Clinton, Gingrich Unite on Health Care (Is it upside down day??)

[UCLA Dem]

WASHINGTON - Longtime political foes Newt Gingrich and Hillary Rodham Clinton joined cheerfully Wednesday to promote legislation on health care changes, joking that some might view it as a sign of a soon-to-come doomsday.

Clinton, D-N.Y., and Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, appeared outside the Capitol to promote a bill that would modernize medical record-keeping.

The senator joked that their joint effort has raised plenty of eyebrows since they began working together behind closed doors on a panel examining ways to improve military effectiveness.

"At our first meeting when we were agreeing so much with each other I think people thought: 'The End is Near,'" she said.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050511/ap_on_go_co/clinton_gingrich



:wtf:

[meganmonkey]

1. Hell. Freezing. Over.

:scared:

(I'm not really scared - but that little smiley looks cold)

[kliljedahl]

4. Satan's wearing Long johns

Keith’s Barbeque Central

[LisaM]

2. It's the upside down millennium...

where have you been? We're quickly hurtling back to 0002.

[UpInArms]

19. very soon we'll be lucky to

live in caves and hunt with clubs for our suppers.

[lovuian]

3. Is this Healthcare changes or Healthcare Records changing

if this is Universal Health then I'm all for it!!!

But I can't believe Gingrich is sincere here!!!

[endarkenment]

39. its nonsense

it is 'record reform'. Here is my version of 'record reform': everybody goes on medicare. It is called universal healthcare. It works just fine in every other major industrial democracy. End of story.

[Cobalt Violet]

5. How about the 45 Million uninsured?

Will modernizing record keeping help any of them?

[dave29]

6. spongmonkeys

I knew when I say them in those Quiznos commercials it was a sign of the endtimes.

[rndmprsn]

7. hmmm...yes the end is near!

who'da thunk it...but if it can save lives and perhaps act as a first step to real national healthcare...im all for it, but i'd still like to see a picture of hillary and newt smiling and standing next to each other...i still don't trust him tho just for the rekkid.

[Dr Ron]

8. That's been one area both parties have agreed on

Kerry and Dean both talked a lot about this.

Bush had much more limited comments on this, but has never shown any opposition to the Democratic proposals.

I recall one obnoxious post over at Blogs for Bush where they quoted Bush on this post-election and gushed all over it, saying Bush had real ideas for health care while the Democrats didn't. No mention that Kerry had far more extensive recommendations on modernizing medical record keeping.

[endarkenment]

40. everyone is for it

'cause it increases government control, looks like 'they are doing something' and keeps the healthcare pork barrel intact. What's not to like?

[Kurovski]

9. Is he thinking "President Gingrich"?

? He's been striving mightily to be reasonable of late.

[AlGore-08.com]

12. He has floated more than one trial balloon since the election

Yes, he is testing the waters.

[Dr Ron]

10. Business Rip Offs

I wonder if Gingrich will get into one of the major obstacles blocking modernization--greed on the part of the venders.

While computerization is becoming more and more afordable, they keep trying to increase profits by gouging physicians absurd amounts of money.

For example before 2000 my billing program, which I believe was around $16,000 from one of the major vendors, had some YTK issues. Primarily it had to be updated to handle four digit years rather than just the last two digits.

In order to fix this problem, they wanted well over $20,000 to upgrade to the new version. This is on top of paying something in the neighborhood of $1000 per month for support.

Note this is just for medical claims an dbilling, not even full medical record keeping.

Another major problem is poor communications between programs. It would be like if spread sheets or word processing documents couldn't import form other programs without paying huge programming fees, and they tried to change your software every few years.

[zipplewrath]

11. Look deeper

Both of these folks want to make your medical records electronically available to the government. For different reasons, but they both want your medical records standardized and databased so that all manner of folks can get access to them. This is what this bill is all about.

[KittyWampus]

13. No, Really It's Not.

[Mandate My Ass]

14. Abso friggin' lutely

First HIPAA now this. Anybody can go looking for anything at any time without a soul being the wiser.

Welcome to DU, zipplewrath.:toast:

[Kingofalldems]

15. Any proposal from Newty is a trick

designed to--line the pockets of his friends,
(remember Health Savings Accounts) and destroy the group health system which is in dire need these days.

[cosmicdot]

16. another big brother revenue stream for their corporate donors

they must have the same sales reps calling on (lobbying) them

meanwhile, the uninsured are still uninsured

imo, they're just wheeling and dealing with our tax money ... another booth at the Contract Fair ...


the title is misleading ... it's about record-keeping software programs of medical records ...


"a soon-to-come doomsday" ... soon-to-come doomsday????


who's going to administer and manage it?

is that going to be privatized?

who's going to hack it?

so, no data entry errors will occur w/such systems?


Real ID and centralized medical records ... why?

hopefully the Carlyle Group will have private equity investments in the right companies at the right time


my Internist is part of fairly large 'Medical Group', and the records are computerized ... my last office visit found no record of the previous office record ... where'd it go? Did someone else's file get that information? Was it deleted by mistake? What problems could that create?

I'm sure there may be some good intentions ... and possible outcomes ... but caveat emptor ...



The Seduction: The shocking story
of how AARP backed the Medicare Bill

For Gingrich, the Medicare bill is just the beginning. The former House speaker hopes that Novelli's AARP will help him remake the entire employer-based health-care system as well. And he has reason to be optimistic. Gingrich asked the AARP chief to write the introduction to his new book about transforming health care, Saving Lives and Saving Money. In it, Gingrich lambastes the current health-insurance system, instead advocating one in which a person has "an economic interest in his or her own health and is the primary guardian of how his or her own money is spent." Novelli does not distance himself from Gingrich's ideas."

http://todaysseniorsnetwork.com/aarp_sellout.htm

[Zodiak]

17. The Clintons are not trustworthy, and of course, Gingrich, too.

I do not trust this one bit. I agree that this may be a ploy to get the medical record of anyone available to th government.

How soon we forget the salivation the Republicans had over trying to obtain Ob-gyn records here and there across the country.

And the Clintons? I do not trust them at all. All the friendly little photo-ops that Pappy Bush and Bill took together turned my stomach. The appearance at the Pope's funeral while snubbing Carter spoke volumes to me.

I am soooo off of the Clinton-worship bandwagon.

And I would bet that this has NOTHING to do with Universal Health Care. That is a pipe dream that ONLY a progressive can deliver. The rest get a lot of money from insurance companies and AMA lobbyists and therefore have no incentive to meet the basic human right to health care non-emergency access.

[yellowcanine]

18. HRC is starting to piss me off. There is no reason to give Newtie any

"face time". WTF is she thinking?

[wallwriter]

20. "Economic interest in their own health?!"

Does that strike anyone else as incredibly creepy? The logical conclusion is that only the rich deserve to be well.

[Domitan]

21. Check out this comment on AmericaBlog

http://www.haloscan.com/comments.php?user=katsiva&comment=111585077707698167#349549

If you have access to recordings/transcripts of Hannity's show from today, check out the segment with Gingrich. Gingrich said that, in all seriousness, Hillary probably knows more about healthcare and medical information technology than almost anyone else in the country, and Hannity almost had a cerebral hemmorhage. VERY entertaining.
-disenfranchised

[bpilgrim]

22. they are very good at marketing getting things done that business wants

but if it's something the people want or about OUR rights than that would be too difficult.

the things they say and do but especially the things they don't say and do demonstrate to me that they care more about BIG-BIZ and their own image than ANYTHING else.

i know, i know, it is more important to go along to get along and there is the all important cartoon perception of who and what we - america - are than to fight for real reform.

Who's Your Daddy!

more...
http://images.globalfreepress.com

peace

[woosh]

23. Careful Newty

this helps Hillary more than you...

[all.of.me]

24. what?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

why don't the clintons just change their party affiliation?

[Moderator]

25. kick to combine

[Paul Dlugokencky]

26. Clinton, Gingrich Unite on Health Care

An interesting union, considering that each are rumored to be considering a run for the White House in 2008...

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050511/ap_on_go_co/clinton_gingrich_1

Clinton, Gingrich Unite on Health Care

By DEVLIN BARRETT, Associated Press WriterWed May 11, 3:05 PM ET
Longtime political foes Newt Gingrich and Hillary Rodham Clinton joined cheerfully Wednesday to promote legislation on health care changes, joking that some might view it as a sign of a soon-to-come doomsday.

Clinton, D-N.Y., and Gingrich, the former Republican House speaker, appeared outside the Capitol to promote a bill that would modernize medical record-keeping.

The senator joked that their joint effort has raised plenty of eyebrows since they began working together behind closed doors on a panel examining ways to improve military effectiveness.

"At our first meeting when we were agreeing so much with each other I think people thought: 'The End is Near,'" she said.

As first lady, Clinton spearheaded a White House health care reform effort that failed in Congress. The resistance to her effort helped fuel Newt Gingrich's "Contract with America" and his rise to the speaker position in 1995.

A decade later, they sound downright chummy.

"I find he and I have a lot in common in the way we see the problems that we're going to have to deal with in order to have a 21st century health care system," said the senator.

Gingrich was equally effusive, saying he was "thrilled" to be part of the bipartisan effort to reduce the amount of paperwork the health care industry creates.

"I'm confident there are things like votes in the Senate and judges where there would be dramatic differences, but I think we're both mature enough as adults that we can separate this argument," said Gingrich.

"We're at the stage in our lives where getting some good things done for the country strikes us as a pretty important way to spend your time," he said.

The former House speaker told a meeting of newspaper editors last month that he expects Clinton to win re-election next year, then capture her party's presidential nomination in 2008 and have a good chance to win.

"Any Republican who thinks she will be easy to beat has total amnesia about the Clintons," Gingrich said. He also said she has the added benefit of her husband, "the smartest American politician as her adviser."

Standing next to the senator Wednesday, Gingrich argued that both parties should agree to move health care records from the realm of scribbled doctors' notes to electronic record-keeping.

Proponents of the measure being offered in the House by Reps. Tim Murphy, R-Pa. and Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., say the bill would greatly reduce the 98,000 estimated U.S. deaths a year caused by preventable medical errors such as misreading a prescription.

"Paper kills," said Gingrich. "This is not complicated. If you see paper in the health system, it risks killing people."

The 21st Century Health Information Act would create regional health information networks to help transfer health data quickly between doctors, hospitals and nurses, and ensure that different hospitals adopt technologies that are compatible.

The bill is H.R. 2234.

___

On the Net:

Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov/

[flordehinojos]

27. what's with the clinton/bush/clinton/gingrich equation?

[ixion]

34. Both Clinton's have always been center-right, IMO

so it's not great suprise to me. Hillary has been barking up the center-right side of the tree for some time now.

-- She supported the illegal invasion of Iraq.

-- She supported the unPATRIOTic Act.

-- She is starting to compromise on abortion.

-- She has always been a closet fascist (re: it takes a {gov't sanctioned} village).

Just my two cents.

[liberal N proud]

28. Newt is trying to clean up his image for the 08 run at the White House

Showing bipartisan cooperation makes it LOOK like he would work with both parties.
It also could play to their favor if Hillary would run as they could use the flip flop routine on her.
Yes we need this kind of effort on these kinds of issues but,...
I just don't trust Newt.

[Tesla]

29. Man, what's that smell?????

[Kolesar]

30. So a political operative can hack into my medical records

sounds very bush-like.

[rodeodance]

31. right now people are dying (18.000 yr) because NOT gettting care!!

this is tactic--not saying it does not need to be done-but the bigger issue is getting set aside

[CWebster]

32. Absolutely. nt

[Kolesar]

35. Did you read the Krugman piece about healthcare budget problems?

Paul Krugman of the NY Times said that ~$400 Billion of our $1400 Billion health care budget is spent on paperwork. A lot of that is clerks trying to push the expense off onto someone else. That one-third of our health care budget "wasted" on paperwork is about twice the rate of similar countries (Canada, European states, etc.).

Single payer systems such as Veteran's Hospitals are actually more efficient financially than the private sector in delivering health care.

Maybe record-keeping efficiency is worth pursuing as a means of financing America's health care needs.

[Warren Stupidity]

37. read your own post

single payer systems eliminate the paperwork tower of babel problem. The solution to the 'health care crisis' is not layering more crap on top of the current pork barrel, but scrapping the pork barrel by expanding medicare to cover everybody. The solution is simple and will save all of the $400B/year we are pouring into bullshit.

HRC keeps wanting to make the current system even more complicated and corrupt. She is still pushing the same awful crap she was pushing 12 years ago. Newt is was and always will be an evil a-hole. Hillary should divorce Bubba and marry Newt. Marriage made in hell. They deserve each other.

[Kolesar]

38. I wrote my own post

I really don't follow. :shrug:

[Kolesar]

36. self delete

sort of duplicate post

[flygal]

33. No shit

what a dog and pony show. NATIONAL HEALTHCARE NOW.

[nibbana]

41. Bull-shit: Just like campaign financing..and then Newt screwed Clinton

When you wrestle with pigs...you are bound to get in the mud...