Willy wrote on Nov 25, 2007 6:13 AM:The Assemblyman is misinformed. We already have a government run healthcare system in California. Medicare and MediCal, are government programs that call the medical care shots for over half of the health care visits. The major insurance companies administer the medical care on a contract basis, and provide "medical management" for about a quarter of the private insurance visits. About a quarter of the visits are outside the contracted management of the major insurance companies. These generally become bad debts for hospitals and clinics. In other words, 75% of the medical care visits are managed by the government through insurance companies whose job is to get rich of the misery of others, while absorbing criticism that rightly should be addressed to the government, and to you, Mr Assemblyman. The Government actually runs it, but insurance companies acting as contractors, do the dirty work of denying care, extracting copayments, disqualifying existing conditions, etc. Think Blackwater on steroids. You, Mr Assemblyman have contracted out healthcare to the insurance industry and turned a blind eye toward their profiteering. The programs proposed by the Democrats do not completely fix the problem, but they are a small start. Whining about "big government" and "socialized medicine" while the insurance industry shovels money to legislators as campaign contributions won't work any more.

been there wrote on Nov 25, 2007 6:27 AM:Republicans and health care reform-that's an oxymoron unless it's reform that gives more money to corporate health care managers. It is true that the Democrats need to figure a way to finance their programs, we don't need to further the looming budget crisis. Please, though, don't call their plans "government" plans. They are government mandated private plans that are run by doctors, employers and patients. There is choice and competition.

Dr wrote on Nov 25, 2007 8:35 AM:The government caused the problem with health care in America by over socializing (with mandates) medicine to the extent it is not completive, and we want to exacerbate the problem? U.S. Capitalism refers to an economic system in which the means of production are all owned and operated for profit, and in which investments, distribution, income, production and pricing of goods and services are determined through the operation of a market economy. It is the right of individuals and groups of individuals acting as "legal persons" or corporations to trade capital goods, labor, land and money (see finance and credit). ...

We need this wrote on Nov 25, 2007 9:46 AM:We need something that covers all Californians. I am tired of donating money for fundraisers to help children and adults raise enough money for medical care they should be getting without hassles.

Barry wrote on Nov 25, 2007 10:14 AM:I am always amused when politicians who favor private-for-profit insurance companies over single payer government administered health plans tell voters that we shouldn't leave health-care decisions in the hands of bureaucrats. Sounds good on paper, doesn't it? Contrary to this medical paradise, my insurance company (not the government) just terminated by 8 year relationship with my doctor because her medical practice would not accept the lower payments the company was offering. And so I was informed I had one month to choose another doctor from a list it provided or my insurance company (not the government) would choose one for me. Does this sound like "maximized choice" to you? Hardly. We could get one of those Health Savings Accounts Assemblyman Garrick touts in his commentary. Of course, it means our family of two would have to pay the first $3000 of healthcare costs before the insurance company's benefits kick in. This is, by the way, the insurance company whose former CEO received $1.8 billion (that's Billion with a "B")in compensation, $6 million in a severance payment (he left because he's being investigated for questionable stock options) and a yearly retirement payment of $5 million dollars. With overhead like that it's no wonder the company wants to lower payments to my doctor. Maybe he can give me the $3000 I would need to manage my Health Savings Account. Sorry, Assemblyman Garrick, single payer, not-for-profit healthcare is the only solution. Get the middleman, i.e. the insurance companies, out of the mix and you will see costs lowered. For reference, you need only look at the single payer system we already have in place. It's called Medicare. I say it's time for Medicare-for-all.

jack wrote on Nov 25, 2007 12:28 PM:My heart goes out to Dennis Quaid and his family. And to Kanye West and his family. These are two unfortunate examples of why it is so important to end the Cancer of private for profit health care delivery in America. HR 676 Single Payer Universal Health Care (Medicare For All) is The Way to go. Like all other developed countries did years ago. See sickocure.org You see, It's not just about the 47 million Americans that have no insurance. Or the 89 million who went without insurance part of the time from 2006-2007. It's about everyone. Private for profit health care delivery is not only highly immoral, and unethical. It is just down right dangerous, and bad medicine. That injures, and kills millions of Americans needlessly. Disgracefully. Shamefully. These injuries, and deaths should not have happened. We only heard about them because it happened to celebrities. But these tragedies are happening to thousands of Americans every day in this country. But you don't hear about it. These thousands of needless deaths, and injuries of your loved ones are covered up. Under so-called patient confidentiality. Which is just health care industry speak for "don't tell anybody we injured, or killed another one". See, no one is immune from the Cancer of private for profit health care delivery. Mr. Quaid's children were being cared for at a very renowned hospital. And I am sure Mr. Quaid probably has excellent insurance. And can afford the finest medical care available. But as it turned out. None of that mattered. Hospitals have always been potentially very dangerous places. But under the pressures of greed, and a rush to profit. All US hospitals have become extremely dangerous, deadly places. Like they were in the 18th century. When hospitals were primarily the place you went to DIE! I don't know exactly how this tragedy to Mr. Quaid's babies happened. But I imagine it was the same scenario that plays out thousands of times every day across America. Driven by greed, and the profit motive hospitals cut corners as much as they can get away with. This means staff that is over worked. And under staffed. It means hiring the least experienced, and cheapest hospital staff you can get. And pushing out the more experienced safer higher paid staff. They say the pharmacist stocked the wrong meds. And that the hospitals were warned about this problem months ago. After many other perfectly healthy new born babies were killed by this mistake. I wonder how many thousands of perfectly healthy babies were killed this way across America. And how many thousands are still being killed this way across America. It should not have mattered what concentration of heparin the pharmacist stocked the medicine cabinets with. Because every one who administers drugs is supposed to have been taught to follow the (7 R's). a. Right drug, b. Right patient, c. Right dose, d. Right time, e. Right route, f. Right reason, g. Right documentation, This is just basic practice. A experienced person will check additional things. Before giving a patient a potentially deadly drug. In anticipation of coming changes in our health care system. Thousands of patients are being killed at a fevered pitch. And millions injured, and poisoned with unnecessary medications, medical procedures, and surgery's. In an orgy of greed, and profiteering a head of proposed changes to our current disgraceful health care system. HR. 676 Single Payer Universal National Health Care For All (Medicare For All) can fix this disgrace. Until then, I advise you to be careful of taking any recommended medical care at this time without doing your home work. And getting a good independent 2nd, or 3rd opinion. Especially if you have so-called good insurance coverage. And If you have to receive medical care in, or out of a hospital. Try to have a knowledgeable family member or friend to keep an eye on what they are doing to you. Good Luck...

Political Pap wrote on Nov 25, 2007 12:45 PM:This is a terrible editorial. It does nothing to educate citizens about the nitty gritty differences between the republican and democratic proposals. Healthcare is much to serious a problem to be addressed by this sort of superficial politicking.

John wrote on Nov 25, 2007 12:46 PM:Mr. Garrick... if you are not for socialized medicine - you must support anti-social medicine. I am O.D.'ed on Big Business Anti Social Medicine. I want my tax dollarts spent helping me and my Caleeforneea family to have quality health care.

Hilarious! wrote on Nov 25, 2007 1:26 PM:If the Republicans who controlled our country for so long hadn't made big pharma and insurance companies, along with their exectuvies and themselves so rich, none of this would be necessary. Every human being is entitled to adequate, affordable health care and prescriptions. Something has got to give and I say Garrick needs to take his sour grapes editorial and put it in the same lock box with HIS insurance policies that he has..unlike millions of the rest of us.

Clinical Chemist wrote on Nov 25, 2007 2:48 PM:There a number of thoughtful and well reasoned responses to this frightfully ignorant Politician's article. I hope we get some improvement to the health care debacle before we are all killed or maimed by the runaway greed in the system.

Cal wrote on Nov 25, 2007 3:45 PM:Go ahead Marty - make an issue out of healthcare. We'll be happy cram it down your throat in the next election!

Uninformed bloggers wrote on Nov 25, 2007 9:39 PM:If anyone is uninformed, it is certainly not Assemblyman Garrick. The uninformed are the bloggers who support socialized medicine. Apparently none of you are aware of the myriad problems with socialized medicine...problems that make our current system look absolutely efficient. The problem with medicine in America is too much socialized medicine, not too little. Anyone who has suffered under the horrible Medi-cal (aka Medicaid) system in California, and then had the pleasure of having private insurance, knows exactly what I am talking about. There are solutions to this problem that don't require a single-payer, government-run system. Unfortunately, the Democrats have convinced many people that the government holds the solution to this problem. Unfortunately, the Democrats have bad ideas and the Republicans have no ideas on healthcare (at least no ideas that receive any real media play). This all goes back to our public school systems failing to teach our children that socialism doesn't work. "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

California schools are failing all our kids wrote on Nov 25, 2007 9:57 PM:The most recent results from the National Assessment of Education Progress test (popularly known as "the nation's report card") place California's fourth- and eighth-graders below those in nearly every other state in math and reading achievement. Test scores of California's Latino and African American students are, on average, among the lowest in the country. However, white students don't do well either, and by a wide margin: California's white eighth-graders score below white eighth-graders in every state but West Virginia and Nevada on the NAEP reading test.