Great idea Ronni. I'm a Canadian watching this play out and hoping for the best. I've twittered this post to my tweeps (some of whom are progressives) in the hopes a few will pass the word along.
If you have a dKos account a cross post there would really help make this idea go viral.

Ronni, I would love to put a link to this post on my local forum, but I am afraid that you would be swamped by nasty emails from some of the posters (some of whom have recently appeared). I'll just have to write a post on my blog on August 20th.

Good idea! I hope lots of American elders take you up on it!

Back in the days of the Cold War we used to lament that people in Communist countries had no access to real information from the outside world, but now it seems that Americans suffer from that sad state too. The US is the only major industrialized nation without universal health care, and the scare tactics being used to keep it so are just abominable.

I'm in Canada, we have healthcare, it's not perfect but it's a darn sight better than what many Americans have.

ONE MORE THING: I signed up for the public action pledge and am urging you to do the same. See http://www.democracyforamerica.com/activities/179-public-option-action-pledge

I took part in the Organizing for America phone conference last night. It felt good to be doing something positive.

Ronnie,
I'm with ya'
Healthcare Reform is Common Good Sense and 60 years behind schedule,

Am spreading your Word as postscript
http://alleypatron.blogspot.com/2009/08/q.html

Peter Lott Heppner
Chicago

I am excited about your notion to conjure a mass movement of elder bloggers re positive health care reform. I am hoping lots of bloggers participate and it makes a big wave.

There is so much that needs to happen to make our current system of medicine effective and affordable.

Medicare doesn't cover eye, ear or dental care for elders--does this make any kind of sense? No, it doesn't. It's an onerous burden for many elders.

And that's just one area in the big health care reform debate.

I really appreciate your efforts, Ronni. It is time for elders to form political and social change alliances and to make change happen in positive directions, rather than leaving the field to rude, confused rabble rousers.

Sounds good to me.

Dear Ronni,

I will be unable to post a letter re ObamaCare on my blog on Aug.20th, because I will be in the bottom of Haleakala caldera on Maui. I will be listening for, and hoping I don’t hear, the heartbeat of that volcano.

However, I would like to make some comments re the health care reform bills. I write “bills” because I understand there are several under consideration.

I live in a remote location and do not have access to much information regarding those bills, but I want to state that government run anything frightens me no end. Social Security and Medicare, both mandatory and government run, are a mess. When I turned 65, I had no choice but to sign up for Medicare, as my previous insurer required that Medicare be my primary insurer if I wanted their supplemental care insurance.

Now it is almost impossible to find a primary care physician in my area—near Anchorage, Alaska—who will accept a Medicare patient. My long-time family physician has opted out of Medicare, and I am required to pay him directly $140 ( 75% of regular cost) for an office visit. I cannot submit this to my secondary insurer.

In addition, many specialists now refuse new Medicare patients here. As a result, many elders go to hospital emergency rooms, resulting in phenomenal charges to Medicare and secondary insurers, which serve only to further undermine Medicare.

If the government, which wants to reduce Medicare payments to providers even more, can’t currently satisfy physicians, how can health care reform—run by the federal government—be any better? One only needs look at Medicare to see that the government has failed. Perhaps that is one reason behind elders being so upset at those town hall meetings.

Second, what really frightens me is what I have been led to understand happens if an ObamaCare bill is passed, and that is that many committees then write the regulations under which health care will be managed, and the specifics of that program.

All of the rumors we have been subjected to may very well be exaggerated and untrue now, but once a committee gets through with them, who knows what will happen? If that isn’t leaving the chicken coop door open for a fox, I don’t know what is.

Third, why are they rushing this? A well-considered, researched, and planned health care program cannot be put together and rammed through a partisan Congress in just a few months, and be anything but a disaster.

My suggestion would be for the president to appoint a number of committees to research, examine, write, and hold public (and Internet) hearings on various aspects of health care reform. Nothing good ever comes from hasty planning, and health care reform is far too important to ram through Congress. Perhaps the party in power thinks this is necessary to cement the president’s image, but what kind of image will he have if ObamaCare is a disaster? Will those Congressional leaders share in the blame? Or will they distance themselves from him prior to their being voted out of office by an enraged public?

Cost is another thing to consider. Congress has been on a spending spree the likes of which we’ve never see before, and it appears it isn’t over. Really, where is the money going to come from to pay the astronomical costs of health care?

And last, any health care reform that does not require the mandatory participation of the president and his family, members of Congress and their families, and all federal employees will never have the trust of the public. Especially me.

Or, as George Orwell intimated, are some are more equal than others?

Jeanne Follett

http://gullible-gulliblestravels.blogspot.com/

Hi Anne,

Let me clarify: the majority of primary care physicians in Anchorage have opted out of Medicare. That's primary care--the family practitioner. It is next to impossible for new Medicare members to find a primary care physician.

On the other hand, most specialists and (as far as I know) hospitals and other providers such as labs, etc., will take Medicare patients. I have had only one specialist grouse mightily about seeing me, and the only reason he did is that I was referred to him by a hospital doctor with whom the specialist had consulted.

Other than the primary care physician problem, I have no complaints about Medicare. I do, however, understand completely why physicians opt out. They receive a small fraction of their normal charge.

Apparently some people think ObabaCare will reduce the availability of care to Medicare patients. My understanding is that the government proposes to further reduce medicare payments to physicians and hospitals to help fund ObamaCare, and therein I see nothing but trouble.

Incidentally, why doesn't Congress just allow us all to join THEIR health care plan? Such a massive group would have plenty of clout insofar as reducing costs, etc.

Further, I have a problem with any government bureaucracy being involved with anyone's private health care information.

Some day, I hope, national health care insurance will evolve. Right now, considering all the spending the government has undertaken in the past months, and with the economy still staggering, the last thing this country needs if for employers--the people who offer much-needed jobs--to have to assume more taxes for health care.

This is such an important direction for our country to take that I wish it could be done more slowly, with much more consideration given as to the specifics, and with more public information disseminated.

When we hear about the pharmaceutical companies contributing millions to support ObamaCare, about elders called angry mobs, unAmerican, Astroturf, and their concerns not listened to (and no, I don't think boors should be afforded much patience), about "planted" cute little girls asking questions at Obama's town hall meeting, well, who can we believe?

All the more reason to slow down and approach this carefully and with much more deliberation. Americans are anxious enough about the economy and their future. Why must we also take on this burden of health care that is so divisive? Let's go more slowly on that.

Regarding the August 20th posts: I have noticed that when I research something about the health care reform bills I get FIRST all the spam-emails and erroneous posts. Is there any way we can move our posts up? Some keyword?

In fact, a question for the TGB Eldergeek: how do the search engines decide who goes first (aside from the ones that pay for the privilege)? Except for using something like "whois" on each domain, is there any way to judge the answers from the searches?

I have to say that Jeanne brings up a very good point and I can assure you that it is not something unique to Alaska. I am actually a bit shocked that this situation regarding primary care physicians in particular is not common knowledge among seniors. It exists in every state – not just Alaska.

I have a great primary care physician, have had him for years and am quite pleased with him. However, being quite aware of the situation highlighted by Jeanne’s comments, which has been getting worse over recent years, three years ago just before going on Medicare I called the doctor offices of four other primary care physicians who I considered some of the best in my area. In all four cases I was told that if I was not a patient on their doctor’s rolls before I went on Medicare, they would not be able to accept me as a patient. I was told by one doctor’s office that I should call one of the health networks such and Baptist or St. Vincent and they kept a list of doctors still accepting Medicare patients.

Medicare as it stands now may not dictate which doctor you may use, but their reimbursement criteria forces the doctor’s themselves to restrict their services to anyone and everyone. If you are on Medicare you certainly can choose which ever doctor you want – problem is the doctor’s may not want you because of Medicare’s reimbursement criteria and that is pure FACT!

Other research I did on that issue such as the State of Illinois forecasting by 2007 that 45% of their primary care physicians would either be limiting or eliminating Medicare patients from their roles. In Colorado the same concerns were being aired and predicted.

AARP is hiding under the covers as usual doing little or nothing with regard to this issue. And I would venture to say that most seniors have had their doctors before going on Medicare and are consequently not even aware this situation exists. Well….it does. Rumors are rampant even now that certain Medicare reimbursements are going to decrease by 21% in 2010. The Obama proposed changes tout an exerted effort directed toward increasing incentives for the primary care physicians. That’s pretty much a day late and a dollar short in my opinion but at least someone has recognized there is a serious problem within Medicare as relates to primary care physicians.

If anyone has any doubts as to Jeanne’s concerns or my comments, just simply go on Google and do a search on “Medicare reimbursement to doctors” and read some of the information and articles addressing the issue. Just Alaska? I think not!

Hi Nan,

Hope you've read Alan's response also. Actually, the government had authorized yet another round of cuts to Medicare within the last year. The Alaskan Congressional delegation was able to exempt Alaska from the cut, so work is being done in that area.

I agree that, for me also, Medicare is a fine plan. Frankly I was not aware that there were private Medicare programs. If there are, I'm not in one.

However it is well aired that both Social Security and Medicare are going broke, and that the government's response to this problem is to make more cuts to the providers--not to the insured. Thus, many seniors are not aware of the growing dissatisfaction on the part of providers, as they are not confronted with it.

Any senior should become very concerned when the government proposes more cuts to Medicare providers, as has been touted as a way to help pay for universal health care. Even though it may not immediately affect you, you can bet that down the road it will. For instance, in order for me to have a colonoscopy and an endoscopy, the physician's nurse said I had to have appointments on three separate days (one being an office visit), rather than doing everything at once. This was because Medicare paid more than if they were all done on the same day, she said. Therefore, because it required a two-hundred mile round during which I was not allowed to drive, as well as fasting and/or no solid food for three days, I made arrangements to stay with a friend in Anchorage for four days. This is only one of the ways physicians work their way around Medicare rules, and while I understood, I was greatly inconvenienced. For various reasons, I am particularly concerned about anesthetics and sedatives, as I have peculiar reactions to medications and such. I was facing having sedatives for the tests two days in a row. As it turned out, I reacted to the first test, and wound up in the ER. I refused the second test.

As for me and the opting-out of primary care physicians, I prefer to stick with my long time physician, and I just pay the bill.

As for AARP, the president was wrong when he stated that AARP was "on board" with the health care bills. They have not yet endorsed any of the bills now being considered. And, one must keep in mind that AARP profits greatly from selling health insurance to seniors. Do you think they might take this into consideration when deciding whether to endorse or not endorse a particular health care bill?

I have been to public meetings where because of misinformation, and/or lack of information, and/or pre-existing ill will, has caused uncivil and discourteous conduct on the part of the attendees. I walked out of one such meeting involving the Forest Service, even though I was strongly opposed to FS's proposed plan that was the subject of the meeting. I do not abide boors well, and think that civil, courteous discussion of differing opinions goes a long, long way to reaching compromises and solutions.

On the other hand, I do not appreciate staged town hall meetings, where the anti group is prevented from speaking, where young girls are set up with phony questions, and where the speaker states things that are not true.

What it all boils down to is that we should take time to do health care reform right the first time, not shove it through Congress before all citizens who are interested have time to learn the particulars and decide for themselves. I simply think it is a case of too much, too soon, especially when one considers the state of our economy right now.

Plus, I am particularly concerned about provisions that may or may not provide coverage to illegal aliens.

Well, I suppose there are many opinions about health care as there are citizens of this country. I am merely stating my own, and I thank you for reading and commenting.

I am Irish. Born in the south where it was necessary to pay up front for all things medical.
I moved to Northern Ireland (UK) when I married 32 years ago. I came under the umbrella of the National Health Service (NHS). At 62 I have been considered a senior citizen for the past two years. 65 is the age for men, though the gap will be closed over the next few years where the ladies need to wait until 65. A glance at the past two years in my life will give a picture of how I found things with the NHS.
I have an on-going heart condition and on constant medication, none of which I pay for. I am called annually for review.
At present I am on the list for hip replacement. The Orthopaedic surgeon requested a full Cardiac report so I had all the tests including Angiography. Earlier this week I went for the Pre-op assessment (3 hours) where I met six members of the team all with different responsibilities in the care of an in-patient. Hopefully in the next ten weeks the new 'shock absorber' will be fitted. All this is free gratis and paid for by the taxes of all the workforce. Over the years waiting times were sometimes very long, but that seems to be under revision at the moment. A large number of people join BUPA for private health insurance and use it to upgrade & jump the queue. We live in a 'NOW' world where nobody is prepared to wait their turn... I sometimes wonder what they do with the time saved!
I hear scare stories of people on trolleys for days on end before they are found a bed... mixed wards with men and women in the same ward/room, but I personally have never had to deal with that sort of thing. I have heard people rant and roar at staff in a busy A&E dept, but that is pure ignorance, abusive and disrespectful for fellow human beings. People who are really sick don't have the energy to waste on being rude.
I nursed my husband through Cancer over six years; all but nine weeks were at home. The services came to us. I had no bills.
With modern medicine we are all living longer and the way the health service works will have to change. Illnesses such as cancer, once considered fatal, are now becoming chronic. Joints, limbs and internal organs can be replaced, but there is no such thing as a free lunch... the price is often with (like me) constant reviews and extra medication all costing the state and our pockets to stretch a very long way. We seem to have forgotten that we must die at some stage.

I'm very upset about the direction of health care reform at the moment. I think it's time for a March on Washington. Here's what I wrote on my blog a couple days ago:

I saw in the news today that it looks like Obama is backing away from a public provider option for health care reform. I find this very distressing! For many reasons, meaningful health care reform is not possible without a public option (sorry – health care cooperatives just don’t cut it!)

It’s time for a March on Washington by anyone who has ever been denied coverage (either health or disability), been denied service by an insurer or anyone with a pre-existing condition. (Well, that makes about 100% of the American public, doesn’t it?) If those Democratic outliers in Congress won't do the right thing and support a public option for fear of political fallout, then it's time to give them political cover by visibly demonstrating that MEANINGFUL reform is what most Americans want! Obama's election made that mandate clear.

I’m sick of the wingnuts dictating the terms of the health care debate. It’s time for a March on Washington in favor of REAL reform. Push your friends, neighbors and any activists you know to support a March on Washington in favor of MEANINGFUL health care reform! The time for universal, cost-effective health care is now!

American health care today is an international embarrassment and a disgrace.

Democracy in Action

The past week has been filled with media coverage on the now infamous town hall meetings going on throughout the country. We’ve seen fear, anger, and hate rear their ugly heads. Yet, we have also seen Democracy in Action.

No matter what is said, the bill that was presented included comments that caused fear for the elderly and disabled. Did media play up the fears and promote the anger and hatred? I don’t believe so. They presented to information to us and I happen to believe we are intelligent people who can read, listen and understand what is happening. I give credit to the people who asked intelligent questions. I give credit to the people who spoke up and expressed their fear and anger. That is what democracy is all about. Do you really think that in the days of our patriots, they issued polite comments and worried about being politically correct? I doubt it. They were in a fight to build a country, our country, and they had to raise their voices to be heard. They did not have cable television where every word is put out as it leaves the mouth of an objector. Did their raising their voices have an effect on the crowds? Of course it did, and they did it in town squares and town hall meetings, not on cable television.

We, the people……yes, the people have spoken out. They are concerned about healthcare AND health insurance. They are concerned about taxes and the tremendous amount of money being spent by our leaders. They are concerned about freedom. They are concerned about our great United States. Let them be heard! If you disagree with what they say, you have that right to disagree, and to speak as loudly as they speak.

I, for one, am proud to be an American and I am especially proud of the people who stepped to the microphone and asked intelligent questions and sent an intelligent message to Washington. We, the people……we have spoken.

No one should apologize for being afraid. No one should keep quiet because they disagree. We, the people……Americans….have the right to speak out and the right to be heard by our elected officials, who have an obligation to listen.

Many have said that we should not speak out against the elected officials. They say that the American people voted them in last year and we should let them do their job. Listen folks, their job is to do as we want them to do. It is not written in the constitution that we keep quiet for four years and let them run things the way they want.

Speak out America! Young or old, your opinion is part of our great United States!

By the way, Medicare Advantage Plans are inexpensive, have low deductibles, have a good record on paying and include wellness benefits, eyecare and dental plans. Medicare also affords some of these benefits. Who's listening to the people spreading scare tactics????