On health care, not just coverage:
But reform isn’t just about
coverage. It’s essential to bring down the cost of healthcare. That’s
why a second major element of our reform is cost reduction.
go after fraud and abuse, cut red tape, and make sure that doctors and
patients know of the latest, most effective therapies for their
conditions. As experience has shown, it’s better – and cheaper – to get
it right the first time rather than have patients go in and out of the
hospital. So we’ll start paying for the overall quality of care, not
the quantity of procedures. We’ll make certain that doctors and
patients will have better information so they can decide which
treatment is best based on real evidence.
Runaway
healthcare costs threaten the economic survival of this nation.
Bringing them under control will not be easy, and all of us – business,
labor, providers, and government – will have to make real sacrifices if
this is to work.
I’ve been yelling about this since the election: It is completely pointless to give everybody health insurance if, even WITH that insurance, it still costs thousands of dollars to get your shit fixed. If you work part-time and have no sick days, if you work hourly for minimum wage and get the minimum, you’re still fucked when they need to take out your kidney. If your insurance pays half or even two-thirds or even 90 percent of what you need done but the other 10 percent is $10,000, I don’t know about you but right now that would break me and I’d be maxing out the Mastercard.
Also, and this is just me? Even if we make everything free, even if we make the best doctors on the PLANET pay YOU to come see them, if we don’t make it quick and easy to get appointments and get to them and get out again, it’s still going to be a pain in the ass to get antibiotics for your bronchitis and easier for you just to ignore it for six weeks until you’re coughing up blood and in the ER.
Fourth, we’ll make it possible for
the elderly and disabled to live at home and function independently.
Our bill will help them afford to put ramps in their homes, pay someone
to check in on them regularly, or any of an array of supports that will
enable them to stay in their communities instead of in nursing homes.
Finally,
we will take strong steps to see that America has a 21st-century
workforce for a modern and responsive healthcare system. We must invest
in training the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals who
will serve the needs of patients in the years to come. And we must make
sure that an emphasis on primary care and basic prevention is at the
heart of our efforts.
BRING BACK HOUSE CALLS.
A.