tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1928170677546195443.post824909420370193313..comments2024-03-12T10:54:55.432-07:00Comments on Health Train Express: Governance….is it in the Right Place?Gary M. Levinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16205704913440150198noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1928170677546195443.post-48197764750883338302012-09-14T04:34:36.125-07:002012-09-14T04:34:36.125-07:00Good morning, Dr. Levin. I'm here via your Hea...Good morning, Dr. Levin. I'm here via your Health Care Blog link among the comments at Dr. Lamberts' post. I'm a retired layman (food business), not a medical pro, but post retirement I worked five years in a senior living facility owned by a large local healthcare system (five hospitals). And for the last four years I am a non-medical caregiver through an agency. <br /><br />With Medicare and the expected expense of medical care looming, healthcare inflation got my attention several years ago. I have followed the arguments, politics and discussions for the last several years, even as far back as "Hillarycare." As I watched the ACA sausage getting made I felt helpless as various badly needed features were scaled back or tossed out altogether in the political fray. Watching the committee hearings was painful. I recall seeing Max Baucus, Chuck Grassley and Bart Stupak separately on different occasions on C-SPAN -- ALL of whom understood the gravity of the enterprise and were totally conversant with both practical details as well as the political challenges -- either reverse positions or try with no success to reason with their peers or constituents. It was painful to watch. <br /><br />Of course the earliest portion to be canned, even after the act was passed, was the CLASS Act, put in at the last minute as a gesture honoring the late Ted Kennedy. The concept was viable (and still could be made workable) but actuarially unrealistic as it was written. <br /><br />After all the political blood has been drawn, there was nothing left to save the CLASS Act, so the long-term care problem gets tossed into the already inadequate Medicaid pile. As usual, those who can afford care will get it and those who cannot will be obliged to settle for what they can find in the torn and overloaded so-called "safety net." <br /><br />My purpose in leaving a comment is to encourage you to keep up the good work and try to make this PPACA monstrosity work some kind of way. The crazy soundbites maligning "Obamacare" are both ignorant and mean-spirited. It's by no means as good as it might have been, but it's light years ahead of the out of control system it's crafted to tighten up. As you might gather from the comments at Dr. Lamberts' post, there is still a lot of opposition. So I urge you to join forces with those who would try to make it work rather than those working to dismantle ACA.<br /><br />Thanks for reading. Johnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11858939352263715787noreply@blogger.com