Health Care Reform Research on Election Day

Okay, folks. As someone who has become addicted to using his iPhone for web surfing when stuck in lines, I'm going to provide an election day resource list for those of you doing just that. Here are some of the pertinent pages available online so that you can do any last minute research while waiting for your opportunity to be part of the process. With record level voter turnout expected, and long lines across the nation during early voting a few days ago, I am willing to say it's a safe bet you may find some time on your hands.

• Scott Whipple of The New Britain Herald takes a look at likely outcomes for health care should either side win. [link]
• Channel 6 Action News, an ABC affiliate, provides video comparing the candidates' plans. [link]
  
• Paul Krugman compares the plans in an Op-Ed for The New York Times. [link]
• The AP Fact Check article by Calvin Woodward covers many issues as well as health care [link]
• The Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily Health Policy Alert [link]

Let us hope that we all have the opportunity and the motivation to participate in this election. No matter which way things go, it will have a drastic impact on health care for every American. In the meantime, I hope that some of today's post is useful for the iPhone, Blackberry, and Google Phone set!

Thank you for being part of the process! Let us hope for a healthy four years!

photo courtesy of SanFranAnnie used under its Creative Commons license

Oval Office: One Week Away

It is one week until Americans everywhere cast their vote for the future of our nation and the future of its health care system. This is an historic year and one in which the choices we make are of incredible importance.

With that in mind, I'd like to point you towards a piece from USA Today that is great for an overview of the candidates' plans. Composed by the publication's editors, it endorses a strongly bipartisan approach similar to the one that Sen. Ron Wyden has proposed.

Nonetheless, it does help dispel some of the fog of rhetoric that has surrounded the claims on both sides since the election cycle began. Citing highly pertinent, impartial sources like The Annenberg FactCheck and the Kaiser Family Foundation, and deconstructing the media/advertising spin, it does a pretty concise job of laying everything out for the thoughtful voter.

Ultimately, the best health care plan might combine elements of both McCain's market-based reforms with mandates to make sure that everyone has access to coverage. Given how contentious the campaign has been, that might seem far-fetched. But Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has a plan to do just that.

Even if Democrats pad their congressional majorities on Nov. 4, many of the tough issues that this nation faces won't be solved without bipartisanship. Health care reform is no exception.

Certainly well worth examining. Follow the Fact Check link when you read it.

SOURCE: "Health care Rx: Mix up McCain's and Obama's plans" 10/27/08
photo courtesy of Jeff Milner, used under its Creative Commons license

Union vs. McCain: Round Two

My last post on this blog talked about the recently launched ad campaign levied against Sen. McCain by the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE). In that post we looked at an example of the YouTube ad and I offered ruminations on the way that the union is leveraging old and new media to get the word out.

Today lets take a look at what the Annenberg Political Fact Check has to say about the content of those ads. (I really hope these guys pay a lot of attention to health care during the upcoming six months. Their objective analysis of the facts behind the spin is usually indispensable.) Here is one small excerpt from their extensively documented breakdown:

The AFL-CIO, in documentation it provided to FactCheck.org, cites four specific votes as support for this allegation. Three of them were against Democratic amendments to the annual budget bill in 2004, 2005 and 2006. And all of them failed along party lines in a Republican-controlled Senate. But in each case, McCain later supported different amendments to increase veterans' health benefits, either on the same day or the following day.

Specifically, in 2004 McCain voted against an increase of $1.8 billion, but an increase of $1.2 billion passed by unanimous consent. In 2005 he voted against an increase of $2.8 billion, then voted for a $410 million increase. And in 2006, he voted against a $1.5 billion increase, then voted for an $823 million increase.

In the increasingly complex flurry of opinion, fact, spin, and rhetoric that surrounds this issue it is more vital than ever to dig down to the roots of any claims made. This is true for both the views you support and the ones that you disagree with.

Think of it like electronic medical records vs. the current system. In the current system the details of a patients health issues can be fragmented across several different hard copy filing systems, each offering only an incomplete picture of the case. The confusion and possibility for mis-diagnosis is high, just as it is when bombarded by the (often ad hominem) arguments and spin surrounding the debate. Just as electronic medical records, once implemented, will allow reconciliation of data from disparate sources and act as a preventative against mistaken assessment of the situation, use of fact checking resources like the Annenberg Political Fact Check can help you reconcile the claims with the realities as the national discussion continues.

SOURCE: "AFL-CIO Falsely Attacks McCain" 07/10/08
photo courtesy of World Economic Forum, used under its Creative Commons license