Before food/gas price spike, health care was important, too

Right now we hear plenty about the problem of rising food and gas prices. Indeed, these prices matter greatly in the lives of everyday Americans, but they're explainable. Food prices are rising with global demand. Gas prices are actually just readjusting to inflation after years of relative American underpricing (and, again, rising global demand).

But the rising cost of health care services facing everyday Americans remains in many ways more troubling. The reason for these price increases might be explainable, but remains much more complicated and outrageous when compared with the health care systems of other nations. Republicans blame trial lawyers and lawsuits for increasing insurance costs for doctors, which are passed on to patients. Democrats blame insurance and drug companies for jacking up costs. Who's right? Both, and more. The old days of people paying doctors for actual services rendered are long gone. We've passed the point where we can easily adopt a single-payer universal system. Basically, the United States -- and Minnesota -- are stuck trying to figure out an improved system on the fly while hundreds of millions in special interest dollars cloud the debate.

Rep. Paul Thissen (DFL-Minneapolis) visited Hibbing with his House health care committee last year. Unlike most of the politicians who call me to get in my column or blog, he actually followed up a year later. (A true gentleman). So I'm going to share what Rep. Thissen told me with you.

I thought you might be interested in a report on the state of health care and health coverage in Minnesota issued last week by Families USA: Failing Grades: State Consumer Protections in the Individual Health Insurance Market ( http://familiesusa.org/resources/publications/reports/failing-grades.html). The report reconfirms the two concerns that I hear most from around the state: health care is unaffordable even for those with insurance and people cannot get coverage due to a preexisting medical condition.

The bottom line is that Minnesota's current system discriminates against our sickest neighbors and friends. Those who need regular health care most are forced to pay more for coverage (if they can get it). I was also shocked that insurance companies have broad latitude to revoke coverage after the fact if a serious medical condition exists. That is a health care system turned on its head.

I should also point out that Minnesota ranks very well on other measures. That is not just a pat on our collective back. John McCain and Republicans in the Minnesota legislature propose to simply open the door to any insurer who wants to sell its product in the state regardless of whether the product complies with state law consumer protections. The Failing Grades report makes clear the danger of that approach. Minnesotans do and should expect that certain standards be met when it comes to health care and health insurance. States play a critical role in making sure expectations are met.

Thissen and some allies have put together a website to explore Minnesota's health care options. Come for the creepy computerized talking doctor, stay for the worthy discussion of an important issue.

Drug bus visits Iron Range today; hauls propaganda, drugs

From Wednesday's Hibbing Daily Tribune:

HIBBING — Area residents who are uninsured or having difficulties financially have a way to connect with programs that provide prescription medicines at low or no cost.

The “Help Is Here Express” Bus Tour will stop in Hibbing on Thursday, May 1. From 2 to 3 p.m., the bus will be parked at Fairview University Medical Center-Mesabi, helping area residents access information on available programs.

That's right, folks. Step up to the drug company's solution to rising prescription drug prices and the increasing unaffordability of basic medical care. It's a big orange bus that generates media coverage! I'm sure the folks on the bus have good intentions, but one drug bus just isn't enough to solve the systemic health care issues facing this region or the country at large.

Meantime, more practically, the Iron Range is a bastion for older folks on fixed incomes who at one time or another were part of a labor riot. That drug bus better be stocked to the hilt with free Lipitor or blood will run in the streets.

Former Sen. Dayton shows big heart on the Range

Kudos to former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton for stepping up to help a young woman with a rare heart condition from my former hometown of Cherry, Minnesota. Apparently this isn't the first time Dayton has helped pay medical expenses for people in need. Dayton may not have enjoyed his time in the Senate, but he really walks the walk when it comes to caring about people. Thanks, Mark!

The full story from today's Star Tribune.

Health care tour comes to Hibbing today

State Rep. Carolyn Laine, an Iron Range native, will be in Hibbing today with other legislators to tout a bill for universal health care that she and others will be proposing this session. Those interested in the health care debate should check it out. I would go if it weren't cross-scheduled with the dinnertime insanity of our child-filled home.

YOU’RE INVITED TO A HEALTH CARE TOWN HALL MEETING
Thursday, Feb. 7 at 5:30 p.m.
Hibbing Community College, Main Commons

Minnesotans Have Spoken

We have heard from you: our health care system is broken. Even with insurance, many have trouble affording necessary care. Losing insurance coverage is a very real concern. And for those who are without health insurance, the stories get even worse.

Legislators Must Act

We have proven solutions to our health care mess in hand. Come join us in the town hall meeting.

We will tell you about the Minnesota Health Care Act that would provide quality, affordable, comprehensive health care to all Minnesotans through all stages of life.

Serious health care reform means:

• All Minnesotans covered
• Pre-existing conditions covered
• Deductibles, co-pays eliminated
• Choice of doctors, hospitals, clinics
• Guaranteed for life

Universal coverage closer than imagined

If you add your out-of-pocket insurance expenses to your taxes that support existing government health care programs, you’ll probably find that you’re already paying plenty for health care, more than enough to cover actual medical expenses. So converting to a universal system is really more a matter of getting the money we already pay devoted to the care, rather than the middlemen.

~ Excerpt from my weekly Sunday column in the Hibbing Daily Tribune for Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007, the second of a two-part look at local health care issues. Find my weekly column at www.minnesotabrown.com. This week's column is archived here.

Health care future hinges on community strength

Government’s main purpose is to serve the people in all ways that the private sector and market can’t. That includes highways, public works, education and, more than ever, health care. And it seems we’re closer than you’d think to being able to solve some basic service issues, especially on health care.

~An excerpt from my weekly Sunday column for the Hibbing Daily Tribune. The full column is available at my website, http://www.minnesotabrown.com/ and archived here.

October nears end

We've got a couple days, including Halloween, left in October. So the month is kind of like the Bush Administration now. Almost done, but several acts of civil disobedience will probably occur before its completely done.

Here's a round up of what's going on in Brown country this week:

Flu shot day
Today is flu shot day at my workplace. Another year, another charade where I get a shot that will supposedly keep me from being sick. Another year, another probable injection of mind-control elixir. You can't get sick if you don't THINK you're sick.

Wednesday
Wednesdays are busy for me. This Wednesday in particular. Among several meetings and routine to-do lists, I'm working out details on a potential feature exhibit of Hibbing-area Bob Dylan memorabilia and historical displays at Ironworld for Dylan Days 2008 this upcoming May 22-25.

Thursday
The big event in Hibbing is the "Taste of Home" cooking seminar at the Hibbing High School auditorium. The auditorium is a 1,700 mammoth and it's sold out. Most female members of my family are planning to go. I'd go if I wasn't watching babies. The Iron Range is going to be eatin' good for the next several months.

Friday and the weekend
As this week draws to a close I'll be planning my trip to the family shack for my first-ever year of participating in the Brown male hunting tradition, which dates back to a distant but vague point in our modern history. I've decided not to hunt; but I will serve as camp gopher and legal analyst.

My Saturday radio essay is almost done. I'll be talking about the things I'd take with me if I had just five minutes to evacuate my house. Sunday will bring the first of a two-part series of newspaper columns about health care issues on the Iron Range.

Stay tuned.

Health carnage system

What really gets me about the health care debate in this country is that so many people are willing to continue tolerating or even supporting a system that almost everyone believes is broken and unsustainable.

At the federal level, President Bush and the Republican minority caucuses in the House and Senate are holding the line on the SCHIP health care program for uninsured children. This program used to enjoy bipartisan support, but it works just a bit too well. So well that it begs the question why we aren't moving our whole system over to a universal single-payer form of delivering health care. The question has an easy answer: We don't because the insurance industry is one of the most powerful political forces in the country. A universal system would mean not just a bad year, but something akin to their utter destruction. So we get to hear bogus lines about "socialized medicine" while many suffer with no health insurance or not enough protection if they get sick.

Generally, all you have to do to see what's wrong with the system is to talk to people who have to use health care services regularly. Insurance doesn't cover enough; anyone without insurance will see years shaved off their life; if you get sick, you become an indentured servant to your current employer. God help the self-employed or small businesses. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Doctors, businesses, nurses, policy leaders and especially patients know that something must be done. Even without going all the way to single-payer, there are affordable ways to cover every American. Politicians are going to have to vote against the powerful insurance lobby to get this done. This is going to take some courage.

Democrats are trying to override Bush's veto of SCHIP but they will probably fall short. This is a big election issue for 2008.

I'm working on a column for Nov. 4 on this topic.