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Welcome to Red State/Blue State, a feature presented by The Anniston Star of Anniston, Ala., and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

In the December 2001 edition of the Atlantic, David Brooks wrote an essay titled "One Nation, Slightly Divisible," in which he suggested that America is divided largely into two political cultures, one "red" and one "blue." His idea is based on those electoral maps in 2000 that colored majority-Republican states in red and majority-Democratic states in blue. Brooks' witty essay pictures the red-state voter as trending rural, a salt-of-the-earth type, concerned with individual liberty and family values, whereas the "blue" voter trends urban, more of a book-reader, a Beltway-savvy intellectual, the environmentally conscious soccer mom or dad.

Cliches? Maybe. But Brooks does have his finger on two very strong currents in the American votership. It's not that Pennsylvania is a "blue state" or Alabama is a "red state." It's that our two political cultures don't talk to each other much, or even know much about each other. To bridge that gap, we've brought together two "red" voters - John Franklin and Cynthia Sneed - and two "blue" voters, Terri Falbo and Timothy Horner. Each week, they'll ponder and debate the issues arising in the election campaign. The hope is that they'll model an intelligent discussion, a great big conference room where red and blue sit down together.

Friday, September 17, 2004

Terri Falbo, Blue Stater 

Question Number Eight: President Bush and Sen. Kerry have unveiled their health care plans. How would you structure a health-care plan? Would it be universal, or only for indigents? Would you feature privatized health-related savings accounts? What would you do about malpractice lawsuits?

My health-care plan would be along the lines of that proposed by Physicians for a National Healthcare Program (see www.pnhp.org). Details have been written into House Resolution 676, The United States National Health Insurance Act, introduced before Congress by Rep. John Conyers (D., Mich.). This is a universal, single-payer system, with most health-care delivery remaining private.

Who and what would be covered? All residents in the United States and U.S. territories would receive care by simply walking into a doctor's office, hospital, clinic, or other facility of your choice and presenting your card. No money would change hands. Premiums, deductibles and co-payments are eliminated. No one would receive a bill from a doctor, hospital, pharmacy, or insurance company. All necessary medial expenses would be covered, including dental, vision, mental health, and long-term care. The rationing that currently takes place in our system is unnecessary.

Not covered would be over-the-counter drugs, such as aspirin; luxury, long-term care surroundings; and cosmetic surgery or other purely elective procedures. These could be paid out of pocket or through private insurance companies.

Who would run and manage the health-care system? Medical decisions would be in the hands of the patient and doctor. Most hospitals, clinics, and health-care delivery systems could remain private. Cost containment measures would be publicly managed at the state level by an elected body that represents the people of that state. This body would plan and effect the distribution of expensive technology; create a budget; and negotiate payments. Gone would be the decision-making of private medical insurance companies, except for elective procedures.

Would we have to raise taxes? With a universal, single-payer system, at least 95 percent of people would end up paying less for health care than we do now. Any necessary tax increases would be more than offset for most people in what they would save in premiums, co-pays, and deductibles; most of these would disappear or be much less. This is because there is tremendous waste in our current system. Compared to other advanced countries that have health coverage for everyone, we pay much more for health care both as a percentage of GDP and per capita (each and every man, woman and child - whether covered by health insurance or not) - yet not everyone is covered. As much as 30 cents of every premium dollar is squandered on enormous CEO salaries, shareholder profits, advertising and administration due to a plethora of insurance companies creating mountains of paperwork.

Insurance companies probably would let many workers go. What of them? We should use money saved through increased efficiency to help such employees make the transition into different careers. There must be enough money for education, retraining, and relocation to the sites of other jobs paying at least as much as the lost job.

What about medical malpractice lawsuits? The main force driving up med-mal rates is not the amount and frequency of outrageous jury awards. Rather, we should look at the enormous salaries of insurance company CEOs, and the way that a few physicians with large numbers of lawsuits drive up the rates for all other physicians. Each state should offer public malpractice insurance for doctors, which should help stabilize rates.



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Bloggers from
Blue State (Pa.)


Terri Falbo

Born and raised in Southwestern Pennsylvania, Terri Falbo is a union organizer who has lived in Philadelphia for almost 30 years. She graduated from Temple University and previously worked as a construction worker for 17 years.

Tim Horner

Tim Horner grew up in Iowa, but has lived out significant chunks of his adult life in Chicago, IL and Oxford, England. He is married and has four children (14, 12, 10 and 7). Having grown up as an Evangelical in the Midwest and still a practicing Christian, he is concerned with how religion and politics mix. Because of a combination of circumstance and apathy, he has never voted in a presidential election. He currently teaches Humanities at Villanova University.
Bloggers from
Red State (Ala.)


Joe Franklin

Alabama native Joe Franklin, 58, was born in Pike County and grew up on a farm in Crenshaw County. He graduated from Troy State University in 1967. After working for 28 years with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles as a parole and probation officer, retired to Crenshaw County, which is just south of Montgomery, where he spends his days working on the farm.


Cynthia Sneed

Gadsden resident and local college professor Cynthia Smith Sneed has a doctorate in Accounting from the University of Alabama. Her fields of academic research are in state pension and employee benefit issues. She has been published in numerous academic accounting journals and has done research for the Alabama Policy Institute. She is a member of the American Accounting Association, Governmental Finance Officers Association as well as being active in the Republican Party.



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