Report Urges U.S. to Work On Better Health Coverage
Too many Americans are uninsured, weakening the economy, an advisory group says. It calls for wholesale action by 2010.
WASHINGTON - Because the growing number of Americans without health insurance results in unnecessary sickness and death, weakens the nation's economy and undermines the entire health care system, the federal government must begin working now to expand coverage to all Americans by 2010, the Institute of Medicine said Wednesday.
The nonpartisan organization, which advises the government on health issues, declined to endorse a specific strategy for health care reform. But its new report, "Insuring America's Health: Principles and Recommendations," called on President Bush, Congress and the Democratic presidential contenders to reject piecemeal proposals.
After three years of intensive research and five previous reports on the costs of insurance, the institute concluded that "small steps are inadequate," said Mary Sue Coleman, president of the University of Michigan and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report. "It is time to insure America's health."
The Democratic candidates have released proposals that range from incremental expansions of Medicaid, the government's health care program for the poor, to national health insurance. And Bush is expected next week to renew his call for tax credits to help those without health insurance purchase it.
Earlier this week, the administration dismissed calls for universal coverage.
"It's not realistic," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy G. Thompson told reporters. "I don't think, administratively or legislatively, it's feasible."
More than 43 million Americans had no health insurance at any time in 2002, according to the Census Bureau. That year's increase in the share of uninsured Americans, from 14.6% in 2001 to 15.2%, was the largest in a decade.
Calling 43 million "a big, big number," former Sen. Bob Dole, the Republican presidential candidate in 1996, strongly endorsed the institute's report.
Dole called on lawmakers from both parties to cooperate on the issue and encouraged voters to demand specific coverage plans from both Bush and the Democratic presidential nominee.
In spite of "the scope of the problem and the [limited resources] of our federal government," Dole said, "I think we have what it takes to get it done. All we lack is the will to get it done."
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Source: Los Angeles Times, 15 Jan 04 (subscription)
posted at: 13:39 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Duck ala Scalia
Vice President Dick Cheney and Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia spent part of last week duck hunting together at a private camp in southern Louisiana just three weeks after the court agreed to take up the vice president's appeal in lawsuits over his handling of the administration's energy task force.
While Scalia and Cheney are avid hunters and longtime friends, several experts in legal ethics questioned the timing of their trip and said it raised doubts about Scalia's ability to judge the case impartially.
But Scalia rejected that concern Friday, saying, "I do not think my impartiality could reasonably be questioned."
Federal law says "any justice or judge shall disqualify himself in any proceeding in which his impartiality might be questioned." For nearly three years, Cheney has been fighting demands that he reveal whether he met with energy industry officials, including Kenneth L. Lay when he was chairman of Enron, while he was formulating the president's energy policy.
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The pair arrived Jan. 5 on Gulfstream jets and were guests of Wallace Carline, the owner of Diamond Services Corp., an oil services company in Amelia, La. The Associated Press in Morgan City, La., reported the trip on the day the vice president and his entourage departed.
Source: Los Angeles Times 17 Jan 04 (subscription)
posted at: 12:32 | path: | permanent link to this entry
Accidental Expert Blog Recussitated?
For what it's worth, I've decided to wake up this blog, after months of hibernation, as a public clipping file. I haven't got the time these days, or frankly the fortitude, for much in the way of original commentary, but somehow I doubt that yet another opinionated voice will be missed. The fact is, we seem to be in a place where the news more or less explains itself. So here it is, an election year cavalcade of news items that make my head spin. It's the kind of dizziness that begs to be shared.
posted at: 12:28 | path: | permanent link to this entry