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As of mid-August 2009, there were six (6) lobbyists per single (1) member of House and Senate (Bloomberg News). That's 6:1, folks. Just for healthcare reform. For financial industry reform, there are 2,400 lobbyists in play. The Chamber of Commerce spent $26.2 million--in the first 2 quarters (6 months) of 2009. Clearly, private industries and their foot soldiers on K Street/Capitol Hill influence/dictate American policymaking. No matter who's 'voted in,' it's the influence machine that rules Washington. Worse, there's a good chance that the Supreme Court will grant corporations (as 'fictive persons') to spend unlimited dollars in funding electoral campaigns. Is there hope that this country will be a democracy one day? Or is it doomed to become increasingly, irrevocably plutocratic?

As of mid-August 2009, there were six (6) lobbyists per single (1) member of House and Senate (Bloomberg News). That's 6:1, folks. Just for healthcare reform. For financial industry reform, there are 2,400 lobbyists in play. The Chamber of Commerce spent $26.2 million--in the first 2 quarters (6 months) of 2009.

I've contributed a lot to this discussion.  Perhaps I've been obssessive.  I'm concerned about the state of healthcare in this country, though.  I'm upset about the rampant myths and lies being tossed around about healthcare reform.  I'm concerned about all the lazy thinking we citizens are exhibiting. Misinformation, misunderstandings, bias, prejudice, narrowly self-interested polemics, anger, manipulations, and nastiness are badly hurting the process (and probable outcome) of healthcare reform debates and efforts. I can't NOT write long, detailed comments when I read stuff that's...well...WHACK!

In every industrialized nation, the movement to reform health care has begun with stories about cruelty. The Canadians had stories like the 1946 Toronto Globe and Mail report of a woman in labor who was refused help by three successive physicians, apparently because of her inability to pay. In Australia, a 1954 letter published in the Sydney Morning Herald sought help for a young woman who had lung disease. She couldn't afford to refill her oxygen tank, and had been forced to ration her intake "to a point where she is on the borderline of death." In Britain, George Bernard Shaw was at a London hospital visiting an eminent physician when an assistant came in to report that a sick man had arrived requesting treatment. "Is he worth it?" the physician asked. It was the normality of the question that shocked Shaw and prompted his scathing and influential 1906 play, "The Doctor's Dilemma." The British health system, he charged, was "a conspiracy to exploit popular credulity and human suffering."

Given the success of the coverage expansion, Massachusetts policymakers are turning to the next phase of health reform - reigning in health care costs.

Blog on Medicare, Medicaid, pharma, biotech, health reform, and more. Insights and resources on hot issues. Authored by a health care strategist, speaker, and writer. Expert on Medicare, Medicaid, and pharma, biotech, and device industries

While 45,000 die every year for lack of health insurance, "The GOP health insurance reform plan is this: Just don't get sick! And if you do--die quickly!" Or...first, go bankrupt. Then get on your knees and beg for charity. If this doesn't work, then resort to the final solution: "Die quickly!"

Why Paying for Health Care Reform Is Difficult and Essential - Numbers and Rules. In a short few paragraphs, Dr. Aaron elegantly simplifies and quantifies why finding the $1 trillion for universal coverage is so difficult. He concludes, realistically, soberly,

A Senate panel has until Sept. 15 to deliver a bipartisan healthcare overhaul package before Democratic leaders take steps to push a bill without broad Republican support, a senior member of the Finance Committee said. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), vice chairman of the Democratic Conference, said that the party has "contingencies in place" that would make it highly likely a bill could pass the Senate without GOP votes, but warned such mechanisms would be used as a "last resort." "Healthcare reform is just too important," he said, adding that it can't be left to "wither on the vine."

Patient Centered Learning: The solution is to permit alternatives to rigid institutions, utilize free internet programs, and have medical students assist practicing physicians by assisting practicing physicians in taking patient histories. These students would offer valuable, free services to doctors. At the same time, they would have a vivid learning experience by spending several hours each day interacting with actual patients. The Cost Of Medical Education Would Be Negligible. The expense of healthcare is directly proportional to the cost of the doctor's education. With the institutional bottleneck gone, there would be a greater number of doctors, and the cost of healthcare would plummet.

"I think this is the civil rights issue of our generation: access to appropriate healthcare is a human right." ~Mad as Hell Doctors

A non-institutional, patient-centered educational plan would produce an abundant supply of compassionate, innovative, prevention-oriented doctors at an extremely low cost. Additionally, the pace of medical research would be sharply accelerated.

Conservatively speaking, there are thousands of people with chronic illnesses who have educated themselves about their conditions via the internet. They quickly managed to become more familiar with their diseases than the physicians who treat them.

Michael Moore addresses press on Barack Obama and Blue Dog Democrats' approach to health care reform at Public Citizen headquarters in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, September 29th, 2009.

A $10 billion investment in community health centers, expected to go to $14 billion when Congress completes work on health care reform legislation, was included in a final series of changes to the Senate bill unveiled today. The provision, which would provide primary care for 25 million more Americans, was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).