Dancing With the Other Side- The Strategy of Healthcare Reform.

President Obama has made the same strategic blunder that President Clinton made in 1993. Any health care reform proposed by a Democratic President is immediately attacked as "socialized medicine" or a "single payer system" by Republicans.

The current proposal, which is NOTHING like a single payer proposal, has nonetheless been effectively portrayed by Republicans as "socialized medicine" "government run health care" "single payer" or "the end of the world as we know it" complete with "death panels."

President Obama should have started this dance by initially proposing the single payer plan as currently seen in the House proposal sponsored by Anthony Weiner (D-NY). As a side note...this proposal will actually have an up or down vote on the House floor for the first time in history as soon as Congress returns to session.

If President Clinton or President Obama had started with true single payer as their initial proposal, then the effects of the political attacks would have been blunted. They could then have negotiated to a moderate compromise, i.e. a version of a public option proposal.

But President Clinton proposed moderate reform in a misguided hope for bipartisanship. His proposal was attacked successfully as "single payer", "socialized medicine" and thus failed.

President Obama has proposed moderate reform in a misguided hope for bipartisanship. It is being attacked successfully as "single payer", "socialized medicine" and thus is likely to fail.

Much better that no reform passes than some version of a watered down, ineffective reform. It will be years before any politician touches this third rail again due to the political costs . Hillary had her head handed to her politically in 1993 and, as a result, no politician has touched health care reform again until President Obama.

As soon as any type of reform bill is passed, the blame for the millions of problems which occur daily in our system will instantly be attached by the Republicans to the new reforms and to the Democrats. All the more reason to pass ONLY truly meaningful reform. When Medicare was passed by Democrats over the opposition of Republicans (led by Ronald Reagan lobbying at the time for the AMA), it became a massively successful program which benefitted millions of elderly Americans and thus became politically beneficial to a generation of Democrats. Truly meaningful reform passed now will have the same future benefit for non elderly Americans.

Without true reform, I believe that a catastrophic meltdown of the U.S. healthcare system is inevitable . Unless our system changes course, this meltdown will be brought about by the Wild West, unregulated investment practices of the unregulated healthcare industrial corporations in this country. A meltdown of this magnitude would make the recent financial crisis pale in comparison.

Must a crisis occur before any meaningful reforms can be passed?...Must politicians first have the political "cover" of a crisis to fix a system with serious flaws ? If we do not pass comprehensive reform NOW, millions of people will suffer needlessly and go bankrupt due to our failure to act.

A message to President Obama: Stop Dancing with the Other side!...Faux Democrats in the Senate such as Max Baucus (D-Mont) and "blue dog" Democrats in the House are not much different from Sarah Palin on this issue....Dancing with a partner like that will only lead to you both falling flat on your faces!

Please, Mr. President, return to the strength of your convictions! Lead the passage of true and meaningful healthcare reform NOW!

Peace and good thoughts,

tony

Health care and the Good Samaritan

The current debate regarding health care reform is highly partisan with strong emotion on both sides.

Our health care delivery system is flawed and inefficient. Physicians make choices based primarily on individual training rather than evidence based criteria.

Although much attention is paid to consensus guidelines, the vast majority of decisions made by individual physicians are due to idiosyncratic factors.

Physicians function within a health care delivery system that is driven by the demands of payers. These demands lead to flawed business decisions by the corporate managers running insurance companies, hospitals, medical device and pharmaceutical companies.

American ideas about health care are individualistic, impatient, with little incentive to utilize resources appropriately. We deny and procrastinate and we engage in dangerous behaviors and unhealthy lifestyles. If our health outcomes are not as we expect, we often use the legal system to seek compensation.

A key to healing is the strength of the therapeutic relationship. Belief is a powerful healing force. Our health care system does not encourage or facilitate healing relationships between physician and patient.

Health care systems, in the final analysis, are made up of people....people with strengths and talents as well as human flaws of arrogance, greed, and a desire for power, attention and control. True health reform should empower and nurture our healing qualities of love and forgiveness.

The parable of the Good Samaritan has much to say about spiritual obligations in health care. Jesus used the example of the despised Samaritan to drive home the message....namely, that we find spiritual life in the extent of our caring for those people who are not like us.

The Samaritan takes the injured man to a healer. He then pays for the cost of the care and returns later to check on his progress.

Good Samaritan=Good Insurance plan.

The ethical principle of beneficence combined with a spiritual journey of sacrifice has been the basis of transformative healing from Albert Schweitzer to Mother Teresa to Doctors Without Borders to free clinics in Appalachia.

In providing agape care for another human being, one finds an inner place of healing and spirit...the heart, the soul, the Source.
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It is no surprise that there are many hospitals named after the Good Samaritan. This ancient parable is the best kind of "strategic plan" for healing our wounded collective selves while also improving the healthcare system.

As we engage in this often bitter national discussion about health care reform, let's try to remember that our own soul is dependent on the privilege of caring for another person. Maybe we can truly find an answer if we treat our neighbor as lovingly as the Good Samaritan treated his neighbor so many years ago. Keeping this example of spiritual service in our minds and in the midst of our decisions will positively influence the outcome of this great national debate.

Peace and love
tony