healthcare

Dr. Victor Desa, a renowned surgeon who contributed his expertise and his time to the local community, has died at the age of 72.

Desa died in Rochester this morning, reports WBTA.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

Among Dr. Desa's service to the community was time spent on the boards of United Memorial Medical Center and HomeCare & Hospice.

He was also always open to sharing with local residents his knowledge of the healthcare system, making frequent public appearances to speak on the topic.

Previously:

• Renowned Batavia surgeon weighs in on health care -- part 1
• Renowned Batavia surgeon weighs in on health care -- part 2
• Seminar focuses on broken health care system and failures of Obamacare

Press release:

Jack Davis, independent candidate for Congress, set out a plan to replace Obamacare and give states power to address out of control health care costs. States would have greater flexibility to devise model health care programs and spend money allocated under federal programs by joining interstate compacts.

“For those like myself that want to replace Obamacare, the interstate Healthcare Compact is a realistic and viable strategy. States, not Congress, the White House, or federal bureaucrats, should set the rules for healthcare from top to bottom. In addition, individuals should be able to deduct the cost of health insurance from their federal income taxes just as corporations can,” Davis said.

“Healthcare is simply too large and complex to manage at the federal level. Our federal healthcare system impacts 300+ million people and healthcare spending exceeds 2.3 trillion dollars annually. Centralized planning of an industry that is this large and complex is not possible and has never been successful,” said Jack Davis.

The Healthcare Compact would make it possible for Americans to exercise greater control over their healthcare options. It would relieve the federal government of the responsibility for healthcare policy and return it to the states. As decision-making is transferred from the federal government to the states, so would control over federal healthcare dollars.

The Healthcare Compact does not impose one model of healthcare reform on an immense and diverse country. It does not presume that there is one Band-Aid solution to solve the healthcare crisis. Exactly how specific compacts would work - how they would function - would be determined by the states that enter into them. 

New York state taxpayers send more dollars to Washington than they receive in return from the federal government. Overall, government checks flow from affluent states, generally in the Northeast and West, to less affluent states, especially in the South.

As a retired registered nurse, member of the New York State Nurses Association and member of the coalition with Physicians for a National Health Plan, I am very concerned about the healthcare "reform" currently underway in Congress. 

I am convinced that the route to comprehensive and affordable health care has taken a dramatically wrong turn. 

The main features of the legislation have often seemed obscure; for instance, neither a "government takeover" nor a "public option" really have anything much to do with the final bills.  Both bills will make being uninsured a crime, punishable by an annual fine of up to 2.5 % of adjusted income under the House bill and $95.-$750. under the Senate bill. 

To make insurance affordable, tax money will be used to subsidize private insurance premiums, but even with these subsidies, families will be required to spend 8-12% of their income to purchase insurance.  Meanwhile, the insurance companies stand to gain tens of millions of new customers and at least $447 billion in taxpayer subsidies. 

The bills in Congress offer no meaningful cost controls, will leave 17-24 million uninsured and do nothing about the high cost of prescription drugs.

Mild promises to "bend the cost curve" fall short when even middle-income people will still end up being saddled with huge, unsustainable health care costs. 

One example of a measure that promises cost-savings is a health insurance "exchange" that each ill could create (4-5 years in the future). This has been tried without success in Massachusetts, where it has added, not reduced, costs.   

I agree with Congressman Massa from Rochester who states these "solutions" will not fix the problems we face.  We do not need "insurance reform." We need healthcare, comprehensive and affordable for everyone and we need it now--not over the next four to ten years.  Congress should reboot the process and start with a proposal for workable reform: a single-payer national health program, an expanded and improved Medicare for all.

Returning to Batavia our thoughts came back to the comments made, this afternoon on this site, about how little support there would be for healthcare reform.

The first surprise was that there was no one there to oppose us.  People walked by and gave us a thumbs up.  Cars passed and horns honked.  Even 18 wheelers gave us an approving toot on their horns.

A prophetic sign that we learned was true based on the reception we received tonight in Lancaster.

Beth's ingenius idea of classy candle holders.

Lorie Longhany stands amid the supporters of healthcare reform in Lancaster.

Beth, Lorie, and Dan Longhany.

It was peaceful; it was powerful; it was important to us.

This is a legitimate challenge to all critical thinkers.  Watch the two youtube videos below (a total investment of less than 3 minutes of your time), then without the filter of partisanship, without claiming "out of context" since the videos are completely in context.  Using only critical thinking skills, explain how the statements in each of the videos can be reconciled.