Video: Extreme Challenges – Health Care

soundoff (115 Responses)

1. Emma
   

   For those of us not living in the USA when can we see the entire video.
   I am sorry I live in Europe and at 4AM I am still deeply asleep.
   Thanks.

   August 24, 2009 at 4:50 am |
2. Jean-Michel
   

   If every American who currently has health insurance paid the amount of their policy to the Federal government in a medicare-esque program, would that generate enough revenue to provide health insurance to every America in the US? How much revenue (collectively) does the health insurance industry generate per year? How much would it cost to insure every American?

   August 23, 2009 at 8:56 pm |
3. rj
   

   When you do not care for the welfare of Americans, why do you care for Iraq, Afaganistan and Pakistan?. Get it back your army from there and save money for Americans. Use your money wisely.

   American school education level is dropping. Spend more money on education. Give Americans good education so that they can get good jobs and thereby they can get good healthcare.

   Time has come to worry for ourselves. Follow what the rest of world like what Russia, China, India, Japan and so many do. Stop policing!! and build diplomatic relations.

   August 23, 2009 at 8:33 pm |
4. Rosalind Evans
   

   Excellent, informative discussion. Thank you.

   I was advised through my state retirement system that before I dropped my 91 year old mother's Medicare Replacement policy (she receives this coverage as my deceased father's beneficiary) and enroll her simply in Medicare, that I should purchase a supplemental policy to enhance Medicare's coverage. I have been very well satisfied with her Medicare Replacement policy and thought about changing only as a cost saving measure as nursing home bills, Medicare (withheld from her Social Security) the Replacement policy, and medication bills are quite costly. Evidently, Medicare does not cover what private policies cover therefore the need for supplemental coverage. Does everyone on Medicare purchase supplemental insurance? Will health care reform improve Medicare coverage? Will people of retirement age be allowed to keep their private coverage or forced to enter the public plan? Will employers be permitted to force workers and or retirees into the public plan? What will prevent cash strapped state governments from doing the same? Who makes these decisions is very important; and it should be the consumer not government.

   August 23, 2009 at 6:02 pm |
5. D. Wickens
   

   Mr. Gergen,

   I always enjoy your commentary, and I appreciated the program, Extreme Challenges – Health Care.

   You suggested Canadians accept a public health care system out of "deference to authority". They certainly had less fear of "socialism" than Americans apparently do when the system was introduced years ago.

   After decades of exposure to the American media, including political debates about health care, Canadians (86% according to a recent poll) are opposed to increased privatization.

   The Canadian health care system has problems but if Canadians resist change it wont be because of "deference to authority". It will be fear of falling prey to the American situation and the clutches of what appear to be powerful private interests.

   If the President's opponents believe there are reasonable arguments against public health care, then why do so many of them resort to lies and nonsense about systems like ours, and ludicrous and sickening attacks on him?

   August 23, 2009 at 5:22 pm |
6. kurt filips
   

   AC and Dr. Gupta ,

   Please advance the 5 – 8 main and main subset general health care issues by posting what Dr. Sanjay Gupta was referencing today with the background listing the issues. This is ultimately important for referencing issues and proceeding with details of the discussion. Kudos to Dr. Gupta for reading the 1000 plus page house bill.

   Dr. Kurt Filips

   August 23, 2009 at 4:48 pm |
7. Raphael B. Nzirubusa
   

   Mr. Gergen, Dr. Gupta, Mr. Cooper,

   Is Medicare a govt run system? If it is makes look like the British, Canadians, the French, the Swedish, the Germans, the Swiss, let's give it to Halliburton ...then we will never have to worry about coverage, cost, and quality. Honestly!

   August 23, 2009 at 4:30 pm |
8. Santhanam Lakshminarayanan
   

   am very passionate (as are many of my colleagues) about health care and the education of the next generation of physicians (which is tied into health care for future generations).

   The pink elephant in the room at any discussion on health care is the fact that health care in the US has become a profit oriented industry with a fee for service model. The simple reason for this is redundant layers of administrators, complex coding and billing rules and regulations (by design), insurance companies, trial lawyers, pharmaceutical industry interests and last but not least the physicians. All groups have heavy lobbyists and interest groups who honestly do not want reform because it would make the existence of those very same lobbyists and interest groups meaningless.

   We the physicians and healthcare/hospital administrators have become more focused on reimbursement and malpractice issues and have often voiced our opinions on this collectively and loudly. Our silence on the erosion of the physician patient interaction has been deafening. Our health system has been structured to favor very brief doctor visits and very busy schedules to generate more revenue. Patients are beginning to feel short changed (and rightly so) with the push for shorter visit times and double bookings. This not only sets the stage for bad Medicine and poor supervision and teaching of medical students, residents and fellows but also opens us up for litigation issues. The driver in litigations is I believe often the level of dissatisfaction a patient experiences more than the medical outcome per se.

   If we are to be true to our mission, we need to pull back from the push for shorter visit times and fix what is broken- the doctor patient relationship.

   We have to do this urgently if we and our patients are to truly know better health care.

   By complying with rules set by non physicians and administrators at insurance companies, to ensure short term survival and profitability all we are doing is making sure that the emboldened regulators/payers will impose more rules. History has clearly shown us that. That battle we will lose. The need is for us to take a stand and not pass the squeeze down stream to patients. That battle we can win if we all stand together.

   This may sound simplistic but to me seems clear without any clutter.

   At what point do the economics of care conflict with the ethics of care? It is tragic that the first question one is asked when one calls for an appointment with a physician is “What is your insurance?”

   The concept of needing health insurance is flawed and having a public insurance option does nothing to fundamentally redefine the debate. The term affordable health care is meaningless. Who decides what is affordable for the individual person? The term universal access is meaningless. What is the point in having access to the ball park if you can’t afford the tickets?

   The real change is embracing health care as a universal right. The real change is ensuring unfettered access. The real change is recognizing that providing health care for citizens, friends, neighbors and strangers is a moral obligation.

   It is pathetic that the current debate on healthcare reform has been hijacked by fear mongers and has been changed to health insurance reform and now it is getting even more watered down. Shame on us all and shame on this administration for not having the courage of conviction to do the right thing.

   If we are to truly realize health care reform we should be looking at universal healthcare and take profit out of the equation. What would be the cost savings if one completely did away with health care insurance companies and hence their operating expenses, CEO salaries and bonuses? Not to mention the expensive fraud monitoring systems that one has to have in place to detect insurance fraud. I am sure it will not be small change.

   Sincerely,

   Santhanam Lakshminarayanan, MD

   30, valley view drive

   Farmington

   CT 06032.

   Day tel 860-679-2160 eve tel 860-677-7197.

   August 23, 2009 at 4:28 pm |
9. Raphael B. Nzirubusa
   

   Kudos Christine,

   Your analysis about the issues on cost and benefits (current state vs. proposed change) is very clear, accurate and honest, even better that of Dr. Gupta. Mr Gergen on the other hand is clearly making the same argument as that of Limbaugh, Sean Hanity and Palin. Why CNN keeps on inviting the so called experts who keep cowardly repeating that they don't know anything about the plan or spread fears and gross inaccuracies (some don'tt even remember what they stated about a week earlier. Let's research Mr's Gergen statements on health care situation in America. It's all about show and ratings for producers and anchors; it's all bout breaking Obama's presidency for David Gergen and alike.

   Thank you Christine!

   August 23, 2009 at 4:20 pm |
10. Charles
    

    Saturdays evenings show was pretty informative but I think a lot was left out of the discussion. The panel agreed that the government wouldn't give health care to illegal immigrants , this was said while discussing people going to the emergency room for regular medical treatment. No one mentioned who pays for people with no insurance who go to the emergency room. It's my belief that the hospitals raise the rates for everyone to cover these cost. If that is the case then yes the government will be supplying health care to illegal immigrants. If not I wish the panel would have explained that. Another problem Americans have with government health care is how smoothly the "cash for clunkers" has run it's course. After six days of the program all the money was gone (1 billion). The government's response-"the demand was more than we projected". Then they added two more billion! Also the government wants to use electronic records to cut down on cost of health care. Look how smoothly the electronic filing for clunker cash is going for the auto dealers, they can't even log into the government's web site to apply for the money. How about last month when the staggering unemployment numbers rocked the county and people were asking what is going on with the stimulus money. President Obama's response was "the economy was worse than we had thought. Is this the same kind of response we can expect when thing don't go as projected with the health care bill?

    August 23, 2009 at 4:15 pm |
11. kathy
    

    The President is right and wrong. Right, there does need to be something done with healthcare, people should not have to worry about losing all they have because they are sick. Wrong in thinking the government can fix this. Over and over he and other supporters of the bill say it will be paid for by reigning in fraud and abuse in the Medicaid. medicare system.I say then prove it! Both systems are currently broke, reign in the abuse and make these systems profitable and work before we look at adding to them with a public plan! Take a look at how and when heathcare has spiraled out of control, you can link it back to the Government meddling to begin with, HMO and PPO add layers of administration costs to the system unnecessarily. HIPPA regulations alone doubled the cost of premiums due to increased regulations. I work in health care and have seen all these changes and the way it has affected prices. The copay, because it is only 20.00 makes more people seek care for trivial matters that if they first had to meet the deductible, would not. Reform by reverting to the old fashion 80/20 with a 500 or 1000 ded., and see any Dr you choose. Allow tort reform so Dr.s are not always practicing defensive medicine. As for all the fears of limiting coverage etc. , we do not need the government to do this for us but we do need to do it ourselves. I see it all the time, people that are 80 or so treating a condition which if left alone will probably never really amount to anything. Young folks who are treated with hundreds of dollars per month for acne for example, which could be handled over the counter. People with terminal cancer, continuing a useless fight. We the people do have to realize that sometimes enough is enough, we will all die no matter what. Allow a government option for catastrophic care only, allow insurance to be sold to anyone anywhere, remove copays and go back to 80/20 with deductible, insist that the generic drug at least be tried before utilizing the newest drug on the market, which is more often than not the same drug, reformulated, insist that the entire price of your visit be clearly marked on your superbill when leaving, not just the amount you paid, cap lawsuits at 1 mil dollars, disallow "class action" suits, each case must stand on it's own. IMO

    August 23, 2009 at 3:42 pm |
12. rj
    

    1. Continue healthcare debate for another 6 months or until economy recovers fully.
    2. Add public and private options.

    August 23, 2009 at 3:14 pm |
13. Ray
    

    HR 3200 reportedly will not provide health insurance coverage for illegal immigrants.

    My questions are:

    Who determines citizenship and under what legal authority?

    How is it determined?

    When is it determined? Before the issuance of the machine readable health plan identification card issuance?

    August 23, 2009 at 3:13 pm |
14. Raphael B. Nzirubusa
    

    Mr. Gergen,

    You've talked a lot on the panel and, your only hidden agenda is to " break president Obama". According to your argument, people are afraid of the government, and the healthcare is better managed by the private sector, what do we have now? are you seriously saying that the current system can sustain itself?What can't we have the private sector take of military? Why do we even have a Govt? Healthcare is as critical as the country security? It's hypocritical ... the unsured are just not illegals, blacks, hispanics and other non-important human beings ...yes more others are inusured, have cancer, heart diseases, ... Regards

    August 23, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
15. Mary Lammert
    

    Just watched the AC program w/Health Care panel. Very informative, plain speaking. Great job of separating fact from fiction. Bravo Dr. Gupta for reading through the plan in time to discuss it w/the panel. More discussions like this are needed so that we can hear the issues explained w/o emotion and vitriol in order to make informed decisions and to let our representatives know what we want.

    August 23, 2009 at 3:03 pm |