One of the most widely accepted arguments against a government medical plan for the middle class is that it would quash competition—just what private insurers seem to be doing themselves in many parts of the U.S. Several studies show that in lots of places, one or two companies dominate the market. For Democrats, the answer is a public plan that would compete with private insurers. Republicans see that as a government power grab. President Barack Obama looks to be trapped in the middle of an argument that could sink his effort to overhaul the healthcare system.
The cost to care for undocumented immigrants is part of the reason why the Miami-Dade County's public hospital system is struggling with growing financial losses that border on the disastrous. Losses are expected to escalate to $168 million next year because of South Florida's unique problems—high numbers of uninsured and high healthcare costs that keep increasing the ranks of the uninsured. On the national level, the issue of undocumented immigrants has become politically explosive.
At least 1,200 veterans across the country have been mistakenly told by the Veterans Administration that they suffer from a fatal neurological disease. Denise Nichols, the vice president of the National Gulf War Resource Center, said the VA is blaming a coding error for the mistake. Letters dated Aug. 12 were intended to notify veterans who have Lou Gehrig's disease of disability benefits available to them.
The Republican Party issued a new salvo in the health debate with a seniors' healthcare "bill of rights" that opposes any moves to trim Medicare spending or limit end-of-life care to seniors. Intended as a political shot at President Barack Obama, the Republican National Committee manifesto marks a turnaround for a party that had once fought to trim the health program for the elderly and disabled, which last year cost taxpayers more than $330 billion.
Casa Olga Intermediate Care Facility in Palo Alto, CA, a 35-year-old center that provides care to psychiatric patients, began the difficult process recently of telling its 88 residents that it would have to shut down in three months because of the economic impact of state budget cuts. The private, for-profit center is in a relatively small category of facilities that provides inpatient intermediate care for people who cannot live independently but do not need the higher-level, continuous medical services provided by skilled nursing homes.
President Barack Obama has complained that health insurance companies are making record profits "at a time when everybody else is getting hammered." Health insurers are increasingly vilified in the healthcare debate. But is there any truth among the hyperbole? That depends on how you slice the numbers.