Opinion
A DFL Row Over Single-Payer? It Could Happen!
Lori Sturdevant
Star Tribune
July 10, 2010
Just when I was about to pronounce this year's DFL gubernatorial primary campaign a pale, issueless comedown from the party's policy brawls of yore, my phone rang. The caller was Jeremy Drucker, spokesman for Matt Entenza's campaign. He'd noted my posted observation from a Duluth forum about how Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Yvonne Prettner Solon (Mark Dayton's running mate) echoed each other in support of moving Minnesota toward a single-payer health care system...
...Single-payer health care could produce an argument worthy of a DFL primary fight, thought I, and about something that matters, to boot. Health care amounts to about 9 percent of the total state economy -- more if the medical-device and insurance industries are thrown in...
... But unlike those rows of yesteryear, this one is about something central to government and critical to the state's future. So keep talking, candidates, while I put these bugs in voters' ears: It's not possible to fix the state budget without fixing health care. Unless exploding health care costs are checked, they'll eat away at the capacity of state government to do anything else in years not far ahead.
Single-Payer System is sustainable, Responsible
Letter to Editor
Star Tribune
June 23, 2010
by Amy Lange
Executive Director
Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition
It's heartening to see single-payer health care being debated by gubernatorial candidates. Our next governor will have the opportunity to enact the Minnesota Health Plan, a sustainable and fiscally responsible solution to our health care mess. The spiraling cost of health care is a huge contributor to the state's current budget crisis. This is precisely the reason we must enact a single-payer system like the Minnesota Health Plan.
Our current system is unsustainable. Tweaks, mandates and corporate insurance bailouts will no longer work. The Minnesota Health Plan would save money, lowering the per-person cost of health care and giving working families and small businesses relief from the crushing burden of health care costs. And by focusing on prevention and primary care, the plan would keep people healthier and more productive.
Build Foundation for Health Care on Medicare:
By Johnathon Ross M.D
Cleveland Plain Dealer
May 30 2010
Mrs. Brown (not her real name) was recently in to check on her blood pressure. She knows I've worked decades for a national health plan that would benefit individuals and businesses alike.
"So what do you think of the reform bill, Doc?" she asked, hoping I'd be pleased.
I replied with a question of my own: "Would you add a third floor to a house that has a crumbling foundation?" Because that is what Congress just did. The crumbling foundation is our private, for-profit, insurance-based system of financing health care...
The Gaming Begins
Editorial New York Times
May 23, 2010
Few Americans know what a "medical loss ratio" is, but a fierce struggle over how to calculate it under the new health care reform law will determine how much insurers must spend on patient care and how much they can retain for administration and profits. This is but one of many battles that will emerge as federal and state regulators develop regulations to implement reform....Regulators will have to find an approach that prevents insurers from gaming the system... Read in full
Health Care Law Good, Minnesota Can Do Better
By Buddy Robinson
Published in Duluth News Tribune
April 4, 2010
The historic health-care bill is now law, enacting important advances...However, the patchwork law does not resolve the health-care crisis and the forces that aggravate it...
The Citizens Federation and our allies' efforts are focused on Minnesota and, at an even more grass-roots level, Minnesota's counties. Our policy solution is a state-level, universal, affordable, comprehensive, fairly funded system: the Minnesota Health Plan...
That Reform Sure Doesn't Go Very Far
Perhaps Minnesota can take the lead by embracing truly universal care!
By, Nick Coleman
Star Tribune
March 28, 2010
... Passage of the national measure, as limited as it may be, gives us a glimmer of an idea of what real reform might one day look like. And one promising part of that picture might emerge in Minnesota, where the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition (www.muhcc.org), an alliance of physicians, unions and reformers, is pushing for a single-payer system...
... Minnesota used to be proud to lead the nation. Maybe it should take the lead again...
Bust the Health Care Trusts
By Robert Reich
New York Times
February 23, 2010
...Rates are soaring all over the country. Insurers have been seeking to raise premiums 24 percent in Connecticut, 23 percent in Maine, 20 percent in Oregon and a wallet-popping 56 percent in Michigan. How can insurers raise prices as much as they want without fear of losing customers? Astonishingly, the health insurance industry is exempt from federal antitrust laws, which is why a handful of insurers have become so dominant in their markets that their customers simply have nowhere else to go. But that protection could soon end... Read full article
Note: On February 24th the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to eliminate the insurance industry's antitrust exemption.
Kristof: I Cost More, But I'm a Specialist
What is our news industry were like our health care system?
Nocholas Kristof
New York Times
February 20,2010
Senator John Marty- Open Letter to President Obama
An open letter in response to President Obama's State of the Union
request for a better approach to health care reform
by, Senator John Marty
January 29, 2010
"If anyone...has a better approach that will bring down premiums, bring
down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen Medicare for seniors,
and stop insurance company abuses, let me know."
-- State of the Union, January 27, 2010
Dear President Obama,
During your State of the Union address, you explained why you are
fighting for health care reform, expressed frustration at the lack of
success, and invited others to suggest a better approach.
I'm taking you up on that invitation and offer a bold suggestion:
Take a look at our Minnesota Health Plan -- a proposal that covers
everyone, saves money, and creates a logical health care system to
replace the dysfunctional non-system which currently exists. It is a
proposal that would provide health care to everyone, not merely health
insurance for many.
Commentary from Dave Durenberger
National Institue of Health Policy
Published Online December 22, 2009
While We Watch Bowl Games
The health reform conference committee will be a photo op with various committee chairs who helped write the bills. But the actual work will be done by Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and a couple folks from the White House in the Speaker's House office. I want to believe it will be reported out by January 12, 2010, the day the House is scheduled to return to session. The House will undoubtedly require the Senate to vote first this time to make sure the 60 votes are still there before the Speaker submits it to a very angry Democratic caucus for passage...