Republican U.S. Senate candidate Annette Bosworth will sit around with a few other doctors at her office tonight to grumble about the Affordable Care Act and talk about her pledge to take health care benefits away from thousands of South Dakotans. (Bosworth's press release says she's hosting this campaign event at her medical clinic/non-profit office, which also serves as campaign headquarters: this in-kind contribution of resources to a political campaign puts Bosworth all the more in violation of IRS rules and state campaign finance law.)
If Bosworth and her professional friends (what, all two of them?) want to talk about the government's role in health care, they should take a look at Montana's state-run health care program for state employees. Last year, Governor Brian Schweitzer opened the Montana Health Center in Helena to provide "primary care, same day services, health screenings, flu shots, health coaching," and other services to participants in the state health insurance plan. State employees, non-Medicare retirees, and their dependents age two and up get care with no deductible and no copay.
This isn't just the ACA guaranteeing health insurance; this is straight-up socialized medicine. Montana owns the facility, pays for everything, and sets the rules. How's it working for 11,000 state workers and their families? Swimmingly:
With an appointment, patients wait just a couple minutes to see a doctor. Visitation is more than 75 percent higher than initial estimates.
"For goodness sakes, of course the employees and the retirees like it, it's free," says Republican State Sen. Dave Lewis.
...[Health Care and Benefits] division manager Russ Hill says it's actually costing the state $1,500,000 less for healthcare than before the clinic opened.
"Because there's no markup, our cost per visit is lower than in a private fee-for-service environment," Hill says.
Physicians are paid by the hour, not by the number of procedures they prescribe like many in the private sector. The state is able to buy supplies at lower prices [Dan Boyce, "Montana's State-Run Free Clinic Sees Early Success," NPR, 2013.07.30].
Republican Senator Lewis, himself a happy user of the program, grumbles that the program may be taking money away from private hospitals, but since when in the GOP world is it more important that government prop up profits for private industry than keep government spending down?
Montana's socialized medicine is saving the state money. It may also be saving lives by increasing access and early health interventions:
Bottom line: a patient's visit to the employee health clinic costs the state about half what it would cost if that patient went to a private doctor. And because it's free to patients, hundreds of people have come in who had not seen a doctor for at least two years.
Hill says the facility is catching a lot, including 600 people who have diabetes, 1,300 people with high cholesterol, 1,600 people with high blood pressure and 2,600 patients diagnosed as obese. Treating these conditions early could avoid heart attacks, amputations, or other expensive hospital visits down the line, saving the state more money [Boyce, 2013.07.30].
So what happens when a state much like South Dakota socializes medicine?
- More people seek health services.
- We catch and treat diseases sooner.
- The state spends less money.
Where's the problem here?
So maybe, incredibly, candidate Bosworth is right. Maybe we should overturn ObamaCare... and replace it with SchweitzerCare!
Even George W. Bush agrees that we all should have regular checkups. Onward and upward with Obamacare and Schweitzercare! Let our people live!
"During President George W. Bush’s annual physical examination at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas yesterday, a blockage was discovered in an artery in his heart. At the recommendation of his doctors, President Bush agreed to have a stent placed to open the blockage. The procedure was performed successfully this morning, without complication, at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital. President Bush is in high spirits, eager to return home tomorrow and resume his normal schedule on Thursday. He is grateful to the skilled medical professionals who have cared for him. He thanks his family, friends, and fellow citizens for their prayers and well wishes. And he encourages us all to get our regular check-ups."
Oh, sure, it SOUNDS great, but I doubt it would work for SD. I mean, think about all the legislators who would lose campaign contributions from the Big 2 healthcare systems in the state, not to mention all the high schools who would lose out on all the advertising slapped on scoreboards....
All sarcasm aside, here is an example of a program that's actually working and is budget friendly! So, what's the excuse going to be if a similar bill is introduced here?? And how much lobbying money (that could be, you know, spent on, ohhhh, treating patients) will the Big 2 spend to fight it??
wouldn't call it socialized medicine, would say an employer set up their own health care system. You can call it socialized medicine when the state opens their health care system to everyone. This is no more than what the coal mines, Henry Ford, and many others did, company doctors.
Good eye, Cory: expect the Gov. in our 2016 Presidential primary; this interested party is pushing Nancy Keenan to run for the Senate. #mtsen #mtpol
Joseph, that's a fair re-characterization of the program. Gov. Schweitzer made exactly that comparison. But when that employer is the government and owns the means of production, that's still a form of socialism, isn't it? It's definitely government-run health care, just like the VA, more drastic than anything in ObamaCare. And with its high use, lower costs, and improved health outcomes, it's a stunning counter-example to the shouts we here that government can run health care effectively.
No, its not socialism. Socialism is a government program, with funds appropriated from people or business, and provided to everyone, not just a select few. Not in disagreence with the Govenor, in fact I have always thought that that model was the best way to go.
Socialism is government ownership of means of production.
See last Sunday's Non_Sequitur cartoon on ideology. Republicans have their ideology/mythology available even when it rains and they claim it isn't raining and then ask for a definition of "wet".