I have to say, this "blog" sounds like pure lobbying.
Last year for the Ceasefire campaign, top pollsters Geoffrey Garin (D) and Bill McInturff (R) conducted identical, partisan polls to determine Americans’ top health care priorities [view QuickTime video clip]. Two of the most important reforms respondents identified included 1) providing better preventive health care to all Americans (73%) and 2) helping control the amount of out of pocket health care costs (70%).
Congress can start to address these issues by supporting computerization of medical records and interoperability between software platforms. One Ceasefire event in 2005 with Senator Hillary Clinton (D) and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R) addressed these issues [view QuickTime video clip], referencing the Institute of Medicine’s claim that 98,000 lives are lost every year because of “preventable medical errors.” Senator Clinton suggested many of these deaths are the result of inefficiencies in a system in need of an upgrade, and former Speaker Gingrich agreed.
I'm not going to argue that better efficiencies can't improve the two issues listed above, but... it seems to me that a lot of cost is a supply and demand issue, and that a lot of preventive health care options are educational issues. Wouldn't those two areas be more effective ways to focus a supposed bipartisan effort to improve healthcare in this country? Or does bipartisan just mean big corporate money in federal contracts?