Rep. J. Randy Forbes (VA) recently published a "health care playbook" to take on the health care reform fight in America. With offensive plays and defensive schemes, Forbes offers goals and ideas for reforming health care the right way. See the following document to go with the the playbook:
Baucus’ “America’s Healthy Future Act” by the Numbers Is it really a healthy future for America? 0 — Pages of legislative text CBO staff or the public have been able to read $829 billion - Total cost of the revised bill over 10 years (compared to $738 billion for the original mark) 10 - 20 – Estimated percent increase in cost of health insurance premiums expected for young Americans 3 million – Americans to whom “If you like your health plan you can keep it,” does not apply – since they lose their employer-based coverage 25 million – Number of uninsured Americans still without health care insurance, even after 10 years $88,000 — Level of annual family income which would receive government handouts to buy health insurance $404 billion — Total Medicare and Medicaid cuts $133 billion – Cuts to Medicare Advantage plans, which serves 1 out of 5 seniors $1.4 trillion — CBO estimate of the federal budget deficit in fiscal year 2009 alone, $950 billion greater than the shortfall recorded in 2008 9.9 — Percent of gross domestic product (GDP) occupied by the 2009 deficit, up from 3.2 percent in 2008, and the highest shortfall - relative to the size of the economy - since 1945 14 million — Number of people shoved into CHIP and Medicaid – despite that Medicaid denies people access to 40% of physicians, has poorer health outcomes, and bankrupts states $80 billion — Estimated amount of taxpayer dollars lost every year due to Medicare and Medicaid fraud 0 — Prohibitions on taxpayer funds being used to pay for abortions or mandated plans covering abortions 1 - Panel of unelected, unaccountable panel of bureaucrats who will make coverage and payment decisions $201 billion – Total taxes on high cost plans $461 billion – Government handouts to Americans to help them purchase coverage 10 – Percentage at which taxes are projected to grow per year toward the end of the budget window $100 billion – Amount more than the Chairman’s Mark as introduced which is spent without increasing the number of covered Americans $29 billion – Taxes raised from the makers of medical devices, life-saving drugs, and federally-mandated health insurance $184 - $556 billion - CBO estimate of different provisions needed to modify the Sustainable Growth Rate mechanism that Medicare uses to set fees for physicians’ services
See an excerpt here of a recent editorial Forbes wrote, entitled "Wins in Health Care":
A poll I came across this week noted that most Americans now want Congress to do nothing rather than to pass the proposed healthcare plan, a statistic that is interesting considering that most Americans simultaneously believe that something needs to be done to address problems within our healthcare system.
What the poll represents is a growing frustration that Americans have, not with healthcare reform in general, but with the exhaustive, politically-charged debate that has occurred over the past few months. Americans are tired of listening to politicians argue the nuances of lengthy legislation. Americans are worn out after raising their voices against a government-run healthcare plan, only to find their elected representatives in Washington still considering such an option. Americans are tired of watching political parties fighting for the sake of fighting. Americans simply don’t want to stomach the healthcare debate any longer. And who can blame them? “Bipartisan solutions” has become a paradoxical phrase and the source of late-night talk show jokes. Americans have lost faith in their government leaders and in the credibility of their Congress.
But the reality is we do need to do something in healthcare. While Americans realize this, it seems most of the leadership in Washington has not. At the most basic level, Americans want to be able to look at solutions proposed by their government leaders and say “Yes – that solution is simple and it makes sense to me. That is something we need to do.”
Despite the infighting that has occurred over the past few months, there are areas of common ground in healthcare. One of those areas in particular is the belief that individuals ought to be able to depend on their health insurance coverage to be there when they need it.