Y2K is dead. It's time for a new crusade.

We discussed the state of health care at length over at the old Poole's Roost, especially how HMOs are insulated from legal liability in providing care. I said then that I wanted to do something to change that.

It's time to get busy.

While I'm a conservative who thinks that this nation has gone tort lawsuit crazy, I *do* believe that people should be held accountable for their actions. Fair is fair.

So: if you or someone you know has had a bad experience with an HMO, I'd like to hear from you via email. Here's the hard part: you're going to have to be willing to name names, dates and details, provide medical records, patient histories, etc.

If there really IS a problem -- and I believe there is -- there should be plenty of examples.

I'm not going to limit this just to HMOs, either. I want to look at healthcare itself. If you've had a bad experience with a doctor, I want to know about that, too.

(I'm going to tell our own story later on, after I've finished compiling everything from Sandy's experience here in Birmingham. I've been looking over the medical records.)

Again: you'll have to be willing to name names, dates and details.

If you know of any useful links, I'd like to see those, too.

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2001

Answers

Yep here is Background on Republican Chairman .

PARTY GOALS

-Work hard at increasing the party's support among minorities, especially Hispanics and blacks. Ya good luck bud ya did right fine to these "groups" in Dixie.

-Develop state parties at the grass-roots level. Party/Grass? is that one of them oxymorons? Whatever sign me up!

-Build more support in among high-tech entrepreneurs and businesspeople. Start by disconnecting their power sure shows this, too funny.

-Work toward ``broad-based'' electoral reform with an emphasis on reducing voter fraud. We had a Broad elect a President already, why don't we try using the dumb voters next time?

-- Anonymous, February 09, 2001

A worthy effort Stephen. I'll start loggin the ones where a promise was broken and pass them on but actually they're pretty rare. Biggest hurdles: First that HMO (or any other insurance for that matter) coverage isn't compulsory. Nothing says you have to sign on the dotted line and thereby accept limitations, arbitration and so on. Second is "standard of care". Whose you gonna use? The Canadians for instance are lined up at US hospitals to get bypass surgeries. Where a promise is broken there's some hope for reform or punishment.

This will be a very tough nut but we both know where a *successful* fight will lead. Universal federally mandated healthcare where we can bitch at the government instead of who we're bitching at now. Bottom line of course is that good health care costs a shitload of money and no one wants to pay the bill.

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2001

Sounds like he is making himself heard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/07/politics/07HEAL.html

"President Bush, who campaigned on a promise to bring Republicans and Democrats together on legislation defining patients' rights, raised objections today to the major bipartisan bill addressing the issue in Congress."

"In addition, White House officials persuaded the chief Republican sponsor of the bill, Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia, to withhold his name from the legislation, which was unveiled today by senators and House members of both parties. Dr. Norwood said he strongly supported the bill, but held back today as a courtesy to the president."

"Mr. Bush's objections involved questions of timing and substance. Mr. Bush said he wanted time to develop a proposal of his own. He said the McCain-Kennedy bill would make it too easy for patients to sue health maintenance organizations and insurance companies. And he said he feared that the bill could increase insurance costs, prompting employers to discontinue coverage."

"Mr. Bush said he wanted stricter limits on punitive damages, and aides said he wanted patients' lawsuits to be heard only in federal court. The McCain-Kennedy bill sets a limit of $5 million on punitive damages in federal court. But under the bill, most suits — any disputes involving questions of medical judgment or medical necessity — would be filed in state court, where plaintiffs often find it easier to win much larger damage awards."

-- Anonymous, February 10, 2001