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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

SD Elders Caught in the Crosshairs of Health Care Debate

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Wednesday, August 5, 2009   

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - The nation's largest senior advocacy group is speaking out about what its leaders call "a misinformation campaign" to try to derail healthcare reform.

Sam Wilson, associate state director for South Dakota AARP, says opponents' claims that the nation's health system is being turned into a Big Brother, socialized form of care - or that seniors will be thrown off Medicare and have to fend for themselves - are at best absurd and, at worst, cruel distortions of what is being debated in Congress. It is critical, he says, to put away the dirty tricks and work together to see that healthcare dollars are better spent.

"By creating pathways for generic biologics, for example, or creating a Medicare transition benefit that makes sure that people, when they are discharged from the hospital, don't end up back in the hospital within 30 days. So, it's about finding efficiencies and creating value for your healthcare dollar."

By definition, says Wilson, a socialized system would mean the government owns the hospitals and clinics, manages the drugs that can be prescribed, and pays the doctors and nurses who run the facilities. There has not been even one such proposal advanced in Congress, he notes, adding that America has a unique style of healthcare delivery.

"Our solution to our healthcare crisis is going to be a uniquely American solution. That does not include any type of socialized device that maybe some other countries have used, but it's not necessarily appropriate for our purposes. I think the solutions that we find will be a combination of public and private investment, with the use of both public and private outlets for obtaining healthcare."

Wilson says a public plan would offer more portability for individuals, although he's convinced that no one would be pushed out of their private health insurance plans by reform efforts. He hopes healthcare reform will create a 21st Century system of care, and sees the current system as outdated, because it focuses on treating disease rather than improving the long-term health of individuals or the nation.



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