Health junction

Wow! Eighty percent of registered voters in Washington State showed up at the polls yesterday. The 2008 elections were a Republican�s nightmare, since high voter turn out typically means higher Democratic voters. America saw record numbers of voters across the country. Especially heart warming was the increase in new voter registration. As someone who has never missed a presidential election, I applaud this improvement in public participation in our democracy. There were a number of issues that I blogged on in the past year, which were impacted by yesterday�s election(s). Here are the highlights: Death with Dignity Approved Former Governor Booth Gardner�s Death with Dignity Initiative in Washington State was approved with a 58% majority. This means that terminally ill patients, who obtain at least two medical opinions, can elect to end their suffering with the administration of lethal drugs. McCain defeated Senator McCain�s health care platform to eliminate the tax-free nature of emplo...

Presidential Candidate John McCain presented his healthcare reform ideas on April 30th, to a Tampa, Florida audience. True to his style, Senator McCain has taken a polarizing approach to health care reforms, by seeking to eliminate private employers from the provision of health care in America. Here are the highlights of his reform ideas: 1. McCain would eliminate the tax preference for employer provided health insurance. Instead of a tax deduction for private employers to provide health insurance, he would offer a tax credit to taxpayer households, $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for a family. 2. Individuals would purchase health insurance plans on the open market(s). 3. A guaranteed access plan would be available to all, even the unhealthy, whom private insurers would seek to exclude from coverage. 4. He is not in favor of a national health care plan. 5. He would encourage support of health savings accounts. 6. McCain seeks to reform Medicare reimbursements by bundling payments to ...

Leading Presidential Candidates-Clinton, McCain, Obama Proposals for Health Care Reform This week�s column analyzes the leading presidential candidates Senators Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, and John McCain proposals on health care reforms and how their ideas would address these five questions: 1. Access to Care 2. Optimization of Government Purchasing for Medicare and other Programs 3. Reimbursement Alignment for Desired Clinical Outcomes 4. Streamlining the Health Care System Administratively 5. Financing Health Care for all Access to Care The three questions that must be addressed in order to answer the access question are: Do the proposed changes provide health care coverage for all residents, or at least a close approximation of that? Secondly, do their proposals address adequacy of reimbursements for health care clinicians and facilities? Thirdly, are there enough clinicians to meet the increased demand for primary care and other services from changes in health care access and if...