Both gubernatorial candidates look lame re: health reform----for different reasons
Neither one of them is in touch w/ the real world of the lower & middle income citizens.
(cut and paste):
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/
idUSTRE49D5PU20081014
Growing number of workers are poor: study
Tue Oct 14, 2008
"One-third of all (U.S.) children reside in low-income working families," said Roberts.
Perdue's problems re: what she states about health reform:
1. Perdue thinks that kids should be able to get to health insurance. What she doesn't know is that kids can get to Medicaid, trust me, regardless of how many adults are in the household and how much they make; moreover kids get 28 mental health visits/ year w/o any further authorization requests whileas adults get only 8; thus, Perdue's desire to get more kids on insurance is a moot point. Moreover, kids ability to get to Medicaid is increasing as associated w/ the diminishing of family incomes (see above Reuter's article). Kids have the least of the problems re: medical and mental health care.
2. Perdue would like to see a healthier bunch of citizens; so I want to know how she is going to trim back big burley in this Duke-funded state.
*****************
McCrory's problems re: what he states about health reform:
1. he wants to offer 'incentives for businesses'; I'd like to see proof that this would work. I don't think that people who are just making enough to put food on the table and pay the rent are particularly interested in advancing their skills such that they figure out how to get to McCrory's 'child health care tax credit'
2. McCrory would like to do away w/ mandates associated with the floor level of what insurance companies are demanded to offer to their customer. He himself must have some pretty damn good insurance for which he does not pay very much if he figures that the 650,000 people w/ crummy BCBSNC health insurance to the family tune of $700/ month----a policy that does not offer screening colonoscopies after age 50----are somehow going to get to any kind of insurance that is of any use for something less.
3. McCrory says he'd rather people have 'some insurance than no insurance.' I don't see the difference in terms of the disaster that would befall you if you had a catastrophic occurence such that you had to be hospitalized for some time or have extensive surgery. Catastrophe insurance vis a vis massive hospital bill can be purchased for the price of filing for bankruptcy if push comes to shove. Oh, and you can get to Medicaid for 6 months at a time if you meet a deductible against what is coming into the household----which, if you have a catastropic event-----will be no money coming in weighed against massive hospital bills. Yes, Medicaid will pick those up.
4. McCrory sings the same sad song re: the attorney costs associated w/ malpractice suits. I have not heard any support for this actually being a matter which is important to pay attention to.
***************
Gubernatorial candidates discuss health care reform
October 13, 2008 - 9:11PM
Barry Smith
Freedom Raleigh Bureau
(cut and paste)
http://www.enctoday.com/news/
health_50313_kfpress__article.html/
insurance_perdue.html
RALEIGH - Democrat Bev Perdue has a goal of having health insurance for all kids who don't already have insurance.
Republican Pat McCrory wants to give more incentives to the private sector to provide health insurance for their employees.
Perdue, the state's lieutenant governor, and McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, are vying for the governor's race in North Carolina. Voters will elect North Carolina's next governor on Nov. 4.
"The goal I have of providing health insurance for all kids who don't have health insurance I believe is a critical goal of the 21st century," Perdue said. "It will take us a while to get there."
She said that if kids aren't provided health insurance, we will pay for them when they make emergency room visits.
"We'll be much better off having a healthy and well kid going to school or coming to daycare so that they become healthy and well workers," Perdue said.
In addition to incentives for businesses to cover their employees with health insurance, McCrory supports offering child health care tax credits and tax credits for the uninsured.
He said that he would like to do away with a lot of the health insurance mandates now required by state law.
"It's making it unaffordable for young people," McCrory said. He said doing so would allow customers to pick from a menu of health care options.
McCrory's campaign says that the state's 47 private insurance mandates are estimated to cost increases in insurance premiums of about 41 percent.
"I'd rather them have some insurance than no insurance," McCrory said.
Perdue disagreed. She said that there are certain minimum requirements that health insurance plans should offer.
She said that she supports efforts to get the families of poor people insured as a means to getting parents to enroll their children in health insurance programs.
Perdue also supports attacking health care costs by promoting healthy lifestyles, such as reducing obesity.
Along that line, Perdue says that she is proud of her work chairing the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, particularly when it comes to smoking.
"Now you can't find a tobacco user while he's sitting on state property, or on school property or in a state vehicle," Perdue said. "We've outlawed it."
McCrory seeks to attack health care costs by curtailing non-economic damages, such as punitive damages, in malpractice lawsuits. Such efforts could lower costs by reducing the amount of "defensive medicine" practiced. His campaign says that lowering such legal damages could also result in lower health insurance premiums.
He also supports changes in the mental health system, including the establishment of citizen panels to review contracts. He opposes the closing of Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.
"The last thing we need to do is reduce the number or rooms," McCrory said.
Perdue supports extending the safety net for mental health patients and establishing mental health courts, with judges and other judicial officials who have extensive training in the subject.
Barry Smith can be reached at bsmith@link.freedom.com.
(cut and paste):
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/
idUSTRE49D5PU20081014
Growing number of workers are poor: study
Tue Oct 14, 2008
"One-third of all (U.S.) children reside in low-income working families," said Roberts.
Perdue's problems re: what she states about health reform:
1. Perdue thinks that kids should be able to get to health insurance. What she doesn't know is that kids can get to Medicaid, trust me, regardless of how many adults are in the household and how much they make; moreover kids get 28 mental health visits/ year w/o any further authorization requests whileas adults get only 8; thus, Perdue's desire to get more kids on insurance is a moot point. Moreover, kids ability to get to Medicaid is increasing as associated w/ the diminishing of family incomes (see above Reuter's article). Kids have the least of the problems re: medical and mental health care.
2. Perdue would like to see a healthier bunch of citizens; so I want to know how she is going to trim back big burley in this Duke-funded state.
*****************
McCrory's problems re: what he states about health reform:
1. he wants to offer 'incentives for businesses'; I'd like to see proof that this would work. I don't think that people who are just making enough to put food on the table and pay the rent are particularly interested in advancing their skills such that they figure out how to get to McCrory's 'child health care tax credit'
2. McCrory would like to do away w/ mandates associated with the floor level of what insurance companies are demanded to offer to their customer. He himself must have some pretty damn good insurance for which he does not pay very much if he figures that the 650,000 people w/ crummy BCBSNC health insurance to the family tune of $700/ month----a policy that does not offer screening colonoscopies after age 50----are somehow going to get to any kind of insurance that is of any use for something less.
3. McCrory says he'd rather people have 'some insurance than no insurance.' I don't see the difference in terms of the disaster that would befall you if you had a catastrophic occurence such that you had to be hospitalized for some time or have extensive surgery. Catastrophe insurance vis a vis massive hospital bill can be purchased for the price of filing for bankruptcy if push comes to shove. Oh, and you can get to Medicaid for 6 months at a time if you meet a deductible against what is coming into the household----which, if you have a catastropic event-----will be no money coming in weighed against massive hospital bills. Yes, Medicaid will pick those up.
4. McCrory sings the same sad song re: the attorney costs associated w/ malpractice suits. I have not heard any support for this actually being a matter which is important to pay attention to.
***************
Gubernatorial candidates discuss health care reform
October 13, 2008 - 9:11PM
Barry Smith
Freedom Raleigh Bureau
(cut and paste)
http://www.enctoday.com/news/
health_50313_kfpress__article.html/
insurance_perdue.html
RALEIGH - Democrat Bev Perdue has a goal of having health insurance for all kids who don't already have insurance.
Republican Pat McCrory wants to give more incentives to the private sector to provide health insurance for their employees.
Perdue, the state's lieutenant governor, and McCrory, the mayor of Charlotte, are vying for the governor's race in North Carolina. Voters will elect North Carolina's next governor on Nov. 4.
"The goal I have of providing health insurance for all kids who don't have health insurance I believe is a critical goal of the 21st century," Perdue said. "It will take us a while to get there."
She said that if kids aren't provided health insurance, we will pay for them when they make emergency room visits.
"We'll be much better off having a healthy and well kid going to school or coming to daycare so that they become healthy and well workers," Perdue said.
In addition to incentives for businesses to cover their employees with health insurance, McCrory supports offering child health care tax credits and tax credits for the uninsured.
He said that he would like to do away with a lot of the health insurance mandates now required by state law.
"It's making it unaffordable for young people," McCrory said. He said doing so would allow customers to pick from a menu of health care options.
McCrory's campaign says that the state's 47 private insurance mandates are estimated to cost increases in insurance premiums of about 41 percent.
"I'd rather them have some insurance than no insurance," McCrory said.
Perdue disagreed. She said that there are certain minimum requirements that health insurance plans should offer.
She said that she supports efforts to get the families of poor people insured as a means to getting parents to enroll their children in health insurance programs.
Perdue also supports attacking health care costs by promoting healthy lifestyles, such as reducing obesity.
Along that line, Perdue says that she is proud of her work chairing the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, particularly when it comes to smoking.
"Now you can't find a tobacco user while he's sitting on state property, or on school property or in a state vehicle," Perdue said. "We've outlawed it."
McCrory seeks to attack health care costs by curtailing non-economic damages, such as punitive damages, in malpractice lawsuits. Such efforts could lower costs by reducing the amount of "defensive medicine" practiced. His campaign says that lowering such legal damages could also result in lower health insurance premiums.
He also supports changes in the mental health system, including the establishment of citizen panels to review contracts. He opposes the closing of Dorothea Dix Hospital in Raleigh.
"The last thing we need to do is reduce the number or rooms," McCrory said.
Perdue supports extending the safety net for mental health patients and establishing mental health courts, with judges and other judicial officials who have extensive training in the subject.
Barry Smith can be reached at bsmith@link.freedom.com.
posted by Marsha V. Hammond, PhD at 12:59 AM
1 Comments:
"It just may have been one of the most bizarre negotiations in the history of mankind," an announcer says at the beginning of the piece, which starts off with music reminiscent of the television show "Seinfeld". It then goes into a dramatization of the state turning down revenue sharing with tribal gaming interests before declaring that, by receiving $650,000 in campaign contributions from tribal interests, Gregoire was "the biggest casino jackpot winner of all."
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Bobwilliams
pass-along
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