I would advocate the elimination of Medicaid as subsidies to ensure coverage of those without the financial means to afford it would be covered instead by Medicare for All. We would of course seek to incorporate sliding scale affordable co-pays but not at an onerous level. Medicare for All would also incorporate appropriate quality measures and preventative care programs to minimize and restrain out year costs associated with poor health habits, diets and the like.
As it stands now, the Republicans are determined to basically eliminate Medicare while the Democrats say that they want to "preserve" the program by essentially doing nothing. Neither party is up to doing the right thing going forward, while the Affordable Care Act championed by Obama represents little more than a gift to the insurance companies in not only preserving, but enhancing the sorry mess that is the status quo.
What is required are more people to run and push the truth about the "realities" of health care reform, what is beneficial to both the patient and the community of health care providers who are charged with providing care for a nation. For more policy suggestions that I advocated in 2008 as a candidate for congress on a variety of associated issues please visit http://www.johnrussellforcongress.com/page.asp?PageId=37 Revisions are pending, but much has changed little with regard to the overall solution regarding the topic of health care reform and what it means to us all.
John Russell, MS/ARNP, MBA Health Systems Management
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