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[Fox]

[bacasper]

[mises]

I'm a loyal minion of Taibbi's, and I've been waiting for his health care piece before actually thinking about this issue, and how it will shape the future of the United States. His piece is out now in print, and RS offers a short glimpse into it, and 3 videos where MT speaks about his work.

http://www.rollingstone.com/nationalaffairs/index.php/2009/08/19/matt-taibbi-on-health-care-reform-sick-and-wrong/

I'll post the article when I find it. There is usually a 7 day lag between his stuff being on newsstands and on the net.


As MT describes it, this bill is a nightmare and the height of corporatist absurdity. Fox, BBum, Kuros, Ya-ta and the rest of you are likely going to be angered.

[Fox]

Regarding Video 1: He does a really good job highlighting the administrative benefits of a well-run single player. My mother works in the health care industry in administration, and she's always talking about the immense complexities involved in medical billing in the current system. I do want to say, however, that according to her, he grossly over-states the "simplicity and ease" of billing for Medicare. Medicare actually has fairly complex -- and sometimes counterintuitive -- rules about what you can bill, what you need in order to bill, and how you need to go about it.

One example: if the hospital purchases a particular expensive scanning device (I'm sorry, I forget the exact name of the device in question, this conversation happened a while ago), they can bill procedures using it to Medicare. However, if several hospitals pool resources and buy one TOGETHER, and its ownership is shared, Medicare doesn't consider it an in-house procedure and thus won't accept the bill, even though this is the most efficient way to manage highly expensive, rarely use equipment. She also says its very frequent that the hospital does everything right, and Medicare's administrative employees still fail to come through with prompt payment. Hospitals are absolutely required to follow certain time guidelines, but Medicare's administration often fails to behave in the same punctual fashion.

So while it's certainly true that hospitals do complain of the repayment rates of Medicare, there also are efficiency problems that need to be resolved, because right now it's actually a fairly messy patch work. This doesn't mean a successful, efficient government run system can't be created, but it does show the need for it to be created carefully and with the informed advice of people who have worked in the health care industry, but no longer do (and thus have no direct incentive to create a self-serving system).

Regarding Video 2: I really like his, "When the Drug Companies are for health care reform, you know it's corrupt," style of presentation, because it's just so obviously true. And yes, the total lack of single-payer advocacy shows you exactly what's really going on here. It's disgusting.

Regarding Video 3: He articulates well something I was afraid of based on what I've been hearing. I don't want health care reform to just turn into an Insurance Industry bailout in the form of forcing everyone to pay for their terrible "product" and handing out tax credits to the people who can't afford it. As he says, that not only doesn't make anything better, it will make things worse. This is why I feel any bill that doesn't at least have a public option is worse than no reform at all. Howard Dean is completely correct: we need to either put up a bill with a public option (or a single payer bill, which would be better), or simply put up nothing.

Video didn't really tell me anything new, so it hasn't increased my indignation over the way this is all going, but I would hope an average, semi-informed citizen hearing all this for the first time would be very angry upon hearing it. Nice find.

[mises]

Well, the article will be much longer and with his incredible eye for detail.

For example, his piece on Goldman's:

http://www.zerohedge.com/content/goldman-sachs-engineering-every-major-market-manipulation-great-depression

[mises]

http://www.businessinsider.com/matt-taibbi-takes-on-health-care-reform-2009-8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qcx8zbg0r4 (8:10).

[Pluto]

My views have been well established irt health care. I'll just say a couple of things.

Re: Health care as market failure.
It is not market failure and you can't simply say it is market failure when the gov't owns 50% of the health care market. Also, irt medicare/medicaid, they've got a practical monopsony over the price of medicines. What do you think that does to prices, supply and quality?

Re: Morality
Like I said morality begins with the individual as the individual pass through this world. There is no overall good, no greater good, there is no national effort, there is no cause greater than oneself(unless the individual deems this to be so) or whatever silly nonsense statists of all stripes have tried to promote with their meaningless euphemisms.. So long as a person lives peacefully and commits no crime against person or property, that is good enough.

[mises]

[ontheway]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rRE5UK6NQU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eyoutube%2Ecom%2Fuser%2FHedrickDavid&feature=player_profilepage


Watch this video.

This man represents tens of millions of Americans.

It is no longer a secret that the Federal Reserve, ie the US Government, caused the first Great Depression and all the recessions since.

It is no longer a secret that Government at all levels is the cause of our social and political problems.

It is no longer a secret that socialism is our enemy, that all government is socialist, and the Democrats are Fascist-Socialists.

It is no longer a secret that the days of the socialists' dominion over America are numbered.

Listen to the crowd.

A revolution IS coming.

[ubermenzch]

[ontheway]

[Fox]

[bacasper]

[ubermenzch]

[ontheway]