Much has been said and written about the Democratic candidates’ health-care proposals [front page, Feb. 27]. I question Sen. Barack Obama’s definition of the word “universal.”

Central to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s message is universal health care — meaning that everyone would be covered. Mr. Obama’s plan does not include everyone.

It was a bold move in the 1930s to implement the Social Security Act, and it was a bold move to implement the law establishing Medicare in the 1960s. It will take a courageous president to implement a health care program that truly covers everyone.

for full story, copy and paste this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022903852.html

an excellent post recently appeared in the HealthBeat Blog–

http://www.healthbeatblog.org/

The author concludes that the high cost of medicine is greatly enhanced by the fact that consumers who spend their own money and make their own healthcare decisions are the ones who end up costing the system much more in the long run.

By 2017, consumers and taxpayers will spend more than $4 trillion on health care, accounting for one of every $5 spent, the federal government projects.

The 6.7 percent annual increase in spending — nearly three times the rate of inflation — will be largely driven by higher prices and an increased demand for care, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said Monday. But other factors in the mix include a growing and aging population. The first wave of baby boomers become eligible for Medicare beginning in 2011.

With the aging population, the federal government will be picking up the tab for a growing share of the nation’s medical expenses. Overall, federal and state governments accounted for about 46 percent of health expenditures in 2006. That percentage will increase to 49 percent over the next decade.

copy and paste this link for the full article:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5569497.html

On a brilliantly sunny February morning, Valarie McQueen and Nancy Cancel are walking down some of Hallandale Beach’s meanest streets. McQueen knocks on the door of an apartment. The building’s windows are boarded. There’s litter on the ground.

“We’re from Memorial Healthcare System,” McQueen tells the woman opening the door. “Do you have health coverage?” She says yes but that some of her family members do not. McQueen tells her about the hospital’s mobile health bus parked around the corner with doctors, nurses and a pharmacy on board, then gives the woman a phone number to call for more information.

copy and paste this link for full article:
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/business/content/business/epaper/2008/02/24/a1f_uninsured_0224.html

The defining difference between the Democratic presidential candidates on the top domestic issue in their recent debate and throughout the campaign has been their contrasting views on a seemingly simple question: Should the government require all Americans to have health insurance?

for full article, copy and paste this link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/23/AR2008022302026.html

Dr. Jose Magana feels powerless.

The nation’s health-care system is controlled by insurance companies and pharmaceutical giants, not the doctors caring for patients, the internal medicine specialist told Democratic congressional candidate Bill Foster and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin Thursday. He wondered aloud how it could be reformed in the best interests of patients.

“Society in general needs to step up,” Magana said during a roundtable discussion among doctors and the two candidates at Dreyer Medical Clinic in Aurora.

Foster, who earned Durbin’s endorsement, supports a public-private hybrid health-care system and said federal lawmakers should examine the results from single-payer universal health-care systems like the one Massachusetts implemented in 2006

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=139740&src=2

A Southern California woman who had her medical coverage canceled as she was undergoing treatment for breast cancer was awarded more than $9 million Friday in a case against one of California’s largest health insurers.

Patsy Bates, 52, a hairdresser from Lakewood (Los Angeles County), had been left with more than $129,000 in unpaid medical bills when Health Net Inc. canceled her policy in 2004. The insurer contended Bates failed to disclose a heart condition and lied about her weight when she applied for the policy in July 2003.

But arbitration judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to pay her medical bills, plus $8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress.

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/23/BU7NV7CSI.DTL

Uninsured U.S. residents and Medicaid beneficiaries are more likely than people with private health insurance to be diagnosed with cancer in late stages, which reduces their chances for survival, according to a recent study by the American Cancer Society, the New York Times reports. The study was published online on Monday on The Lancet Oncology’s Web site. For the study, researchers examined data from the National Cancer Database on 3.7 million people who were diagnosed with 12 types of cancer from 1998 to 2004.

The study found that among cancers that could be detected early through standard screening or assessment of symptoms — such as breast cancer, lung cancer, colon cancer and melanoma — uninsured patients were two to three times more likely than those with private coverage to be diagnosed in Stage III or Stage IV rather than Stage I. Smaller disparities were found in the diagnosis of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and cancers of the bladder, kidney, prostate, thyroid, uterus, ovary and pancreas.

The study’s authors determined that “individuals without private insurance are not receiving optimum care in terms of cancer screening or timely diagnosis and follow-up with health care providers” and that advanced-stage diagnosis “leads to increased morbidity, decreased quality of life and survival and, often, increased costs.”

for more of the story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=50475

The skyrocketing costs of the nation’s failing health care system are hitting employers hard and that means higher costs for all of us.
A look at some of the stories submitted to the AFL-CIO/Working America 2008 Health Care for America Survey shows just how difficult America’s workers are finding it to make sure they and their families have health care coverage. (Click here to fill out the survey and tell your health care story. You can also vote on the stories you think make the most impact.)

Joel, a UAW member from Michigan, tells an all-too-typical story about his health care costs.

“I have had the same insurance for the past two years,” he wrote. “Each year they have offered me a choice, 15–20 percent higher premiums or doubling my deductible. And you guessed it: no better coverage.”

for full story, copy and paste this link:
http://www.workdayminnesota.org/index.php?news_6_3505

“Isn’t universal health care the same as socialized medicine?” As a long-time professional in health services and policy analysis, I would say the answer is an emphatic no.

A universal health care system does not have to be socialist. The United States currently has a mixed politico-economic health care system, with government and nongovernment sectors working together. There is no reason to assume a universal system would be different.

copy and paste this link for full story:
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=399273&Category=7&subCategoryID=