fiscal crisis, cannot afford the escalating costs of providing care to the uninsured.
3) Our current system relies on business to provide health insurance to employees. This cost is escalating at a rate far greater than the rate of inflation, and is an oppressive tax on business, a system that makes US business less able to compete globally. And it is a system that is unsustainable.
Ergo, it is NOT enough to scare the public with the "S" word (socialist!!), and it is not enough to scare seniors -- who happen to vote in disproportionately high percentage. Payor reform is desperately needed NOW. Now, you have been spamming my email daily -- with "Obama is Bad" type rhetoric. This rhetoric ignores a dire problem within our essential hospital infrastructure, it is unproductive, and ridiculous. We need solutions.
In a previous correspondence, I wrote:
Obama and Congress should listen to the governors, bipartisan governors. We are experiencing a fiscal crisis in healthcare, no question, but Obama's plan only exacerbates the existing crisis. By cutting Medicare payments to hospitals by 5% and passing additional Medicaid, and uncompensated care costs onto the states, the plan will dramatically increase the fiscal strain and insolvency of our hospitals. Any effective reform has got to shore up the balance sheets of hospitals with improved profitability. The current plan will absolutely NOT do that.
Without an effective hospital infrastructure, we are a third world country. And when more hospitals close due to insolvency, and more emergency departments close, we can do like Calcutta, and sweep the corpses from the gutters in the morning. No business can operate in the red forever, and our system is in dire need of some reform,
but the current plan will only worsen the crisis by
further financially weakening the existing hospital infrastructure.
So, please, no more bumper sticker type anti-Hillary-care/Obama-care talking points. The country NEEDS and deserves better. Further, I have responded to your daily spam without response. If you choose not to respond to this very serious issue, please remove my name from your email list.
Sincerely,
NJ Registered Republican
