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Healthcare Reform
A Collection of Resources  for a Conservative Approach to Healthcare Reform

 

New Health Care Reform Website and Health Care Reform Update  (7-1-2010)

  • www.healthcare.gov - This website provides education about your healthcare options in your state, depending upon your specific healthcare needs.  July 1st,2010 was a big day for implementation of some of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Actýs most immediate provisions. The Department of Health and Human Services unveiled its new consumer Web portal, www.healthcare.gov, a number of states and the federal government began accepting applications for new programs to cover previously uninsured individuals with serious medical conditions, and a new tax on indoor tanning services went into effect.

Is Healthcare a Privilege or a Right?

  • Is Healthcare a Right? - This link leads you to a video of a speech made by Dr. Leonard Piekoff, philosopher and lecturer.  He discusses the concept of healthcare as a right as well as the moral implications of defining healthcare as a right.  This video was taken during the time of the Clinton Health Care Reform Proposals, however, the message and the circumstances are identical to the discussions about healthcare reform that we are in the midst of today.  It is a must see video that will clearly answer the question, "Is HealthCare a Right?"  The video is about 20 minutes long, and one really needs to watch the entire presentation to get a good understanding of the speaker's conclusions.
  • The Business of Healthcare

What's in The Bill? - The Politics of Health Care Reform

What Can be Done to Contain Healthcare Costs?


What are the Healthcare Systems Like in Other Countries?

Who are the Uninsured in America?

  • An Analysis of the Uninsured - This study, made by the Employment Policies Institute (EPI), provides an analysis of America's uninsured population, their characteristics and their health.  It is imperative for legislators to take into consideration this information prior to implementing reform.
  • Who are the uninsured? - Pie Chart
  • Uninsured in America - Video


Do Private Health Insurance Companies Take Excessive Profits?


Medical Bankruptcy

  • Medical Debt:  Is Our Healthcare System Bankrupting Americans? - This speech examines the findings of Himmelstein et al 2005 AND 2009 studies and concludes that these studies SEVERELY overstimate the number of medical bankruptcies and that "other factors, such as the financial benefit from a bankruptcy filing or other types of debt, such as large credit card debts, are more important predictors of bankruptcy filings".  The writer acknowledges: " I do not wish to underestimate the serious effects of medical problems on particular families. Rising health care costs are clearly an area of growing concern, and there is an urgent need to tackle the issue. At the same time, we should recognize that families are being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy for a multitude of reasons. While some recent reports, based on thinner evidence and less robust methods, would have us believe that rising health care costs are in fact the main factor responsible for household bankruptcies, I hope my testimony has provided a more substantial basis for concluding that this is not the case."

Healthcare and Consumerism

The Ranking of the US Healthcare System as Compared to Other Countries

  • The World Health Organization's (WHOs) Problematic Ranking of Healthcare Systems - This document dissects the WHOs rankings of healthcare systems around the world and how they were computed.  The document concludes: "The WHO rankings themselves have a strong ideological component. They include factors that are arguably unrelated to actual health performance and some that could even improve in response to worse health performance. Even setting those concerns aside, the rankings are still highly sensitive to both measurement error and assumptions about the relative importance of the components. And finally, the WHO rankings reflect implicit value judgments and lifestyle references that differ among individuals and across countries. The WHO health care ranking system does not escape ideology. On the contrary, it advances ideological assumptions under the guise of objectivity.  Those interested in objective measures of health system performance should look elsewhere."
  • Commonwealth Ranking - Are We Really 19th out of 19? (By Linda Gorman)

The History of Health Insurance in the USA

  • Moral vs. Universal Healthcare - This document describes the history of the USA Healthcare system, it's evolution, and the writer's opinions about how attempts to add regulation to our healthcare system have contributed to its failures.
  • The History of Health Insurance and Healthcare Costs in the USA - This is a lengthy article written by Linda Gorman, healthcare policy center director for the Independence Insitute.  Linda goes into great detail about the history of the healthcare system in the USA and its evolution.  She concludes the document by describing how consumer-driven healthcare could resolve some of the problems within our existing healthcare system.

Medicare

Proponents of Responsible Healthcare Reform

Canadian Healthcare - The Unintended Consequences of Single-Payer Health Care


Why Don't Conservatives Want to Have a Public Option?


Is Public Health Insurance Administratively More Efficient than Private Health Insurance?

Quality of USA Healthcare System as Compared to Other Countries

Mandatory Health Insurance - Implications

  • Mandatory Insurance:  Wrong for Massachusettes and Wrong for America - This document explains how mandatory insurance results in higher costs due to the necessity for the government to define an "acceptable insurance plan" and the power of special interest groups to manipulate their "pet coverages" into any minimum level of coverage that the government defines as "acceptable". 


Informational Websites

The Pricing of US Hospital Services:  Chaos Behind a Veil of Secrecy

The Pricing of Hospital Services - Powerpoint Presentation

The Free Market is Not Another Form of Rationing! - This document describes the author's opinion as he explains why proponents of "universal healthcare" are not morally superior to those who are proponents of free market healthcare.

We Stand Firm Blog - This is a blog that is written and updated daily by a Colorado physician.

AAPS - Healthcare Reform Mythbusters

Stumbling on Truth - Health Care Mythology - This comical documents depicts the writer's opinions about common arguments in favor of universalized healthcare.

The Surgery Center of Oklahoma has solved the problem of excessive healthcare inflation by eliminating third party payors from contracting with the facility.  Consumerism and competition for healthcare keep the cost of healthcare at this facility in check.  In fact, the Surgery Center of Oklahoma PUBLISHES its surgery rates right online.  Watch Dr. Keith Smith's video appearance as he speaks about how the elimination of third party payers has resulted in lower healthcare costs in his facility as well as surrounding facilities in his area.  The success of this facility makes a strong case for high deductible, indemnity-style (no-network) health insurance, with emphasis on coverage only for catastrophic costs.

Canadian Company begins REAL USA Healthcare Reform - Mr. Rick Baker of Timely Medical Alternatives, a Canadian based company that assists Canadians who are on waiting lists for healthcare to receive timely medical care, has opened North American Surgery to help Americans locate affordable healthcare alternatives.   Visit "Affordable Surgery in the USA" for more affordable healthcare alternatives.

UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform and Modernization

Arizona Mayo Clinic to Stop Treating Some Medicare Patients - This is a prime example of how Public Health Insurance eventually leads to rationing and reduction in overall quality of healthcare.

 


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