Early indications are that President Bush will focus his State of the Union Speech on the issue of health care costs. It is good the Administration is taking this matter very seriously because people will vote their pocket books and fears, and the Democrats are counting on the expense of medical therapy to win them votes if they promise relief.
State of the Union Address Will Focus on Health Care Frustrations "The American people are very, very frustrated with the health care system, for good reason," Al Hubbard, the chairman of Bush's National Economic Council, said Wednesday in an interview. Health insurance premiums are rising faster than inflation. The number of employers offering health coverage is dropping. The ranks of the uninsured are growing. These developments explain why health care is near the top of many Americans' list of worries. Taming health care costs and energy prices will be priorities for Bush this year, Hubbard said.The Republicans ignore the issue of health care costs at their peril. It will not be enough for the administration to promote consumerism in healthcare without simultaneously presenting the pubic with the evidence that Universal Health Care plans are financially breaking down around the world. Britain’s National Health Service would be a good example.
HNS Told: Put Money Before Medicine On Thursday, Ms Hewitt will issue the first rulebook for NHS managers in an attempt to eliminate the financial deficits threatening to destabilise reform plans for hospitals and primary care services.It is interesting to note that the program showing actual health care cost savings is modeled on an American plan, and that long term the British Government is looking for ways to return the cost of healthcare back to the private sector. The Democrats will get millions of votes with promises to have someone else pay the medical bills. Blunting this push towards socialized health care in American will once again entail explaining to freedom loving citizens the financial Ponzi Scheme created when mandatory taxes are used to fund the insatiable demand for more and better medical results.
Patients to look after themselves to save the NHS cash MINISTERS are hoping to rescue the NHS from its continuing cash problems through a “semi-privatised” scheme that trains patients to avoid hospital or their GP. The Expert Patient Programme, which has cut hospital visits by 16 per cent in trial areas, is to have its budget tripled before becoming a not-for-profit company, The Times understands.
The programme, set up four years ago, was based on an American “self-care” plan devised to save on the astronomical costs of US hospital care and was tested in various areas of Britain. Six months into the trials, GP consultations fell by 7 per cent, while local outpatient visits and emergency care attendances dropped by 10 per cent and 16 per cent respectively.
