This Weblog (BLOG) is a communications component of the Senior Citizens Consortium (SCC) organization.  The SCC organization has been established for the express purpose of fostering greater interaction between mature individuals who have reached that greatest title of Senior Citizen and addressing those issues that are within our capability to affect in some small fashion.

The SCC organization is a NOT-FOR-PROFIT organization and is NOT a commercial entity in any way, shape or fashion.  Contrary to what the comments (false of course) had to say about us on another web site populated by both seniors and pretenders to be seniors.  SCC focuses our attentions on social interaction among our members and our guests.  We will host gatherings of members in regional locations and an annual SCC conference in locations across the country.

We also provide a forum for opinions and commentary, with OUR moderation people made up of seniors who provide Peer Review moderation, rather than the paid, YOUNG moderators elsewhere who have no point of reference for senior opinions or issues.

The blog will contain comments, opinions and information regarding issues that are important to the members of the SCC organization.  For example we have established an advocacy issue program for the implementation of a Single Payer Universal Health Care program for the United States and all of its citzens.

 Visit our organizational components, read and comment on our blog.  Take a look at our member forum.  We welcome all mature and relevant comments or observations.   Join us if you are a mature/senior individual, we welcome all.

However, you should also understand, that we tolerate no harsh invective, we do not allow personal insults or slurs against people, posters.  If you wish to engage in that sort of thing, there are other locations where you will fit in.

We welcome debate, diverse opinions, and exchange of ideas and life experiences.

We do not tolerate vicious commentary, insults, bigotry in any form, or childish claptrap.  Trust that if any of this type of commentary is posted, it shall be removed forthwith!!  We do not suffer fools gladly.

Executive Director – SCC

Imagine the attitude of the far Right Conservatives in the latest news from the NewsMax’s financial advisory segment regarding the benefits in riches to come from investing in various health care issues. See the article at the following link:

http://www.newsmax.com/fir/fir_39health.cfm

I know that many people feel really dirty after reading anything that NewMax publishes, but this article is important for us all to know, understand and frankly to get really PISSED about.  For instance, note the quoted gains for some of the top performing Health Care greed hogs below.

I don’t know about you folks, but those kind of numbers point out very clearly to me why this country NEEDS a Single Payer Universal Health Care program.  These scurvy slimeballs make billions of dollars on the backs of poor, middle class and small business entities daily.  The cost of health care continues to rise rapidly, far greater than the regular cost of living, or any other standard of measure.

Take a look at the SCC organization letter to our congressional representatives both in the Senate and in the House.  This letter can also be modified to be sent to the people who are candidates for office in the coming elections.

SCC Advocacy Letter

Read the article on the NEWSMAX web site, then go take a hot shower to get rid of the stink you will pick up from reading this garbage web site, and if you are like me, still really pissed off, make some copies of this letter, modify it to fit your feelings and then send it to as many politicians you can think of. Include your own personal threats about their tenure in office, etc. if you wish.

Frankly ANY politician who would continue to support these money grubbing thieves deserves to be ousted immediately from office, tarred and feathered and shipped off to a penal colony for a few years.  They frankly are facilitating the robbery of their consitituents, that’s you and me folks!!!

I don’t know aobut you, but when I finished reading that piece of crap from the NewsMax financial “guru”, I first wanted to throw something through my computer screen, then I wanted to puke, and finally I got really pissed and send a couple of these letters to my elected representatives.

I am also going to send a copy, modified to fit, to each of the current crop of candidates for the coming elections.

A message of the strongest language possible needs to be sent to these politicians and let them know that we are all madder than hell and will not stand by for anymore of their stupid tap dances with the health care industry thieves!!!

In a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), based on 2006 data, the USA did not look very good. In fact, comparing thirteen of the leading industrialized nations of the world, the US came in thirteenth! We would be very happy to carry the “USA is the Healthiest Nation” flag, and we can yet get there. But, apparently we are not there now. The US spends about $6100 per person yearly on health care. This compares to the average of about $3200 per capita spent by the other leading nations in this survey, who are healthier than we are.

We can have better health care in our country if we want it. It’s up to us voters. Let your federal Representative know your feelings on this matter. I can assure you that many senior organizations, including AARP and many business organizations want a form of universal health care for all US citizens. It’s a universal need!

Great concept

What can I do?

The entry below was a White Paper written by SCC poster NEactuary.  I have taken the liberty of posting segments of the paper on this blog to ensure that others have had the opportunity of reading this excellent commentary on the need for Universal Healthcare.

To read the entire white paper click on the link below.

http://www.maturecommunications.com/whitepapers/universalhealthcare.pdf ”

UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE

Way Past Time forAmerica to Adopt It

 Universal healthcare is coming because our healthcare system is broken and it can’t be fixed.  Our healthcare system is built on a false premise that for over a half century has not worked, but has been kept alive because so many people are getting rich off it.

Universal Healthcare or Socialized Medicine:

Universal healthcare is frequently called “Socialized medicine” by the medical industry lobbies.  I’m in Medicare – also called socialized medicine by those same lobbies – and I love it as do most people that are covered by it. 

In addition the term Socialized Medicine is wrong.  In almost all universal healthcare systems in the world (and certainly in any system we eventually will adopt), doctors remain in private practice and most hospitals are owned in the private sector.  Socialism means the means of production is owned by the government.  In a socialized system the doctors would work for the state and the hospitals would be owned by the state.  The term is wrong and it was designed as a propaganda tool by the lobbyists. 

The function of the government in a universal healthcare system is to pay the bills.  Today most healthcare decisions are made by insurance companies in VERY PRIVATE conference rooms that few have access to.  Frankly, I prefer the transparency of the government making such decisions.  In such cases the interests of shareholders doesn’t get into the decision.

The term is universal healthcare.  The minute you hear socialized medicine you know who the speaker is representing.  So please, let’s can the name tags and think for ourselves on this subject.

The Problem – Employers Can’t Continue Providing HC Funding:

Today the poor have healthcare because of Medicaid and the old have it because of Medicare.  The rest of the population is dependant upon their employer for their funding of healthcare costs. 

In the late 1940’s through the 1960’s the labor union movement set the standard for employer provided benefits, including health insurance.  We were in situations where we had no competition from the rest of the world so as healthcare costs increased we simply increased prices with little or no concern.  As the rest of the world caught up with us (the WW II damage was repaired a new plants came on line for them) we began to feel the pains of our healthcare system and the continual increase in prices.  But in the 70’s and 80’s it was oil that dominated the economic front and healthcare was a minor pain.  That all changed in the late 80’s and 90’s.  Now the pain of healthcare cost increases was causing us to lose whole industries to good strong foreign competition, whose healthcare systems weren’t paid for by employers and whose prices didn’t carry the burden of the cost of healthcare.  Frankly, asking employers to fund healthcare is not very efficient, particularly for smaller employers.  This terrible way of providing healthcare simply developed out of our circumstances in the post war period.  It was not thought out, it just developed and now it is biting us very badly not only on the healthcare perspective, but also our industry is being decimated.

Now we are in a position where in order to survive employers must get rid of this health insurance burden.  We see this pattern everyday. Most uninsured people in this country go to work every day and they work hard, but they do it without the kind of healthcare that most of us had when we were in the workforce.  Based upon a report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), only 56% of workers had health insurance in 2004 compared to 59% in 2000.

http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/bp167  

If the rate of decline continues, by sometime this year we will have less than half of all workers covered by employer provided health insurance.  And by 2024 no worker will have employer provided health insurance.  This decline in health insurance by employers is totally predictable in the face of double digit healthcare cost increases.  If you pick up virtually any annual report for a public company and increase their healthcare costs at 12% (rate of increase of healthcare) plus growth and all other revenue and expenses at 3% (inflation) plus growth you will find that they are bankrupt in generally less than 10 years.  In the old days before we had tough foreign competition (that doesn’t carry this HC burden in their prices) we could just increase prices.  That isn’t possible today.  In order to survive employers have to get out of providing HC for employees in fairly short order.  This is the phenomenon that will drive us to universal healthcare, not liberals or socialists or any other villain we can dream up.

The Problem – HC Costs can’t be Controlled:

Over my lifetime I have seen the following (among others) blamed for healthcare cost increases: 

• Greedy doctors
• Greedy hospitals (that cater to doctors not the public)

• Greedy pharmaceutical manufacturers

• Greedy medical equipment manufacturers

• Greedy insurance companies

And finally the stupid consumers who don’t “buy” HC efficiently (heard this since the 1960’s – that’s how we got deductibles and co-pays and most other punitive features in health insurance plans).  

But if you look at it, all of these folks are just using the free enterprise system the way they should (all accept the consumer).  They are simply trying to increase their economic gain.  But normally there is a consumer on the other side who compares prices and services and by shopping holds down the price increases by providers.  Unfortunately, the free enterprise system doesn’t work with the consumer because:

Health and healthcare is the most precious commodity that we have.  It is much more precious than money.   

That’s why the free enterprise system doesn’t help to control healthcare costs.  With every sickness or injury of a loved one, we consumers bid up the price in order to get the best healthcare we can get.  We don’t respond to the cost side of the equation, which means we don’t respond to the controls that normally work in a free enterprise system.  “This is my child (or my spouse or me) that is suffering and I will worry about costs later” – that is the thought process that always has driven us consumers.  When the free enterprise system fails (such as in the case of monopolies) the government must step in to fill the vacuum.

Healthcare in the Rest of the World:

The only two industrialized nations in the world without universal healthcare are the U.S. and South Africa.  That alone should tell us something.  But let’s take a look at some statistics from some of the more developed nations in regard to healthcare:

HEALTHCARE SYSTEM INDICATORS & RANKINGSIn Selected High-Income OEDC Countries

                              *mortality rate per 1,000 under age 5

The original study is at: http://dll.umaine.edu/ble/U.S.%20HCweb.pdfHealthcare Spending U.S. dollars at:  http:/www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/06_annex3_en.pdfHealthcare Spending % GDP at:  http:/www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/06_annex2_en.pdfUnder 5 Mortality and Life Expectancy at:  http:/www.who.int/whr/2006/annex/06_annex1_en.pdfWHO Rankings:  http:/www.who.int/whr/2000/en/annex01_en.pdf 

The study was originally compiled by the University of

• The first column is per capita healthcare costs in 2006 all in U.S. dollars.  In terms of per capital cost we are nearly double the average of the rest of the countries.
• The second is healthcare spending in 2006 as a percentage of the nation’s GDP.  Again we lead the pack by a lot in spending. 
• The third is the mortality rate for children under age 5 (replaces the infant mortality measure which has some controversy associated with it).  Here we have 60% more deaths amongst our most vulnerable citizens than the average of the other nations.
• In the next column we get life expectancy at birth.  Here the average of the other countries is 80 or 2 years longer than in the U.S.  On average their citizens have 2 more years of life to enjoy grandchildren and great grandchildren.
• Then the ranking of the countries healthcare system by the World Health Organization and the last column is the percent of the population that is satisfied with their healthcare system.  Both are pretty shocking on their own, but couples with the other columns they paint a very poor picture of the healthcare system that we are all struggling under.

To summarize the chart, we pay twice what other countries do, and we receive poorer health outcomes, and our public dislikes our healthcare system more than all but one country. 

To read the entire white paper its facts regarding universal healthcare, click on the link at the beginning of this blog entry..

All that we have to do is overcome the power of the medical industry lobbyist.   

This blog will relate to the need for universal health care for all American citizens.  We are the only country with any level of development that has no guaranteed access to health care for the citizenry.  No other industrialized, mature country has the same screwed up health care system as the United States.  In fact, we hold a ranking of 38 in the listing of countries and their health care for citizens.  38th!!! Can you imagine that there are 37 countries in this world who provide better health care, with better outcomes, and at lower cost than we do?  And you thought that the United States was the leader in everything, huh>?  Well we still hold the lead for health care cost per patient. Ours is running 200% higher than the next most expensive country.  What a deal, huh?

Why is that?  We have more cost per individual for health care, yet we rank lower than most other nations in the quality of care and the average lifespan categories.  Oh yeah, here’s another one to be really proud of, we are way behind most of these countries when it comes to infant survivability!!!  Think about that one, our children have a greater chance of dying at birth or shortly thereafter than in the majority of nations of the world.

Why would the United States, which has been recognized as the leader of the world in so many areas, be so far behind in this critical area?  The simple truth is that we have a huge, 8,000 pound gorrilla in the room, the medical INDUSTRY which is composed of the Insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry and the hospital industry (HMO, etc).  These corporations put millions of dollars into the pockets of their bought and paid for congress critters and the presidential administration.  They do NOT want to see a single payer universal health care system in this country, simply because it will take the obcene amount of profits from their pockets and put the American public back in the mainstream forcus of the medical practitioners.

Strange, but I had always thought that was the way it was supposed to be.  Remember, but frankly, these greedy pigs don’t feel that way.  If you are ill, you are a threat to their bottom line.  If you need hospitalization, they will do everything in their power to either keep you out of the hospital or make your stay as short and uncomfortable as possible.  If your doctor says that you need an MRI to accurately diagnose a condition that the XRay cannot identify, they want to hold that off as much as possible, because MRI testing costs money.

Frankly folks it all comes down to the fact that, like the automobile insurance industry and the housing insurance industry, they want your premiums and they continue to raise your premiums, but don’t ever even think of filing a claim.  Lordy, you blasphemous bastard, now they will do one of two things,, either they will raise your premiums significantly, or they will DROP your policy totally.  Want to fight it?  Good luck, these bastards have the local state and federal cretins in their back pocket.  You know, next to their wallets.

Face facts people, the only way we are ever going to see real health care reform and be able to provide true universal health care, is to move to a single payer system fronted by the United States Government.  The states can’t do it and they will only screw up the works more so.  Look at the Massachusetts situation for instance.  Universal Health Care?  No not really, it is a mandated insurance program that is very much like the automobile program except, not everyone owns an automobile.  We all own bodies and we all get sick.

I see that the current crop of presidential candidates are starting to do their lip service regarding universal health care.  Edwards has come out with a program for our consideration that is discussed on his web site.  His program is similar to the Massachusetts piece of crap.  Essentially, make health insurance mandatory for everyone, give some tax incentives, offer some offsetting monies for the very poor and allow the insurance, pharmaceutical and hospital crooks continue to reap their profit margins, steadily increasing the premiums and their net profit each year.  Also, does NOTHING to control costs.

It has been estimated by several very astute and experienced actuarial folks that in a single payer system for our national health care, we would see a 200 BILLION dollar savings in medical costs from the paperwork requirements alone.  That 200 billion folks, with a captal B.  Additionally, the ratio of positive health care outcomes will be enhanced because physicians will have the ability to spend more time in the actual diagnosis and treatment of patients instead of filling out thousands of forms per day. 

Think about that, a physician who actually can treat a patient instead of spending his or her time filling out those damn forms and having the insurance company reject them for one idiotic reason or another.  That way, the insurance company can delay the payment of the charges from day to day, and that money stays in their INTEREST BEARING accounts!  Certainly, you didn’t think they were doing it for accuracy?

On this page, we will recognize those people who have made a contribution to our organization, through posting an opinion or other informational entries to our blog.

 Among our white paper type bloggers, we are proud to welcome

NEactuary – this individual has posted thousands of words regarding programs that directly and indirectly affect us all.  His grasp of Social Security and Universal Health Care issues is truly amazing.  We look forward to more data from our very own NEactuary. 

You can also see some of his stuff on the AARP Issues and Elections Forum.  

You might also be interested in his paper on the VA Formulary and the lies/myths that the far right wingers keep putting out there to dissuade us from fighting for improvement to the senior citizen’s prescription drug bill Plan D.

Harvey – posted an article regarding a boycott that seniors had planned for the AARP forums.  After suffering numersous biased indignities, several of these posters decided to promote a boycott over the unfair banning of three very strong posters who just happened to be slightly left of center in their attitudes. 

Harvey’s article had gotten this blog and the Senior Citizens Consortium in the public eye for the first time since the organization was created almost a year ago,. 

It also got an interesting reaction from the AARP moderators. Their comment/response was filled with lies, and moderate falsehoods, but they recognized who we were.  Not that we really wanted any recognition from them, however. 

Harvey has said that he will pay more attention to senior issues in the future.  Ergo, his recent blog entry regarding the issue of Single Payer Universal Health Care.