Obama Really Didn't Talk About Health Care Did He?

Obama's speech accepting the Democratic party nomination was short on plans for health care. He described his cancer-ridden mother's battles with insurers over benefits. He mentioned a plan for Americans which would give them Congress-like benefits. He spent a lot of time embracing, holding, and beaming at his family. But there was nothing of substance which could help 250+ million Americans understand whether he really has any health plan at all. We were entitled to more.

He could have said that he favored a single payer system with a available supplmentary coverage similar to the Medigap insurance that seniors on Medicare can purchase. He could have said a few words about setting up a truly competitive healthcare insurance environment in which qualiy and efficiency of health care can be measured to maximize benefit. He could have said a lot of informative things about his plans for health care. But he didn't.

How much money was spent by corporate health care interests to fund the Democratic Party convention? Will the big spenders be at the table designing the health care system that meets their organizational and financial/profit requirements without serious regard for public benefit? Will it be a glossed-over "business as usual" fix to our bloated, expensive and inefficient system? Or will Obama, if elected, and the Congress to be elected, get serious about fixing our ailing health system?

A number of years ago, at a meeting in Sacramento, the Senate President Pro-tem told me (and a few others from a powerful health trade association) that money did not buy his vote. He followed that statement by making it clear that money buys access to him and subsequent comments inferred that it might favorably dispose him to vote, some of the time. The rules haven't changed. Pay attention to who is funding the political parties, and their members, to gain access and influence opinion. If you do, you will be able to predict what our health system will look like in two years.