At town hall meetings, conferences, and on the campaign trails, I am often asked: “Why not a public option?” As a physician who cares for patients and families struggling with our current health care “system,” here’s why I want Medicare For All, not a public option or “Medicare for all who want it.”

A public option does not lead to universal health care – or savings.
Back in 2013, the Congressional Budget Office reported that a public option “would have minimal effects … on the number of people who would be uninsured.” That’s cold comfort to the 30 million uninsured today, who are disproportionately poor and working class, and disproportionately people of color.

To make matters worse, a public option will not save us money in health care. Billions of dollars will continue to flow away from needy patients and toward greedy profiteers. With a public option, we can’t join together and push back against Big Pharma to lower prescription drug prices.

Medicare For All achieves colossal savings. By eliminating the private insurance industry’s obstacle courses and busy work, Medicare For All saves over $500 billion a year in administrative spending. Through Medicare For All, we will confront Big Pharma corporations and negotiate on behalf of all 327 million of us, saving $113 billion a year.

A public option adds another fragment to an already ridiculous amount of fragmentation in health care.
Every day, patients and doctors are grappling with endless obstacles from multiple insurance companies. For example, after difficult trial and error, my patients and I find a set of prescriptions to manage a problem like asthma, only to find out that the insurance company no longer covers some of the inhalers prescribed.

My patients with “good” insurance find their network of providers is shrinking. Specialists whom my patients have seen for years are no longer covered. Finding new prescriptions and specialists is time-consuming and puts my patients’ health on the line.

Multiply these problems (and the frustration of receiving timely reimbursements from insurance) across several insurance companies and a doctor’s many, many patients and the cost is staggering: $83,000 per year for the average practice. An American physician spends on average three weeks of every year haggling with insurance companies. A public option just adds one more fragment in an overly fragmented health care system and furthers the prioritization of profits over patients.

Doctors and nurses should spend their time and effort with patients, not paperwork. By eliminating private insurance, Medicare for All ends the costly and time consuming fragmentation of the current healthcare system.

A public option will not stop the greed machines of the insurance industry.
Even with the Affordable Care Act, dire financial consequences remain for those who face a health crisis. Four in 10 Americans struggle to pay premiums, medical bills, or out-of-pocket medical costs. Half of us have a family member who avoids necessary medical care or prescriptions because of cost. Meanwhile, insurance corporations’ profits grow: one company (UnitedHealth) is projected to make over $260 billion in revenue this year.

We have to be real with ourselves about working with insurance companies and Big Pharma. Good-faith partners in our health would not deny patients health care for the sake of profits. Good-faith partners in health would not spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to undermine the provisions and regulations in the Affordable Care Act.

Politicians supporting a public option want it to co-exist with the greed machines of the insurance industry, thinking these multibillion dollar corporations will play fair or wither away quietly. There is no reasoning with the avarice of private insurance corporations. They must be defeated.

For the sake of our patients, more and more health care providers are joining the Medicare for All movement to fight the insurance industry and Big Pharma. Together, we can make health care a human right.

Dr. Sanjeev Sriram is senior adviser to Social Security Works.

https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/485971-3-reasons-doctors-want-medicare-for-all-not-a-public-option

As government officials race to limit the spread of the new c****av***s, fundamental elements of the U.S. health care system—deductibles, networks, and a complicated insurance bureaucracy—that already make it tough for many Americans to afford medical care under normal conditions will likely make the outbreak worse.

More than 140 cases of the c****av***s have been confirmed in the United States so far, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker. But as the CDC makes the test for the v***s more widely available, the structure of the U.S. health care system is complicating the response.

For one, people must actually choose to get tested—a potentially expensive prospect for millions of Americans. While the government will cover the cost of testing for Medicaid and Medicare patients, and for tests administered at federal, state and local public health labs, it’s unclear how much patients will be charged for testing at academic or commercial facilities, or whether those facilities must be in patients’ insurance networks. Just recently, a Miami man received a $3,270.75 bill after going to the hospital feeling sick following a work trip to China. (He tested positive for the seasonal flu, so did not have the new c****av***s, and was sent home to recover.)

Trump Says the U.S. is 'Very, Very Ready' to Deal With C****av***s Outbreak
President Donald Trump is pushing back against criticism that his administration isn't doing enough to meet the c****av***s threat.
Play Video
Those who test positive for C****-** possibly face an even more financially harrowing path forward. Seeking out appropriate medical care or submitting to quarantines—critical in preventing the v***s from spreading further—both come with potentially astronomical price tags in the U.S. Last month, a Pennsylvania man received $3,918 in bills after being released from a mandatory U.S. government quarantine after he and his daughter were evacuated from China. (Both the Miami and Pennsylvania patients saw their bills decrease after journalists reported on them, but they still owe thousands.)

More than 27 million Americans currently do not have health insurance of any kind, and even more are underinsured. But those who do have adequate health insurance are hardly out of the woods. Many current health plans feature massive deductibles—the amount you have to spend each year before your insurance kicks in. In 2019, 82% of workers with health insurance through their employer had an annual deductible, up from 63% a decade ago, according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The average deductible for a single person with employer insurance has increased 162% in that time, from $533 in 2009 to $1,396 last year.

More than one quarter of employees, and nearly half of those at small companies, have an annual deductible of at least $2,000. Those who are covered by Obamacare marketplace plans face an even bigger hurdle: the average deductible for an individual bronze plan last year was $5,861, according to Health Pocket, a site that helps consumers shop for health insurance.

For many Americans, paying down an unexpected bill of that size is almost unthinkable. Nearly 40% of U.S. adults say they wouldn’t be able to cover a $400 emergency with cash, savings or a credit card they could easily pay off, according to the Federal Reserve.

Research has shown that even in non-outbreak situations, high deductibles lead people to reduce their spending on health care and delay treatment or prescription drugs, which can pose particularly tough problems for patients with chronic illness or diseases that need early detection. The timing of the new c****av***s at the beginning of the year makes the outlook even worse: because most deductibles reset each January, millions of Americans will be paying thousands out of pocket before their insurance companies pay a cent.

“Most likely most people haven’t started paying down their deductible,” explains Adrianna McIntyre, a health policy researcher at Harvard. “For care they seek, unless it’s covered as zero dollar coverage before the deductible, they could be on the hook for the full cost of their visit, the diagnostic testing and other costs related to seeking care or diagnosis of c****av***s.”

Half of Americans report that they or a family member have put off care in the past because they couldn’t afford it. Others have gone without care because they couldn’t find an in-network provider, or couldn’t determine how much care would cost in advance, so decided not to risk seeking medical attention.

For more go to.............................................

https://time.com/5794672/health-insurance-deductibles-c****av***s/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=the-brief&utm_content=20200305&xid=newsletter-brief

Trump blasted for spreading c****av***s ‘misinformation’ in Fox News interview with Sean Hannity

President Donald Trump spread misinformation about the c****av***s during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity — and faced furious outrage afterward.

The president insisted the World Health Organization’s estimated 3.4 percent death rate from COVI-19 was a “false number,” and said he had a “hunch” that it was actually below 1 percent, along with a number of other highly misleading claims about the outbreak and other topics.

pic.twitter.com/hmcOfwHgAK

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 5, 2020

Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.
Other social media users were shocked that he’d post portions of the interview, because so many of his claims were demonstrably false.

Wow you listened to that and thought it should be posted?
Listen again.

— Byron Ricketts (@BJR3_Boston) March 5, 2020

Hannity interviewing @realDonaldTrump is just a monologue.

— Paul Samuel (@PaulSam27131285) March 5, 2020

His ignorance is the contagion I worry about

— AndHowDoesThatMakeYouFeel (@BlondeMFT) March 5, 2020

It’s difficult to wrap your head around the fact that the president called into a TV show & made a series of statements during a p******c directly contradicting public health advice. The mind boggles at how reckless & dangerous that is. People who follow his bad advice could die.

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) March 5, 2020

Donald Trump on the Fox @seanhannity show said he had a HUNCH that the death rate from c****av***s is not really 3+% & symptoms may be so mild that U might even go to work.

WTF, U malignantly narcissistic anti-science f*cking moron, y\misinformation puts lives in jeopardy!!!

— Ken Derow:TAKE5:Radically Disrupts Snack Cravings (@KenDerow) March 5, 2020

#TrumpLiesAboutC****av***s #c****av***s @POTUS made dangerous FALSE statements via his paid talk host – @seanhannity – #V**eHimOut #TurnTheSenateBlue #JoeBiden2020

— This Military/GOP Family Is V****g Blue (@NewEnglander54) March 5, 2020

@CDCgov @CDCDirector Does anyone at CDC have the courage to tell Mr Trump that his misinformation about C****av***s that he is putting out is dangerous and will harm those who listen to him? CDC has a responsibility to America. Live up to your responsibility

— Michael F Ozaki MD (@brontyman) March 5, 2020

in the future i think we'll be safer if we make p**********l candidates go thru various IQ testing, emotional IQ testing, personality type surveys and wh**ever else would be relevant in ensuring our president has the mental capacity to process even the simplest of concepts

— (@meatballsandwi4) March 5, 2020

V***ses famously respect sovereign borders and do not cross into other territories without permission.

— Mike Beauvais (@MikeBeauvais) March 5, 2020

This is worthy of Article 25 alone. JFC

— Dennis Grogan (@GroganDennis) March 5, 2020

He has no idea how the world works. I knew about Spanish flu, SARS, MERS, bird flu, the "normal flu", etc. My caution with this began with one tweet. pic.twitter.com/dG5OJHTOsS

— Mary Quite Contrary (@ContraryMeri) March 5, 2020

"They called it the Spanish Flu. You know, you don't think our country was affected. Then you find out it was and it was very, very not good"

— Patrick Petrelli (@PatrickPetrell1) March 5, 2020

Because this is what China looks like: pic.twitter.com/R5kCXl8lRB

— looking for their humanity (@Fed_up___) March 5, 2020

Stupidity level: LETHAL

— Andrew Wortman (@AmoneyResists) March 5, 2020

Trump would prefer the c****av***s death rate to be lower, so he says, based on a "hunch" and "a lot of conversations", that HE'D say the number is "way under 1%".

Trump is casting doubt on WHO (World Health Organization) reports. Distrusting their numbers. Disinformation.

— Kate Langer (@illunse) March 5, 2020

Listening to him.

They go to work, they go to work and get better very rapidly.

This is the leader of the free world.

Great.

"They go to work". pic.twitter.com/bb9cPY2MUn

— Kyle Ruggles (@kyleruggles) March 5, 2020

Here is the President of the United States telling the country it's okay to go to work with C****av***s.

Trump is trying to k**l us. pic.twitter.com/2GafbJTOxn

— Big Boss (@escapedmatrix) March 5, 2020

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/03/hes-trying-to-k**l-us-trump-blasted-for-spreading-c****av***s-misinformation-in-fox-news-interview-with-sean-hannity/?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3886

The backdrop to President Donald Trump’s recent visit to India was eerily disquieting and strikingly dissonant — p**********l pleasantries exchanged in almost a Shakespearean contrast to the religiously driven r**ting just miles away. As both an Indian and an American, I have never been more heartbroken than I was to hear of President Trump’s endorsement of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policies on “religious freedom.”

In India, the worst of history may be repeating itself. The first time was the 1947 partition — the largest mass migration in history. India and Pakistan were delivered by cesarean at the hands of the British, and the incision left 20 million displaced and over 1 million lives lost. This wound remains raw in the institutional memories of our families.

Recent events in India have led to tensions perhaps equally seething.

In August, Prime Minister Modi revoked articles in India's constitution that had provided autonomous status to the Muslim majority region of Jammu and Kashmir and that had given Kashmiris the right to legal self-determination and permanent residency. Done under the veil of economic development, this revocation was accompanied by well-documented internet and telecommunication blackouts, mass detentions and widespread beatings and extrajudicial k*****gs, as well as the addition of nearly 40,000 Indian troops in what was already the world’s most militarized zone.

The same month, the Indian government implemented a National Registry of Citizens in the northeastern state of Assam, effectively rendering two million people, mostly Muslims, as stateless.

The final insult came in December when India's Parliament approved the Citizenship Amendment Act, which provides undocumented migrants of certain religious minorities a pathway to citizenship but notably excludes Muslims.

Millions of Indians now fear they will be targeted for mass detention or deportation. In the history of modern India, this legislation has been the first to explicitly target a religious minority, a sea change in India’s standing as a secular democracy.

What is perhaps equally abhorrent as this lack of regard for human rights and international law by the world’s largest democracy, is the global community’s anemic response — exemplified by the pomp and circumstance of Trump’s visit.

In 2014, in the months following Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the United States along with allied partners enacted crippling sanctions on Russia, limiting access to Western markets, enacting export embargoes and freezing assets of key personnel.

In stark contrast, in the months following India's effective annexation of Kashmir, Modi has continued to be received with international fanfare. In September, he joined Trump at a massive rally in Houston, Texas. The same week, Modi received a prestigious award from Bill Gates on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and announced joint initiatives in financial services at the Bloomberg Business Forum.

The U.S. Congress has opened public hearings on Kashmir, and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights has harshly criticized India’s actions -- yet, there has been no overt diplomatic or economic reprimand of India. While India is a trusted U.S. ally, I believe it runs counter to our own self-interest to maintain double standards around issues of international law, human rights and religious freedom. Clearly, much more can be done.

Rather than offer public praise for Modi’s policies, the Trump administration should consider bold action, including the prospect of economic sanctions leveraging the $142 billion bilateral trade relationship, which would prove timely during a sluggish period for the Indian economy and which has support from a federal bipartisan foreign policy commission.

On the private-sector side, foreign investors should temper their enthusiasm for India. What’s problematic is the complete disconnect between a country’s record on human rights and foreign direct investment. If Modi’s presence at the Bloomberg Forum was suggestive of anything, it was that there will be even further business ties with the U.S. corporate sector. The U.S.-India Business Council, a coalition of roughly 250 of the largest businesses operating in both the U.S. and India, has notably remained mum on the issue of Kashmir, Assam and assaults on religious freedom. How symbolically powerful would it be if council members reminded Modi that the business sector stands for international law and human rights.

India is not only the world’s largest democracy but also the world’s youngest, most plural democracy, with 600 million people under the age of 25. I can’t help but think about 2050, as this generation comes of age, when India will be home to the world’s largest Muslim population, which now feels its home is in jeopardy.

If India won’t honor the pluralism that comes with an inclusive, multicultural democracy, the U.S. and others should do more to safeguard these norms. The wounds of partition are only now healing, and it would be a grave mistake to reopen them.

Dr. Akash Goel is a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell/NewYork Presbyterian Hospital and has been recognized by the U.N. and awarded a Cannes Lion for his work in human rights advocacy.

https://thehill.com/opinion/international/485763-the-disquieting-t***h-of-trumps-visit-to-india