Jindal’s At It Again

Gov. Jindal has made it to the national scene lately with his amazing ability to be completely ridicules at the expense of the citizens of Louisiana. So far he has rejected nearly $100 million dollars in stimulus for Louisiana, made a lame speech devoid of anything useful on national television, and more recently he has made cuts in funding for medical care that goes to those who need it most and education. Aren't we all proud of the a great job that governor of ours is doing.

Let me just explain the list above in brief.

First, Gov. Jindal rejected $98 million dollars allotted to Louisiana in the Recovery Act. To start with, that $98 million dollars is the most simulative money allotted to Louisiana providing a return of $1.64 in the economy for every $1.00 spent.1 Now to his reasoning for doing this, his argument is that it would require a "permanent" change in UI (Unemployment Insurance) laws. This argument however seems a bit unfounded since Jindal could just enact a sunset clause, which would put an expiration date on the program, and that would be the end of it. And even Republican Representative Robert Adley, of the Louisiana State Legislature, said that that we could revisit the UI laws later.2 Jindal's rejection of the stimulus money is purely political pandering. Jindal was warming up nice and close to the conservatives in the GOP, and he was rewarded. Later, Jindal was going to be the one delivering the Republican response to President Obama's Not-State of the Union Address-State of the Union Address.

In his response Jindal provided no substance for the American people in this time of economic turmoil. Jindal proposed 1)less government spending, less government period, 2) tax cuts to stimulate the economy, and 3) made statements about how the Republican party is ready to lead on issues like healthcare reform. 1) Now is not the time to cut spending, it is as simple as that. This crisis is getting worse because people aren't buying. We need more spending, and government spending in the form of infrastructure and UI are the best ways to stimulate the economy. Government funding of infrastructure will produce jobs for the currently unemployed, meaning people will be making money and will thus spend it. Government funded expansion of UI is the most simulative form of spending as shown above. Cutting spending will not help solve this problem at all. 2) The Republican response that tax cuts are a good idea for stimulus, as Jindal said in his speech, are just plain wrong. Cutting taxes will not help to fix this problem. Right now the American people are either too far in debt or too afraid of losing their jobs to spend the money given to them through tax cuts. Thus spending will not increase, and we will still be in a recession. In the end here, Jindal proposed nothing new to the American people. Jindal is just reiterating failed Republican policy that has lead us into the mess we are in now. 3) The governor also said that "[Republicans] stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage." This got me to wondering, what is it that the Republicans have proposed in regards to health care reform? Oh right, NOTHING! The Republicans have done absolutely nothing when it comes to health care reform accept give HMOs and pharmaceutical companies more control over our health care. Republicans have no desire to fix the health care crisis as shown by their lack of action. Gov. Jindal then said that what he does oppose is government run health care that would put government bureaucrats in-between the patients and doctors. What's funny to me about this is that we do have government run universal health care in this country for people 65 and older, Medicare. Medicare, however, doesn't tell those it insures where they can and can't go, and it doesn't put a bureaucrat in between the patient and doctor. In fact, more doctors prefer Medicare because they don't have to argue with them to provide coverage like they do with private insurance. Private insurance is the one that puts a corporate bureaucrat in between you and your doctor.2

Most recently, Gov. Jindal has done even more to screw over the citizens of Louisiana. In order to cut the state deficit Jindal is cutting funding to higher education and health care. Higher education will see a decrease in funding by $219 million, which will lead to cutting jobs and programs. Just what we need, higher unemployment. Jindal also plans to cut funding to Medicaid, a program that provides health care to the poorest of Louisiana residents and the elderly, by $412 million. There will also be a 7% reduction in the amount that Medicaid reimburses providers, and $30 million cut in funding for the Charity Hospital System. Accoding to the Times-Picayune, "John Matessino, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association, said in a news release that the cuts would lead to reduced services, layoffs and a shifting of costs to privately insured patients."3 Jindal will also be cutting 300 state jobs. That means an additional 300 unemployed on top of the teachers, doctors, and nurses who may also lose their jobs because of Jindal's cuts.

Good job, Bobby! Keep it up!

Jumping Right In

Well, let me say a little bit about myself. I'm a Progressive Democrat, which means that I have all the typical liberal social views (you know equality, pro-choice, etc.), economic views (safety nets for those in hard times, social projects, universal health care, the best way to stimulate a bad economy [like the one we have] is through spending, etc.), foreign policy (war is and always should be a last resort, diplomacy should be our first response, humanitarian aid to those in need, the war in Iraq was irresponsibly entered and needs to come to an end, etc.), and all that other jazz. I'm thinking that each blog will focus either on something going on in the country politically, or some issue I feel needs to be spoken about.

My fist issue is…..(drum roll)…..healthcare.

Healthcare is a HUGE issue in this country. We currently have about 45 million people living without health insurance, and that number grows larger with everyday. It's estimated that about 14,000 people lose their coverage every day in this country. The number one cause of bankruptcy in this country is healthcare costs, and what's even worse is that 22,000 people will die every year because they don't have health insurance. People who are without coverage normally go to the emergency room as the first form of response to a medical problem, and by this time, the problem has already progressed really far. Then because these people are unable to pay for their treatment the hospital charges more to everyone else who does have health insurance. But this isn't just a problem for the uninsured.

Insurance companies, HMOs, run the medical system like a business. After all, HMOs are just corporations, and the job of a corporation is not to provide payment for people's healthcare. The job of a corporation is to make money for their stockholders. If HMOs made money by providing healthcare to the sick, that's what they would do, but they don't. Providing payment for medical treatment is how they lose money. So, to solve this problem HMOs have come up with an ingenious plan: don't cover the sick, but only the healthy who don't need medical attention (and if they wind up needing it then either deny them the treatment, or if they have something really bad that will cost a lot of money then just drop their coverage). We live in this system, a system where HMOs cherry pick the healthiest and the richest, so that they keep shoveling profits into the corporation and ask for nothing in return. They are not here to help this sick, they are here to make a buck.

30% of every dollar spent on healthcare doesn't even go towards health care costs. That 30% goes to CEO paychecks, administrative costs, paperwork between the hospital and the HMO, etc. This system is so inefficient. With all of these HMOs the hospitals have to hire plenty of people just to deal with the insurance companies. All of these companies require different paperwork, and they all have a different list of everything they will cover for each person because each company offers a whole bunch of different plans. The whole thing just winds up being a huge mess where the doctors have to fight with insurance companies before they can even begin to treat a patient, and millions of dollars are wasted on just paperwork. The U.S. spends more money per capita on health care than any other industrialized nation, and what do we have to show for it? A medical system that is consistently ranked at the bottom of the list. When the World Health Organization compared the healthcare industry in Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada to the U.S., the U.S. ranked 6^th. So even with our giant corporate bureaucracy running our healthcare we are still at the bottom of the list.

When it comes to healthcare, the free market simply doesn't do the job right. We are seeing huge numbers of people being left out, and even with our massive spending we get the least amount in return. Our system is broken. Healthcare is being treated like a commodity, to be sold to the bidder with the highest offer. Well, healthcare is not a TV or a new car; it is a necessity. Just like people need water, food, a home, and have a right to a good education and safe communities; people also need and have a right to healthcare. We have the rights to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" in this country and everyday HMOs are denying people their right to life. This system is disgusting, and needs to be dealt with now.

The solution to our problem is a single-payer system that would cover every American with quality healthcare coverage from womb to grave. A single-payer system is when you have just one source of payment for healthcare costs instead of hundreds of HMOs paying for it. This will streamline the cost of healthcare in this country, and make our system much more efficient. Government healthcare programs like Medicare only spend 3% of every health care dollar on administrative costs, and those covered by Medicare are more pleased with every level of care they receive than people with private insurance are. So, if we built a single-payer system based on one we know works (Medicare) we could actually provide every American with quality healthcare. Right now the government is already paying 60% of the health care costs in this country, and we could actually cover every American with quality coverage without spending any more than we are now (this is according to a study performed by the Congressional Budget Office in December of 1991).

A Medicare-for-All system would be much better than any other system proposed for healthcare reform. Some propose a system that would keep private insurers on place, but open up a public plan to everyone who wanted it. This wouldn't solve our problems though. If we keep the private insurers in place then the rich will keep their present coverage, and that means that HMOs will still be racking up a lot of money in profits. They would then continue to do what they are doing now, which is hiring lobbyists to look out for their best interests. This would lead to cuts in the public plan that would then drive more people to the HMOs, giving them more profits. If the rich are allowed to go to another system than the public plan would falter with lack of support. Studies have also shown that countries that keep private insurers in the mix with a public plan are less efficient than those who only offer a public plan.

Now, you may be thinking, "Well, if it's such a great idea than why don't we have someone working on this?" The answer is that we do. Rep. Conyer's has a bill in the House, HR 676, that would set up a single-payer, Medicare-for-All, system. HR 676 would cover every American with quality coverage. This is something we need to be working on now. We need to make sure that HR 676 passes, and that we see universal healthcare in this country NOW!

Here are some great resources for more info on single-payer, Medicare-for-All, and HR 676:

Physicians for a National Healthcare Plan

Healthcare-NOW!

Open Up Medicare to All – LA Times

73% of Votes Think Health Care Reform Must Include Choice of a Public Health Insurance Plan – Huffington Post