Link to C-Span video of hearing on singlepayer today

[JDPriestly]

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/Media/2009/06/10/HP/R/19615/Single+Payer+Plan+Meets+Resistance+on+Capitol+Hill.aspx

I strongly recommend this. Please watch it.

I have two comments. One speaker stated that the United States' results son heart and cancer treatments are better than in other countries. That is of course due to the fact that cancer and heart disease rates increase as we age -- and once we are 65, the demographic with the most cancer and heart disease -- we have Medicare (which is a government-run single payer system). I love my Medicare.

One doctor who is a member of Congress stated that older people can't get doctors because doctors don't accept Medicare. That is not true in my experience. When I was about to get on Medicare, I received a deluge of expensive brochures and ads from health care insurance companies trying to sell me their health care -- so that they could take a cut of my Medicare money. Doctors are on the private health care company rosters. Here in L.A. I don't think there is a shortage of doctors taking Medicare patients. That is because Medicare pays more quickly than other insurers.

I took the Kaiser option because I had Kaiser before. Kaiser is the closest thing to single payer that I could find. Even with Medicare I have to go to a provider and then get referrals for tests, etc.

[bananas]

1. Thanks, I'll watch it later. nt

[Cleita]

2. Why would you have to go to a provider to get referrals with Medicare? I don't have to unless

the doctors ask for it. I have seen specialists when I decided I wanted one without my primary referring me. My primary faxes my medical records to the specialist when I insist. They have been so brainwashed with the insurance system that they are amazed that they will be paid even with no referral. You signed off your Medicare to Kaiser, didn't you? They are probably okay but you won't be able to use them if you go to a state where there is no Kaiser. Traditional Medicare is what we want. We just want it to cover the holes in the system that the privatized industry attempts to plug, for a price, of course.Thanks for the link, btw.

[JDPriestly]

5. In L.A., the problem is a little different. There are so many specialists

that you really need someone to nudge you in a particular direction. In addition, at Kaiser, I get phone calls telling me when to get flu shots and making sure I have certain tests every year. They are really insistent about things like controlling weight, taking a bit of an aspirin every day, things like that. They are very well organized for preventive care and provide lots of general advice that is useful. I don't know how good they are if you are very sick because I have not experienced that. I had an accident on the job, and their worker's comp department was just amazingly good. In L.A., it is really easy to go to Kaiser and avoid having to sort through many, many doctors.

[Cleita]

6. Kaiser is okay. I had them until the day I had to leave LA but they aren't

portable. I don't know how they are if you really get sick. I would never turn my Medicare over to them. But I'm not going to criticize because when it comes to the Medicare advantage programs, they aren't the worst.

[slipslidingaway]

3. knr - missed the beginnig - good comment on the "government

run HC" over 65 and the heart and cancer treatments as we age.

[truedelphi]

4. There are places in the Country where doctors are not available to take new patients.

Marin County was one such place. So expensive to live there, thus fewer doctors available.

As older doctors retired, newer doctors did not come into that area to replace them.

[slipslidingaway]

7. kick nt