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Brian's story

by Brian Johnstone,  HCAO 3 Villages
Also published on The Daily Kos  

I offered my support to Health Care for All-Oregon after hearing a talk show on KBOO, and I admit to being a little confused. Most advocates are still trying to imagine what a Universal Health Care system would mean to so many people, as Oregonians first of course, because it looks like the US is going to have to do it state-by-state, so far behind is the national consciousness lagging.

Perhaps I could help by relating what it is like from a British point of view, having been born into the NHS (National Health Service, instigated in 1948). I'll mostly use the Scottish model as my reference point, bein' as how it's my home country, but I've had care in England and the Irish Republic, mostly for rugby injuries.  They pretty much work the same way, at least from a patient's point of view.

 

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Coverage may be unaffordable for low-wage workers

by RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR | Associated Press – 6/13/13

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's called the Affordable Care Act, but President Barack Obama's health care law may turn out to be unaffordable for many low-wage workers, including employees at big chain restaurants, retail stores and hotels.

That might seem strange since the law requires medium-sized and large employers to offer "affordable" coverage or face fines.

But what's reasonable? Because of a wrinkle in the law, companies can meet their legal obligations by offering policies that would be too expensive for many low-wage workers. For the employee, it's like a mirage — attractive but out of reach.

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Health Care Financing 101: T.R. Reid’s Primer for Health Care Advocates

By Robert Fischer, HCAO-Bandon, June 2013

T.R. Reid’s The Healing of America* should be required reading for single payer advocates. The book is virtually a primer on health care financing. Reid says health care systems around the world tend to follow general patterns, and there are four basic arrangements.

 

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Can we have an honest discussion about health care freedom?

Published in Blue Oregon, June 12, 2013
By Vicki Dunaway. Vicki resides in Lincoln County, working part-time as a substitute mail carrier and office assistant to a local nutritionist.

Being forced to pay a giant corporation for health insurance, as will be required under the Affordable Care Act, is certainly not my idea of freedom. On that I agree with the Tea Party. However, being forced to pay a giant corporation for health CARE, with or without the benefit of insurance, is not exactly the epitome of liberty, either. Nor is going deep into debt to a big bank to pay medical bills.

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30 Million To Remain Uninsured Under Obamacare: New State-By-State Estimates At Health Affairs Blog

Published in Medical News Today, June 7, 2013

Harvard and CUNY researchers say 4.9 million Texans and 3.7 million Californians will still be uninsured in 2016

A study released recently on the Health Affairs blog finds that between 29.8 million and 31.0 million people will remain uninsured after the implementation of the Affordable Care Act in 2016 and breaks down those figures by state.

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Rising cost of colchicine portrays an American health care conundrum

By Guest Columnist  Majd Isreb  on OregonLive, May 21, 2013

"This medication is not only therapeutic, it's also diagnostic!" my rheumatology professor told us during my internal medicine residency, describing one of our oldest medications. "If the patient's arthritic pain resolves rapidly after taking colchicine, then he definitely has gout. This drug is also very cheap!" he said. Today, this medication, which has been on the market since the '60s, is no longer available except in one form that costs at least $5 per pill -- if you're lucky.

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