Below the fold are excerpts from various reports I read today trying to understand why the future of Social Security and Medicare is such a problem and what the possible solutions might be.

Each party has an intrinsic interest in keeping their bases happy. The Republicans promise more Tax cuts and the Democratic party promises universal health care for all.

While both promises are great for getting politicians elected, neither is possibile without seriously harming our nation's future. Read on to find out why.

As we mercifully approach the end of the Bush Presidency, the pundits will mercilessly begin the process of evaluating his Presidency.  He has failed in so many areas such as foreign policy, diplomacy or lack of it, respect for the constitution and rule of law, the economy, trade and social security to mention only a few, that it is a challenge to know where to begin.  Since the President recently intoned with great bravado and chest-thumping that the fundamentals in the economy are sound, it sounds like a good place to start.

It's an op-ed I never expected to see: a columnist for the center-right Seattle Times making a very strong case for guaranteed healthcare. The entire column is worth a close reading, and since I can't excerpt it all, I'll just try and focus on the main points: 1) public support is growing for single-payer, and 2) it is the only answer to many of the woes plaguing the medical profession, as many doctors now realize.

John Geyman, emeritus professor at the University of Washington medical school, has just published a book that should be essential reading for anyone interested in real health care reform.

Today is the 45th anniversary of Medicare. Don't take Medicare for granted, there are forces in this country determined to destroy it.

Now glance at your mother or your aging father or your grandmother or grandfather and imagine a world without Medicare.

If you're lucky, you too will get old . . .

On July 30 1965, with Harry Truman by his side, Lyndon Johnson signed the legislation creating Medicare.

Johnson told the nation that it had "all started with the man from Independence." Harry S. Truman, Johnson said, had "planted the seeds of compassion and duty" that led to the enactment of Medicare, a national health insurance for the aged through an expanded Social Security system.

Medicare, provides low-cost hospitalization and medical insurance for the nation's elderly. The legislation remains a a landmark legacy of LBJ’s "Great Society" initiative.

By Donna Smith, American SiCKO
Founder,American Patients United
National Co-Chair,PDA's Healthcare Not Warfare campaign
Communications Specialist, California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee

CHICAGO -- Today is the day to celebrate the 43rd anniversary of the Medicare program in the U.S.  And it is the day to rededicate ourselves to the passage of true healthcare reform in America.

Those of us fighting the reform battle see every day the ravages of a system run amok with greed and protected by the power and influence only huge amounts of cash can buy.  

Sick Americans are dying needlessly. Sick Americans are going broke needlessly. Sick Americans are losing homes needlessly. These suffering sick Americans are often insured with private policies that promise access to care and financial protections but fail to deliver when illness strikes. But sick Americans covered under Medicare do not face the same brutal trauma. Thank God.

Take action today and call your Congressional representative to tell them you want every American covered -- everybody in and nobody out -- healthcare for all. Call toll free: 1-866-338-1015.

But the times have changed, my friends...  

•    In the past week, there have been numerous reports that call attention to the disparities among those living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S.  The Kaiser Health Disparities Report has linked to a CBS Evening News story on the disproportionate number of African Americans that have HIV or AIDS.  According to the story, blacks account for 49% of new HIV diagnoses, 69% of AIDS cases among ages 13 to 19 and 56% of AIDS cases among ages 20-24.  Despite these high percentages, blacks only make up 13% of the population:

This week I attended the funeral of an elderly woman who died in a tragic accident in her home, an accident that could have easily been prevented. It was a situation that I would never have imagined could happen. I want to share her story as a warning to those of us who are caregivers for elderly or disabled parents and loved ones.

Many of us in SC are ecstatic that Bush/Barrett were overridden on the Medicare Bill.  Finally, their efforts to reward insurance company’s profits at the cost of American citizens have been thwarted.

According to the Los Angeles Times (link),

   Bush issued the veto in the morning, declaring the bill "objectionable" because it would take funds from private health insurers to keep paying doctors and would be "fiscally irresponsible."

Seniors have been faced with more and more doctors not accepting Medicare patients and what do our elected officials do?  They want to cut payments to doctors by over 10%.  Do they have any idea how tough it is for Medicare patients to find a doctor as it is?

One of the most distressing parts of their attempts is that this bill also provides for mental health and other health services to veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom living in rural areas.  Our elected officials opposed this effort to take care of our veterans.

more after the jump...

Some have asked about my condition.  Some don't know me.  Hope is a theme, and so is frustration.  I think that hope trumps frustration, which is a mere obstacle on the way.

America's Health Insurers to the Rescue . . . of themselves.

AHIP has a new website ahipbelieves.com that lets them jump on the "Health Care Reform" bandwagon. (Warning.  You may want to shower after visiting this site.)

Their plan has 5 "key elements:"

Expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to make eligible all uninsured children from families with incomes under 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

Improving and expanding Medicaid to make eligible all uninsured adults, including single adults, with incomes under 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Line.

Establishing a Universal Health Account (UHA) to allow all individuals to purchase any type of health care coverage and pay for qualified medical expenses with pre-tax dollars, with federal matching grants for contributions made by working families to the UHA.

Establishing a health tax credit of up to $500 for low-income families who secure health insurance for their children.

Establishing a new $50-billion Federal Performance Grant to assist states in expanding access to coverage.

Now let's pick these apart in detail.

Having read the brief diary by edg regarding his mother's health care situation, I think it's as important as ever that we take the time to focus on the real and relevant benefits that a universal single-payer medical system will provide us. And one of those benefits, which I'll discuss briefly, is that single-payer health care (SPHC) can quite likely save social security, while simultaneously adding billions of dollars back into the economy.

Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008

McSame Sh*it, Different Day McSame AWOL, AGAIN, on another crucial vote.  McSame didn't 'show up' to vote on the original Medicare bill, or the veto over ride, thereby default, 'supporting' Bush's opposition/veto.

President Bush this week played a game of chicken on Medicare - and lost.  Congress easily overrode Bush's veto of legislation designed to prevent an 11% cut in physicians' compensation under the health care program for elderly Americans.  And speaking of chicken, John McCain was nowhere to be found.

click here for the full version with references.

The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives rarely presides over proceedings in the House chambers, but instead delegates this prerogative to a Member of the same political party. In the early morning of November 22, 2003, House Speaker Dennis Hastert delegated his presiding officer role to a loyal attendant, my congressman, Doc Hastings.

At exactly 3 a.m., Saturday, November 22, 2003, Richard "Doc" Hastings (R-WA), presiding over the House of Representatives, announced that time for debate on President Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act had expired. "Members will have 15 minutes to record their votes," Hastings declared. Nevertheless, Hastings’’ forecast missed the mark as Hastings reneged on his deadline and delayed the vote’s ending so that Republican leadership could manipulate votes.

At the end of fifteen minutes, the vote was 210 in favor and 224 opposed to the Medicare drug bill. 17 Republicans voted to defeat the measure. Hastings, at the prompting of Republican leaders, refused to end the vote, however.

What is this world coming to? I always thought that if only two things in this world were certain, they were these:

1. It's the members of the Democrat party that flip-flop

2. Ron Paul will always vote against spending money that was stolen by force by the Government from innocent freedom-loving Americans.

Yet today, my beliefs have been cruelly torn asunder. Ron Paul joined the Democrat party in stealing our money, and the Republicans flip-flopped on taking more of our money for the Socialist Medicare program.

I am very, very upset.

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-MN), the Senator you can count on when it doesn't matter, is once again challenging for the title of Republican Champion of Oversight.  This would be the equivalent of world's sharpest spoon, largest shrimp, tallest midget, etc.  He's worked himself up into an a high dudgeon over fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid claims from dead doctors.

“This is simply unacceptable — making sure that the prescribing doctor is alive before paying a claim should be a no-brainer,” Sen. Norm Coleman, the committee’s ranking Republican said in a statement. “It’s time to close this $100 million loophole.”
(Wall Street Journal)

Norm wants to save American taxpayers 2% of what we spend in Iraq each week.

On July 1, the Bush administration imposed a 10.6 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors who care for millions of older Americans.  The cuts are not a budget issue, instead, Republicans are protecting powerful insurance companies at the expense of Medicare patients’ access to doctors.

Congress passed a bipartisan over ride bill [HR 3661] that Bush vetoed today.  Congress promptly over rode the veto a few hours later.

There is a subtle aspect to this drama you may not recognize at first blush that proves "Support the Troops" on the lips of the Republicans is hollow campaign rhetoric.