by Shockwave

The Affordable Healthcare Act of 2009 was (at best IMHO) a step in the right direction.

The final destination?  Universal and affordable health care as a right and NOT a privilege (single payer is the ultimate logical consequence, also IMHO).

So what are the next steps, milestones, events, causes, laws to be passed?  What can we do as individuals to help us get there?  Who will lead us through the next phases?

Can we defeat the HMOs and Big Pharma? Should we go slow or should we step on the gas? Should we wait until after 2012?  Should we just fight to save Medicare?

Should we focus at the state level?

If you think healthcare reform is very unfinished business, there is only one place to be this Saturday, June 18, at 1:30 PM Central (11:30 AM Pacific): nyceve’s Netroots Nation panel Healthcare Reform 2.0: Americans Confront a Brave New World

If you think all this does not matter, you’re completely wrong.

According to the latest CNN poll, when asked about a variety of critical issues, 96% of respondents answered that healthcare was extremely important or very important as an issue for the 2012 Presidential Election.

Much more below and a chance to ask questions which Eve and I will present to the panelists.

You all know the irreplaceable and irrepressible nyceve, the most effective and dedicated healthcare blogger.  She got me going as a healthcare reform activist right here in these pages when she covered the Natalie Sarkissian tragedy.

Now meet the rest of the very distinguished panel:

Jay Angoff, senior Advisor to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary. He reports directly to Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Giuseppe Del Priore,M.D. of the Indiana University School of Medicine who may become the first surgeon to carry out a womb transplant. He knows what is going on in the front lines.

Andrew McGuire, Executive Director of California OneCare.  (I now disclose that I am on the California OneCare Board of Directors with nyceve, and single payer is my cause.) California OneCare is the pivotal non-profit organization supporting Single Payer legislation in California.

And last but certainly not least, Wendell Potter, the ultimate healthcare whistleblower.  Wendell Potter has seen the inner workings of our adversaries from the highest levels as a senior executive at CIGNA.

Nyceve will open the proceedings by covering the main points of the current situation. She has spent weeks preparing a comprehensive PowerPoint which she will cover quickly but deserves your attention.

As far as I am concerned it is THE tour de force of where we are regarding healthcare.  It is our entire tragic debacle as only nyceve could present it.  It will set the stage for the lively discussion to follow.

The following is part of Eve’s very dismal, but very true Netroots Nation slide show. It is a heartbreaking presentation about our collapsed health care system.

President Obama to the American Medical Association in 2009:
“Today, we are spending over $2 trillion a year on health care — almost 50 percent more per person than the next most costly nation. And yet, as I think many of you are aware, for all of this spending, more of our citizens are uninsured, the quality of our care is often lower, and we aren’t any healthier. In fact, citizens in some countries that spend substantially less than we do are actually living longer than we do.”

HEALTH CARE SPENDING IS LITERALLY OFF THE CHARTS

WE ARE NOT THE ENVY OF THE WORLD – THIS IS THE MONEY SLIDE

GOD HELP YOU IF YOU ARE UNINSURED!

More than 44,000 Americans die every year – 122 every day – due to lack of health insurance.
This data is from Harvard-based research that found that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher risk of death than their insured counterparts, up from a 25 percent excess death rate found in 1993.

FOR-PROFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES TAKE A HUGE BITE OF OUR HEALTH CARE DOLLARS

GOD HELP YOU EVEN IF YOU ARE INSURED

The US spends more than any other industrialized nation on health care, yet over 50 million americans are without health insurance.
Over 60% of individual bankruptcies are filed by insured Americans and are due to medical bills.

A just released report from the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers entitled,The New Gold Rush predicts that healthcare is expected to reach nearly 20% of U.S. GDP by 2019.

Life expectancy in the U.S. is lower when compared with Japan, Switzerland, Canada and Australia.

Infant morality rates in the U.S. are higher than most OECD countries. In 2006, it was 6.7 per live births relative to OECD average of 4.7

Low health care utilization was a major reason behind health insurers posting record first-quarter 2010 profits, well above analyst forecasts.

IS HELP ON THE WAY? THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT, TIMELINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION

Kossacks, do take advantage of this diary to bring up questions and themes for the panel.

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Originally posted in the Daily Kos on June 12, 2011. Shockwave (aka, Alberto Saavedra) is a member of the California OneCare board.

Can’t make it to Netroots Nation? Live streaming and video archives of the healthcare and other panels are available by clicking here.