Walt's Vets News
Several articles and some facts.
Lest We Forget: Currently there are (at least) 5,519 Veterans of Modern Warfare who no longer will be "asking" our government for another dime . . . Iraq 4,335; Afghanistan 802, and; Kuwait 382.
Eight Health Care Falsehoods: Not Just For Veterans
With thanks to Newsweek's Brooks Jackson, Viveca Novak, Lori Robertson and Jess Henig, and the President we can debunk the following eight health care falsehoods.
01 - Government Will Decide What Care I Get (a.k.a. they won't give grandma a hip replacement): FALSE
This untrue claim has its roots in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the stimulus bill), which called for the creation of a Federal Coordinating Council for Comparative Effectiveness Research. The council is charged with supporting and coordinating research that the government has been funding for years into which treatments work best, and in some cases, are most cost-effective. Supporters of this type of research say it can provide valuable information to doctors, improving care and also lowering cost. Betsy McCaughey, a former Republican lieutenant governor of New York (and now a professing Democrat), wrote in an opinion piece that the government would actually tell doctors what procedures they could and couldn't perform. The claim took off from there, popping up in chain e-mails and Republican press conferences. It's not true. The legislation specifically says that the council can't issue requirements or guidelines on treatment or insurance benefits:
02 - The Bill Is Paid For: FALSE
At least, it isn't paid for yet. President Obama has repeatedly said that a health care overhaul "will be paid for" and that he won't sign a bill that isn't deficit-neutral. But neither the House bill nor the Senate HELP Committee bill meets that criteria. So the big questions remain. Will the president break his promise and sign a bill that piles up hundreds of billions of additional debt? Will the legislation have to be scaled back to cost less, and perhaps cover fewer of the uninsured? Who will pay additional taxes? Can pain-free reductions in other government programs be found? "
03 - Private Insurance Will Be Illegal: FALSE
Investor's Business Daily published an editorial in which it claimed that H.R. 3200 would make private insurance illegal. But IBD was mistaken. It was citing the part of the bill that ensures people with individually purchased coverage don't have to give up that coverage unless they want to. Under the House bill, people who want to buy new individual, nongroup coverage will have to purchase it through a new health insurance exchange. They can still buy private insurance - the exchange, in fact, would offer a range of private plans, in addition to a new federal health insurance option. However, those who were already buying their own insurance before the bill went into effect about 14 million Americans will have their plans grandfathered in.
04 - The House Bill Requires Suicide Counseling: FALSE
This claim is nonsense. In an appearance on former Sen. Fred Thompson's radio show, Betsy McCaughey, a former Republican lieutenant governor of New York (and now a professing Democrat) also enthusiastically pushed the bogus claim that the House bill will require seniors to have regular counseling sessions on how to end their lives. This is a misrepresentation. What the bill actually provides for is voluntary Medicare-funded end-of-life counseling. In other words, if seniors choose to make advance decisions about the type of care and treatments they wish to receive at the end of their lives, Medicare will pay for them to sit down with their doctor and discuss their preferences. There is no requirement to attend regular sessions, and there is absolutely no provision encouraging euthanasia.
05 - Families Will Save $2,500: FALSE
As recently as May 13, the president said legislation plus some voluntary measures by the private sector "could save families $2,500 in the coming years - $2,500 per family," echoing a claim he made countless times on the campaign trail last year. Don't start spending that $2,500 just yet. For one thing, Obama isn't actually promising to reduce health care spending below current levels, only to cut the rate of growth in spending. And even that is proving to be far tougher to accomplish than Obama led voters to believe.
06 - Medicare Benefits Will Be Slashed: FALSE
The claim that Obama and Congress are cutting seniors' Medicare benefits to pay for the health care overhaul is outright false, though that doesn't keep it from being repeated ad infinitum. AARP says: None of the health care reform proposals being considered by Congress would cut Medicare benefits or increase your out-of-pocket costs for Medicare services.
07 - Illegal Immigrants Will Be Covered: FALSE
One Republican congressman issued a press release claiming that "5,600,000 Illegal Aliens May Be Covered Under Obamacare." This is not true. In fact, the House bill (the only bill to be formally introduced in its entirety) specifically says that no federal money would be spent on giving illegal immigrants health coverage. Also, under current law, those in the country illegal don't qualify for federal health programs.
08 - Health Care Reform Will Change VA Benefits: FALSE
From President Obama's speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Phoenix on 08/17: "And since there's been so much misinformation out there about health insurance reform, let me say this. One thing that reform won't change is veterans health care. No one is going to take away your benefits. That's the truth."
Our Health Care 37th In The World: Not Just For Veterans
I'll now take a look at what I consider to be the worse FACT concerning our health care.
The List - Partial
The World Health Organization's ranking of the world's health systems:
1 - France
2 - Italy
3 - San Marino
4 - Andorra
5 - Malta
6 - Singapore
7 - Spain
8 - Oman
9 - Austria
10 - Japan
11 - Norway
12 - Portugal
13 - Monaco
14 - Greece
15 - Iceland
16 - Luxembourg
17 - Netherlands
18 - United Kingdom
19 - Ireland
20 - Switzerland
21 - Belgium
22 - Colombia
23 - Sweden
24 - Cyprus
25 - Germany
26 - Saudi Arabia
27 - United Arab Emirates
28 - Israel
29 - Morocco
30 - Canada
31 - Finland
32 - Australia
33 - Chile
34 - Denmark
35 - Dominica
36 - Costa Rica
37 - United States of America
38 - Slovenia
39 - Cuba
More About the US, 37th In The List
Performance - Overall Health System: 37th
Performance - On Level of Health: 72nd
Health Expenditure Per Capita in International Dollars: 1st
Responsiveness - Level: 1st
Responsiveness - Distribution: 3rd - 38th
Fairness in Financial Contribution: 54th - 55th
About The Criteria
Responsiveness: The nations with the most responsive health systems are the United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway, Netherlands and Sweden. The reason these are all advanced industrial nations is that a number of the elements of responsiveness depend strongly on the availability of resources.
Fairness of Financial Contribution: When WHO measured the fairness of financial contribution to health systems, countries lined up differently. The measurement is based on the fraction of a household's capacity to spend (income minus food expenditure) that goes on health care (including tax payments, social insurance, private insurance and out of pocket payments). Colombia was the top-rated country in this category, followed by Luxembourg, Belgium, Djibouti, Denmark, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Japan and Finland. Colombia achieved top rank because someone with a low income might pay the equivalent of one dollar per year for health care, while a high- income individual pays 7.6 dollars. In North America, Canada rates as the country with the fairest mechanism for health system finance, ranked at 17-19, while the United States is at 54-55.
Overall Level of Health: A good health system, above all, contributes to good health. To assess overall population health and thus to judge how well the objective of good health is being achieved, WHO has chosen to use the measure of disability- adjusted life expectancy (DALE). This has the advantage of being directly comparable to life expectancy and is readily compared across populations. The report provides estimates for all countries of disability- adjusted life expectancy. DALE is estimated to equal or exceed 70 years in 24 countries, and 60 years in over half the Member States of WHO. At the other extreme are 32 countries where disability- adjusted life expectancy is estimated to be less than 40 years. Many of these are countries characterised by major epidemics of HIV/AIDS, among other causes.
Distribution of Health in the Populations: It is not sufficient to protect or improve the average health of the population, if - at the same time - inequality worsens or remains high because the gain accrues disproportionately to those already enjoying better health. The health system also has the responsibility to try to reduce inequalities by prioritizing actions to improve the health of the worse-off, wherever these inequalities are caused by conditions amenable to intervention. The objective of good health is really twofold: the best attainable average level " goodness" and the smallest feasible differences among individuals and groups " fairness". A gain in either one of these, with no change in the other, constitutes an improvement.
Responsiveness: Responsiveness includes two major components. These are (a) respect for persons (including dignity, confidentiality and autonomy of individuals and families to decide about their own health); and (b) client orientation (including prompt attention, access to social support networks during care, quality of basic amenities and choice of provider).
Distribution of Financing: There are good and bad ways to raise the resources for a health system, but they are more or less good primarily as they affect how fairly the financial burden is shared. Fair financing, as the name suggests, is only concerned with distribution. It is not related to the total resource bill, nor to how the funds are used. The objectives of the health system do not include any particular level of total spending, either absolutely or relative to income. This is because, at all levels of spending there are other possible uses for the resources devoted to health. The level of funding to allocate to the health system is a social choice, with no correct answer. Nonetheless, the report suggests that countries spending less than around 60 dollars per person per year on health find that their populations are unable to access health services from an adequately performing health system.
The List
1 France, 2 Italy, 3 San Marino, 4 Andorra, 5 Malta, 6 Singapore, 7 Spain, 8 Oman, 9 Austria, 10 Japan, 11 Norway, 12 Portugal, 13 Monaco, 14 Greece, 15 Iceland, 16 Luxembourg, 17 Netherlands, 18 United Kingdom, 19 Ireland, 20 Switzerland, 21 Belgium, 22 Colombia, 23 Sweden, 24 Cyprus, 25 Germany, 26 Saudi Arabia, 27 United Arab Emirates, 28 Israel, 29 Morocco, 30 Canada, 31 Finland, 32 Australia, 33 Chile, 34 Denmark, 35 Dominica, 36 Costa Rica, 37 United States of America, 38 Slovenia, 39 Cuba, 40 Brunei, 41 New Zealand, 42 Bahrain, 43 Croatia, 44 Qatar, 45 Kuwait, 46 Barbados, 47 Thailand, 48 Czech Republic, 49 Malaysia, 50 Poland, 51 Dominican Republic, 52 Tunisia, 53 Jamaica, 54 Venezuela, 55 Albania, 56 Seychelles, 57 Paraguay, 58 South Korea, 59 Senegal, 60 Philippines, 61 Mexico, 62 Slovakia, 63 Egypt, 64 Kazakhstan, 65 Uruguay, 66 Hungary, 67 Trinidad and Tobago, 68 Saint Lucia, 69 Belize, 70 Turkey, 71 Nicaragua, 72 Belarus, 73 Lithuania, 74 Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, 75 Argentina, 76 Sri Lanka, 77 Estonia, 78 Guatemala, 79 Ukraine, 80 Solomon Islands, 81 Algeria, 82 Palau, 83 Jordan, 84 Mauritius, 85 Grenada, 86 Antigua and Barbuda, 87 Libya, 88 Bangladesh, 89 Macedonia, 90 Bosnia-Herzegovina, 91 Lebanon, 92 Indonesia, 93 Iran, 94 Bahamas, 95 Panama, 96 Fiji, 97 Benin, 98 Nauru, 99 Romania, 100 Saint Kitts and Nevis, 101 Moldova, 102 Bulgaria, 103 Iraq, 104 Armenia, 105 Latvia, 106 Yugoslavia, 107 Cook Islands, 108 Syria, 109 Azerbaijan, 110 Suriname, 111 Ecuador, 112 India, 113 Cape Verde, 114 Georgia, 115 El Salvador, 116 Tonga, 117 Uzbekistan, 118 Comoros, 119 Samoa, 120 Yemen, 121 Niue, 122 Pakistan, 123 Micronesia, 124 Bhutan, 125 Brazil, 126 Bolivia, 127 Vanuatu, 128 Guyana, 129 Peru, 130 Russia, 131 Honduras, 132 Burkina Faso, 133 Sao Tome and Principe, 134 Sudan, 135 Ghana, 136 Tuvalu, 137 Ivory Coast, 138 Haiti, 139 Gabon, 140 Kenya, 141 Marshall Islands, 142 Kiribati, 143 Burundi, 144 China, 145 Mongolia, 146 Gambia, 147 Maldives, 148 Papua New Guinea, 149 Uganda, 150 Nepal, 151 Kyrgystan, 152 Togo, 153 Turkmenistan, 154 Tajikistan, 155 Zimbabwe, 156 Tanzania, 157 Djibouti, 158 Eritrea, 159 Madagascar, 160 Vietnam, 161 Guinea, 162 Mauritania, 163 Mali, 164 Cameroon, 165 Laos, 166 Congo, 167 North Korea, 168 Namibia, 169 Botswana, 170 Niger, 171 Equatorial Guinea, 172 Rwanda, 173 Afghanistan, 174 Cambodia, 175 South Africa, 176 Guinea-Bissau, 177 Swaziland, 178 Chad, 179 Somalia, 180 Ethiopia, 181 Angola, 182 Zambia, 183 Lesotho, 184 Mozambique, 185 Malawi, 186 Liberia, 187 Nigeria, 188 Democratic Republic of the Congo, 189 Central African Republic, 190 Myanmar
Till next month be well... and remember, "Let No Veteran Ever Stand Alone!"
--- --- Walt Schmidt Veteran Services Officer
- - --- TOBay's Veteran Services Division
- - - - "Let No Veteran Ever Stand Alone!"
--- --- WorkDayTime: 516.797.7875 & 24/7 Voice Mail
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- - - - Website: http://www.waltsdorsai.net/
Ken Sun - Weekly Column: http://experts.longisland.com/
"To know yet to think that one does not know is best;
Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty."
- Lao-Tzu 71:1
