-Caveat Lector- ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date sent: Thu, 24 Jun 1999 11:09:59 -0700 To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Health Care: Big Issues Institute for Public Accuracy 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045 (202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________________________ Thursday, June 24, 1999 HEALTH CARE: BIG ISSUES Yesterday, for the first time, the American Medical Association voted to endorse unionization for doctors. Also, there is renewed discussion of a patients' bill of rights. The following analysts are available to discuss these and other health care policy issues: DIANE LARDIE, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.uhcan.org National coordinator for the Universal Health Care Action Network, Lardie said: "Ten years ago, patient protection wasn't even a part of our language. It's only in a for-profit market system that we have to legislate protections that used to be taken for granted... What unnerves me about some of these proposals for a patients' bill of rights is that they are lip service for folks who are already insured -- the proposals end up providing very little for very few. Still there are important issues. Health plans must be held accountable for the decisions that they make. If we can sue doctors for medical decisions, we should be able to sue health plans. That option is important because it's a deterrent against poor care. There should also be a public accounting of health plans -- a process that would tell people what percentage of the cost of a plan is really going to health care. To the extent that we're paying for high salaries for executives or slick magazines, we need to know. Some of these plans have a role for a consumer advocate or an ombudsman, and that's a positive step. On the other hand, body-part-by-body-part or procedure-by-procedure legislation is counterproductive. What we need is a quality health system built on trust." QUENTIN YOUNG, M.D., [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.pnhp.org National coordinator for Physicians for a National Health Program and past president of the American Public Health Association, Young said: "The patients' bill of rights proposals represent a scream of outrage by a public that doesn't know what hit them. The system in place in 1980 favored the doctor too much, but the patient also benefitted in many ways. That system's flaws fueled the Clinton plan, which was a 1,300-page monstrosity. The Clintons disregarded single payer because it wasn't �feasible' -- but how feasible was their plan? Since then, there's been an enormous amount of venture capital coming into health care, which is about maximizing profit. Having a patients' bill of rights that will allow people to sue their HMO and other reforms is good but will not solve the real problem. This system needs more than just tweaking. It needs to have universal national health insurance... The AMA backing unionizing is legitimate, but it should be coupled with a general effort to act on behalf of patients. The AMA has vast resources, and unfortunately it has used them to back reactionary policies, like blocking Medicare and universal health insurance." For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy: Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; David Zupan, (541) 484-9167 A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." Universal Declaration of Human Rights + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + "Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut." --- Ernest Hemingway + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
