Health Care Reform Articles - October 8, 2012

Post election deficit deal threatens Medicare and Social Security

By: Kay Tillow Saturday October 6, 2012 2:46 pm The solution is Improved Medicare for All After the November election, there will be a major effort in Congress to pass a budget deal that will make cuts in Social Security, raise the Medicare and Social Security eligibility age, and perhaps more–unless we act to stop it with a solution that is close at hand.  http://my.firedoglake.com/kaytillow/2012/10/06/post-election-deficit-deal-threatens-medicare-and-social-security/ How to Die By BILL KELLER ONE morning last month, Anthony Gilbey awakened from anesthesia in a hospital in the east of England. At his bedside were his daughter and an attending physician. The surgery had been unsuccessful, the doctor informed him. There was nothing more that could be done. “So I’m dying?” the patient asked. The doctor hesitated. “Yes,” he said. “You’re dying, Dad,” his daughter affirmed. “So,” the patient mused, “no more whoop-de-doo.” “On the other side, there’ll be loads,” his daughter — my wife — promised. The patient laughed. “Yes,” he said. He was dead six days later, a few months shy of his 80th birthday. When they told my father-in-law the hospital had done all it could, that was not, in the strictest sense, true. There was nothing the doctors could do about the large, inoperable tumor colonizing his insides. But they could have maintained his failing kidneys by putting him on dialysis. They could have continued pumping insulin to control his diabetes. He wore a pacemaker that kept his heart beating regardless of what else was happening to him, so with aggressive treatment they could — and many hospitals would — have sustained a kind of life for a while. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/opinion/keller-how-to-die.html?ref=global-home&pagewanted=print Healthcare remains a stumbling block for Romney The Republican is well-versed in the issue after passing his landmark law in Massachusetts, but explaining his position has been an ordeal for him. By Mitchell Landsberg, Los Angeles Times 5:26 PM PDT, October 6, 2012 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-romney-healthcare-20121007,0,4999240,print.story Report Examines Money's Influence in Maine Health Insurance Overhaul 10/02/2012   Reported By: Tom Porter A new report aims to show how contributions from corporate interests helped pave the way for the enactment last year of a controversial health insurance law. LD 1333 was enacted in May 2011 and was regarded as a major victory for Maine's Republicans, who had assumed control of the Legislature the previous November. According to a "Money in Politics" study released by Maine Citizens for Clean Elections, in the 10 years preceeding the law's enactment, "those with powerful financial interests" in the health insurance and health care industries spent more than $1 million on campaign contributions to candidates and political action committees. http://www.mpbn.net/Home/tabid/36/ctl/ViewItem/mid/3478/ItemId/24020/Default.aspx