J.C. Moore Online

Current Events from a Science Perspective

Integrity in Politics: It is the purpose of this site to apply observation and reason to current events. Good government depends upon our Legislators and our voters having up-to-date and accurate information. Senator Tom Coburn is considered to be the best informed of the Oklahoma Legislators. However, some things he presented at his town hall meeting, though they play well with his base, are not supported by research. We feel that Senator Coburn should thoroughly research the topics upon which he votes and speaks and that he should provide his constituency with accurate information.

Supreme Court: When asked about the recent court appointments, Senator Coburn disparaged the latest Supreme Court Justice, Sonia Sotomayor, by claiming she had lied, a very serious accusation to make against a Supreme Court Justice – especially when wrong. Coburn said that Sotomayor had reneged on a promise made during her confirmation hearing not to use foreign law to interpret the Constitution of the United State. He used as evidence the ruling of the Supreme Court on the case of Graham v Florida, in which a juvenile offender had been sentenced to life in prison for nonhomicidal crimes.

After reading the Supreme Court response which was actually presented by Justice J. Kennedy, not Justice S. Sotomayor, it appears that Senator Coburn was actually not being honest in his presentation of the information. As shown in the section of the Supreme Court brief below, the only reference to foreign anything is that the practice has been rejected the world over. This does not refer to any foreign laws but merely reflects on our standing in how humanly we treat juvenile offenders compared to the global community to which we belong and by whom we are scrutinized and in no way reflected that any foreign law was used to interpret the United States Constitution.

This misleading charge by  Senator Coburn raises a concern about any information he uses to support his views and whether he is just another typical politician trying to manipulate his constituents with “smoke and mirrors”.  Additional support for the Court’s conclusion lies in the fact that the sentencing practice at issue has been rejected the world over: The United States is the only Nation that imposes this type of sentence. While the judgments of other nations and the international community are not dispositive as to the meaning of the Eighth Amendment , the Court has looked abroad to support its independent conclusion that a particular punishment is cruel and unusual. (See, e.g., Roper, supra , at 575–578. Pp. 29–31, 982 So. 2d 43, reversed and remanded. )

Elena Kagan: Senator Coburn also said he could not support the appointment of Elena Kagan to the court because she considers the Constitution to be a living document. Senator Coburn believes that the Constitution should be interpreted as the Founding Fathers meant it. That, however,  has been as an excuse used by some politicians and judges to interpret the Constitution as they wish and claim it is what the Founding Fathers actually meant. The Founding Fathers were wise enough to give us a mechanism for amending the Constitution and there are now 27 Amendments. The Constitution is alive and better for it.

Recess Appointments: When asked about President Obama’s recess appointment of Dr. Berwick to head the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Coburn emphatically declared that it was wrong and  illegal. Yikes! Coburn should polish up on his history of the much-used recess appointment. By this same point in his Presidential career, George W. Bush had used this technique to make 15 appointments and he used it 179 times during his career. Where were those Republicans then? The last group of appointments will bring Obama’s total to 18. It has been noted that Bush was not facing the same level of obstruction.Currently, Obama has 189 nominations pending before congress and 28 have been on the floor for more than three months. Bush only had six nominees that had been waiting that long. It might also be an interesting FYI to note that even George Washington used the practice to appoint the then controversial judge John Rutledge to the Supreme Court after he had failed to be confirmed by the Senate.

Reccess Appointments are a legal practice granted to the President of the United States by the Constitution of the United States in Article II, section 2.

Some have indicated that they feel this power should only be used when the position becomes vacant during a recess but this has been adjudicated by The Eleventh Circuit, in an en banc decision in Evans v. Stephens which held that the Constitution permitted both intrasession recess appointments and recess appointments to fill vacancies that existed prior to the congressional recess.( Evans v. Stephens, 387 F.3d 1220 (11th Cir. 2004). ) Since the position filled by Dr. Berwick has been vacant since 2006 it fulfills the courts requirements and is clearly legal.

Health Care: Senator Coburn said he  objected to the appointment of Dr. Don Berwick to head the CMS as Dr. Berwick  promotes medical rationing. Coburn’s basis for this premise uses “cherry-picking“, a technique which picks out a quotation and presents it out of context. A statement that Dr. Berwick made in 2008 in an interview with the respected publication, Biotechology Healthcare has been “cherry-picked” and this partial quote has been publicized many times by zealous Republican in order to create the specter of medical rationing. Here is the partial quote Senator Coburn refers to: “The decision is not whether or not we will ration care. The decision is whether we ration care with our eyes open.”  But, here is the actual quote in context, “We make these decisions all of the time. The decision is not whether or not we will ration care. The decision is whether we ration care with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly.”

Despite what Senator Coburn might claim, that statement isn’t particularly radical. Rationing currently occurs in our health-care system as resources are limited, and medicine and medical procedures are approved or disapproved by insurance companies regardless of whether that system is privately or publicly funded. “Blindly” as used by Dr. Berwick indicates we are currently doing it badly and not with an eye to the best practices to be used for the good of the patient; and not with an eye to which practices are unnecessary and therefore unnecessarily costly; and not with an eye to what medicines, tests and equipment are provided unnecessarily and sometimes even to the detriment of the patient.

“Ezra Klein, a blogger for the Washington Post, notes that Berwick’s statement is no different than a statement from Republican Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (seen as an up-and-coming leader within the GOP), who said with respect to health care, “Rationing happens today! The question is who will do it?” www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20009880-10391704.html.
Here is another more honest Republican’s statement on Berwick’s appointment. Tom Scully, who ran the CMS under President George W. Bush, noted, “You could nominate Gandhi to be head of CMS and that would be controversial right now.” http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-gaggle/2010/07/07/don-berwick-appointed-to-drive-health-care-changes-sidestepping-congress.html

With the use of the “cherry-picking” technique, some Republicans appear to be using medical rationing as a scare tactic to gain support in the up-coming elections without regard for what is actually good for the patient, I mean constituents. And to make matters even worse, Senator Coburn is a doctor. He also  said that other countries have national health care at lower cost because they ration health care. He says you and your family are responsible for paying for your own health care. Isn’t that just rationing health care by using money. If you, or your family can’t pay, would he just let you die?

By Guest Author: Barbara Moore

The author once attended a retirement seminar sponsored by AG Edwards. The speaker tried to convince the participants that no matter how much money they had saved, they would eventually run out if they lived long enough. That is unless, of course, they let AG Edwards invest their savings. The speaker did not mention Social Security, and fortunately for those who put their money in stocks, Social Security was there as a safety net.

Social Security was created by the Social Security Act of 1935 in the midst of the Great Depression to provide for retired workers who had lost their life savings. Congresses right to create Social Security was established on the general welfare provisions of the Constitution and by  Article 1, Section 8 which establishes Congresses power to collect taxes and provide for the general welfare of the United States.  It says, “The Congress shall have power to lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and General Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States.”

Several challenges to the Social Security Act of 1935 were decided in its favor by the Supreme Court. The most notable of these was U.S. v. Butler (1936) that held that the Spending Power Clause of the Constitution gave Congress broad power to tax and spend for what it determined to be the general welfare of the country. Because Congress has discretion to determine what is the general welfare, no court since Butler has ever invalidated a federal spending program on the ground that the general welfare of the country was not being promoted.¹ Also, in Helvering v. Davis ( 1937), the Supreme Court defended the constitutionality of the Social Security Act of 1935 requiring only that the welfare spending be for the common benefit as distinguished from some mere local purpose. It affirmed a District Court decree that held that the tax upon employees was constitutional. ²

Social Security is certainly a government manage retirement program but it has not put private retirement funds such as AG Edwards out of business. Social Security provides a safety net so that no matter how fortunate or unfortunate you are in your choices and investments, you will never be destitute. Congress has the authority to create a government managed health care safety net for Americans. It would likely not put private insurers out of business but it would certainly provide a safety net for health care.

We are now in the midst of an economic downturn that has cost millions of Americans their jobs and their health insurance. What better time to enact health care reform.

(1) http://qanda.encyclopedia.com/question/butler-decision-428463.html

(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvering_v._Davis

The proper role of government in health care has been the source of many recent arguments on health care reform.  A similar argument has been going on at the state level in Oklahoma. According to a recent Tulsa World article¹, “Workers comp proposal mulled “ , Oklahoma State Rep. Dan Sullivan wants to privatize CompSource Oklahoma because: “It’s a fundamental issue of what is the proper function of government . Is it to compete with private enterprise? We think not.”   According to Sullivan, the incentive behind the privatization is to lower workers’ compensation insurance rates as rates should fall because of increased competition.

 That rationalization seems weak. It would seem that providing workman’s comp to state workers is a proper function of  the state government.  CompSource Oklahoma  has been doing so for 76 years – apparently successfully. Many private businesses use CompSource. Why would they do so if private insurance companies can provide better service and lower rates?

 According to an expert in comp insurance ²: “ CompSourse  is an insurance carrier of last resort when all other insurance companies turn down a company for coverage.  If they privatize, the competing insurance companies cannot just dump the employers over to Compsource. I think there will be an overall price increase. Instead of having CompSource as a safety net, more companies will be put into the risk pool. The risk pool forces carriers to insure the higher risk employers.  This sounds good, except the downside is the rates are 40% -70% higher than the regular insurance market. “

 There you have it. If CompSource is privatized, it will cost the companies it now insures  and the State of Oklahoma more  to provide workman’s comp. That sounds like a bad idea. 

Privatization for ideological reasons often fails as a practical way to lower costs. Privatizing Social Security increased the cost to the government by 14% and created the infamous “donut hole“ that costs seniors an additional $25 billion annually. After the recent economic downturn, we should all be grateful that the plans to privatize Social Security failed.

Finally, Sullivan doesn’t know who would get the proceeds from the sale of CompSource. He says he plans to file a bill that its assets belong to the state in the hope that it will result in a lawsuit which will let the courts decide the matter. That seems like a stange plan from Sullivan, who promoted Tort Reform to end frivolous lawsuits.

(1)Tulsa World , August 7, 2009

(2) James Moore at J&L Risk Management

There is a science to conducting opinion polls.  The pollsters must ensure that they have a random sample of the population and that the respondents are not influenced by the  manner in which the poll is  conducted or how the questions are worded.  A recent article on Yahoo! News  “Health care polls leave pols dizzy” points out that one may find poll results to support almost any opinion on health care reform.¹  The article states, for example,  that an  “ABC News summary of the results of eight polls from late July through mid-August found that support for a ‘public option’ ranged from 43 percent to 66 percent”.  This certainly presents a problem for our politicians in knowing where public opinion is on health care reform.

 To further confuse the issue, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has sent its own questionnaire to all Republicans, requesting their opinion on issues – including healthcare.   The survey included a four-page letter from Michael Steele, the RNC Chairman, clearly meant to influence the responses.  After assuring that the RNC’s  “core ideals remains sound and our goals remain worthy” the letter goes on to further polarize the issue by claiming Democrats plan “to give amnesty to illegal aliens, which could possibly bankrupt Social Security” and “to nationalize health care and have it run by bureaucrats in Washington, DC.”

 The three questions from the RNC survey on health care reform are listed below. The bias may be subtle – but see if you feel comfortable answering ”Yes” to any of the questions:    

 9. Do you support the creation of a national health insurance plan that would be administered by bureaucrats in Washington, DC?                                                                                                                                                      O Yes  O No  O No opinion     

  10.  Do you believe that the quality and availability of healthcare will increase if the federal government dictates pricing to doctors and hospitals?                                                                                                                                             O Yes     O No     O No opinion

11.  Are you confident that new medicines and medical treatments will continue to be developed if the federal government controls prescription drug prices and sets profit margins for research and pharmaceutical companies?                                  O Yes         O No       O No opinion

The validity of the RNC poll is further compromised by a request for funds accompanying the letter. What do you think? Does the RNC want the opinions of its members or results that will influence Republican legislators?

(1) http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20090928/pl_politico/27640

The debate on the healthcare has been filled with red herrings. Swallowing red herrings makes people irritable and they often say things in anger without thinking them through. If we trace the red herrings to their source, we would probably find that they were created by those who have the most to gain from the failure of health care reform. However, health-care reform is too important to let it be sidetracked into pointless arguments.

One of the red herrings popped up dramatically in the President’s address to Congress. When President Obama pointed out that the Health Care Reform Bill would not provide coverage for illegal aliens, Senator Joe Wilson (R-SC) shouted out “You lie.” Clearly someone had planted a red herring as the health-care bill specifically says on page 146: “Sec 246 — NO FEDERAL PAYMENT FOR UNDOCUMENTED ALIENS: Nothing in this subtitle shall allow Federal payments for affordability credits on behalf of individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States.”

The problem with illegal immigrants arose from a truly bipartisan and humanitarian effort.  In 1986, two major pieces of legislation were passed by the Democratic Congress, approved by the Republican Senate, and signed into law by President Reagan. The 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act provided amnesty for 1.5 million undocumented aliens. Its purpose was to halt illegal immigration, but we now have 12 million illegal immigrant so it has apparently failed. The connection to health care came also in 1986 with the passage of the Emergency Medical Treatment & Labor Act which ensured public access to emergency services regardless of ability to pay. Those without money or health insurance now use the emergency room as their primary healthcare provider. The cost of that is staggering, and much of the cost is eventually paid by citizens in the form of higher taxes and more expensive medical services. Illegal immigrants have become a serious problem, but it is not one that can be corrected by the health-care bill.

There are strong feelings on both sides of the abortion issue. Health care reform is too important to those on both sides to let it become a battlefield for ideological differences. The Health-care Reform Bill does not provide public funds for abortions. The bill does not mention abortion. There are those who wish to insure that public funds are not used for abortion and their wishes should be respected. There are those who think providing health care to women who are now uninsured would surely reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and they are right. There are methods of birth control acceptable to every religious faith. Certainly, providing health counseling to women, good prenatal care for expectant mothers, and excellent health care for babies are goals that everyone can share.

 Tort reform is another red herring. The malpractice system is clearly broken. Doctors are afraid to admit error for fear being sued, malpractice insurer will not pay a claim without an admission of error, and an injured patient has little recourse but to sue.  A University of Michigan¹ study has shown that malpractice lawsuits could greatly be reduced if doctors would admit their errors, apologize, and compensate the patient fairly for their mistakes.  It has been estimated that litigation costs and malpractice insurance add about 1-1.5 % to total health-care costs.² The malpractice system needs to be fixed but doing so will not substantially reduce medical costs or help the uninsured. Perhaps malpractice insurance co-ops for doctors should be considered.

 Unfortunately, the cost of health care reform is not a red herring.  Most estimates put the cost at slightly less than $1trillion over 10 years. To put that in perspective, that is about the amount spent in seven years on the Iraqi war; the amount spent in one year to bail out the banks, insurance companies, and the auto industry; or half the amount spent over 9 years to provide tax cuts to those in the highest income tax brackets.^{3 (See note below.)} Healthcare reform could easily be paid for by letting the 2001 tax cuts expire . The United States has a graduated income tax scale based on the idea that those who profit the most from the resources and opportunities our country offers should pay more in taxes. Perhaps seeing that every citizen has health care would let us feel good about paying more in taxes.

(1)   See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32011837/

(2)   http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/sourcesheet.php?id=529

(3) Citizens for Tax Justice, using data from the Congressional Budget Office, calculate  that  the 2001 tax cuts have cost  about $2.1 trillion in lost revenue and another $0.4 trillion in  interest  on  the deficit created. Letting the tax cuts expire would  save about  $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years which would pay for Health Care Reform twice over.    See  http://www.ctj.org/pdf/bushtaxcutsvshealthcare.pdf  for their figures.

Research Credit:  Barbara Moore

“Your family’s health depends on the health of everyone.”

The advantages of health care reform have been lost in the politics and arguments about the Health Care Bill.  Here are some advantages :

Productivity. We would have happier and more productive citizens. Most people receive health care insurance from their employer.  There is a good reason for that. Healthy people are happier, perform better, are less likely to be hurt on the job, and miss fewer days of work  Offering healthcare benefits lets companies attract and retain better-qualified employees, shows that management cares about the workers, and is a great morale builder.  Couldn’t the same principles work on a national level?

Jobs. It would create job openings. One great way to create jobs would be to provide health benefits to those who wish to retire early. There are about 45 million baby boomers who are now between 55 and 65.  Many of them have the resources to retire early but feel they must continue working to retain their health care benefits.  Health care reform would let them retire early, opening up more jobs.

Bankruptcies could be  reduced by better health coverage. A Harvard study found that about 50% of all bankruptcies in the United States are caused by illness and unpaid medical bills. Bankruptcies affect everyone because the health providers, banks, businesses, and credit card companies who lose money in the bankruptcy pass the cost on to the rest of us. Bankruptcies were a big factor in our recent housing crisis that negatively affected us all.

Reduced Insurance Rates: The health care bill, as passed, requires that 80% of the premiums collected by insurance companies be paid back in benefits. Currently, the overhead for private insurance companies ranges from 15% to 35%. Those companies with high overheads will have to find ways to reduce their rates or be replaced by the more efficient companies.  Companies that pay back less than 80% will have to give refunds to their policy holders at the end of the year.

Healthier Americans. Your family’s health depends on the health of everyone. Unless you are a hermit, you will likely come into contact with thousands of people during this next winter. People without health care are less likely to receive immunizations and are much more likely to have untreated communicable diseases.   This is particularly important since a Swine Flu epidemic is a possibility.

The advantages of health care reform are obvious to those with no health insurance.  Remember, except for the Grace of God, that could be you.

Healthcare co-ops are now being promoted as a way to keep government out of healthcare. They might be effective at doing that but it is questionable whether they would be effective at providing health care reform. Most people don’t know about healthcare co-ops because they are not really an option for their healthcare. Senator Kent Conrad (D-ND) has proposed a co-op system in which the government would provide $6Billion in seed money to doctors, businesses and hospitals to form the co-ops. Eventually the co-ops would have to become self-supporting with premiums paid by members. Senator Conrad should be commended for his effort to find a bipartisan compromise but health care co-ops will do little to bring about health care reform.

 During the depression, the Farm Security Administration encouraged the development of rural health cooperatives, and at one point, they had about 600,000 members. Unfortunately, few co-ops survived after the FSA removed its support in the late 1940s. One that did is the Group Health Cooperative in Washington State and it is an example of a successful co-op. It has its own hospitals, hires its own Doctors at salary, and tightly manages its costs and membership. It took eighty years for the co-op to get where it is today and it is unlikely that a start up co-op could achieve the same success in a short time. When the seed money runs out, new co-ops would likely disappear and we will have spent $6Billion with little to show for it. Many health care co-ops have gone bankrupt. An example is Sunkist Growers , once a licensed insurance co-op that covered about 23,000 people. It fell into insolvency because claims outpaced income in 2001 and it left employers and medical providers holding the bag for about $11 million in unpaid medical claims.

Some healthcare co-ops negotiate with private insurance companies to provide insurance for their members. Their advantage is that they provide group insurance rates to small businesses, farmers, and individuals who might otherwise have difficulty negotiating favorable insurance rates.  Their disadvantage is that their rates, co-pays, network providers, and pre-existing condition policies are very much like any other private insurer. One such company is the Farmers Health Cooperative in Wisconsin which cooperates with Aetna and functions much like a PPO.  It has been successful because its members are reasonably healthy people. Co-op health care has mostly been successful in such small demographic niches. Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog, says that “if co-ops attract high-risk people, who would otherwise go uncovered, it could bleed the co-op’s funding dry.”

Government is already providing health care. It is a strange spectacle to see Medicare recipients, Veterans, Congressional Representatives, and Senators decry socialized medicine when they, in fact, benefit from public subsidized health care. Would they be willing to put aside their present health coverage and go on a co-op system? I think not!  The Health Care Reform Bill, H.R. 3200, is a reasonable bill and it should not be replaced by a health co-op system unlikely to be successful.

Research Credit: Barbara Moore