Mark Trahant: A new debate emerges on health care reform
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Filed Under:
Health
|
Opinion
"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was signed into law on March 23, 2010. And, now a different kind of debate begins. Federal agencies, primarily at the Department of Health and Human Services and Treasury are writing regulations to implement the new law. There will be fights over words like “quality” or how we define and measure success.
Heck, the government cannot even talk about the law without generating controversy. Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell called a new Medicare brochure little more than propaganda. “The flyer purports to inform seniors about what the health care bill would mean for them. Much of it directly contradicts what the administration’s own experts have said about the law,” McConnell said. “So this is a complete outrage, and it’s precisely the kind of thing Americans are so angry about at the moment.”
That anger, however, depends on your point of view. In a few days, the health care reform law will become real to many seniors when they receive $250 rebate checks to fill-in the “donut hole” for the drug coverage gap in Medicare Part D. Imagine the conversation in even conservative states when seniors start calling their congressional offices after a member proposes repeal. (“You want to take away my coverage?”)
Then again I understand the anger and the angst from many Americans about health care reform. When I started this project my hope was to communicate some of the lessons about “government run” health care to a larger audience. There is a lot to learn from what the government already manages in the health care arena. But the fact is the country is not ready for that conversation. Indeed, even a simple brochure, one similar to those produced by government agencies everyday generates a new manufactured controversy when it involves health care reform."
Get the Story:
A year goes by fast: A big picture look as the health care debate accelerates
(Mark Trahant 5/31)
Related Stories:
Mark Trahant: Questions about tribes and health
reform law (5/24)
Mark Trahant: IHS not
threatened by health reform litigation (5/17)
Mark Trahant: An employee's view of Indian Health
Service (5/10)
Mark Trahant: Measuring
progress of Indian Health Service (5/3)
Mark Trahant: Health care reform brings more jobs
to IHS (4/27)
Mark Trahant: IHCIA brings
hope for urban Indian health (4/19)
Mark
Trahant: Health reform debate to continue for years (4/12)
Mark Trahant: Should Native Americans buy own
insurance (4/5)
Mark Trahant: Obama's
exciting pick for Medicaid agency (3/30)
Mark Trahant: Delivering promises for Indian health
care (3/22)
Mark Trahant: Health care
reform vote as a litmus test (3/15)
Mark
Trahant: Facebook group gathers IHS war stories (3/8)
Mark Trahant: IHS not mentioned at Blair House
summit (3/1)
Mark Trahant: Reaching
consensus on Indian health (2/22)
Mark
Trahant: Alaska Natives create a model system (2/15)
Mark Trahant: Growing the IHS budget in tough times
(2/8)
Mark Trahant: Transparency and
Indian Health Service (2/1)
Mark
Trahant: Transparency in health care reform bill (1/25)
Mark Trahant: Starting over on Indian health reform
bill (1/20)
Mark Trahant: IHS Director
Roubideaux on passing IHCIA (1/18)
Mark
Trahant: Business model for Indian Health Service (1/12)
Mark Trahant: Some resoluting on Indian tobacco use
(1/6)
Mark Trahant: IHCIA now a part of
Senate health bill (12/21)
Mark Trahant:
Projects improve Indian health care (12/14)
Mark Trahant: Work together for health care reform
(12/8)
Mark Trahant: Health care system
tied to economy (12/7)
Mark Trahant:
Health reform bill tests democracy (11/30)
Mark Trahant: Health reform boosts Indian Country
(11/23)
Mark Trahant: Health care reform
dead in Senate (11/17)
Mark Trahant: New
Republican 'interest' in IHCIA (11/2)
Rep.Hastings objects to IHCIA in health reform bill
(10/30)
Mark Trahant: Send Medicaid
funds right to IHS (10/29)
Mark Trahant:
Health care debate drags on and... (10/26)
Mark Trahant: Guaranteed rights to health care
(10/19)
Mark Trahant: Health care debate
not over (10/12)
Mark Trahant:
Effortless Indian Country care (10/5)
Mark Trahant: Tribal provisions in health reform
(9/28)
Mark Trahant: Taxation of tribal
health benefits (9/21)
Mark Trahant:
Indian Health Service paradox (9/17)
Mark Trahant: Indian exemption and insurance
(9/16)
Mark Trahant: Revive the public
health hospital (9/14)
Mark Trahant:
Grandma and health care reform (9/9)
Mark Trahant: Ted Kennedy steps aside for health
(8/31)
Mark Trahant: Tribes, IHS and
health coverage (8/25)
Mark Trahant:
Ideas for health care reform (8/17)
Mark
Trahant: Duality in Indian health care (8/10)
Mark Trahant: Health care from a different view
(8/4)
Mark Trahant: Indian businesses
and health care (7/28)
Mark Trahant:
First Americans are last in health (7/21)
Mark Trahant: Getting into Indian health reform
(7/14)
Mark Trahant: Lessons from Indian
Country health (7/10)
Mark Trahant: IHS
isn't broken, just underfunded (7/9)
Mark Trahant: Indian health care at the local level
(7/8)
Copyright © Indianz.Com
Subscribe